The VII Private Investment Forum Worldwide was held in Zürich on 9thApril 2019
Held for the first time in Zürich, Switzerland on 9 April 2019, the VII Private Investment Forum Worldwide attracted senior industry leaders from the global investment and financial community to expand their network, source new business opportunities and grow their investment portfolio in Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East.

The conference’s first edition for 2019, which was aimed at providing a networking platform for senior decision makers of investment companies worldwide, banks, family offices and project owners, was attended by participants from Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bahrain, UAE, USA, UK, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, France, Austria, Spain, Peru, Mexico, Canada and India.

About 245 official one-on-one meetings and over 500 informal meetings were held among participants throughout the event. According to preliminary data, during the forum, more than $1.5 billion worth of projects were discussed at the forum, with this number expected to grow further in the coming months. The sectors which attracted investment were health care, manufacturing, real estate, IT, blockchain and banking.

Organized four times annually in key international locations, the Private Investment Forum Worldwide attracts senior players from the global financial and investment community. The forums’ past editions have taken place in global financial centers like Dubai and Zurich, with plans to expand into New York, Singapore, London and Tokyo.

Osama Saeed, General Manager at Bin Hamoodah Trading & General Services (BHTGS), UAE, and participant at the Dubai edition of the Forum in 2018, commented: “The UAE economy is one of the most stable in the region, always demonstrating positive signs of growth, a healthy market to invest in and good return on investment; it also provides an open-minded environment and excellent logistics, with an opportunity to travel East and West in a relatively short space of time.”

He added, “I’ve attended the Private Investment Forum for three years in a row. It is a very successful and useful platform to meet investors from all over the world, discuss topics of mutual interest, learn about the latest technologies on the market and share the risks and challenges in investment that we might face in the coming years.”

Exclusive global financial network

The PIFW’s main advantage lies in its exclusivity, as it targets representatives of the global financial and investment elite who are especially invited to the forum. The participants are invited individually in accordance with their business interests, as the organizers’ objective is to match investors with potential investment opportunities to reach specific deals.

Managing Director and CEO at KPM Asset, Anirudh Tripathy commented:

‘It is one of the most amazing forums, it’s quite private, very well crafted. It’s prearranged, preconnected and assessed. Counterparties know each other before their meeting - it is one of the best parts. Secondly, the way it’s been hosted - each guest is attended very personally that gives a very warm feeling, and that’s the reason, I’m here for the second time. I can see substantial growth. And I believe we should take it to more countries.

The app is a success key to the event. It helps to know who you meet beforehand, see their projects, and background, so you don’t have a blind date, instead, it is a prearranged business meeting, which ensures a much higher success rate.’

C-suite executives all in one place

The forum distinguishes itself with the seniority of participants being c-suite executives including CEO, Chairman, Managing Director or President, while the size of transactions reached at the forum starts from 5 million dollars. Forum participants include bankers, institutional investors, sovereign fund managers, investment fund managers and representatives of asset management, family offices, royal family offices, as well as the owners of investment projects in the health care, real estate, mining, IT, blockchain and banking sectors.

Tahnoon Nimer, CEO at The Private Office of H.H. Sheikh Saeed Bin Tahnoun Bin Mohammed Al Nahyan, and participant at last year’s edition of the forum in Dubai, said: “I’m the Chairman of 52 companies. We are among the top ten firms in the world in agriculture involved in 27 countries, providing a unique product on the market. We raise funds for governments and semi-governments across the world currently expanding in the green technology field.”

He added, “If the opportunity is right, we invest in other companies with strong capabilities in their sector. We’ve pursued opportunities in the UAE, Africa and elsewhere. The Private Investment Forum provides an interesting format to meet people from all over the world and I wish the organisers great success moving forward.”

Efficient networking opportunity
A special feature of the PIFW series is a clear focus on establishing direct contact between the most influential decision makers of the global financial and investment industry worldwide. Delegates are introduced to each other and have one-on-one meetings arranged for them, along with a VIP service. The organizers consider this a main advantage of the forum, which they say makes the forum much more efficient and worthwhile compared to traditional forums. The objective is to allow for the participants to undertake discussions and negotiations both formal and informal. A special mobile application allows delegates to enjoy exclusive access to the profiles and investment interests of other attendees, long before the forum, allowing them to get in contact with like-minded professionals and plan their schedule in advance. The result of such meetings is the radical expansion of their business opportunities, the conclusion of transactions and finding a solution to their companies strategic objectives.

Elaine Chow, Principal at Trinity Capital, commented: “It’s a pleasure to be here. I feel that my meetings were really well matched, and every person I meet is presenting something I’m interested in. A number of them I will consider. I’m pleasantly surprised.

It’s a first time I go to the forum, where there is an app where I can look at the profiles of participants who I meet, it’s very convenient to have everything in my phone.

Being a family office myself, I would strongly advise other family offices to join this forum, because it’s something they will be looking for. People that I’ve met are very friendly and professional, they are easy to talk to.”

A special feature of the PIFW series is a clear focus on establishing direct contact between decision makers. Each participant is guaranteed to meet with all other participants according to their interest. Delegates are introduced to each other and have one-on-one meetings arranged for them, along with a VIP service. The organizers consider this a main advantage of the forum, which they say makes the forum much more efficient and worthwhile compared to traditional forums. The objective is to allow for the participants to undertake discussions and negotiations both formal and informal.

Juan Carlos Lara, Managing Partner at Point5 Family Office, said: “It is pretty impressive. I talked to several participants, and I saw 2 projects that I liked. They are very in consensus with my strategies, we are looking to explore them closely with my partners. There is due diligence to be done first, but they sound very promising.

I was also impressed with the app, it’s handy, it works well. I woke up in the morning, I logged in my app, I saw all my meetings, with location, and time - pretty easy to use and well designed.” 

The VII Private Investment Forum Worldwide of 2020 will be held on 17 September at the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, UAE.