Dr Andrea Vathje has been part of the Privatize management team since 5 December 2023 and will take over the management of the Privatize Private Markets Institute.
As part of the Privatize platform, the Privatize Private Markets Institute offers an independent knowledge portal for private banks, asset managers, family offices and institutional investors. Under the direction of Dr Vathje, the Institute provides comprehensive knowledge on private markets asset classes such as private equity, private debt and real assets. It identifies market trends and helps to categorise them.
Dr. Vathje is an economist and a recognized, regularly cited expert on private market funds. Over the past 20 years, she has held senior positions in alternative and structured products at Vontobel, Macquarie and Sal Oppenheim. Prior to joining Privatize, Dr. Vathje spent six years at Scope Fund Analysis, where she was responsible for private markets studies and ratings for private market funds.
3 questions for Ms Vathje
Dr. Vathje, what is the situation in the private markets? Is the proportion of women higher or lower there than in the liquid markets?
There is room for improvement in the proportion of women. And I am delighted to be making an active contribution here by joining Privatize. One of the co-founders of Privatize is Anthea Hohmann. In her mid-twenties, she is in a leadership role and proves in a very concrete way that women of all ages can redefine an industry. This culture, which is also reflected in the composition of the team, was also one of the reasons for me to join Privatize.
You deal with private markets, which also includes investments in renewable energy. Can you explain to us why wind, solar and hydrogen stocks in particular have performed so poorly in recent years? Given the political situation, they should really be going through the roof.
Listed shares in the renewable energy sector initially performed very strongly, were downright hyped and then suffered a significant price slump in an environment of rising interest rates. Private infrastructure funds, on the other hand, typically invest long-term in infrastructure projects such as wind turbines or solar projects. This asset class was one of the few that actually performed positively last year, demonstrating the important contribution that private markets investments can make to portfolio diversification.
What will be your first projects at Privatize?
Our mission is "Welcome to Private Markets" - every suitable investor should have access to this asset class. Many will be entering uncharted territory. Their journey begins with obtaining comprehensive information. We are therefore investing in expanding our digital education offering and aim to be the market leader. We will also be regularly active with physical expert exchange formats. For example, with our Private Markets Forum at the end of February in Hamburg and Munich and at our annual Privatise Private Markets Summit. At these events, I personally engage in dialogue with institutional investors and advisors on all knowledge and market issues. I find this personal dialogue very important in order to understand exactly what moves our clients and where we can support them.
Thank you very much for the insights! And good luck in your new position!
Foto: Privatize
Anke Dembowski is a financial journalist and author of various investment fund-related and other financial books. She is also a co-founder of the "Fondsfrauen" network.