Kelly DePonte, who spent more than 31 years in private equity as a limited partner, as an advisor to LPs and as a placement agent, has opened up his own advisory firm to work with both GPs and LPs.
DePonte (pictured) launched Bennington, Vermont-based Kelly DePonte Advisory LLC after retiring late last month as managing director and head of research at San Francisco-based placement agency Probitas Partners. He remains a senior advisor with the firm.
Reached by phone for an interview this week, DePonte described several services his one-man shop plans to offer to GPs, and particularly to emerging managers. The firm will help them with such issues as how to size their funds, how to obtain an attributable track record, and which types of investors to target. “It might progress to the point where I might battle-test their PowerPoint presentations—both the actual written documents and the way they present it,” DePonte said. The firm also plans to provide the following services to LPs:
- Advising on portfolio allocation and due diligence across all alternative asset categories except for hedge funds;
- Working with large institutional investors that have reached a crossroads and that need a fresh look at how to best structure their portfolios;
- Advising European and Asian LPs on how to build a portfolio of U.S funds.
DePonte said he would also be open to work as private equity educator and as an expert witness in court cases.
Background: One of the first hires by Probitas Partners following its launch in 2001, DePonte spent just over 22 years at the firm, well-known for its work with emerging managers. During his tenure DePonte led research and due diligence across private equity, opportunistic real estate, private debt and infrastructure funds. Before joining in 2002 DePonte served as chief operating officer at advisory firm Pacific Capital Group. There he evaluated fund investments for such clients as CalPERS, Oregon State Treasury, State of Rhode Island Investment Committee and the New York City Retirement System. DePonte got his first taste of private equity in 1993 at First Interstate Bancorp, where he oversaw a portfolio of venture capital and buyout funds. One of his signature achievements in the 1990s was to convince investors to manage their venture capital stock distributions for additional gains rather than automatically selling them at the expiration of the lock-up period—a common approach at the time.
Email Kelly DePonte.