Private Equity Spotlight: A conversation with Rush Harvey of Raymond James

In our latest Private Equity Spotlight series, Brian Murchie (https://www.reedsmith.com/en/professi...) , senior client development advisor at Reed Smith, is joined by Rush Harvey (  / rush-harvey-cmt-caia-34a72610  ) , Director, Private Capital Advisory at Raymond James, to discuss the unique perspective Rush and his team bring to the market, and the state of the fundraising and secondary markets.



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Transcript: 



Intro: Hello, welcome to Dealmaker Insights, a podcast brought to you by Reed Smith's corporate and finance lawyers from around the globe. In this podcast series, we explore the various legal and financial issues impacting your deals. Should you have any questions on any of the content through this series please contact our speakers.



Brian: Welcome back to Dealmaker Insights. Excited with the new series spotlighting the private equity industry. My name is Brian Murchie. I'm the Client Development Advisor at Reed Smith. My personal background is I started out at Platinum Equity on the business development team for seven years. From there, I moved into in an investment banking role. I was with Stifel in a West Coast sponsored coverage role. And then from there, I moved over to Raymond James also as a managing director in a sponsor coverage role and excited for Rush Harvey, who's a good friend of mine and a, and a, and a former colleague at Raymond James, who's in a private capital advisory side. I think he brings a very unique perspective given where he sits in the market and the state of the market. So welcome rush and excited to have you on here How are you doing,



Rush: Brian I'm doing awesome. Thanks so much for having me today.



Brian: Great. I think you bring a very interesting perspective. Rush just given your background and kind of where you sit in the market. Could you discuss your transition from being a former LP to to the private capital advisory side?



Rush: Sure, thanks Brian. It's been a journey that's for sure. I was a limited partner my entire career up to joining Raymond James on the private capital advisory side about two years ago, most recently managing the endowment with the team at Kansas State University Foundation and then at the Texas A & M University Foundation. So go cats and gig em’  Aggies. And it's been a great transition to the private capital advisory side to bring an LP perspective to how we do business, how we serve our clients and ultimately how we try to be a source of relevant deal flow to limited partners.



Brian: and Rush I, I did notice you have a recent article out there that you published. Uh could you kind of  discuss that? Like I know it discusses, you know, your background and kind of your entrance into the private capital advisory space. But if there's anything there you could touch on, it would be helpful.



Rush: Yeah. Happy to Brian and, and thank you for reading. I appreciate that. The title of the article is Reflections From the middle seat. So in, in the current role we are serving GPs, sponsors and also limited partners, LPs. And so we want to be as helpful as possible to both. And, you know, sitting in the middle seat on the airplane usually isn't the most fun, depending on who you sit next to. But in the current role, I'm having tons of fun because the market needs support in regards to fundraising. It's such a tough fundraising market right now. So GPS need a partner to help them navigate and we're trying to be a good partner in the market. But limited partners, they need good deals and they wanna work with folks, they trust and you gotta earn their trust. So sitting in between LPs and GPs, I have a pretty unique perspective. You know, being an LP understanding the hard work it takes to execute a process to get a deal done, to find the right partner to help you serve your institution, to enhance your mission. For me at two public land grant university cities. The mission was so important, thinking about those kids that we served and the scholarship dollars we tried to generate and making those private capital commitments really, really mattered and we had to have good partners. So trying to be a source of those types of great deals for those limited partners and then helping GPs, you know, tell their story in a way that resonates with those limited partners. And you know, the best private capital advisory firms play that role in the middle seat, but then they get out of the way when it makes sense and, and you let the LP and the GP build that relationship and, and stay as active as you can to be a good partner to help them ultimately build that relationship more formally. So, it's been fun.



Brian: Thanks Rush. That's uh a wonderful insight here. And I, I think that's a good segue into kind of the state of, of the fundraising market. Could you just kind of touch on, you know, like the current state of the fundraising market and how this year is a little differe...