ESSEC's commitment to innovative research received a further boost over the months of December and January with the confirmation of developments for two chairs: the creation of the Private Equity Chair and a change of partner for the Real Estate Chair.

Presided over by Professor José-Miguel Gaspar, the Private Equity Chair is the ninth to have been created as part of ESSEC's development campaign (in operation since 2002) and the fifteenth in total.
The fruit of a partnership with three of the major players from the sector (Barclays Private Equity, Grant Thornton, and Linklaters), the Chair has been formed partly in response to the significant changes in the area over the past two years.

Professor Gaspar explains: "The acquisitions industry is currently going through a rigorous process of professionalization, internationalization, and growth.
In 2005, nearly 166 billion euros of capital were raised by Private Equity funds in the United States of America and Europe, representing almost 6 times more than the amount raised in 1995.
In such a climate, it is necessary to develop knowledge of the industry and to train future Private Equity professionals who presently are required to master a wide range of skills and areas of expertise.
To help achieve this, the Chair has been set up to enable academics, students and professionals to meet and exchange ideas".

By fixing itself specific academic, pedagogical and research targets, the Chair is aiming to fulfill the multi-faceted role of think-tank, research unit, watchdog and training center. This it hopes to achieve via close collaboration with its partners and a heavy emphasis on applying knowledge to real cases.

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Created in 2004 and led by Professor Ingrid Nappi-Choulet, the Real Estate Chair is now backed by a new exclusive partner, BNP Paribas Real Estate.

The advantages for ESSEC in terms of financial support and expertise are considerable. BNP Paribas Real Estate also sees this as a significant boost, as confirmed by their chairman, Philippe Zivkovic:

"Real-estate is a fascinating sector, which has experienced deep-seated and swift changes over the last few years. This partnership shows that BNP Paribas Real Estate wants to join with ESSEC's quality initiative. Indeed, the sector's main players are increasingly in need of specialists trained in the various real-estate professions, specialists who will become managers in the future."



It was precisely the upcoming talent of which Mr. Zivkovic speaks that paid a recent visit to BNP Paribas Real estate's headquarters, as the Chair's 2007 class were received at a function to mark this new and exciting partnership.