CVCA AGM in Halifax

A few of us from the firm are down in Halifax for the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association annual meeting (I’m on the board). In fact, 450 people are registered for the event. A decent uptick from last year’s 415 at the Vancouver meeting. A decent assortment of East Coast-based U.S. VCs are in attendance, in keeping with the U.S. representation of last year.

So far I can report that its 11C (53F) and the craps table at the Casino Nova Scotia has been removed, making the place even more desolate than in prior years; and as a rule blackjack is neither as profitable nor as fun as craps. Boo hoo.

The attendance is a record for the association, and with Henry Kravis of KKR coming this am, we’ll undoubtedly hear all about his BCE (BCE:TSX) bid. Unlikely to hear much about the faux auction, however. But he has plenty to be proud of: their recently-raised US$16 billion global buyout fund is well into deployment, and they’ll need to tap the market again as early as 2009. Remarkable.

Congrats to the CVCA staff for the great feat in terms of numbers of delegates. This event is a great “mood check” for the Canadian PE landscape and so far, so good.

MRM