If you were to survey the international community on the current state of Mexico, you would be hard pressed to find someone unaware of the tensions at the borders and ports. In recent history, staggering setbacks suffered by both the Mexican and U.S. governments in their fight against border and drug related violence have dominated media coverage.  Perhaps it’s just a function of the “If it bleeds, it leads” philosophy, but we rarely see positive coverage of our neighbor to the south.

Today’s challenging business environment has brought the importance of delivering world-class investor servicing sharply into focus. Institutional investors expect to access their statements and capital calls online, anytime, from anywhere, placing additional pressure on the related management and delivery mechanisms used by private equity firms.

The recent conference, Private Equity Software and Service Provider Showcase organized by 4VCO at the Renaissance Chancery Court hotel in London, therefore provided an excellent opportunity for 150 private equity professionals to gather for a day of presentations, information sharing and networking to understand how technology helps funds to improve internal systems and operations.

According to the French Private Equity Association (AFIC), €10 billion has been invested in the French private equity market over the last ten years. It's, therefore, unsurprising that private equity represents one of the main growth drivers for the French economy.

Like many of those involved in the M&A market, I started the new decade thinking that things could only get better after recent economic challenges, and it appears that there are grounds for optimism.

The latest in a series of IntraLinks sponsored, mergermarket M&A, Private Equity and Restructuring forums, the Benelux M&A and PE Forum was held in Amsterdam at the end of last month and I, together with our Regional Manager Marsja Meeus and our EMEA Head of Product Marketing, Axel Kirstetter, witnessed some highly respected speakers play down the prospects for rapid, or perhaps even sustained, recovery following ‘the worst crisis in living memory’.