Apex Invest Europe Weighs AI, Private Credit and Healthspan Bets

Economist Alexander Ineichen opened with a sharp assessment of Europe’s growth prospects. He said governments in parts of the region take an increasingly large share of GDP, citing France at 58 per cent. He also contrasted Europe’s energy costs with those in North America and Asia: UK energy prices, measured in cents per kilowatt hour, are about three times US levels, he said, giving the United States a competitive advantage. Higher public spending and regulation, Ineichen argued, contribute to capital misallocation.

A panel featuring Ineichen, Christiane El Habre of Apex Group, Giovanni Martinez of Novum Partners, Thomas von Hohenhau of 1911 Capital Management and David Parker of the Bermuda Business Development Agency considered investment choices and risks. Martinez said some European sectors could be bought at lower multiples, but investors were also weighing jurisdictional risk. His portfolio was mostly in late-stage investments, he said, and the firm tended to avoid early-stage deals. Ineichen said the timing and trigger of another eurozone crisis were difficult to predict, recalling that Mario Draghi’s “whatever it takes” pledge had been “almost a random event which actually worked.”

Von Hohenhau described a divide between investors backing riskier areas such as AI and those positioning for a tougher climate, including through gold. Both groups, he said, were making the same macroeconomic bet from opposite sides. Parker said Gulf families were reviewing their global footprint in response to Middle East developments, without necessarily leaving the region; spreading investments among centres such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Switzerland was one way to manage risk.

Private credit was another focus. Jürg Niederberger of Q Partners said European middle-market transactions could offer risk-adjusted returns. Family-office investor Jason Sydney said his firm could move quickly and use creative structures to seek higher yields and additional equity upside. Michael Manning of Avalanche said blockchain technology could support private credit and asset-backed lending, but distinguished enabling liquidity from creating it. On redemption runs and fund gates, Niederberger urged investors to read fund terms, adding that new technology did not change private credit’s underlying aim of delivering good risk-adjusted returns.

The wider programme covered bitcoin’s place in portfolios, AI, biotech and data centres, real estate, precious metals and digital assets. Panels also examined investment in longer, healthier lives, family-office direct deals, defence and cybersecurity, sustainable energy, and sports finance and prediction markets. On the conference’s second day, outgoing Bermuda Premier E David Burt discussed steps to keep the jurisdiction competitive. US Ambassador to Luxembourg Stacey Feinberg also shared her views on Europe.