Perhaps it is fitting that the Association for Corporate Growth picked Columbus Day to do a little overseas exploring of its own.

The ACG, as our coverage proves, already has plenty of chapters scattered across the U.S., each with its own unique identity and dealmaking community. However, a strong presence in Europe is still evolving. That may change with this year's first ACG European Capital Tour, which begins on Oct. 8 and ends Oct. 10.

"The principle thing to accomplish is giving U.S. private equity investors exposure to three European locales," says Ashley Rountree, a managing director at investment bank C.W. Downer & Co. and event organizer (pictured). The action begins in Paris, heads to Amsterdam and wraps up in Frankfurt. The cities were chosen, based on the degree of readiness of the local chapters to support the events, Rountree explains. Each metropolis is expected to draw roughly 300 European private equity firms and investment bankers, in addition to hundreds of U.S. deal professionals, including investors from the Riverside Co., the Jordan Co. and Audax Group.

Keynote speakers include Denis Payre, co-founder of Business Objects, the first independent French company listed on Nasdaq, in Paris;

Nick Kounis of ABN AMRO Bank in Amsterdam; and Antonio Alvarez III, managing director of Alvarez & Marsal Holdings LLC, in Frankfurt.

Expected topics include the differences between the two continents in lending environments, government regulation and strategies to get deals done. For more on the ACG European Capital Tour, watch our video interview with new ACG chairman Charles Morton at themiddlemarket.com/video.

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