What we learned about 2024 is that many worries identified by analysts and market observers came to naught. Rates, economic growth, and inflation – all areas of concern last January – are in good shape as 2025 rolls out. More robust job growth than expected (see our Chart of the Week) is just one example….

A year ago we identified four issues for 2024 that would lay the foundations for a Goldilocks era in private debt and private equity:  It turns out all these factors did contribute to a stellar year for top private capital managers and investors. As we look back at the market’s progress, it’s now evident the…

We conclude our series on the Private Equity liquidity crunch with this question: What do scarce realizations mean for LPs constructing a portfolio in today’s environment? Having reviewed tactical tools and strategies available to investors to find liquidity, deploy capital, and select managers, we turn to building a sound and profitable portfolio. Every limited partner…

In this series we have explored the challenges GPs face today across the full private equity lifecycle – fundraising, deployment and exits. The most adaptive private equity managers are those who are the most creative and strategic in partnering with their limited partners. In the always shifting GP/LP power equation, both are seeking trusted partners…

We resume our discussion of the private equity liquidity crunch and its impact on fundraising, this time from the LP’s perspective. The supply/demand imbalance in the fundraising environment has shifted to favor LPs. This gives them greater GP access, longer diligence windows, and more negotiating power with LPA terms.  But many LPs, their investment programs…

So far in our “Private Equity Now” series we’ve covered the various technologies available to LPs and GPs to access liquidity in this difficult environment. This week we focus on fundraising to understand how GPs are navigating with investors pining for distributions. Indeed, private equity fund managers are facing a landscape unlike any we’ve experienced…

Over the past two weeks we’ve touched on the distribution dilemma in private equity, and most recently on the perspectives and tactics used by GPs. This week, we dive deeper into the LPs perspective and how allocators are managing private equity programs in the current environment. To quantify the issues: LPs observed a 9.5% distribution…

Challenging financing conditions and macroeconomic disruptions have ushered in a period of lackluster M&A activity the last few years. Sellers are reluctant to realize investments at what are perceived to be depressed valuation multiples. Buyers meanwhile are wary of overpaying and unwilling to meet sellers at multiples of a bygone era. The resulting valuation gap…

Having focused this year mostly on the effects of rates and the economy on private credit, it’s time to turn our attention to private equity. One of the more surprising aspects of conversations around this topic is how PE has taken a back seat to PC, particularly regarding growth and performance of the asset class….

While the expected pace of Fed cuts has slowed, nothing suggests a change in direction. This course suggests a re-assessment of which strategies deserve allocations. Who will be the winners and losers? How does our high velocity environment complicate these decisions? One speaker at the GEF spoke about how managers find themselves increasingly behind the…