Partners Group on Positioning to Capture Exit Opportunities
Partners Group’s Ben McLean argues that despite a volatile macro environment, private‑equity firms can still build, transform and exit businesses, but only those of high quality will succeed. He stresses that the current market rewards disciplined investment and robust cash‑flow generation. The firm is positioning its capital and deal pipeline to capture premium exit valuations as conditions stabilize. McLean highlights a focus on sectors with resilient demand and flexible financing structures to navigate uncertainty.
Side Letter: Lazard’s CL Coup
Lazard has teamed up with Campbell Lutyens to launch a joint capital‑raising advisory platform, targeting mid‑market private‑equity sponsors seeking limited‑partner commitments. The partnership leverages Lazard’s global advisory reach and Campbell Lutyens’ fundraising expertise to capture a larger share of the...
Spin-Outs Enjoy an Edge in GP Financing
Corpay’s latest report highlights that private‑equity spin‑outs—teams breaking away from established firms—enjoy a financing advantage over truly emerging managers. While both groups seek general‑partner (GP) capital, spin‑outs attract larger loan commitments and more favorable terms. Emerging managers, lacking the brand...
Philippines SWF Eyes More GP Partnerships
Maharlika Investment Corporation, the Philippines’ sovereign wealth fund, is actively looking for new general‑partner (GP) relationships that demonstrate deep understanding of the local market. Chief Investment Officer Kheed Ng emphasized that managers must grasp how the Philippines operates, from regulatory...
Standard Life’s Aegon UK Acquisition Is ‘Good News for Bigger GPs’
Standard Life has agreed to acquire Aegon UK, creating a life‑and‑pensions powerhouse with roughly £480 billion of assets under management (about $610 billion). The transaction underscores a broader wave of consolidation among both limited partners and asset managers. By merging two of...
Warburg Pincus Ready to Write €200m Cheques for European Defence Companies
Warburg Pincus, the New York‑based private equity firm, has unveiled a dedicated strategy to invest up to €200 million (approximately $218 million) in European defence, security and strategic‑resilience companies. The initiative follows heightened geopolitical risk and a wave of defence budget increases...
Aussie Wealth Manager Warns PE Evergreens Have Overpromised on Liquidity
Gavin Ezekowitz, CIO of BFA Global Investors, warned that private‑equity evergreen funds in Australia have overstated their ability to provide liquidity to investors. He highlighted that many unlisted funds lack clear redemption mechanisms, leaving investors vulnerable during market stress. The...
Have Software Returns Faltered over the Past Five Years?
Software-focused private equity funds, including those managed by Vista, Insight and PSG, have largely matched or outperformed their vintage peers over the past five years. Despite widespread concerns about slowing SaaS growth and valuation compression, the sector’s returns have remained...
Side Letter: Private Permira
Permira announced it will retain its equity stake in a flagship portfolio company, underscoring confidence in the asset’s growth prospects. The decision, disclosed via a side‑letter, aligns with a broader trend of managers seeking longer lock‑up periods and flexible redemption...
Danish Pension P+ Seeks GPs for Defence Investment
Danish pension fund P+, which oversees roughly $27 billion for academic retirees, is actively seeking general‑partner firms to source private‑equity investments in the defence sector. The move marks a strategic shift from its traditionally conservative allocations toward a high‑growth, resilient asset...
Investor Intentions: Alpine AM Family Office Plans to Scale up Its Portfolio in 2026
Taiwanese family office Alpine AM announced plans to scale its investment portfolio, targeting up to $4 billion in new allocations over the next five to eight years, beginning in 2026. The fund aims to diversify across private equity and other alternative...
What’s Next for DFIs and Private Equity?
Development finance institutions such as the International Finance Corporation and British International Investment are recalibrating their private‑equity strategies. They are moving away from broad, blind‑pool commitments toward selective, manager‑led allocations that focus on growth‑equity opportunities. The new approach also stresses...
Future Fund Flags Potential Investment Team Job Cuts
Australia's sovereign wealth fund, the Future Fund, announced it may reduce staff within its investment team as part of a broader cost‑management drive. CEO Raphael Arndt said the fund will "make changes where it is prudent to do so" to...
MEAG-Warburg Pincus Deal Marks Further Shift in LP Demand for Defence
MEAG, the asset‑management arm of Munich Re, has pledged capital to a new defence‑focused fund managed by Warburg Pincus. The partnership marks a notable shift as limited partners increasingly allocate money to security‑related assets, especially in Europe. U.S. private‑equity firms...
Thoma Bravo to Wind Down Growth Equity Strategy
Thoma Bravo, the software‑focused private‑equity powerhouse, announced it will wind down its growth‑equity strategy by running off its existing Growth Fund and will not raise a new vehicle. The decision follows the departure of the two co‑heads who ran the...
Green Shoots Emerge Amid PE’s Most Challenging Era
Fundraising cycles in private equity compressed to an average of 14 months in Q1, the quickest pace since 2022. The shortened timeline hints at a tentative revival in investor confidence after a prolonged period of market headwinds. While capital inflows...
Side Letter: Diversification Drive
The latest side‑letter trends show limited partners (LPs) in the Asia‑Pacific region increasing allocations to diversify away from traditional European and North American exposures. Tiered‑carry provisions are creating friction in continuation fund deals, as managers and LPs clash over performance...
DOWNLOAD: Bright Spots Emerge in Q1 PE Fundraising
Nearly half of private‑equity funds that closed in Q1 2026 met their fundraising targets, the highest proportion in at least five years. The 48% hit rate signals a rebound after a period of subdued capital raising driven by higher rates...
LPs Go Direct for GP Stakes
Institutional limited partners are increasingly interested in bypassing traditional fund vehicles to acquire direct stakes in private‑equity general partners. This trend could reshape the nascent GP‑stakes market by creating a new class of shareholders who own a slice of the...
Size Matters for the Specialists
GP‑stakes investors are increasingly segmenting their strategies by the size of private‑equity firms they target. In a market flush with capital, mid‑market managers are becoming the focal point for many funds, while mega‑caps attract institutional investors seeking stable cash‑flows. Size‑based...
Emerging Managers Serve up Stakes
Emerging private‑equity managers are increasingly offering ownership stakes in their firms to secure anchor limited‑partner commitments. By selling a minority GP stake, new GPs provide investors with direct exposure to management fees and carried interest. Anchor investors, in turn, gain...
M&A Reshapes the GP Stakes Galaxy
The private‑equity GP‑stakes market is undergoing rapid consolidation, reshaping the landscape for both investors and fund managers. Larger platforms are acquiring smaller specialists, creating a more concentrated set of players with deeper capital pools. This wave of M&A intensifies competition...
Stakers Tap New Sources of Capital
The GP‑stakes market is entering a maturation phase as a broader range of limited partners seek exposure to private‑equity management economics. Institutional investors such as sovereign wealth funds, pension schemes and family offices are moving beyond traditional private‑equity funds, adding...
Getting Individual Investors in on the GP Stakes Action
General partner (GP) stakes are gaining traction among private‑wealth and retail investors as a way to capture cash‑flow distributions, soften the private‑equity J‑curve, and add diversification to portfolios. Recent market activity shows fund managers packaging GP equity into vehicles that...
Key Trends: A Mixed Outlook for a Growing GP Stakes Market
The GP‑stakes market continued expanding in 2025, driven by record inflows from institutional investors and a surge of interest from emerging managers. However, the sector faces headwinds including compressed valuation multiples, heightened regulatory scrutiny, and intensified competition for quality deals....
DoL Proposal Shows PE’s True Democratisation Won’t Be Straightforward
The U.S. Labor Department released a proposal outlining six fiduciary factors that plan sponsors must evaluate before adding private‑equity and other alternative assets to 401(k) and defined‑contribution plans. The guidance highlights valuation, liquidity, fees, governance, and disclosure challenges that even...
Florida SBA Nears AI Vendor Selection to Streamline Data Workflow for Private Markets
The Florida State Board of Administration (SBA) is close to selecting an artificial‑intelligence vendor to automate its private‑market data workflow. The proposed tool will ingest, cleanse, and standardize investment data, reducing manual processing. By offloading routine tasks, the SBA expects...
KKR Raises $23bn for North America Flagship – How Have Its Predecessors Performed?
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) has closed its North America Fund XIV, securing roughly $23 billion in commitments. The new fund will continue KKR's tradition of embedding employee ownership structures within its portfolio companies. Past North America funds have generated attractive internal...
Investor Intentions: Westfield Retirement Board Issues RFP for Private Equity
The Westfield Retirement Board, a U.S. public pension fund, has issued a formal request for proposals (RFP) to recruit private equity investment managers. The RFP signals the board’s intent to allocate a sizable portion of its portfolio to private equity,...
Beijing’s GL Capital Holds $385m First Close for Latest Flagship
Beijing‑based GL Capital announced a $385 million first close for its flagship GL China Opportunities Fund V, representing roughly 48% of the $800 million target. The fund, launched in September 2025, will focus on buyout investments across China’s high‑growth sectors. GL Capital...
Nihon PMI Partners on Tapping Into Japan’s Home-Based Healthcare Market
Nihon PMI Partners announced a strategic push into Japan’s rapidly expanding home‑based healthcare sector. CEO Satoshi Hamada highlighted that the nation’s aging population and a policy‑driven shift from hospital to community care are creating sizable investment openings. The firm plans...
T Capital Partners on Unlocking Value in Japan’s Mid-Market
T Capital Partners, led by Koji Sasaki and Toshihide Matsuda, is targeting Japan’s small and mid‑cap companies, which they view as ripe for operational transformation. The firm believes the mid‑market segment, often overlooked by larger private‑equity funds, holds significant upside...
Side Letter: When LPs Default
Private equity firms are feeling a liquidity crunch that has led to a limited partner default, the first of its kind in recent years. The default is prompting secondary market participants to consider injecting additional capital to absorb the distressed...
Inflexion Taps First Wealth Capital in Oversubscribed €4.5bn Raise
Inflexion, a mid‑market private‑equity firm, closed an oversubscribed €4.5 billion fund—approximately $4.9 billion—after strong demand from wealth managers. The raise marks the firm’s first inclusion of non‑institutional, wealth‑manager capital alongside its traditional institutional base. Fund‑raising momentum reflects broader investor appetite for mid‑market...
Are PE’s Best Days Behind It? An LP and GP Discuss
In the latest "Commitment Issues" podcast, Brookfield’s David Nowak and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan’s Dale Burgess examine how private‑equity firms are adapting to a market with slower capital distributions and more challenging fundraising. They argue that limited partners now demand...
Middle East’s Fundraising Oasis Awaits GPs Who Are Willing to Commit
Private equity fundraising in the Middle East is entering a boom, with capital commitments reaching multi‑billion‑dollar levels. Sovereign wealth funds and regional investors are increasingly favoring general partners who demonstrate deep, long‑term commitment to the market. The region’s regulatory reforms...
University of California Shops $3bn LP Portfolio in Major Sale
The University of California announced it will sell a roughly $3 billion portfolio of limited‑partner (LP) stakes in private‑equity funds. The move is part of a broader strategy to rebalance its $140 billion endowment and generate cash for upcoming capital needs. UC...
Side Letter: Disrupting Secondaries
AI-related risk assessments are reshaping private‑equity secondary market processes, prompting firms to embed stricter side‑letter provisions. In Japan, limited partners are rapidly rotating commitments, creating a “musical chairs” dynamic among dealmakers. Meanwhile, a recent poll shows half of general partners...
‘Solid Exit Activity’ Still Insufficient to Clear APAC’s Overhang – Bain & Co
Bain & Co’s Asia‑Pacific Private Equity Report 2026 shows that companies held beyond five years increased 18% in 2025, indicating a growing portfolio overhang. Despite a modest uptick in exit activity across the region, the pace of disposals remains insufficient...
Mercer Acquisition Brings ‘Missing Link’ to AltamarCAM
Mercer has completed the acquisition of AltamarCAM, a specialist in private‑equity secondaries, to fill a strategic gap in its investment‑advisory platform. The deal was discussed by Mercer’s Michael Dempsey in a Q&A with AltamarCAM founder Jose Luis Molina, emphasizing the...
Side Letter: ‘Cardinal Sin’
The piece labels evergreen side‑letter structures a “cardinal sin” when they are mis‑sold or mis‑structured, warning that such arrangements can trap investors in perpetual commitments. It details a recent governance clash at one of Australia’s largest limited partners, prompting a...
The Lesser-Known Part of PE Where Sponsors Seek 3x-Plus Returns
Headway Capital Partners’ research shows independent private‑equity sponsors are targeting three‑times‑plus returns, outpacing traditional fund benchmarks. The shift stems from heightened deal selectivity and a strategic focus on lower‑multiple acquisitions. Sponsors believe tighter sourcing and disciplined pricing can deliver superior...
TPG Seeks to Re-Establish Japan PE Presence with Senior Hire
TPG Capital has appointed a senior executive to lead a renewed private‑equity push in Japan, marking the firm’s first dedicated leadership role in the market in years. The hire coincides with TPG NewQuest’s launch of its inaugural Japan‑based secondaries executive,...
Co-Investing Is Having Its Trafalgar Moment
Co‑investing is experiencing a resurgence, described as its "Trafalgar moment," as limited partners (LPs) increasingly allocate capital alongside general partners (GPs) rather than pursuing pure direct deals. While high‑profile investors have publicly pivoted away from direct investing, the underlying willingness...
An Insider’s Guide to Gifting Carried Interest and Estate Planning
CPA Anthony Venette advises private‑equity general partners to gift a portion of their carried interest early, allowing any subsequent appreciation to grow outside their taxable estate. By transferring this future‑growth right before it accrues, GPs can significantly reduce estate‑tax exposure...
Side Letter: Consolidation Complications
A limited partner (LP) is encountering challenges as recent M&A activity consolidates the private‑equity market, complicating side‑letter negotiations. The article notes that defensive investment strategies are already delivering returns, offsetting some of the consolidation risk. It also highlights Partners Group’s...
Singaporean Buyout Shop Plants First Overseas Flag in HK
Singapore’s leading buyout firm has opened its first overseas office in Hong Kong, marking a strategic push beyond its domestic market. The new location will support investment‑related activities and enhance investor‑relations capabilities across the region. By establishing a foothold in...
Future Fund Loses Private Markets Investment Leads
Australia's sovereign wealth fund, the Future Fund, announced the resignations of David Bluff and Tammi Fisher, who jointly oversaw private equity and real assets. Their departure adds to a recent wave of senior leadership exits at the fund. The exits...
Nevada PERS to Exit Clearlake Exposure Due to ‘Conflicts of Interest’
Nevada's Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS), managing roughly $74.9 billion, announced it will unwind its exposure to Clearlake Capital after identifying a potential conflict of interest. The conflict arises from Clearlake’s recent agreement to acquire Pathway Capital Management, which overlaps with...
The Clog in PE’s Exit Pipeline Is Getting Tougher to Clear
Private equity firms are facing a growing bottleneck in their exit pipeline as IPO markets stay muted, M&A activity slows, and secondary‑sale demand wanes. Elevated interest rates and tighter credit conditions are compressing valuations, forcing managers to hold assets longer...