Spotlight: A PEI Podcast

A golden era for opportunistic lending

This episode is sponsored by Sculptor Capital Management

The last 24 months have been a period of uncertainty and volatility in credit markets, with rising inflation and higher interest rates putting borrower capital structures under pressure and making it difficult for lenders to price risk.

These headwinds have proven challenging for mainstream lenders. But for opportunistic credit investors, it has provided a window to unlock attractive risk-adjusted returns in situations that are obscured by complexity.

In this episode, we sit down with Jimmy Levin, the chief investment officer of Sculptor Capital, a global alternative investment manager with more than $20 billion of credit assets under management across corporate, asset based and real estate credit. He discusses the opportunistic credit investment opportunity set, reflects on how it’s reshaping old thinking about the credit default cycle, and explores other strategies – notably, asset based finance – that benefit opportunistic lenders who can operate free of constraints.

Trump, fees on co-investments and how semi-liquids are affecting GP behaviour

Private markets are becoming more accessible to non-institutional investors, as the rise in semi-liquid vehicles this year demonstrates. At the same time, the industry is facing certain potential headwinds or tailwinds, depending on which region you're based in, as law firm Dechert's 2025 Global Private Equity Outlook survey has found.

In this episode, partners Sabina Comis and Chris Field sit down with Private Equity International senior editor Adam Le to discuss the results of the law firm's latest survey, which examines these issues and more.

In this podcast, Comis and Field also discuss:

• The expected impact of the US election on PE portfolios
• Regulatory scrutiny
• Fee structuring, including on co-investments
• Secondaries transaction activity and deal volume

For more private markets insights, check out privateequityinternational.com

Aware Super's checklist for emerging managers

Australian superannuation fund Aware Super opened its first overseas office in London last year and has wasted little time deploying capital. The fund, which manages A$170 billion ($110 billion; €105 billion) on behalf of predominantly nurses and teachers in Australia, quickly set on a plan to invest £5 billion ($6.3 billion; €6 billion) in the UK. It is almost halfway through that plan and most recently invested $370 million to acquire a stake in renewable energy group Octopus Energy.

In this episode, senior editor Adam Le sits down with Damien Webb, deputy chief investment officer and head of international, to discuss what the superfund looks for when it backs emerging managers (spoiler alert: it's more than just track record).

Webb also discusses how the fund invests in both funds and directs, its outlook on UK investments and how it plans to deploy more capital into secondaries.

Disruption Matters: Embarking on the next era of value creation

The Disruption Matters special podcast miniseries is back for a third season, and this year, leading industry experts discuss how private markets can best use today’s technologies to create value.

In the sixth and final episode of this season, we delve into how best to begin creating value using AI and other cutting-edge technology. It's no surprise that picking the right priorities is key, but so is staffing and senior management buy-in. With so many service providers, systems and apps in the market making so many promises, it's hard to imagine where to begin the process. While every GP and every portfolio company has unique needs and challenges, we offer the first principles that should guide listeners, no matter the size or strategy of the firm.

Guests include Matt Katz, global head of data science at Blackstone; Chris Satchell, managing director of tech and digital at Clayton, Dubilier and Rice; Raj Kushwaha, co-head of value creation and chief digital officer at Warburg Pincus; Misha Logvinov, a managing director at MGX; Tim Kiely, operating principal at BayPine; Hoyoung Pak, global co-lead of the AI & Data Practice Group at AlixPartners; and Jason McDannold, Americas co-lead, Private Equity, at AlixPartners.

Behind the numbers: Elevating transparency in private market valuations and benchmarking

This episode is sponsored by Scientific Infra and Private Assets

Abhishek Gupta and Tim Whittaker from Scientific Infra and Private Assets discuss the growing demand within private markets for accurate and robust data. They explore solutions that can address these needs, ultimately providing the private markets with comprehensive, high-quality valuations and reliable benchmarks.

Top tips from female founders in alternatives

Female founders continue to be underrepresented and underfunded. Women only accounted for 13.2 percent of all startups in 2023, according to data from software company Carta. This was down from 15.1 percent in 2022. So, it is safe to say progress has been slow.

However, in private markets, there are positive signs that the number of women founding firms and raising capital is increasing, albeit it from a low base. According to Venture Capital Journal, funds in which at least half of the founding partners are women accounted for just over 3 percent of global venture fundraising in 2023, up from 1.9 percent the previous year.

We decided to delve into this further, looking at what can be done to ensure the number of female founders continues to increase.

Earlier this month, PEI Group revealed its annual Women of Influence in Private Markets list 2024, which this year celebrates 42 inspiring women working in alternatives. For the second episode in this two-part miniseries, we spoke to some of the women featured in the list – each of whom have built businesses from the ground up – to discuss the keys to their success.

This episode includes Courtney Russell McCrea, co-founder and managing partner at Recast Capital; Eva Shang, CEO and co-founder at Legalist; and Rayenne Chen, partner at EQT and a founding member of the EQT Exeter team. They offer advice to women looking to start their own business.

Catch the first episode of our Women of Influence podcast miniseries, which is all about mentoring, here.

Disruption Matters: Optimizing talent for this new era

This episode is sponsored by AlixPartners

The Disruption Matters special podcast miniseries is back for a third season, and this year, leading industry experts discuss how private markets can best use today’s technologies to create value.

In this fifth episode, we discuss tech's role in recruiting, onboarding and developing talent. Along the way, we address how best to recruit Gen Z, the limits of AI in this particular arena and how tech is changing the nature of talent management as a discipline. With tech tackling so many of the rudimentary tasks around talent management, human capital professionals will be freed up to focus on the more complicated tasks around motivation, evaluation and leadership. In short, tech may make some duties simpler, but the key challenges of managing people will still need to be addressed by humans.

Guests include Christopher P Trendler, managing director and head of portfolio talent at Madison Dearborn Partners; Nicole Jones, talent director, portfolio support group at Advent International; John Sander, principal, portfolio solutions at Lightyear Capital; and Ted Bililies, the global leader of transformative leadership at AlixPartners.

Clips
- Her. Spike Jonze, Annapurna Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures
- M3GAN. Akela Cooper, Universal Pictures

Can mentoring help close the private markets gender gap?

Women are still underrepresented across private markets, while reaching senior positions remains particularly challenging. In light of this, we decided to take a deep dive into how mentoring can serve as a tool for success and empower women working in the industry.

Last week, PEI Group revealed its annual Women of Influence in Private Markets list 2024, which this year celebrates 42 inspiring women working in alternatives. For the first episode in this two-part miniseries, we spoke to some of the women featured in the list to discuss the keys to mentoring success.

In this episode, Patricia Miller Zollar, a managing director at Neuberger Berman; Rosalind Smith-Maxwell, a director at Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners; and Jackie Rantanen, head of investor solutions at Hamilton Lane, discuss their personal mentoring experiences and explore how well the industry is doing in supporting up and coming talent.

Read more about this year’s Women of Influence in Private Markets list here.

Disruption Matters: How tech supercharges today's roll-ups

This episode is sponsored by AlixPartners

The Disruption Matters special podcast series is back for a third season, and this year, leading industry experts discuss how private markets can best use today’s technologies to create value.

In this fourth episode, we discuss tech's role in improving the speed, rigour and ease of roll-up strategies, where a private equity firm acquires a platform company in a fragmented industry and uses M&A to consolidate targets to create a market leader. It's a popular strategy for the simple reason: it's worked so well in recent years. We'll look at what today's cutting-edge tools, including AI, can do for roll-up strategies, and where human expertise and experience still can't be replaced.

Guests include David Poole, partner, executive chair of digital at Stanley Capital; Max Julian Kaye, principal at Battery Ventures; Saurabh Singh, partner at AlixPartners; Jason McDannold, partner and managing director at AlixPartners; and Hoyoung Pak, partner and managing director at AlixPartners.

Clips
-"People," Barbara Streisand. Funny Girl. Capitol
-"Human Touch," Bruce Springsteen. Human Touch. Columbia

Identifying the office of the future

Despite being plagued by headwinds including high interest rates, shrinking demand and declining property values since the start of the covid-19 pandemic, the office sector is starting to see some green shoots as usage and leasing rise. 

In this episode, Jim Costello, executive director and co-head of the real-assets team at MSCI, and Ran Eliasaf, founder and managing partner of New York-based real estate private equity firm Northwind, see growing signs of stabilization – and believe this trend is starting to extend outside of class A assets in gateway markets.  

Additionally, there is a rise in creative thinking about how to use older properties, including converting vintage office stock to other uses, and even acquiring office properties on a low basis and doing a complete renovation. 

For more insights on this, please see PERE Credit's October/November cover story here. 

Private credit lenders seize the moment in Europe

This episode is sponsored by Arrow Global

Private debt has enjoyed sustained success in recent years, with private credit firms stepping in to fill the void left by the retreat of banks from their traditional lending role. The outlook for the asset class in Europe remains strong, as firms continue to find compelling opportunities, even in sectors that face market headwinds.

A persistent supply-demand imbalance in the housing market across most European countries means that residential real estate is a particularly attractive sector for lenders. Changing work patterns are also giving a long-term boost to parts of the hospitality real estate sector, with southern European markets able to take advantage of a boom in demand.

In this episode, Zach Lewy, founder and CEO of Arrow Global, discusses how asset-backed lending enables private credit firms to minimise risk while capitalising on emerging opportunities. Success, he notes, hinges on maintaining strategic discipline in a landscape ripe with potential.

SI Decade: is Asia-Pacific the most promising secondaries market?

This episode is sponsored by Kirkland & Ellis, LGT Capital Partners and TPG NewQuest

The Asia-Pacific secondaries market is one of the most fascinating corners of the global secondaries landscape. This region typically never accounts for more than single-digit figures in terms of global deal volume share – yet some of the most innovative transactions have come out of the APAC market over the years.

In this episode of our Decade of Secondaries Investing miniseries, we sit down with Brooke Zhou, partner at LGT Capital Partners; Michelle Cheh, partner at Kirkland & Ellis; and Darren Massara, managing partner at TPG NewQuest, to discuss what types of deals have happened over the last 10 years in the Asia-Pacific region.

We explore Renminbi-to-US dollar restructurings and why these have taken a back seat in 2024; why valuations are a more complex issue when it comes to Asia-Pacific GPs than their global counterparts; the different drivers of dealflow in the various markets in APAC and what types of opportunities these are bringing about; and why the regulations affecting GP-led secondaries deals in the US and western Europe have had little impact on APAC secondaries transactions.

For full coverage of our Decade of Secondaries Investing series, including all podcast episodes and an interactive timeline, click here.

Disruption Matters: Managing the middle

This episode is sponsored by AlixPartners

The Disruption Matters special podcast miniseries is back for a third season, and this year, leading industry experts discuss how private markets can best use today’s technologies to create value.

In this third episode, we will discuss life after the 100-day plan and that tricky middle period where effective portfolio management is paramount, especially if the company isn’t growing in line with expectations. Here we’ll investigate how tech and AI can be used to diagnose problems, even propose solutions, and how much the human element still matters in managing a crisis. For example, no workforce wants management relying on AI bots to sell them on a new strategic direction.

Guests include Arvindh Kumar, partner and co-head of technology, private equity at EQT; Antony Edwards, managing director at PSG Equity; Neil Kalvelage, co-lead of portfolio operations team efforts at Centerbridge; and Dan Boland, partner and managing director at AlixPartners.

Clips:
- Magnum Force. John Milius, Robert Daily, Warner Bros, The Malpaso Company.
- RoboCop. Edward Neumeier, Michael Miner, Arne Schmidt, Orion Pictures.

What stabilizing base rates mean for commercial real estate

This episode is sponsored by Arrow Global

Commercial real estate was heavily affected by rising interest rates throughout 2023. Many sectors of the asset class struggled against a challenging macroeconomic backdrop, with transaction activity dropping significantly and debt providers becoming more conservative in their lending. But over the course of 2024, base rates have begun to stabilize. So, how are investors adapting?

In this episode of Spotlight, Zachary Vaughan, chief investment officer and global head of real estate at Arrow Global, speaks to Jonathan Brasse, editor-in-chief, real estate at PEI Group, about the impact of stabilizing interest rates and the best strategies for investors navigating the current market landscape. He discusses the significance of localized expertise in Europe, the emergence of situational distress in smaller transactions, and the shift towards operational real estate investments. He also discusses evolving portfolios and the increasing appeal of sectors like hospitality and retail.

How to get into the SI 50: Inside our latest ranking of the biggest secondaries fundraisers

The top 50 secondaries investors globally raised $473.8 billion in the five years to the end of 2023, according to this year’s SI 50. That’s a 9 percent increase on last year’s ranking, when $434.5 billion was recorded across a longer counting period of five-and-a-half years.

Ardian took the top spot, raising $49.6 billion across the period, followed closely by Blackstone Strategic Partners, which raked in $49.5 billion. Lexington Partners, which holds the record for the largest secondaries fund ever raised, accumulated $36.7 billion in commitments, coming in at number three.

Specialisation is driving much of this underlying growth – whether that be through asset class expansion, strategies focused down on LP-leds or GP-led deals, or picking a focus on a market segment with less secondary competition. Evergreen vehicles are also spurring on new avenues for secondaries capital raising.

In this episode of Second Thoughts, senior reporter Madeleine Farman and Americas correspondent Hannah Zhang discuss how far these factors have driven growth in the SI 50 and how much room there is to grow further.

See the full SI 50 ranking here

Carry tax increase in the UK: Anarchy for PE or a new reality?

Profit sharing is at the heart of the private equity incentive model: deliver LPs a certain return and keep 20 percent of the profits.

But private equity managers in the UK look set to pay a higher tax on any profit they take from such investments. The Labour government, which was voted into power in July, has said it aims to raise the tax on carried interest so it’s closer to the income tax rate of 45 percent. Doing so would raise £565 million pounds ($746 million; €671 million) in annual revenue, according to the government’s estimates.

In this episode, we sit down with Michael Graham, a partner at law firm DLA Piper who specialises in tax for private funds. Graham has been part of the consultation group providing the UK's tax authority with details on what a potential hike in carried interest tax could mean.

Graham discusses the lessons the UK can learn from other jurisdictions, why it's unlikely professionals in the UK private equity industry will leave en masse, why a flat tax rate is an attractive idea, and what 'capital at risk' may really mean.

Navigating the Asian private credit opportunity

This episode is sponsored by Bain Capital

Asia’s credit markets are the largest in the world, yet they remain heavily bank dominated. While large blue-chip businesses are well serviced, there is a material undersupply of custom, fit-for-purpose capital for SMEs, mid-market businesses and financial sponsors. This is creating a significant opportunity for direct lenders.

Asia’s credit markets are also complex and nuanced, which places a premium on managers with the right networks, insights and experience.

In this episode of the Private Debt Investor Podcast, Bain Capital’s Andrew Schantz, discusses how to navigate Asian private credit and what the future holds for an asset class having a “golden moment” across the globe.

Infrastructure debt: 'A critical part of the capital solution'

This episode is sponsored by Barings and Nuveen

Technological innovation is making everything more digital-dependent, and a looming climate catastrophe is ramping up demands for cleaner energy. But neither digitisation nor the energy transition can be accomplished without building new infrastructure or repurposing existing assets, which requires some serious capital investment. Yet, with public purses at near empty levels and regulation constraining bank lending over the last decade, there is a sizable financing gap. This presents an opportunity for private markets.

In this episode, Pieter Welman, head of global infrastructure at Barings, and Don Dimitrievich, a senior managing director at Nuveen and portfolio manager for the firm’s energy infrastructure credit business, tell Infrastructure Investor’s Helen Lewer that infra debt is a core part of the capital solution. They explain why the strategy’s resilience in difficult economic conditions is piquing the interests of more and more LPs that are eager to finance the world’s future infrastructure needs.

Infrastructure firms look to accelerate the energy transition in Europe

This episode is sponsored by Infravia Capital Partners and Vauban Infrastructure Partners

Few would deny that investment in the energy transition is an urgent priority across Europe. Without investment in renewable energy, along with a host of associated infrastructure, there is little hope of meeting net-zero targets. Moreover, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine has demonstrated, Europe’s energy security depends on the continent harnessing its own renewable resources.

Yet escalating costs, supply chain disruption and rising interest rates have complicated the investment picture. Fund managers must navigate a complex web of considerations to ensure they select assets that truly possess infrastructure characteristics.

In this episode, Christoph Bruguier, chief investment officer at Vauban Infrastructure Partners, and Aymar de Tracy, partner in the infrastructure investment team at Infravia Capital Partners, tell Infrastructure Investor’s Ben Payton that the outlook remains strong. Despite complications in the market, they agree that infrastructure funds can access enormous opportunities with a disciplined strategy around energy transition investing.

NAV finance steps into the mainstream

This episode is sponsored by 17Capital

NAV finance used to be a niche, little known corner of debt capital markets, but over the past 10 years it has evolved into a firmly established part of the private markets ecosystem.

As NAV finance has moved into the mainstream, private capital managers have taken up NAV facilities in ever greater numbers to address a wide range of financing requirements.

So, how are managers using NAV finance across their platforms, and how has the market navigated a cycle of rising inflation and interest rates? What do LPs think of NAV finance and what is the outlook for the industry in the next 12 to 24 months?

In this episode, we sit down with 17Capital partner Dane Graham to discuss what has driven the NAV finance industry’s rapid growth over the last 10 years, unpack how managers are using NAV facilities at the portfolio company and fund level, and look ahead to what comes next following a period of higher interest rates and tighter liquidity.

SI Decade: Europe’s appeal and the evolution of specialisation

This episode is sponsored by UBS Asset Management and Proskauer Rose

The global secondaries market has grown from roughly $47 billion in 2014 to more than $100 billion today. In Europe, fragmentation has led to some significant regional differences. However, it is also clear that many of the trends and dynamics found in the European market are the same as in North America – indeed, some of these developments occurred there first.

In the penultimate episode of the Decade of Secondaries Investing podcast miniseries, we sit down with Jochen Mende, an executive director responsible for secondaries transactions at UBS Asset Management, and Bruno Bertrand-Delfau, partner and co-head of secondaries transactions and liquidity solutions at Proskauer Rose.

The pair discuss how the European secondaries market has developed over the past decade, how it compares with the North American market and what’s in store for GP-led and LP-led transactions globally.

For full coverage of our Decade of Secondaries Investing series, including all podcast episodes and an interactive timeline, click here.

Disruption Matters: The future of due diligence

This episode is sponsored by AlixPartners

The Disruption Matters special podcast miniseries is back for a third season, and this year, leading industry experts will discuss how private markets can best use today’s technologies to create value.

In this second episode, we explore how technology is changing the nature of due diligence. How much can AI improve investment decisions? Is it only a matter of data management, or can these new technologies help identify potential operational efficiencies, EBITDA growth and new markets? And is this reserved for tech-forward industries like SaaS or can they be applied to sectors like manufacturing and insurance? We answer these questions with what’s possible today, complete with the limitations and the need for expert supervision. Listeners should know that this episode ends with a plot twist that might keep GPs up at night.

Guests include Anders Thulin, partner and head of digital & technology practice at Triton Partners; Andrew Tarver, founding partner of Motive Partners; Hoyoung Pak, a partner and managing director with AlixPartners; Jason McDannold, partner and managing director with AlixPartners; Lewis Bantin, partner at ECI; Sofia Gertsberg, managing director of quantitative investment science at HarbourVest; and Jeremy Lehman, director at Alix Partners.

Clips:
- Alien. Dan O'Bannon. 20th Century-Fox, Brandywine Productions.
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens. JJ Abrams. Lucasfilm Ltd, Bad Robot, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

PEI's Future 40 on finding a niche in private equity

The private equity industry is increasingly recognising the value of encouraging PE professionals to pursue more niche investing and operational strategies at their institutions.

In this episode of Spotlight, three of Private Equity International's 40 under 40: Future Leaders of Private Equity 2024 listees – Lamar Cardinez, a principal at Blue Owl Capital; Ngoc Can, portfolio director, co-investments at Texas Municipal Retirement System; and Richard Pearce, a partner at ECI Partners – discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with leveraging their expertise to find new streams of revenue. They also share their career advice for the next generation of PE professionals.

Disruption Matters: The digital promise

This series is sponsored by AlixPartners

The Disruption Matters special podcast miniseries is back for season three: AI and the future of value creation. This year, leading industry experts will discuss how private markets can best use today’s technologies to create value.

In this first episode, The digital promise: Threats and opportunities, we set the stage by getting a reality check around what today’s AI solutions can and can’t do. While AI-related tech has enormous potential, firms need to select their use cases wisely, tailored to the unique needs of a given business. And like any other technology, it’s only as good as its implementation, which is still governed by the timeless demands of any change management. But managers don’t have the luxury of waiting for others to develop best practices; at the current pace of innovation, there’s too great a risk of being left behind.

Guests in this episode include Jason McDannold and Hoyoung Pak, partners and managing directors at AlixPartners; David Bonasia, head of value creation for the Americas for Brookfield Asset Management’s PE business; Blythe Masters, a founding partner of Motive Partners; Ashish Chandarana, head of portfolio optimisation and partner at Veritas Capital; Luke Chan, a partner with HighVista Strategies; Michael Zeller, head, AI strategy and solutions at Temasek; and Catherine Brien, a partner and managing director at AlixPartners.

Clips:
-2001: A Space Odyssey. Stanley Kubrick Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C Clarke.
-The Terminator. Hemdale, Pacific Western Productions, Euro Film Funding Cinema '84, Orion Pictures, James Cameron, Gale Anne Hurd.
-Her. Warner Bros Pictures, Annapurna Pictures, Spike Jonze.

Inside the latest PEI 300 of private equity's heaviest hitters

The PEI 300 ranking of private equity's biggest fundraisers is becoming an even more exclusive club: this year, a manager needed to have raised at least $2.3 billion over the preceding five-year period, up from $2.08 billion in the previous ranking.

The 300 firms in this year's ranking raised a whopping $3.28 trillion between them – a 6 percent year-on-year increase. In the top 10 alone, these firms raised $741 billion, up more than $10 billion from the previous ranking.

In this episode of Spotlight, PEI senior editor Adam Le, Americas correspondent Hannah Zhang and Hong Kong bureau chief Alex Lynn delve into the figures of this year's PEI 300 to look at a few trends including: GP stakes firms' positions in the ranking; the movement of Asia-Pacific-headquartered firms in the list; and why GP-LP communication is more important than ever when it comes to fundraising.

SI Decade: How the secondaries industry can empower women

The private equity industry has been pushing for more gender equality among GPs, LPs and intermediaries over the past decade, and the trend is now taking hold in the secondaries market, where diversity issues have historically received less attention.

In recent years, women across secondaries have been advocating for empowerment movements and forming support groups, including the Women in Secondaries network launched by Coller Capital and Akin Gump in 2020, as well as the WINS initiative backed in 2021 by five industry professionals representing the buyside, advisory, lending and legal sectors.

For those who have made it to senior roles, the priority is to retain, promote and elevate other women. In this eighth episode of the Decade of Secondaries Investing miniseries, Americas correspondent Hannah Zhang sits down with two women pioneers to discuss how the secondaries industry can promote gender equality. They are Francesca Paveri, senior managing director at investment bank Evercore, and Tori Buffery, senior director of secondaries at Nicola Wealth and senior adviser at Morningside Capital.

For full coverage of our Decade of Secondaries Investing series, including all podcast episodes and an interactive timeline, click here.

SI Decade: Why specialised secondaries are poised for growth

Specialised secondaries strategies are becoming an increasingly important part of the market. According to data complied by Secondaries Investor, 85 percent of the capital raised by secondaries funds in final closes last year was for private equity strategies; the remainder of this was for non-PE strategies, and the year before that more than one-third of capital raised was for non-PE strategies.

There is also increasing specialisation within private equity secondaries, as firms including Lexington Partners, Strategic Partners, AlpInvest Partners and LGT Capital Partners carve out teams to focus on single-asset continuation funds.

In episode seven of the Decade of Secondaries Investing miniseries, senior editor Adam Le sits down with Jeremy Coller, chief investment officer and managing partner at Coller Capital, and Yann Robard, managing partner at Dawson Partners, to discuss how far the asset class has come in terms of specialisation and cross-asset-class appeal.

• For full coverage of our Decade of Secondaries Investing series, including all podcast episodes and an interactive timeline, click here.
• Listen: "Everything you wanted to know about preferred equity"

Clean energy: More capital will come in 2024

This episode is sponsored by Nuveen Infrastructure and NextEnergy Capital

Clean energy is key to turning the world’s net-zero ambitions into a reality, an argument few would contest. So the IEA’s 2023 World Energy Investment report, which showed that clean energy investing rose at a faster rate than investment in fossil fuels in the period between 2021 and 2023, offers plenty of cause for optimism that the world is on the right path to tackling the climate crisis.

But it’s not moving fast enough, according to the United Nations, which has warned that government commitments are falling well short of what’s required to deliver net zero by 2050. It says that billions in capital must be ploughed into the energy transition to end reliance on polluting fuels.

In this episode of Spotlight, Infrastructure Investor’s Helen Lewer speaks to Joost Bergsma, global head of clean energy at Nuveen Infrastructure, and Michael Bonte-Friedheim, founder and group CEO of NextEnergy Capital, to gauge whether institutional capital’s loyalty to the agenda has wavered amid a difficult fundraising backdrop. Their conclusion? With many LPs under-allocated to infrastructure and the fundamentals for clean energy investing still sound, they expect more capital to flow into the space in 2024 and beyond. But managers with track records will have an edge in the competition for capital.

SI Decade: The birth of programmatic secondaries sales

Post-global financial crisis, many institutional investors were forced sellers, offloading private markets exposure at hefty discounts. More than a decade on, these same institutional investors have become repeat sellers on the secondaries market, using the tool as a way to proactively manage their portfolios. How has LP sentiment toward the secondaries market changed, and what is the outlook for this mainstay of the sub-sector?

In this sixth episode of the Decade of Secondaries Investing miniseries, Secondaries Investor senior reporter Madeleine Farman sits down with Jeffrey Keay, managing director at HarbourVest Partners, and Adrian Millan, partner at PJT Park Hill. Keay and Millan take a deep dive into LP portfolio management and look at how institutional investors are using secondaries as a tool to manage private markets exposure.

We look into the evolution of programmatic secondaries sales and explore the drivers and dynamics behind why some institutional investors are repeat sellers of private markets exposure.

• For full coverage of our Decade of Secondaries Investing series, including all podcast episodes and an interactive timeline, click here
• Read: "Liquidity the primary use case for GPs looking to enter secondaries processes – PJT"
• Read: "Evercore: distressed sellers 1% of 2013 market volume"

The sustainable boom in private credit

This episode is sponsored by the Credit Investments Group (CIG)

Private credit has expanded exponentially in recent years, with most citing the contraction in syndicated markets as the cause of that growth. But now those markets are opening back up, and questions linger about how that will affect private credit.

So what do continued inflation and elevated interest rates mean for today's managers? What does private credit look like now, and how will it adapt to a new macroeconomic landscape? Will private credit shrink in the wake of access to public credit, or will the two co-exist to provide a full suite of financing options to their clients?

In this episode, we'll look back at the causes of private credit's recent boom, how much of that boom might continue, and what the future of lending is likely to be in the coming years. We’re joined by Kevin Lawi, private credit portfolio manager and head of origination at the Credit Investments Group in UBS Asset Management (formerly known as Credit Suisse Asset Management), along with his colleague on the public side, David Mechlin, a US portfolio manager and member of the CIG Corporate Credit Committee.

SI Decade: Inside the biggest regulation changes to secondaries

The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s recently passed rules relating to the GP-led secondaries market have put these deals squarely on LPs’ radars.

“[These rules] raise the visibility of GP-led transactions to LPs and they signal how important and risky those transactions might be,” Igor Rozenblit – managing partner and founder of governance, risk and regulatory services provider Iron Road Partners and the former private equity expert in the Division of Enforcement of the SEC – told Secondaries Investor.

“I wouldn't be surprised for LPs who have already focused on these transactions to focus on them even more… While all the other risks the LPs have always worried about are present, now you've got an additional regulatory risk as an LP that you have to worry about, and LPs are typically very concerned with their exposure to headline risk."

In this fifth episode of the Decade of Secondaries Investing podcast miniseries, we sit down with Rozenblit and Isabel Dische, chair of Ropes & Gray’s alternative asset opportunities group, to discuss the secondaries aspects of the private fund advisers rules under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and Form PF rules.

The pair discuss the evolution of the SEC’s focus on this small sub-asset class within the sprawling private markets landscape, what the regulator is looking out for in these transactions, and how GPs, buyers and advisers can navigate best practice as well as reputational risk that could come with these deals.

• For full coverage of our Decade of Secondaries Investing series, including all podcast episodes and an interactive timeline, click here.
• Read: "SEC votes through rules on GP-led secondaries reporting timeline"
• Read: "Rubber stamp speeds up market standardisation"
• Read: "The VSS case and the path toward best practice"
• Read: "Iron Road Partners: Analyst note on American Infrastructure Funds SEC charge" 

SI Decade: Will the North American market’s dominance continue?

This episode is sponsored by Ares Management, Dawson Partners and Proskauer Rose

The North American secondaries market remains the deepest and most active area for secondaries trading of all the global regions. Around $114 billion-worth of alternatives exposure changed hands last year and North America accounted for around two-thirds of global secondaries trading.

In this fourth episode of the Decade of Secondaries Investing miniseries, we sit down with Eddie Keith, a partner and head of infrastructure secondaries in the Ares Secondaries Group; Chris Robinson, partner in the private funds group at Proskauer Rose and co-head of the firm’s secondary transactions and liquidity solutions practice; and Yann Robard, founder and managing partner at Dawson Partners, which recently rebranded from Whitehorse Liquidity Partners.

The trio discuss how the North American secondaries market got where it is today, and what’s next for this crucial region.

For full coverage of our Decade of Secondaries Investing series, including all podcast episodes and an interactive timeline, click here.

SI Decade: From frustration to longer holds with single-asset continuation vehicles

Single-asset continuation funds have surged in popularity in recent years. While the technology isn't new, it took persistence from secondaries market advisers to show both private equity managers and buyers that vehicles associated with the moniker 'zombie funds' could be used to keep hold of star-performing assets.

Last year, single-asset continuation fund vehicles took out the largest share of GP-led transactions, accounting for around 39 percent of the $48 billion of volume seen in this part of the market, according to a year-end report from Lazard.

There was "some reluctance" from secondaries buyers when conversations around single-asset continuation fund transactions began, Harold Hope, global head of secondaries at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, told Secondaries Investor. "We traditionally bought portfolios. Sometimes they were concentrated portfolios, but they were always portfolios."

Today, these vehicles allow Goldman Sachs "to mitigate some of the broader risk that we face when we buy a diversified portfolio," Hope said, adding that the team is "excited about the opportunities" globally.

In this third episode of the Decade of Secondaries Investing podcast miniseries to celebrate the 10 years since Secondaries Investor launched, we sit down with Hope and Holcombe Green, global head of Lazard’s private capital advisory business. They discuss how continuation fund technology was developed over time to facilitate single-asset continuation funds, and how large this pocket of the market could become as more capital is allocated to the area.

For full coverage of our Decade of Secondaries Investing series, including all podcast episodes and an interactive timeline, click here.

SI Decade: Zombie funds to continuation vehicles

What's in a name? The process of moving an asset or assets from an existing private markets fund into a separate structure has been happening for some time now – some say as early as 2006 and possibly even prior to that.

The so-called 'continuation fund' market was worth around $40 billion last year, according to advisory estimates. Yet, this market was not always seen as a positive and constructive tool with which fund sponsors could deliver liquidity, via an option, while retaining their hold over prized assets.

In the second episode of the Decade of Secondaries Investing miniseries to celebrate the 10 years since Secondaries Investor launched, we sit down with Nigel Dawn, head of private capital advisory at investment bank Evercore, and Verdun Perry, global head of Blackstone's Strategic Partners group, to discuss the evolution of the continuation fund market over the past decade and what's in store for how this tool will continue to be used.

• For full coverage of our Decade of Secondaries Investing series, including all podcast episodes and an interactive timeline, click here.
• See the PEI 300 here.
• Read "Single-asset CVs offer steadier returns than buyout funds – Evercore
• Read "How do continuation funds really perform?"
• Read "More LPs seek to back secondaries funds"

Delivering flexible capital during difficult times

This episode is sponsored by Blackstone

Private credit has seen significant growth over the past year, with some of the largest asset managers increasing their allocations to the sector. It comes as volatile market conditions and geopolitical tensions have plagued most industries, revealing private debt as a more secure source of capital. So, how are firms looking to take advantage of this uptick in activity? And what areas will they be focusing on going forward?

In this episode, we're joined by Blackstone’s Michael Zawadzki and Brad Marshall to explore some of the trends shaping private credit and analyse what the manager’s investment strategy looks like. The podcast comes after Blackstone integrated its corporate credit, asset-based finance, and insurance groups into a single new unit called Blackstone Credit & Insurance (BXCI) in September.

PIMCO’s François Trausch on decarbonization, banks and ‘pretend and extend’

On this episode, François Trausch, CEO and CIO of PIMCO Prime Real Estate, reflects on the behavior of the central banks, refinancing and the demands of decarbonization. Recorded at the PERE Europe conference as part of his keynote address, he speaks with PEI Group’s Jonathan Brasse about the outlook for the market.

“I think learning to be a good investor is also learning to do nothing from time to time,” he said. “That doesn't mean [investors are] not busy… There's work to be done, and I think if the bid-ask spread is narrowing, which we're seeing, I think sales will come back and there's lots to be done in putting the same teams on the sales effort and understanding how to use the capital stack, not just you know, to do equity, but to look at more hybrid ways to invest.”

Read more of PERE's coverage here

SI Decade: From financial crisis to secondaries sales

A decade ago, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, anxiety around unknowns was still rippling through financial markets, including within secondaries. Similarly, there was a great deal of concern around the Volcker Rule that came into effect in 2014, which essentially prohibited banks from investing in private equity with their own funds.

In 2013, secondaries volume sat at around $28 billion. The following year, volume leapt to $42 billion. While regulation should not be overplayed, the Volcker Rule and Solvency II – a regulation affecting insurance companies and the percentage of risky assets they can hold on their balance sheets – played a big role in this increase.

In 2014, "There was suddenly... a lot more publicity being given to what people had been doing," Katherine Ashton, partner at Debevoise & Plimpton, explained. "With the increased publicity, with the increased knowledge of the market, that fed on itself and led to outdoing some of the predictions [for the growth of the market] because the more people realised that there were willing buyers and sellers, the more it allowed the market to develop."

Welcome to the Decade of Secondaries Investing miniseries, where we celebrate 10 years of Secondaries Investor with reflections on key trends that have shaped the market, as well as a glimpse into what likely lies ahead. In this first episode, we sit down with Ashton as well as Michael Granoff, chief executive and founder at Pomona Capital. Each give insight into how the Volcker Rule and other post-GFC legislative frameworks spurred secondaries sales.

For full coverage of our Decade of Secondaries Investing series, including all podcast episodes and an interactive timeline, click here.

Where banks' multifamily exposure is causing the most 'acute risk'

In this episode, Brian Thies and Christopher Wolfe of Fitch Ratings speak with PERE Americas editor Miriam Hall about the outlook for multifamily real estate in the US and how banks may be exposed.

Banks’ multifamily lending has grown 32 percent since the end of 2019, per a Fitch report last month, to hit $613 billion at the end of 2023. That is a complicating factor for some regional banks, especially those with significant exposure to rent-controlled assets or areas facing oversupply. “The performance is still looking good, but that growth is probably masking what's underneath,” Wolfe said on the show.

Theis said it is an asset that has “flown under the radar” to a certain extent. “It's a class within CRE that has seen significant growth over the last four years – and as such, most of that was underwritten at extremely low interest rates,” he added. “So now, as a lot of that is coming up for refinance, it's doing so at significantly higher rates.”

PERE’s April cover examines outlook for multifamily, which you can read here.

So you want to launch a new fund strategy?

Specialisation in the private equity industry has become part and parcel of its growth, with almost half of the roughly $785 billion raised for private equity strategies last year focused on non-buyout strategies.

In this episode, senior editor Adam Le sits down with Richard Anthony, chief executive of investment bank Evercore’s private funds group, to hear his advice for GP clients wanting to launch so-called 'ancillary' strategies.

For more, check out privatequityinternational.com.

Where electric vehicles meet infrastructure investing

Across the globe, EVs are seeing an uptick in both usership and government support. They stand to deeply reshape power grids, so the infrastructure supporting them has become top of mind for forward-thinking infrastructure investors. In this episode, we sit down with Benjamin Bygott-Webb, a managing director at EQT, and Gregory Remec, head of North American infrastructure at Fitch Ratings, to explore the investment opportunities – both direct and indirect – and how those investments may impact the already precarious electric grid.

To learn more, check out these stories on infrastructureinvestor.com: 

• The key is in the ignition, but will EV charging in the US start up?
• The EV challenge
• The charge towards greener transport

The figures behind secondaries' second record year

In this episode of Second Thoughts, our bi-monthly take on the biggest trends and developments in secondaries, Secondaries Investor's Madeleine Farman, Adam Le and Hannah Zhang cut through the headline figures in 2023's advisory reports to break down geographic trends and key themes in the market.

Total deal volume sat somewhere in the region of $109 billion to $115 billion in 2023 with LP-led volume making up $56 billion to $66 billion.

Farman, Le and Zhang delve into topics including APAC secondaries market activity, structured liquidity offerings such as NAV loans, preferred equity and GP commit financing, and the popularity of multi-asset continuation funds as managers seek to find ways to generate DPI for LPs.

Navigating APAC's 'toughest-ever' fundraising environment

It's no secret that raising Asia-Pacific private equity funds has become extremely difficult, with regulatory uncertainty, geopolitical tensions and shifting risk appetites contributing to one of the region's toughest-ever fundraising environments.

According to Private Equity International data, funds in the region raised $49.2 billion last year, down substantially from $77.6 billion in 2022 and less than half the $122.9 billion raised in 2021. Only 187 funds held a final close in 2023 – roughly half the 365 closed in 2022 and less than a third of the 637 closed in 2021.

With LPs more selective than ever in the region, the onus is on GPs to stand out from the crowd. In this episode, PEI Group Hong Kong bureau chief Alex Lynn sits down with three of the region's most senior fundraisers – Monument Group partner Niklas Amundsson, Atlantic-Pacific Capital partner Vincent Ng and Asante Capital's head of Asia Ricardo Felix – to discuss how shifting LP appetites are reshaping these markets.

To read more about what to expect from APAC private equity in 2024, read our story in Private Equity International here.

The impact of geopolitics on real estate returns

For more, be sure to also check out PERE's February cover story "Private real estate’s collision course with geopolitics."

Geopolitical tensions topped the list of near-term downside risks for businesses in the latest global risk survey by economic forecasting firm Oxford Economics. It is also a risk of particular relevance for the private real estate industry, given how geopolitical conflict stands to have a detrimental effect on property returns on both a macro and micro level.

In this episode, PERE editor Evelyn Lee speaks with Abby Rosenbaum, associate director at Oxford Economics, about how geopolitical uncertainty overall contributes to a higher-for-longer interest rate environment, which is considered to be the most damaging risk scenario on real estate performance. At the same time, specific geopolitical conflicts – namely, the escalating war in the Middle East and the looming threat of a conflict in the Taiwan Strait – also have a direct negative impact on real estate returns, but that impact varies by market and sector in less-than-obvious ways.

How endowments and foundations can make the most of market volatility

Endowments and foundations are some of the most consistent investors in private equity, and they often have some the highest allocations to the asset class. But have the challenges private equity has faced over the last 12 months dented their appetite? What are some of these investors thinking when it comes to their private equity portfolios?

In this episode of Spotlight, senior editor Adam Le sits down with Jill Shaw, a managing director at global consultancy Cambridge Associates, to find out what advice she is giving her clients when it comes to private markets portfolio construction and which investment strategies are most attractive to them.

Apollo’s Akila Grewal on the firm's strategic evolution

Subscribe to the new Private Debt Investor Podcast wherever you like to listen, or click here: https://www.privatedebtinvestor.com/podcast

PEI Group publication Private Debt Investor recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary, and now it's launching its own podcast! To kick it off, PDI is taking a six-part look back with its Decade of Private Debt podcast miniseries, speaking with some of the industry's leading figures about the challenges, triumphs and the evolving dynamics that have defined the world of private credit over the past 10 years.

In this sixth and final episode, Akila Grewal, partner in client and product solutions at Apollo, discusses the progression of her firm’s private debt business, as well as her personal growth within the industry.

If you haven’t yet, be sure to subscribe to the Private Debt Investor Podcast wherever you like to listen, or click here. There, you’ll continue getting market-leading insight into the world of private credit from some of the industry’s biggest names, as well as PDI’s team of reporters and analysts.

And be sure to also check out our Decade of Private Debt special report at privatedebtinvestor.com.

ELFA's Sabrina Fox on the tussles that have shaped deal agreements

Subscribe to the new Private Debt Investor Podcast wherever you like to listen, or click here: https://www.privatedebtinvestor.com/podcast

PEI Group publication Private Debt Investor recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary, and now it's launching its own podcast! To kick it off, PDI is taking a six-part look back with its Decade of Private Debt podcast miniseries, speaking with some of the industry's leading figures about the challenges, triumphs and the evolving dynamics that have defined the world of private credit over the past 10 years.

In this fifth episode, European Leveraged Finance Association CEO Sabrina Fox reflects on the highs and lows of borrower/lender deal negotiations in the industry.

To get the entire six-part miniseries right now, and continue getting market-leading insight into the world of private credit afterwards, search and subscribe to the Private Debt Investor Podcast wherever you like to listen, or click here.

And be sure to also check out our Decade of Private Debt special report at privatedebtinvestor.com.

Pemberton's Symon Drake-Brockman on the building of a pan-European GP

Subscribe to the new Private Debt Investor Podcast wherever you like to listen, or click here: https://www.privatedebtinvestor.com/podcast

PEI Group publication Private Debt Investor recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary, and now it's launching its own podcast! To kick it off, PDI is taking a six-part look back with its Decade of Private Debt podcast miniseries, speaking with some of the industry's leading figures about the challenges, triumphs and the evolving dynamics that have defined the world of private credit over the past 10 years.

In this fourth episode, cross-published here on Spotlight, Pemberton’s co-founder and managing partner Symon Drake-Brockman discusses how the industry has evolved and recounts the process of shaping Pemberton into the powerhouse it is today.

To get the rest of the six-part miniseries right now, and continue getting market-leading insight into the world of private credit afterwards, search and subscribe to the Private Debt Investor Podcast wherever you like to listen, or click here.

And be sure to also check out our Decade of Private Debt special report at privatedebtinvestor.com.

Kartesia’s Julien Rigon on how LP pressure has shaped ESG

Subscribe to the new Private Debt Investor Podcast wherever you like to listen, or click here: https://www.privatedebtinvestor.com/podcast

PEI Group publication Private Debt Investor recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary, and now it's launching its own podcast! To kick it off, PDI is taking a six-part look back with its Decade of Private Debt podcast miniseries, speaking with some of the industry's leading figures about the challenges, triumphs and the evolving dynamics that have defined the world of private credit over the past 10 years.

In the third episode, cross-published here on Spotlight, Kartesia’s head of France Julien Rigon reflects on the past 10 years from an ESG perspective and looks at how the industry might evolve considering today’s sustainability agenda.

To get the rest of the six-part miniseries right now, and continue getting market-leading insight into the world of private credit afterwards, search and subscribe to the Private Debt Investor Podcast wherever you like to listen, or click here.

And be sure to also check out our Decade of Private Debt special report at privatedebtinvestor.com.

LCM’s Paul Burdell on finding gaps in the private credit market

Subscribe to the new Private Debt Investor Podcast wherever you like to listen, or click here: https://www.privatedebtinvestor.com/podcast

PEI Group publication Private Debt Investor recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary, and now it's launching its own podcast! To kick it off, PDI is taking a six-part look back with its Decade of Private Debt podcast miniseries, speaking with some of the industry's leading figures about the challenges, triumphs and the evolving dynamics that have defined the world of private credit over the past 10 years.

In the second episode, cross-published here on Spotlight, LCM CEO Paul Burdell discusses the evolution of private debt and banking oversight over the past 10 years, the impact of regulations, as well as LCM’s unique position in the industry.

To get the rest of the six-part miniseries right now, and continue getting market-leading insight into the world of private credit afterwards, search and subscribe to the Private Debt Investor Podcast wherever you like to listen, or click here.

And be sure to also check out our Decade of Private Debt special report at privatedebtinvestor.com.

Ares’ CEO Mike Arougheti on the huge potential for private debt’s future growth

Subscribe to the new Private Debt Investor Podcast wherever you like to listen, or click here: https://www.privatedebtinvestor.com/podcast

PEI Group publication Private Debt Investor recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary, and now it's launching its own podcast! To kick it off, PDI is taking a six-part look back with its Decade of Private Debt podcast miniseries, speaking with some of the industry's leading figures about the challenges, triumphs and the evolving dynamics that have defined the world of private credit over the past 10 years.

In the first episode, cross-published here on Spotlight, Ares CEO Mike Arougheti looks back at a decade of strategic growth in private credit, emphasising the importance of enduring relationships and the misunderstood, yet resilient nature of the market.

To get the rest of the six-part miniseries right now, and continue getting market-leading insight into the world of private credit afterwards, search and subscribe to the Private Debt Investor Podcast wherever you like to listen, or click here.

And be sure to also check out our Decade of Private Debt special report at privatedebtinvestor.com.