Private Equity Spotlight

Disruption Matters: Outmaneuvering cyber threats

The cybersecurity threat landscape is constantly shifting. In this third episode of our miniseries sponsored by AlixPartners, learn how PE operators are keeping up.

Fuel for thought – what energy security means for the transition

In this special episode, sponsored by Schroders Capital, Richard Nourse and Karin Kaiser of Greencoat Capital discuss how the war in Ukraine and the energy crunch will impact the shift away from fossil fuels.

This podcast is for professional investors only

Carbon capture – a market in the making

Carbon capture and sequestration has made it into many headlines, but few investor portfolios. Infrastructure Investor speaks with Partners Group’s Esther Peiner, Keith Martin of Norton Rose Fulbright and Columbia University professor Scott Barrett to discuss where the market will move.

Disruption Matters: Acting local, staying global amid operational and financial disruption

In the second episode of this miniseries, sponsored by AlixPartners, PE leaders share how they’re weathering operational and financial challenges. 

Disruption Matters: Plotting a surefooted path in a disrupted world

The first in a special five-part series, sponsored by AlixPartners, where we ask private equity operators how they're responding to today’s myriad challenges. 

Introducing ’Disruption Matters’

Private Equity International is proud to present our first-ever serialized podcast, sponsored by AlixPartners. The five-part miniseries is focused on how private equity operators are finding opportunities in disruption. Listen to the first episode on August 17 right here on the Spotlight podcast channel.

Four steps to cut through greenwash

We speak to Jim Roth, who co-founded LeapFrog Investments and is now founder and managing partner of Zamo Capital, about how to avoid exaggerated impact claims.

The European debt opportunity

In this special episode of Spotlight, sponsored by Arrow Global, CEO Zach Lewy tells PDI editor Andy Thomson why a local approach offers unique advantages for private lenders in Europe.

How to break into private markets

Two of this year’s Women of Influence, Luxcara’s Alexandra von Bernstorff and BlackRock’s Pam Chan, discuss the challenges of starting a career in the industry.

How to break into private equity

Two professionals featured in PEI Media’s Women of Influence in Private Markets list 2022, APG’s Keren Raz and General Atlantic’s Melis Kahya Akar, discuss the challenges they faced as women in the field.

How to break into private debt

Two professionals in the asset class featured in this year’s Women of Influence list, MV Credit’s Nicole Downer and Ares Management’s Andrea Fernandez, discuss how to navigate career challenges in the industry and resist gender bias.

How to break into venture capital

Two of this year’s Women of Influence, WOCstar Fund’s Gayle Jennings-O’Byrne and Supply Change Capital’s Noramay Cadena, discuss the road to success in VC.

How the SEC is already probing ESG claims

'There is a lot of material being requested.' A recent letter from the US Securities and Exchange Commission shows the extent to which it is probing managers about their ESG claims and practices.

Ex-Apollo insider spills the beans on private equity’s inner workings

Sachin Khajuria, a former partner at Apollo Global Management, discusses his book Two and Twenty: How the Masters of Private Equity Always Win, and why the industry needs to engage more with wider society.

‘We continue to build infra for a planet that no longer exists’

Bill Green, founder of Climate Adaptive Infrastructure, explains how investors are mispricing climate risk and what needs to change.

Inside this year’s record-breaking PEI 300 ranking

PEI’s editorial team discusses how the feverish fundraising environment has contributed to the record $2.6trn raised by the world's biggest private equity firms, and where the growth is coming from.

PEI Future 40 fundraisers on what’s next for private equity

Fundraising rising stars from Verdane, Development Partners International and Rede Partners discuss the future of the market.

Farmland Partners’ ‘short and distort’ public markets nightmare

Founder Paul Pittman discusses a defamatory attack on Farmland’s stock, as well as his firm’s forays into private farmland markets.

The quest for ‘green’ data centres

Infrastructure Investor sits down with Jennifer Gandin of CIM Group and Quinbrook co-founder David Scaysbrook to explore how private markets can work to curb data centres’ rising levels of greenhouse gas emissions.

Private funds’ year of living dangerously

The industry is staring down a portentous, menacing road of new regulations.

Natural gas caught in the Russia-Ukraine crossfire

Infrastructure Investor uses internal data, alongside commentary from energy experts Andrey Konoplyanik, Christof Ruhl and Jonathan Stern, to discuss how the crisis might impact natural gas investing and infra portfolios.

What investors think of manager changes

Executives from Allianz Real Estate and The Townsend Group share the pros and cons related to the ongoing evolution of the private real estate industry.

Pantheon on the ’silver lining’ of hiring in a pandemic

Kathryn Leaf, head of real assets for the London-based firm, takes us inside the search and hiring process for its new real estate heads.

How natural gas can pave the way to net zero

Energy Impact Partners' Andy Lubershane doesn't question natural gas's warming potential, but explains why and how it can be a viable transition fuel that investors should consider.

BlackRock excited by the investment ’white space’ of the energy transition

Edwin Conway, senior managing director and global head of BlackRock Alternative Investors, talks to New Private Markets about the 'tremendous capital shortfall' when it comes to climate tech solutions investment and why investors will lean in more to infrastructure and private credit.

Ajit Pai on the infrastructure bill’s broadband boom

The Searchlight Capital partner and former FCC chairman believes there could be plenty of opportunity for the private sector in the $65bn funding.

Four trailblazers on the future of ESG-linked credit

Carlyle, EQT, Infrared and BPEA give their predictions for the sustainability-linked loan market in 2022.

What ever happened to opportunity zones?

They were billed as the next big thing in real estate fundraising and impact investing. Author David Wessel says they are not all they were cracked up to be.

EisnerAmper‘s CEO on a possible ‘sea change‘ for the accounting industry

Charly Weinstein discusses the accounting firm's recent deal with TowerBrook, and how the business's new 'alternative practice structure' could shake up the industry.

Is now the time to sell a portfolio?

As the global economy recovers and buyers bump up on their allocation limits on a glut of GP-led deals, the LP market is seeing a resurgence. Mike Custar and Jake Stuiver of White Plains-based secondaries advisory M2O discuss whether now is the ideal time to take an LP portfolio deal to market.

How private debt has weathered the uncertainty around inflation

The economic bounce-back from covid came quickly, says Randy Schwimmer of Churchill Asset Management, which caused inflation to be on everyone's minds.

SoftBank on foodtech: ‘Scale, scale, scale’

Investment director Angela Du says covid added urgency to the need to build supply chains for alternative proteins and cultured meat.

IFM on infra debt’s success and the challenges ahead

Matthew Wade, IFM’s executive director for debt investments, explains approaches LPs are taking to the sector.

Should you build your portfolio on secondaries?

Academic Cyril Demaria and Greenhill's Bernhard Engelien debate the role of secondaries in portfolio construction and what LPs should bear in mind.

Can we cure the cyber-crime epidemic?

Hugh Thomson, managing partner at Crosspoint Capital, discusses the recently issued Executive Cybersecurity Order and its potential influence on B2B and B2C companies.

How inflationary pressures are likely to play out in private equity

Nicholas Brooks, head of economic and investment research at ICG, discusses the biggest things GPs should be concerned about in an era of inflation and potential interest rate rises.

The poor are 'profoundly absent' in impact investing conversations

Can private capital really solve the world's biggest challenges? Is there something wrong with the way private equity funds are raised? We discuss the rise and fall of Abraaj with Simon Clark, co-author of 'The Key Man'.

Former top SEC examiner names biggest risks to PE

Firms should focus beyond the Commission's 'hot topic' compliance issues and understand their own individual vulnerabilities. 

How covid halted strategic sophistication

Having paused, investors will once again begin expanding into more adventurous areas, says William Nicol of M&G.

Is action living up to the rhetoric on gender diversity?

Journalists across the PEI stable share their insights on an issue that has become top of mind for private fund managers and investors.

Is it finally time for asset recycling in the US?

We catch up with IFM Investors executive director Tom Osborne on the new bipartisan infra plan, how to implement asset recycling in the US, PPPs, the new IFA and much more.

True Ventures talks scouting diverse talent and what a ‘VP of culture’ does

Co-founder Phil Black describes how the VC firm tracks diversity metrics and works with founders to grow inclusive teams.

Where did all the distressed money go?

Large amounts of capital have been raised for distressed strategies in private debt and real estate, but thanks to government support schemes, finding a home for it is proving a challenge.

SPONSORED: The democratisation of private markets is under way

Regulators and fund managers are adapting to accommodate greater retail investor participation in private markets, say SEI's Ross Ellis and ANZU Research's Steve Unzicker. 

Why NextEnergy launched the world's first international solar fund

Founding partner and chief executive Michael Bonte-Friedheim explains why the UK-based firm created NextPower III, the only dedicated international solar fund.

Why the American Jobs Plan is an opportunity not to be missed

I Squared Capital founder Sadek Wahba discusses why the Biden administration’s infra plan is a crucial first step, and how a US version of the World Bank could play a key role in mobilising private capital.

What to do with all the excess retail?

Executives from Angelo Gordon, Nuveen Real Estate and Canada Life make the business case for their preferred alternative use for the property type.

Behind the latest PE and private debt fundraising numbers

PEI's editorial team takes a look at the record $180bn raised for private equity in Q1 2021 and how average fund sizes for private debt funds topped $1bn for the first time during the quarter.

How OMERS’ infrastructure portfolio bucked the trend in 2020

Philippe Busslinger, the Canadian pension’s head of infrastructure in Europe, explains what was behind its 8.6% return last year and how it plans to battle increased competition.

SPONSORED: How private equity can unlock value in technology

Ryan Lanpher at Permira says partnering with strong management teams is the best way to capture value during these unprecedented times.