Views
EQT's fee-generating assets rose €40bn in a quarter. Coller was €34bn.
Fee-generating assets rose €40bn in the quarter. Strip out the Coller acquisition and the gain is about €6bn.
Latest
Views
If I were running AI diligence on a PE portfolio right now, I would not ask "are you using AI?"
I would ask which level of the spectrum you are actually on. Because most portcos think they are a 4. They are a 2. And the gap between those two numbers is where the write-down lives. I have sat in enough board meetings where the CEO confidently describes their
Views
If I were building a PE operating model from scratch, I wouldn't start with a value creation plan.
I'd start by killing the theatre. Most operating models are built backwards. There's an ops team that is really a reporting team. There's a "value creation" function that is one person, a recycled PowerPoint, and a heroic ability to say "cross-
Views
“Show me the distributions” is a wonderfully efficient way to shorten an LP presentation.
Saves everyone forty slides on why the portfolio is performing magnificently despite the absence of any money. The valuations are robust. The assets are exceptional. The exit pipeline is encouraging. Lovely. The pensioners have asked whether they can spend the appendix. Private equity gets paid to be patient. Fair enough.
Views
LP meetings have become theatre with better catering.
A lot of LP meetings are no longer really about communication. They are about stage management. The deck is polished. The messaging is tight. The bad news has been moved three clicks deeper into the appendix. The winners get a cinematic retelling. The problems get translated into phrases like timing,
Views
PE conferences are broken. Their floor plans tell you quite a lot about the attitude behind them.
“Value creation” gets top billing on the main stage. Operating partners get a separate room, a different floor, sometimes an entirely separate event. The industry has managed to make the people responsible for delivering the investment thesis a fringe attraction. Quite an achievement. And giving operating partners their own conference
Life
Online art sales hit a six-year low. The expensive lots barely went online.
Online art sales fell to $9.2 billion, their lowest since 2019, while the wider market grew. The price mix explains why.
Views
McKinsey says AI-led companies are worth 31 times revenue. The sample is 21.
McKinsey's new report finds a 130 per cent AI premium in private equity. The top tier behind the 31 times revenue headline holds 21 of 471 companies.
Views
The exit interview says pursuing new opportunities. The truth is shorter.
Most operating partner departures sound the same. After a successful period supporting the portfolio, X has decided to pursue new opportunities. Everyone wishes everyone well. The LinkedIn comments arrive. Congratulations. Exciting next chapter. Well deserved. Nobody mentions the sentence that would make the post useful. Nobody gave me the authority
Views
Coffee is for exits.
First prize is a distribution. Second prize is another year of board meetings. Third prize is explaining to your LPs why you’re launching another fund before returning the last one. There’s a particular joy in watching an industry that sells transformation explain that its exit strategy is waiting
Views
Everyone wants AI deals. The money is in boring adoption.
My 2027 PE prediction is fairly simple. A lot of people will overpay for AI companies. A smaller group will make far more money by forcing boring companies they already own to use AI properly. The first path is exciting. AI-native targets. Huge multiples. Breathless growth. Technical diligence nobody
Views
The dangerous GP question is what happens after close.
If I were an LP right now, I would ask every GP one question they cannot answer with a slide deck. What exactly do you do after you buy it? Not the polite version. Not "talk me through your value creation approach." That invites the usual opera. Operating