Amy Carroll

LPs conducting due diligence on private equity managers are delving into the detail of back-office operations and funds’ third-party administrators.

Private equity CFOs are increasingly taking the strategic lead at a management company, fund and even portfolio company level.

In spite of shockwaves from Trump’s on-again-off-again trade war, the secondaries industry is gearing up for yet another record year.

The sheer volume of management company, fund and portfolio-level data involved in GP stakes investing means the asset class is ripe for an AI revolution.

GPs are looking to hold on to their prized assets for longer than ever, but repeated continuation vehicles are bound to invite questions from existing and prospective investors.

As traditional private equity houses enter the secondaries market en masse, more GPs are building up their capabilities to run ‘DIY’ continuation vehicle processes in-house.

The fee treatment of co-investments varies dramatically from fund to fund.

Increasingly disparate approaches to the role of ESG in investing – both within the US and relative to other markets – raise fresh challenges for responsibly minded investors.

Evergreen structures, sophisticated capital pacing models and the use of fund finance have all helped make private markets more accessible, but these remain fundamentally illiquid asset classes

There are concerns that a lack of expertise could curtail the growth of the fund finance market.