Is Private Equity commoditized

I was speaking with some MF and MM PE friends this week about how IB is largely commoditized, and they exclaimed that PE has as well. Banks provide fixed services and compete on price, time, etc. PE has usually been explained as having more creativity than IB--a bit less procedural and more akin to the HF pursuit of being smarter. As the market has matured, has PE become largely commoditized? In what ways hasn't it? Are HFs also reaching this level of maturity? Where might opportunity be shifting?

I suppose this topic can naturally transition into discussion about AI, but that seems to have been addressed extensively. 

4 Comments
 

can't speak for other (or larger funds), but I work at a LMM shop and can say that some of our activities are very in the weeds, operationally and strategically,, and a lot of the people and processes wouldn't be easy to replicate. Not impossible, but would take industry knowhow and compelling cast of operators to win certain deals. In the growth buyout world, there are certain elements of scale and scope that I've experienced wouldn't be doable without a good understanding of a niche/vertical.

Now, is that process itself commoditized? Not sure. maybe this is ubiquitous in MM and UMM.

 

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