Where is PE headed in the next years?

With the best years of PE behind, what is the consensus among your firm about how PE as an asset class will evolve and the ease in finding investment opportunities (1-5 years form hereon)?

In UBS words:

Bull; or
15% (9 votes)
Bear
47% (28 votes)
That's the question
37% (22 votes)
Total votes: 59
5 Comments
 

More competition and headwinds, less alpha to be found, suboptimal returns except for a minority of shops, and the same applies to fundraising, generally harder except for a few high performers. Retail money, particularly retirement accounts, will be a major engine, and Blackstone is leading the pack with BXPE. Secondaries has room to grow though. It will be bigger than it is now, that’s for sure.

 

Bear until QE begins again.

Sure, there's an argument to be made about "picking up assets for cheap" in the current market condition, but the reality is that ICs are spooked and deal activity is really slow.

There's also a counterargument to be made on good assets being priced more expensively (e.g., in the public markets, the S&P7 is probably up 5x what the rest of S&P493 were this year) because there's a flight to quality.

 
Most Helpful

That's the issue here, asset prices haven't come down yet in broad auction processes (for good assets) but we still have to deal with the challenging financing environment. Folks just aren't selling - funds would rather hold for an extra year or two and give up some IRR points, but pray that rates come back down and still achieve their target MOICs. Eventually, people will just have to start selling, and that could create an interesting buying opportunity. Wouldn't be shocked to see 2018-2021 vintage funds really struggle, but '24-25 funds may actually crush if next year is the "trough". that is of course the question

 

Mollitia minima omnis eaque commodi corrupti veniam. Laborum iusto sunt alias et nobis esse. Velit repellendus quam inventore nemo voluptatem consequatur eum. Illum est dolor dolores quae et iste. Voluptatum sint mollitia non aliquam quia. A exercitationem inventore voluptate.

Sit sit doloribus eum atque. Sed accusamus et quis. Dolor aut ipsam dolor aut.

Dolores neque libero molestiae in et autem nobis. Ea est autem aut voluptas veritatis rerum. Sint nisi mollitia cupiditate esse voluptas unde saepe.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Private Equity

  • The Riverside Company 99.6%
  • Blackstone Group 99.3%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 98.9%
  • Warburg Pincus 98.5%
  • Vista Equity Partners 98.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Private Equity

  • Blackstone Group 99.6%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 99.2%
  • The Riverside Company 98.9%
  • Ardian 98.5%
  • Starwood Capital Group 98.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Private Equity

  • Bain Capital 99.6%
  • The Riverside Company 99.3%
  • Blackstone Group 98.9%
  • Starwood Capital Group 98.5%
  • Vista Equity Partners 98.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Private Equity

  • Principal (9) $653
  • Director/MD (24) $547
  • Vice President (98) $365
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (104) $281
  • 2nd Year Associate (235) $272
  • 1st Year Associate (411) $229
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (33) $157
  • 2nd Year Analyst (97) $134
  • 1st Year Analyst (272) $124
  • Intern/Summer Associate (38) $81
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (356) $61
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”