Private Equity 101

Private Equity: 1H 2026 in 10 Points • Global PE investment reached US$1.0 trillion in H1 2026, demonstrating resilience despite geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty. • Investors became increasingly selective, prioritizing fewer, larger, high-conviction deals, pushing rolling deal volume to a five-year low. • The Americas remained the largest investment destination (US$579.2B), while EMA hosted three of the world's four largest PE deals in Q2. • Energy & Natural Resources emerged as the standout sector (US$149.2B), driven by energy security concerns and AI's growing power requirements. • AI reshaped capital allocation. Investment shifted away from software toward AI infrastructure, data centers, industrial manufacturing and enabling technologies. • Exit values remained resilient, but exit volumes stayed subdued. Sponsors increasingly relied on secondaries and continuation vehicles to provide liquidity. • The Middle East conflict and Strait of Hormuz disruptions reinforced the importance of energy resilience, influencing sector and geographic investment decisions. • India continued attracting PE capital through family-owned businesses, healthcare, financial services and precision manufacturing, although elevated valuations remained a challenge. • PE firms increasingly focused on risk-adjusted returns, favoring transparent markets with strong long-term structural growth. • Looking ahead, the industry is watching US IPO market reopening, while AI infrastructure, energy transition and digital infrastructure remain the strongest investment themes for H2 2026.

Primer: Continuation Funds in Private Equity and Venture Capital - Lexology https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=4294614d-ccaa-4741-922f-ce842ae26803

The State of Private Markets 2026 | MSCI https://www.msci.com/research-and-insights/paper/the-state-of-private-markets-2026?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Carried Interest Loans Gain Popularity in Private Equity https://www.ennessglobal.com/insights/press/private-equity-leaders-turn-carried-interest-loans-payouts-slow

Evergreen PE funds in 2026 - final.pdf https://content.moonfare.com/hubfs/white-papers/Evergreen%20PE%20funds%20in%202026%20-%20final.pdf

Executive Summary The European Commission is exploring reforms to improve liquidity in private markets as part of its Savings and Investments Union agenda. Core issue: Private equity investors face limited exit options due to challenging IPO markets, fragmented secondary sales, limited valuation transparency, and overall illiquidity. Key proposal: Create a regulated, intermittent secondary trading platform for private company shares—essentially a private-company marketplace that opens during scheduled trading windows rather than operating continuously. Potential benefits for PE funds: Faster and more efficient exits Broader pool of potential buyers Improved price discovery and valuation transparency Reduced dependence on IPOs and M&A transactions Additional liquidity pathway for portfolio companies Consultation focus areas: Barriers to PE exits Inefficiencies in current exit routes Design of private-share trading markets Disclosure and investor-protection requirements Whether companies should be allowed to raise new capital on such platforms Why it matters: If implemented, these reforms could fundamentally improve how private equity investments are exited and valued, making private markets more attractive to institutional investors while bringing elements of public-market infrastructure into private markets. For PE fund administrators, this could represent one of the most important market-structure developments in Europe in recent years.

WEF_The_Future_of_Venture_Capital_2026.pdf https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_Future_of_Venture_Capital_2026.pdf

Read the Report https://www.goldmansachs.com/pdfs/insights/goldman-sachs-research/cracks-in-private-credit/TOM_private%20credit_Redacted.pdf

The Quiet Risk in Private Equity: NAV Squeezing and Performance Illusions https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/quiet-risk-private-equity-nav-squeezing-performance-illusions-mohs-eez1e?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android&utm_campaign=share_via