Dry Powder (Bain)

Recent Episodes

1. Building the New Economy w/ Ares' Kipp deVeer

   Sep 16, 2026

   Kipp deVeer, Co-President of Ares Management, discusses the firm's investment strategy across private credit, real estate, and infrastructure. He explains Ares' focus on 'new economy' segments—multifamily, industrial, logistics, and digital data centers—while avoiding traditionally cyclical areas like hospitality and office. DeVeer also details Ares' evolution from financing to directly developing data center infrastructure and reflects on the firm's significant inorganic growth and platform consolidation.

2. Looking Beneath the Private Credit Headlines w/ Ares' Kipp deVeer

   Sep 9, 2026

   Kipp deVeer, Co-President of Ares Management, discusses the state of private credit markets, defending the industry against negative headlines and highlighting the health of portfolios across corporate credit, asset-based lending, and infrastructure. He explains how Ares leverages scale and specialized industry expertise to maintain competitive advantages and outperform smaller competitors, and addresses concerns about AI disruption in software lending and the broader performance dispersion among private credit managers.

3. Where AI Is (and Isn’t) Creating Value

   Sep 1, 2026

   Hugh MacArthur, chairman of Bain's Global Private Equity Practice, interviews six leading PE investors from Vista, Hg, Advent, CVC, KKR, and Apollo about where AI is creating value in their portfolios today and what barriers remain to full transformation. The discussion reveals that while experimentation is widespread, most firms have not yet reached transformational scale, with success concentrated in process automation, consumer intelligence, and operational workflows. Key themes include the importance of organizational culture and change management over pure technology capability, the risk of data leakage when moving data to external models, and the need for leaders to model AI adoption internally rather than waiting for maturity.

4. Exits, AI and Asking 'What’s Next?' w/ Advent International's John Maldonado

   Aug 18, 2026

   John Maldonado, Managing Partner at Advent International, discusses how the firm navigates longer holding periods, harder exits, and rapid technological change while maintaining core alignment principles. The episode explores Advent's intentional exit strategy, practical AI applications across 30 North American portfolio companies, and the firm's use of an AI tool to enhance investment committee decision-making. Maldonado emphasizes the importance of GP-LP alignment, the need to validate strategic buyer interest during underwriting, and Advent's culture of continuous innovation within a framework of specialist scale and collaborative partnership.

5. Pond Skipping w/ Advent International's John Maldonado

   Aug 11, 2026

   John Maldonado, Managing Partner and Co-Head of North America at Advent International, discusses the firm's founding vision of global private equity and how it continues to shape their strategy today. He explains Advent's approach to alpha generation through specialization at scale, their sector-focused platform model, and distinctive deal archetypes—transformation deals and growth acceleration deals—all underwritten to a 3x+ money standard. Maldonado explores how Advent leverages global presence and sector expertise through cross-regional collaboration, the "pond skipping" playbook for replicating successful strategies across geographies, and the firm's evolution toward data-driven deal sourcing while maintaining relationship-driven fundamentals.

6. Looking Over the Horizon w/ CVC's Rob Lucas

   Jul 29, 2026

   Rob Lucas, CEO of CVC, discusses navigating the current fundraising environment in private equity, emphasizing how strong performance and LP trust remain foundational to the LPGP model. He outlines CVC's firm-wide embrace of AI across operations and portfolio companies, tracing the firm's early recognition of large language models back to 2018-2020. Lucas also argues that Europe remains one of the most compelling markets for generating alpha in buyout investing due to its complexity and inefficiencies, where CVC has demonstrated superior returns through operational value creation and local expertise.

7. Himalayan Heights w/ CVC's Rob Lucas

   Jul 22, 2026

   Rob Lucas, CEO of CVC, discusses the firm's distinctive approach to private equity investing, drawing parallels between mountaineering (he has climbed the 7 summits and K2) and deal-making. The episode covers CVC's localized, relationship-driven sourcing strategy, long-hold strategic opportunities investing, and its unique deal-team carry structure that aligns executives with portfolio company performance.

8. Employee Ownership at Scale w/ KKR's Pete Stavros

   Jul 1, 2026

9. The Hard Truth About Operational Excellence w/ KKR's Pete Stavros

   Jun 23, 2026

10. Bain's Private Equity Midyear Report 2026: Executive Summary

    Jun 8, 2026