Private Equity Spotlight

9 episodes scanned. 67% of ad slots promote the show's own products.

Recent Episodes

1. Hamilton Lane's Hirsch: Private markets industry has too many GPs

   Oct 22, 2026

   Erik Hirsch, executive co-chairman of Hamilton Lane, speaks with PEI senior editor Adam Le about the challenged exit and fundraising environment in private markets. He argues the industry has too many managers, discusses zombie funds and stranded NAV, and explains why the secondaries market, which he sees as healthy but not a white knight, is growing. The conversation also covers public-versus-private performance, benchmarking, and why Hamilton Lane is not steering away from software exposure amid AI disruption.

2. The Exit Playbook: Safe landings when exits stall

   Oct 13, 2026

   This final episode of the Disruption Matters miniseries covers how private equity firms and management teams recover from a stalled exit process. Speakers from multiple PE firms and advisers discuss diagnosing why a process broke down, separating controllable from uncontrollable factors, re-underwriting assets, and re-engaging management and buyers. Brian Cassidy, president of Crestview, shares an example of redefining success by pivoting to a partial sale, minority investment, or holding the asset.

3. The Exit Playbook: The human key to exits

   Oct 6, 2026

   This is the fifth episode in the 'Exit Playbook' miniseries, focusing on human capital issues critical to successful private equity exits. The episode features a panel of leading PE executives discussing how to align management incentives, manage deal exhaustion, expand stakeholder communication strategically, and vet buyers for cultural fit—all essential factors that can make or break an exit outcome beyond price alone.

4. The Exit Playbook: Right-timing the exit

   Sep 29, 2026

   This episode is the fourth in the 'Exit Playbook' miniseries, focusing on timing as a critical exit trigger point. Industry experts from leading PE firms—including Alex Greenbaum (EQT), Chris Taber (AlixPartners), Jerome Losson (Ambienta), Neil Cavalage (Centerbridge), Adrian Letts (Brookfield), Ricardo Basile (Premiere), Fahima Med (BC Partners), Maurizio Musi (Bain Capital), and others—discuss when managers should launch an exit process. Key themes include identifying trigger points beyond just EBITDA targets, building a clean and coherent story for buyers, conducting continuous portfolio reviews, preparing diligence materials 12-18 months before process launch, and balancing disciplined value creation with exit readiness.

5. The Exit Playbook: Starting with the exit journey in mind

   Sep 22, 2026

   This is the third episode of the Disruption Matters miniseries on exit strategy, featuring six private equity and operating partners discussing how to center exit planning during the initial investment diligence process. The panelists—including leaders from Ambienta, Apis Partners, AlixPartners, Wynnchurch, CD&R, and others—explore reverse-engineering exits by identifying likely buyers, understanding what they value, and building proof points across management, operations, IT, and cybersecurity throughout the holding period rather than in the final months.

6. The Exit Playbook: The buyer’s POV

   Sep 15, 2026

   This panel episode from the 'Exit Playbook' miniseries explores how private equity firms can structure exits by prioritizing the buyer's point of view from initial underwriting through close. Guests including Mike Hollander (GTCR), Alex Greenbaum (EQT), Alexis Underwood (Wynnchurch), and others discuss building credible narratives grounded in proven fundamentals, leaving upside opportunities for the next owner, understanding buyer type (strategic vs. sponsor), and how tech capabilities and reputation for ethical selling drive exit success.

7. Why ‘smoke and mirrors’ won’t cut it during fundraising

   Sep 10, 2026

   Young Lee, managing director at Abbott Capital (a $40B+ fund-of-funds manager), discusses private equity fundraising dynamics with Jack Purcell, managing partner at Ridgemont Equity Partners. The conversation covers LP perspectives on fund sizing, the importance of operational partners versus 'smoke and mirrors', realistic portfolio marks, succession planning, and the outlook for mid-market private equity in a higher-rate environment.

8. PEI’s Data Dive: How PE is responding to growing cost scrutiny

   Aug 24, 2026

   PEI's Data Dive episode examines findings from the Private Funds CFO Fees & Expenses Survey 2026, conducted across 132 US alternative asset managers. Hosts Colleen Fay (Withum), Theodore Edwards (Troutman Pepper Locke), and Bill Myers (Private Funds CFO) discuss rising SEC scrutiny on fee practices, the shift toward 100% fee offsets, documentation gaps in continuation vehicles, regulatory pressures around retail capital access, and the limited but growing role of AI in reducing operational costs.

9. PEI's Data Dive: The changing shape of private equity's biggest allocators

   Aug 4, 2026

   This Data Dive episode analyzes PEI's Global Investor 150 ranking, which tracks the world's largest private equity institutional investors based on fair market value of PE portfolios. Senior reporters Carmela Mendoza and Katrina Lau, joined by host Evie Rusman, explore how the top 150 LPs allocated $2.88 trillion to private equity in 2025—up 8.7% year-over-year—despite a challenging fundraising and exit environment. The discussion reveals key trends including the rise of mid-market strategies, adoption of total portfolio approaches, the growing influence of Asian sovereign wealth funds, and the widening gap between mega-allocators and smaller institutional investors.

10. Anne Glover: AI will turn some SaaS providers into dinosaurs

    Jul 8, 2026