Private Equity Buyout funds have more than doubled since 2002. Given the likelihood of an increased flow of deals to the market due to the impact of Coronavirus, whilst private equity firms sit on over $1tn of 'dry powder'. There is a sense of optimism throughout the market, however an element of caution given the economic upset and fatal damage the Coronavirus has inflicted. An interesting period for the industry, perhaps time for more connectivity?
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Private markets need to be dragged further from the shadows
Private equity has always been parsimonious with information, restricting to the minimum what it reveals about its activities. That might have mattered less when the industry was small. But as buyout funds have ballooned relative to global public equities — expanding more than twice as fast since 2002, according to data from McKinsey — its tendency to hide has become increasingly anomalous. It leaves an ever-growing portion of the economy shielded from accountability and public view.