Private equity is predicted to grow, despite the disruption caused by the pandemic that last year caused valuation problems in the asset class.
In the US, for example, analysts at PitchBook predict fundraising will surpass the 2019 high-water mark of around $317 billion as more institutional investors make allocations.
Growing alongside private equity (and other private-markets) funds over the past decade have been specialist fund administrators. Their assets under administration are much smaller than those of the traditional administrators – typically owned by custodian banks – but it seems inevitable that assets will grow.
Specialist firms have poached staff from their larger rivals in pursuit of growth and this month’s cover story looks more closely at the underlying reasons for this ‘brain gain’.
An increase in the regulatory expertise needed for compliance with the AIFMD is one of the main reasons specialists are recruiting “boring bankers”.
Nick Fitzpatrick, group editor of Funds Europe
© 2021 funds europe
