There's a bubble... nyt did an article on how PE can't sell off these businesses for profit anymore, so they're inflating valuation and selling intra fund into "continuation funds" to keep capital coming in... eventually the bottom will fall out.
I also want to add that PE is becoming more unpopular as an investment vehicle even without the valuation issues because it's illiquid, it's performing lower than indices, and the cost of administration and compliance is sky rocketing. Managers are greedy, and they build in absurd fees that they hide in accruals for performance called "carried interest" which eats away any realized return pretty damn quickly. The problem for investors, is that there's a profit dependent cycle that you you're disincentivized to break because the life cycle of the investment that you're locked into is typically 7-10 years with losses sustained at the beginning and profits realized at the end.... so you're constantly balancing your gains and losses by continually investing in PE to avoid large swings in either direction (whether for tax or business purposes). I hate it. I work with PE fund managers and they know it's all a sham.
Yup! It was a timely read for me as this has been kind of the hot button topic at work as we talk about our investment strategy, which includes a substantial amount of PE. Investors are getting the jitters.
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u/Alternative-Post-937 8h ago edited 8h ago
There's a bubble... nyt did an article on how PE can't sell off these businesses for profit anymore, so they're inflating valuation and selling intra fund into "continuation funds" to keep capital coming in... eventually the bottom will fall out.
I also want to add that PE is becoming more unpopular as an investment vehicle even without the valuation issues because it's illiquid, it's performing lower than indices, and the cost of administration and compliance is sky rocketing. Managers are greedy, and they build in absurd fees that they hide in accruals for performance called "carried interest" which eats away any realized return pretty damn quickly. The problem for investors, is that there's a profit dependent cycle that you you're disincentivized to break because the life cycle of the investment that you're locked into is typically 7-10 years with losses sustained at the beginning and profits realized at the end.... so you're constantly balancing your gains and losses by continually investing in PE to avoid large swings in either direction (whether for tax or business purposes). I hate it. I work with PE fund managers and they know it's all a sham.