Private Equity Unchained

Until recently, strategy played little meaningful role in the management of illiquid investments, and what many investors call 'strategy' has been more akin to 'tactics' or 'learned reflexes'. Even large institutions still appear to manage their private equity allocations on such a case-by-case basis. But the environment has changed and returns are no longer 'assured' as they once were. Private equity and other illiquid asset classes have matured, as more players seek to deploy ever larger amounts in a market where opportunities necessarily become difficult to identify and access. The few principles that institutional investors have relied on up to now have been anchored in a less competitive past. Private Equity Unchained deconstructs existing practices and provides insights into how to think strategically about illiquid asset allocations. In order to thrive in markets characterised by extreme uncertainty, investors must first accept the limitations of what is knowable. This begins by leaving behind many of those financial theories that institutions normally cling to as a safe harbour for managing risk. Once divested of such false comforts, investors will be in a position to identify their real options and take an active and strategic approach to alternative investing.