Good morning, Hubsters. MK Flynn here in New York with the US edition of the Wire.
Today, we’re focusing on two strategies GPs have embraced in recent years as the private equity industry has matured.
The first is GP stake sales, which many PE firms have leveraged to grow. For insights, we turn to Hunter Point Capital, a firm that has invested in several middle-market firms, including Pretium Partners, Coller Capital, Inflexion, L Catterton and The Vistria Group.
“Partnering with a GP stakes firm can represent the best of both worlds – it gives them the benefits of part of a larger platform yet still allows them to maintain control and independence as well as the entrepreneurial spirit that made them so successful in the first place,” Conway Bate, managing director, global head of capital formation, said in PE Hub’s latest thought leader Q&A.
The second trend is the rise of GP-led secondaries transactions, which investment bank Lazard expects will continue in 2025.
“Single-asset continuation funds surged in popularity in 2024, reversing a trend we’d seen in preceding years, as sponsors and investors gravitated towards deals for ‘trophy’ assets,” global head of private capital advisory Holcombe Green said in the report.
And finally, this is the time of year when many PE firms announce promotions. You can find ongoing coverage of people moves on our News Briefs landing page.
Today, I’ll share some of PE Hub’s own personnel news.
Best of both worlds
PE Hub’s ongoing series of Q&As with private equity thought leaders continues today with Conway Bate, managing director, global head of capital formation, Hunter Point Capital.
HPC was founded in 2020 by Avshalom Kalichstein (formerly a JC Flowers & Co managing director) and Bennett Goodman (cofounder of GSO Capital Partners, now called Blackstone Credit). The New York firm was named by Buyouts one of 10 emerging managers to keep your eye on in 2023. HPC invests in “best-in-class investment managers at an inflection point in their growth,” according to its website. Through GP stakes investments, HPC seeks to accelerate the continued development of the firms through capital introduction, strategic advisory and other value-added services. Its debut GP stakes fund closed at $3.3 billion in 2024.
To read my interview about the benefits of GP stakes, upgrade to the premium version of the Wire.
For more Outlook 2025 Q&As from PE Hub, see:
Surge in single-asset CVs
An increasing share of commitments are being earmarked for GP-led secondaries transactions over the course of 2025, data from investment bank Lazard has found, as Secondaries Investor editor Madeleine Farman reports.
For more on the trends, upgrade to the premium version of the Wire.
Shoutout
I'm delighted to announce that Nina Lindholm has been promoted to senior reporter of PE Hub.
Over the last year, Nina has assumed new and more challenging responsibilities, including taking a lead role on premium newsletters, managing projects, editing articles, training reporters and deputizing for Craig McGlashan. Nina's responsibilities have expanded in tandem with the growth of PE Hub and the reporting team that supports our global mission.
Nina, who is based in Cardiff, joined PE Hub as a reporter in 2022 and has been instrumental in our coverage of European dealmaking. She will continue to report to Craig, who serves as the Europe editor for PE Hub.
Please join me in congratulating Nina at [email protected].
Coming up tomorrow: Craig will write the Europe Wire before he heads off to the IPEM conference in Cannes, and Obey Martin Manayiti will bring you the US Wire.
Happy dealmaking,
MK
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