Look Forward | Episode 40: What Private Markets Are Telling Us About the Future of Investing

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Aries Poon: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the Look Forward podcast powered by the S&P Global Institute, the platform for enterprise thought leadership across S&P Global. I'm Aries Poon. I'm leading the analysis team for Asia Pacific and Latin America in the Market Intelligence division, and I will be your host today

Markets are moving faster, risks are shifting, and decision-makers need foresight. In this podcast, we bring you expert perspectives from across S&P Global on the macroeconomic, market, energy, and technology forces shaping what comes next and helping you navigate uncertainty and look forward with confidence.

Today, we are taking a closer look at one of the most dynamic areas of global finance, private markets. Joining me today are Jocelyn Lewis and Chris Sparenberg, co-hosts [00:01:00] of S&P Global Market Intelligence Private Markets 360 podcast. Throughout 2026, they've interviewed some of the industry's leading investors, allocators, lenders, consultants, and private market executives, gathering perspectives from across private equity, private credit, secondary, real assets, and also institutional investing.

Today, we will go behind the microphone to discuss why private markets continue to attract so much attention, and also the themes emerging from the conversations this year and what investors should be watching as we head toward 2027. Jocelyn, Chris, welcome. 

Chris Sparenberg: Thank you so much for having us.  

Jocelyn Lewis: Aries, we're thrilled to be here.

Thank you so much for having us. 

Aries Poon: Likewise. So for listeners who may not be familiar with Private Markets 360, tell us more about the podcast and why you launched it. 

Jocelyn Lewis: Sure, we'd love to. I'll start [00:02:00] off. So Private Markets 360 was created in 2023 to bring together different perspectives from across the private markets ecosystem. 

We found there's no shortage of commentary on the public markets, but the private markets were more so behind the scenes, despite becoming an increasingly important source of capital and opportunity. So what we wanted to do was to create a platform where investors, managers, lenders, and advisors can share how they're navigating this rapidly evolving landscape.

And our core objective was to hear directly from those that are actually allocating capital and building businesses so that our listeners can better understand what's actually happening beneath the headlines. 

Chris Sparenberg: And we've been incredibly fortunate to get such a diverse set of guests on the show, and we've done relatively little outreach to even do that.

They've come to [00:03:00] us to come and, and tell their stories. It's fortunate because we cover, as you mentioned up, up top, a number of different asset classes and, uh, investor and firm types. We see a lot of recurring themes within that, and I think every year guests kind of glom around a, a single theme or s- a, a cluster of like themes, but they all have different perspectives on it. 

So every episode's a little bit different. We get to learn about a new firm, a new personality within the space, and again, a new perspective on what's happening. Uh, by way of example, we've had a few conversations about credit this year, but each one has been a little bit different. We're seeing a move away from direct lending and more into asset-backed finance.

We're seeing all of our GP clients speaking a lot more to the wealth audience, um, and we're seeing a lot of nuanced takes on what the deal environment looks like and how each firm is navigating it. So it's been really helpful to speak to so many firms globally. Um, I think the allocator perspective is really helpful here as well, and we've had [00:04:00] quite a few of those guests on in the recent past.

And again, every time we record, we learn something new, and Jocelyn and I are constantly pinching ourselves and saying, "We don't, we don't really deserve guests this great," and, and yet we're really fortunate to have so many of them. 

Aries Poon: So after speaking with more than, I guess, fifty leaders across private markets, what stands out to you most? 

Like, what have you learned from these conversations that, um, investors outside the industry might not appreciate? Maybe Jocelyn, you would go first. 

Jocelyn Lewis: Aries, one of the biggest lessons that we've heard repeatedly is that value creation has changed. Where historically private equity firms could generate strong returns through a mix of financial engineering, there were falling interest rates for a while, as well as multiple expansion.

And what we've heard from guests this year is that those levers are much less reliable today than they were in the past. Uh, for example, when we spoke with Bob Behlke [00:05:00] of Level Minnick, much of our discussion really focused on the importance of specialization and domain expertise rather than relying on broad market trends.

We talked about how successful investors are developing deep sector knowledge, and they're building strong relationships within their industries, and that helps their portfolio companies navigate growth and transformation. And similar to that, in our conversation with Mark Sautier of Equity Group Investments, the discussion centered around scaling businesses sustainably and creating enduring value through leadership, culture, operational excellence, and short-term financial optimization. 

And we also explored this theme in Building Better Businesses, where guest Catherine Petty from CVC focused on operational expertise, execution, and creating [00:06:00] value at the portfolio company level. And that theme surfaced repeatedly in our conversations, really regardless of the strategy, geography, or asset class.

Aries Poon: So that is a significant shift, right? Because value now has to be built much more deliberately inside the business. So Chris, if operational execution is becoming more important, how are data and technology changing the way investors identify, underwrite, or even manage those opportunities? 

Chris Sparenberg: I think it's fair to say that one recurring theme, uh, with all of our guests is that we're in the era of data-driven investing.

It's not just about how you source, uh, deals now, it's about the quality of your underwriting, your approach to valuations, and on the allocator side, it's about better understanding your exposure, risk factors, and drivers of return. Of course, a lot of this is done around the topic of liquidity, and that's where GPs and LPs are having a meaningful conversation today for very [00:07:00] understandable reasons. 

But data's at the heart of everything. Uh, we spoke to Sarah Samuels at NEPC about the convergence narrative that's happening between public and private assets, especially in the credit space. It's also happening, uh, between asset managers and institutional and now wealth investors. So the way products are structured, the way risk is measured, the way returns are reported, uh, is really being put under the microscope, and better data and better tools are, are really kind of helping drive that change.

Being also, I guess, in the era of AI and automation, and being able to take in and process more data makes it that much more important. It's leveling the playing field among parties, and it's leading to, uh, much richer conversations in, you know, fundraising or even just, um, annual general meetings, uh, where both parties are coming with a tremendous amount of additional data, and they're asking much deeper questions.

We also talked to Nicholas Brooks at ICG, who takes this, I believe, a step further in putting the [00:08:00] macroeconomic context over everything, over every decision being made by the firm, the way they talk about themselves, the way they think about their portfolio, and the way they guide action at the investment level.

So I think the key message really is better information supports better decisions, but it's important to remember that those decisions are made at the deal level, they're made when you're reporting, and they're made when investors are making a decision of where to commit their next dollar.  

Aries Poon: So the real advantage is not technology on its own, but also technology sharpening human judgment.

So Jocelyn, that need for better information and disciplined judgment is especially relevant in private credit. So how has that market evolved? 

Jocelyn Lewis: The private credit market just continues to evolve, and even we've noticed some patterns through the conversations that we've had this year where the conversation continued to be more interesting.

[00:09:00] And like Chris mentioned, there was more conversation about the need for data. But I think early on, the discussions were really focused on private credit in the form of this attractive yield environment. And then as the year progressed, the conversations became a lot more nuanced, where we recorded Enduring Fundamentals in Global Private Credit with Matt Harvey from PGIM. 

We discussed the durability of the asset class and really the importance of discipline, underwriting, and downside protection, rather than simply chasing returns. And for anyone who's been in private credit for a lot of their career, that doesn't sound new. But as we all know, that people need to exper- have these experiences to then have the conversation about it and learn from.

And then later in our episode, NAV Finance Demystified and How [00:10:00] Strategic Capital is Shaping Private Equity with Dane Graham from Seventeen Capital, we explored how private credit managers are providing increasingly customized liquidity solutions and strategic capital to sponsors when traditional financing options may be less efficient or less available.

And then most recently, we had a conversation with Melanie Lavigne from Davidson Kempner, and the discussion centered around how experienced investors are navigating through market dislocations. They're identifying relative value opportunities and deploying capital where that complexity or uncertainty really creates that attractive risk-adjusted return for investors to really jump on when that situation presents itself.

And through all of these conversations, we unpacked where attractive relative value opportunities lie and how managers create their edge, or they're [00:11:00] differentiating themselves from others, and how investors think about liquidity and risk, and where we c- and where they can deploy private capital and provide solutions that more traditional sources of financing can't anymore. 

Um, it's the, the regional banks have really kind of gone away, and now others are stepping in those shoes to fulfill the needs that really exist in that sector of the market. Um, and really by the second half of the year, private credit, it just felt less like people were still referring to it as an emerging asset class, and everybody was really now saying that it's more of a highly sophisticated ecosystem with specialized strategies, differentiated manager skillsets, and a growing ability to provide flexible capital solutions across different market cycles.

Aries Poon: That sounds like a market entering a more mature phase where selectivity, specialization, [00:12:00] and the right structure matter as much as growth. So Chris, uh, coming back to you. So alongside that evolution in strategies, the investor base is also changing. So what are you hearing about the rise of private wealth?

Chris Sparenberg: Yeah. So private wealth is, I mean, that's been another consistent theme on the show, and, um, private wealth is, I think, in the early stages of really accessing this asset class, and we expect to see a considerable amount of allocation changes continuing to increase, uh, from that group of investors. The way that we see market participants responding to that has been overall, uh, not just about creating access, not just about, you know, uh, really accessing those, those channels themselves.

It's about education. It's about telling the story about the types of vehicles, the strategies, things that are gonna have a lot in common with what investors are used to in, in public markets, and things that are completely nuanced and much different. Um, we've spoken to a number of, of guests who [00:13:00] are, uh, coming at this in different ways. 

We spoke to Kurt Nye at MAI Capital. He's really focused more from the advisor perspective on creating the right vehicles, selecting managers, providing diligence, and also education to wealth owners to help them get exposure to these asset classes. And then we've spoken to a few asset managers who are doing the same in terms of educating the market and not just telling stories about themselves, their firms, and their reach, but also the particular nuances in areas where they invest and why-- how that, that impacts allocation and return expectations, but also why it matters, why it's important.

So when we spoke to Peter Alaprantas at EQT, we talked about EQT's global perspective. They're present in a number of different asset classes. They're in the real asset space, they're in credit, they're in buyouts. They're even now in kind of the fund of funds or the multi-fund solutions, uh, segment, and provide a number of on, on-ramps for wealth investors to get exposure, but also to choose their exposure and to make sure [00:14:00] they understand what it is they're participating in.

We did the same with Jeff Deal at Adam Street, where we spoke a lot more about private credit specifically, but, you know, beyond the headlines, and I don't know that private credit gets much, uh, much nuanced coverage, it tends to be all one way. We got a really good look into the Adam Street process and the importance of selectivity when deploying capital and discipline in the market, and the ability and kind of the courage to move away from spaces that are getting too hot and look for others that are more reliable, more durable, and, you know, achieve the same goals that they're offering to investors.

So it's been a really broad conversation, but really good to have a number of voices from across the industry helping us navigate it. And I hope that for those of our listeners who are wealth investors themselves or interested in this space, it's been really helpful as a guide through what is becoming a really popular part of the market. 

Aries Poon: So Chris, I'm curious, so after more than fifty conversations, was there one idea that [00:15:00] kept resurfacing regardless of who you were speaking with? 

Chris Sparenberg: I think the, the one idea that's pervasive across all of our episodes is that this is an industry, you know, led by professionals. And so you get a lot of kind of, I call them cardiac events in, in, in the news flow, right?

You really only hear about things that are bad or things that are big. You don't get a pulse on what's happening day to day. You don't get to know the people behind the products, the assets, the deals, the funds. And what's come out time and again in each of these conversations has been just how expert these operators are, how unique their views on the market are, and how, um, you know, how professionalized the, the industry truly is.

And I just don't know that you get that when you're, when you're flipping open any one newspaper to get a single article. So throughout we've seen, you know, um, interest rates are high, that's creating pressure on deals. Here's how we're dealing with it. Here's our approach to structuring deals. Here's how [00:16:00] we're working to provide liquidity to investors. 

On the advisor side, it's, it's very much the same. Uh, you know, this isn't the first time we've seen as a, as an industry high interest rates, um, or mismatches in, in valuations. They have a real expertise and kind of a, a learned experience of how to deal with those environments and how they advise their clients.

And a lot of that comes out when we have these conversations, and I think it's great for our audience. 

Aries Poon: So let's talk about surprises 'cause we've been hearing a consistent emphasis on, uh, discipline, execution, resilience. But looking back across all of those conversations, um, what surprised you most?

Jocelyn.  

Jocelyn Lewis: Well, one of the things that was surprising is really despite a lot of these headlines that are coming out about private markets, even private credit with the default rates increasing, there was really a lot of optimism that we were [00:17:00] hearing from investors, and that wasn't just blind optimism. It was really thoughtful and disciplined, which gets back to some of the themes that we heard, but it kind of brings it together.

And many guests really acknowledged that there were challenges ranging from these higher interest rates to geopolitical uncertainty. You know, you had liquidity constraints and even the market volatility, but very few of our guests really viewed those factors as reasons to sit out and be on the sidelines.

They were all really focused on, "How do I navigate through this, be more selective about the investments that I'm making, and then create the returns that I set out to create and share with my investors what I've been able to do despite all these challenges?" Uh, one of the examples is when we had the conversation with Ilona Gornyk from Churchill.

A lot [00:18:00] of that conversation focused on risk management, resilience, and relationship-driven investing. And what stood out was that successful investors weren't trying to avoid that uncertainty again, but they were really building the right processes and partnerships that allowed them to more easily navigate through it, whether it was for them being a lender, having those relationships with those sponsors, or even having the right relationships within a specific sector in order to get that extra level of diligence that could really make or break a deal for them. 

So resilience was one thing that just really surprised me throughout the year. 

Aries Poon: Chris, what about you? 

Chris Sparenberg: Well, I'll follow on there. We spoke to David Hedalen at Aviva Investors, and I almost feel like you could just plug in that episode here rather than have me answer because he did such a wonderful job explaining it and talking about resilience.

Whether the [00:19:00] market's good or bad, you're still a real estate investor, or you're still a credit manager, you're still a buyout GP, and that just means that it changes the way you approach the market. So you can't run the same plays in twenty twenty-six that you ran in two thousand and six. That's fine. 

You have to work harder to source off-the-run deals. You have to structure and underwrite differently. Maybe you have to work harder to, to locate the right opportunities, but ultimately, they exist. And so we see a lot of evolution happening within these strategies. And again, that's why it's been great to come on and have thirty, forty-five-minute conversations with these managers to get their views on the market, and the same with asset owners, to be, to be perfectly honest.

Um, conditions change, but the mission does not, and the way that results are achieved might also have to change. And I think the very best managers are out doing that. They're constantly innovating and tinkering. They're being more disciplined when, um, when it's called for, and they're looking for deals they may not have, uh, ultimately done in the past as a way to efficiently deploy capital [00:20:00] and drive returns.

Aries Poon: So were there other themes that emerged, uh, repeatedly? 

Jocelyn Lewis: Yeah. Another theme was the increasing importance of partnerships and partnerships at many different levels. Um, the episode with Rachel Barton from Accenture was a really good one to speak about these partnerships. We talked about how successful organizations bring together data, technology, and human expertise, but in new ways. 

And whether the topic was investment management, operations, or client engagement, there was a strong emphasis on collaborating and using technology to augment decision-making rather than replace it, because if you have new tools at your disposal, you need to look and see what they can do, try them out, and then figure out what works best in the process that you've [00:21:00] designed and are looking to achieve and help you get to the best outcome possible.

Chris Sparenberg: Another one would be perspective and long-term thinking. So we talked about how to deal with the conditions of today, but it's important to note that it's not just about deploying capital today, it's deploying today for long-term returns. Uh, and we spoke to a number of guests who, who covered this. A few to point out, though, David Fann at VSS, um, pointed out something that I think is timeless, and that is specialization tends to produce better results than generalization.

And we went really deep into the importance of sector expertise, disciplined execution, and again, despite what might be happening in the deal environment or the exit environment, those factors matter considerably, and you want experts overseeing those, those portions of your, your portfolio. We also talked to Adam Cady and Klaus Hassberger at Lazard, um, where we got a great global outlook and the, it, you know, another reminder of the importance of maintaining [00:22:00] a long-term horizon in your thinking, but also being comparative and understanding what's happening in a given deal environment, whether that's asset class or geographic jurisdiction, um, or with the types of deal structures and how they perform comparatively.

So it really is that ability to zoom out and to think very long term. You do have to execute in the near term on whatever terms the market environment offers, but you have to do all of that with an eye toward how these things will play out, um, how your investment philosophy remains durable, and ultimately, how you're a good steward of capital. 

Aries Poon: So the audience today at the Look Forward podcast, uh, is fortunate enough to hear the lowdown of all the conversations, you know, you two have had with, with, uh, with, with, with your guests, um, over the years. But so if you really had to... if you had to summarize all this wisdom from your guests in one single sentence, what would that be?

Jocelyn Lewis: I would say that [00:23:00] the era of easy returns may be behind us, but the opportunity set in private markets remains incredibly compelling for investors who are disciplined, data-driven, and willing to take that long-term investment view. 

Chris Sparenberg: And I'd say that the best investors aren't waiting for or even just reacting to uncertainty.

They're building durable and scalable businesses that survive and thrive in any market conditions and can adapt when needed.  

Aries Poon: Thanks. And that combination of optimism and adaptability is a useful place to turn to the outlook, which is the last segment of today's podcast. So based on everything you've heard this year, what are you watching most closely as we move into 2027?

Jocelyn Lewis: I'm certainly watching this continued evolution of private credit. If there's one takeaway from our [00:24:00] conversations this year from the likes of Matt Harvey from PGIM, Dane Graham from Seventeen Capital, Melanie Levine from Davidson Kempner, they're all about how private credit is becoming more specialized, strategic, and increasingly important as a source of flexible capital.

I'm watching the liquidity solutions, secondaries, how those are going to play out, 'cause that's still relatively new for private credit, and also how continuation vehicles fit into the ecosystem. Um, some of the most interesting conversations that we've had this year centered around how investors are creating flexibility in an environment where traditional exit markets remain slower than many had previously expected.

And I also think that manager selection becomes even more important now, with one of the recurring themes that we've heard from guests this year is that we're moving [00:25:00] into this more differentiated market environment where operational expertise, specialization, sourcing advantages, and the ability to really create value just become more and more important. 

And with private markets continuing to grow and mature, identifying those managers that have truly differentiated capabilities will really be critical for investors.

Chris Sparenberg: And I think the three themes that I'll continue to watch, and certainly on a daily basis we, we, we get a lot of updates here, uh, would be the move toward private wealth, certainly. We're seeing more on-ramps come to market, more advisors offering tailored or bespoke options for investors participating in that space, and yet more, uh, innovation in the types of vehicles that are offered.

So we're going to see more wealth participation, and with that we're going to get more headlines, and it's gonna be really interesting to watch. Um, one [00:26:00] thing that even as S&P we're talking to clients about all day and every day is AI adoption across the space. So we're of course interested in understanding how we can help our GP clients, um, you know, use our tools more efficiently, access more data, and make better decisions.

But then ultimately that impacts how they execute and then how they report to their LP clients or, and to our LP clients. And so, um, we'll continue to see innovation there. Uh, we have a vested interest in supporting that transition and, uh, you know, we'll, we'll see no shortage of new and novel ways that it's deployed. 

Uh, and then lastly, it's the concept or really the theme of convergence. And so beyond the wealth and institutional convergence, we're seeing this happen, uh, in, in a more focused way in the credit space. So vehicles holding both public and private assets, um, but even private credit products, uh, like investment grade starting to look and feel a lot more like what the market is used to on the public side.

I think that continues as well, and we're certainly [00:27:00] keeping a very close eye on it. 

Aries Poon: So after all these conversations, are you more optimistic about the future of private markets, or actually you're getting more cautious? 

Jocelyn Lewis: More optimistic for sure. And it's not because the risks have disappeared. There'll always be different types of risks that come into the picture, but the industry is just getting better and better at adapting to these risks and bringing solutions to the market in order to solve for the needs of their portfolio companies and also create returns for their investors. 

It's that s- continued theme of resilience and adaptability. 

Chris Sparenberg: I completely agree. Jocelyn and I also do this for a living, so we are, we are naturally very optimistic people, and we, we love the clients and the asset class that we work in. Um, but I also think that, you know, [00:28:00] uh, as these trends continue to emerge, you're, you're always going to see public markets in a time of challenge or hedge funds.

Now we're seeing private markets, at least in, in the context of news headlines and some segments of the market face challenges. It's an adaptable and, and resilient space. This is what breeds innovation. This is what I think causes the market to learn more about some of these asset classes, and I think all of those things are fundamentally positive, uh, over the long term.

Aries Poon: Thank you. And, uh, before we wrap this up, I have one last question. So what would be the biggest takeaway you would like listeners to leave with?  

Jocelyn Lewis: The biggest takeaway is that private markets are no longer a niche corner of the investment landscape. They're continuously evolving as an important part of how capital is raised, allocated, and managed globally.

You know, it's funny, one of our colleagues, he used to refer to private markets as kind of the [00:29:00] sleepy part of the ecosystem just because there wasn't as much coverage on it, and especially when you have a fixed income background, like there's just so much going on in that space constantly that private markets can completely feel sleepy compared to that.

But they're just really not. They're really evolving, and we've just had such great conversations with our guests that are really in the thick of it. Um, and it, it's been really, really interesting to, to hear from them. 

Chris Sparenberg: Yeah. And it's been opaque for a long time, which is how I think it gets mistaken as being sleepy. 

But now that we're in the era of data standardizations, AI, and I think again, rising sophistication for all market participants, we're going to see the trends, the technology adoption, growth in private credit, other red-hot parts of the market which we didn't really touch on today, like infrastructure, um, continue to be really big themes.

[00:30:00] And we'll see new forms of capital formation as wealth gets involved and as some of the vehicles and points of access for the market continue, uh, to change. So a lot to look forward to here and a lot of very interesting things, I think, ahead for the industry 

Aries Poon: Jocelyn and Chris, co-hosts of Private Markets 360, thank you so much for joining us today.

So the picture that emerges is of a private market industry entering a more demanding but also more consequential phase. Returns will depend less on easy financial conditions and more on operational execution, better information, disciplined underwriting, and the ability to adapt. And as private credit, technology, and private wealth continue to develop, what happens in private markets will increasingly shape the broader investment landscape. 

If you would like to hear more conversation with leaders across private equity, private credit, and the broader alternative investment ecosystem, be sure to check out Private Markets [00:31:00] 360. You can also connect with today's speakers on LinkedIn. Thank you so much for listening to the Look Forward podcast.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, and we'll see you next time