Author Archives: Victor De Pierrefeu

IPEM Paris 2024: Inspiration Awaits!

If ever there were a city to inspire new ideas, there’s no better place than Paris. Which seems altogether appropriate as the global private markets industry gathers September 9th – 11th for the 2nd edition of IPEM Paris, where this year’s theme will be “Forging Confidence”.

Building on the success of last year’s event, which welcomed over 6,000 delegates, IPEM will once again bring together a brains trust of global GPs and LPs at the Palais des Congrès. It is a key moment for the industry, as some investors look to increase their total private markets exposure, while others scale back. Fundraising has become much harder over the last 12 months, as private equity funds increasingly find themselves competing with private debt and infrastructure funds. Some GPs are more bullish on deal flow and exit opportunities than others, while ESG issues are becoming both more and less relevant, depending on the financial institution.

How then, to make sense of the divergence of views?

LP power shift means traditional allocation trends can no longer be assumed

How confident are LPs today as they assess their private markets portfolios and try to determine what the best path should be? It is a big question, made all the harder by the growing sense of uncertainty ahead of a historic period of global elections where more than 2 billion people will cast their votes.

“Although our intellect always longs for clarity and certainty, our nature often finds uncertainty fascinating.” – Karl Von Clausewitz, Prussian general and military theorist.

Even though private equity still dominates total industry AUM like Jupiter dominates our solar system, some investors are finding virtue – and confidence – in other alternative assets such as private credit and infrastructure.