As Private Equity Returns Dwindle, Executives Look to Soothe Antsy Investors
As buyout executives gather for their yearly jamboree in Berlin, some are talking about the once dominant industry becoming a niche asset class.
Sheikh Saoud Salem Al-Sabah, managing director of Kuwait Investment Authority, at the Qatar Economic Forum where he discussed the state of private equity.
Photographer: Christopher Pike/BloombergFew private equity executives would have guessed they’d have to spend 2025 convincing investors to stick with the asset class. Yet as we near the year’s halfway point, that’s exactly where they find themselves.
With hopes of a Donald Trump-inspired M&A boom petering out — and as the US president’s tariff mayhem makes life even harder for companies owned by buyout firms — any partying at this week’s annual industry shindig in Berlin is likely to be much more restrained than in the past.