Hi Community,
I’ve been looking for ways to stay updated on the latest developments in private markets, and I've compiled a few key updates below that caught my attention this week. I plan to share these roundups periodically, and I encourage others to do the same!
What trends, insights, or news are you currently tracking in the private market space?
Happy reading!
🔥 Top story
Private credit faces its first real stress test. Evergreen private credit funds saw a reported $20.8bn of redemption requests in Q1 2026, and Blackstone’s flagship BCRED received Q2 redemption requests equal to 10% of shares — up from 7.9% in Q1 — enforcing its 5% quarterly gate (With Intelligence). With stress concentrated in SaaS lending after AI fears wiped over $1tn from software stocks in a single February week, manager quality and fund structure are suddenly under the microscope.
🇬🇧 UK corner
• EasyJet in play: EasyJet agreed to enter discussions with Castlelake after rejecting a fourth takeover proposal from the US private credit manager (Private Equity Wire). A private credit firm taking a FTSE airline private would be a landmark for the asset class’s ambitions.
• Infrastructure services churn: Warburg Pincus agreed to acquire UK utility and infrastructure services provider Network Plus from OMERS Private Equity — sponsor-to-sponsor deals returning as exit routes reopen. Source: Private Equity Wire
• Exit recovery signal: KKR reported over $900m in monetisation income so far in Q2, suggesting the exit drought is easing — good news for UK GPs sitting on aged portfolios. Source: Private Equity Wire
🌍 Emerging markets watch
• Egypt’s first SAF facility: The Emerging Africa & Asia Infrastructure Fund (Ninety One) committed a $40m senior secured loan to Egypt’s first sustainable aviation fuel production plant (EAIF); EAAIF also raised $325m in new debt facilities, beating its $500m cumulative target ahead of schedule.
• Philippines energy transition: EAAIF and Ninety One’s Emerging Market Transition Debt strategy jointly committed $30m to Philippine clean energy — DFI-adjacent capital keeps leading where institutional LPs remain cautious.
🌐 Global trends
• Secondaries keep breaking records: 2025 volume hit $226bn, up 41% year-on-year, and 2026 is on pace to stay elevated as large allocators consolidate manager rosters (William Blair).
• Evergreen boom: Evergreen private credit AUM reached $644bn (+45% YoY), with wealth channels driving flows via ELTIFs and LTAFs (Hamilton Lane) — the same structures now being stress-tested by redemptions.
• Co-invest squeeze: With top-tier GPs balancing evergreen vehicles, SMAs and flagship funds against the same deal flow, co-investment access may become materially scarcer through 2027 — a real issue for smaller LPs. Source: With Intelligence
⚖️ Regulatory radar
Mansion House, 14 July: The Chancellor’s Mansion House speech lands in two weeks, with the financial services AI adoption plan confirmed for publication (Slaughter and May). Meanwhile the FCA is consulting on exempting performance fees from the DC pensions charge cap — a significant relaxation that could accelerate the Accord’s 10%-to-private-markets-by-2030 ambition (Browne Jacobson).
💬 Let’s discuss
1. Evergreen redemptions: growing pains or design flaw?
With $20.8bn of Q1 redemption requests across evergreen private credit funds and BCRED enforcing its 5% quarterly gate, the semi-liquid structure is facing its first real test. Some argue gates are working exactly as designed — orderly liquidity, no fire sales. Others say retail investors never understood what they bought. Where do you land? And does this change how you’d position evergreen vehicles for wealth clients?
Further reading: With Intelligence — Private Credit Outlook 2026 · Hamilton Lane — Evergreen Funds
2. A private credit firm buying easyJet — sign of the times?
Castlelake’s pursuit of easyJet (four bids and counting) would be one of the most striking examples yet of private credit managers moving from lending into outright ownership of large public companies. Is the line between private credit and private equity effectively gone? What does this mean for how we underwrite, benchmark and classify these strategies?
Further reading: Private Equity Wire — Deals · Connection Capital — Making sense of private credit in 2026
3. Mansion House, two weeks out — what should we be watching?
The Chancellor speaks on 14 July, with the FCA consulting on exempting performance fees from the DC charge cap and Accord signatories committed to 10% private markets allocations by 2030. For those working with DC schemes or LTAFs: what’s the single biggest remaining barrier to UK pension capital actually flowing into private markets — fees, liquidity, valuation governance, or something else?
Further reading: Browne Jacobson — FCA pensions regulatory priorities 2026 · Pensions Expert — Full text of the Mansion House Accord
🎉 Fun bit
The term “unicorn” for a $1bn+ startup was coined by Aileen Lee in 2013, when just 39 companies qualified (TechCrunch — Welcome to the Unicorn Club). Today there are over 1,200 (CB Insights unicorn tracker) — meaning the “rare mythical creature” is now roughly as common as a McDonald’s in London. Time for a new animal?
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Dieu-Donne Gameli
Investment Executive
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