Private Equity’s Big Investor Problem Puts the Partying on Hold (1)

Few 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.

“It’s not the end of private equity, but private equity is back to being a niche ...