Private Equity's New Reality: Select Hard, Think Long

At IPEM Wealth 2026 in Cannes, Ivan Vercoutère, Managing Director at LGT Capital Partners, shared his unfiltered read on where private equity stands today and what investors need to get right in a market that no longer forgives lazy allocation.

Key takeaways from this interview

01. The easy years are over. Selectivity is everything.
After a long stretch of strong performance, private equity is navigating a harder environment. Returns are no longer a given, exits are taking longer, and the gap between top and bottom performers is widening. Ivan's message is direct: in this market, manager selection and pricing discipline matter more than ever across primaries, secondaries, and directs alike.

02. Secondaries: Opportunity lives in the inefficiencies
LGT has long favored the secondary market but Ivan is clear that not all secondaries are created equal. With over 20 years of on-the-ground experience in select markets, including China, the edge comes from knowing where the market misprices risk, not from buying the index.

It's all about selectivity. You have to find your areas in secondaries where pricing is right because some parts of the market are simply overpriced. - Ivan Vercoutère, LGT Capital Partners

03. Longer isn't better: The duration trap
One of Ivan's sharpest observations: private equity holding periods have stretched significantly over the past three years, creating more uncertainty and compressing returns.
He makes the case for shorter-duration strategies as a deliberate portfolio construction choice, not a compromise.

04. AI will reshape the market, we just don't know how yet
Ivan invokes Mark Twain to make his point: predicting the future is hard, especially about the future. But one thing he is certain of: AI will have a profound impact on private markets by 2030, reshuffling industries, creating new winners, and exposing laggards. Investors who ignore it do so at their peril.