Chris Trendler

🚀 Growth continues at Norton Rose Fulbright across the Midwest. We’re excited to welcome five new partners strengthening our business practice across Chicago and St. Louis, further deepening our capabilities in private equity, healthcare, leveraged finance, corporate, and tax. This group brings deep experience across complex transactions, PE-backed healthcare deals, and cross-border matters, aligning squarely with where our clients are heading in 2026 and beyond. In healthcare, we bring more than 400 lawyers within a dedicated practice established over 35 years ago, advising many of the industry’s most influential organizations—from major hospital systems and academic medical centers to physician groups, long-term care providers, insurers, and life sciences companies. Welcome to the team Andrew Smolik, Mike Flood, Virginia Duong, Seth Aigner, and Gordon J. Klein — excited to build together. 👋 More on this here: https://ow.ly/3TVU50Y7Bb3 #PrivateEquity #Healthcare #MergersAndAcquisitions

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Partners Capital CIO Alex Band, spoke to Buyouts about how endowments are navigating current challenges - balancing short-term liquidity needs with long-term return objectives, highlighting a shift from mega-cap buyouts and late-stage venture to mid-market strategies that can deliver quicker cash flows and sustained growth. Read More: https://lnkd.in/e-XBQGzc.

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What does the "new era" of private equity look like? This week at PEI NEXUS, Bain & Company's Chairman of Global Private Equity Practice Hugh MacArthur recapped the firm's latest Global Private Equity Report. Hugh noted that firms will need to focus on what they do well in a ��new era” for private equity. These sentiments echoed much of what Private Wealth Forum speakers, including Arax Investment Partners Founder and CEO Haig Ariyan, Laird Norton Wetherby CIO Ron Albahary, CFA, Ardian Managing Director, US Private Wealth Solutions Ava Mallin, and Citi Wealth Head of Private Equity and Real Estate Jeffrey Locke, shared on stage at PEI. This week's AGM Alts Weekly dives into what a "new era" in private equity might look like, connecting dots and data points from Bain & Company and McKinsey & Company's 2026 reports on the state of the private equity industry. Some key themes defined the takeaways from both reports: ➡️ Returns will not be a dime a dozen: Bain's punchline? "12 is the new 5." ➡️ Megadeals, big questions: 2025 witnessed an increase in global buyout deal value. However, just 13 deals of $10B or more contributed 69% of the growth in 2025, accounting for $274B of the global gain. ➡️ A K-shaped industry: Private equity appears to turning into a K-shaped industry, with “a subset of elite funds [being] on the upswing while everyone else muddles through.” ➡️ No fun in fundraising: McKinsey noted that core, closed-end fundraising has “become more competitive, selective, and time consuming.” ➡️ Continuation nation: There’s been a marked rise in continuation vehicle activity, but only represents less than 10% of exit value. ➡️ Mid-sized deals not so mid: Megadeal activity grabbed the headlines. But deal sizes $1-5B deals grew 29%. Growth in the $1-5B deal size segment could be encouraging for specialist buyout funds. There are some key questions for allocators to grapple with as they think about what private equity might look like in the future. 1️⃣ Do allocators believe public markets will continue to outperform private markets? 2️⃣ Will fundraising bounce back? 3️⃣ Can firms kick value creation into motion? 4️⃣ Are both GPs and LPs ready to handle how investors might look to exit evergreen vehicles? 5️⃣ For LPs, are they finding managers that have an edge? Read on for more👇 This week's Alt Goes Mainstream's AGM Alts Weekly, brought to you by DealsPlus, covers: 🗂️ AGM Index, an index that tracks the leading publicly traded alternative asset managers. 💻 Who is hiring: Senior-level positions from companies Blackstone, KKR, Apollo Global Management, Inc., Ares Management, EQT Group, Blue Owl Capital, Franklin Templeton, Fortress Investment Group, iCapital, Goldman Sachs, Ultimus Fund Solutions, Krilogy, MSCI Inc. Subscribe👇 to see the latest trends & navigate this rapidly changing landscape as alts go mainstream. https://lnkd.in/eRKN25jy

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At Venture Investors Health Fund we have experienced the impact that funds of funds (FoF) can have on capital availability. Our first experience was with the Venture Michigan Funds, two state sponsored funds of $95M and $120M. That’s big enough to make a large enough commitment to justify opening an office in the state (at least $15M). The idea was to attract experienced firms from out of state and their syndication networks. The commitment couldn’t be more than 25% of a fund and the funds had to invest at least that amount in Michigan. It worked. They stopped collecting data in 2018, but by that time, the funds had invested $264M in 56 Michigan companies. Through syndication, total invested was $1.71B (6.45x). VMF 1 returned 1x by 2018, and VMF 2 was 3x. Annual economic impact had grown to $303M. That data was before HistoSonics, Inc. got FDA approval triggering its meteoric rise. The company may have never gotten off the ground without VMF. Series A had 5 funds, 4 from Michigan, 3 of which opened a MI office because of VMF. Badger Fund is also State funded, but the first fund was only $25M, so they pursued a different strategy of helping launch first time funds, resulting in new funds across the state. We need that too, and it has impacted the number of funds and companies able to get VC backing. NVNG Investment Advisors, LLC is a private effort targeting corporate investors. We need more participants in the asset class, but small institutions and companies can’t always make the scale of investment to get diversification or hire the in house expertise for fund selection. A FoF like NVNG provides that. All different, all playing important roles. To be an Exempt Reporting Advisor, 80% of investments need to be directly into companies, precluding FoFs. The DEAL Act would lower the threshold to 50%, so a FoF that did 50% direct co-invest could qualify, lowering the barrier to formation. Ask Congress to make that happen.

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CEO Michael Arougheti talks deployment numbers amid a slower M&A market, clarifying what he believes to be an industry-wide misperception. Hear his thoughts and more from his latest conversation on Bloomberg.

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Interim executives play a pivotal role during times of disruption, whether a company is navigating leadership turnover, operational challenges, or a full-scale restructuring. Robert Duffy, Steve Coulombe, and Mark Weinsten break down what boards and investors should evaluate in potential interim hires and why a tailored, experience-driven approach is essential. Read their full article in BRG’s ThinkSet magazine ➡️ https://lnkd.in/g_SzNFZc Interested in more on the topic? Read their recent article at Directors & Boards >>> https://lnkd.in/eGXd643e

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The Pipeline: M&A and IPO Insights is back with a new series! Host Joe Mantone sits down with Richard Truesdell of Davis Polk to explore the current state of the IPO market. They discuss rising tech IPO activity, the impact of market volatility, and why conservative valuations are key in today’s environment. The conversation also covers the return of SPAC IPOs, challenges in biotech, and what’s needed to reignite broader market momentum. A concise look at the trends shaping IPO activity in 2025 and beyond. Listen to the podcast now: https://okt.to/1WgYp5

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Private equity has shifted from financial engineering to operational value creation, fundamentally changing what's expected from FP&A teams. Riveron's Glenn Snyder recently co-hosted FP&A Unlocked alongside Paul Barnhurst, joined by Riveron's Nate Heeren and Trivest Partners' Jamie Lukaszewski, to discuss what PE firms now expect from FP&A, how to build trust through data in high-stakes environments, and why building the right infrastructure from day one prevents scrambling at exit. Key insight: "You're not going to win many races with your legs tied together—you've got to be set up for success." Read the full podcast recap: https://lnkd.in/e3SjdJ_J #FPandA #PrivateEquity #FinancialPlanning #ValueCreation

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With the pressure to meet growth targets mounting, securing a top commercial leader in healthcare and life sciences is more critical than ever. In this insightful piece by my colleagues, Pam Zients and Kassandra Keller, they share 3 key hiring considerations to help firms navigate today’s market. Worth a read for anyone in the industry! Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/g69ijmte

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Turn to Chatham: Enhancing M&A Outcomes with Independent Hedge Counterparties As M&A financing moves beyond traditional bank-led models, companies are rethinking how they source hedge counterparties. In this video, Jackie Bowie explains how independent hedging can create more competition, better pricing, and flexible structures to support successful transactions. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/etd3DB4t

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Haveli Investments closes debut $4.5bn software buyout fund led by Vista Equity Partners co-founder Brian Sheth. The fund, which closed at its hard cap in March, targets both minority and control stakes in enterprise software businesses. Since its inception, Haveli has pursued an active acquisition strategy. It acquired cybersecurity risk management firm AppViewX, and ZeroFox Holdings, a cybersecurity services provider. The $4.5bn fund signals strong investor appetite for sector-specialist strategies in enterprise software, even as broader fundraising conditions remain mixed across the private equity landscape. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gvqZUACV #PEInsights #privateequity #fundraising #software

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Wealth professionals looking to introduce private market investments into client portfolios are finding that client education is essential. Managing Director James Martin shares a key insight from our Global Private Wealth Survey that highlights how stronger education equips clients to confidently embrace private markets.

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Neuberger Berman is focused on how to leverage AI to better serve investors. While on the Asset Podcast, Barry Giarraputo, CFO of Neuberger Berman Private Markets, shares with Scott Ramsey how the firm is partnering with tech leaders and deploying modern tools to drive efficiency and innovation in private markets. Listen the full conversation here: https://lnkd.in/gum_nK7i #PrivateMarkets #AI #Innovation #NeubergerBerman #MUFGCapitalAnalytics

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