AI in SBIC fund administration: Building regulatory confidence at scale

Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping private equity (PE) fund administration—but for small business investment companies (SBICs), adoption requires a different lens. SBICs are not simply another category of private equity fund. They operate in a uniquely regulated, mission‑driven environment, with Small Business Administration (SBA) oversight layered on top of standard PE requirements. That structure fundamentally changes how AI should be evaluated, deployed and governed.

SBIC managers face ongoing examination, leverage limits, distribution requirements and highly prescriptive reporting requirements, including SBA‑specific filings such as capital certificates and Forms 468, 1031, 480 and 652. Regulatory scrutiny is continuous rather than episodic, and the cost of errors—whether classification mistakes, incomplete documentation or inconsistent application of SBA rules—is disproportionately high. READ MORE

The Evolving Private Equity Toolkit

Over the past 25 years, private equity evolved into an important allocation for institutional investors, driven by an ownership model purpose-built for longer-term value creation which, in turn, drove strong returns. In recent years, however, a healthy level of scrutiny has emerged. Private equity returns have moderated relative to the historical average time-weighted net return of approximately 13% over the prior 25 years, and some investors have begun to question what lies ahead. READ MORE

Private equity fundraising rebounds; take-private deal activity cools

Private equity is on track to reverse two consecutive years of annual fundraising declines.

Investor commitments to global private equity funds totaled $306.78 billion this year through June 30, according to With Intelligence data. Annual fundraising by global private equity firms has exceeded $600 billion just once since 2020, though it is on track to do it again. READ MORE

For 250 Years, Private Capital Has Fueled American Innovation, Growth, and Prosperity

Today, the American Investment Council (AIC) and the National Association of Investment Companies (NAIC) released a new report, “America at 250: How Private Capital Fuels American Dynamism,” examining the essential role private capital has played in fueling American economic growth, innovation, and competitiveness throughout the nation’s history.

Released in honor of America’s 250th anniversary, the report details how private investment has supported job creation, manufacturing, infrastructure, and innovation – and continues to do so, shaping America’s future. READ MORE

Private equity dealmakers face reckoning in Washington

A new law set to take effect Friday, July 10, that limits — for the first time — private equity purchases of single-family homes takes aim at a practice blamed for reducing the availability of affordable housing. It's the latest example of how political adversaries in Washington are unifying over concerns that buyout shops increasingly make investments that critics say can gut businesses, raise prices and harm consumers. The Biden administration treated many sponsors as pariahs, accusing them of chasing short-term profits and exploiting a loophole that allows smaller assets to be consolidated without antitrust review. Private equity acquisitions were subject to intense scrutiny, with some unwound.

Under Trump, federal enforcers relaxed oversight of PE firms, declining to single them out for special treatment as state attorneys general sought to restrict their investments, especially in healthcare. READ MORE

Private Equity Meeting the Moment

Private equity’s recovery remains uneven. Deal activity and exit values have improved over the past two years, aided by better financing conditions for high-quality assets. Yet for many limited partners, the central question remains unchanged: When will capital begin to flow back at healthier levels? Longer hold periods, delayed exits and continued macroeconomic uncertainty have left investors focused less on paper gains and more on distributions from general partners. As a result, while fundraising remains constrained, LPs are seeing an evolution in investment structures that can help them meet liquidity needs. READ MORE

Private equity giants dominate fundraising as smaller firms face zombie risk

Private equity fundraising is showing signs of recovery, but the rebound is increasingly benefiting the industry's largest players, the Financial Times reported Sunday.

Global private equity fundraising topped $260 billion in the first half of 2026, putting the sector on pace to raise about 17% more this year than in 2025, according to PitchBook data. READ MORE

Can you speak private equity? It’s a whole other language

There are many things eye-catching about the proposed offer for easyJet by Castlelake, the Minnesota private equity company, not least that when you download the official statement detailing its £5.5 billion bid for the airline from Castlelake’s website, the PDF is entitled: “Project Citrus Draft Release”.

I love ludicrous M&A codenames. I can only presume this is a reference to easyJet’s orange branding and “Project Donald Trump’s Fake Tan” was deemed unsuitable. READ MORE

Pace of private equity exits slows in H1 2026

The number of private equity exits slowed during the first half of 2026, as market uncertainty continued to prevent buyers and sellers from finding common ground on valuations.

Global private equity and venture capital firms announced 1,504 exits between Jan. 1 and June 30, down 6% from the 1,601 exits recorded in the first half of 2025, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. READ MORE

Pay and working hours in private equity vs investment banking

If you're lucky enough to get onto the bottom rung of the investment banking ladder through the analyst program of a major bank, you'll have to decide very quickly whether you want to stay in banking, or seek an exit opportunity on the buy side. Is it really worth making the switch?

A recent podcast featuring finance influencer High Yield Harry has unveiled figures for compensation in both banking and private equity/private credit, looking at pay for top quartile workers, and breaking down average weekly working hours. In banking, while hourly pay rises the longer that you're in the role, your working hours stay high all the way to VP, were top performers earn half a million dollars per year. READ MORE

Private equity fund investors turn to debt-like deals in downturn

Investors in private equity funds are increasingly turning to creative debt-like deals to generate cash amid a dearth of payouts, as the sector’s dealmaking downturn stretches on. Backers of buyout funds agreed $9bn worth of “alternative”, structured transactions last year to bring in cash from their stakes in the vehicles, up from $6bn in 2024, investment bank Jefferies told the FT. READ MORE

Private equity is struggling with exits, even as the AI deal boom takes over Wall Street

Private equity is staring down a growing pile of investments it can't cash out of.

Fueled by the artificial intelligence frenzy, Wall Street's 2026 deal boom is on pace to set records. But even the roaring market hasn't been enough to help the private equity industry clear out its mountain of aging portfolio companies.  READ MORE

Private equity pushes insurance to get risky

Private equity’s headlong rush into the life insurance industry has misaligned incentives, inflated risky assets, and produced a crop of “zombie insurers” just waiting to blow up, according to one of the few insiders willing to say so out loud.

“We know them, we see them, we whisper about them,” Anant Bhalla said on the latest episode of Semafor’s Compound Interest. “We need to speak more openly about it.” READ MORE

The queen of private equity recruitment: “We receive between 12,000 and 15,000 CVs a month”

Gail McManus is stepping back. 30 years after founding Private Equity Recruitment (PER), the firm that’s both literally and practically synonymous with getting a private equity job in Europe, McManus is working part-time. She handed leadership of PER to long term colleagues Charlie Hunt and Rupert Bell last year in a management buyout and now has the luxury of regularly switching on her out of office. But she hasn’t disappeared entirely: McManus is the well-established queen of private equity hiring, and she still enjoys wearing that crown.  

“Jobs in this industry are all about trust and judgement and potential and whatever you do people remain gloriously diverse, difficult, charismatic, challenging, awkward and entrepreneurial,” says McManus of private capital firms and their employees. “This is why I love it.”  READ MORE

Dual-use technologies offer attractive defense entry point for private capital firms

Dual-use technologies (i.e., items that are designed for commercial/civil use but that can also be used in battlefield, security, or weapons proliferations purposes, such as drones, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity systems, and quantum computing) are a rapidly expanding area of investment focus for private capital firms.  

The broadening definition of defense beyond traditional hardware is creating significant value creation opportunities, but it also brings legal, regulatory, and practical challenges that require careful consideration.  READ MORE

Private capital firms target emerging opportunities in space sector

Space assets are attracting significant interest from venture capital (VC) as well as private equity investors. 

Two primary developments underlie this shift. The first is the industrialization of space manufacturing. Historically, spacecraft were capital-intensive, often single-use, government-commissioned systems.  READ MORE

PE has yet to prove its AI bets to investors

Private equity firms have raced to embed AI into portfolio companies, betting it will reshape businesses and boost valuations, yet few have results to show for it.

A round of conversations with advisers provided a reality check on the hype, laying bare the distance between what the PE industry is hankering for from AI and what its experiments have delivered so far. While most firms have been tinkering enthusiastically, many haven’t done it in a way that has translated into financial gains. READ MORE

Private Equity Bought the World – And Dug Capitalism’s Grave

Secret backrooms where deals are done in private: the realm of conspiracy theories? Or an increasingly large part of capitalism?

Since the financial crisis, some of the big winners have been private equity firms. They’ve snapped up bargains on everything from high street brands, to care homes and nurseries – and maybe even the house you own. READ MORE

Private equity confronts a goose egg

Private equity is finally eating its vegetables.

For months, markets have been hand-wringing about private credit while quietly ignoring the obvious: equity sits below debt. Always has. “If you’re worried about private credit, and a lot of people are, you should be really worried about private equity,” I wrote in March. READ MORE

The 100-Day Cost Reset in Private Equity

The playbook that built private equity returns over the past decade is losing its edge. Multiple expansion has compressed. Leverage is more expensive and harder to access. Market timing is less reliable. What remains, and what now accounts for a growing share of fund-level returns, is operational value creation: margin expansion, cash discipline, and the capabilities to sustain both.

Operating partners often feel this pressure most directly. Many own the performance trajectory of assets from day one. And they know that episodic cost cutting—a round of procurement savings here, a hiring freeze there—does not produce the kind of durable, defensible margin improvement that holds up at exit. READ MORE