August 27, 2026
For most of the past two decades, the private equity conversation has centered on a single question: can private equity beat public markets? We believe the more critical question today is narrower and harder to answer: where does durable outperformance come from now that the last cycle's tailwinds have faded?
Our latest research piece makes the case that the answer points toward small buyouts. We explore what long-run data tells us about returns and dispersion at the small end of the market, why emerging managers and independent sponsors may be underappreciated sources of potential outperformance, and how GEM has built a sourcing and diligence model around identifying promising managers early.
We believe the lower middle market remains one of private equity’s most durable and least crowded sources of outperformance. In our latest research report, we examine the data behind our thesis and explain why we think disciplined manager selection creates a distinct edge.
In this mid-year follow-up to our 2026 Outlook, we revisit the four themes shaping this year's markets—AI's debt-financed buildout, accelerating private market access, biotech's continued momentum, and a slowly healing real estate market—and take stock of what's playing out as anticipated and what isn’t.
Three years after our last Investment Policy review, the regime has shifted: higher rates, sticky inflation, and a positive stock-bond correlation. In this conversation, GEM’s CIO Matt Bank revisits not just capital market assumptions but the framework itself, from methodology to implementation and risk management.
Let’s start a conversation about how we can help.
