About 15% of new leasing in Blackstone's US logistics business now comes from data center related uses, up from basically 0% three years ago. A.J. Agarwal and David Levine argue that warehouses have become part of the AI infrastructure build.

Default rates in direct lending and broadly syndicated loans have run at 4% to 5% for three years. KKR's Chris Sheldon argues that with no index for the market, returns will split by manager on vintage, sector mix and portfolio construction.

TPG raised $26 billion in the first half across 35 products and targets a fee-related earnings margin in the 50s. CFO Axel André and Jack Weingart argue that diversification, insurance partnerships and lower middle market lending at about 4x leverage will drive the step-up.

Brookfield targets $1.3 trillion of fee-bearing capital by 2031. CEO Connor Teskey argues that larger successor funds replacing smaller ones would deliver a decade of growth even if fund sizes stalled.

Blue Owl earns more leasing data centers to AA-rated hyperscalers than it does on BBB tenants, with cap rates above 8%. Doug Ostrover underwrites every deal to a 7% to 10% return even if the buildings are worth nothing when the 20-year lease ends.

Blackstone's accrued performance revenue in its institutional infrastructure strategy passed $900 million ahead of a scheduled crystallization in the fourth quarter of 2027. CFO Michael Chae argues AI deployment in data centers, power and frontier AI stakes is about to show up as realized performance fees.

Ares CEO Mike Arougheti ranks AI financing by risk-adjusted return: data center shells first, adjacent infrastructure second, GPUs last. Chips are the largest slice of a $5 trillion build-out, and he says no one can yet describe their depreciation curve.

Apollo's Scott Kleinman argues private assets must adopt daily pricing, market making and ICE identifiers to win fixed income, mutual fund and 401(k) money. He puts fixed income replacement in the first inning and ties it to the total portfolio approach.

Spend on Anthropic across Blackstone's portfolio reached $525 million annualized. Jon Gray argues the payoff from AI capex now shows up in company-level returns and margins, while physical supply limits how fast it scales.

Private credit will reach its largest new pools of capital only when it trades, prices, and settles like a public security. Marc Rowan, Chairman and CEO at Apollo Global Management, argues this in a fireside chat at Bank of America's 31st Annual Financials CEO Conference. He names five new buyers: individuals, insurers, institutional debt and equity buckets, traditional asset managers, and retirement plans. He says none of them are natural fund investors.

Software makes up 23% of direct lending, against 13% of the broadly syndicated loan market. Marathon's Bruce Richards argues that concentration, at around 8 times leverage and with enterprise values halved, sets up the next credit cycle.

US direct lending funds returned 2.6% on average for the latest full year, below the 4.3% return on broadly syndicated loans. PitchBook's H1 2026 Global Private Debt Report points to spread compression in crowded strategies. Megafunds took 78.7% of US direct lending capital, while Europe's less concentrated market kept its premium over liquid loans.

BDO's 2026 Private Equity Survey of 400 US PE leaders finds 82% expect deal prices to rise over the next year. Hold periods are moving the same way, with 80% reporting holds of 5 years or more. Competition for a thin pool of quality assets is pushing entry prices up while the exit channel stays narrow.

A CFA Institute paper modeled target-date funds over a 40-year career. A 10% private equity allocation raised the average end balance by 13%. Cutting the horizon by 10 years cut balances by around 65%. Contributions, horizon and glide path drive outcomes more than the private market allocation itself.

Invesco's Summer 2026 DC Participant Pulse Survey finds 65% of participants would choose a target-date fund with private markets at an added 0.15% annual cost. Access alone does little to justify the fee. Private credit is the least understood strategy, and participants prefer the label private lending.

ADIA raised its private equity band to 15 to 20% and cut real estate to 2 to 7%. The 2025 Review ties the increase to faster capital recycling and a reopened exit market.

HarbourVest's 2026 Mid-Year Private Markets Outlook puts exit volume near $2 trillion annualized, but three transactions account for more than a third of first-half activity and distribution yields have run at roughly half their historical average for four consecutive years. Liquidity is reaching category leaders and the small end of buyout. The broad middle of the market is still waiting.

Three venture firms raised almost a third of new US venture money in the first half of 2026, and AI exits are just as concentrated. Access to top-tier managers is becoming the main driver of LP venture returns.

Dr. Sadek Wahba of I Squared argues that the largest source of value in infrastructure over the coming years is AI and data analytics applied to assets already in service. His examples are operational, from chassis fleets to refrigerated containers. He concedes the gain is efficiency, and that AI does not change the risk framework.

The $104 billion Oregon fund returned 3.5% for the quarter against a 6.6% peer median, and private equity was the only major class to decline. Over one year the private book returned 1.1% against a benchmark at 25.4%. The structure that produced top decile results since inception is now the reason the fund trails its peers.