The New York City skyline. Private equity firms are seeking to follow up on the deregulatory moves made by Donald Trump’s first-term administration © Jeenah Moon/BloombergToday’s agenda: Funding the cost of going green; hard-nosed Chinese VC tactics; Austria’s political crisis; Saudi Arabia’s infrastructure challenge; and Ruchir Sharma’s top 10 trends for 2025We begin the week with a report on the private equity industry, which is preparing to lobby Donald Trump’s incoming administration to give it access to broad pools of capital it has not historically been allowed to tap, including retirement savings. What’s the ask: The $13tn industry is hoping the new White House will revive a deregulatory push from the final months of Trump’s first presidency, which allowed private equity investments to be included in professionally managed funds. Now, the industry is seeking to push past that first step, allowing tax-deferred defined contribution plans such as 401ks to back unlisted investments such as leveraged buyouts, low-rated private loans and illiquid property deals, industry executives told the Financial Times.Why does it matter: The executives said that the effort could give their higher-fee funds a chance to tap a class of investors with at least as much in assets as the sovereign wealth funds, pensions and endowments that have traditionally backed the world’s largest groups such as Blackstone, Apollo Global and KKR. Industry executives told the FT the deregulatory push was akin to “doubling demand” for the private capital industry’s various funds as the move could unlock trillions for their firms. Read the full report.IPO comeback: The US is set for a rebound in listings as private equity groups seek to tap the country’s buoyant equities markets to offload some of their flagship holdings. And here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:Economic data: Germany has preliminary consumer price index data for December. S&P Global releases services purchasing managers’ indices for Italy, Spain, France, Germany, the Eurozone and the US. Central banks: Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook gives a speech on the economic outlook and financial stability at a conference in Ann Arbor, Michigan.US: Congress meets to certify Trump’s election as president. Five more top stories1. European voters will abandon the fight against climate change unless the wealthy help fund the cost of going green for all, the architect of the EU’s ambitious “Green Deal” has said. Governments should focus help on the poorest, to quell growing support for “dishonest” radical right-wing parties promising simple solutions, he added. Read the full interview with Frans Timmermans.2. Exclusive: Chinese venture capitalists are hounding failed founders, pursuing personal assets and adding them to a national debtor blacklist when they fail to pay up, hard-nosed tactics that are throwing the country’s start-up funding ecosystem into crisis. More
Mar. Gen 7th, 2025
