Capital Allocators – Inside the Institutional Investment Industry Top 5 of 2025: #2: Ian Charles
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Dec 29, 2025 
In this discussion, Ian Charles, a founding partner at Arctos Partners, shares his journey in private equity and sports ownership. He explores the complexities of private equity firms and how Arctos employs a data-driven approach to tackle industry challenges. Ian highlights current market dynamics, like fundraising pressures and the need for LPs to adapt. He also introduces a ten-level framework to categorize firms and discusses the importance of talent and scale in navigating the evolving landscape.
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Disaggregate Performance To Find True Alpha
- Disaggregate performance to separate skill from luck across industry, partner, size, geography, and product.
- This reveals where alpha originates and whether illiquidity charges are justified.
Big Firms Play A Different Game
- Scale now matters: the biggest firms play a different game and create a wake others must navigate.
- Level 9–10 firms raise vast capital via insurance and wealth channels and face deal origination, not capital origination constraints.
Struggling GPs Are Not Dead Yet
- Struggling firms are not 'zombies' but hold unrealized value and talented people needing paths forward.
- Options include waiting, finding buyers, or repositioning; timing and strategy matter for survival.