Private Market Talks: Conversations and insights on the private markets with private capital’s leading figures.

This week on Private Market Talks, MidCap Financial’s Clare Bailhé joins us to talk about what it’s like to build, scale and manage a market-leading credit investment platform. In 2008 – a pivotal year for the financial industry – Clare and her team formed MidCap and embarked on a $500 million fundraise. Since then, they have grown exponentially, and now have $45 billion of assets under management. Clare shares with us the challenges and opportunities she faced launching a finance platform in 2008, why she and her partners decided to join forces with Apollo and why having the same team at MidCap since its launch has been pivotal to success. She also shares the three most valuable lessons she’s learned managing business growth.

In this episode of Private Market Talks, CEO and co-founder of Novata, Alex Friedman helps contextualize the evolving conversation around ESG and demystifies how companies and their investors assess ESG compliance and goals. During our conversation, Alex talks about how Novata is working to develop objective data so that companies and their investors can set ESG goals, track progress and unearth how they’ve fared – all relative to their peers. He discusses how Novata’s proprietary database aims to allow CEOs and investors to begin to set ESG benchmarks, which help public and private companies identify ESG risk factors and develop mitigation strategies.  

On the latest episode of Private Market Talks, we dive into the world of private equity with Matt Nacier, principal at Lincolnshire Management and member of the firm’s origination team. Lincolnshire Management is a middle market-focused private equity firm and an owner-operator in the truest sense. During the discussion, Matt shares how Lincolnshire’s approach to growing founder-owned businesses means seeing what others may not, rolling their sleeves up on things “that necessarily wouldn’t survive an elevator pitch” and creating flexibility for themselves, their LPs and their business management teams. He also touches on the relationship between private equity and private credit, the impact an economic swing will have on portfolios and why there is no such thing as a perfect business.

Jonathan Grayer, Chairman and CEO of Imagine Learning, has been an executive, an owner, a founder, and a growth investor. In episode seven of Private Market Talks, Jonathan takes us through his history as CEO and Chairman of Kaplan; founder of Weld North; partnerships with KKR, Silverlake and Onex; and management and investment in Imagine Learning, which today is the largest provider of K-12 digital curriculum to U.S. school systems. Jonathan also shares his thoughts about assessing talent, and what it takes to be a successful operator and investor, including why the things that go wrong are just as important as those that go right. 

In this episode, Jason Shuman, General Partner at Primary VC, gives us a window into his world of early-stage venture capital investing and discusses the multitude of stars that must align to lead to success. Jason shares his perspective on the venture investment landscape, what he looks for in founders when making a “go/no go” investment decision, the importance of the founder-investor relationship, and where he sees opportunities, challenges, and strategies for early-stage venture investing. He also takes us into the room and describes how one venture fund dealt with the days leading up to and immediately following the failure of Silicon Valley Bank.

As capital allocators look out at the global and domestic landscape, escalating geopolitical risks cannot be ignored. Change is happening rapidly and capital allocators are looking for new ways to understand and assess these risks. This is why we are thrilled to welcome Tina Fordham, Founder of Fordham Global Foresight, to Private Market Talks.

As private credit lenders move up market, Mike Ewald, partner at Bain Capital Credit, joins the Private Market Talks podcast to discuss how big the market might get, when – and if – the syndicated market comes back, and what competition between banks and direct lenders might look like in the future. In the wide-ranging discussion, Mike also shares his thoughts on the shrinking denominator effect, rising interest rates and what he sees in the private equity industry as a credit investor.

On Episode 3 of Private Market Talks, Carlyle’s Justin Plouffe, managing director and deputy chief investment officer for Global Credit, talks about opportunities for credit investors in the current environment and what he’s keeping his eyes on in the coming months. From what’s powering growth in the market to how he assesses deals, Justin’s unique perspective is a must-listen for investors, borrowers and others across the private capital landscape.

In this installment of Private Market Talks, Brent Humphries, President and Founding Member of AB Private Credit Investors, speaks with us from his home in Austin, Texas. Over the course of the episode, Brent shares his thoughts on the connection between driving Alpha and platform design, the resiliency of software/SaaS companies in the middle market and much, much more. 

In the first episode of Private Market Talks, host Peter Antoszyk sits down with Dan Pietrzak, co-head of Private Credit at KKR. Peter and Dan talk about their journeys in private credit, the importance of culture in building and scaling a successful team, and navigating opportunities and headwinds in private credit.