RPM - Reflections on Private Markets

In this episode of RPM, Bhavika Vyas, Managing Director and member of StepStone’s Private Equity team, and special guest Julio Friedmann, Chief Scientist, Carbon Direct, join co-host Maribel Yoo to revisit the conversation on energy transition investing. They evaluate the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) two years post-enactment, highlighting advancements in climate solutions and global investment opportunities.

They cover:

• Energy transition opportunities (2:24);
• Post-IRA investment risks (5:45);
• Project execution bottlenecks (8:05);
• Global investment trends (12:26); and
• Climate portfolio strategy (16:06).

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In this episode of RPM, Simon Beer, Partner, Infrastructure & Real Assets, joins co-host Michael Venne to discuss trends that are redefining the infrastructure landscape. They cover:

• What’s happening in data (3:11);
• Energy transition definition (6:58);
• The investment landscape (9:04);
• Why to invest now (11:35);
• Infra as an inflation hedge (15:17)

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In this episode of RPM, Suzanne Tavill, Partner and Head of Responsible Investment joins co-host Michael Venne to discuss the potential of Responsible AI and how private markets may influence its development. 

They cover:

• What is Responsible AI (2:16);
• Its relationship with ESG (5:43);
• Classifying risks (7:58);
• The value creation chain (13:03); and
• How commercial harm can manifest (16:19)

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In this episode of RPM, Richard Schmidt, Senior Analyst, Private Debt, and Jovan Samardzic, Managing Director, Private Debt Research, join co-host Michael Venne to discuss the state of the private debt market. They cover:

• The relative value of private debt (2:12);
• The impact of higher interest rates (4:42);
• How middle-market companies are performing (6:57);
• What’s ahead for default and loss rates (8:20); and
• The outlook for direct lending volumes (10:26).

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In this episode of RPM, Jeff Giller, Partner and Head of Real Estate, and Margaret McKnight, Partner and Head of Portfolio Solutions for StepStone Real Estate, rejoin co-host Maribel Yoo to discuss our Spring 2024 House Views on the state of the real estate market. They cover:

• Updates from our Fall House Views (1:38);
• Opportunities in non-core assets and distressed properties (2:41);
• Property trading volume (5:45);
• Trends in capital deployment (8:14); and
• Property type outlooks (10:06).

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In this episode of RPM, co-host Maribel Yoo hands the mic to Margaret McKnight, Partner and Head of Portfolio Solutions for Real Estate, to interview Jeff Giller, Partner Head of StepStone Real Estate, about our recent whitepaper, Bull market for real estate secondaries. They discuss:

• Why it is a bull market for RE secondaries (01:22);
• Comparing GP- and LP-led secondaries (06:50);
• Why we like GP-led secondaries (10:55).

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In this episode of RPM, Akhilan Nesaratnam, Thomas Dupont and Carlos Sahuquillo from our private equity team in London join co-host Michael Venne to discuss Europe’s private equity landscape. The conversation surrounds common misconceptions about Europe’s investment opportunities, unpacking four key European sectors and the topics of our recent papers: European small and middle market buyouts, the Nordic region, European growth equity and European healthcare. They discuss:

• Our history as European PE managers (02:23);
• Unpacking Europe’s headline risk (08:13);
• Opportunities in growth investing (09:41);
• Recent small market outperformance (13:13);
• The Nordics’ growth potential (15:25); 
• Health investments and digitalization (18:24).

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In this episode of RPM, Todd Lapenna and Sean Ebsary from our infrastructure team, join co-host Michael Venne to discuss infrastructure’s middle market following the release of our recent whitepaper, Infrastructure’s Middle Market: An emerging opportunity. They touch on topics including:

• Infrastructure’s rapid two-decade growth (1:55);
• Infra's performance as an inflation hedge (3:20);
• Why to invest through the private markets (6:19);
• The advantages of smaller managers (7:09).

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In this episode of RPM, Jeff Giller, Partner and Head of Real Estate, and Margaret McKnight, Partner and Head of Portfolio Solutions for Real Estate, rejoin co-host Maribel Yoo to discuss our Fall 2023 House Views on the state of the real estate market. They cover:

• Updates from our Spring House Views (1:49);
• Impact from liquidity constraints (5:15);
• Property trading volume (6:52); and
• Property type outlooks (7:57).

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In this episode of RPM, Christian Frei, StepStone head of risk joins Michael Venne to discuss some of the main insights from StepStone's recent collaboration with GIC: a whitepaper that provides an overview of private debt investment opportunities and a framework for building an optimal private debt portfolio. They cover a range of topics including: 

• The genesis of the project (1:53);
• How investors regard private debt (5:29); 
• Optimizing for risk and return (7:15); 
• Stress loss as a risk measure (10:06);
• Tactical versus strategic considerations (14:11).

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