EconomyWhy Private Equity’s Playbook Is Losing to Public Markets

Private equity has long promised investors returns above public markets and offered entrepreneurs like Dan Namerow life-changing exits. But higher interest rates have made debt-financed buyouts harder to justify, while deals made at peak valuations in 2020 and 2021 have become harder to exit. Steven Kaplan of the University of Chicago Booth School says US buyout funds generally outperformed public markets for decades, but that pattern has…