Happy hump day, PE Hubsters! Rafael Canton here with the US edition of the Wire from the New York newsroom.
To kick off the Wire, let’s start with Cordillera Investment Partners’ Ashley Marks, a co-founder and co-managing partner, who talks about the firm’s strategy of investing in niche assets as a part of PE Hub’s ongoing thought leader Q&As.
Next, we have a look at continuation funds and what makes a deal successful in a conversation with Rob Campbell, head of North America at ICGSE.
After that, we’ll take a look at Moody’s Ratings' 2025 Data Center Outlook. The report notes that 2025 will continue to see strong demand for data centers. PE Hub has been following along with the data center trend in 2024.
Finally, we’ve also got a recap of yesterday's dramatic lawsuits filed by the DOJ and KKR.
Pursuing niche alternatives
Let’s get weird. PE Hub's ongoing series of thought leader Q&As continues today with Ashley Marks, a co-founder and co-managing partner of Cordillera Investment Partners, a San-Francisco based private equity firm that invests in niche assets.
Cordillera looks for niche investing opportunities, such as boat marinas, triathlon leagues, whiskey aging, agriculture lending and carbon credits. PE Hub editor-in-chief MK Flynn asked Marks about what’s driving demand in the niche alternatives space and more.
Subscribe to the premium version to learn what’s driving the demand for niche alternatives.
Looking for high quality assets
Affiliate title Private Equity International recently interviewed Rob Campbell, head of North America at ICGSE about continuation funds and what makes a deal in the continuation space successful. Campbell will make an appearance at PEI Group’s NEXUS 2025 conference in Orlando from March 10-12. He’ll be speaking on day two of the event about the future of GP-led secondaries alongside Mark Boyagi from Kirkland & Ellis, Christophe Browne from Lexington Partners and Jon Madorsky from RCP Advisors.
Premium subscribers can learn more about Campbell’s thoughts on single asset continuation vehicles.
Campbell will be a featured speaker at PEI’s NEXUS 2025 conference in March which will feature an extensive line-up of GPs, LPs and content.
For more related NEXUS 2025 content on PE Hub, see:
Data center demand continues
As demand for data centers continues to grow, there will be a need for capital to meet it. That’s where private equity firms can make an impact. Demand for data center capacity to support artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing and data storage services will intensify this year according to Moody’s Ratings' 2025 Data Center Outlook.
In December, I highlighted private equity’s interest in data centers which was driven mainly by the amount of power consumption tied to AI and cloud computing.
Subscribe to the premium version to gain access to our coverage of the report.
Serial violations or agency overreach?
The private equity industry’s contentious relationship with antitrust regulators in the current administration came to a dramatic head yesterdayas the Justice Department filed a suit against KKR for “serial violations of federal premerger review law,” and KKR filed its own suit against the agency, arguing: “Now, on the eve of a leadership transition, the Antitrust Division has threatened a final act of agency overreach.”
PE Hub will be following developments closely and will share updates with our readers.
Read the premium version to learn more about the news, including a statement from KKR.
Read the full Wire commentary on PE Hub ...
