EQT Plans Major US Investment Expansion

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00:00We see really attractive growth opportunities across the platform.

00:04Geographically, the U.S. is definitely a large opportunity, big opportunity for us.

00:11We're going to make significant investments into our organization here in the U.S.

00:16and over the next five years.

00:18We actually expect to invest more than $250 billion here in the U.S.,

00:24which would be an increase compared to how much we've invested in this part of the world

00:29historically.

00:31It is a more crowded market, though, here in the U.S.,

00:34so where do you find those opportunities?

00:36It's really across the platform, right?

00:39I mean, if you look at our business today, 50% is in private capital,

00:44a third in infrastructure, and the rest in the real estate strategies.

00:49So the opportunities that we see here in the U.S.

00:53and the opportunity to grow is really across the platform and across those business lines.

00:57Huge deals are being inked when it comes to infrastructure.

01:00There's a rumor to $30 billion one with Meta and some private capital players.

01:05Would you look at deals of that size, considering the price tags that are on these things?

01:10Yeah.

01:10I mean, we have one of the largest, or we're currently investing in one of the largest infrastructure funds

01:15with Infra6, and AI, I think, is a generational opportunity for us across the platform,

01:26certainly in the infrastructure strategies.

01:28And it's true, you know, whenever there is a technology shift like that,

01:33there's a risk of excess valuations or capacity overbuild.

01:39But, yeah, we were well-positioned, we believe, to invest into this theme and in this trend,

01:45and also opportunities of the scale of this size, you know,

01:49given the fund sizes that we have, would be an opportunity for us.

01:54There's risks of overinvesting.

01:56You're confident in your strategy, but when you take a step back and look at what everybody else is doing,

02:00do you see pockets of that that concern you?

02:04As I said, there's definitely a risk of that, right, when it comes to AI,

02:08and there will be winners and losers.

02:10But, you know, we're focused on just investing in the smartest way,

02:16in the best possible way, in this theme, in this opportunity across the platform,

02:20in our early stage strategies, in native AI opportunities, and also in our infrastructure platform,

02:25in data centers, energy providers, fiber infrastructure.

02:30Of course, your roots are in Europe.

02:32A lot of your American rivals have been moving into Europe, too.

02:35Apollo recently said that the continent has fertile ground.

02:39Blackstone had their big, splashy $500 billion they plan to invest over the next decade.

02:43How has that competitive landscape changed what you do in Europe?

02:47So, it's true, we're definitely seeing an interest from investors, public investors, private investors,

02:56to allocate more capital outside of US dollar-based assets right now.

03:00Investors want to rebalance their portfolios, and Europe will benefit from that trend.

03:07So, I really see it more as an opportunity for Europe.

03:11We also see policymakers, regulators, wanting to implement a more business-friendly, innovation-friendly policy.

03:23And, you know, we think that will have a positive impact for the growth outlook for the region.

03:27And we want to invest into that.

03:28Do you feel some of that competition, though?

03:30Have you seen any of it on the ground taking place?

03:33I mean, we've been investing in Europe for decades, right?

03:37And Europe is very different compared to the US.

03:41You know, many different languages being spoken, different ways of doing business.

03:46And so, you know, we have an organization with hundreds of investment professionals on the ground across all of the major economies in Europe.

03:55So, we think we're really well positioned to source the most attractive opportunities in that part of the world

04:01and to maybe use some of the inefficiencies that you have in Europe to continue to create attractive returns for investors.

04:08It feels like a very polite way to say we have the edge over them.

04:12Okay.

04:12I'll say it.

04:13You don't have to say it, Per.

04:14Yeah, thanks.

04:15In terms of other opportunities, you have talked about the opportunity in secondaries.

04:19And there's been reporting that those conversations have gotten really real.

04:22Are you looking at maybe adding a secondaries business via acquisition?

04:27So, the journey that we're on at ECT is that we really want to build the most attractive client-centric scale platform in the industry.

04:35And to be able to do that, we think we need to be world-class at deal-making, value creation across everything we do,

04:44but also in terms of our client solutions capabilities, right?

04:48And we have said publicly that in that part of our organization, we want to make investments going forward

04:55because we see investor demand to engage with us so that we can help them, you know, rebalance their portfolios.

05:04And so, that is an area that we're looking at and that we want to invest into either organically or through acquisitions.

05:09What about private credit?

05:11EQT famously sold their private credit business in 2020 to Bridgepoint.

05:14Would you ever get back into that?

05:15I'd say that, you know, you should never say never, but in the near term, I say we have other more important strategic priorities for us.

05:29And I don't really see us reentering credit, you know, in the very near term.

05:34So, taking a big step back, you are easily the second largest fund when it comes to at least capital raise.

05:39You have an excellent view on this industry as a whole.

05:41It is this moment where the claim goes that the industry as a whole overinvested in 2021, and now exits are difficult to come by.

05:50Is it a moment of angst for private equity right now?

05:55So, private equity and private markets has always been a cyclical growth industry, right?

05:59And it's true that post-pandemic, we saw interest rates normalize and a slowdown in deal activity,

06:06and that also put pressure on distributions.

06:10What we're seeing now, though, is real signs of a potential pickup in deal activity.

06:14There's been a number of successful sponsor-backed large IPOs that have been done, both here in the U.S. and also in Europe.

06:21And at EPT, we're just focused on making sure that our portfolio companies are, you know, IPO-ready,

06:29so that we can always maximize exit optionality and really produce the best possible outcomes for investors.

06:36It does feel like this dichotomy, because you have you and some of your larger peers of the world able to do exits, able to fundraise.

06:43And then you hear these stories of maybe mid-market or smaller funds that aren't able to fundraise as robustly.

06:49Is there a real split happening right now?

06:51I mean, if you take a step back and look at the private markets industry as a whole,

06:56there's a number of strong forces really shaping the industry right now.

07:00And to be able to navigate this environment, we believe that you need to have scale,

07:05you need to have the resources to invest into those capabilities, whether it's AI, whether it's private wealth.

07:11And so that's also what you're seeing, I think, in some of the fundraisers, right?

07:15The platforms that continue to perform, continue to deliver for clients, for investors,

07:22those are the ones that also continue to have successful fundraisers.

07:25All right.

07:26Five minutes.

07:27Thanks.

07:28You know, Yale, I like the building.

07:30I like working on a site.

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07:38If you're seeing and seeing things that have come up being an episode,

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07:47You can怎麼 just, like, you know, let's just pick up the data instead of doing that.

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