Each earnings season, we look at the top US-listed private equity and credit managers for clues on how these industry leaders are driving GP franchise growth.

While the public PE firms have historically thrived raising institutional capital, they have seemingly hit the ceiling, leaving them scrambling for new ways to scale inflows. The answer: the wealth channel.

This channel, also called the retail channel, targets accredited investors, also known as high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs). These managers are bringing perpetual capital—evergreen—products across all asset classes to this market to capture a new stream of inflows, which has worked.

 

Though it is still early days for this channel, these managers have gone all in, with a new market tailwind set to become available: access to the 401(k) and defined contributions space.

Although due diligence and investor education frameworks remain undefined, larger managers with diversified PE and other private capital offerings tailored to HNWIs are well-positioned to capitalize on this opportunity.

While the wealth channel is the latest growth driver, these managers continue accelerating the PE side of the business and see sustained success in their respective private credit segments.

PE deployment for these public GPs totaled $21 billion in Q2 and $83.1 billion in the TTM, both sizable year-over-year increases, as these GPs leaned into uncertainty, underwriting sizable deals in anticipation of stronger economic conditions ahead.

A similar narrative unfolded on the realizations side of the business, where PE realizations from the six public alternatives managers improved on both a quarterly and TTM basis. These managers maintained that macroeconomic clarity and improved market sentiment will lead to greater monetization activity in the near future.

As for trends in the greater GP landscape, deals involving GPs as acquirees or investment targets have remained robust. Through July 2025, GP deal activity totaled 52 announced or closed transactions worth $10.2 billion, putting the year on pace to be the second strongest on record after 2024’s high.

To read more about these firms' pursuit of growth via this new channel, along with trends in PE and private credit, and broader GP deal activity, download our US Public PE and GP Deal Roundup.

Private equity investors are showing no signs of cooling off when it comes to construction and engineering deals. Activity in the sector has been building momentum for nearly two years now, and the second quarter of 2025 kept that trend alive.

There were 339 deals completed during the quarter with a combined value of $24.1 billion, which is a healthy jump from the same period last year. Deal values climbed 21% year over year, and the steady pace of activity has now stretched across seven straight quarters of growth.

What is fueling this interest? A mix of forces is at work. Infrastructure spending around the globe remains strong, reshoring and nearshoring are driving demand for new factories and warehouses, and ongoing return to office policies are helping sustain office construction projects. At the same time, the industry remains highly fragmented, creating opportunities for private equity firms to buy and build platforms in specialty areas.

 

Within construction, specialty trades are proving especially attractive. Facades and exteriors, roofing, metal fabrication, and interiors all saw notable deal flow in the first half of the year. On the engineering side, activity has centered on advisory services, project management, and design software and services. While construction technology deals were smaller in number and value, they continue to attract interest as contractors adopt tools that can boost efficiency, improve safety, and bring more predictability to complex projects.

The quarter also delivered a few headline acquisitions. Vista Equity Partners acquired Acumatica, a construction software provider, for $2 billion. Apollo Global Management’s New Home Company bought Dallas-based homebuilder Landsea Homes for $1.2 billion. These billion-dollar deals underscored just how much capital is chasing opportunities in the sector.

Looking ahead, the picture remains constructive. Tariff pressures and uncertain exit activity could weigh on some parts of the market, but spreads on construction loans continue to narrow, making financing easier to secure. With large projects already in motion and private equity firms looking to scale businesses in fragmented niches, momentum seems likely to carry into the second half of 2025. The combination of strong fundamentals and active investor appetite makes construction and engineering one of the most compelling corners of the private equity landscape this year. Read more on this in our Q2 Construction & Engineering report.