The 2026 edition of HedgeNordic’s Private Markets report is built around the theme “Funding the Future,” examining how private markets have become an increasingly important source of capital for innovation, infrastructure, the energy transition, and broader economic development. In this issue, we explore the forces shaping today’s private markets universe, spanning private equity, venture capital, private credit, infrastructure, and real assets. Through conversations with investors, allocators, and asset managers, we examine a market environment where capital serves a purpose beyond generating returns: supporting technological advancement, enabling business growth, financing critical infrastructure, and helping shape the future economy.
Please find the report here. Happy reading!
The publication opens with Annika Henriksson, Head of Private Equity and Private Credit at S-Bank, who argues that “More Unknowns, More Dispersion in Private Equity.” She discusses how geopolitical tensions, political uncertainty, and artificial intelligence are simultaneously reshaping private equity markets, increasing the importance of manager selection and diversification. Henriksson suggests that higher interest rates have shifted value creation away from financial engineering and toward operational excellence, while AI is likely to create both winners and losers across sectors rather than uniformly disrupting entire industries.
Rachael Callaghan, Investment Specialist within Growth Equity at Baillie Gifford, then explains why “Private Equity No Longer Optional as Value Creation Moves Behind Closed Doors.” She highlights how companies are staying private for longer, causing a growing share of value creation to occur before public listings. Using examples such as SpaceX and Anthropic, Callaghan argues that investors seeking exposure to transformational growth companies increasingly need access to private markets alongside public equities.
Celebrating its tenth anniversary, Reynir Indahl, Founder and Managing Partner of Summa Equity, reflects on “A Decade of Thematic Private Equity.” He explains how Summa’s investment strategy is built around solving large societal challenges through four themes: circularity, sustainable food, energy transition, and tech-enabled resilience.
Turning to private credit, Tero Pesonen, Director for Private Equity and Private Credit at LocalTapiola Asset Management, examines how “Direct Lending Goes Through Its First Proper Credit Cycle.” Pesonen discusses the legacy of aggressive lending during the low-rate era, growing concerns around software exposure and AI disruption, and the challenges emerging within evergreen fund structures. While acknowledging that defaults are likely to rise, he views the current adjustment as a necessary maturation process that will ultimately strengthen the private credit market.
In structured credit, Frank Meijer, Head of Alternative Fixed Income and Structured Finance at Aegon Asset Management, explains “Why Aegon AM Sees Opportunity Across ABS and CLO Markets.” Meijer highlights the diversification benefits of asset-backed securities, their floating-rate nature, short duration profile, and persistent spread premium versus traditional corporate credit. He also argues that collateralized loan obligations continue to offer attractive relative value across the rating spectrum.
The publication then shifts to infrastructure credit, where Don Dimitrievich, Senior Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Nuveen, explores “The Growing Role of Infrastructure Credit.” He outlines how artificial intelligence, electrification, and geopolitical realignment are driving unprecedented demand for energy and digital infrastructure. Dimitrievich argues that infrastructure credit is increasingly filling the financing gap between traditional bank lending and infrastructure equity, while offering investors defensive characteristics and attractive return potential.
Alexandre Lercher, Litigation Finance Fund Manager at IVO Capital Partners, introduces readers to “Litigation Finance as an Uncorrelated Corner of Private Markets.” He explains how investors can fund legal disputes in exchange for a share of successful settlements or damages, creating return streams largely independent of traditional financial markets.
Alexandra Voss, Senior Manager Selector at SEB, contributes “A Rebound with a Bottleneck,” reviewing developments across private markets during 2025 and offering an outlook for 2026. She notes that dealmaking has recovered, fundraising may have bottomed, and infrastructure has emerged as a standout asset class.
Christian Dahl, CEO of Formue, offers a counterpoint to recent criticism of illiquid investments in “Private Markets Are Not the Problem.” Dahl argues that private markets are essential to efficient capital formation and long-term value creation. While acknowledging concerns around product design and investor suitability, he maintains that the real issue lies not with private markets themselves but with poor products, poor advice, and misaligned incentives.
