www.stepstonegroup.com
277 Park Ave, 45th Floor
New York, NY 10172
W. Casey Gildea
Managing Director
casey.gildea@stepstonegroup.com
Tel: +1.212.351.6114
Mobile: +1.917.207.6392
About StepStone
StepStone Group (Nasdaq: STEP) is a global private markets investment firm focused on providing customized investment solutions and advisory and data services to our clients. StepStone’s clients include some of the world’s largest public and private defined benefit and defined contribution pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and insurance companies, as well as prominent endowments, foundations, family offices and private wealth clients, which include high-net-worth and mass affluent individuals. StepStone partners with its clients to develop and build private markets portfolios designed to meet their specific objectives across the private equity, infrastructure, private debt and real estate asset classes.
2023 Responsible Investment Report
Pound the table for small buyouts
Corporate private debt primer
Current opportunities in the primary and secondary direct lending markets
Recovery rates as a mitigator against default rates
SIRA House Views
European Growth: Overlooked and under-allocated
European private equity: Is small better?
European healthcare: Private equity's outperformance and strategic pathways
RPM—Ep.40 | Uncovering hidden value in European private equity with Akhilan, Thomas and Carlos
The Nordic model: Outperformance in private equity
RPM—Ep.38 | Real estate secondaries with Jeff Giller and Margaret McKnight
Direct lending's attractive risk adjusted returns
RPM—Ep.39 | Unlocking infrastructure's Middle Market with Todd Lapenna and Sean Ebsary
Episode 190: Opportunities in private debt secondaries
Welcome to another edition of the InsuranceAUM.com podcast. Today's topic is private credit secondaries, and we're joined by John Bohill.
SPI by StepStone – Digitizing Private Markets
We are pleased to invite you to our latest webinar, SPI by StepStone - Digitizing Private Markets on Wednesday, November 29, 2023 at 12 pm EST.
RPM—Ep.35 | Inflation Reduction Act: Where are we really? with Bhavika Vyas and Julio Friedmann
In this episode of RPM, we’re continuing our conversation about the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA). More than a year out from the Act’s passing, details of the tax laws and mechanisms for deployment are being finalized. Joining co-host Maribel Yoo to revisit this topic is Bhavika Vyas, managing director and member of the responsible investment team at StepStone and special guest Julio Friedmann, Chief Scientist at Carbon Direct.
A systematic approach to private debt allocation in institutional portfolios
Building robust portfolios has always been a core objective for investors. In recent decades, the traditional 60/40 portfolio has been able to broadly achieve this, supported by falling rates and stable inflation. However, the outlook going forward could be less ideal.
RPM—Ep.33 | Private Debt Secondaries with John Bohill
In this episode of RPM, John Bohill, a partner on our private debt team, joins co-host Michael Venne to discuss the rapid growth and evolution of private debt’s secondary market.
RPM—Ep.32 | Fabian Körzendörfer: Relative Attractiveness of Direct Lending
As bond yields have risen, some investors have been questioning whether direct lending (DL) offers the same value proposition as it once did, but yields are only part of the equation.
Relative Attractiveness of Direct Lending: Liquidity, Volatility and Drawdowns
The sharp increase in yields since the beginning of 2022 has put fixed-income securities back into the spotlight, but we think that direct lending has managed to maintain its edge against public markets.
Private Debt Secondaries–Moving beyond GP/ LP transactions and into the world of liquidity management
As one of the fastest-growing areas of the private markets, the attractiveness of private debt is well recognized.
Private Markets Today with Tom Keck of StepStone Group
Welcome to another edition of the InsuranceAUM.com Podcast. My name's Stewart Foley, I'll be your host. We are talking about private markets today with Tom Keck, partner and head of research and portfolio management at the StepStone Group.
Jeff Giller and Margaret McKnight: Spring 2023 Real Estate House Views
In this episode of RPM, Jeff Giller, Partner and Head of Real Estate, and Margaret McKnight, Partner and Head of Portfolio Solutions for Real Estate join co-host Maribel Yoo to discuss our recently released Spring 2023 House Views.
Are Private Equity Valuations Too High?
Some investors are concerned that private equity valuations are too high. The Dow fell 8.8% in 2022, while the S&P 500 and the MSCI World each fell around 18%. Using our Daily Valuation Engine, we estimate that when GPs issue their 4Q23 reports, private equity will be down 6.9% on the year.
Why Now’s the Time to Lean into Small Market Buyouts
When the economy shrinks, institutions tend to seek reassurance from larger, more established private equity fund managers. This comes at the expense of small, emerging and by extension, diverse managers, which some regard as riskier than their larger, “more proven” counterparts.
Building to Zero: Inflation Reduction Act, a platform for growth
In this episode of RPM, Bhavika Vyas, managing director and member of the Responsible Investing Team, as well as special guest Julio Friedmann, chief scientist at Carbon Direct, join co-host Maribel Yoo to discuss the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA).
Nature-Based Investing: Suzanne Tavill
Nature provides the building blocks for civilization, arable soil, air and water filtration, ore and minerals for extraction, and economic and recreational opportunities. In almost any other context, you would expect to pay for these services. But with nature, we are wont to expect these things for nothing.
NAV Lending for Institutional Portfolios: Lisa Larsson
In this episode of RPM, Lisa Larsson, managing director on our portfolio management team, joins co-host Michael Venne to discuss the recently trending net asset value (NAV) lending.
Improving Access to Private Markets: Bob Long
Over the next five years, private capital assets under management are projected to grow from $10 trillion to $17 trillion. One of the leading reasons: the individual investor. In this episode of RPM, Bob Long, CEO of StepStone Private Wealth joins Michael Venne to discuss this trend.
The 2023 Private Equity Market Outlook: Aditya Raina and Laura White
In this episode of RPM, Aditya Raina and Laura White, two members of our Private Equity team, join co-host Maribel Yoo to discuss StepStone’s 2023 outlook for private equity.
The 2023 Private Debt Market Outlook: Ariel Goldblatt and Mark Tsang
In this episode of RPM, Ariel Goldblatt and Mark Tsang, senior members of our private debt team join co-host Maribel Yoo to discuss StepStone’s 2023 outlook for private debt.
StepStone Whitepapers | Fight the Urge (To Cut Back on Small Buyouts)
When the economy shrinks, consumers respond by paying down debt, saving more, and spending less on nonessential goods. Institutional investors, on the other hand, adjust the “tilts” of their portfolios. They allocate more to defensive assets like private debt and real assets and seek reassurance from larger, more familiar private equity fund managers.
We Don’t Value Nature
In just four years, more than 1,000 financial institutions representing $200 trillion in assets have signed on with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. In our view, this is a strong indication that support for nature will rise rapidly.
VC Market Landscape ft. John Avirett
In this episode of RPM, we're talking about the venture capital ecosystem as we navigate this challenging economic environment. The bottom line: With the right market conditions, and venture capital’s ability to navigate volatile markets, perhaps now is the time to take a closer look at this strategy.
Growth Equity - Feeling the L-O-V-E
Growth equity is no longer underappreciated. Over the last decade, the strategy has matured and attracted significant amounts of capital. Although the private market investment space has become more competitive, we believe the outlook for growth equity remains bright. To borrow from Nat King Cole, “growth” is feeling the L-O-V-E from GPs and LPs alike.
Data Valuation Engine: Qi Liu
In this episode of RPM, Qi Liu from our data, science and engineering team discusses one of our newest tools – the daily valuation engine (DVE). Typically, private market investors must wait anywhere from two to four months after quarter end to see how the value of their portfolios has changed; DVE, as the name implies, allows them to make this estimate well before general partners report.
Growth Equity ft. John Coelho
In this episode of RPM, we’re talking about growth equity with partner John Coelho. However you define “growth,” its champions regard it as a proverbial Goldilocks that offers VC upside with buyout-type risk (1:01). After analyzing 25,000+ private equity deals in SPI, we found that growth delivered a higher multiple than VC and lower loss rates than buyouts (11:05). This was especially true of investments in the software sector, which for several years has been the fastest growing and best performing sector in private equity. Since growth equity companies tend to be profitable and less reliant upon leverage, we find them to be particularly attractive during periods of market uncertainty (13:21).
Christian Frei: Geopolitical Uncertainty
In this episode of RPM, we’re talking about the direct and indirect effects of the war in Ukraine. While private markets may have relatively little direct exposure to Russia, Ukraine, Poland and Belarus (2:00), measuring the indirect effects is more difficult. In some instances, the higher prices and price inflation that the war may effect could provide a tailwind to some asset classes (10:40). Because private market valuations lag behind those of public markets, investors often wonder what the latter portends for the former. In short, private equity valuations fall half as much as their public equity counterparts; in private debt, market value declines have been 5x or greater than subsequent credit losses (12:56). All that is to say that an allocation to private markets can add stability to a portfolio.
Ryan Ramsey: Agriculture
In this episode of RPM, we’re talking about one of the oldest industries in the world—Agriculture. From inflation concerns (4:15) and the boom in venture-capital-backed technologies (12:46) to the rise of natural capital (15:40) and the democratization of private markets (21:30), “Ag” is having a moment. Joining us to discuss these topics and more is Ryan Ramsey, a principal on our infrastructure & real assets team based in Sydney.
A Road Map to Private Markets for Insurance Companies
In the 17th episode of RPM—Reflections on Private Markets, senior members of our private debt team, Marc-Andre Mittermayer and Marc Lickes join co-host Michael Venne to discuss insurance companies—namely, the reasons they are looking for alternatives to fixed-income investments; how private markets can help them meet their myriad investment-related goals; the affect regulatory policy has on an insurer’s investment options; and some of the traits insurers should look for in an investment manager or advisor.