Morgan Stanley

Sponsors who spent years building AI infrastructure exposure are now using continuation vehicles to avoid selling what they believe is still appreciating.

The alternative asset industry's long-standing bargain — higher yields in exchange for opacity and illiquidity — is being dismantled piece by piece, and the firms moving fastest to replace it may define the next decade of the private market.

Middle-market transactions made up 57% of worldwide deal activity in early 2022. By 2026, that share has been cut in half.