Navigating – and succeeding – with partners in the changing Private Equity market 

By Jon Salon, Executive Vice President and Global Head, BCI Private Equity

Jon Salon leads a team of about 70 Private Equity (PE) investment professionals who oversee more than $36 billion in assets on behalf of BCI’s clients.   

The private equity market has experienced a fundamental reset in recent years, and many people are asking when – or even if – the industry will ever be the same. Whether or not things go back to the way they were, institutional investors like BCI Private Equity can continue to win in these new market conditions by continuing to evolve and remaining flexible in its investment approach.  

Since 2022, the PE market has been reshaped by higher interest rates and slower exits coming off a few years of investments made with high entry multiples. The industry is now sitting on record levels of dry powder, growing demand for liquidity, and a 32,000-company and $3.8 trillion exit backlog, according to Bain & Company. 

Even if interest rates fall again, they won’t provide the same tailwind that fueled growing returns for over a decade. That’s because we are facing a deeper, more entrenched change as private equity markets adjust to new macro-economic and geopolitical realities.   

So the question we should be asking isn’t ‘when’ or ‘if’ — rather it’s ‘how’. How does BCI Private Equity continue its success in these challenging market conditions and deliver strong, sustainable risk adjusted returns for our clients? 

Rethinking how we partner with GPs 

One of the answers to this question is rethinking strategic relationships and how we prioritize and manage our partnerships with GPs. Our experience has shown that the best kind of relationship between GPs and LPs like us is two-way engagement and collaboration. It means GPs providing consistent deal flow and direct investment access over the long term and isn’t just about LPs being a source of capital. We want to be seen as a stable, long-term and consistent partner to the GPs we invest with, but we want the GPs to recognize and value that relationship in the same way that we do. 

Strong alignment is critical and to merit ongoing commitments from us, GPs need to deliver performance as a strategic partner. If performance and value from a partnership slip, we have and will make changes to our GP roster in order to ensure the right partnerships for us. 

A more focused roster 

As we look ahead to 2027 and beyond, BCI Private Equity’s approach is to focus on about twenty-five to thirty strategic relationships with GPs, about half as many as we’ve had in the past. This will require being more deliberate in our GP selection and having a partnership mindset as we seek to get the most out of each GP we invest with. With a more focused set of relationships, we will be able to add more value to our portfolio companies and build better and more resilient, profitable businesses.   

Built to get the deal done

Our program has a mandate to invest. In fiscal 2026, we deployed $6.7 billion in new private equity investments. That gives us a portfolio of $36.1 billion actively deployed across global funds, directs and co-investments. We have expanded our investing to Venture & Growth Capital, CVs, and Structured Equity to diversify. As a response to the changing market, this year we launched the Capital Solutions Group to expand our investment toolkit and provide flexible, bespoke capital across equity, hybrid and structured deals. 

We’re already active in hybrid capital with over $1.5 billion in commitments across five continuation vehicles and three structured-equity directs as of June 30, 2026. And there’s more to come with significant growth in our pipeline. 

At any given point in the investment cycle, there will be more attractive opportunities in some of our chosen sectors than others and that’s what we will pursue. Having the right GP partners and being agile and moving quickly to close deals gives us an edge. BCI Private Equity’s annualized return of 14.5% over a 10-year period validates the strategy’s approach over market cycles. 

Some in the industry believe the current challenging market conditions are temporary. At BCI, we see an evolving PE market and in response are keeping a tight focus on the fundamentals: creating valuable companies with the help of strong partners.