The Mood

This year’s conference was dominated by a pervasive sense of frustration — inside and out. Anti-capitalist demonstrators lined the street, while GPs and LPs aired their own grievances in the meeting rooms. One LP captured the mood:

“The anti-capitalist protestors aren’t the only ones at SuperReturn. The LPs are protesting to get some liquidity back. The GPs are protesting how hard it is to fundraise and that LPs sit on the fence. And everyone is protesting at how expensive SR is, yet we keep coming back.”

The organisers embraced their role as ringmaster of the circus, expanding its footprint across more hotels, doubling the number of branded “tiny houses” along the street, and reportedly charging €1,800 per seat at a now fully repurposed Greek restaurant opposite the venue.

While rooftop drinks and DJ sets (including a performance from Snow Patrol and an appearance from Sporty Spice) provided evening entertainment, discussions by day were marked by a mild but persistent undercurrent of tension — not least around the potential implications of Trump’s proposed “Big Beautiful Bill.” The threat of punitive taxes on non-U.S. investors has prompted concern, though not yet a full reallocation. As one LP put it:

“We will keep investing in the US (we can’t avoid it as a market) but the bar has got higher to take something new in the US to IC… there is more interest in Europe as a result, but the US will still outweigh Europe for our capital deployment.”

Liquidity and the rise of the secondary market

Liquidity — or rather, the lack of it — remains the most urgent topic on LPs’ minds. In four days of meetings, only a handful of GPs could point to tangible exits. Most others preferred to lead the discussion around platform building and value creation, only addressing liquidity when challenged. The issue felt like the elephant in the room — albeit one dressed in a cocktail dress made of flashing red lights.

With traditional routes to liquidity still stalled, many GPs used the conference to test LP sentiment on Continuation Vehicles (“CVs”). GPs are increasingly transparent in their intentions, and a greater number of processes are starting to move. With CVs now a core liquidity tool, LPs and GPs alike seem more comfortable with the structure, even those who might have previously shied away from it — provided the process is well run and externally validated. These discussions often centred around “next phase value creation,” but LPs remain vigilant on alignment. One LP, still skeptical but open, captured the evolving mindset:

“With the proliferation of CVs, GPs will have to prove they tried to sell on the M&A market before, really explored and not directly went to CV — as there is a great conflict of interest having GPs getting economics on an exit / easier liquidity but at the expense of a discount to NAV.”

There’s also increasing awareness of internal tensions at GPs. As one observer noted:

“Many of the younger deal partners want to exit where they can — they’re at a different stage in their careers, want to earn the carry, get the deal done, and be recognised. But they’re often held back by the older managing partners who don’t feel the same urgency and want to hold on.”

Pricing and financing conditions are improving modestly, and competitive tension is returning to higher-quality GP-led transactions. The bar for justification, however, continues to rise.

Private Credit

Private credit continues to enjoy structural tailwinds, and it was the big mover in terms of emphasis and visibility. For the first time, the week kicked off with a two-day Private Debt Summit. Bloomberg meanwhile prioritized sending more credit reporters to Berlin than M&A followers. At the strategic level, one of the most noticeable shifts is how distribution is reshaping the product. Private banks have moved to onboarding evergreen structures for credit funds — citing the operational friction of closed-end vehicles: capital calls, early repayments, no recurring fee flows, and limited after-sales potential.

At the strategy level, LPs are moving beyond traditional direct lending, with increasing appetite for mezzanine debt, asset-based and asset-backed financing, and NAV lending. Mezzanine, in particular, has broad appeal as allocators seek yield with manageable risk. NAV lending, too, is booming — though not without its tensions. One attendee noted a growing contradiction:

One attendee noted a growing inconsistency:  “LPs seem to have developed a bit of self-contradiction: they don’t like seeing NAV facilities in their GPs’ portfolios — but they’re backing NAV lending funds themselves.”

GP Capital

Large platforms are becoming more active in GP stakes and are providing holistic solutions across the cap stack as one stop capital solution providers for GPs. The rise in GP financing was visible at the conference from the number of providers. At the same time, talk of consolidation as inevitable and accelerating was growing. GPs in the midmarket and secondaries (PE and PC) spaces are in high demand. Smaller GPs like the help provided by the stakers on the marketing and IR side, best-practice sharing, leveraging their teams, salary and cost benchmarking, though help on the LP capital is limited to a 'list of contacts'. Liberation day impact is not a big topic anymore. Some investors see that the deals which are being relaunched now are at a discount of 5-10%, though this is not universal. Key GP stakes investors have not materially changed their approach to valuation, and by extension valuations. The focus remains on mid-single digit cash-on-cash yields in the early years of a deal, rising to double-digit yields within a few years pro forma for growth targets.