The gatekeepers of private capital are sitting on around $27 billion of dry powder ready to be deployed into Australian assets, with an eye for businesses in the insurance space as the allure of permanent capital proves impossible to resist.
A co-authored report by the Australian Investment Council and Preqin finds of the $27 billion, around $14 billion resides with private equity and venture capital funds, with the remainder in real estate private debt funds.
While private industry assets have reached a record $77 billion, a chaotic 2020 meant private equity funds had no time to deploy their spare cash, the report found.
