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'Managers are starting to get cracking,' says Cambridge Associates’ Andrea Auerbach in a 2025 Outlook Q&A; deal announcements pick up

Good morning, Hubsters. MK Flynn here in New York with the US edition of the Wire.

Thank you to everyone who submitted nominations for PE Hub’s Deals of the Year Awards. We received hundreds of submissions! The nomination process is now closed. We’ll announce the winners on our website in early March.

“The private markets are poised to emerge from the doldrums in 2025,” says Cambridge Associates’ Andrea Auerbach, whom I interviewed for PE Hub’s ongoing series of Q&A with private equity thought leaders. Read excerpts from the interview below.

At PE Hub, we’ve already started to see deal announcements pick up over the last several days. To stay abreast of the news, visit the News Briefs landing page of our website, where reporters Iris Dorbian, Irien Joseph and Sophie Rose report on the latest transactions in North America Europe.

One deal announced earlier this morning by Palm Peak Capital caught senior reporter Michael Shoeck’s eye. See below for his interview with one of the founders of the firm about the transaction.

Out of the doldrums

PE Hub’s series of Q&As with private equity thought leaders continues today with Andrea Auerbach, the global head of private investments and a partner at Cambridge Associates.

Auerbach’s career with CA spans more than two decades, and she’s been a trusted source of ours for insights on private equity for many years.

“The private markets are poised to emerge from the doldrums in 2025, with expected upticks in transaction, distribution, and fundraising activities as we move into the year,” says Auerbach.

Upgrade to the premium version of the Wire to read my interview with Auerbach.

For more Outlook 2025 Q&As from PE Hub, see:

• Orlando Bravo: ‘Time is ticking, pressure is mounting to both buy and sell’
• EQT’s Eric Liu: FTC leadership change likely to improve dealmaking, but heightened attention on PE will remain
• GP-led continuation vehicles still in demand, even as M&A picks up 
• Hamilton Lane co-CEO Erik Hirsch: Retail investor impact on private markets will be ‘seismic’
• Churchill’s Anne Philpott: ‘Investors will flock to junior capital to lock in long-term, fixed rate return stability’
• ‘CIOs are slowly shifting into a risk-on mentality for private equity,’ say the Riverside Company
• Luminate Capital founder Hollie Haynes: ‘We have changed the private equity model’
• Bridgepoint’s Xavier Robert: Valuation gap narrowing amid ‘normalizing’ market
• Bain Capital’s Ivano Sessa: ‘Quietly confident’ on European dealmaking in 2025

Deal of the day

Earlier this morning, emerging manager Palm Peak Capital announced the acquisition of Pacific Shoring Products, a Santa Rosa, California-based maker of underground and trench shoring assemblies and safety equipment, for undisclosed terms. 

Founded in 2024 by M. Steven Liff, Daniel Florian, and Jeremy Stone and headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, Palm Peak Capital invests in lower-middle market industrial and services companies across North America.
PE Hub senior reporter Michael Shoeck touched base with Liff to find out more about the Pacific Shoring Products transaction. Here’s an excerpt from their exchange.

Subscribers to the premium version may read the interview.

Before I sign off, on behalf of all of us at PE Hub, our hearts go out to everyone affected by the fires in the Los Angeles area. We are thinking of you.

Tomorrow, Craig McGlashan will bring you the Europe edition of the Wire, and Obey Martin Manayiti will bring you the US edition.

All the best,

MK

Read the full Wire commentary on PE Hub ...

Also of note (may require subscriptions)

StepStone Group has reached a final close on the StepStone Infrastructure Co-Investment Partners 2022, raising roughly  $1.4 billion, including $200 million in co-investments. (Infrastructure Investor)

Terry Charalambous, an 18-year veteran of AustralianSuper, one of the fastest growing pension funds globally, has been tasked with scaling the behemoth’s private equity allocation. Private Equity International caught up with Charalambous, who is one of the speakers at PEI Group’s NEXUS 2025 conference in Orlando this March, to discuss the institution’s ambitious plans for its private equity portfolio.

The San Bernardino County Employees’ Retirement Association is moving forward with plans for an increased private equity spend this year, laying the groundwork for a potential expansion into new relationships. (Buyouts)

The Teacher Retirement System of Texas ended 2024 by pledging just under $700 million to real estate vehicles across five deals in December. These included a sizable commitment to New York-based Blue Owl Capital and a check to a new manager relationship. (Private Equity Real Estate)

Deals

They said it

“Many managers have been biding their time, waiting for a more positive investment environment to develop for investing and exiting. Fortunately, 2025 looks like it has potential.”

— Andrea Auerbach, Cambridge Associates, on her outlook for 2025

Today's letter was prepared by MK Flynn

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