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Side Letter: Co-investment stranglehold

Reported by Privateequityinternational
Sep 2, 2026· 2 min read
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Key Takeaways
  • • Evergreen fund structures are creating co-investment conflicts that warrant scrutiny among institutional investors evaluating private equity partnerships and their fee alignment mechanisms.
  • • A senior Canadian LP is relocating to the Middle East, signaling continued capital migration toward Gulf markets and potential strategic shifts in North American fund sourcing.
  • • Gender pay gap in carried interest persists in UK private equity, with women earning significantly less carried interest compensation than male counterparts, highlighting ongoing compensation disparity issues in the asset management industry.
Summary
The private equity industry faces renewed attention on structural conflicts inherent in evergreen fund models and co-investment practices. According to Private Equity International's reporting, evergreen funds—which operate without defined fund lives and continuously recycle capital—are generating co-investment conflicts that merit investor consideration. These conflicts typically arise when fund managers leverage co-investment vehicles to allocate deal exposure differentially across limited partners, potentially creating alignment issues between LP interests and manager capital deployment strategies.

Separately, leadership transitions within Canada's institutional investor base reflect broader capital reallocation patterns. One of Canada's most influential limited partners is relocating to the Middle East, underscoring the continued strategic repositioning of North American institutional capital toward Gulf wealth centers. This migration reflects growing Middle Eastern investor appetite for private equity exposure and the competitive advantage Gulf-based LPs maintain in fund sourcing.

Additionally, compensation data from UK private equity reveals persistent gender disparities in carried interest distribution. Women in the sector earn significantly less carried interest than their male counterparts, a disparity that extends beyond base compensation and signals structural imbalances in profit-sharing mechanisms. This compensation gap raises questions about talent retention, partnership progression, and diversity initiatives within established private equity firms.

These three developments—co-investment structural conflicts, capital migration patterns, and gender-based compensation disparities—collectively illustrate ongoing tensions between LP protections, geographic capital flows, and internal industry equity practices that continue to shape private equity market dynamics.

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Sources

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AlphaMaven summarised this story from the reporting below. Each link opens the original article.

Privateequityinternational Side Letter: Co-investment stranglehold