We peeked inside the box. You’ll want to, too.
Our annual report offers a unique perspective on the private markets, leveraging our firm’s industry expertise, research capabilities and expansive database to help investors navigate the evolving investment landscape.
We all know the story of the Greek myth of Pandora’s box: A box that shouldn’t be opened, is opened anyway, and out pours…what, exactly? Chaos? Euphoria? Perhaps a combination of both? Today, we’ve opened many boxes – AI, geopolitics, evergreen funds, private credit – and we are all Pandora, wondering what awaits?
Hamilton Lane Presents:
The Market Overview
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Liquidity & Investment Activity
Private equity portfolios may be rising, but distributions tell a different story: 2025 was the second largest year on record yet still fell hundreds of billions short of what a normalized market should deliver. Four years in, the liquidity drought is real.
Evergreen Funds
A fresh addition to the private markets toolkit, evergreen vehicles are quickly becoming one of the industry’s most dynamic growth engines as investors embrace a simpler, more intuitive way to access private assets.
Credit
Despite the headlines, private credit fundamentals are solid. Yields continue to outpace broadly syndicated loans, leverage levels and have stayed disciplined even as deal prices rose and recent defaults have largely come from bank-originated loans, not private credit lenders.
Secondaries
Everyone’s talking about secondaries, and for good reason. This is one of the few markets where the supply of opportunities far outstrips the capital chasing them, creating a buyer’s market filled with high-quality deals, disciplined pricing and strong outcomes across both LP-led and GP-led transactions.
Mario Giannini | Market Overview Lifting the Lid on the 2026 Market Overview
Join Mario Giannini as he cracks open this year's Market Overview to unpack the conflicting market signals, AI obsession, private market realities and the structural shifts reshaping portfolios in 2026.
Transforming Data into Insight and Action
Our proprietary software, Cobalt™, provides investors with the same insights and tools leveraged by Hamilton Lane’s experts around the world (including the making of our annual Market Overview). Unlock our private markets database and analytics tools to power your market research, investment due diligence, portfolio construction and more.
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