The new era of private capital communications

As I celebrate 25 years in strategic communications this month, I find myself reflecting on how the private markets communications landscape has changed since those early days in 2000 when I met my first private equity (PE) client in London’s Mayfair.  

Back then, leaving aside the book, ‘Barbarians at the Gate’, little was known or understood about private equity. But the brief was often the same, which was to keep our clients out of the media with a firm “declined to comment”. Even calls from FT Lex were sometimes left unreturned, a situation which was unfathomable for the public company clients and consumer-facing businesses I advised. Websites consisted of little more than a holding page designed to convey a premium members club feel that suggested “the clue is in the name, we don’t need to explain what we do to the broader public”. Branding was something the PE firms would ask their investment staff to turn to for a bit of frivolity - with varying success.  

Critically the messaging focused on the superiority of the private ownership model over the listed one and criticisms over lack of transparency were quickly rebutted by the argument that PE was a risky asset class suitable for sophisticated investors only. Said investors had full access to all the returns data on a quarterly basis and no one else needed to know. Or so it was believed. There were very few communications directors to answer questions from the media, and it was virtually impossible to find a partner at those firms to go on the record to defend the business model. The few braver souls who did so became the targets of trade unions and parliamentary select committees, and few enjoyed that experience, nor the highly critical media exposure that came with it.  

Not so exclusive after all 

Fast forward to 2025 and the industry’s fairly recent and newfound love for brand building and communications is plain for all to see. I am not referring to the fact that many communications firms - including SEC Newgate - are now PE-backed but rather that my podcast feed has become dominated by the likes of Bain’s ‘Dry Powder’ and ‘Alt goes mainstream’. PE executives are now actively fighting for attention and the holy grail of differentiation. There are open letters being written to the Financial Times by major US listed PE firms to robustly defend the business model and some have even ventured into the light-hearted consumer Christmas video territory. Others, like EQT, included a LinkedIn post on the origins of their brand as part of their anniversary campaign on social media. 

This 180-degree shift in communications strategy is no doubt a reflection of the industry’s size and prominence as smart capital allocators, but also a reminder that it is reaching a maturity stage in a highly competitive and volatile macro environment. This major change of tack was largely driven by those firms and funds that are publicly traded and have had to submit to the reporting and transparency constraints that they have actively sought to free their portfolio companies from through take-privates over the years.  

It is now being greatly accelerated by the strategic pursuit of retail capital as the industry makes the case that private assets are suitable for retail investors after all. The core argument being that some of the most innovative and successful businesses are private and as such ordinary investors have been missing out in a bad way – a situation that needs to be corrected. Only, in this retail market, the competition is fierce and full of very established blue-chip asset management brands built over decades and backed by sophisticated marketing and communications machines.  

Playing the long game 

Such a big shift in messaging needs to be very subtly handled because in communications, context matters immensely and institutional memory is long. PE firms have found that there are no quick fixes to transform an industry’s reputation and that they have to start playing the long game and remain committed in their engagement effort.  

So much of effective communications is about building trust and trust is acquired over years of repeated, consistent and open interactions. Those who started early undoubtedly benefit from a first mover advantage, as is currently playing out. However, those who remain focused can build significant brand momentum. This is a considerable challenge that can only be solved by working with the right partner who understands your DNA, knows the industry back story and will help you create an impactful long-term communications strategy to build lasting influence.  

Our private markets team will be at Ipem 2025 in Paris on 24-26 September. If you would like to discuss your reputation management challenges, please contact us at privatemarkets@secnewgate.co.uk to arrange a meeting.