Private equity competition is intense, many firms hold portfolios that are hard to exit, investors are growing frustrated

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Hundreds of private equity firms are sitting on portfolios that nobody wants to buy and the flood of competition is making it worse. Their investors are fed up. This isn’t speculation. The capital is out there, but it’s not going into overpriced, illiquid assets. PE firms thought they could paper over risk forever. They can’t. The golden era of easy money is over, and everyone holding those unsaleable investments is about to find out the hard way.

The private‑equity model depends on:

  1. Buying companies
  2. Improving them
  3. Selling them at a profit
  4. Returning cash to investors
  5. Raising the next fund

Right now, steps 3–5 are broken.

That’s why analysts are calling many firms “zombies” — alive, but unable to move.

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