Event
Credit, Europe and Sporty Spice take centre stage at SuperReturn
06th June 2025
Sam Turvey, Managing Partner at H/Advisors Maitland:
Hopping between evening soirees is a firm feature of SuperReturn in Berlin, which has become enormous by the way – with over 5,000 delegates. One VC friend described the conference as “a professional freshers week.”
I particularly enjoyed Oaktree and 17Capital’s sunny rooftop gathering overlooking the impressive Cathedral (see photo). But, it was the Evercore bash that grabbed most attention, serving up a Spice Girl for entertainment. Snow Patrol appeared elsewhere.
Parties aside, there was of course a week-long summit to tackle. Here are my top five takeaways…
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Credit versus buyout
When Bloomberg News sends more credit reporters than M&A correspondents to an event like SuperReturn, it says something about the industry environment.
With exits still gummed up, there wasn’t much buyout activity to discuss. So credit took centre stage. Everyone wants to get into it or expand what they’ve got. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the exit challenge, the most buoyant segment of credit seems to be NAV financing.
A once niche tool is now mainstream. Talking to several GPs and LPs, awareness and understanding about these loans, and how they can provide aligned benefit for manager and investor, is on a steady rise.
The emphasis is on how this specific financing helps optimise portfolios and enable managers to keep adding value later in a fund’s lifecycle, and as a simpler, diversified alternative to say a continuation vehicle. They also allow for near full deployment of an LP’s capital allocation to a fund, rather than only 80-90% with the rest held back in reserve. That appeals to the LP and adds differentiation for the GP.
For management companies, the loans are also being used to support consolidation, expansion, and their own commitments into funds.
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Retail versus institutional
The push by GPs to source new fund flows from family offices and wealthy individuals – retail investors – has been talked about for a while, with giants like Apollo leading the charge. The conference provided a chance to gauge who is doing it well.
Lots are talking about it but not that many managers have got their whole act together. One of the challenges I can see is marketing and communications. Attracting retail capital requires different strategies, messaging and channels. It’s worth more firms investing the time in getting these plans right. In a period of peak competition for fundraising, it could make all the difference.
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Europe versus America
It wasn’t that long ago that the two major European private capital conferences – SuperReturn and IPEM – struggled to attract US managers and investors to attend. There was simply too much opportunity on that side of the pond to make Europe the priority. This week, American accents were everywhere.
We shouldn’t be surprised. There’s a lot for US managers to like about Europe right now. Trump’s return to office has brought serious concerns around tariffs, taxes and the national debt. This has led to a swing in sentiment – and with it money – towards European companies, many of which have been unloved and undervalued for years.
According to the FT, many big investors are reviewing the extent of their US exposure. The CEO of Luxembourg for Finance, the development body for the country’s popular financial centre, recently told Private Equity News: “Institutions from Latin America to Asia are telling us they are increasingly looking to Europe to source and deploy capital.” Rob Lucas, CEO of private capital powerhouse CVC, told the conference: “It’s great to see the level of activity and the interest in Europe,” although he wisely cautioned that the continent is nuanced.”
There’s also a lot of high net wealth to chase in Europe. Let’s hope the stars align and countries like the UK can finally start to see more than flat or anaemic GDP growth.
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Positive versus negative
It was neither of those. Sentiment at the conference was mixed and middling. No one saying everything was rosy and booming, but also an acceptance that this lingering, uncertain environment – with interest rates where they are – is the new normal.
The backdrop is appealing to quality managers. Long gone is the era of simply securing some leverage to buy a company and having to do little else to generate growth. Now is a time for alpha to shine and to differentiate the still bloated mid-market. That prospect is making many competitive types feel quietly upbeat.
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Human versus AI
“I’m surprised how little AI chatter there was”, an LP based in Switzerland told me. Reflecting on what I’d heard, he’s probably right. There were certainly flickers of public conversation about AI, largely from the more tech orientated, but little to suggest it’s front and centre of the private capital industry’s mind.
Given how other sectors are embracing and discussing it, I wonder whether that will change by this time next year, or even by the time everyone rolls into IPEM in September.
Postscript…
Restaurant tip. Try Borchardt. Traditional German food. Interesting interior. Buzzy atmosphere. And an excellent porn star martini according to my dinner partner.
