Live from New York

As Manhattan’s annual UN General Assembly high-level week (known simply as UNGA) comes to a close for another year, here’s a snapshot of what made news and what to watch moving forward.

• Companies show up. Outside of the UN Headquarters, the private sector played a key role in driving activity and convening high-level side events. Microsoft, led by their new Vice President of UN Affairs, hosted the World Woman Future Forum. Google, IBM, Meta, and others partnered with Foreign Policy to host a Tech Forum. SAP’s CEO Christian Klein participated in Goals House to drive SDG (Sustainable Development Goal) action and announced a new pilot program with UNICEF for youth skills training.

• Focus on Ukraine. From a high-level Security Council meeting that included a walkout by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to a standing ovation in the General Assembly for President Zelensky, the ongoing war in Ukraine dominated conversation throughout the week.

• Notable meetings. Face-to-face meetings were back in full swing this year, as Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the first meeting between leaders of the two countries in 14 years. Other notable bilats occurred between China and Australia, U.S. and the Philippines, and Brazil and Russia.

• Tension on climate. Widening divisions in the climate debate were on full display. While UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the Alliance of Small Island States pushed for “loss and damage” funding for vulnerable nations, U.S. Envoy for Climate John Kerry publicly and privately expressed opposition – a tension that is anticipated to emerge again during COP27 where loss and damage is a priority agenda item.

• Funding commitments. Among the highest numbers, President Biden announced $2.9 billion to combat global food insecurity, and the Gates Foundation and its partners committed $1.27 billion to advance the SDGs. However, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria fell short of hitting its $18 billion replenishment target as the UK and Italy delayed their pledges.

With just three days until the government shuts down absent congressional action, the Senate is finally slated today to take the first step toward passing a stopgap funding bill that would keep the government funded until December 16. 

Last Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) set up a vote to proceed this week to the legislative vehicle that will carry the continuing resolution (CR) and other provisions that Democrats and Republicans can agree to. 

Early Tuesday morning, Senate Democrats released a version of the CR that included additional assistance for Ukraine, domestic disasters in Puerto Rico and elsewhere and Senator Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) permitting reform bill, the text of which was released this week and has drawn opposition from both progressive Democrats and Republicans.

Notably, the Biden administration’s request for additional funding for COVID and monkeypox was excluded from the Democratic CR package.  

If, as seems likely, the inclusion of the permitting language prevents Senator Schumer from getting the 60 votes needed to proceed to his package, Congress will need to quickly pivot to a “Plan B” to avoid a shutdown later this week.   

Amid an evolving geopolitical and economic environment, our team in Paris attended the IPEM (International Private Equity Market) Conference in Cannes last week.

Here are five trends they pinpointed impacting private markets in the upcoming months:

• The democratization of private equity with shorter investment periods, lower investment capital requirements for investors and easier access.

• GPs (General Partners) holding on to good assets for longer provided they are acting in the interests of LPs (Limited Partners). Lessons can be learned from the real estate industry, which has built core, core-plus and opportunistic strategies for investors to consider.

• Impact of public equity versus private equity. There has been a shift in private markets and a sell-off in public markets. This will likely result in increased secondary market activity.

• GPs building bigger platforms have the ability to benefit from the network effect. Real estate, private credit and infrastructure teams can share insights and know-how with private equity. But specialization creates costs and it must be scalable to justify.

• Sustainability—related to COVID, the energy crisis and climate change. Private equity is in a good position to drive change.