Remember when private equity was the hottest thing on the block? Now, so-called zombie funds can’t find buyers, and their investors want to get out. Not a great situation that goes back to when these guys bought “assets” when interest rates were near zero percent. With rates much higher today, there’s much more competition for those dollars, and lower-risk investments are competing for them.
Mark Maurer writes in The Wall Street Journal:
A record level of private-equity investments are stuck in funds limping along past their intended lifespans.
Often known as zombie funds, these funds are no longer raising money or making new acquisitions, in part because fund managers haven’t been able to sell their remaining assets. The net asset value of U.S. private-equity assets stuck in funds at least a decade old reached an all-time high of $348.5 billion at the end of 2025, according to PitchBook data. That is 3.5 times the amount in 2015 and more than 100 times that of 2005.
The slowdown in private-equity sales has fueled frustration among investors eager to cash out. Many managers of funds launched in the mid-to-late 2010s struck deals for their existing portfolio companies at the peak of the market in 2020 and 2021, when interest rates were nearly zero. Buyers are now unwilling to pay peak prices at higher borrowing rates, leaving those funds stranded past their typical lifespans.
“In some cases, it’s three guys and a Labrador running the last few assets of the fund,” said Finbarr O’Connor, chief investment officer and founding partner at Treo Asset Management, an outsourced manager for zombie funds.
Some institutional investors haven’t been able to make new investments with their assets tied up in aging funds. The liquidity crunch is especially painful for pension funds and insurance companies that need to meet payout obligations to retirees. The rise of zombie funds could lead to more institutional and high-net-worth investors reducing their private-equity allocations, O’Connor said.
Action Line: So no big deal, right? Not your concern. Just something institutional investors should worry about. But what happens when these same issues are playing themselves out in your 401(k)? With the move to put private equity funds in 401(k)s, investors saving for their retirements through their employers’ plans may end up yoked to private equity funds. Whose problem is it then? Read my series Private Equity Is the Next Big Thing Coming for YOU, and do your due diligence on any investments that might find their way into your 401(k) plan options. And when you want help, email me at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com.
