By Sirio Aramonte and Fernando Avalos
The last two decades have seen the growth and consolidation of private markets. These revolve around funds gathered from institutional investors by “alternative asset managers”, typically private equity or venture capital firms that have subsequently expanded into credit. In an environment of light regulation, long investor horizons and low interest rates, the involvement of private market funds in firms’ investment financing and restructuring has grown over time. The interactions of these increasingly important non-bank financial intermediaries with the wider economy and their response to monetary policy have not been fully explored. We find that, despite long investment horizons, private markets are as procyclical as public markets. As for monetary policy, its transmission differs according to the type of private market fund, exerting the strongest effect on private credit funds.