Good morning. Luisa Beltran here filling in for the Term Sheet team.
I’ve been covering private equity and Wall Street for years. I remember in 2007 when Orlando Bravo became a name partner at the firm that eventually turned into Thoma Bravo. I remember when Blackstone listed its shares and how people were underwhelmed by the groundbreaking IPO. I remember when BX, KKR, Apollo Global Management, Carlyle Group and TPG still called themselves private equity firms. Years later, these same firms remain the industry leaders and they’ve become so successful—Blackstone’s AUM crossed $1 trillion in July—that all have gone public. They’ve also all expanded beyond PE into sectors like credit or real estate or growth. With this success, came the age old question of succession. It had to eventually happen for the industry to survive, but that doesn’t mean it was easy.
