PE Pulse 2026

Executive summary

In our seventh annual industry survey, we spoke with leaders from private equity, infrastructure, secondaries and venture capital fund managers, and institutional investors to survey their predictions for the year ahead. The prevailing sentiment for 2026 appears to be one of guarded optimism, particularly for choice sectors receiving sustained tailwinds. While many unknowns remain that could stifle deal activity (including CUSMA negotiations, the U.S. midterm elections and other geopolitical developments), dealmakers are motivated to source investment opportunities and complete transactions.

We share five takeaways for the Canadian private capital market in 2026:

1. Key sectors will continue to see strong activity levels: Momentum that picked up in H2 2025 appears likely to continue throughout 2026, especially within the sectors that our respondents identified such as technology, AI, infrastructure and energy. Despite continued geopolitical and macro-level uncertainty, market participants are keen to get dealmaking underway in 2026, with choice assets in the right industries enjoying strong buyer demand. Stabilizing interest rates and improving credit markets are also anticipated to ease deal financing constraints and may support a rebound in deal activity.
2. There is a growing need to transact amid the ongoing liquidity crunch: Across sectors, pressure from investors for liquidity is going to push sponsors to take action to clear their backlog of portfolio investments, including by lowering prices (or bridging valuation gaps through the use of earn-outs) and turning to the secondaries market.
3. Changing trade relationships are reshaping capital flows: While the U.S. remains a top investment destination, one consistent theme among our Canadian respondents was the desire to diversify trading partners, with the majority of our participants citing a tilt towards Europe due to a relatively stable macroeconomic environment, as well as increased interest in certain regional markets (such as India and Japan) for opportunities in technology, industrial and manufacturing, and healthcare.
4. The secondaries market continues to grow and mature: Secondaries are widely predicted to outpace 2025 levels this year, according to our respondents. In addition, GP-led secondaries are favoured to outpace LP-led secondary transactions, as GPs look to hold on to outperforming assets for longer.
5. Assuming a favourable macro environment, the co-investment market is expected to have another strong year: Our survey participants universally expect another strong year for co-investments in a brightening macroeconomic environment for leveraged buyouts, and as LPs continue to retain negotiating leverage in a competitive fundraising environment.

Thank you to our contributors

We would like to thank all those who shared their time and insight to create this report. Several participating organizations requested anonymity, while others are listed below.

AIMCo, AlpInvest Partners, Antin Infrastructure Partners, ARC Financial, BMO Capital Partners, DW Healthcare Partners, Fengate Asset Management, Imperial Capital, Maverix Private Equity, New 2ND Capital, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, OPTrust, Overbay Capital Partners, Peloton Capital Management, PillarFour Capital, and Wittington Investments