2023 was characterized by several key themes in the capital markets: the U.S. Federal Reserve’s battle against inflation; the resulting impact on issuers of higher-for-longer interest rates; a much slower pace of merger and acquisition activity as buyers and sellers dealt with mounting borrowing costs, valuation discrepancies and choppier portfolio performance and the steady disintermediation of buyout financings from public to private credit. These dynamics have put private capital, both private credit and private equity, in the spotlight. Our goal in this paper is to illuminate the emerging trends and complex dynamics of the private capital markets. And to separate market realities from persistent myths…