Key Takeaways
- • Franklin Templeton says global private markets assets have quadrupled since 2015 to roughly $20 trillion in 2025 and could reach $27 trillion by 2030, according to the firm's outlook.
- • Franklin Templeton identifies three areas of opportunity: the private capital secondary market, infrastructure, and direct financing to European small and mid-sized companies.
- • Lexington Partners, Franklin Templeton's secondaries platform, highlights buying stakes in seasoned private capital funds as a way to gain immediate diversification and mitigate the J-curve.
- • In infrastructure, the firm cites AI-driven demand, energy security and geopolitics as drivers, with DigitalBridge and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners as strategic partners.
- • Apera Asset Management estimates the European lower mid-market (EUR 15-100 million debt tickets) generates more than 700 transactions per year, with leverage typically 2.5-4x and LTVs of 40%-50%.
Summary
Franklin Templeton has outlined where it sees opportunities as private markets mature, pointing to secondaries, infrastructure and European private credit. According to the firm, global private markets assets have quadrupled since 2015 to approximately $20 trillion in 2025 and could reach $27 trillion by 2030. Franklin Templeton's private markets platform manages nearly $300 billion and has more than 1,200 professionals across 23 countries. The views were discussed at the second Franklin Templeton Private Markets meeting, held in Madrid on October 21, 2026.
In secondaries, the firm points to structural drivers including the growth of private capital and longer periods before companies go public. According to the firm's data, the number of US listed companies has fallen by almost 50% since 1996, and the average time companies remain private before an IPO has doubled from about six years in 2000 to twelve in 2025. Lexington Partners, the firm's secondaries platform, says buying stakes in established private funds offers a better view of underlying assets, immediate diversification across companies, sectors, geographies, managers and vintages, and a mitigation of the J-curve. The firm stresses that growing complexity makes selection, valuation and transaction structuring essential.
On infrastructure, Franklin Templeton frames its thesis under its EDGE vision (energy, digitalization and growth of developing economies). AI-driven computing demand is tying digital and energy infrastructure more closely together, requiring investment in data centers, power grids, storage and connectivity. DigitalBridge, a strategic partner, identifies computing, connectivity and energy supply as interdependent requirements, while Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, also a strategic partner, highlights electrification, rising energy demand and security of supply. The firm notes that greenfield projects may offer more value creation potential than brownfield assets, in exchange for higher development and execution risk.
In private credit, Franklin Templeton sees attractive opportunities in the European lower mid-market, where competition is less intense than in large leveraged finance. According to estimates from Apera Asset Management, this segment of debt volumes between EUR 15 million and EUR 100 million produces more than 700 transactions annually. Apera cites moderate leverage of roughly 2.5-4x, loan-to-value ratios of 40%-50%, and two to four covenants as structures that provide contractual protection, while noting these do not eliminate credit, default or capital loss risk.
The firm concludes that high return dispersion between managers in private markets means manager selection, origination capacity and risk management will drive outcomes as much as thematic exposure.
In secondaries, the firm points to structural drivers including the growth of private capital and longer periods before companies go public. According to the firm's data, the number of US listed companies has fallen by almost 50% since 1996, and the average time companies remain private before an IPO has doubled from about six years in 2000 to twelve in 2025. Lexington Partners, the firm's secondaries platform, says buying stakes in established private funds offers a better view of underlying assets, immediate diversification across companies, sectors, geographies, managers and vintages, and a mitigation of the J-curve. The firm stresses that growing complexity makes selection, valuation and transaction structuring essential.
On infrastructure, Franklin Templeton frames its thesis under its EDGE vision (energy, digitalization and growth of developing economies). AI-driven computing demand is tying digital and energy infrastructure more closely together, requiring investment in data centers, power grids, storage and connectivity. DigitalBridge, a strategic partner, identifies computing, connectivity and energy supply as interdependent requirements, while Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, also a strategic partner, highlights electrification, rising energy demand and security of supply. The firm notes that greenfield projects may offer more value creation potential than brownfield assets, in exchange for higher development and execution risk.
In private credit, Franklin Templeton sees attractive opportunities in the European lower mid-market, where competition is less intense than in large leveraged finance. According to estimates from Apera Asset Management, this segment of debt volumes between EUR 15 million and EUR 100 million produces more than 700 transactions annually. Apera cites moderate leverage of roughly 2.5-4x, loan-to-value ratios of 40%-50%, and two to four covenants as structures that provide contractual protection, while noting these do not eliminate credit, default or capital loss risk.
The firm concludes that high return dispersion between managers in private markets means manager selection, origination capacity and risk management will drive outcomes as much as thematic exposure.
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