Comment: We need to talk about valuations, or face a credibility crisis

As we near the end of a tumultuous year where economic sands have shifted, war returned to Europe, and capital markets corrected near historic levels, private equity has, by and large, offered investors some solace on the headache front.

However, at a time when the NASDAQ (YTD -35%), S&P 500 (-25 %), Dow (-20%) and other indices face continued selloffs, is it prudent that private equity firms continue to mark portfolios in such bullish fashion?

With the appetite for IPOs as low as it has been the preference for secondaries to mop up maturing assets at stretched valuations to earnings has drawn criticism from allocators such as Amundi CIO Vincent Mortier, who made it known that he worried of a Ponzi...