Liquid Private Equity & Volatility Laundering (Owen Lamont & Randy Cohen) | #625
Today’s guests are Owen Lamont, a Portfolio Manager at Acadian Asset Management, and Randy Cohen, a finance and entrepreneurship professor at Harvard Business School and co-founder of PEO Partners, which is a leader in the emerging liquid Private Equity alternatives space. In today’s episode, Owen Lamont and Randy Cohen begin with a deep dive into private equity, how to model it in public markets, and why investors are searching for liquid ways to access private-market-like returns. They challenge common views on concentration, market valuations, and explain how investors should think about bubbles and technological change. They also discuss whether the US stock market is Koreafying and the long-term forces that could shape the investing landscape.
Key Points
- Private equity has historically outperformed public markets by 2-4% annually, though concerns about volatility smoothing remain significant.
- The current market dynamics, including low IPO activity and high valuations, suggest either a future bubble or a significant impact from AI and technological advancements.
- Global de-globalization trends may increase the benefits of international diversification in investment portfolios.
Follow Owen: Website; LinkedIn
Follow Randy: Website; Website; LinkedIn
Resources: Owen's appearance on the podcast in October 2024
Owenomics Posts
“We are not in an AI bubble” (January 2026)
Straight talk about circular deals in AI (Oct 2025)
Waiting for the IPO wave (March 2026)
Firms are the smart money (Nov 2025)
The U.S. Stock Market is Koreafying. That’s Bad. (June 2024)
The Squid Game Stock Market (March 2025)
Dumb Money Triumphant (Oct 2025)
Chapters
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Transcript
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