Why Continuation Vehicles Strip LP Bargaining Power
Former APG PE head John Renkema explains why continuation vehicles create unmanageable GP conflicts and strip existing LPs of bargaining power.
Private Equity: What Institutional LPs Really Want | John Renkema
With Ross Butler, John Renkema · Sunday, September 27, 2026
Former APG private equity head John Renkema joins Ross Butler to dissect institutional portfolio construction, manager selection, and LP-GP dynamics. Renkema argues that market efficiency makes picking outperforming large buyout funds nearly impossible, placing the burden of alpha on broad diversification, vintage pacing, and structural governance advantages over public equities.
Key takeaways
- Former APG private equity head John Renkema argues continuation vehicles create severe governance conflicts that general partners fail to manage properly. Read more →
- Building a mature institutional private equity program takes five to seven years of steady capital deployment across market cycles. Read more →
- John Renkema, former private equity head at Dutch pension giant APG, rejects the conventional label of institutional LPs and fund GPs as equal "partners." Read more →
- In private equity funds larger than $500 million, John Renkema argues there is no statistical evidence that limited partners can reliably select future outperformers over a 10-to-20-year horizon. Read more →
4 articles from this episode
Why Renkema Backs 10 to 15 PE Funds Per Vintage
Former APG private equity head John Renkema explains why steady vintage pacing and 10 to 15 funds per year beat manager picking.
Why LPs Are Clients, Not Partners: APG's John Renkema
Former APG private equity head John Renkema explains why treating fund managers as service providers protects carried interest alignment and terms.
Why LP Fund Selection Alpha Fails in Large Buyout PE
Former APG private equity head John Renkema explains why selecting top-quartile PE funds over $500M is a statistical myth.