Vistra, a Singapore-headquartered provider of essential business services, has released a new survey showing that operational constraints rank alongside geopolitics as a top barrier to successful exits.

Continuation vehicles, secondaries and a wider range of liquidity routes are putting growing pressure on private equity operating models. Forty-five per cent of firms are citing valuation and reporting complexity as a key challenges, according to new global research from Vistra Fund Solutions. The pressure is landing on teams where manual processes and data handling already consume 33 per cent of operational capacity on average.

The findings come from The Vistra Fund Solutions Private Equity Report 2026, based on a survey of 455 private equity professionals across North America, Europe, APAC and the Middle East.

The strain extends beyond valuations and reporting, with 45 per cent citing technology limitations and having to manage multiple stakeholder groups, while 42 per cent point to increased regulatory and compliance obligations.

This pressure is being compounded as firms pursue a wider range of liquidity routes simultaneously, each with its own operational, regulatory and reporting demands, the firm said in a statement. Continuation vehicles, sponsor-to-sponsor sales and holding assets for longer are each cited by 16 per cent of firms as the most important route over the next 12 to 24 months, with dividend recapitalisations and secondaries close behind at 14 per cent.

As large firms such as Blackstone, KKR, Carlyle, Apollo and Hamilton Lane have reached out to the private wealth space as other investors such as institutions have become fully allocated, there's been a steady drumbeat of commentary about the case for private markets. See here and here. As reported last week, Preqin, the private markets data provider owned by BlackRock, forecasts that private markets assets under management will exceed $34 trillion by 2031.

Mind the gap
The shift towards retail and semi-liquid products is also exposing operational gaps. While 84 of firms said they are fully or partially prepared to support them, only 27 per cent said they already have all the infrastructure, processes and capabilities they need in place. More than half remain only partially prepared, while 14 per cent are still at an early stage.

The added complexity is challenging operating teams that remain heavily reliant on manual processes. Almost two-thirds said that more than a quarter of their team’s capacity is consumed by manual processes or data handling, with manual work accounting for 33 per cent of capacity on average.

The operational impact extends to liquidity, with internal resource or operational constraints ranking alongside regulatory or geopolitical uncertainty as a top barrier to successful exits (16 per cent).

Investor pressure is also building, with more frequent and granular portfolio reporting topping the list of limited partners (LP) demands (36 per cent), followed by greater fee transparency, faster onboarding, and real-time access to fund data (34 per cent). Meanwhile, 93 per cent of respondents said operational excellence is important to investor confidence.

Firms are responding by shifting more operational investment towards technology, the firm continued. Today, 60 per cent have budgets weighted towards people, but that is expected to fall to 40 per cent over the next three years, while the proportion with technology-heavy budgets rises from 18 per cent to 32 per cent. All respondents are exploring or implementing at least one AI use case, but 99 per cent identify a meaningful gap between their AI ambitions and operational reality.

“The range of products, investors and liquidity routes firms now need to support is creating real operational pressure. Continuation vehicles and secondaries bring more demanding valuation, reporting and stakeholder requirements, while many teams still spend a third of their capacity on manual work,” Abdel Hmitti, president, Vistra Fund Solutions, said. “With LP expectations rising at the same time, firms need stronger data, more connected systems and the right external support to handle greater complexity without adding another layer of cost and manual effort.”

External providers
The role of external providers is already broadening, the firm continued. While 67 per cent of firms still primarily use providers for transactional administration, technology support and integration is the function most likely to be outsourced over the next three years, at 28 per cent, followed by investor services at 26 per cent and data management at 25 per cent.

Despite these pressures, confidence in operational transformation remains high. Some 89 per cent said their operational capabilities have moved faster than assets under management (AuM) growth or are significantly ahead of it. However, just over half describe key areas of their operating model as mostly or fully automated and integrated, highlighting the gap between confidence in progress and the maturity of the underlying infrastructure.

Regional highlights from the research show that in North America, 31 per cent describe their AI readiness as mostly or fully automated and integrated. Europe reports the lowest average manual workload at 28 per cent. APAC reports the highest confidence in operational transformation at 96 per cent, while the Middle East records the highest average manual workload at 37 per cent.

The Vistra report drew views from 455 private equity professionals in North America, Europe, APAC and the Middle East. Respondents represented firms managing between $100 million and $100 billion in assets under management. The research was conducted between 4 and 11 August 2026.