London's public markets are shrinking at an alarming pace. Foreign acquirers accounted for $200bn of the $324bn in UK M&A value through June, while just seven listings raised £577.2mn — a bid-to-listing ratio of 27:1. By contrast, US exchanges hosted 72 IPOs raising $128bn, led by SpaceX's $86bn float. Peel Hunt's Charles Hall warns the inflow of new companies "isn't anywhere near enough to make up for the outflows," despite regulatory easing on free floats and disclosure rules.

Private credit markets are undergoing a parallel restructuring. Retail-focused evergreen funds face withdrawal gates after defaults and AI-related software exposure fears, but institutional capital is stepping in. North American closed-end direct-lending funds raised $16bn in Q2 — the second-strongest quarter in four years — as pension plans and endowments exploit reduced competition for loans. CPP Investments' David Colla notes the retreat "left a gap in the private credit markets which institutional capital is filling."

Infrastructure investors are chasing yield in unexpected places: yacht marinas. Infra Via's €1bn acquisition of Athens-based D-Marin from CVC follows Stonepeak's Southern Marinas deal and Blackstone's $5.6bn Safe Harbor purchase. The thesis rests on sticky berth-rental revenue, regulatory barriers to new supply, and a fragmentated market ripe for consolidation — all underpinned by rising wealth inequality.

The UK's listing regime may be Europe's least frictional, but that's a low bar. Without a reversal in domestic institutional allocation — Andy Haldane's proposed pension "home bias" tax changes could help — London risks becoming a private-market feeder for New York, its best companies exiting before they ever list.