Citywire Alternatives & Private Markets Forum 2026

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This presentation reflects on recent market dynamics across public and private markets, and provides an introduction to private equity secondaries. Further, the potential considerations for secondaries investors with respect to liquidity, J-curve impacts and diversification. 
As one of the largest dedicated portfolio finance sponsors in secondaries to our knowledge, Dawson will introduce its differentiated approach – offering innovative and aligned structured liquidity solutions to the market. Through Dawson’s platform, clients have the potential to access private markets through downside-protected structures.

Workshop Objectives:

• Explore the considerations of private markets exposure

• Highlight the significance of the private equity secondaries market

• Outline Dawson’s differentiated approach to the secondaries market, with our focus on portfolio financing

Company Profile:

Dawson was founded in 2015 and has established itself as a global investment firm focused on providing private market liquidity solutions through innovative structures on diversified portfolios of private assets. The Firm has US$26 billion of assets under management and has deployed over US$32 billion across more than 300 transactions. Dawson has over 240 employees and offices in Toronto, London, UK and New York City. For more information visit: www.dawsonpartners.com 

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Food, infrastructure, and energy underpin daily life and global economies. Yet, these essential resources are often produced in regions defined by unique geology and climate, far from where they are ultimately consumed.

Bridging that gap requires financing across the entire supply chain, from production and processing to transport and trade.

Commodity-backed credit provides investors with access to this real-world financing opportunity, offering stable, income-generating exposure that is largely uncorrelated to traditional markets. By supporting the movement of essential goods, it can serve as both a diversifier and a hedge against inflation, currency depreciation, and geopolitical risk.

Workshop Objectives:

Exploring the tools used to underwrite emerging markets private credit investing and commodity transactions.

Company Profile: 
Gemcorp Capital is a privately owned investment group focused on unleashing the potential in emerging markets. We combine decades of experience with financial discipline and local knowledge to deliver long-term value for investors and sustainable growth in the economies we invest in.

Our core focus is emerging market private credit, structuring and managing solutions that make complex markets investable for global investors. With deep roots across Africa and other growth regions, we look to unlock opportunities that offer genuine alpha and diversification. We mitigate risks through disciplined underwriting and innovative structuring, deploying capital in sectors critical to economic resilience and development.

Additionally, we manage complementary strategies in trade finance, liquid markets and special situations, each underpinned by the same investment discipline and conviction-based philosophy.

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Finding opportunity on the horizon – invest with Principal Alternative Credit across conventional and end-to-end full compliant shariah direct lending solutions.

The market environment: an improving and supportive market and economic backdrop, coupled with appealing credit structures, create an environment ripe with attractive investment opportunities in the lower & core-middle market in 2026.

Principal Alternative Credit: A market leader in private credit with a heritage of serving clients for over 60 years, managing over $13bn in private credit strategies. 

Islamic Private Credit Solutions: offering fully compliant, end-to-end Shariah direct lending strategies. As a leader in both Islamic Investment Management and Direct Lending, we pride ourselves on the ability to create solutions that meet our client’s demand. 

Workshop Objectives: 

Learn what sets lower-middle market direct lending apart in the private credit landscape: lower competition, greater yield, lower leverage, tighter covenants, diversification benefits and lower sensitivity to public market volatility. 

Company Profile: 

Principal Investor Management (DIFC) Limited (“Principal”), specializes in distributing and promoting asset management products and services from Principal Asset Management, the global investment solutions business for Principal Financial Group® which manages US$1.7 trillion in AuA for more than 1,100 institutional clients in more than 80 markets worldwide.  Principal Asset Management manages over US$753 billion in AuM in public markets, private markets and solutions strategies.  Principal is registered in the Dubai International Financial Centre and authorized by the Dubai Financial Services Authority as an Authorised Firm serving institutional investors, pension plan sponsors and sovereign wealth fund managers in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. 

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At this event, the team will discuss how a fragmenting world order is accelerating innovation as governments race to strengthen their AI and cybersecurity capabilities. AI is now entering the application era, with value moving rapidly up the stack—from Nvidia’s GPUs, to frontier models like OpenAI and Anthropic, and ultimately to the applications poised to upend legacy SaaS industries. But as AI scales, so do the threats. Adversaries will weaponize these tools, making next-generation cybersecurity essential to defending an expanding digital attack surface.

Workshop Objectives:

• Discuss investing in AI beyond large language models 
• Highlight the threat of cyberattacks on national and corporate infrastructure 
• Understand sovereign involvement and demand 

Company Profile:

Sands Capital is an active, long-term investor in leading innovative growth businesses around the world. Through an integrated investment platform that spans alternatives, growth equity, and public equity, Sands Capital delivers growth capital solutions to institutions and fund sponsors across more than 40 countries. Founded in 1992, Sands Capital is an independent, staff-owned firm headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area, with additional offices in London and Singapore. As of December 31, 2025, the firm managed more than $56 billion in client assets.