Steven LeBlanc, former head of the $30bn private markets group at the Teachers Retirement System of Texas, talks about his four years with the public pension plan.

The head of KKR’s European private equity operations, Johannes Huth, paints a vivid picture of a recovering Europe.

Private equity deal and fundraising activity in Africa doubled during 2013, explains Michael Rogers of EY.

Baird Capital’s Mike Liang describes his firm’s investment in Insightra Medical.

David Sherman, president of Metropolitan Real Estate, talks to PrivcapRE about selling to Carlyle, the benefits and the potential conflicts.

How AlpInvest’s portfolio of co-investments was able to outperform the co-investment opportunities it turned down.

Allocation expectations. IPD’s Greg Mansell discusses the results of the latest research into sovereign wealth and pension funds’ real estate allocations and the outlook for commercial property investment.

LPs should get prospective GPs off-script to understand the true character of the manager. Roy Schneiderman of Bard Consulting offers his advice on improving manager due diligence.

Mark Grinis, global leader of real estate investment fund services at EY looks at how GPs are changing their offerings to meet LPs’ demands.

David Rose of Hewitt EnnisKnupp on the role of commercial real estate debt in the institutional portfolio.

The commingled fund will attract greater LP attention in the next few years as small and medium-sized investors increase their allocations to real estate, says TIAA-CREF global head of real estate Tom Garbutt. But sponsor make-up will change significantly.

Sonny Kalsi of GreenOak Real Estate on his firm’s purchase of 285 Madison, still reminiscent of the Mad Men-era.