Yaron Naymark

Naymark reinitiated KKR this year after the private-credit scare created an attractive entry. He views KKR as a mega alternative asset manager that will be an AI winner over time because it has a long track record and blue-chip franchise, can survive bad vintages, and should take share as mid-market private-equity firms consolidate. Specifically, KKR has the largest Asia alternatives business, a large European business, underpenetrated US credit, infrastructure, and real-estate strategies to grow, and exposure to the fast-growing high-net-worth retail alternatives channel.

Naymark owns IWG and thinks the market misclassifies it as an AI loser because office jobs could shrink. He argues AI-driven productivity may flatten or reduce corporate headcount, making long-term leases less attractive and increasing demand for flexible short-term office space. Flexible space is still only a low-single-digit percentage of office utilization today, leaving a large runway if that mix rises, and IWG is not valued as an AI beneficiary.

Limbach is an HVAC/MEP contractor that transitioned from general contracting to owner-direct services, but it hit a temporary demand air pocket in the first half from tariffs, healthcare funding cuts, and macro uncertainty. Organic revenue fell mid-single digits and EBITDA fell about 30% due to fixed-cost deleverage, prompting guidance cut from $90m to $80m and a roughly 50% stock decline. Naymark argues the decline is not a broken business: bookings have been good but burned slowly, core healthcare is normalizing, the balance sheet is clean, and even a $65m EBITDA scenario implies about $4/share of free cash flow and valuation support at roughly 10x. He sees a triple upside: multiple expansion on the base business, value creation from M&A in a fragmented MEP market at 5-6x EBITDA, and optionality from finally entering data centers via a program-management acquisition that could pull through hundreds of millions of data-center revenue and add operating leverage. Management alignment is strong, with the CEO never selling shares, and if execution remains weak, strategic or private buyers could acquire the company.