President Trump yesterday signed an executive order that should make it easier for 401(k) retirement plans to invest in private equity and other alternative assets.

• Supporters argue this will encourage diversification, thus improving long-term performance, and democratization of lucrative asset classes.
• Critics argue that the risks outweigh the rewards, citing everything from high fees to low transparency.

Catch up quick: Federal rules discourage defined-contribution plans from investing in alt assets, although it's not necessarily illegal.

• As such, they mostly invest in stocks and bonds.
• Trump tried to soften the guidance during his first term, but his language was rescinded by President Biden.
• Private equity views 401(k)s as the holy grail of untapped capital, with around $12.5 trillion in value.

What's in the EO: Trump is giving the Labor Department 180 days to reevaluate regulatory interpretations and, if necessary, propose changes.

• This includes prioritizing ways to curb litigation risk for retirement fund administrators. It's not possible to stop all lawsuits, but this signals that the government itself won't sue.
• He also instructed the SEC to revise applicable rules and guidance to better facilitate retirement fund investments into alt assets.
• Alt asset classes referenced by the EO include private equity, private credit, crypto, real estate, and infrastructure project finance. Venture capital isn't explicitly mentioned, but it would seem to fall within the bucket.

The big question: Will private equity find a pot of gold or just a sackful of nickels?

• Just because 401(k) plan sponsors can invest in alt assets doesn't necessarily mean that they will, and even enthusiasts acknowledge that there could be a long learning curve.
• Target-date funds may be the earliest adopters, given their long-term horizons, while asset classes with income components (e.g., private credit, some real estate) might gain traction before vanilla private equity.
• Lots of challenges still need to be solved, including around reporting timelines. Expect a new layer of tech infrastructure to get built, and a new wave of fund placement agents to emerge.
• The biggest sponsor winners may be those that can offer multiple strategies, continuing a capital concentration trend that's left many private equity firms with light pockets.

The bottom line: Private capital fundraising has fallen for three straight years, in part because limited partners have become frustrated with distribution shortfalls.

• Trump might have just given the industry a big mulligan. Rather than fixing the underlying problems, it can just get a new set of LPs.

The Justice Department yesterday agreed to approve UnitedHealth Group's (NYSE: UNH) $3.3 billion acquisition of home health and hospice provider Amedisys (Nasdaq: AMED), pending certain divestitures.

Why it's the BFD: The settlement preempts what would have been the Trump administration's first major health care antitrust case, albeit based on a Biden-era lawsuit, with regulators worried that the deal would give UnitedHealth too much market power.

• It still must be approved by a federal judge.

Zoom in: UnitedHealth and Amedisys plan to sell 164 facilities to KKR-backed BrightSpring Health Services (Nasdaq: BTSG) and Pennant Group (Nasdaq: PNTG).

• They previously had agreed to divest certain clinics to VitalCaring Group, a portfolio company of Vistria Group and Nautic Partners.

The bottom line: Trump 2.0's antitrust philosophy remains fuzzy, but so far seems to prefer negotiations over trials.