AGM Alts & Wealth Weekly News Roundup | 4.17.26
The news of the week in private markets and wealth management
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AGM News Roundup
đŚ Wealth Management
LPL and Private Advisor Group buy Mariner's $31bn platform business | Sam Bojarski | Citywire | Mariner Wealth Advisors has sold its RIA services platform, Mariner Advisor Network, to independent broker-dealer LPL and one of its largest affiliates, Private Advisor Group. Mariner Advisor Network supports 367 financial advisors managing $31B in assets.
RIA M&A hits 94 deals in Q1 as single-year record in play: MarshBerry | Alec Rich | Citywire | Business was booming for RIA M&A in Q1 2026. According to M&A advisory Firm MarshBerryâs Q1 Wealth M&A Market Update, a record 94 deals were done in Q1. MarshBerry âexpectsâ the full year 2026 deal count to surpass last yearâs record of 394 transactions.
âI wish we did it 10 years ago': Why $9bn Simon Quick launched its own PE fund | Alec Rich | Citywire | Simon Quick Advisors, the $9B RIA, rolled out its first ever private equity vehicle for clients, raising $60M out of a $100M target ahead of its initial close. The fund will not have a specific sector focus, according to Simon Quick Co-Founder and Managing Partner Christopher Moore, who noted that buyout private equity to be the largest allocation, alongside growth equity and venture as a smaller allocation.
Geopolitical upheaval spurs family offices to open global branches | Josh Spero | Financial Times | Geopolitical upheaval is driving family offices to open up new offices around the world to manage risks created by wars, tax changes, and economic sanctions. This shift is becoming increasingly âevident among larger, more institutionalised family offices, where international presence is becoming part of their portfolio architecture rather than an operational afterthought,â said Rebecca Gooch, Director at Deloitte.
$8.9bn Bradley, Foster & Sargent exploring sale of controlling stake: Sources | Ian Wenik | Citywire | Bradley, Foster & Sargent, an $8.9B RIA based in Hartford, Conn., has retained Berkshire Global Advisors as its financial advisor to explore a controlling stake in the company.
đ˛ Evergreen Funds
An evergreen future for emerging market private credit? | Funds Europe | Felipe Berliner, Co-Founder and Head of Structuring at Gemcorp Capital shares perspectives on why emerging markets could represent a better fit for credit evergreen funds.
Asset managers warn of regulatory overreach amid redemption wave | Cheryl Heng | Citywire | Global asset managers executives warned that misselling private market evergreen products to wealth investors could trigger regulatory overreach. âThe wrappers arenât wrong, but do people understand what they really bought with their wrapper?â said Richard Oldfield, group CEO at Schroders.
Neuberger launches evergreen asset-backed credit fund | Selin Bucak | Citywire | Neuberger Berman has launched an open-ended asset-backed credit fund, offering European investors monthly subscriptions and quarterly redemptions.
đ ď¸ Private Markets Infrastructure
iCapitalÂŽ and Envestnet Expand Strategic Partnership to Incorporate Alternatives and Structured Investments Within Unified Managed Accounts | iCapital | iCapital and Envestnet announced an expanded strategic partnership that further enables access to iCapitalâs alternative investments capabilities within Envestnetâs Unified Managed Account (UMA) platform. Advisors can now access iCapitalâs technology platform through Envestnet and utilize UMAs to incorporate alternatives and structured investments alongside traditional public market holdings within a single account structure.
Juniper Square Acquires Sightglass to Bolster AI Capabilities for Private Markets Investor Relations | Juniper Square | Juniper Square announced the acquisition of Sightglass, an AI-native due diligence questionnaire automation company.
Bloomberg Introduces Comprehensive Private Direct Lending Data For Deeper Private Credit Market Insights | Bloomberg | Bloomberg announced its Private Direct Lending Data offering, bringing greater visibility and normalization to the fragmented private credit data landscape. Available at {DLEN <GO>} on the Bloomberg Terminal and via Data License for scalable enterprise-wide use, the solution aggregates data from multiple sources to cover more than 15,000 active private direct loans, representing approximately $1T in deal flow.
đ¸ Private Equity
UK testing specialist Intertek rejects EQTâs ÂŁ9.3bn takeover proposal | Ivan Levingston and Alexandra Heal | Financial Times | UK product testing and inspection company Intertek has rejected a takeover proposal from EQT that valued the company at ÂŁ9.3B.
Harrisâ 26North Raises $6 Billion for Debut Buyout Fund | Laura Benitez | Bloomberg | Former Apollo Co-Founder and Washington Commanders owner Josh Harris has raised $6B for a debut buyout fund for his firm, 26North. Harris, who started the firm in 2022 after leaving Apollo, has seen the firm grow to $35B in AUM across middle-market private equity, credit, and insurance.
Thoma Bravo Winds Down Growth Equity to Focus on Owning Firms | Preeti Singh | Bloomberg | Thoma Bravo, which manages around $183B in capital, is shuttering its growth equity business less than five years after launching the strategy to focus more on its core buyouts strategy. The news was first reported by Private Equity International.
Nemetschek to Buy Thoma Bravoâs HCSS in âŹ2 Billion-Plus Deal | Crystal Tse, Eyk Henning, Ryan Gould and Swetha Gopinath | Bloomberg | Nemetschek SE agreed to acquire construction management software provider Heavy Construction Systems Specialists from Thoma Bravo, valuing HCSS at more than 20x 2025 EBITDA, which has resulted in a âŹ2B ($2.4B) purchase price.
Leonard Green Nears $3 Billion Deal for Cumming Group, FT Says | Chloe Meley | Bloomberg | Leonard Green and Partners nears a $3B acquisition of Cumming Group, a construction project consultancy owned by New Mountain Capital. The deal values Cumming Group at $3B, including debt.
Iconiq, Go-To Wealth Advisor for Techâs Elite, Is Putting Billions Into AI | Natasha Mascarenhas | Bloomberg | Iconiq, whose origins began as a wealth manager to many of Silicon Valleyâs tech entrepreneurs, has grown to over $100B AUM. The firmâs investing initiatives have been punctuated by a number of big bets into companies like Anthropic, in which the firm has invested over $4B.
KKR and Samsung SDS Form Strategic Partnership to Drive Long-Term Value Creation | Wei Jun Ong and James Jarman | KKR | KKR and Samsung SDS, a leading enterprise IT solutions company and a member of Samsung Group, announced a strategic partnership to drive value creation initiatives for the company, including supporting organic and inorganic growth strategies, accelerating the Companyâs expansion as a fullâstack AI solutions provider, and expanding into new business areas.
College sports giant Learfield finalizing sale to private equity firm | Ben Portnoy | Sports Business Journal | Private equity firm TPG is finalizing the purchase of Learfield, which will make the firm the majority owner of one of the most prominent multimedia rights and technology providers in college athletics. The sale price is somewhere between $1.8-2B. Current co-owner Charlesbank will remain on in a minority position, while Fortress Investment Group will exit as part of the sale.
H.I.G. Capital Invests in Inventus Power | PR Newswire | H.I.G. Capital, with $74B of AUM, announced the acquisition of Woodridge, Illinois-based Inventus Power, a global provider of advanced battery and power systems.
đł Private Credit
Goldman president warns private credit funds are not marketed properly | Martin Arnold and Eric Platt | Financial Times | Goldman Sachs President and COO John Waldron said on Wednesday that âNot everybody has marketed their product as clearly as, certainly we would like to see with the clarity that this is really not a liquid product. Itâs not semi-liquid. Itâs really illiquid.â
Wall Street watchdog says private credit is ânot a systemic riskâ | Martin Arnold | Financial Times | Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins said retail investors should âget out of the kitchenâ if they cannot âtake the heatâ of investing in private credit, dismissing fears the asset class may threaten financial stability.
Private credit exposure turns investors away from US life insurers | Michelle Chan | Financial Times | Investors are growing increasingly concerned about US life insurersâ exposure to private credit. Insurance is now among the worst-performing sectors in the US investment-grade bond index, with investors only willing to buy insurersâ bonds at yields around 1% above Treasuries, according to ICE BofA data.
Is Pimco Giving Blue Owl Its Own Berkshire Moment? | Eric Jacobson | Morningstar | PIMCOâs investment in the unsecured debt of Blue Owlâs publicly traded BDC OBDC comes at a time when both private credit and Blue Owl are under scrutiny.
âYouâre an idiotâ: Apollo CEO Marc Rowan has a word for any lenders that canât meet 5% private credit fund redemptions | Eric Rosenbaum | CNBC | At CNBCâs Invest in America Forum, Apollo CEO Marc Rowan said âWe have a situation where investors do not actually know what they own. Maybe they should have known,â he told CNBCâs Sara Eisen. âIf you discovered eight weeks ago that enterprise software was vulnerable to AI, you kinda werenât doing your job,â Rowan said. âThis is knowable.â Discussing the broader market, Rowan remarked, âIf you canât, as a first lien credit manager, meet 5% redemptions per quarter, Iâll say it frankly: Youâre an idiot. This is not that hard to do.â
Banks Tally $100 Billion of Private-Credit Loans as Calm Urged | Yizhu Wang and Todd Gillespie | Bloomberg | Wall Street banks reported at least $100B of exposure to private credit firms. JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon said he wasnât âparticularly concernedâ about JP Morganâs $50B exposure to private credit, saying, âYou have to have very large losses in private credit before at least it looks like banks are going to get hit. It doesnât mean you wonât feel some stress and strain and you might have to do something about it. But Iâm not particularly worried about it.â
Canada Regulator Reviewing Banksâ Private-Credit Exposures | Melissa Shin and Christine Dobby | Bloomberg | Canadaâs bank regulator is examining lendersâ exposure to hedge funds and private credit firms and how they transfer risks to those firms.
Carlyle Draws $1.5 Billion for Asset-Backed Fund in First Round | Scott Carpenter | Bloomberg | Carlyle raised $1.5B in a first close for an asset-backed finance fund. Texas County & District Retirement System committed $150M to the fund.
đ Real Estate
KKR Unit to Boost Buying in $2.8 Trillion Japan Property Market | Ryo Horiuchi | Bloomberg | KKRâs Japan real estate management subsidiary plans a âbig expansionâ in purchases of properties that companies want to sell off.
Weston Firm, KingSett to Buy First Capital in $6.8 Billion Property Deal | Ari Altstedter, Layan Odeh and Derek Decloet | Bloomberg | The public real estate arm of Canadaâs Weston family and Kingsett Capital agreed to take over First Capital REIT for C$9.4B, including debt. The deal represents a significant consolidation of the retail real estate business in Canadian cities.
đĽ Secondaries
Carlyle AlpInvest Leads Single-Asset Continuation Vehicle for Bridgepointe Technologies | Carlyle | Carlyle AlpInvest announced the completion of a single-asset continuation vehicle for Bridgepointe Technologies, a technology advisory and enablement services firm. The transaction enables Charlesbank to expand its existing investment in Bridgepointe. The transaction values the company at over $1B.
Sycamore Tree Capital Partners launches credit secondaries platform | Sami Vukelj | PitchBook | Sycamore Tree Capital Partners has launched a new credit secondaries investment platform. The platform will be led by Robert OâConnor, who joins from Banner Ridge Partners.
Better to keep than pass the parcel - the timely case for CVs | John Garcia | AEA Investorsâ and Painswick Capital for Secondaries Investor | When structured properly with the appropriate transparency and fairness, AEA Investorsâ and Painswick Capitalâs John Garcia argues that these CVs can align interests rather than obscure them.
đ ď¸ Infrastructure
Bloomberg: Joe Baratta on Investment Opportunities in Electrification and Power Demand | Blackstone | Blackstoneâs Global Head of Private Equity Strategies spoke on Bloomberg about investment opportunities in energy and power that are a result of the AI revolution.
Thoma Bravo Signs Multiyear Deal With Google for AI Adoption | Preeti Singh | Bloomberg | Thoma Bravo has entered into a strategic partnership with Alphabetâs Google Cloud to help its portfolio companies accelerate their adoption of AI. The partnership will allow Thoma Bravoâs portfolio companies to access Google Cloudâs AI platform to improve product offerings, with Google engineers embedding with the companies to help solve technical challenges.
𼊠GP Stakes
Blue Owl Snaps Up Stake in Financial-Services Manager BlackFin | Preeti Singh | Bloomberg | Blue Owlâs GP Strategic Capital is nearing a deal to take a minority stake in Paris-based financial services focused investment firm BlackFin Capital Partners. BlackFin, which has funds that take controlling stakes in financial services companies across Europe and takes minority stakes in early-stage fintech companies, raised âŹ1.8B ($2.1B) for the fourth iteration of its buyout fund in 2024.
Bridging the Divide: Key Differences Between U.S. and UK/European Asset Management M&A and GP Staking Deals | Geoffrey P. Burgess, Matthew Dickman, Andrew G. Jamieson, Hugo Laing, Marc Ponchione, William D. Regner, Jennifer Wheater, Jillian Mulroy Wright and Saya Sharma | Debevoise & Plimpton | Debevoise & Plimpton outlines the differences between US and European GP stakes transactions.
đŹ Private Markets Research
The case for going direct in private markets: More control, lower fees, better access | Moonfare | Both institutional investors and family offices are increasingly taking an active approach to investing in private markets, with some favoring co-investments as a core part of allocations.
Private markets at an inflection point | Ruulke Bagijn | Carlyle | Global Head of Carlyle AlpInvestâs Ruulke Bagijn talks about the structural change occurring in private markets. Bagijn notes that the gap between top-performing managers and the broader market appears to be widening.
US PE Breakdown | Steven Buibish, Jinny Choi, Garrett Hinds, Kyle Walters and Kenny Tang | PitchBook | 2025 was the second-best year on record for PE deal and exit activity. Q1 exits came in at 373 transactions totaling $144.4B, comparable to or ahead of the dip seen in Q2 of last year.
PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor | Kyle Stanford, Emily Zheng and Kaidi Gao | PitchBook | All-time highs in VC are unevenly distributed. The quarterâs $267.2B in deal value exceeded every full-year total except for those of 2021 and 2025, and exit value hit $347.3B, the highest quarter on record. Yet without the five largest deals and exits, those figures fall by 73.2% and 86.6%, respectively.
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