AGM Alts & Wealth Weekly News Roundup | 12.19.25
The news of the week in private markets and wealth management
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AGM News Roundup
🏦 Wealth Management
No Longer Alternative: How RIAs Are Investing in Private Markets | Matt Magill, Sophia Corriere, James Dahlen | KKR | Data from 100 RIAs surveyed by KKR found that nearly half currently allocate 10% or more of their AUM to private markets and 81% expect to maintain or exceed that level within five years, with private equity and private infrastructure of particular interest to RIAs surveyed.
Blackstone Holds Early Talks With Revolut on Wealth Partnership | Leonard Kehnscherper and Aisha S Gani | Bloomberg | Blackstone is in exploratory talks with digital bank Revolut about offering Blackstone funds to clients of the private bank that Revolut is developing.
These are the early days of the brokerages going all in (more from AGM here and here), with Trade Republic partnering with Apollo and EQT earlier this year.
Which makes sense when one sees Blackstone’s direct-to-consumer focused marketing, such as its holiday video …
Blackstone 2025 Holiday Video: Forever Blackstone | Blackstone | Blackstone’s annual video production cranked up some ‘80s tunes as they hit their “midlife crisis” but stay “forever young.”
Goldman, T. Rowe debut joint model portfolios | Tania Mitra | Citywire | Goldman Sachs Asset Management and T. Rowe Price have launched the first set of model portfolios that include hybrid public / private products as part of their partnership, leveraging GeoWealth’s UMA platform.
Private markets in 2026: M&A and wealth to continue driving growth | Selin Bucak | Citywire | “Private markets are fast becoming the engine room for the global asset management industry,” Citywire’s Selin Bucak says. She cites Moody’s outlook, which finds that private markets are on track to generate more than half of the asset management industry’s total revenue by 2030.
Blackstone Triples Wealth Tie-Ups as It Chases Europe’s Rich | Leonard Kehnscherper | Bloomberg | Blackstone has tripled the number of partnerships across Europe over the past two years, working with over 80 partners in private banking, wealth management, and insurance in the region. Blackstone has signed up 25 new distribution partnerships this year.
UBS AM merges public and private markets teams into $1.8tn unit | John Schaffer | Citywire | UBS Assert Management has hired former Global CIO at Legal & General Asset Management Sonja Laud to co-head its investments business alongside Barry Gill. This move comes as the unit combines its direct public and private markets investing capabilities.
Plan Sponsors See Private Markets Opportunity | Valentina Baez | PlanAdviser | 200 plan sponsors surveyed by HarbourVest stated that they are confident that private markets investments will improve long-term participant outcomes in defined contribution plans. 86% of those surveyed said they believe diversification is a key guardrail for managing risk.
Carlyle Hires Head of Retirement Solutions for 401(k) Push | Allison McNeely | Bloomberg | Carlyle made a key hire to focus on structuring and distributing investments for retirement plans, bringing on Managing Director and Head of Retirement Solutions Bill Ryan from NEPC, where he advised over 155 clients managing $600B on defined-contribution products.
🌲 Evergreen Funds
Stone Point to Join Push for Retail Wealth With $1 Billion Fund | Preeti Singh | Bloomberg | Stone Point Capital, an investment firm with $65B in AUM, is testing out an evergreen fund with capital from its flagship private equity funds and $200-400M in seed capital from outside investors as it looks to build a track record that will enable the firm to open up the fund to the wealth channel more broadly.
Pimco and Adams Street line up evergreen funds in Europe | Selin Bucak | Citywire | Pimco and Adams Street Partners have both been working on new evergreen funds for European investors.
🛠️ Private Markets Infrastructure
German fintech hits €12.5bn valuation in deal backed by Peter Thiel | Florian Muller | Financial Times | Brokerage and investing platform Trade Republic has become Germany’s most valuable startup after investors completed a secondary transaction in the business at a €12.5B valuation that will see Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, Sequoia, Fidelity, Wellington, and GIC all investing in the round.
💸 Private Equity
Private Equity Dealmaking Hits Record in US Industrials | Brooke Sutherland | Bloomberg | Takeovers of US industrial companies hit record highs in 2025, with deal volume of US industrial and infrastructure assets surpassing $75B.
Record PE exit value in DACH region as sponsor-to-sponsor deals dominate | Emily Lai | PitchBook | PE exit activity in Europe’s DACH region is on track for a record year, with exit deal value reaching €50B (about $58.6B) as of Dec. 15, a 15% increase from last year and on par with the previous peak in 2021, making Germany, Austria and Switzerland one of the few markets to see an increase in PE exits this year.
Berlin launches ‘Germany Fund’ to lure private equity investors | Anne-Sylvaine Chassany | Financial Times | The German government has launched a “Germany Fund” to attract up to €130B in private investments. Deutschlandfonds, which is anchored in state development bank KfW and led by its CEO Stefan Wintels, will be seeded with around €30B in public money and loan guarantees.
💳 Private Credit
Credit in 2026: A Market That Demands Insight, Not Just Capital | Mark Jenkins | Carlyle | Carlyle shares five themes that they believe will define the credit landscape in 2026: underwriting discipline, an expanding opportunity set, opportunistic credit, asset-backed finance, and Europe as a relative value opportunity.
US Bank Lending to Competitors Surged 26% This Year, Fitch Says | Rene Ismail | Bloomberg | US banks are lending more to private credit firms, private equity firms, and hedge funds, with loan volume to these non-bank financial institutions up 26% this year through November. Domestic banks made $363B of new non-bank loans, according to a Fitch report that cited Federal Reserve data.
Elham Teams With Daiwa-Backed Bank to Tap Japan Private Credit | Megawati Wijaya | Bloomberg | Elham Credit Partners, the private equity arm of Hillhouse Investment, has partnered with a Daiwa-backed digital investment bank to explore private credit opportunities in Japan and APAC.
Private Credit’s Secret Weapon for Deals Is Buying Up Bank Loans | Ellen DiMauro | Bloomberg | Private credit firms are buying into companies’ syndicated loans to access the borrower and pitch them on refinancing with a private credit solution.
🏠 Real Estate
Blackstone’s Giant Real Estate Platforms Look Too Big to Sell | Natasha Voase | Bloomberg | Blackstone tried to sell its Tesco distribution center in the UK’s West Midlands as part of a portfolio of warehouses, seeking more than £400 million. Blackstone has sold or agreed to sell nearly €50 billion of assets since 2022.
🥈 Secondaries
Is the Pioneer of Private Equity's Hottest Trade Learning to Let Go? | Silas Brown, Kat Hidalgo, Swetha Gopinath | Bloomberg | A behind-the-scenes look at one of the pioneers of the secondaries space, Jeremy Coller, and his firm Coller Capital, one of the leaders in the secondaries market.
Carlyle Alplnvest fundraises for credit secondaries strategy | Madeleine Farman | Secondaries Investor | Carlyle AlpInvest is formalizing a credit secondaries strategy, raising a new fund after recent senior debt and continuation vehicle deals, joining peers Coller Capital, Pantheon, and Blackstone in expanding into the space.
🛠️ Infrastructure
U.S. private-equity giant KKR sees opportunity in Canada’s infrastructure push | James Bradshaw | The Globe and Mail | KKR views Canada’s expanding energy and digital infrastructure agenda as a compelling long-term opportunity for private capital fueled by AI growth, global energy demand, and stable investment conditions.
Q&A: How Churchill is underwriting the AI-fueled credit boom | Madeline Shi | PitchBook | Churchill Asset Management’s Head of Origination and Capital Markets Kevin Meyer discussed the firm’s cautious approach to lending to data center projects.
Ares Makes $700 Million Bet on AI With Virginia Buying Spree | Laura Benitez and Dawn Lim | Bloomberg | Ares is spending $700M to build a data center complex and buy fully-leased properties across Virginia in a 314-acre development for $200M in Spotsylvania County and a $500M data center project in Leesburg that is fully leased under 15-year triple-net lease agreements.
Oracle-Blue Owl Split Over Data Center Rattles Markets Banking on AI Boom | Paula Seligson and Preeti Singh | Bloomberg | Bank of America is leading a $14B debt deal to help finance Oracle’s data center project in Michigan.
🥩 GP Stakes
Bridgepoint Group adds Newbury Partners team to expand into fast-growing secondaries market and strengthen global alternatives platform | Bridgepoint | Bridgepoint acquired Newbury, a $4B AUM mid-market secondaries firm, as it continues to expand its platform and capabilities.
Virtus Investment Partners Announces a Strategic Minority Interest Investment in Crescent Cove Advisors, LP | Virtus | Virtus Investment Partners (NYSE: VRTS) finalized a 35% minority stake in Crescent Cove, a $1B AUM alternative asset manager that provides capital solutions to middle market tech companies.
🔬 Private Markets Research
Investing at High Altitude | Partners Group | Partners Group 2026 outlook focuses on navigating markets near their peaks, calling for a disciplined valuation approach and readiness for volatility.
2026 Investment Outlook: Owning Change in a Transforming World | Brookfield | Brookfield CEO Bruce Flatt and the team discuss how to navigate the current market environment and how “the long-term opportunities for private capital lie in the megatrends [they] call the Three D’s: digitalization, deglobalization, and decarbonization.”
2026 Outlook: High Grading | KKR | KKR’s 2026 outlook focuses on “high grading” or upgrading portfolios, capital structures, and counterparties to emphasize resilience, quality, and capital efficiency.
2026 Market Outlook: Balancing Divergences Amid Blind Spots | iCapital | iCapital shares why they expect 2026 to be a balancing act.
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