AGM Alts & Wealth Weekly News Roundup | 3.13.26

The news of the week in private markets and wealth management

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AGM News Roundup

🏦 Wealth Management

Why Hightower CEO Larry Restieri wants to build a $1tn brand | Andrew Foerch | Citywire | Hightower CEO Larry Restieri has $1T AUM in his sights. To do so, he wants to focus on building a national, consumer-facing brand. This vision has driven the firm’s formation of Hightower Signature Wealth.

NewEdge Advisors acquires $6bn team in Alabama | Peter Saalfield | Citywire | NewEdge Advisors has acquired Stonegate Investment Group, a $6B, 13-person advisor team based in Birmingham, Alabama.

Advisors 'never going to get replaced' by AI, Anthropic exec says | Andrew Foerch | Citywire | Anthropic asset and wealth management head Peter Nolan said at Future Proof’s Citywide conference that AI won’t take advisors’ jobs but will take on tasks so advisors can ‘focus more time on developing relationships and building trust.’

Rick Wurster assures RIAs Schwab's not looking to compete | Andrew Foerch | Citywire | In a live taping of Josh Brown and Michael Batnick’s The Compound and Friends podcast at Future Proof Citywide, Charles Schwab CEO Rick Wurster pushed back against the idea that his firm may be seeking to compete directly or indirectly with RIAs.

Franklin Templeton Adds ‘Modest’ Private Credit Bets to 401(k)s | Silla Brush | Bloomberg | Franklin Templeton is adding “modest allocations” of private credit to a series of target-date 401(k) plans. The target-date funds will include a range of 2% to 8% allocations to private assets, including credit and real estate.

🌲 Evergreen Funds

HSBC alts boss: Don't position evergreen funds as ‘semi-liquid’ | John Schaffer | Citywire | HSBC Private Bank’s Global Head of Alternatives Mathieu Forcioli says evergreen products “shouldn’t be called semi-liquids.” Forcioli said that “liquidity is not a feature that should be brought forward as the number one benefit. The primary benefits are the convenience, the fast deployment, and not needing to manage capital calls and distributions.”

Top AssetMark gatekeeper turns focus to PE interval funds | William Johnson | Citywire | AssetMark Chief Investment Strategist Zoe Brunson is reportedly prioritizing adding private equity interval fund models, as well as those that combine private and public market exposure.

The Evergreen Revolution: Bold Predictions for Private Markets' Next Frontier | Drew Snow and Abigail Rayner | HarbourVest | HarbourVest shares their top 10 predictions for what could be in store over the next several years for evergreen funds and private markets. HarbourVest notes that venture capital and growth evergreen funds will launch and that continuation vehicles will become the “quality intake valve” for evergreen private equity.

💸 Private Equity

CVC’s Rob Lucas Says Firm’s Next Buyout Fund Could Set Record | Swetha Gopinath | Bloomberg | CVC’s next flagship fund could be bigger than its predecessor, according to the firm’s CEO Rob Lucas. CVC is pre-marketing its Fund X, which will be focused on investments in Europe and the Americas and is expected to launch in early 2027. In 2023, the firm raised the world’s biggest-ever buyout fund at $30.2B. Lucas also noted that CVC has been a beneficiary of a “flight to quality” as investors have focused on allocating more to fewer managers.

Ontario Teachers’ Posts First Private Equity Loss Since 2009 | Layan Odeh | Bloomberg | OTPP is overhauling its approach to investing in private equity after the $200B pension plan had its first loss on the portfolio in 16 years. The value of its PE holdings dropped by $7.4B in 2025. The firm will shift its focus to three sectors: financial services, technology, and services.

General Catalyst Discusses Raising About $10 Billion in Funding Push | Natasha Mascarenhas | Bloomberg | General Catalyst, which has around $40B in AUM, is in talks to raise $10B in new funding spread across several vehicles.

Lightspeed, Andreessen Back $4.2 Billion AI Data Center Supplier | Rebecca Torrence | Bloomberg | Nexthop AI, an AI startup that builds networking hardware and software for AI data centers, has raised $500M at a $4.2B valuation in a round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Altimeter Capital, and Kleiner Perkins.

Victory Capital remains ‘fully committed’ to acquiring Janus Henderson | Tania Mitra | Citywire | Victory Capital is not giving up its pursuit to acquire Janus Henderson.

💳 Private Credit

Morgan Stanley and Cliffwater limit private credit withdrawals | Eric Platt | Financial Times | Morgan Stanley and Cliffwater have restricted withdrawals from private credit funds, according to FT’s Eric Platt. Cliffwater reportedly had requests to redeem 14% of the shares in its $33B Cliffwater Corporate Lending Fund (CCLFX). CCLFX honored roughly half of the redemption requests it received, approving purchases of 7% of the fund’s shares. Morgan Stanley said that its $7.6B North Haven Private Income Fund saw redemption requests of 10.9% in the first quarter and that it would fulfill 45.8% of those requests.

Never seen such a big disconnect between perception and reality in private credit: Ted Goldthorpe | Squawk Box | CNBC | BC Partners Partner and Head of Credit Ted Goldthorpe joins CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin and Becky Quick to discuss the current private credit market.

Partners Group sounds alarm on private credit default rates | Alexandra Heal and Toby Nangle | Financial Times | Partners Group Chair Steffen Meister said that “there’s a good chance that we see default rates double in the next few years.” Meister predicted that spreads would rise in the coming years in middle-market direct lending, where there was limited capital available and there was still room for strong credit returns with stringent “private equity-style” underwriting. Meister noted that annual defaults in private credit averaged 2.6% over the past decade.

BlackRock limits redemptions on HPS credit fund as investors look to exit | John Schaffer | Citywire | BlackRock limited redemptions on its ~$13B HPS Corporate Lending Fund (HLEND) as withdrawal requests hit 9.3% of the vehicle’s NAV. According to Citywire’s Schaffer, total redemption requests amounted to $1.2B in the first quarter of 2026. BlackRock has honored $620M in redemption requests, in line with its 5% policy.

🏠 Real Estate

Real Estate Funds Face ‘Terminal Risk’ as Energy Costs Soar | Frances Schwartzkopff | Bloomberg | Rising oil and gas prices have highlighted the risk that investors in commercial real estate face if they don’t make their buildings less reliant on old-world technology.

KKR and Puma Property Finance Form Strategic Joint Venture of up to £500m to Expand UK Living Sector Lending | KKR | KKR and Puma Property Finance, a specialist UK real estate lender, announced the formation of a JV to provide up to £500 million in senior development and stabilization loans to fund best-in-class residential, Build-To-Rent and student accommodation schemes, providing scaled access to capital in undersupplied UK housing markets.

Deutsche Bank Says Commercial Real Estate Remains Key Risk | Arno Schutze | Bloomberg | Deutsche Bank said its exposure to US commercial real estate remains a “key risk” that could force it to raise provisions for credit losses, as the asset class struggles with refinancings and a stabilization of prices remains uncertain.

🥈 Secondaries

Buyout Shop Charlesbank to Buy Stake in Canada’s Overbay Capital | Layan Odeh and Paula Sambo | Bloomberg | $22.5B AUM middle-market PE and credit firm Charlesbank has bought a minority equity stake in Canadian secondaries firm $3B AUM Overbay Capital Partners, which values the firm at C$200M ($147M). Overbay was founded in 2016 by Robert McGrath.

Abu Dhabi’s ADIA, Ardian Team Up on Real Estate Secondaries Push | Dinesh Nair and Nandu Nair | Bloomberg | Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Ardian are partnering to launch a real estate secondaries platform. Real estate secondaries achieved record transaction volumes in 2025, topping $20B.

General Atlantic enters secondaries market in partnership with Clipway | Madeleine Farman | Secondaries Investor | General Atlantic has teamed up with Clipway to target $1B for a fund that will focus on growth equity and late-stage venture capital investments.

🛠️ Infrastructure

Anthropic in Talks With Blackstone, Other PE Firms to Form AI Consulting Venture | Anissa Gardizy, Valida Pau, Stephanie Palazzolo | The Information | Anthropic is in talks with a consortium of private equity firms, including Blackstone and Hellman & Friedman, about forming an AI-focused joint venture to sell Anthropic’s technology to companies funded by the investment firms. The JV would sell consulting services that would help companies integrate Anthropic’s AI into their businesses.

I Squared Raises $10 Billion So Far for Next Infrastructure Fund | Swetha Gopinath and Dawn Lim | Bloomberg | I Squared Capital, an infrastructure investment firm founded by former Morgan Stanley executives, is closing in on $10B for its flagship infrastructure fund in nine months. I Squared’s fundraising performance comes on the back of a record fundraising year in infrastructure, where firms raised $208B in 2025, including €21.5B raised by EQT and $20B by Ardian.

🥩 GP Stakes

Blackstone, Blue Owl Take Minority Stake in US Private Equity Firm Atlas | Swetha Gopinath and Preeti Singh | Bloomberg | Blackstone and Blue Owl have teamed up to take a minority equity stake in $16B AUM private equity firm Atlas Holdings. Founded in 2002, Atlas owns and operates 30 industrial, manufacturing, and distribution businesses.

BNP Asset Management Arm Raises €540 Million for GP Stakes Fund | Swetha Gopinath | Bloomberg | BNP Paribas’ Asset Management unit closed on a GP stakes fund, Prime Capital Partners I, at €540M. The fund, which focuses on mid-market firms across private equity, private credit, and infrastructure and has taken stakes in Monroe Capital, Hayfin, Latour, and Rivage, closed above its €400M target.

Are CVs the answer to GP stakes exit challenges? | Amy Carroll | Secondaries Investor | GP-led secondaries would appear to be a route to liquidity for GP stakes investors. The article includes quotes from Goldman Sachs Partner and Global Co-Head of Petershill Group Robert Hamilton Kelly [watch AGM’s podcast with Rob here where he talks about liquidity in GP Stakes].

The ‘GP Stakes’ Debate: Overlooked Opportunity or Canary in the Coalmine? | Anna Morrison | bfinance | Data from Preqin shows a decline in fundraising by GP Stakes strategies. Morrison asks the question: do LPs have weaker investor confidence in GPs and underlying private markets asset classes, or are GP Stakes strategies being overlooked in favor of other opportunities?

Some LPs hate them, but GP stakes can work in allocators’ favor | Jessica Hamlin | PitchBook | GP Stakes transactions can be seen as a form of alignment to LPs. PACT Capital Partners Managing Partner and Co-Founder Christian von Schimmelman said, “It can be as simple as saying, ‘For my next fundraise, rather than having a 3% GP commitment, I’d like to have a 5% GP commitment to have additional capital on hand.’ It’s so that they can make a stronger statement to their LPs about alignment.”

🔬 Private Markets Research

Hamilton Lane 2026 Markets Overview | Hamilton Lane | Hamilton Lane’s annual Market Overview highlights how AI is reshaping the investment landscape, how secondaries are coming in first, and the “silver age” of private credit. The firm does not believe there is a private credit bubble.

The Scrutiny Shift: Why Higher-Frequency Valuations Create a Math Problem Most Firms Can’t Solve | 73 Strings | 73 Strings discusses the move to higher-frequency valuations in private credit.

Private vs public markets: Who comes on top across cycles | Moonfare | Moonfare compares public markets and private markets performance across cycles.

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