AGM Alts & Wealth Weekly News Roundup | 9.12.25
The news of the week in private markets and wealth management
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AGM News Roundup
š¦ Wealth Management
Hargreaves Lansdown opens up access to private markets through pensions | Emma Dunkley and Alexandra Heal | Financial Times | Hargreaves Lansdown, the UKās largest āDIYā investment platform with over Ā£155B in assets under administration across 2 million accounts, is partnering with Schroders Capital to offer two Long Term Asset Funds (LTAFs) with investment minimums as low as Ā£10,000.
BlackRock Says 24% of Retirement Plans Weigh Alternative Assets | Silla Brush | Bloomberg | A survey by BlackRock found that 24% of retirement plans are considering an allocation to private markets over the next year, with default target-date funds as the most likely type of product that plans would use to include alternative investments.
Private markets give banks an operational headache | John Schaffer | Citywire | Private banks are focused on figuring out operational challenges associated with private markets investing as they look to up their allocations to private markets.
Cerity Partners strikes deal for $4.5bn Albany RIA | Sam Bojarski | Citywire | Cerity Partners announced a merger with $4.5B RIA Graypoint.
Beacon Pointe reveals 3 RIA buys netting nearly $1.1bn | Sam Bojarski | Citywire | Private equity-backed RIA Beacon Pointe has made three acquisitions, $650M Alderfer Bergen & Co., $270M Moser Wealth Advisors, and $165M Amore Ambro.
āA huge conversationā: Manulife John Hancock CEO talks alts in 401(k)s | Andrew Foerch | Citywire | In an interview with Citywire at the Future Proof conference, Manulife John Hancock Investments President and Chief Executive Officer Kristie Feinberg said heightened longevity risk is necessitating āa huge conversationā at her firm and industrywide around the suitability of alternative assets in 401(k)s and other defined contribution retirement accounts.
š² Evergreen Funds
Franklin Templeton preps new strategies as first evergreen fund hits $1.2bn | Selin Bucak | Citywire | Franklin Templetonās first evergreen strategy, the Franklin Lexington PE Secondaries fund (Flex-I), has surpassed $875M of assets from investors outside the US, bringing the total capital to $2.7B with the inclusion of capital raised from US investors.
Top Envestnet gatekeepers talk evergreens in UMAs | Tania Mitra | Citywire | UMAs have become an increasingly popular tool amongst advisors to aid with asset allocation, projecting to reach $3.7T of assets according to a report by Cerulli Associates. Envestnetās Brooks Friederich and Ling-Wei Hew discuss Envestnetās approach to including evergreen funds in UMAs.
šø Private Equity
KKR Finance Chief Lewin Sees Private Equity Firm Consolidation | Allison McNeely | Bloomberg | KKRās CFO Robert Lewin said that the industry could āsee a fair bit of GP consolidation over the next five years ā¦ And that should inure to the bigger players, and certainly the players whoāve been able to deliver on behalf of their clients, and we feel well-positioned there.ā
Apolloās Zelter Predicts āWashoutā With Some PE Firms Dissolving | Erin Fuchs | Bloomberg | Apollo President Jim Zelter discussed the impact of a challenging fundraising cycle on private equity firms, saying at the Barclays Global Financial Services Conference that he doesnāt āexpect a massive monetization cycle to hit. I think thereās many, many PE funds that are out there that have raised their most recent fund and donāt realize itās their last fund.ā
Peak Number of Private Equity Firms Run Zombie Risk, Arctos Says | Preeti Singh and Dani Burger | Bloomberg | A record number of private equity firms will turn into so-called zombie funds this year, as they struggle to reel in new investor cash, according to Ian Charles, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Arctos Partners.
Veritas Capital closes $14.4B Fund IX amid promising IT exit scene | Janelle Bradley | PitchBook | Veritas Capital closed on $14.4B for its ninth flagship private equity fund, surpassing its hard cap and initial $13B target. This fund was a 35% step-up from its previous private equity flagship fund.
Permira and Blackstone bet on Dubai real estate with Property Finder Deal | Chloe Cornish | Financial Times | Private capital firms Permira and Blackstone are buying a $525M stake in a Middle Eastern real estate classifieds business Property Finder in a bet on Dubaiās real estate market. The firms are purchasing part of a stake from General Atlantic, valuing Property Finder at $2B.
š³ Private Credit
US public pension funds pare allocations to private credit | Sun Yu | Financial Times | US public pension plans are pulling back on allocations to private credit amid concerns about looser underwriting standards and rising credit risks. A FT analysis of public records finds 70 major US pension funds reported an 18% decline in allocation to private credit in the first six months of 2025 from a year earlier.
Kroll and StepStone Group Create Private-Credit Benchmarks Service | Isaac Taylor and Luis Garcia | WSJ | Financial and risk advisory firm Kroll and alternative asset manager StepStone Group have teamed up to create a set of private credit benchmarks, analyzing data from over 15,000 direct lending deals across the US and Europe dating back to 2012.
Apollo, Ares Provide $4 Billion Private Credit Deal to Leaf Home | Ellen Schneider | Bloomberg | Private equity owned residential services company Leaf Home brought in $1.9B in preferred equity from Ares and Apollo led a $2B debt package to help finance the acquisition and refinance Leaf Homeās capital structure.
Blackstone, Ares Provide $3.6 Billion for Park Place Buyout | Ellen Schneider and Paula Seligson | Bloomberg | Lenders including Blackstone and Ares are providing $3.6B of private credit to help finance Warburg Pincusā acquisition of data center services firm Park Place Technologies.
š Real Estate
First Internet Bancorp Agrees to Sell Nearly $1 Billion of Single Tenant Lease Financing Loans to Blackstone | Paula Deemer, Zach Weismiller and Claire Keyte | Blackstone | First Internet Bancorp, the parent company of First Internet Bank and Blackstone jointly announced today that First Internet Bancorp has entered into an agreement to sell up to $869 million of performing single tenant lease financing loans to vehicles affiliated with Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies (āBREDSā).
š„ Secondaries
iCapital to Add Marketplace for Trading Private Fund Stakes | Laura Benitez | Bloomberg | iCapital has made a strategic investment in financial technology firm Tangible Markets that will provide iCapital with the capabilities of a secondaries marketplace, enabling investors to buy and sell stakes in private funds. Trading on iCapitalās platform will take place through auctions, ranging from large blocks to smaller clips of closed-end and semi-liquid funds.
Capital concentration takes hold in secondary fundraising | Madeline Shi | PitchBook | Capital is concentrating with the largest secondaries managers, with the five largest funds capturing $51.6B (73%) of the $70.9B of capital raised by secondaries funds in the first half of 2025, according to PitchBook data. Ardian ($30B fund), ICG ($11B fund), Apollo, and Pantheon are amongst the firms that have raised funds in excess of $5B.
Commonfundās Cari Lodge to launch new secondary shop | Madeline Shi and Jessica Hamlin | PitchBook | The longtime head of Commonfundās secondaries business, Cari Lodge, is set to launch her own secondary investment firm in October. Lodge was responsible for raising Commonfundās first secondary fund and has since grown the platform to over $3B in AUM.
š ļø Infrastructure
Geopolitical Risk Prompts Rush Into Infrastructure, IFM Says | Leonard Kehnscherper | Bloomberg | A survey of 700 senior investment professionals by IFM Investors found that allocation to infrastructure is due to increase globally to 60% from 49% by 2030, driven by heightened geopolitical risk and macroeconomic volatility that are driving an increasing number of fund managers to infrastructure investments as they look for long-term bets that can help diversify and hedge against inflation. Net return expectations for infrastructure equity and debt are rising, with infrastructure equity expectations at 13.4% and infrastructure debt expectations at 9.6%.
Blackstone enters Eltif market with infrastructure effort | Selin Bucak | Citywire | Blackstone has launched its first European long-term investment fund (ELTIF) focused on infrastructure investments.
L&G Raises ā¬600 Million Data Center Fund in Private Markets Push | Leonard Kehnscherper | Bloomberg | Legal & General has raised ā¬600 million ($704 million) for a digital infrastructure fund, the latest move by the UKās largest asset manager to broaden its private-markets offerings. The fund is targeting a gross internal rate of return of 15% and will invest in assets such as data centers, fiber, wireless connectivity and cloud services, according to a statement Tuesday.
š„© GP Stakes
Baird Acquires Stake in Canadaās Sagard in Private Funds Push | Mathieu Dion | Bloomberg | R.W. Baird, which manages $525B in client assets, is buying a stake in Canadian alternative asset manager Sagard Holdings, becoming the firmās first US institutional shareholder and join Abu Dhabiās sovereign wealth fund and Bank of Montreal (BMO) as minority investors in Sagard. The deal will also include distribution of Sagard funds. āIf you think of megatrends in our industry, thereās consolidation, democratization and the adoption of technology. Baird basically allows us to have a distribution partnership in the US, in a market where shelf space is becoming harder and harder to access,ā Sagard Chief Executive Officer Paul Desmarais III said in an interview.
Samsung Life Set to Buy Stake in Private Credit Firm Hayfin | Silas Brown and Jan-Henrik Foerster | Bloomberg | Samsung Life Insurance has agreed to buy a stake in ā¬34 billion ($40 billion) European private credit firm Hayfin Capital Management, joining Mubadala and AXA IM Prime as minority shareholders following a management buyout from British Columbia Investment Management that Arctos Partners helped finance. Arctos is distributing some of its Hayfin stake to Samsung Life after previously doing the same for Mubadala and AXA IM Prime.
š¬ Private Markets Research
Global Private Market Fundraising Report | Nizar Tarhuni, Daniel Cook, Zane Carmean, Hilary Wiek, Juan Mier, Anikka Villegas, Garrett Hinds, Susan Hu, Navina Rajan, Kyle Walters, Sara Good, Megan Woodard and Josie Doan | PitchBook | Fundraising activity faced headwinds through Q2 2025, with private equity and venture capital experiencing challenging fundraising environments. Real assets, secondaries, and private credit fundraising continued to perform well.
US Private Credit Monitor | Marina Lukatsky and Jack Johnson | PitchBook | Private equity-backed lending volume is down 24% year-over-year as exits stall and sponsors increasingly turn to recapitalizations, while competition from the syndicated loan market drives tighter spreads and a rise in payment-in-kind (PIK) interest across BDC portfolios.
