AGM Alts & Wealth Weekly News Roundup | 6.26.26
The news of the week in private markets and wealth management
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AGM News Roundup
🏦 Wealth Management
Goldman expands EMEA alts wealth presence | Selin Bucak | Citywire | Goldman Sachs Asset Management is expanding its EMEA alternatives wealth presence, relocating a senior team member to Dubai and adding recent hires in Stockholm and Amsterdam as it builds out its team and product line-up.
Brookfield: Advisors Have Shifted from Education to Implementation on Alts | David Bodamer | Wealth Management | In a new global study of advisors commissioned by Brookfield, the study found that the number of North American advisors self-reporting “deep alts knowledge” nearly doubled to 34% from the previous survey (18%). “We are seeing a significant shift in how advisors approach alternatives,” John Sweeney, CEO of Brookfield’s private wealth business, said in a statement. “As familiarity with the asset class has grown, the conversation has evolved from understanding what alternatives are to understanding how they can be used within a portfolio to help achieve specific client objectives. That evolution is helping advisors build deeper expertise, integrate alternatives more thoughtfully into portfolios and ultimately deliver better outcomes for clients.”
Valence Launches Wealth Management Firm Built Around the Client, Not the Advisor | Business Wire | Valence announced the launch of a new operating model for wealth management built around proprietary AI-native technology.
RIA M&A up 11.1% YOY through May: MarshBerry | Faye Kilburn | Citywire | RIA M&A activity in the first five months of the year grew. M&A advisory firm MarshBerry recorded 160 deals announced by US wealth managers from the start of January to the end of May, including 40 deals revealed during May itself. This equates to an 11.1% increase from the 144 acquisitions announced from January through May of 2025, the firm wrote in a research note published last week.
🌲 Evergreen Funds
Semiliquid Funds Close In on $600 Billion as Investors Pile into Private Markets | Mallika Mitra | The Daily Upside | A new report from Morningstar found that the drivers of investor interest have shifted over the past year. “Last year when we were doing this, it was really a private credit story,” Jason Kephart, senior principal of multi-asset strategy ratings at Morningstar, said during the research firm’s investment conference last week. “But now we’re starting to see a lot more interest in private equity and venture capital.”
Gating the barbarians: Evergreen funds’ mainstream challenges | Jonathan Shapiro | AFR | AFR’s Jonathan Shapiro discusses what gating has meant for evergreen funds as the space looks to expand.
Partners Group to Pare Back Evergreen Funds, Chairman Says | Jan-Henrik Foerster | Bloomberg | Partners Group is considering reducing the size of its evergreen funds, while keeping its investment approach unchanged. The company’s Chairman, Steffen Meister, said that some individual funds have become too big and that the firm is looking at “right-sizing” them.
Sagard launches semi-liquid fund after Unigestion buy | Selin Bucak | Citywire | Sagard has launched an evergreen fund focused on secondaries and co-investments after acquiring Unigestion.
Why Lombard Odier avoids evergreen private markets funds | John Schaffer | Citywire | Lombard Odier's Daniel Matson explains why the firm avoids evergreen private markets funds, arguing they offer diminished alpha potential.
Exclusive: Blackstone readies global credit fund for European investors | Selin Buack | Citywire | Blackstone readies its global credit fund for European investors, which will be the firm’s second ELTIF.
🛠️ Private Markets Infrastructure
Is the Infrastructure Ready for Private Markets to Enter 401(k)s? | Frank Anduiza | Wealth Management | With DOL and SEC guidance slowly opening 401(k)s to private assets, the piece argues the binding constraint on retailization of the ~$12.5T US DC market is operational infrastructure, as 90%+ of institutional investors expect retail expansion to raise complexity and cost.
iCapital® and UMB Expand Blockchain-Enabled Network for Alternative Investments Through Distributed Ledger Technology Integration | Business Wire | iCapital announced an integrated partnership with UMB Fund Services, a subsidiary of UMB Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: UMBF) and a national leader in registered and alternative investment fund administration services, to further expand the deployment of its distributed ledger technology (DLT) into the operating layer of fund administration
Gridline Announces Strategic Integration With Hamilton Lane, Expanding Private Markets Benchmarking Capabilities | Business Wire | Gridline announced a strategic partnership and technology integration with Hamilton Lane.
💸 Private Equity
Bain Capital to buy majority stake in VW’s marine engine unit in €7.4bn deal | Aaron Kirchfeld, Ivan Levingston, Kana Inagaki | Financial Times | Bain Capital has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Volkswagen’s marine engine unit Everllence, in a move that brings an end to a hotly contested sale process by the German carmaker. Bain Capital beat out rival PE firms, including CVC and EQT.
EasyJet rejects £4.7bn takeover bid from Castlelake | Peter Campbell and Chris Johnston | Financial Times | EasyJet has rejected a third £4.7bn offer from Castlelake, prompting the US private credit group to go public with its bid.
EQT buys Berlin-based SpaceX satellite launch partner Exolaunch | Anousha Sakoui | Reuters | EQT is acquiring Berlin-based space company Exolaunch, which helps satellite companies launch into orbit by partnering with rocket operators, such as SpaceX.
Engines and Elevators Lift German Deals Past $140 Billion | Eyk Henning | Bloomberg | Germany is having one of its busiest years for M&A in decades, with almost $145B of deals involving German companies announced this year. There is potential for more significant M&A to come out of Germany, with companies such as Commerzbank AG, Uber Technologies Inc, and Deutsche Telekom AG involved in possible deals.
CVC Capital Partners Invests in Chess | CVC | CVC Fund IX has agreed to invest in Chess.com, the world’s largest online chess platform with over 250M members and 10M DAUs. CVC will join longstanding investor General Atlantic in the company.
Clearwater Analytics Completes $8.4 Billion Take-Private Acquisition by Permira and Warburg Pincus | Business Wire | Clearwater Analytics announced the completion of its previously announced acquisition, a transaction valued at $8.4B by Permira and Warburg Pincus-led investor group. The transaction was supported by Francisco Partners, with participation from Temasek.
Special sports x investing crossover
Blue Owl in Advanced Talks for Stake in Cleveland Cavaliers | Randall Williams and Sridhar Natarajan | Bloomberg | Blue Owl is in advanced talks to buy a minority stake in the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers through its Dyal HomeCourt Partners fund, which could see the Cavs valued at around $4.86B.
Novak Djokovic Joins General Atlantic in His Wall Street Debut | Sridhar Natarajan, Swetha Gopinath, Misha Manjuran Oberoi | Bloomberg | Novak Djokovic, a 24-time Grand Slam tennis champion, has joined General Atlantic as a global strategic advisor to work with the firm’s leadership, portfolio companies, and investors. GA plans to lean on Djokovic's connections to push further into the health and wellness sector, an area Djokovic cares deeply for.
Antoine Griezmann invests in $1.7B fintech unicorn Flatpay | Dealroom | Danish fintech Flatpay has announced that French footballer and Atletico Madrid player has invested in the $1.7B payments unicorn.
💳 Private Credit
Stonepeak Raises $2.5 Billion in Private Bonds Tied to LNG Plant | Emily Graffeo | Bloomberg | Stonepeak has sold around $2.5B of private bonds to refinance a loan related to its investment in a liquefied natural gas export terminal in Louisiana.
Europe’s private credit market splits as prized assets take the spoils | Francesca Ficai and Nishant Sharma | PitchBook | Europe’s private credit market has split into two markets that barely resemble each other, said advisors and fund managers at SuperReturn International.
Private Credit Stress Concentrates in Smaller Funds | Torsten Slok | Apollo | Private credit stress concentrates in smaller funds.
Apollo Caps Private Credit Fund After 17% Request to Exit | Laura Benitez and Olivia Fishlow | Bloomberg | Apollo is limiting withdrawal requests from its largest non-traded private credit fund, Apollo Debt Solutions. The fund capped withdrawals at 5% of outstanding shares after investors asked to redeem 16.8%.
Morgan Stanley Caps Private Credit Fund After 11.6% Exit Request | Olivia Fishlow | Bloomberg | A $7B private credit fund run by Morgan Stanley, North Haven Private Income Fund, is capping investor withdrawals at 5%, allowing less than half of the redemptions shareholders requested in the second quarter.
Ares Private Credit Fund Caps Redemptions After 14% Seek to Exit | Olivia Fishlow | Bloomberg | Ares Strategic Income Fund capped withdrawals at 5% after redemption requests rose to 14.4%.
Private Credit Arbitrage Trade Gets Momentum as Redemptions Rise | Preeti Singh and Olivia Fishlow | Bloomberg | Some advisors are encouraging clients to sell their investments in non-traded business development companies and buy similar listed vehicles at a discounted price.
🏠 Real Estate
Prologis Makes a £12.6 Billion Bid for UK Landlord Segro | Jack Sidders and Natasha Voase | Bloomberg | Prologis made a £12.6B offer to acquire Segro Plc, but Segro rebuffed the approach.
Invesco Commercial Real Estate Finance Trust, Inc. Announces Close of $1.2 Billion Commercial Real Estate CLO | PR Newswire | Invesco Commercial Real Estate Finance Trust, a perpetual REIT focused on private credit secured by real estate, announced it closed a $1.2B managed commercial real estate CLO.
Private real estate credit is rewriting the hotel redevelopment playbook | Randy Plavajka | PERE Credit | Persistent demand among real estate investors and lenders for allocating toward the most future-proof spaces is driving a redevelopment opportunity set for private real estate credit managers beyond office-to-residential conversion efforts.
🥈 Secondaries
Pantheon's infra secondaries surpasses target as fund sizes build | Madeleine Farman | Secondaries Investor | Both Pantheon's and Ardian's latest flagships rank among the largest infra secondaries funds ahead of formal final closes.
Most LPs don't expect CV activity to decline when exits improve | Hannah Zhang | Secondaries Investor | Less than a third of LPs expect CV activity to decrease, while 60% expect PE and PC to see the strongest proportional growth over the next three years.
INVL Family Office Introduces a Fund Investing in the Rapidly Growing Private Equity Secondary Market | Globe Newswire | INVL Family Office, one of the largest multi-family offices in the Baltic states, is adding a new Global PE Secondaries Access Fund. The fund’s assets will be allocated to a dedicated secondary platform managed by Adams Street Partners.
🛠️ Infrastructure
Blackstone Plans $30 Billion Investment in Japan AI Data Centers | Reuters | Blackstone is planning to invest $30B in Japan's AI data centers over the next three to five years, with plans to develop facilities exceeding a gigawatt in the country.
MGX's $50 Billion Raise Sets Up One of the Biggest AI Funds Ever | Dinesh Nair | Bloomberg | Abu Dhabi’s MGX has raised close to $50 billion from regional and global investors to accelerate spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure and technology. MGX plans to spend as much as $10 billion annually over the next few years to reach a target of more than $100 billion in assets under management.
Conifer Infrastructure’s first fund closes on $900m hard-cap | Justin McGown | Infrastructure Investor | Conifer Infrastructure’s first fund closes on $900M hard cap. The fund has already deployed $190M across several platforms focused on hydroelectric, biogas, and helium opportunities.
BlackRock-Backed AIP, KKR Said to Court Stack Asia Data Centers | Manuel Baigorri, Elffie Chew, Pei Li | Bloomberg | The Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership and Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. are among possible bidders for Stack Infrastructure Inc.’s data centers in the Asia-Pacific region. Other potential suitors include IFM Investors, KKR & Co. and DigitalBridge Group Inc., with considerations being preliminary and no final decision made.
Amazon Pledges Additional $13 Billion in India AI Outlays | Sankalp Phartiyal | Bloomberg | Amazon.com Inc. added $13 billion to its planned India investments to accelerate its buildout of artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure.
🥩 GP Stakes
Australia's Drummond Capital Partners Secures Investment from Kudu Investment Management | PR Newswire | Kudu Investment Management, a leading provider of permanent capital solutions to asset and wealth management firms globally, and Drummond Capital Partners, an Australian boutique manager specializing in institutional quality, active managed accounts, announced that Kudu has made a minority investment in Drummond.
Banner Capital Announces Strategic Partnership with GCM Grosvenor | GCM Grosvenor | Banner Capital, a lower middle market private equity firm focused on commercial and essential services companies, announced a strategic partnership with GCM Grosvenor.
Jump Trading Buys Stake in Multistrat Digital Hedge Fund Nickel | Nishant Kumar and Liza Tetley | Bloomberg | Jump Trading has bought a minority stake in Nickel Digital Asset Management, a multistrategy hedge fund that specializes in digital assets trading.
🔬 Private Markets Research
The Institutionalization of Sports: How Family Offices and Institutional Capital Are Reshaping Team and League Ownership | Dakota | The NFL, MLB, NBA, and English Premier League collectively represent approximately $514.1B in franchise value across 112 teams, making professional sports one of the largest and most valuable segments of the global alternatives universe.
US Private Equity Outlook: Midyear Update | Jinny Choi and Kyle Walters | PitchBook | Private equity expectations were derailed by a new set of macroeconomic headwinds, renewed tariff uncertainty, AI-driven disruption fears in the software sector, and the ongoing conflict in Iran, which introduced fresh uncertainty for the asset class.
EMEA Private Capital Outlook: Midyear Update | Nalin Patel, Navina Rajan and Nicolas Moura | PitchBook | EMEA private capital markets are navigating a turbulent 2026, shaped by the escalating Iran war, volatile energy prices, and a funding frenzy in AI.
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The roundup works because it compresses a noisy market into something actually usable. In a week like this, curation is the value. The real edge is not just reading the news, but understanding which signals deserve attention and which are just motion.