AGM Alts & Wealth Weekly News Roundup | 2.20.26
The news of the week in private markets and wealth management
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AGM News Roundup
š¦ Wealth Management
Warburg Pincus to lead $1bn investment in Cerity Partners at $8.5bn valuation: Sources | Ian Wenik | Citywire | Warburg Pincus has agreed to lead a $1B investment into Cerity Partners at an $8.5B valuation, representing a 24x EBITDA multiple. Cerity Partnersā management team is planning on buying an additional $500M in equity, making management and employees the largest group of shareholders.
Unfazed By Fears Over AI Job Cuts, Blackstone Is Building A 450-Person Private-Wealth Army As It Eyes $1 Trillion | Sergei Klebnikov | Forbes | Blackstone plans to expand its global private wealth team to over 450 team members by the end of 2026, increasing headcount from 325 today as it accelerates product launches, builds new regional offices in the US, and expands its reach into the wealth channel.
The 401(k) Takeover: Private Equity Muscles In on Retirement | Loukia Gyftopoulou | Bloomberg | Alternative asset managers are making a major push into the retirement channel.
š² Evergreen Funds
What the Heck Is an Evergreen Fund? | Amey Stone | Barronās | Barronās goes into detail about the different types of evergreen funds that are becoming an increasingly popular way for the wealth channel to access private markets investment opportunities.
š ļø Private Markets Infrastructure
Vestwell Raises $385M Series E, Doubles Valuation to $2B | Davis Janowski | Wealth Management | Workplace / 401(k) savings platform Vestwell raised $385M in Series E funding led by Blue Owl Capital and Sixth Street Growth. Neuberger Berman, SLW, Morgan Stanley, Franklin Templeton, TIAA Ventures, and HarbourVest also participated in this round. This round brings total capital raised to $660M and doubles the valuation to $2B for the platform that has 2M active savers, $50M in assets on platform, and $200M in annual recurring revenue.
Monark Raises $8.1M in Strategic Funding Round to Build Standard Rails for Private Markets | Yahoo! Finance | Monark Markets, an API infrastructure company connecting brokerage firms and wealth platforms to private markets investment opportunities, raised $8.1M in financing led by F-Prime with participation from The Treasury, Commerce Ventures, Grit Capital Partners, and BBAE Holdings.
šø Private Equity
Veritas Capital Raises $15.3 Billion Across Fund IX Strategy Amid Private Equity Slowdown and Advances Deployment Across Flagship and Vantage Strategies | Veritas Capital | Veritas Capital raised $15.3B for its latest Fund IX, a 40% increase from its prior Fund VIII. Veritas has ranked among the top ten private equity firms globally in the HEC-Dow Jones Large Buyout Performance Ranking for four consecutive years and is one of only three private equity firms out of over 695 measured to achieve this distinction during that period.
NFL Hall of Famer Steve Youngās HGGC Raises New $3.2 Billion Fund, Beating Target | Jason Kelly | Bloomberg | HGGC, the private equity firm co-founded by NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young and Rich Lawson that manages over $10B, raised $3.2B for its fifth fund. The fundraise surpassed the firmās initial target of $2.5B and hard cap of $2.8B [you can watch or listen to Steveās podcast on Alt Goes Mainstream here].
Josh Kushnerās Thrive Capital Raises $10 Billion in New Funding | Caroline Hyde | Bloomberg | Thrive Capital, the venture capital firm founded by Josh Kushner, has raised over $10B in a heavily oversubscribed fundraise. The firmās 10th fund is double the size of its last fund. The firm has invested in OpenAI, Stripe, SpaceX, Databricks, Anduril, and Cursor, amongst others.
TA Associates pursuing sale of $377bn Russell Investments: Sources | Ian Wenik | Citywire | Private equity firm TA Associates is pursuing a sale of its controlling stake in portfolio company Russell Investments
Blackstone, EQT and CVC make offers for VWās Everllence unit | Ivan Levingston, Alexandra Heal, Sebastien Ash | Financial Times | Volkswagen has attracted bids from top private equity funds including Blackstone, EQT, and CVC for its Everllence division. Everllence, which produces shipping engines and heat pumps, is being valued between ā¬5B and ā¬6B by prospective buyers.
CFC Owners Said to Tap Banks for Sale, IPO of Ā£5 Billion Insurer | Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro, Leonard Kehnscherper, Swetha Gopinath | Bloomberg | Private equity firms EQT And Vitruvian Partners are exploring exit options for cyber insurer CFC. A deal could value the company around Ā£5B.
Andreessen Horowitz Backs Unicorn Kavak in $300 Million Round | Michael OāBoyle | Bloomberg | Mexico-based online used car dealer raised $300M in an equity round led by Andreessen Horowitz and participation from WCM Investment Management.
š³ Private Credit
Blue Owl Halts Redemptions on Private Credit Retail Fund | Olivia Fishlow and Silas Brown | Bloomberg | Blue Owl said that investors will no longer be able to redeem shares from Blue Owl Capital Corp II (OBDC II) on a quarterly basis. Instead, the fund will return capital through periodic distributions funded by loan repayments, asset sales, or other transactions. Blue Owl said on Wednesday it had sold around $1.4B in direct lending investments across three funds, Blue Owl Capital Corp II, Blue Owl Capital Corporation, and Blue Owl Technology Income Corp. to buyers that included North American public pension funds and insurance companies.
Blue Owl says it is not halting investor liquidity in private debt funds | Reuters | Blue Owl said on Thursday that it was ānot halting investor liquidity inā non-traded BDC fund Blue Owl Capital Corp II. The firm said it would return 30% of the net asset value of the fund to investors and stop quarterly redemptions.
Fortressā Latest Private Debt Fund Seeks to Lure Insurance Firms | Esteban Duarte | Bloomberg | Fortress Investment Group is adding an unleveraged sleeve to its Fortress Lending Fund V to attract insurance companies and European institutional investors as it invests in direct corporate loans. Fortress, which is backed by a consortium of investors, including Mubadala, has its sights set on doubling AUM to $100B by 2029.
BNP Alternatives AM Unit Capza Raises ā¬1.4 Billion For Fund | Claudia Cohen | Bloomberg | Capza, which is owned by BNP Paribas, has raised ā¬1.4B for a new private credit fund that will provide uni-tranche loans and subordinated debt to SMEs across several European countries. BNPās alternative credit head Christophe Fritsch said that there is āmore appetite from international investors to invest into European direct lending and European private credit,ā Fritsch said, highlighting interest from Japan, Korea, Canada, and the Middle East. The āgeopolitical contextā probably plays a role in that, he noted.
Ares Management Prices European Direct Lending CLO II at Over ā¬300 Million | Ares | Ares announced the pricing of its second European Direct Lending CLO at over $300M. EDL CLO II is a diversified CLO comprised entirely of directly originated and actively managed loans issued by over 70 middle-market companies predominantly based in Western Europe and primarily operating in resilient industries. The instrument is weighted toward senior-secured floating rate loans and will be rated by S&P and KBRA. Ares believes EDL CLO II is among the first multi-currency middle-market CLOs in Europe.
š Real Estate
Real Estate: The Brightening Case for GP-Focused Solutions in 2026 | David K. Haltiner, Scott Koenig, Jose A. Pluto, Steve S. Shigekawa | Neuberger Berman | Neuberger Berman sees increasing evidence that the real estate sector may create potentially attractive opportunities across public and private markets in 2026.
Miamiās Waldorf Developer Pitches Second 1,000-Foot Skyscraper | Anna J Kaiser | Bloomberg | Property Markets Group, the real estate developer building a 1,049 foot-tall Waldorf Astoria-branded condo tower in Miami, is now proposing a second towering 985-foot skyscraper down the block.
Blackstone-backed Ā£850 million social housing assets join CMBS rebound | Paul Norman | CoStar | A Blackstone-backed transaction collateralized by Ā£850M of social housing assets in the UK has become the fourth European commercial mortgage backed securitization to launch in 2026.
š„ Secondaries
London Private Equity Firm Hollyport Hires Evercore to Explore Sale | Leonard Kehnscherper, Preeti Singh and Swetha Gopinath | Bloomberg | Hollyport Capital, the secondaries firm with $9B AUM across 9 funds, is exploring a potential sale that could see the firm valued at around $1B.
M&G and CVC agree landmark $1.1 billion private equity transaction | CVC | M&G Investments announced the expansion of its private equity platform with the completion of a landmark $1.1B managed fund secondary transaction in a new strategic partnership with CVC Secondary Partners. CVC has committed $1.1B to M&Gās 2025 PE Secondary Fund to acquire a portfolio of private equity interests, primarily in mature North American mid-market buyout funds, and to make future co-investments alongside these managers.
Secondaries Boom Fuels Hiring Scramble and $1 Million Sign-on Bonuses | Isaac Taylor | WSJ | Private markets firms are paying up to expand capital formation teams focused on secondaries. Senior hires can make signing bonuses of over $1M from asset managers building out their private equity and credit secondary capabilities.
š ļø Infrastructure
Blackstone Leads Funding of Over $1 Billion to Neysa to Work Towards Building Indiaās Leading AI Infrastructure Platform | Blackstone | Neysa, a designer and developer of cost-effective GPU-based AI infrastructure that is deployed in India, announced that Blackstone is investing in the company. Blackstone and co-investors have provided equity capital of up to $600M and the company will secure an additional $600M of debt financing.
Private Equity Targets Clean Energy After Steep Drop-Off in 2025 | Coco Liu and Brian Kahn | Bloomberg | US clean energy dealmaking is showing signs of a comeback. BlackRockās GIP is teaming up with EQT to acquire AES Corp. The majority of AESās power generation comes from renewable energy. KKR and Energy Impact Partners are among the other firms evaluating possible purchases.
TPG Peppertree and Telecom Infrastructure Industry Veteran Bernard Borghei Announce Billion Dollar Investment Partnership | TPG | TPG Peppertree announced it has committed up to $1B of investment in Connected Infra Group, led by industry veteran Bernard Borghei. Connected Infra Group is an owner, operator, and manager of telecommunications real estate assets such as towers and other similar infrastructure assets across the US.
š„© GP Stakes
Wisconsinās SWIB Deploys $1.7B Across Credit, PE, Real Estate | Joe Palmisano | Connect Money | The State of Wisconsin Investment Board has deployed more than $1.7B across credit, private equity, and real estate in January, including GP Stakes. SWIB allocated $100M to Blackstoneās GP Stakes Fund III and $50M into GP Stakes III-W.
š¬ Private Markets Research
CVC Credit Perspectives ā Q4 2025 | CVC | CVC shares trends and perspectives on the liquid and private credit market, noting that thereās been credit market resilience and that private credit is both embedded and enduring.
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