AGM Alts & Wealth Weekly News Roundup | 1.30.26

The news of the week in private markets and wealth management

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AGM News Roundup

🏦 Wealth Management

BlackRock, Partners Group Debut Private-Asset Account for Wealth | Silla Brush and Allison McNeely | Bloomberg | BlackRock and Partners Group launched a private markets investment SMA product through Morgan Stanley’s wealth platform that combines a mix of private equity, private credit, and real asset funds through a single account.

Blackstone wealth channel exceeds $300bn with BREIT on path to recovery | John Schaffer | Citywire | Blackstone said in its annual earnings call that the firm’s private wealth assets are now in excess of $300B. COO Jon Gray said that AUM grew 16% in 2025 and that overall assets in private wealth tripled over the past five years.

TPG hires Asia private wealth head from Blue Owl | Citywire | TPG has hired Blue Owl executive Eugene Lim to be the firm’s Asia Private Wealth Head. Lim previously grew Blue Owl’s APAC wealth business as its first regional hire.

Private equity trusts are staging a comeback | Holly McKechnie | Investors’ Chronicle | For the balance of the past few years, listed private equity trusts in the UK faced headwinds due to a dealmaking drought, but an uptick in share prices at the end of 2025 and into 2026 has led to more optimism in the sector.

🌲 Evergreen Funds

Citi taps Blackstone and KKR in private wealth push | Aysha Gilmore | Alternative Credit Investor | Citi Singapore and Citi Hong Kong have partnered with Blackstone, Blue Owl, and KKR to increase its capabilities across strategies to launch evergreen funds for its HNW clients in Asia and the Middle East.

🛠️ Private Markets Infrastructure

Clearstream and Hamilton Lane Partner to Broaden Access to Private Markets | Kirsty Le Borgne | Clearstream | Clearstream, the post-trade services provider of Deutsche Börse Group, is collaborating with Hamilton Lane, bringing HL’s European evergreen fund offering to Clearstream’s integrated fund distribution platform.

The Private Markets AI Playbook: Why Smart Firms Prioritize Intelligence Over Integration | 73 Strings | AI is reshaping private markets, but not all AI creates meaningful advantage, writes 73 Strings. They share a whitepaper that explores why private markets requires fundamentally different AI approaches than public markets.

💸 Private Equity

Carlyle Group Agrees to Buy Most of Lukoil’s Foreign Assets | Bloomberg News | Russia’s Lukoil PJSC agreed to sell most of its international assets to alternative asset manager Carlyle, three months after being hit by US sanctions.

Ten Tests of a World-Class Private Equity Value Creation Plan | John Kelleher | CVC | Global Head of the CVC Operating Team John Kelleher unpacks how great value creation plans can help to drive outcomes and returns for private equity firms. In a more challenging investment environment, firms that can drive real value creation results will outperform.

CVC announces Global Sport Group’s first new league investment with the acquisition of Equine Network | CVC | CVC announced the acquisition of a controlling stake in Equine Network, the largest for-profit equestrian-based sports league in the US. CVC’s Global Sport Group now holds stakes in eight unique leagues and competitions, including La Liga, Ligue 1, Women’s Tennis Association (“WTA”), Volleyball World, and three rugby competitions, Six Nations Rugby, Premiership Rugby and United Rugby Championship.

Permira Starts Neuraxpharm Sale, Lenders Prep €1.5 Billion Debt | Claire Ruckin and Eyk Henning | Bloomberg | Permira has kicked off the sale of German pharmaceutical company Neuraxpharm, with lenders readying debt financing of as much as €1.5B for potential bidders. Permira is looking to raise around €3B to €4B from the sale.

Bain, Blackstone Among Suitors for UK Vitamin Maker Vitabiotics | Vinicy Chan, Ruth David, Swetha Gopinath | Bloomberg | Bain Capital, Blackstone, EQT, and TPG are among the private equity firms in the next round of bidding for Vitabiotics, the UK vitamin company led by ex-Dragon’s Den investor Tej Lalvani. The business could be valued at about £900M ($1.2B) in a deal.

💳 Private Credit

CVC to Buy US Credit Manager Marathon in $1.2 Billion Deal | Leonard Kehnscherper, Swetha Gopinath and Silas Brown | Bloomberg | CVC bought Marathon Asset Management for a base consideration valued at as much as $1.2B ($400M in cash, and as much as $800M in CVC equity). In a research note, Citigroup analysts said the Marathon deal allows CVC “to fill the white space that is US credit (particularly in a very fast-growing US asset-backed market) and should allow it to accelerate growth in its two growth priorities: private wealth and insurance.”

CVC deal brings American-style alternative investing to Europe | Sujeet Indap | Financial Times | FT’s Lex Opinion columnist Sujeet Indap discusses how CVC’s acquisition of Marathon Asset Management expands the firm’s credit ambitions, with CVC projecting its credit franchise to grow to over €200B by 2028.

Franklin Templeton Folds Alcentra Into Benefit Street Partners | Silas Brown | Bloomberg | Franklin Templeton is folding its European private credit unit, Alcentra, into its US counterpart Benefit Street Partners. The combined businesses will oversee around $86B in assets and operate under the Benefit Street Partners title.

Ares Leads $1.6 Billion Debt Financing to Support Suave Brands and Elida Beauty Merger to Create Evermark | Businesswire | Ares led a $1.6B debt financing to support the Suave Brands and Elida Beauty merger, which will create Evermark, a leading global platform of iconic personal care brands.

🏠 Real Estate

ABP plans additional partnerships to meet €5B Dutch housing goal | Charlotte D’Souza | PERE | Dutch pension fund ABP has committed a further €500M to its mandate with CBRE IM to build affordable homes in its domestic market.

StepStone Real Estate Adds Veteran Investor Jennifer Jones as Partner; Announces Launch of S-Core to Expand its Core/Core+ Real Estate Investment Offerings | StepStone | StepStone Real Estate added Jennifer Jones to its team as a Partner to help launch S-Core, a platform that will increase StepStone Real Estate’s Core/Core+ real estate activities. Jones spent nearly two decades at UBS, where she led over $20B in transactions.

Santander Mulls a Property Development Fund in Real Estate Push | Jorge Zuloaga and Macarena Munoz Montijano | Bloomberg | Banco Santander is preparing a new fund to invest in property development in Iberia, with a goal of raising €200M.

Apollo Commercial REIT Sells $9 Billion Book to Insurance Arm | Patrick Clark | Bloomberg | Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance is selling its loan book to Athene for a purchase price based on 99.7% of loan commitments. The transaction is expected to leave the REIT with around $1.4B of net cash, which may be used to pursue new commercial real estate strategies.

🥈 Secondaries

Most LPs choose liquidity over rolling into continuation funds - report | Hannah Zhang | Secondaries Investor | Many LPs choose liquidity over rolling into continuation vehicles, according to Coller Capital’s latest investor survey.

Big-ticket secondaries deals surged in 2025 - Jefferies | Hannah Zhang | Secondaries Investor | GP-led buyers are ‘embracing concentration and speaking for larger portions of transactions than ever before,’ according to Jefferies Global Co-Head of Secondary Advisory Scott Beckelman.

EQT unveils continuation fund for EdgeConnex | Zak Bentley | Secondaries Investor | EQT has set up an open-ended continuation fund to support its data center platform, EdgeConnex. According to data from New York City Employees’ Retirement System, which co-invested in the asset, EdgeConnex has produced a 35.5% net IRR and a 3.3x net TVPI, as of the end of September 2025.

PGIM Targets $1B Private Credit Secondaries Push | Joe Palmisano | Connect Money | PGIM plans to deploy up to $1B over the next two years across GP-led and LP-led credit secondaries transactions in the US and European middle market.

🛠️ Infrastructure

Private Markets Raise $230 Billion for Energy Transition | Olivia Raimonde | Bloomberg | According to Bloomberg NEF, private markets has raised almost $230B for energy transition funds over the past decade. BNEF noted that $92B of that capital remains undeployed estimates annual spending of $5.2T is required through the end of the decade for the global economy to stay on track for a net zero scenario.

LGPS Central expands its infrastructure co-investment strategy | Jonathan Stapleton | Professional Pensions | LGPS Central has expanded its infrastructure co-investment strategy with an investment in Low Carbon, a vertically integrated renewables power producer operating across the full development lifecycle. LGPS has partnered with CVC DIF to co-invest in Low Carbon.

CMA CGM and Stonepeak Announce Groundbreaking Terminal Joint Venture, UNITED PORTS LLC | Stonepeak | The CMA CGM Group, a global player in sea, land, air, and logistics solutions, and Stonepeak announced an agreement to launch UNITED PORTS LLC, a joint venture to acquire 10 of the major CMA CGM-operated port terminals worldwide. The JV is backed by a $2.4B investment from Stonepeak for a 25% minority stake.

🥩 GP Stakes

Blackstone Makes Over $400 Million Gain on Marathon Sale to CVC | Swetha Gopinath | Bloomberg | CVC’s $1.2B acquisition of credit firm Marathon Asset Management has resulted in a windfall for Blackstone’s GP stakes business, generating over 3x MOIC and a gain of over $400M from its 2016 investment in Marathon.

P10 and Bonaccord Capital Partners Team with CAIS to Expand Wealth Channel Access to GP Stakes Solutions | Business Insider | P10, the owner of GP stakes firm Bonaccord, announced a collaboration with CAIS to offer Bonaccord’s funds to advisors on the CAIS platform.

🔬 Private Markets Research

Hamilton Lane 2026 Global Private Wealth Survey | Tia Wilson | Hamilton Lane | Hamilton Lane surveyed 390 advisors about their preferences on private markets, finding that 86% of private wealth professionals plan to increase private markets investments this year. Portfolio optimization is the top motivator for allocating to private markets. Currently, 97% of private wealth professionals surveyed allocate between 1–20% of their book of business to private markets, and the majority expect those allocations to grow in 2026.

UK Market Snapshot | Navina Rajan | PitchBook | UK private markets rebounded to close on a high note in 2025 as the region saw a wave of private equity megadeals, a revival of the IPO pipeline, and renewed investor confidence.

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