AGM Alts & Wealth Weekly News Roundup | 9.26.25
The news of the week in private markets and wealth management
👋 Hi, I’m Michael.
Welcome to AGM, the meeting place for private markets.
Every Friday, I share headlines and news on the continuing evolution and innovation in private markets.
If you also want deep and nuanced industry analysis, subscribe below so you can have the long read and newsletter — the AGM Alts Weekly — delivered to your inbox every Sunday.
Some testimonials about the AGM Sunday Alts Weekly newsletter include:
"Alt Goes Mainstream is category of one." Global Head of Marketing & Communications, $X00B AUM alternative asset manager.
“When it comes to the intersection of alternative investments and wealth management, Michael just gets it.” CIO, $18B AUM RIA.
“This is our primary resource for learning and reading about alts.” Head of Marketing, $250B AUM alternative asset manager.
“If you want timely and informative insights on everything private markets, Michael Sidgmore and Alt Goes Mainstream weekly update and podcast are fantastic resources.” CIO, $47B AUM RIA.
“The only email I never delete when clearing my inbox.” Senior distribution professional, $330B+ AUM asset manager.
If you have relevant news or an article or research report to share, please email me at michael@theagmcollective.com.
AGM News Roundup
🏦 Wealth Management
Do private assets belong in 401(k) plans? | Vanguard | Vanguard discusses whether or not it makes sense to include private assets in 401(k) plans.
EQT eyes private wealth partnership in the US | Tania Mitra | Citywire | In an interview with Citywire’s Tania Mitra, EQT Partner and Head of Private Wealth Americas discusses expansion of its US wealth footprint and potential partnerships.
Amundi Sees Private, Public Markets Converge in Retail Cash Race | Kat Hidalgo, Francesca Veronesi, Kriti Gupta | Bloomberg | Speaking at IPEM’s conference in Paris, Amundi CEO Valerie Baudson said that the private wealth channel will be an opportunity for the next few years and KKR Co-Head of European Private Equity Philipp Freise said opening up access to individual investors will be a key theme for the next decade.
Schwab CEO eyes move to trade unlisted companies’ stock | William Johnson | Citywire | Schwab CEO Rick Wurster discussed potentially offering private market investments to a greater set of investors in the wealth channel.
Clearstream adds BlackRock private markets funds to platform | John Schaffer | Citywire | Fund services provider Clearstream has added private markets funds from BlackRock to its platform, which will see BlackRock leverage Clearstream’s distribution infrastructure to process funds at scale.
🌲 Evergreen Funds
Private equity groups warn of mis-selling as sector opens up to individual investors | Alexandra Heal and Emma Dunkley | Financial Times | Increasing popularity of private markets products raises questions over whether advisors adequately explain liquidity considerations with evergreen products.
Apollo launches three evergreen ELTIFs to broaden private markets access | Andrea Gaini | PitchBook | Apollo received regulatory approval to launch three European long-term investment funds (ELTIFs), including Apollo Private Credit ELTIF (senior secured debt), Apollo Global Diversified Credit ELTIF (company loans and asset-backed financing), and Apollo Global Private Markets ELTIF (secondaries and co-investments).
Deutsche Bank Heats Up Private Markets Race for Europe’s Rich | Benjamin Stupples and Arno Schuetze | Bloomberg | Deutsche Bank is ramping up its private markets capabilities, offering a private markets fund for HNW clients in Europe in collaboration with DWS Group and Partners Group. Deutsche Bank is recommending that wealthy clients allocate as much as 24% of their portfolios to private markets.
💸 Private Equity
Sagard, Unigestion combine PE operations to form $23B platform | Emily Lai | PitchBook | Sagard is merging its PE unit with Unigestion’s PE unit to form a $23B mid-market private equity platform across PE primaries, secondaries, and co-investment strategies.
Private Equity Leans on Weaker Credit Safeguards, Moody’s Says | Rachel Graf | Bloomberg | Loans with stronger financial safeguards have largely disappeared from credit markets as borrowers backed by private equity drive a surge of more covenant-lite loans.
💳 Private Credit
Wall Street Beats Private Credit on $20 Billion of M&A Debt | Claire Ruckin and Aaron Weinman | Bloomberg | Wall Street banks are working on $20B of bonds and loans to finance buyouts.
Blackstone, Apollo and Others Sell Bonds Backed by Private Credit at Fastest Pace Ever | Rene Ismail, Scott Carpenter, Charles E Williams | Bloomberg | CLOs, bonds backed by private credit loans, are being sold at the fastest pace on record by firms such as Blackstone, Apollo, Golub, with about $30B of private credit CLOs sold in 2025.
Private credit faces steep PIK maturity wall – BofA Global Research | Zach Miller | PitchBook | Research from Bank of America finds that around 30% of private credit loans with a PIK component are coming due in the next two years.
🏠 Real Estate
Blackstone to Lend £2 Billion to Small Developers in Europe | Damian Shepherd | Bloomberg | Blackstone’s real estate debt business has agreed to a tie-up with Pluto Finance to lend £2 billion over two years to small and medium sized developers and property investors in Europe, targeting primarily the logistics and living sectors.
Sector Allocations Split Between Private and Listed Real Estate | Valerija I. | CRE Daily | NAREIT finds that 90% of ODCE fund allocations in private real estate are focused on core sectors, like office, retail, industrial, and apartments while REIT managers have diversified, shifting into sectors such as telecommunications.
🥈 Secondaries
Demand for infrastructure secondaries leads to meaningful growth | Silas Sloan | Secondaries Investor | Infrastructure secondaries have seen significant growth and are projected to reach $35B by year-end 2025 — an increase of roughly 50% from 2024.
Former Blackstone dealmaker to hit the fundraising trail for debut secondary fund | Madeline Shi | PitchBook | Former Senior MD in Blackstone’s PE business, Bruce McEvoy, has founded NorthSands Capital to focus on single-asset continuation vehicles.
🛠️ Infrastructure
Qatar sovereign wealth fund anchors Blue Owl’s $3B data center platform | Jessica Hamlin | PitchBook | Qatar Investment Authority has partnered with Blue Owl to launch a digital infrastructure platform with more than $3B of data center assets.
Brookfield, Macquarie See Power Demand Spurring Infra Bets | Matthew Griffin, Georgie McKay and Carmen Arroyo | Bloomberg | At a panel at Bloomberg Global Philanthropies Forum, the heads of Macquarie and Brookfield Asset Management said that demand for power across the globe is opening up opportunities for infrastructure investing.
I Squared Capital Launches ISQ OpenInfra: Bringing Institutional Infrastructure to Private Wealth | Business Wire | I Squared Capital, an independent global infrastructure investment manager announced the launch of ISQ OpenInfra, a platform designed to bring institutional quality infrastructure investments to the private wealth market.
🥩 GP Stakes
Goldman Sachs’ Petershill to delist from London stock market | Costas Mourselas and Philip Stafford | Financial Times | Petershill Partners will delist its publicly traded vehicle from the London Stock Exchange.
Willow Tree and Hunter Point Capital Strike GP Financing Partnership | Hunter Point Capital | Willow Tree Credit Partners, a $5B private credit manager, received an investment from Hunter Point Capital.
🔬 Private Markets Research
Global Wealth Investment Playbook | KKR | KKR’s Global Wealth Investment Playbook discusses the new investment regime, with likely increases to the illiquidity premium.
Global Private Debt Report | Nizar Tarhuni, Marina Lukatsky, Garrett Hinds, Jinny Choi, Kyle Walters, Harrison Waldock, Josie Doan | PitchBook | Global private debt fundraising on the institutional side is pacing for another strong year, likely to surpass $200 billion in capital raised for the seventh consecutive year.
