AGM Alts & Wealth Weekly News Roundup | 5.29.26
The news of the week in private markets and wealth management
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AGM News Roundup
đŚ Wealth Management
FTSE Russell: Affluent Investors Rely on Advisors for Private Market Investments | Elaine Misonzhnik | Wealth Management | A FTSE Russell survey finds 77% of affluent investors use financial advisors for alternative investments. Another 89% of investors who work with an advisor said they would allocate to private markets if their advisor strongly recommended it. Of note, 30% of survey respondents said they havenât had in-depth discussions with their advisor, even though they are interested in private markets.
$40bn Prime Capital Financial pursuing new investor: Sources | Ian Wenik | Citywire | $40B AUM Kansas RIA Prime Capital Financial, which is backed by Abry Partners, is in early-stage conversations with potential investors.
Exclusive: $14bn Modern Wealth Management exploring recapitalization | Ian Wenik | Citywire | Modern Wealth Management, which is backed by Crestview Partners, is exploring a recapitalization. The company started in 2023 with a $200M funding commitment from Crestview Partners.
BaFin grants license: Moonfare becomes an independent investment firm | Moonfare | Moonfare has received a BaFin license in Germany, enabling the company to manage client portfolios directly and develop its products and services without relying on a third-party umbrella.
Opto closes $40m AI-focused venture fund | Alec Rich | Citywire | Alternative investing platform Opto Investments announced the close of its $40 venture fund that includes both direct and co-investments as well as fund investments. Notable investments include participation in xAIâs $6B Series B round in 2024 and Higgsfield's Series A round.
SEI Appoints Nathan Shetty as Chief Investment Officer | SEI | SEI appointed Nathan Shetty as CIO. Shetty was previously a Senior Managing Director and Head of Multi-Asset at Nuveen Asset Management.
đ˛ Evergreen Funds
Private credit faultlines exposed by wealth channel inflows | Elliot Smither | PWM Net | Oldenberg Capital Partnersâ Patrice Mesnier said that âprivate credit markets themselves are behaving exactly as might be expected. It is investorsâ expectations of them that do not necessarily match reality.â
đ ď¸ Private Markets Infrastructure
Hamilton Lane Launches Tokenized GPA Share Class with Allfunds Blockchain and Apex Group; BBVA Asset Management Joins as First Investor with Exclusive Distribution for Institutional Portfolios | Hamilton Lane | Hamilton Lane announced the launch of a new tokenized share class to access Hamilton Laneâs Global Private Assets Fund, delivered in partnership with Allfunds Blockchain, the digital innovation arm of Allfunds, and Apex Group.
đ¸ Private Equity
PEâs capital concentration phenomenon reaches new heights | Rod James | PitchBook | The 10 largest funds accounted for more than half of the $90.9B in capital raised in Q1. This figure dwarfed an average of 26.8% observed over the past decade. Notable large fundraises included Triton Fund VI ($6.5B), Blackstone Life Sciences VI ($6.3B), Greenbriar Equity Fund VII ($5.4B), Inflexion Buyout Fund VII ($5.2B), and Lindsay Goldberg VI ($4.9B).
Anthropic Rockets to $965 Billion Valuation, Topping OpenAI in AI Showdown | Bradley Olson and Yuliya Chernova | Wall Street Journal | Anthropic closed a $65B funding round at a $965B valuation, surpassing its competitor OpenAIâs valuation. The round was led by Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer, Greenoaks, and Sequoia. Notable private equity and asset manager round co-leads and participants included Capital Group, Brookfield, GIC, ICONIQ, Baillie Gifford, Blackstone, D.E. Shaw Ventures, Fidelity, Jane Street, T. Rowe Price, and Temasek.
EQT Names Macksey, Gopalakrishnan Asia Private Equity Co-Heads | Cathy Chan | Bloomberg | EQT AB appointed Nicholas Macksey and Hari Gopalakrishnan to jointly lead its Asia private equity business, positioning a new generation of leaders to deploy a record and newly raised $15.6B regionally focused fund. Macksey and Gopalakrishnan take over as co-heads from Jean Eric Salata, who formally became global chairperson of EQT on May 12. [Watch AGMâs podcasts with Jean Eric Salata here and Hari Gopalakrishnan here].
Public PE titans are saying goodbye to software, hello to AI | Madeline Shi | PitchBook | Is software being dethroned as a darling of private equity, asks Madeline Shi.
UK software investor Hg strikes first buyout deal since SaaSpocalypse | Alexandra Heal | Financial Times | Software-specialist private equity investor Hg has agreed to buy California rights and royalties management company Rightsline for around $500M, including debt.
Silver Lake-backed Entrata Files for Initial Public Offering | Colin Kellaher | Wall Street Journal | Entrata, the property management software company backed by Silver Lake, has filed for IPO. Entrata, which last year received a $200M investment from alternative asset manager Blackstone at a $4.3B valuation, will remain controlled by Silver Lake after the IPO, according to the filing. Entrata said it recorded revenue of $536M and net income of $60M for the 12 months ended March 31.
Private equity firm EQT partners with Google Cloud for AI rollout | Isla Binnie | Reuters | EQT has partnered with Alphabetâs Google Cloud to âhelp more than 300 companies in the Swedish private equity firmâs portfolio accelerate the adoption of AI. EQTâs portfolio âcompanies will have âaccess to AI tools, including the Gemini Enterprise Agent â platform to build programs, as well as cybersecurity services.
Impact strategies are justifying their place in institutional portfolios | Toby Mitchenall | New Private Markets | Competitive, market-rate returns in impact investing, which has long been a question of the investment strategy by many LPs, are starting to materialize.
KKRâs sophomore fund shines among generalist private equity impact strategies | Michael Bowen | New Private Markets | As private equity impact funds from TPG, KKR, and Bain Capital compile a track record from recent years, net returns are often keeping pace with other funds of similar vintages and even surpassing them in some cases.
đł Private Credit
For Wall Streetâs Private Investments, In-House Insurers Are the Go-To Buyer | Heather Gillers | Wall Street Journal | Insurance companies are increasingly investing policyholdersâ money in private credit sold by parent firms or affiliated parties.
One Big Private Credit Investor Forced Vistaâs Fund to Limit Redemptions | Michelle Cheng | Bloomberg | A Swiss-based pension fund sought to redeem all of its shares from Vista Credit Strategic Lending Corp. in the first quarter. The withdrawal request led Vista to enforce its 5% limit on withdrawals. Vistaâs portfolio remains âfundamentally strongâ with all investments performing at or above underwriting expectations and zero non-accruals, according to an April filing.
TD Bank explores tie-up with private credit firms | Madeline Shi | PitchBook | The USâs 10th largest commercial bank by assets is looking to expand the scope of its lending business, which targets midsize PE-backed companies.
Capital Group and KKR launch first public-private credit fund in Europe | James Phillipps | Citywire | KKR and Capital Group launch first public-private credit ETF in Europe, the Global Multi Sector+ fund, their first joint launch outside the US.
KKRâs Nuttall Says Trading Private Credit Is âLikely to Happenâ | Allison McNeely | Bloomberg | KKR Co-CEO Scott Nuttall said it is likely that trading in private credit is likely to happen at some point, noting that âmore transparency tends to be a good thing.â âItâs likely to happen over time for some types of private credit loans,â he said. âMaybe direct lending could lend itself to it, but itâs early.â
đ Real Estate
Kayne Anderson crushes goal with $5B real estate fundraise | The Real Deal | Kayne Anderson Real Estate Partners VII closed at $5.12B, 70% above its $3B target, focused on student housing, health care, and industrial properties
REPORT: Centerbridge Eyes Stake In $3B Family-Owned CRE Firm | Chloe Gallivan | Bisnow | Centerbridge Partners is in negotiations to purchase a minority stake in Merritt Properties from Almanac Realty Investors, a real estate investment subsidiary of Neuberger Berman.
Banks Fueled The Rise of Private Credit. Now Theyâre âCompeting Against Ourselvesâ | Sasha Jones | Bisnow | At Bisnow's NY Investment Conference, KeyBank's Alan Isenstadt said banks face margin compression as the private credit funds they helped finance grab market share in CRE lending.
đĽ Secondaries
Ares CEO defends day-one markups in secondaries | Tania Mitra | Citywire | At the Bernstein Strategic Decisions conference, Ares CEO Mike Arougheti said that day one markups in secondaries funds are a feature of accounting standards rather than aggressive marking of valuations.
Seine Capital closes debut fund above target | Madeleine Farman | Secondaries Investor | Fabrice Moyne's Seine Capital closed its debut Liquidity Solutions fund at âŹ180M, 20% above its âŹ150M target. The fund is focused on European GP-led continuation vehicles.
Private credit liquidity value to increase amid higher defaults â Sycamore Tree | Sami Vukelj | PitchBook | Credit secondaries specialist Sycamore Tree expects 20- to 30-point discounts on 2016-2021 vintage private credit funds as rising defaults force LPs to seek liquidity in a maturing secondaries market.
đ ď¸ Infrastructure
Data centre owner DigitalBridge buys energy PE firm ArcLight for $1bn | Antoine Gara | Financial Times | DigitalBridge, a SoftBank-backed investor in the data center space, is buying energy-focused private equity firm ArcLight Capital Partners for up to $1.05B. The combination of these two alternative asset managers will bring together one of the largest data center owners with a power-focused investor that is known for generating returns in coal and natural gas, and is one of the biggest private power operators in the US.
Indonesia Sovereign Wealth Fund Joins the Data Center Boom | Echo Wong | Bloomberg | Indonesiaâs sovereign wealth fund, the Indonesia Investment Authority, has deployed about 30% of the $4.2B invested thus far into digital infrastructure.
Stonepeak, Lim Family Said to Weigh Withdrawing Yinson Bid | Elffie Chew and Manuel Baigorri | Bloomberg | Yinson Holdings Bhd.âs founding Lim family and Stonepeak Partners are considering withdrawing a plan to take the energy infrastructure company private.
𼊠GP Stakes
Pension invests $50 million in Wafra's fifth GP stakes fund | Aditi Yagnik | SecondaryLink | A US public pension committed $50M to Wafra's Constellation Generation V, the $1.5B-targeting fifth vintage in the Capital Constellation series that takes minority stakes in next-generation alts managers.
đŹ Private Markets Research
Global Private Credit Survey 2026 | Robert Boulding, Daniel Sullivan and Leo Humphries | PwC | Private credit managers expect stress to be most acute over the next 1-2 years in consumer / retail, automotive, hospitality / leisure, and tech, framed as the asset class's first true credit cycle as a high-profile category.
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