AGM Alts & Wealth Weekly News Roundup | 8.22.25
The news of the week in private markets and wealth management
👋 Hi, I’m Michael.
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AGM News Roundup
🏦 Wealth Management
Cresset merges with $124bn investment consultancy Monticello Associates | Ian Wenik | Citywire | Another big deal between a large RIA and an investment consultancy, with $72B AUM Cresset merging with $124B AUA Monticello Associates.
Goldman Sachs Targets Richest Families in Australia Expansion | Richard Henderson | Bloomberg | Goldman Sachs is expanding its private wealth management team in Australia, growing its team to 13 people — including 8 advisors — across Sydney and Melbourne, to partner with clients that have at least A$100M ($65M) of investable assets.
$18bn RWA Wealth Partners returns to M&A market with Bay Area buy | Ian Wenik | Citywire | Summit Partners-backed $18B AUM RWA Wealth Partners made its first acquisition, buying $344M AUM Moirai Wealth Management.
Expansion for Sequoia Financial Group, Meridian Wealth Management | Steve Randall | InvestmentNews | $27B AUM Sequoia Financial Group acquired $430M AUM The Martin Worley Group and $4.2B AUM Meridian Wealth Management announced a strategic partnership with Merchant, which takes equity stakes in wealth management businesses.
🌲 Evergreen Funds
Secondaries boost HarbourVest's evergreen fund returns | Selin Bucak | Citywire | Citywire’s Selin Bucak dives into HarbourVest’s evergreen fund, finding that the firm’s private equity fund has returned 12.59% over the last 12 months, just slightly below its target, bolstered by the strategy’s allocation to secondaries.
Apollo lists 5 evergreen private funds on iCapital Marketplace | Abraham Darwyne | Fund Selector Asia | Apollo has listed five evergreen private markets funds on iCapital’s Marketplace, providing wealth managers access to Apollo’s products in a Luxembourg-domiciled format.
💸 Private Equity
Apollo backs $2.7B take-private deal for Soho House | Andrea Gaini | PitchBook | Soho House is being taken private by a consortium of financial sponsors that values the London-based private members club operator at ~$2.7B. Hotel owner-operator MCR Hotels is leading the deal, and Apollo is providing debt and equity, while Goldman Sachs Alternatives will roll over its existing position and commit additional equity.
Thoma Bravo Agrees to Acquire Dayforce in $12.3 Billion Deal | Ryan Gould, Michelle F. Davis, Liana Baker | Bloomberg | Thoma Bravo is acquiring HR software provider Dayforce, which will be one of the investment firm’s largest-ever investment deals.
Advent to take U-Blox private for $1.3 billion | Emily Lai | PitchBook | Advent International has agreed to acquire U-Blox, a Swiss-based positioning chips maker for around $1.3B.
Schroders Sees Private Equity Exit Strategies Reshaping Industry | Swetha Gopinath and Leonard Kehnscherper | Bloomberg | A new research report by Schroders finds that CVs could displace 8% of total dealflow for mid and large buyouts over the next 10 years, which could make it harder for larger sponsors to pursue new deals.
💳 Private Credit
Private Credit-Powered AI Boom at Risk of Overheating, UBS Says | Olivia Fishlow | Bloomberg | Private credit lenders are becoming a key source of capital for AI development, which is adding to potential risk of overheating, according to UBS Global Research.
AI Data Center Startup Crusoe in Talks for $10 Billion Valuation | Kate Clark and Dina Bass | Bloomberg | Crusoe Energy Systems, a critical infrastructure provider of the artificial intelligence boom, plans to raise $1B of equity and debt at a valuation near $10B, an increase over the company’s $600M round that put its valuation at $2.8B last December.
🏠 Real Estate
Could real estate be private equity’s clearest path into college athletics? | Bret McCormick | Sports Business Journal | Private equity has been circling around college athletics as an investment opportunity. Could investment in real estate and facilities be one of the cleanest avenues through which private capital enters the college athletics arena?
🥈 Secondaries
Blackstone’s Perry Sees Secondaries Topping $400 Billion by 2030 | Preeti Singh and Dani Burger | Bloomberg | Verdun Perry, the Head of Blackstone’s Secondaries business, told Bloomberg in an interview that secondaries is “the most underutilized tool” in the market, predicting secondaries deal volume will more than double to $400B by 2030.
BlackRock Readies Venture Secondaries Fund as Market Expands | Silla Brush and Preeti Singh | Bloomberg | BlackRock is preparing to launch a new fund that will focus on venture secondaries, with Jarid Colucci, Derek Krouner, and Lisa Sun tapped to lead the fund.
Secondaries to help normalise PE distributions - study | Hannah Zhang | Secondaries Investor | According to StepStone research, distributions as a share of total PE AMV have stayed below average for the past three years and are unlikely to return to normal level this year.
This summer's hottest trend on Wall Street: 'Private for longer' | David Hollerith | Yahoo Finance | Continuation vehicles have become a mainstay in secondaries activity, with a Jefferies report finding that CVs have accounted for $41B of transaction volume thus far this year.
🛠️ Infrastructure
Endowus Partners With Macquarie Asset Management to Introduce Private Infrastructure Solutions to Investors in Hong Kong and Singapore | Hubbis | Endowus has partnered with Macquarie Asset Management to provide private infrastructure investment solutions to professional and accredited investors in Singapore and Hong Kong.
Inside Phoenix's £3bn private debt drive | Joe Marsh | Infrastructure Investor | Phoenix Group, Britain’s biggest life and pensions provider, is deploying £3B ($4.1B) into private debt this year, with infrastructure as a key focus, according to Head of Private Markets Cecile Retaureau.
🥩 GP Stakes
Blue Owl Eyes $1.5 Billion in HPS, Clearlake, Golub Stake Sale | Kat Hidalgo and Scott Carpenter | Bloomberg | Blue Owl is expected to raise $1.5B through a sale of stakes in the Dyal Capital Partners IV fund, which includes positions in HPS Investment Partners, Clearlake, and Golub, into a new vehicle with a new set of investors.
Arctos approaches final close on debut GP financing fund | Silas Sloan | Private Equity International | Arctos Partners’ Keystone Partners Fund I, which provides financing solutions to GPs, is nearing a final close on its $4B target.
CAZ Investments' GP Stakes Strategies Now Available via iCapital Amid Rising Private Markets Demand | Laura Simpson | JConnelly for CAZ, PR Newswire | With a Dechert report finding that the number of alternative asset managers looking to sell a minority GP stake is expected to increase 34% in the next two years, CAZ Investments announced that its GP Stakes investment strategy is now available on the iCapital Marketplace.
🔬 Private Markets Research
1,000 words or less: Secondaries to the rescue | StepStone | StepStone takes a closer look at the private equity secondary market’s growth.
PitchBook Analyst Note: From Peak to Pivot: Sponsor Equity Eases as Lenders Loosen Up | Nizar Tarhuni, Marina Lukatsky, Garrett Hinds, Kyle Walters, Sara Wahba, Jenna O'Malley | PitchBook | PitchBook notes that US PE deal financing is shifting gears as sponsor equity contributions lessen from 2023’s cycle high.
This is great, Michael.
Many people (including myself) read your newsletter to gain an understanding of the growing secondaries market. But to be honest with you, it goes a bit over my head at times.
Do you have any resources (books, articles, etc) that are primers for lay people like myself to grasp the importance of what we’re talking about here? In other words, an “alt for dummies?”
Please forgive my ignorance and keep up the great work!