Alt Goes Mainstream

As access becomes table stakes in private markets for the wealth channel, what will be the differentiator? This week there was big news in the wealth management space. $156B AUM Hightower Advisors acquired a majority stake in $1.7T AUA investment consultant and OCIO NEPC, LLC. Why would Hightower Advisors make such a bold move? As the wealth channel becomes an increasingly prominent LP in private markets and the wealth management landscape continues to undergo a period of consolidation by bigger platforms, wealth management firms will need to have both the resources and differentiation to serve clients in private markets. As we are witnessing a convergence of public and private, are we witnessing a convergence of the institutional and wealth channels? Read this week's Alt Goes Mainstream AGM Alts Weekly to connect dots between a number of converging trends at the intersection of private markets and wealth management. This week's AGM Alts Weekly, brought to you by 73 Strings, covers: 🗂️ AGM Index, an index that tracks the leading publicly traded alternative asset managers. 💻 Post of the Week, with Pitcairn's MD, Alternative Investments Robert Mileff, CAIA, on using the terminology "retail" for the wealth channel. 🗞️ AGM News of the Week, this week covering: 📌 Financial Times' George Hammond on General Catalyst's $8B fundraise and what it means for the future of venture. 📌 Financial Times' Harriet Agnew & Costas Mourselas on $69.5B AUM Millennium's possible new fund launch centralizing around private credit. 💻 Who is hiring: Senior-level positions from companies Blackstone, Apollo Global Management, Inc., iCapital, KKR, StepStone Private Wealth, Blue Owl Capital, Ultimus Fund Solutions, The Carlyle Group, Capricorn Investment Group, bunch, Hightower Advisors. Subscribe👇 to see the latest trends & navigate this rapidly changing landscape as alts go mainstream. https://lnkd.in/ejiiPk9K

Why would an alternative asset manager give up equity in a valuable business? Blue Owl Capital Board Member and GP Strategic Capital Platform Senior MD Sean Ward discuses why GP stakes are a growth investment for the alternative asset manager and why they make sense on the latest Alt Goes Mainstream. Listen to the full episode here from the industry leader in GP stakes: https://lnkd.in/gjX_Knk2

Why is GP stakes investing a "cash in" not a "cash out" for the GPs? On today's episode of the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast, we talk with someone who has transformed GP stakes into an industry: Blue Owl Capital GP Strategic Capital Senior Managing Director and Blue Owl, Inc. Member of the Board of Directors Sean Ward. Blue Owl's GP Strategic Capital platform has been responsible for pioneering GP stakes and has done the lion's share of the GP stakes investments by dollars allocated, particularly in the upper-end of the market. Sean and I had a fascinating conversation about the GP stakes industry and how GP stakes work. We discussed: * The early days of the GP stakes industry. * What it was like to convince GPs and LPs why stakes made sense. * How the $1B GP commitment by Bain Capital in their fund post-GFC really opened everyone’s eyes to the need to tap into financing as firms grew their fund size and their business. * A “cash in” rather than a “cash out.” Why GP stakes investing is mainly about positive selection since managers are choosing to sell a stake in their business. * How alternative asset management has evolved as a business. * How GP stakes investments have elements of bond-like coupons from cashflows due to management fees and option value from the upside of carry. * Why GP stakes investments are “the most diversified single line item investment one can make in private markets.” * Where allocators bucket GP stakes investments. * What makes a great GP stakes investor. * The power of permanent capital. * The different paths to liquidity in GP stakes investments. Thanks Sean for coming on the show to share your wisdom and views on this growing part of private markets. Thanks to Ultimus Fund Solutions for your support of this episode of Alt Goes Mainstream. https://lnkd.in/gjX_Knk2

Klarna 🤝 $70B AUM Elliott Investment Management L.P. PayPal 🤝 $540B AUM KKR. SoFi 🤝 $$48B AUM Fortress Investment Group. Upstart 🤝 $200B Blue Owl Capital. What does it mean when fintech meets private markets? Private credit is taking over the funding of consumer finance, from BNPL loans to residential mortgages. The next era of private credit is now in lockstep with the evolution of fintech. The intersection of fintech and finance isn’t just limited to private credit firms working with fintechs to power the next phase of their business growth. Software innovation from fintech companies is making its way to private credit. Technology market structure evolution is often what makes for more efficient, functioning markets. Companies like Setpoint, Finley Technologies, Inc., CARDO AI, Cascade Debt, 73 Strings, LemonEdge, Siepe are part of the technology market structure evolution that is helping to power the private markets revolution. As more real-time and transparent data solutions are built, innovations around financing capital calls and NAV loans for the wealth channel will begin to crop up. Read more about this trend and what could be next in this week's Alt Goes Mainstream newsletter. This week's AGM Alts Weekly, brought to you by bunch, covers: 🗂️ AGM Index, an index that tracks the leading publicly traded alternative asset managers. 💻 Post of the Week, with ARMEN's Max Darque on GP stakes. 🗞️ AGM News of the Week, this week covering: 📌 Institutional Investor's Julie Segal on J.P. Morgan Asset Management's focus on growing their presence in private markets as CEO George Gatch sets his sights on competing with private markets' largest firms. 📌 PitchBook's Madeline Shi on Blackstone's growing "performing credit juggernaut." 💻 Who is hiring: Senior-level positions from companies Blackstone, Apollo Global Management, Inc., iCapital, KKR, StepStone Private Wealth, Fidelity Investments, Blue Owl Capital, Ultimus Fund Solutions, The Carlyle Group, Capricorn Investment Group, bunch, Hightower Advisors, Marathon Asset Management. Subscribe👇 to see the latest trends & navigate this rapidly changing landscape as alts go mainstream. https://lnkd.in/eMp7nTTe

How can wealth management entrepreneurs build their firm with the intention to scale right from the start? Hear True North Advisors Co-Founder & CEO Scott Wood share how he and his partners put in the foundation to scale right from the beginning, staying true to their culture and values with the type of firm they wanted to build. Watch the entire podcast with True North Advisors' Scott Wood and one of their investors, HGGC's Co-Founder, Partner, & Chairman Steve Young, on Alt Goes Mainstream. https://lnkd.in/eYMmd8Ug

How does the score take care of itself in business? Listen in for lessons from building a winning culture from Super Bowl winner and Hall of Fame quarterback from the San Francisco 49ers and HGGC's Steve Young & True North Advisors' Scott Wood as they discuss how focusing on the right things creates winning outcomes in private equity and wealth management on the latest Alt Goes Mainstream podcast. https://lnkd.in/eYMmd8Ug

"The score takes care of itself." From winning championships on the field and investing in differentiated companies in the middle-market to pioneering the fee-only only model in wealth management, HGGC Partner, Chairman, Co-Founder Steve Young & True North Advisors CEO & Co-Founder Scott Wood come on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast to talk about building a different type of partnership formed on shared values. Steve’s private equity firm, $7B AUM HGGC, took a minority stake in Scott’s independent wealth management firm, $3.9B AUM True North Advisors, as part of their broader wealth management investment thesis. Steve, Scott, and I had a fascinating conversation about how they’ve built their respective investment firms, the importance of values and culture, and how they create abundant, fulfilling relationships. We discussed: *Why “the score takes care of itself.” * How and why defining the relationship up front is key in advisor M&A. * How to assess culture fit when merging or acquiring advisors and wealth management firms. * The importance of alternatives for better serving the client in an advisor’s practice. * The concept of “decading” and why long-term thinking is critical in business and life. Thanks Steve and Scott for sharing your thoughts and decades of wisdom on business building, investing, and partnership and thanks HGGC's Matt Roesch for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to our sponsor Ultimus Fund Solutions for their support of Alt Goes Mainstream. https://lnkd.in/eYMmd8Ug

Crest Capital Advisors has a unique perspective on private markets and GP stakes given the work they do as a multi-family office working with General Partner clients. Happy to share their work at Alt Goes Mainstream, like this GP "EquityInsight Model" created by Crest Capital Advisors that helps General Partners to understand what their future GP cashflows might become in the future as their firm evolves or takes in a GP stake investment. The evolution of the business of asset management is in full force, so tools like what Crest Capital Advisors has built will continue to help move the space forward. https://lnkd.in/gvhB9YfY

Many alternative asset managers want to work with the “wealth channel.” But what is the “wealth channel?” There are multiple definitions for the wealth channel. There's wealth. There's retail. Wealth and retail was a theme throughout this week while speaking at Preqin's Future of Alternatives Conference alongside Blue Owl Capital's Cara Griffiths and Bain Capital's Tom Sargeant that was deftly moderated by Preqin's Cameron Joyce, CFA, CAIA, interviewing Blackstone's Todd Myers at a Finimize event on "The Rise of Retail Investors in Alternative Assets," and joining Citywire's Selin Bucak for an interview on the wealth channel's participation in private markets. Something that struck me was a thoughtfully worded question by Selin about the investors that alternative asset managers are focusing on within the wealth channel. She asked, “we talk about the democratization push in private markets, but how much are you seeing firms focus on wealthy individuals versus actual retail investors?” Words matter. And defining the wealth channel could be the key to the future of private markets fundraising and firms' strategies in this channel. Does multiple definitions of the wealth channel mean multiple winners? Read this week's Alt Goes Mainstream AGM Alts Weekly for a categorization of the wealth channel and the retail channel, where wealth and retail intersect, and why the brokerages could go for broke. This week's AGM Alts Weekly, brought to you by bunch, covers: 🗂️ AGM Index, an index that tracks the leading publicly traded alternative asset managers. 🗞️ AGM News of the Week, this week covering: 📌 Financial Times' Brooke Masters, Eric Platt, Arash Massoudi on HPS Investment Partners, LLC exploring a $10B+ sale to potential bidders that include BlackRock. 📌 Institutional Investor's James Comtois on Ares Management Corporation $3.7B acquisition of GLP Capital Partners (GCP International) and what it means for their expansion in real estate. 📌 Institutional Investor's James Comtois on Blue Owl Capital's $1B acquisition of IPI Partners and what it means for their continued foray into digital infrastructure. 💻 Who is hiring: Senior-level positions from companies Blackstone, Apollo Global Management, Inc., iCapital, KKR, StepStone Private Wealth, Fidelity Investments, The Carlyle Group, State Street, Hamilton Lane, Blue Owl Capital, Ultimus Fund Solutions, 73 Strings, bunch, Hightower Advisors. Subscribe👇 to see the latest trends & navigate this rapidly changing landscape as alts go mainstream. https://lnkd.in/ehxXCiWB

Will private markets end up like the mutual fund industry? Listen to Evercore's Glenn Schorr on Going Public on Alt Goes Mainstream to hear his thoughts on how the industry might evolve. https://lnkd.in/enGq2cnk