The launch is another example of wealth managers making it easier for investors to enter markets that are sometimes difficult to access.

BNP Paribas Asset Management has launched an “evergreen,” aka perpetual, diversified private credit fund under the new European Long Term Investment Fund label regulatory framework.

The BNP Paribas Alternative Strategies – Diversified Private Credit Fund will invest in European corporate and real assets debt in infrastructure and commercial real estate. It targets institutional as well as wealth management distribution channels, the firm said in a statement yesterday.

The ELTIF 2.0 label has been developed to give mass-affluent clients access to private markets – mostly shut off to all but the wealthiest individuals and big institutions.

The fund focuses on eurozone debt, the firm said.

“With this new fund, we offer our clients diversified private market investment access through a unique solution, easy to access and packaged conveniently with quarterly liquidity,” Lucien Carton, head of solutions and client advisory, said. 

As wealth and asset managers have tried to crack open access to hitherto hard-to-enter markets such as private equity and credit, the evergreen, or perpetual model, has gained ground. Blackstone, the US firm, has made a point about this model, for example. “Perpetual” is a term describing a structure of funds that doesn’t come with the drawdowns, capital calls, exit deadlines and other traditional features of private market entities. These “perps” don’t carry the kind of liquidity constraints that might be a problem for investors in more established fund structures.

Another, highly traditional way of gaining exposure to private markets is via the liquid, listed route, as explained recently to this news service by HarbourVest.