Alt Investments
AssetMark Enters Private Markets Funds Space
The US business has expanded with a merger deal and is ramping up efforts to ride the private markets' investment wave.
AssetMark, a US
wealthtech, is entering into the private markets sector, and
working with alternative asset managers Apollo, Carlyle, KKR, and
StepStone Group.
The firm said in a statement this week that it is “empowering
advisors with access to private markets interval funds and
professionally managed strategies.”
AssetMark said it now provides access to four private markets
semi-liquid funds – Apollo Diversified Credit, Carlyle Tactical
Private Credit, KKR Real Estate Select Trust, and StepStone
Private Infrastructure Fund. These funds are integrated into
AssetMark’s unified managed account (UMA) technology.
The business has been expanding.
Earlier in November, AssetMark said it was buying Efficient
Advisors, an asset management platform with $3 billion in client
assets, from its owners, Fiduciary Services Group.
The firm’s strategies comprise “growth,” “income” and
“preservation,” melding funds into a single solution at
an investment minimum of $10,000. Advisors can also access
professionally managed, total portfolio solutions through GPS
Select Access and Savos Personal Portfolios Access, starting at
$250,000 minimums.
AssetMark is part of a trend of firms seeking to exploit a rising
amount of interest in non-listed company investments, given
that the number of publicly listed US companies has shrunk
from more than 8,000 in the 1990s to fewer than 4,000 today. The
firm said that its survey work shows that the vast majority (91
per cent) of advisors think that access to private market
investments is an important way for them to stand out from
competitors.
The Trump administration’s move to allow private market assets to
be held in 401(k) retirement accounts, and lawmakers widening the
scope of Accredited Investor rules, have boosted the demand side
of the private market equation.
“AssetMark’s expansion into private markets is a natural
evolution of our strategic growth platform,” Lou Maiuri, group
CEO and chairman of AssetMark, said.