The latest news in investment offerings, financial products and other services relative to wealth advisors and their clients.

UBS Asset Management 
Swiss-based UBS Asset Management Real Estate & Private Markets has announced the first close of its fifth private equity growth strategy, with investor commitments totalling €265.8 million ($289 million), after its launch in January 2023. 

This reflects strong investor interest amid a challenging macroeconomic period, the firm said, and follows the final close of a prior strategy in January 2022 with €384 million commitments.

The strategy is currently invested in a range of primary fund commitments as well as several transactions, including a number of private equity secondaries. It has several co-investments in the pipeline, accelerating portfolio build-up and lifting performance, the firm continued. The strategy is focused on having almost 50 per cent of the portfolio in private equity secondaries and co-investments, which is expected to drive the strategy’s return.

Returns have been strong across the previous iterations of the private equity growth strategy series, the firm added, due to a focus on small to mid-sized companies within secular growth themes such as fintech, oncology, shifting consumer habits, and the growing middle class in emerging markets.

As with the prior strategies, investors will be able to select a globally-diversified portfolio, but they will also have the option to invest in sleeves for a “pure play” geographical exposure in either North America, Europe or Asia-Pacific, the firm said. Investors in the European sleeve will obtain an SFDR Article 8 sustainable strategy whereas investors in the global, North American and APAC sleeves will obtain SFDR Article 6 compliant strategies, the asset manager continued.

“We are pleased to see the fifth iteration of our flagship investment strategy showing strong investor appetite after fundraising officially kicked off only in late January 2023,” Markus Benzler, head of multi-managers private equity at UBS Asset Management, said.

“The strategy is set to invest even more in secondaries and co-investments than its predecessor, which we expect to bring the cost basis down to a level which is competitive with direct private equity, bolstering performance and leading to exciting benefits for our investors,” he added.