When the CEO of Morningstar sat down to speak with the president of the largest alternative ******* et management firm, he asked a question that is likely on many financial advisors' minds.
While the head of the investment research, technology and portfolio management firm, Kunal Kapoor, acknowledged in his keynote interview with Jon Gray of Blackstone at Morningstar's conference last month in Chicago that Gray's firm "has not had trouble raising capital," he pointed out that there has been "a noticeable slowdown in institutional fundraising."
"So if you're an advisor sitting here and you're looking at this slowdown in fundraising," Kapoor said, "it feels like a natural question to be asking, 'Why is private equity slash private credit actually coming to us now when they're struggling elsewhere to raise capital?'"
Despite the headlines around fundraising and redemption withdrawals across private investments in general over the past year, Blackstone raised about $70 billion in the first quarter, with half from institutional clients, Gray noted. But the firm has also been "been focused on individual investors and their advisors for 25 years," and Gray's team continues to believe that retail clients are "underserved" when it comes to private investments, he said.
"We feel incredibly proud of what we've been able to do in the private ******* e for our investors," Gray said. "So I think, for advisors, the question is, 'is this manager committed to the ******* e? Do they have the infrastructure? Do they have the ability in the semiliquid world to deploy the capital? Do they have the commitment to transparency to do evaluations in the right way?' I think manager quality and commitment to this ******* e really matters. If done in the right way, this has been a very helpful part of your portfolio."
While the head of the investment research, technology and portfolio management firm, Kunal Kapoor, acknowledged in his keynote interview with Jon Gray of Blackstone at Morningstar's conference last month in Chicago that Gray's firm "has not had trouble raising capital," he pointed out that there has been "a noticeable slowdown in institutional fundraising."
"So if you're an advisor sitting here and you're looking at this slowdown in fundraising," Kapoor said, "it feels like a natural question to be asking, 'Why is private equity slash private credit actually coming to us now when they're struggling elsewhere to raise capital?'"
Despite the headlines around fundraising and redemption withdrawals across private investments in general over the past year, Blackstone raised about $70 billion in the first quarter, with half from institutional clients, Gray noted. But the firm has also been "been focused on individual investors and their advisors for 25 years," and Gray's team continues to believe that retail clients are "underserved" when it comes to private investments, he said.
"We feel incredibly proud of what we've been able to do in the private ******* e for our investors," Gray said. "So I think, for advisors, the question is, 'is this manager committed to the ******* e? Do they have the infrastructure? Do they have the ability in the semiliquid world to deploy the capital? Do they have the commitment to transparency to do evaluations in the right way?' I think manager quality and commitment to this ******* e really matters. If done in the right way, this has been a very helpful part of your portfolio."
4 months ago
