In this executive summary of our upcoming Institutional Investment Research (IIR) primer (tb published in Waals-Brabant later this month), M. Nicolas Firzli, DG, World Pensions Council, Chair, G7 Pensions Investment Roundtable, discusses recent M&A trends in the PE/VC and infrastructure funds space
Earlier today, Vontobel, the Swiss asset manager, announced it had acquired “a significant stake in Ancala Partners”, the UK middle-market infrastructure fund with 4 € bn. AuM. Tellingly, the day before, France’s Amundi’s announced it was acquiring Alpha Associates, a large PE, VC and private debt (PD) fund of funds, with 20 € bn. AuM.
These acquisitions clearly signal “an accelerating shift towards private asset markets” amongst asset managers, mirroring to some extent the earlier repositioning of pension, SWF and family offices portfolios in favor of VC, PE, PD, and infrastructure assets (“Australian & Canadian model”), as forecast by our Private Market Assets (PMA) Strategic Matrix — see also Firzli, Sherry, and Khoo, and Franzel and Firzli’s primers (cf. below)