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

Partners Capital
London-headquartered Partners Capital, a global outsourced chief investment office (OCIO), has announced the expanded launch of a private equity strategy, working alongside iCapital to distribute the offering.

The strategy is designed to open institutional-grade opportunities to wealth managers, advisors, and their clients across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, New York-headquartered iCapital said in a statement this week.

The expansion takes the strategy beyond its initial status as a closed-end vehicle seeded by clients of Partners Capital. It has transitioned to an open-ended structure now available to new investors. 

Partners Capital, which manages more than $65 billion in assets, is listing the solution on iCapital Marketplace, a one-stop-shop connecting wealth managers, advisors, and their clients to alternative investment opportunities.

“This conversion to an open-ended structure represents an important step in expanding access to a broader set of investors,” Emmanuel Pitsilis, partner and global head of Partners Capital Alternative Asset Management (PCAAM), said.

BlackRock Aladdin
BlackRock Aladdin has integrated Preqin's data and technology into its eFront® platform for private markets investors, creating a data-driven private asset management technology solution. In eFront, Aladdin's private markets platform, institutional clients can manage their full investment lifecycle in one place, with detailed market context via Preqin data, the firm said in a statement. The integration will accelerate the firm’s strategy to unite investments, technology and proprietary data within one platform, increasing transparency and data-based insight for clients as they expand allocations to private markets.

The combined Preqin and eFront capabilities provide institutional investors with research, due diligence and portfolio monitoring tools on a single platform.

“BlackRock Aladdin is redefining the standard for private markets technology and data. For the first time, clients can bring pre-investment intelligence and post-investment analytics together in a single, integrated workflow, narrowing the gap between how institutional investors manage assets across private and public portfolios,” Sloane Collins, BlackRock’s head of product for Aladdin Private Markets, said. “This reinforces what we set out to accomplish with the acquisition of Preqin – a combination of rich data, advanced analytics and scalable technology that helps investors navigate private markets with clarity and confidence.”

Pre-investment, institutional clients can map investment opportunities, find high quality fund managers that align with portfolio objectives, and conduct in-depth manager due diligence based on strategy, track record and operations, the firm continued. Post-investment, institutional clients are equipped with a range of tools that transform portfolio monitoring into a core part of strategic decision-making. Investment data from fund managers feeds into eFront, giving investors clearer portfolio oversight while enabling faster reporting.

BlackRock Aladdin® – inclusive of the Aladdin platform,eFront®, Aladdin Wealth™, and Preqin – enables institutional investors to make more informed decisions by providing a common data language across the whole portfolio.