This edition of the Investments Roundup features Janus Henderson acquiring Richard Bernstein, iCapital naming Gary Gallagher as President, Empower partnering with Blackstone on private markets, Morningstar launching a generative AI index, Cerulli reporting on separate account strategies and tax optimization, OneDigital adding private investments to defined contribution plans, HFR on record hedge fund growth, Hamilton Lane on soaring private markets, Envestnet appointing Jonathan Linstra as Chief Growth Officer, iCapital acquiring Passthrough, AssetMark delivering $60 million in client tax savings and PPB upgrading its private markets platform.
EDITOR IN CHIEF’S TAKE:
HFR’s President Ken Heinz said that the nomination of Kevin Warsh to lead the Federal Reserve could enhance predictability and benefit hedge fund managers that focus on traditional macro drivers. Warsh’s nomination was somewhat surprising given that consensus pointed towards a more dovish new Fed Chair, and welcome by many because he represents stability and a dose of hawkishness against inflation. That has yet to pan out, though. Remember – most people were positive about Jay Powell, too, when he was nominated.
– Julius Buchanan, Editor in Chief, Wealth Solutions Report
Janus Henderson Acquires $20 Billion Richard Bernstein
London-based Janus Henderson agreed to acquire Richard Bernstein Advisors (RBA), a New York City-based investment manager overseeing approximately $20 billion in client assets as of Jan. 16. Founder Richard Bernstein joins Janus Henderson as Global Head of Macro & Customized Investing, with a multi-year contract, Janus said. Bernstein has over 40 years of industry experience, including serving as Chief Investment Strategist at Merrill Lynch.
The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter. RBA’s financial advisor is Piper Sandler and its legal counsel is Vedder Price. Janus Henderson’s legal counsel is Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton. Janus Henderson had approximately $484 billion in assets under management (AUM) as of Sept. 30.
“As client demand for model portfolios and SMAs continues to accelerate across the industry, we are very excited to announce this strategic acquisition of RBA, which will allow us to expand our investment capabilities for our clients, amplifying our existing model portfolio and SMA offerings,” said Ali Dibadj, CEO of Janus Henderson. “Richard and his investment team are renowned for their research capabilities, time-tested investment strategies, and innovative top-down, macro approach to investing.”
iCapital Names Gary Gallagher As President
iCapital appoints Gary Gallagher as President, reporting to Chairman and CEO Lawrence Calcano. Gallagher will help direct client relationships, investment product distribution and the growth of platform and technology initiatives.
Gallagher brings over three decades of industry experience, joining from Fidelity Institutional where he was Head of Strategic Business Development. Before that, he was President of Fidelity Institutional Wealth Advisor. He also served in senior leadership roles at LPL Financial, Citibank and KPMG.
“What drew me to this opportunity is iCapital’s strong client-centric culture, which aligns perfectly with my leadership philosophy and passion for driving large-scale commercial organizations,” said Gallagher. “I look forward to collaborating with this forward-thinking team, and together we will expand and deepen client relationships, elevate the go-to-market strategy, and accelerate investment product distribution—all with the goal of driving outstanding outcomes for clients.”
Empower Partners With Blackstone On Private Markets Investments
Empower partners with Blackstone to expand private market offerings within retirement plans. Blackstone has provided private market investments for individuals since 2002, while Empower enables private market collective investment trusts (CITs) within employer retirement plans. The partnership provides more options for private equity, private credit, private infrastructure and private real estate within the CITs.
Empower’s CIT program is designed to provide opportunities for private market investing for retirement plan participants, within the guardrails of an advisor-managed account. Empower had approximately $2 trillion in assets under administration, as of Sept. 30, while Blackstone has over $1.2 trillion in AUM.
“Partnering with Empower reflects our shared belief that private markets can play an important role in helping more Americans plan for the future and build long-term financial security,” said Jon Gray, Blackstone’s President and COO. “Bringing Blackstone’s leading investment strategies into defined contribution plans enables retirement savers to access the same opportunities previously only available to institutional investors.”
Morningstar Introduces A Generative AI Index
Morningstar launches its first benchmark for generative AI companies. The Morningstar PitchBook GenAI 20 Index tracks global pure-play generative AI companies through their life cycle, from private company to public listing.
The index draws private market data from PitchBook and follows companies working on technologies including machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision and agentic AI. It is designed to represent influential private companies not covered by traditional benchmarks, providing a framework for measuring growth in the generative AI sector, according to the firm.
“Staying at the forefront of innovation in generative AI requires a clear view of opportunities across both public and private markets,” said Sanjay Arya, Head of Innovation at Morningstar Indexes. “As private markets play an increasingly critical role in technology development, having transparent and measurable benchmarks is essential. We believe this new index helps provide clarity to one of the most important growth themes of the next decade.”
Cerulli: Asset Managers Face Competing Demands Across Products And Asset Classes
After a challenging 2025, asset managers will continue to deal with competing demands across products and asset classes this year, according to Cerulli. Separate account strategies are expected to grow across channels and direct indexing providers “have an opportunity to partner with wealth platforms that cannot build the capabilities themselves,” according to “The Cerulli Report—U.S. Product Development 2025: Building Across Competing Priorities.”
Model-delivered retail SMA assets continue growing at a more rapid pace – a 25%, five-year compound annual growth (CAGR) through 2024, the report said, contrasting these to manager-traded strategies that are growing through direct indexing and fixed-income strategies. Direct indexing strategies grew year-over-year by 44% in 2024, and the direct indexing market reached $1 trillion in the second quarter of last year, with Morgan Stanley’s Parametric in the lead.
“A critical finding from the research is that tax optimization has become more important to asset managers,” said Daniil Shapiro, Director, Product Development at Cerulli and the report’s lead author. “Key asset management industry initiatives, including the build out of active ETFs, ETF share classes for existing mutual funds, provision of direct indexing, and tax-managed long/short-SMAs all have a component of offering advisors and their clients improved tax efficiency.”
OneDigital Debuts Private Investments For Defined Contribution Plans
Atlanta-based OneDigital adds private investments, such as private equity and private credit, to its program for 401(k) plan sponsors. The insurance broker and financial services firm provides the private market offerings through partnerships with asset managers, including Apollo, Ares and Blackstone.
The alternative investments are offered within managed portfolios, and private investment allocations are subject to due diligence, liquidity guidelines and fiduciary review, OneDigital said. By providing private market exposure within OneDigital’s Personalized Portfolios, the firm said it aims to support improved outcomes for retirement plan participants. The new offerings are expected to be available this quarter.
“At OneDigital, we believe everyone deserves access to the tools that support long-term financial security,” said Vincent Morris, President of OneDigital Financial Services. “Private investments have played an important role in driving outcomes for institutions and sophisticated investors for decades. By thoughtfully bringing these strategies into the workplace through our personalized portfolios program, we're expanding access in a structured, fiduciary-aligned way with the aim of improved retirement outcomes over time.”
HFR: Global Hedge Fund Capital Hits Record $5.15 Trillion In 2025, Index Surges 3% In January
The hedge fund industry surpassed $5 trillion in capital for the first time, ending 2025 at a record $5.15 trillion, according to HFR. In “Global Hedge Fund Industry Report,” the firm reported that total industry capital grew by $642.8 billion for the year, including both performance gains and inflows that were at the highest level since 2007. The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index (FWC) rose 12.5% in 2025, the strongest performance since 2009, HFR said.
The firm reported continued market strength in 2026 as the FWC gained another 3% for the month of January, led by Macro and Equity Hedge fund performance. It was the ninth consecutive month in positive territory for the FWC, HFR said, with gains driven by energy and commodity market strength, optimism about new leadership at the Federal Reserve, and M&A and IPO trends.
“The nomination of Kevin Warsh, with his extensive financial markets experience and Macro hedge fund background, is likely a strong catalyst for hedge fund and Macro performance in 2026,” said Ken Heinz, President of HFR. “With heightened economic policy tension between the desire for stimulus of lower interest rates, persistent inflationary pressures and ongoing concerns about the AI impact on future employment markets, it is likely that a more predictable approach to monetary policy could be beneficial for managers focused on identifying and positioning for traditional macro drivers of performance.”
Hamilton Lane: Private Market Investing To Soar In 2026
Interest in private market investments will soar this year, according to a global survey of RIAs and other wealth management professionals from Hamilton Lane. Eighty-six percent of the 390 wealth professionals surveyed by Hamilton Lane, in partnership with Wakefield Research, intend to increase their private market allocations this year, the firm said in “Focus: 2026 Global Private Wealth Survey.” Eighty-three percent of respondents said they saw private market risk versus reward as similar to, or reward as higher than, that of public markets.
A whopping 97% of private wealth professionals surveyed allocated 1% to 20% of their books of business to private markets at the time of the survey and most of them said they expected those allocations to grow in 2026, according to Hamilton Lane. Those allocations were private equity at 19%, private real estate at 18%, private credit at 16%, venture capital and growth at 16% and private infrastructure at 15%.
“This year highlighted a shift among private wealth investors and their advisors toward building more resilient portfolios, and the findings reflect what we’re hearing in the market today: private markets are viewed through a more nuanced risk‑reward lens than in the past,” said Beth Nardi, Head of U.S. Private Wealth at Hamilton Lane. “As we look across strategies, Venture Capital & Growth stands out as investors seek access to innovative, high-growth private companies, many of which are not available in the public markets.”
Envestnet Appoints Jonathan Linstra As Chief Growth Officer
Berwyn, Pennsylvania-based Envestnet appoints Jonathan Linstra as Chief Growth Officer, a newly created role. He reports to CEO Chris Todd. Linstra joins from Morningstar Wealth, where he was Managing Director of the Americas. He previously held leadership positions at State Street Global Advisors and Janus Henderson Investors.
Linstra will lead the firm’s growth strategies in sales execution, revenue generation and advisor engagement across Envestnet’s enterprise, Tamarac and MoneyGuide platforms, the firm said. He will work in coordination with the firm’s Chief Relationship Officer Andrew Stavaridis, who leads the enterprise and RIA relationship management side. Envestnet has $7.0 trillion in platform assets, it said.
“Envestnet sits at the center of the wealth management value chain,” said Linstra. “Winning in this next phase is about alignment, not accumulation, aligning people, platforms, and go-to-market execution around how advisors and clients actually work. My focus is on helping advisors scale faster, operate more efficiently, and turn Envestnet's platform strength into consistent, repeatable results.”
iCapital Acquires Passthrough For Onboarding And Compliance Capabilities
iCapital announces the acquisition of Passthrough, a provider of automated onboarding technology and compliance infrastructure for fund managers and general partners (GPs). The deal expands iCapital’s capabilities for helping GPs capture institutional flows into alternative investments and provide better client experiences.
Passthrough’s private markets platform is designed to automate onboarding, streamline subscriptions and manage investor data. Its capabilities, which address investor identity, documentation and KYC/AML compliance, complement iCapital’s Identity Solutions, the firm said. iCapital serviced more than $1.13 trillion in platform assets, including $295.9 billion in alternative platform assets, as of Dec. 31.
“iCapital began with a clear focus on modernizing and simplifying how GPs connect with the wealth channel,” said Lawrence Calcano, Chairman and CEO of iCapital. “The acquisition of Passthrough is a natural extension of that focus and expands our capabilities to support the global GP community as they engage with—and serve—all of their LPs across the wealth and institutional markets.”
AssetMark Says Tax Optimization Services Saved Clients Over $60 Million In 2025
AssetMark reports its tax optimization services saved its clients an average of 1.42% on their annual tax bills in 2025, an increase from 1.29% the year before. The firm’s Tax Management Services (TMS) yielded more than $60 million in total tax savings for investors, it said.
The TMS program provides daily review of portfolios, with rebalancing and tax-efficient withdrawals, to maximize tax savings, AssetMark said. Advisors can use TMS for their clients’ SMAs or UMAs, including with some private market funds. The program covers assets worth more than $7 billion at AssetMark, an increase of nearly 250% in the past year, AssetMark said.
“Advisors want solutions that empower them to deliver real, measurable value for their clients,” said Michael Kim, CEO of AssetMark. “TMS is designed to help advisors capture tax-saving opportunities every day, tailor strategies to each client’s unique needs, and make smarter decisions when clients need access to their funds. These results show the difference a truly integrated, advisor-focused platform can make.”
PPB Upgrades PIX Private Markets Platform
West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania-based PPB Capital Partners announces a technology upgrade to its alternative investments platform, Private Investments Exchange (PIX). The new version of PIX, using technology from Delio, becomes available to advisors starting in February, PPB said.
The new version includes improvements to advisor workflows, including subscription process with automated data synchronization. It also features real-time dashboards and improved portfolio views. The redesign is intended to provide an intuitive, enhanced advisor experience and integrates more easily with other advisor systems.
“Enhancing PIX is a critical step in delivering the sophisticated, intuitive technology experience advisors expect,” said Amanda Bannon, Chief Operating Officer at PPB. “This evolution strengthens the entire PPBx program and allows us to pair PPB’s investment expertise and high-touch service with a modern, enterprise-grade digital platform.”
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