In this month’s roundup, Morningstar Wealth planned public-private model portfolios as Morningstar documented a reversal in private credit demand, Gridline partnered with Hamilton Lane, Flexstone agreed to acquire Glouston, iCapital expanded its distributed-ledger network with UMB and identified potential second-half economic risks, Jade launched an options platform, State Street reported on private markets and ETF flows, SEI expanded its registered transfer agency, BetaNXT partnered with CAIS, Voya added private assets to managed accounts, HFR reported June hedge fund gains, MSCI and UBS partnered on private markets data and analytics, and AssetMark expanded its direct indexing program.
Morningstar Develops Public-Private Models, Reveals Private Credit Demand Is Slowing
Morningstar Wealth is working with Apollo, Franklin Templeton and J.P. Morgan Asset Management to develop six risk-based public-private model portfolios for financial advisors, with availability planned later this year. The Morningstar Public/Private Select Series will combine ETFs and interval funds, including private credit and real estate exposures representing approximately 12% to 20% of allocations, depending on each model’s risk profile and market opportunities.
Morningstar also released research showing that semiliquid fund assets have more than doubled since 2022 and are approaching $600 billion, while demand for private credit has weakened. Private credit fell by approximately $1 billion during the first quarter amid concerns about credit quality and software exposure, and Morningstar found that only 16% of advisors considered themselves very familiar with semiliquid funds.
Jason Kephart, Senior Principal at Morningstar, stated, “The about face we’re seeing in private credit semiliquid funds shows there’s been an education gap in how investors should be using these funds as long-term investments, not something to jump in and out of. We’re also seeing an expansion into new private markets with private equity and venture capital gaining a lot more interest suggesting there’s more diversification.”
Gridline Integrates Hamilton Lane Data Into AltComply
Gridline partnered with Hamilton Lane to incorporate Hamilton Lane’s proprietary private markets data into AltComply, Gridline’s AI-based diligence tool. The integration adds a new benchmarking engine that lets wealth managers, investment teams and compliance organizations compare fund managers with vintage-year cohorts and peer groups, review historical performance and document repeatable investment diligence within the AltComply workflow.
The firms executed the agreement in May, and Gridline completed the integration within four weeks before making it available to customers. Gridline’s in-house investment team beta-tested the capability through its outsourced chief investment officer work and investment committee reviews. Hamilton Lane reported $1 trillion in assets under management and supervision as of March 31.
Peter Bilali, Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder of Gridline, stated, “One of the most important steps in institutional-quality due diligence is understanding how a fund manager’s performance compares against relevant peers over time. Without that context, investors are often flying blind when evaluating managers. AltComply’s new capabilities help close the gap and enable investment teams to scale investment diligence while preserving judgment and maintaining a defensible audit trail.”
Flexstone To Acquire Glouston, Form $15 Billion Platform
Flexstone Partners agreed to acquire Glouston Capital Partners, forming a private equity platform with more than $15 billion in assets across primary, co-investment and secondary strategies. Flexstone, an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers, managed approximately $12 billion as of April 30, while Boston-based Glouston manages more than $3.4 billion and focuses on North American middle-market private equity secondaries.
Flexstone and Glouston will retain their investment teams, and Glouston’s six partners will continue managing the secondary business from Boston while becoming Flexstone Managing Partners. The combined platform will operate from New York, Boston, Paris, Geneva and Singapore with 37 investment professionals, and Glouston’s strategies will adopt the Flexstone name without changes to existing fund structures, limited partner agreements or investment mandates.
Eric Deram, Managing Partner and CEO of Flexstone Partners, stated, “Flexstone Partners is pleased to welcome Glouston Capital Partners’ experienced team as we move into a new phase of growth. Glouston’s team brings a complementary investment philosophy to the middle-market landscape and a long history of disciplined execution. Their secondaries expertise aligns with our culture and expands the breadth of strategies that Flexstone can offer investors across our private equity platform.”
iCapital Expands Distributed Ledger Technology Network, Identifies Economic Risks
iCapital and UMB Fund Services expanded their partnership by integrating iCapital’s distributed ledger technology into UMB’s fund administration operations. The shared data framework will support the exchange of investor and fund information across onboarding, subscription processing and servicing, with the companies seeking to reduce manual touchpoints, reconciliation requirements and operational friction as alternative investment activity expands across wealth managers, fund sponsors and administrators.
Separately, iCapital’s midyear outlook said U.S. economic momentum could continue into the third quarter before three potential constraints slow growth: scrutiny of AI capital spending, consumer strain, and high inflation and interest rates. The firm said hyperscaler capital investment has more than tripled since 2023, consumer spending is propped up by reduced savings and greater leverage, and inflation has remained above target for more than five years.
Sonali Basak, Managing Director and Chief Investment Strategist at iCapital, stated, “With record spending and wide-open capital markets, it’s clear that the need to finance AI buildouts will require continued equity, debt, and private market fundraisers. We believe investors will be intensely assessing the returns on every dollar, particularly as AI productivity has not yet truly proven itself.”
Jade Launches Options Platform For RIAs
Jade launched an options technology platform for independent RIAs to implement covered calls, protective puts and collars in client portfolios, including concentrated stock positions. The platform combines execution, monitoring, reporting and compliance functions, with automation-supported trading and risk management designed to let advisors manage options overlays without relying on packaged products, general-purpose wealth technology or separately outsourced overlay providers.
The Boston-based company said its platform includes real-time dashboards and integrations with Schwab, Fidelity and Pershing, allowing advisors to implement strategies at the client level and across custodians. Jade, founded in 2025 by Jared Lucas and Steven Dorval, also opened the Jade Alpha Circle, an early-access program through which a limited number of advisors will receive priority onboarding and provide product-development feedback.
Lucas, Co-Founder and CEO of Jade, stated, “Advisors have long understood the value of options in managing concentrated positions, but the operational burden has limited adoption. We built Jade to make these strategies usable within the day-to-day realities of an advisory business.”
State Street Tracks Private Markets Shift, ETF Flows
State Street’s fifth annual Private Markets Study found that over 84% of asset and wealth managers either offer or plan to offer private markets strategies to individual investors, while only 7% expect to reduce allocations. Half plan to increase exposure, but nearly eight in 10 respondents identified liquidity management as a challenge, including redemption management, cash forecasting and stress testing as firms expand through wealth channels.
State Street Investment Management separately reported that U.S.-listed ETFs attracted $196 billion in June, lifting second-quarter flows to a record $560 billion and first-half inflows above $1 trillion. The firm projected $2.3 trillion for the full year. Equity ETFs gathered approximately $150 billion in June, fixed income took in $55 billion and active ETFs received a monthly record of $74 billion.
Joerg Ambrosius, President of Investment Services at State Street, stated, “The private markets story is defined by resilience on one side and reinvention on the other. Demand remains strong but delivering private markets to a broader investor base at scale is fundamentally reshaping how the industry operates. Success will depend on who can manage complexity and deliver consistent outcomes across a much wider set of clients.”
SEI Expands Registered Transfer Agency
SEI expanded its transfer agency business through SEI Transfer Agency and Registry Services, an SEC-registered operation supporting U.S. traditional and alternative asset managers with retail-distributed registered funds. Using Envision Financial Systems technology, the service extends SEI’s capabilities to ’40 Act interval funds, tender offer funds and business development companies, as well as ’34 Act registered 3(c)(7) funds.
SEI said its institutional transfer agency has operated for 18 years and services more than 1,100 funds representing $395 billion in assets as of March 31. The expanded offering includes investor recordkeeping and accounting, transaction processing, digital interfaces, business process automation, dealer support, statements, confirmations, tax reporting and compliance functions for fund managers operating across a broader range of registered structures.
Sean Lawlor, Head of Public Markets for SEI’s Investment Managers Business, stated, “The expansion of SEI’s transfer agency capabilities strengthens our role as a trusted strategic partner in helping our clients navigate an ever-changing industry landscape. Leveraging Envision’s technology provides us with the added flexibility and reliability to support fund managers at every turn—launching and scaling products, reducing administrative burden, increasing cost efficiency through a single provider, and growing assets.”
BetaNXT And CAIS Connect Alternatives Workflows
BetaNXT and CAIS formed a strategic partnership connecting firms in the BetaNXT network with CAIS’ alternative investment capabilities across the trade lifecycle. The integration is intended to automate subscription documents, capital calls, trade processing, confirmations, settlements and position reporting within existing operating models, combining CAIS’ marketplace and workflow capabilities with BetaNXT’s real-time data systems to reduce manual work associated with alternatives.
The agreement expands BetaNXT’s wealth technology offering while providing CAIS with another distribution route to broker-dealers, advisors and wealth managers using the BetaNXT network. CAIS said its platform supports pre-trade, trade and post-trade functions for more than 2,000 wealth management firms and 62,000 financial advisors overseeing approximately $7.5 trillion in end-client assets.
Tim Rutka, President of Beta, a BetaNXT business, stated, “As demand for alternative investments continues to grow, firms need technology that makes access easier and operations more efficient. Our partnership with CAIS strengthens our ability to support alternatives as part of a broader connected wealth experience and strengthens the value we deliver through our platform.”
Voya Adds Private Assets To Advisor Managed Accounts
Voya Financial expanded its Advisor Managed Accounts program to permit RIAs to allocate retirement plan participants’ professionally managed portfolios to private equity, private credit and private real estate. Launched in 2021, the program combines advisor education and personalized portfolio management.
Initial investment options include Voya Investment Management’s V-ALT collective investment trusts and Blue Owl’s Alternative Credit CIT and Real Estate Net Lease CIT. Voya said it will evaluate additional managers and strategies through its governance process, and the expansion builds on Primary Plus, which allows third-party RIAs using Voya managed accounts to add investments outside a retirement plan’s core lineup.
Amy Vaillancourt, President, Retirement at Voya Financial, stated, “Professionally managed solutions like advisor managed accounts can help participants navigate more complex investment options with greater confidence, while providing structured access to a broader set of investments.”
HFR Reports Third Consecutive Monthly Hedge Fund Gain
Hedge funds posted a third consecutive monthly gain in June, with the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index advancing 0.4%, according to HFR. The index gained 6.55% during the second quarter, its strongest quarter since the fourth quarter of 2020, and returned 7.6% during the first half, its best first six months of a calendar year since 2021.
The HFRI Equity Hedge (Total) Index gained 1.3% in June, including increases of 6.1% for healthcare and 4.4% for technology, while event-driven rose 1.2%, according to HFR. Relative value added 0.25%, but macro declined 1.5%. The HFR Cryptocurrency Index fell an estimated 13.1%, and approximately 55% of hedge funds produced positive returns for the month.
Kenneth J. Heinz, President of HFR, stated, “Hedge funds advanced for the month as equity markets eclipsed new records driven by AI gains, as well as contributions from exposure to the record Space X IPO, although managers were forced to navigate increasing risk off sentiment throughout the month driven by concerns about valuation and the sustainability of AI spending.”
MSCI And UBS Partner On Private Markets Platform
MSCI and UBS formed a strategic partnership to expand MSCI’s AI-powered private markets platform by combining MSCI data, analytics and models with UBS’ experience as a limited partner, wealth manager and asset manager. UBS will serve as an early adopter while the firms work on a standardized system addressing fragmented data, inconsistent reporting and limited transparency across the private markets investment lifecycle.
The platform combines fund discovery, portfolio management, analytics and benchmarking in one system and uses automated processing and MSCI performance data to produce more timely portfolio information. The partnership is also intended to connect general partners with institutional and private wealth investors. UBS reported $6.9 trillion in invested assets as of the first quarter.
Henry Fernandez, Chairman and CEO of MSCI, stated, “As private markets become an increasingly important part of the investment landscape, investors are looking for the insights, rigor and accessibility that they have come to expect in public markets. By combining MSCI and UBS’s respective strengths, we aim to help build the infrastructure that can shape the future of private markets investing.”
AssetMark Expands Direct Indexing Program
AssetMark expanded its Direct Indexing program with additional Index SMA strategies available through its Unified Managed Account platform. The new options provide lower investment minimums and allow advisors to combine passive index exposure with active and passive strategies in one custodial account, while using AssetMark’s tax-management capabilities to coordinate portfolio customization, rebalancing and implementation across eligible strategies for clients.
Advisors can apply AssetMark’s Tax Management Services across eligible index and active SMA strategies in the same account, including coordinated rebalancing, tax-smart optimization and client-specific tax settings. AssetMark said the expansion is intended to support personalized portfolios without separate operational workflows. The company served more than 10,000 advisors, with over $180 billion across its platforms as of June 30.
Michael Kim, CEO of AssetMark, said, “Advisors are looking for investment solutions that deliver greater flexibility and customization without adding complexity. Expanding our Direct Indexing program reflects our commitment to continuously strengthening AssetMark’s wealth management platform with greater investment choice, integrated technology and tax-aware capabilities that allow advisors to grow their practices while providing a high-quality, bespoke client experience.”
Wealth Solutions Report can be reached at info@wealthsolutionsreport.com.
