This edition of the Investments Roundup features Vestmark launching a tax-managed UMA, Amplius introducing a tax-smart ETF, AssetMark expanding into private markets, CFRA reporting on AI and robotics ETFs, Halo announces new tools for advisors, Coller Capital launching a private credit secondaries fund, Alumni Ventures joining SEI’s alts platform, First Trust starting a nuclear sector ETF, Tortoise debuting an AI infrastructure ETF, Unlimited introducing two hedge fund replication ETFs, CAIS partnering with Solactive on a private credit benchmark index and Advyzon starting a low-cost platform for managed model portfolios.
Larry's Take
This month, AssetMark announces an upcoming expansion into private markets, Coller Capital makes private secondaries available in the U.S., Alumni puts its VC investments on SEI’s platform, Vestmark develops a private assets UMA and CAIS launches a private credit index. On top of that, the White House just issued an executive order to facilitate the inclusion of alts, including private equity, in 401(k)s.
Private markets continue to evolve toward what the White House and others call “democratization” – in other words – availability to broader groups of investors with lower barriers to entry. As always with market innovations, some press for caution while others say that the landscape isn’t changing fast enough.
As innovations mature, they find a balance over time with regulation, risk and reward working out to a new normal. Private markets are no exception. With time, private markets will become common in mass affluent portfolios. And when we get to that point, will it still make sense to call them “private”?
If you would like to discuss this Larry’s Take further, including how these trends might impact your business, please contact me at larry.roth@rlrstrategicpartners.com.
Vestmark Teams With BlackRock, Dynasty And iCapital On Private Asset UMA
Vestmark launches a tax-managed unified managed account (UMA), developed with BlackRock, Dynasty Financial Partners and iCapital, that enables RIAs to combine private assets and separately managed accounts (SMAs) within one tax-managed portfolio for their clients. The capability will be available to RIAs looking to combine subscription-based alternatives with ETFs, mutual funds, equity SMAs, fixed income SMAs and direct index SMAs in a single custodial account, the firms said.
Upon launch, Dynasty advisors will be able to incorporate subscription-based alts into their UMA portfolios with asset allocation models created with BlackRock, integrating iCapital’s tools and platform. The enhancement is an extension of Dynasty’s existing Model Select program. Vestmark now supports $1.7 trillion in assets and 4.5 million accounts, it said.
“The wealth management industry has for too long been on the precipice of UMAs fulfilling their promise of simplicity and efficiency,” according to Karl Roessner, CEO of Vestmark. “With what we are launching today, Vestmark is fulfilling that promise,” he said, predicting the new offering will “revolutionize the advisor experience.”
Amplius Launches Tax-Smart ETF As Its First Fund
RIA Amplius Wealth Advisors introduces its first fund, the Amplius Aggressive Asset Allocation ETF (AAAA), an ETF that the firm said takes advantage of the IRS’ “351 Exchange Rule” to provide tax-deferred diversification for those investing in long-held, low-basis equities. The ETF started trading on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) on July 16, Amplius said.
AAAA includes U.S. large-, mid- and small-cap equities; international stocks; fixed income; and alternatives, Amplius said. It was designed for investors who are reluctant to sell appreciated equity positions due to tax consequences, the firm said, adding that such investors tend to want long-term growth with better balance than a typical large-cap-heavy portfolio.
“This ETF gives investors a way to diversify without having to pay the IRS immediately,” said Patrick Swift, Partner and President of Wealth Planning at Amplius. “If you’re sitting on a concentrated position — company stock, legacy shares, direct indexing — you now have a smart, tax-efficient way to reposition.”
AssetMark Expands Into Private Markets
AssetMark announces its expansion into alternative asset classes, with new private market capabilities to be launched and made available to advisors in the fourth quarter. The firm said it will integrate private assets into its managed solutions and discretionary programs. With advisors increasingly viewing alts as essential portfolio components, the initiative was designed to help them provide more “resilient, personalized portfolios” in what AssetMark called a “rapidly evolving investment landscape.”
The firm said some of its discretionary strategies will be allocated to private markets, enabling advisors to gain professionally managed exposure to the asset classes via integrated models. Also, AssetMark’s UMA accounts and Adhesion Wealth platform will let advisors invest in semi-liquid private funds in a single custody account with public securities.
“Private markets are no longer optional – they’re essential to building modern, diversified portfolios,” according to Lou Maiuri, Group CEO and Chairman of AssetMark. “This is about more than access – it’s about outcomes. We’re building a platform that helps advisors lead with confidence, no matter how the market or client base evolves.”
CFRA Report: AI And Robotics ETFs Grow To $18 Billion In Assets, But Invesco QQQ Trust Still Dominates
A CFRA report finds that AI and robotics ETFs have grown to $18 billion in assets, with net inflows of $4.5 billion for the year, as of July 9. Despite this rapid growth, the analysis finds that Invesco QQQ Trust ETF and its “cheaper cousin,” the Invesco Nasdaq 100 ETF, are still more popular choices for AI investors.
QQQ isn’t specifically designed to be an AI and robotics ETF, the report notes, but it holds the 100 largest non-financial companies on Nasdaq by market capitalization. With the Magnificent 7 stocks making up 40% of the ETF’s holdings, QQQ does provide an effective way to get AI exposure.
On whether specialized AI ETFs are likely to gain ground from QQQ, the report notes two factors to monitor: “The first is whether AI capex spend and stock returns broaden beyond the Mag 7, particularly the Big Four hyperscalers,” writes Aniket Ullal, CFRA’s Head of ETF Research. “The second is whether non-U.S. Industrials and Communication Services firms benefit either from AI compute spend or application development. If either of these trends pans out, then investors will likely start to consider adding AI- and robotics-themed ETFs to their portfolios instead of being more narrowly focused on QQQ as their AI investment vehicle of choice.”
Halo Launches New Tools For Advisors: Advanced Wealth Solutions And Aura
Chicago-based fintech Halo Investing announces two new offerings for advisors. The firm’s Advanced Wealth Solutions investment tools gives advisors access to products and strategies that it says are typically offered by institutions and private banks. These include hedging and monetization, securities-based lending, and secondary and pre-IPO markets. It plans to add tailored option portfolios and overlays.
Halo also launches Aura, a portfolio tool that helps advisors understand the impact of structured notes within a portfolio. The firm said Aura uses a Monte Carlo simulation to illustrate the likely impact of structured notes on return, risk and yield under a range of market conditions.
“Advisors are under increasing pressure to deliver better results and protect clients while clearly demonstrating the impact of their investment decisions,” said Matt Radgowski, CEO of Halo. “With Aura, advisors are empowered with the knowledge and data they need to calculate, understand, and articulate the level of protection Structured Notes can add to portfolios.”
Coller Capital Launches Private Credit Secondaries Fund
New York-based Coller Capital announces the U.S. launch of its private credit secondaries fund, CollerCredit. The firm said that the private credit secondaries market is growing, and its fund seeks to deliver income, diversification and downside mitigation from this asset class, along with providing more liquidity than is typical for private credit investments.
Coller Capital entered the credit secondaries market in 2008, the firm said. CollerCredit is part of the firm’s Private Wealth Secondaries Solutions business, which it started in 2023 to expand access to this asset class for high net worth investors. Coller managed $40 billion in assets as of June 30.
“Private credit secondaries represent a significant and expanding opportunity, but accessing it effectively requires deep expertise,” said Michael Schad, Partner and Head of Coller Credit Secondaries. “Coller has been investing in this space for over 16 years, and we believe our dedicated credit team is well positioned to lead this next phase of its evolution.”
Alumni Ventures Joins SEI To Provide Access To VC Investments
Manchester, New Hampshire-based Alumni Ventures joins SEI Access, a digital alts marketplace. SEI Access provides private market access to advisors with electronic subscription documents, custodial forms and e-signature capability. The deal enables RIAs and fiduciaries to access Alumni Ventures’ venture capital investments through managed portfolios.
Alumni Ventures, founded in 2014, has more than $1.4 billion in committed capital from over 11,000 accredited investors. The firm said it is one of 17 fund managers on the SEI platform, which also includes BlackRock, Hamilton Lane and KKR.
“Our mission is to democratize venture investing for a broader range of investors, and advisors are looking for efficient tools to deliver innovative asset classes to their clients,” said Mike Collins, Chief Executive Officer of Alumni Ventures. “Partnering with SEI Access accelerates that mission by making it simple for RIAs to incorporate a venture capital allocation into portfolios without building an internal deal-sourcing infrastructure.”
First Trust Announces New ETF To Track Nuclear Sector
Wheaton, Illinois-based First Trust Advisors announces a new ETF tracking the Bloomberg Nuclear Power Index, which holds companies in nuclear-related fields such as uranium, power generation, engineering and construction. First Trust said that AI and other innovations are driving demand for clean and reliable energy sources, which is fueling interest in nuclear power.
The First Trust Bloomberg Nuclear Power ETF is designed to provide exposure to companies in the nuclear power industry. First Trust has assets under management or supervision of approximately $278 billion as of June 30.
“The Bloomberg Nuclear Power Index was developed to provide a transparent, rules-based view into the global nuclear energy value chain and includes up to 50 companies selected based on their revenue exposure to nuclear power and market capitalization,” said Allison Stone, Head of Multi-Asset Index Product Management at Bloomberg Index Services Limited.
Tortoise Capital Debuts AI Infrastructure ETF
Overland Park, Kansas-based fund manager Tortoise Capital Advisors launches a new ETF investing in the infrastructure that underlies AI. Tortoise AI Infrastructure ETF (TCAI) focuses on three categories of AI infrastructure — energy, data center construction and digital hardware.
Tortoise said that since AI data centers consume large amounts of power, TCAI invests in electricity generation and distribution, pipeline infrastructure, natural gas and uranium. It also invests in construction companies and technology components that data centers use, such as switches, cables, data storage and cooling.
“Behind every AI breakthrough lies a foundation of essential infrastructure spanning energy systems, advanced technology platforms, data centers and more capable of storing and processing massive amounts of electricity, data, and information,” said Matt Sallee, Head of Investments at Tortoise Capital. “Given this rapid growth of AI, data center expansion, and subsequent energy demand, we believe there’s a compelling opportunity to invest in the companies that are enabling this revolution.”
Unlimited Introduces Two Hedge Fund Replication ETFs
New York City-based Unlimited introduces two actively managed ETFs investing in managed futures and equity long/short hedge fund strategies. The Unlimited HFMF Managed Futures ETF (HFMF) and the Unlimited HFEQ Equity Long/Short ETF (HFEQ) are designed to provide advisors with access to liquid, hedge-fund style investments that are low cost for their clients, the firm said.
Unlimited’s lineup of hedge fund strategies also includes the Unlimited HFGM Global Macro ETF, which invests in “mispricing opportunities” in currency, fixed income, equity, credit and exchange rate markets. The firm said it uses proprietary machine learning technology to analyze hedge fund returns and “replicate the underlying exposures while maintaining an expense ratio significantly lower” than standard hedge fund fees.
“With the addition of our Managed Futures and Equity Long/Short strategies, Unlimited now offers complementary strategies to help achieve diversification in a wide range of investor portfolios,” said Bob Elliott, CEO and CIO, Unlimited. “Deploying these strategies in the ETF wrapper, which offers intraday liquidity, affords the manager flexibility to adjust through volatile markets.”
CAIS And Solactive Partner On Private Credit BDC Index
Alts platform CAIS partners with index provider Solactive to launch a benchmark index for private credit exposure. The Solactive CAIS Private Credit BDC Index, or CAISCRED, is designed to track the performance of 40 perpetual non-traded BDCs that represent $130 billion in private credit assets and more than 8,000 loans, CAIS said. The index is calculated by Solactive and rebalanced quarterly.
CAISCRED is the first of a planned index series for private market investments. CAIS, founded in 2009, serves over 2,000 wealth management firms with more than 50,000 advisors overseeing approximately $6.5 trillion in client assets.
“CAISCRED sets a new standard for how private credit exposure is measured,” said Steffen Scheuble, CEO of Solactive. “By combining Solactive’s experience in index construction with CAIS Advisors’ deep understanding of private markets, we’re delivering a benchmark that advisors can fully utilize. This is just the first step in a broader series of indices designed to bring greater transparency and precision to private market investing.”
Advyzon Launches Sphere Low-Cost Managed Model Portfolios
Chicago-based Advyzon Investment Management launches Sphere, an investment platform of managed models and strategies that charges no strategist fees. The platform is designed to provide advisors and RIAs with low-cost, streamlined access to professionally managed model portfolios for their clients.
Sphere’s platform currently features six investment managers: Franklin Templeton, Zacks Investment Management, VanEck, Innovator Capital Management, Potomac and Janus Henderson Investors. In addition to removing strategist fees, Sphere has also lowered platform and trading fees, Advyzon said.
“Sphere isn't just another investment platform – it’s our commitment to democratizing access to sophisticated investment strategies,” said Lee Andreatta, CEO of Advyzon Investment Management. “This launch aligns perfectly with our mission to empower advisors through technology, and we believe Sphere will be transformative for advisors who want to deliver exceptional investment outcomes without the traditional cost burden.”
Wealth Solutions Report can be reached at info@wealthsolutionsreport.com.
