Big enough for its own fund-of-funds: Inside one wealth manager's own vehicle
This article examines how large registered investment advisers (RIAs) like Mercer Advisors are creating their own proprietary private markets fund-of-funds vehicles, bypassing intermediary platforms like iCapital and CAIS. Mercer's CIO Don Calcagni discusses Aspen Partners, the firm's two-year-old fund-of-funds platform for ultra-high-net-worth clients with $10M-$50M in investable assets. The vehicle allows Mercer to act as its own general partner, sourcing and managing private equity, venture, and credit exposure in-house. Key advantages include eliminating intermediary fees, negotiating directly with GPs, and applying institutional-grade due diligence. Aspen Partners raised $100M in its first year and is launching a new vintage, with about 325 families entrusting roughly $3 billion collectively. The article highlights how scale economics enable large RIAs to hire private markets talent and build service-provider relationships previously reserved for institutional allocators.
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