AW Scorecard: April Alts Fundraising One for the Record BooksMay8

By Susan Barreto, Editor of Alternatives Watch

Despite the continuing fallout from the coronavirus, April turned out to be a blockbuster month for alternative investment firms raising assets with distressed debt and targeted technology plays stealing the show. 

Alternative investment managers collected more than $35 billion, as recorded by fund closings and fundraising activities covered by Alternatives Watch. A table of the fund launches/closures follows below.

The majority of activity took place in distressed as Howard Mark’s was reported to have raised $15 billion for the largest distressed debt fund to have ever been raised. 

At the height of the global financial crisis, Oaktree put in nearly $2 billion to work in the market. The new fund, Oaktree Opportunities Fund XI, would be the largest distressed debt fund every raised.  Buying struggling companies’ debt the fund would in some instances control those businesses restructurings.

BlackRock set its own record last month with the final its Global Energy & Power Infrastructure Fund III at $5.1 billion, which was its largest alternative investment fundraise in the $7 trillion firm’s history.

BlackRock CEO Laurence Fink reported to shareholders that the firm had one of its best quarters in illiquid alternative fundraisings ever, generating $7 billion in new flows and commitments in the first quarter of this year.

Other alt firm’s raising more than $1 billion in capital last month were: Pimco; StepStone Group; Qiming Venture Partners and Highbridge Capital. 

All while investors are forced to handle due diligence at a distance, their activity in the private market space has remained sizable to date.