Alts Managers Collect $45bn in March Alone, While the Q1 Tally Soars to $95bnApr23

By Susan Barreto, Editor of Alternatives Watch

Private equity fund closes led the blockbuster fundraising in welcoming $25 billion in fresh capital in March 2021, according to the latest Alternatives Watch Manager Scorecard that found a total of $45 billion in new capital inflows among private equity, private debt, hedge fund and real estate funds.

On annualized basis, alternatives managers are on track for a strong year for fundraising, with the first quarter seeing $95 billion in capital inflows to specific funds tracked by Alternatives Watch. By comparison, all of 2020, we tracked over $300 billion in fund closes and initial fundraises for a myriad of alternative investments.

In 2021, March is the biggest month to date with $33 billion flowing in managers in January and $17 billion in February. Perhaps more interestingly, all of the funds that are currently closing to new investors raised funds over the course of the pandemic with the trend being that investors allocating to larger and perhaps existing managers in their portfolio.

After private equity, private debt was the second most popular fund strategy in March with managers raising $12.1 billion. Real estate followed with funds raising $7.6 billion. 

Hedge funds ($600 million) raised the least amount of assets, but publicly funds of hedge funds were launched with undisclosed amounts of commitments. For example, BlackRock Alternatives Advisors plotted a $500 million fundraise for a new fund of hedge fund launch. Also, Blackstone, the world’s largest fund of hedge funds, launched the new Blackstone Horizon strategic partnerships offering.  

Here’s our exclusive Alternatives Watch ranking of the top 10 fund closures for the month of March.

Manager name Fund name Amount raised ($m)