The latest news in investment offers, financial products and other services relevant to wealth advisors and their clients.

Brooks Macdonald
Brooks Macdonald has launched its new Global Managed Portfolio Service, or Global MPS, widening its range of investment solutions.

This new range will complement the firm’s existing Core MPS offering and be available from 31 March.

The Global MPS range will consist of 10 portfolios, five active and five passive, each aligned to a distinct risk profile, from low risk through to high risk. 

The service aligns its equity market exposure with the MSCI All Companies World Index (ACWI).

Available exclusively to advisors via third-party wrap platforms, the price of Global MPS at launch will be 15 basis points for active and 10 bps for passive portfolios.

DWS, Deutsche Bank
DWS and Deutsche Bank are co-operating to develop private credit origination and investment opportunities for DWS clients.

Under the arrangement, DWS will have preferred access to certain asset-based finance, direct lending and other private credit asset opportunities originated by Deutsche Bank, the organisations said in a statement yesterday. 

The cooperation brings together Deutsche Bank’s work in fixed income market access, liquidity provision, and financing capabilities, and the investment expertise from DWS’s €110 billion ($120.4 billion) alternative investment platform (as of 31 December 2024). The cooperation enables DWS to leverage Deutsche Bank’s extensive sourcing and origination capabilities to provide additional private credit investment opportunities to its global client base.

As part of the arrangement, Patrick Connors will move to DWS from his role as European head of the global credit financing and solutions business at Deutsche Bank to become global head of private credit at DWS. He will report to CEO Stefan Hoops, DWS’s chief executive. Connors has more than 20 years of experience in the private financing and credit markets.

Hamilton Lane
Private markets investment manager [|Hamilton Lane">Hamilton Lane has launched a new evergreen vehicle, the Hamilton Lane Private Markets Access ELTIF. (An ELTIF is a European long-term investment fund.)

The fund is available for retail investors in the European Economic Area (EEA). The area brings together the EU Member States and the three EEA EFTA States – Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

The ELTIF 2.0 structure will be available to non-professional investors through distribution partners across Europe, including Germany, Italy, Spain, France, the Nordics, and more.

The fund uses a multi-manager approach designed to provide a diversified portfolio across asset classes, regions, general partners and vintage years through a single allocation. It aims to provide equity-like returns by accessing investments across buyout, growth, venture capital and infrastructure. The fund implements investments in the portfolio primarily via co-investments and secondaries, Hamilton Lane said in a statement. 

“Across Europe and globally, we continue to pursue greater access to private markets for a broader set of investors,” Richard Hope, head of EMEA and global co-head of investments, said. “As one of only a handful of firms offering the ELTIF 2.0 structure today, our distribution partners now have the ability to offer retail investors in Europe the opportunity to benefit from the proven value creation opportunities provided by the private markets.”             

ELTIFs, introduced by the European Union in December 2015, aim to finance the real economy by channelling non-bank capital to long-term infrastructure projects and small, and medium-sized enterprise financing. ELTIFs are European alternative investment funds managed by a European alternative investment fund manager (AIFM) with a long-term ELTIF label. The second iteration of ELTIFs, taking effect in 2024, were designed to improve fundraising, enabling retail investors in the EU to put money into these structures.

Aegon Asset Management
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has just granted approval for the launch of the CG Aegon AM Private Credit LTAF – Aegon Asset Management’s first Long Term Asset Fund (LTAF). Carne Group, a large European third-party management company, will be acting as the Authorised Corporate Director (ACD) of the fund.

Aimed at the UK institutional and wealth markets, this is the first Aegon Asset Management fund approved within the CG Aegon AM LTAF umbrella structure, the firm said in a statement. The LTAF supports Aegon AM’s long-term commitment to offering clients "market-leading" private credit strategies across a broad range of high-quality asset classes. 

Drawing on the experience of Aegon AM’s 60-strong alternative fixed income team, the fund provides exposure to a range of Aegon private credit strategies. These assets have the potential to generate higher returns compared with public markets, increase diversification, and contribute to financing companies and projects in various high-quality jurisdictions including the United Kingdom, the firm continued.

“Private markets have received a great deal of attention over recent years with a particular focus on new groups of investors, such as defined contribution pension funds and the wealth management market, who have previously not necessarily had any significant exposure to this type of asset class,” Jill Johnston, head of institutional business at Aegon Asset Management, said.

“As demand for private markets continues to intensify across both institutional and retail wealth audiences, the launch of Aegon AM’s LTAF represents an important milestone in the opening up of private credit opportunities to a broader investor base, including UK pension savers,” Rich Willoughby, product lead at Carne Group, added.

Aegon Asset Management, which manages and advises on assets of $341 billion, has employees working across Europe, the Americas and Asia.