Private markets asset manager StepStone plans to use the London Stock Exchange Group’s (LSEG’s) new Digital Markets Infrastructure (DMI) to distribute its evergreen funds to professional investors. The DLT-based DMI supports issuance, tokenization and distribution as well as post trade servicing, with plans to enable liquidity for secondaries in the future. The LSEG platform is integrated with its Workspace offering, making the private funds available to its 400,000 users. Fund administrator Apex announced plans to use DMI in February.
“We believe innovation in distribution and access will be central to the long term maturation of private markets in wealth,” said David Jeffrey, Vice Chairman at StepStone. The asset manager has $220 billion in assets under management and another $590 billion where it provides non discretionary advisory services.
One of the big topics in private funds is democratization of access. StepStone Wealth Management CEO Bob Long spoke about the changes in access to individual investors, saying they provide access “to the same caliber of deals, at the same price at the same time.” He added that fees are still higher for smaller investors, but the gap has narrowed significantly. Transparency has also improved, he said. However, during a recent earnings call by fellow private asset manager Apollo, CEO Marc Rowan raised an important issue relating to individual investors, and so-called day one markups of secondaries included in evergreen funds.
Article continues …
Want the full story? Pro subscribers get complete articles, exclusive industry analysis, and early access to legislative updates that keep you ahead of the competition. Join the professionals who are choosing deeper insights over surface level news.
