April 2026

March offered no soft landing. Instead, it delivered a stark reminder that geopolitics dominates markets. An unwanted war and deep uncertainty combined to make for a bruising month. Hedge funds struggled, with the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index falling 2.8%, trimming year-to-date gains to 0.9%.

Private credit is suffering a big wobble, not a collapse. Over the last month, Ares Management joined a growing list of large funds that are using gates to control redemptions and slow a dash for cash, prompting familiar comparisons with 2008.

For the private-markets investor, opportunities may seem a little messy right now. The rise in request for redemptions at credit funds, the advent of 401k accounts into the investor mix and the general rough sledding due to energy prices (hitting portfolio companies) geopolitics (hitting clarity) and interest-rate outlook (hitting stability) makes this a bigger guessing game than usual.

Oil prices have surged as tanker disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz threaten global supply. Approximately 21 million barrels - roughly 20% of global daily supply - pass through this 21-mile-wide chokepoint. When risk materializes here, it cascades far beyond IRR.

In a world where a single tweet can send markets haywire, building durable, long-term investment theses has become incredibly challenging, even following one of the hedge fund industry’s strongest years in decades. After a strong start to the year, recent events in the Middle East have caught some off guard, reinforcing just how quickly conditions can shift.

There are interviews that settle into familiar patterns, circling around markets, careers, returns and reputation. Simon Brewer’s conversation with Sir Michael Moritz went well beyond that.

Whilst historically both small and overlooked, European credit hedge funds have grown in recent years to occupy an important niche in diversified portfolio allocations. Unlike either private credit funds or traditional long-only funds, credit hedge funds enable investors to benefit from a much larger tool kit.

Liquidity conditions in private markets remain a central concern for allocators today, prompting renewed questions about the value of private allocations relative to public equivalents. This is not because the case for private assets has disappeared, but because the path from reported value to realised cash has, in some cases, become materially longer.

Fragmentation is a key feature of the current investment landscape, with geopolitical tensions and divergent policies creating a more complex and volatile environment. Capital flows and financing conditions are increasingly region and market-specific.

For asset managers of private capital in a fragmented world, trust is critical. We trust that ownership is clearly defined, transactions will settle as agreed, records are accurate, and rules are enforced consistently. Creating that trust is expensive. It requires intermediaries, compliance processes, reconciliation systems, legal contracts, and regulatory oversight.

KKR closed North America Fund XIV at approximately $23 billion, the firm's largest fund focused exclusively on North American buyouts. Fund XIV continues KKR's flagship strategy of pursuing large-scale control investments across technology, healthcare, industrials and services, with operational improvement and thematic investing central to its value-creation approach.

Blackstone closed Blackstone Life Sciences VI at its $6.3 billion hard cap, making it the largest private life sciences fund globally. The vehicle was oversubscribed and came in nearly 40% larger than its predecessor. The fund finances the development and commercialisation of innovative medicines and medical technologies across the full life cycle of companies and products.

Triton Partners closed its sixth flagship mid-market fund, T6, at the €5.5 billion target, the firm's largest fund to date. The vehicle raised capital from both new and existing investors globally and has already invested €900 million across three platform investments: Hanab, Keenfinity and MacGregor.

Blue Pool Capital closed its first dedicated private equity fund at $1 billion, marking the Hong Kong-based firm’s transition from a single-family office structure into a broader institutional platform. The firm has historically managed capital for Alibaba co-founder Joe Tsai.

Lead Edge Capital closed a record $3.5 billion for Fund VII, its largest fund to date, taking total capital raised since inception to $9 billion. Based in New York with offices in London and Santa Barbara, the firm focuses on growth-stage software, internet and technology-enabled businesses, targeting investments of $50 million to $400 million per company.

Inflexion raised €4.5 billion for Buyout Fund VII, closing at its hard cap and exceeding the initial target of €3.75 billion in six months. The fund was oversubscribed, with commitments from pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurers, endowments and family offices. The majority came from existing investors.

Kleiner Perkins raised $3.5 billion across two new funds, nearly double the firm's previous $2 billion raise. The firm has earmarked $1 billion for KP22, its 22nd early-stage vehicle, and $2.5 billion for KP Select IV, a growth-stage fund targeting more mature companies.

Sands Capital closed Global Innovation Fund III at $1.1 billion, exceeding its $1 billion target and a step up from the $780 million raised for its predecessor fund in 2021. The fund drew backing from new investors, including Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and funds managed by Hamilton Lane.

Treville Capital Group closed its inaugural Capital Solutions Fund at more than $500 million. The New York-based firm focuses on privately negotiated, asset-based and structured credit investments, providing capital to companies seeking alternatives to traditional financing.

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners secured a €1.3 billion first close for CI Green Credit Fund II, the second vintage of its flagship credit strategy. The fund is targeting an overall raise of €2 billion and includes commitments across a closed-ended vehicle, an evergreen structure and discretionary co-investments.

InfraVia Capital Partners closed its sixth European infrastructure fund at the €8 billion hard cap. The vehicle was oversubscribed, exceeded its original €7 billion target and closed in 18 months, a step up of €3 billion from its predecessor. More than half of commitments came from outside Europe.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management is holding preliminary talks with investors to raise at least $10 billion for West Street Loan Partners VI, a new global direct lending fund, Bloomberg reported. The vehicle is expected to focus on companies across North America, Europe and Australia, typically targeting businesses generating more than $100 million of EBITDA.

Taula Capital Management, the global macro hedge fund founded by former Millennium senior trader Diego Megia, raised $1.75 billion in fresh capital, Bloomberg reported. The inflow came from existing investors, bringing total assets under management to more than $8.5 billion, up from $5 billion at launch in mid-2024.

Orion Resource Partners closed Mine Finance Fund IV at approximately $2.2 billion, the largest raise in the New York-based firm's 13-year history. The close takes total assets under management to more than $9 billion. Investors include pension funds and sovereign wealth funds from across the globe.

Pershing Square Capital Management filed an S-1 registration statement with the SEC for the listing of Pershing Square Inc., the proposed parent company of the investment manager. The IPO is expected to trade on the NYSE under the ticker PS, giving investors direct exposure to the economics of Pershing Square's asset management platform.

Nelson Peltz's Trian Fund Management and General Catalyst raised their offer for Janus Henderson to $52 a share, the only proposal before the company's special committee following Victory Capital's rival bid withdrawal. Janus Henderson's board unanimously rejected the Victory approach on execution grounds.

WisdomTree agreed to acquire Atlantic House Holdings, the London-based systematic manager specialising in defined outcome and derivatives-driven strategies, for approximately £150 million. The deal is expected to close in Q2 2026. Atlantic House manages around £4.1 billion in assets.

On 19 March 2026, the FCA published its Regulatory Priorities for the UK Wholesale Buy Side sector. Published in March 2026, the inaugural annual Regulatory Priorities reports provide specific key priorities for each sector.

The FCA on 26 March 2026 released its annual work programme for 2026-2027, an annual staple of its regulatory calendar, last published on 8 April 2025, and now in its second year in the regulator’s Strategy 2025-2030.

On 18 March 2026, the Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA"), Bank of England and the Prudential Regulation Authority ("PRA") each published policy statements on establishing a common regulatory regime for operational incidents and third party reporting.

The FCA on 13 March 2026 issued a final notice to Kasim Garipoglu, prohibiting him from working in financial services, for failing to act with honesty and integrity. Mr Garipoglu was the owner of a firm that provided online trading of foreign exchange and contracts.

On March 11, 2026, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) and Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) entered into a significant new Memorandum of Understanding ("MoU") aimed at strengthening coordination between the agencies.

In an interpretive release issued on March 17, 2026 and effective March 23, 2026, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) provided an interpretation regarding the application of the federal securities laws to certain types of crypto assets and certain transactions involving crypto assets.

The National Futures Association (“NFA”) on March 19, 2026 announced that it had repealed Interpretive Notice 9071, which previously required Commodity Pool Operator (“CPO”) and Commodity Trading Advisor (“CTA”) Members to report certain quarterly financial ratios under Compliance Rule 2-46.

On March 10, 2026, the National Futures Association ordered a member commodity pool operator in Greenwich, Connecticut to withdraw from, and not reapply for, NFA membership or principal status. The NFA also ordered the firm’s principal and associated person to withdraw from, and not reapply for, NFA membership or principal status.