June 2026

Hedge funds gained in May as markets stopped pricing the worst case in the Middle East. The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index rose 1.7%, helped by lower volatility.

Let's take a look at infrastructure, not focused on data centers, toll roads or logistics hubs. Instead, let's look at blockchain as infrastructure or the operational plumbing that may help private markets scale more efficiently into wealth channel for alternatives.

Interest has now fallen back to more normal levels but a major regulatory upheaval is coming from the EU to which all of industry should now pay close attention: the review of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation.

What is happening at the intersection of private credit and AI is a structural story: a decade of concentrated underwriting around the SaaS loan as the ideal private credit asset, now being stress-tested across an entire market before pricing has caught up.

There is a quiet distortion in the regulatory compliance market. Too many hedge fund managers are being encouraged to view regulatory hosting and FCA authorisation as decisions about speed, cost and process. They are not.

Activism is one of those financial terms that has acquired more baggage than clarity. For some investors it evokes public battles, bruising proxy fights and impatient hedge funds demanding short-term returns.

The debate surrounding ESG is increasingly fatigued. As allocators grapple with shifting regulatory frameworks and the inherent limitations of using ESG merely as a defensive, backward-looking risk overlay, the focus is decisively shifting toward impact investing.

The most important question in impact investing is not whether capital reaches the underserved. It does. The question is what actually happens next.

Developing economies need between $1.1 trillion and $1.8 trillion a year in climate finance over the next decade. But while capital is abundant, it is not flowing at the scale, the price, or at risk levels that work, into the markets where it is most needed.

When Microsoft procures energy or builds a data centre, it does not pay for intentions. It pays for performance. Carbon removals are increasingly subject to the same standard.

Blackstone has raised $13.1 billion for Blackstone Capital Partners Asia III, beating its original $10 billion target and making the vehicle the firm's largest Asia-focused private equity fund.

It was also another successful Asia raise for Bain Capital, which now has a further $10.5 billion to deploy across the region.

Cybersecurity and AI services are setting the early tone for Eurazeo's latest European mid-market fund. The Paris-listed private markets firm has raised more than EUR 1 billion at the first close of PME V.

Private credit's largest platforms are still separating from the pack. Barings has closed more than $19 billion for its global direct lending strategy after two years.

Pemberton Asset Management has closed the fourth vintage of its Strategic Capital strategy at EUR 3.4 billion, taking total commitments across the platform to EUR 8.3 billion.

Goldman Sachs Alternatives has raised more than $3 billion at the first close of West Street Infrastructure Partners V, reaching about 75% of its $4 billion target in less than six months.

Ampersand Capital Partners closed Ampersand 2026 at its $1.5 billion hard cap, completing a single close less than five months after launch.

Stoneshield Capital closed Stoneshield Opportunity Fund IV at its EUR 1.5 billion hard cap after less than six months in market.

The awkward middle of climate investing is where S2G Investments wants to put its new fund to work. The Chicago firm has closed Solutions Fund I at $1 billion.

Shamrock Capital has closed its fourth content strategy fund at $813 million, above the original $700 million target.

Hong Kong-based Kuark Capital has secured at least $400 million for a fund focused on Asian technology stocks, with artificial intelligence and semiconductors at the centre of the strategy.

CPP Investments has sold a diversified portfolio of private equity fund interests to Blackstone Strategic Partners and Ardian, generating net proceeds of about C$4 billion after costs and adjustments.

DigitalBridge has agreed to acquire ArcLight Capital Partners in a transaction with a base purchase price of $650 million and up to $400 million of contingent consideration.

AGF Management is increasing its economic ownership of New Holland Capital to 50% by converting an existing convertible note into equity and making a further $20 million cash investment.

J.C. Flowers has finally acquired Monte dei Paschi di Siena's French division, Monte Paschi Banque, after regulatory approvals delayed a deal first agreed in 2025.

On 19 May 2026, the Financial Conduct Authority published the 10th edition of its Regulatory Initiatives Grid. Published twice yearly, the Grid sets out planned regulatory initiatives for the next 24 months.

On 12 May 2026, HM Treasury finally published an outcome to its July 2025 consultation. Subsequently, the UK's Financial Services and Markets Bill was introduced on 19 May 2026 in the House of Lords.

On 18 May 2026, the Financial Conduct Authority and Bank of England published a Call for Input setting out a shared vision for the safe adoption of tokenisation in UK wholesale financial markets.

On April 28, 2026, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued an order adjusting for inflation the dollar-amount thresholds used to determine qualified client status under Rule 205-3 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

In remarks delivered at the Managed Funds Association Legal & Compliance Conference on May 13, 2026, SEC Division of Enforcement Director David Woodcock outlined a clear and pragmatic vision for the agency's enforcement priorities.

The SEC has submitted a proposed rule to rescind its longstanding policy restricting defendants from denying enforcement allegations in post-settlement communications.

On 6 May 2026, the regulator charged 21 individuals in an alleged scheme built on material non public information misappropriated from multiple global law firms.