September 2026

One of this summer's spectator sports has been watching the big-money moves by private equity firms and their owners into US sports teams. A tally of the most consequential include Arctos' 10% investment in the Atlanta Falcons; Sixth Street's 3% stake in the New England Patriots; and Carlyle's, Sixth Street's and Dynasty Equity's just-announced undisclosed ownership of Seattle Seahawks.

Competition between financial centres is nothing new. Jurisdictions have long competed to attract capital, talent and investment expertise, recognising the wider economic benefits that a thriving asset management industry can bring. What is changing, however, is the intensity of that competition.

Private markets' capacity problem is well understood but poorly addressed. Industry groups, academics, and market participants all recognize that limited partners (LPs) face growing difficulty evaluating increasingly complex private-market transactions.

Tony Yoseloff does not believe investors are living through a difficult period for alternative funds. Quite the opposite. Speaking with Simon Brewer on the Money Maze Podcast, the Davidson Kempner CIO argued that markets have quietly entered what he describes as a golden age of absolute return strategies.

Ask anyone in fund operations what actually runs the business, and most will point past the shiny platforms to a spreadsheet: the one that's been quietly patched, extended and refined for a decade, and that nobody dares touch without asking first who built it.

The debate around the unprecedented investment required to build AI infrastructure has largely centered on whether the returns will justify the capital being spent. For credit investors, the more consequential question may be how the buildout is being financed and where the resulting risk will ultimately reside.

Every capital markets firm says they are investing in AI, but there are two ways to do so: building a team with a multi-year roadmap, or giving existing staff both tools and time to experiment. Employing staff is expensive, and expertise in both finance and AI is scarce, so what can you get for under $100,000?

The financial services industry has been an early adopter of AI, initially for improving automation in internal or 'back office' processes such as fraud prevention, and now increasingly in developing products such as agentic payment solutions.

A litigation funder underwrites a claim it did not bring, against a defendant it has never dealt with, before a judge it cannot choose, over a period it cannot control. Every element of that exposure is an information problem that the industry has historically solved late, at high cost, on material gathered by hand.

At $10 billion, CVC Capital Partners' sixth global secondary private equity fund ranks among the largest closes of the year, reflecting continued investor demand for secondaries. The vehicle invests across both traditional LP portfolio transactions and GP-led continuation vehicles, providing liquidity solutions to investors and fund managers in an increasingly active secondaries market.

Japan Logistics Development Partners V closed at ¥612 billion ($4 billion), making it the largest closed-end institutional real estate fund ever raised by Ares Management's real estate business. The vehicle closed at its hard cap and is almost 50% larger than its 2021 predecessor, underlining continued institutional demand for specialist logistics strategies.

Institutional investors committed $3 billion to Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners' Growth Markets Fund II. The fund is almost three times the size of its $1 billion predecessor and has already committed around $1.6 billion across nine investments spanning renewable energy, energy storage and green hydrogen projects in high-growth economies.

More than 60 institutional investors backed Warren Equity Partners' Fund V, which closed with approximately $2.8 billion in commitments, exceeding its $2.25 billion target and hitting its hard cap in less than 12 months. The fund continues Warren's strategy of investing in businesses that maintain and upgrade essential infrastructure.

StepStone Group closed its first dedicated infrastructure secondaries fund with $1.7 billion of commitments across the fund and related separate accounts, exceeding its fundraising target. The vehicle marks a further expansion of the firm's private markets platform into one of the fastest-growing areas of infrastructure investing.

Australia's largest venture capital fundraise to date saw Blackbird raise A$1.05 billion (US$680 million) across the latest vintage of its flagship funds. The capital will be invested through the firm's early-stage and growth strategies, allowing Blackbird to continue backing founders from seed funding through to later stages of development.

Chicago-based G Squared closed its seventh flagship venture fund with $2.3 billion of commitments, making it the firm's largest vehicle to date as institutional investors continue to increase allocations to growth-stage technology companies through private markets.

An inaugural $1 billion vehicle gives New York-based BlackSun Private Equity fresh capital as it pursues a longer-term ambition of building a $7 billion investment platform. The fund invests across sports, media, entertainment and technology, with professional sports franchise ownership forming the cornerstone of the strategy.

Private credit may be attracting attention for liquidity challenges elsewhere in the market, but institutional investors continue to back specialist strategies. European Capital Solutions Fund II closed with $625 million, making the vehicle almost 75% larger than its predecessor.

Granite Asia raised more than $500 million for its Libra Hybrid pan-Asia private credit strategy, surpassing its original fundraising target. The strategy provides hybrid capital to mid-market businesses across Asia, combining debt and equity features to address financing gaps.

Fundraising is under way for Carlyle's ninth flagship buyout fund, targeting $15 billion as the firm looks to match the size of its previous flagship vehicle. At the same time, it is seeking up to $3 billion for a dedicated defence-focused strategy.

Liquidity management is becoming one of the defining issues for retail private markets as managers balance investor demand for periodic liquidity against portfolios built around long-term private assets. Blackstone again limited withdrawals from its flagship Blackstone Private Credit Fund after redemption requests exceeded the fund's quarterly repurchase limit for a third consecutive quarter.

Saba Capital has shown little sign of backing away from its campaign against UK investment trusts, renewing its push at Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust by proposing three new directors ahead of the trust's November annual general meeting. Saba, which owns around 29% of the trust, argues governance changes are needed.

One to watch is what could become one of the largest hedge fund launches of the year. Former Sequoia Capital Global Equities chief Jeff Wang is preparing to launch Augnition Global Investors in October with more than $2 billion. The firm will be co-led by Alan Lo, a long-time partner and director of operations at SRS Investment Management.

Capula Investment Management has broadened its product range with the launch of a quantitative commodities strategy led by former AQR portfolio manager Yao Hua Ooi. The Capula Alternative Markets Alpha Fund is targeting capacity of between $2 billion and $3 billion and is currently fundraising.

In July 2026, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a package of proposals to update the UK asset management industry. This includes a UK-specific Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFM) regime, a new fund reporting framework and a single remuneration code.

On 3 August 2026, the FCA published Policy Statement PS26/15, finalising a more proportionate, streamlined and agile UK transaction reporting regime. This broadly follows consultation CP25/32, and reflects the government's decision to repeal the existing UK Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation provisions.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have issued a Joint Final Rule further extending the compliance deadline for the Form PF amendments adopted on February 8, 2024.

On July 16, 2026, the SEC proposed Regulation E-Delivery, which would allow issuers, broker-dealers, investment advisers and other covered entities to use electronic delivery as the default method for information required under the federal securities laws.

On August 12, 2026, the White House's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs received a proposed rule from the SEC concerning Rule 206(4)-5, the investment adviser pay-to-play rule. The submission follows the SEC's inclusion of pay-to-play reform in its 2026 Regulatory Flexibility Agenda.

On August 18, 2026, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would amend its commodity pool operator (CPO) and commodity trading advisor (CTA) registration framework. The proposal is intended to reduce duplicative and overlapping regulation while preserving market integrity.

The National Futures Association (NFA) has announced that, effective October 1 2026, all individuals required to submit fingerprints to the NFA must do so through Fieldprint, its newly designated fingerprinting service provider.