Hamilton Lane’s Brennan On The Rising Importance of Private Markets for RIAs

Hamilton Lane has been a leader in private markets investing for over 30 years, historically working with sophisticated institutional investors. Since 2019, the firm has made these institutional-quality strategies available to high-net-worth investors. With a global perspective from their team of over 700 people across 21 offices, Hamilton Lane manages or supervises $956 billion in assets*.

The firm boasts expertise across the full spectrum of private markets, including private equity, venture capital, private credit, private real estate, private infrastructure, private secondaries, and natural resources. With one of the most comprehensive data sets in the industry, Hamilton Lane uses this information to help advisors stay informed of developments, changes and trends in the alternatives space. The firm tracks private fund returns, benchmarking data and portfolio companies held in private funds.

Today, advisors have more options than ever to access private markets. According to Hamilton Lane’s Steve Brennan, Head of Private Wealth Solutions, “Advisors are trying to determine which types of investments to choose. They want to better understand how and why to allocate to alternative investments and be able to educate their clients,” he said. “Education is important, as private market investments require investors to be diversified and understand the long-term investment commitment. In fact, our Knowledge Center, a private markets educational resource, is one of the most visited pages of our website.”

Private markets now comprise over $13 trillion [1]. Opportunities in private markets continue to grow, as there are 43% fewer public companies today compared to 1996 [2]. Additionally, 87% of U.S. companies with over $100 million in annual revenue are privately held [3].

Historically, institutional investors accessed private markets through drawdown funds with 10-to-12-year life spans and K1 tax reporting. Today, Hamilton Lane offers a series of evergreen funds that allow the private wealth market to access private equity, private credit, private infrastructure and private secondary strategies with access to limited liquidity. The potential benefits of evergreen funds include immediate full deployment of capital, improved tax reporting through Form 1099, the ability to build diversified portfolios, and minimum investments as small as $25,000 in some cases.

Hamilton Lane is emerging as an ideal partner for RIAs looking to enter or increase exposure to alternative investments. Through their suite of evergreen funds, the firm has made private market strategies more accessible than ever before. This increased access allows RIAs to offer their clients a broad range of investment opportunities, including infrastructure, a sector that has grown in prominence due to its low correlations to traditional asset classes like stocks and bonds.

“Infrastructure investments are not only capable of generating steady returns, but they also provide tangible assets that are easily understood by everyday investors — such as roads, hospitals, and airports,” said Brennan. “This relatability makes it easier for clients to connect with their investments, while benefiting from the essential services these assets provide to the global economy.”

Infrastructure investments include toll roads, airports, seaports, data centers, hospitals, and power generation facilities. These assets provide essential services critical to today’s economy and may offer income, inflation protection, and relatively low volatility with low correlation to public equity markets. Hamilton Lane also offers access to next-generation infrastructure investments, such as data centers, which power technologies like artificial intelligence, further solidifying the firm’s role in shaping the future of private market investments for RIAs.

The Hamilton Lane Private Infrastructure Fund (“HLPIF”) is a continuously offered closed-end investment vehicle providing high-net-worth investors access to infrastructure investments. As an evergreen fund, investors can make investments at any time, with the fund allocating assets to primary funds, co-investments, and secondary purchases is a continuously offered closed-end investment vehicle providing high-net-worth investors access to infrastructure investments. As an evergreen fund, investors can make investments at any time, with the fund allocating assets to primary funds, co-investments, and secondary purchases.

As private markets continue to grow in importance, Hamilton Lane remains at the forefront, bridging the gap between institutional-grade investment strategies and high-net-worth investors. Their commitment to providing accessible and diversified investment opportunities for RIAs positions them as a critical partner in the evolving landscape of alternative investments.

For more information, visit https://www.hamiltonlane.com/en-us/strategies/evergreen-strategies.

*Inclusive of $135B in discretionary assets under management and $821B in non-discretionary assets under supervision, as of December 31, 2024.

Resources:

• Introduction to Evergreen Funds
• Introduction to Infrastructure Investing
• Infrastructure: A Primer
• A Guide to Private Markets
• Advisor Allocations to Private Markets

Sources:

1. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/private-capital/our-insights/global-private-markets-report-2024
2. https://www.bluetrust.com/blogs/why-has-the-number-of-public-companies-declined/
3. https://www.advisorpedia.com/chart-center/number-of-public-companies-v-private-us/ (Source: Hamilton Lane, iCapital, CapitalIQ)