Alt Goes Mainstream: The Latest on Alternative Investments, WealthTech, & Private Markets

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
We sat down with Anthony Maniscalco, the Managing Partner and Business Head of Investcorp Strategic Capital Group (ISCG).
We were live from Berlin, which becomes the “capital of private capital” in June as private equity industry leaders make the annual pilgrimage to the city for one of the marquee private equity conferences, SuperReturn Berlin.
With Prosek Partners and former Bloomberg TV journalist Deirdre Bolton as my producer, along with her team, we took over a Tiny Space cabin to hold big conversations with some of the industry’s leading alternative asset managers.
Investcorp has been a pioneer in private equity. Since its founding in 1982, the firm has grown from a “boutique Gulf firm” into a global and diversified alternative asset manager. 
Investcorp launched its Strategic Capital Group (SCG) (GP stakes) business long after its founding in 1982. But the firm brought in a pioneer to launch and build SCG into a leading GP stakes firm, which now has over $2.2B of AUM. 
Anthony has been involved in GP stakes from the industry’s early days. He was a founding member of Blackstone Strategic Capital Holdings, a $3.3B private, permanent capital vehicle focused on acquiring minority interests in alternative asset manager GPs. He was also a Managing Director of the Hedge Fund Solutions business at The Blackstone Group. Prior to joining Investcorp, Anthony was a Managing Director and Co-Head of Credit Suisse Anteil Capital Partners. 
Launched in 2019, Investcorp’s SCG acquires minority interests in alternative asset managers, particularly GPs that manage longer-duration private capital strategies. SCG has completed 12 investments since inception.
Anthony and I had a fascinating conversation about the evolution of GP stakes and the benefits of GP stakes for investors. We covered:
Why have stakes shifted from hedge funds to alternative asset managers?
Why the features of the alternative asset management business model (contracted management fees, locked-up capital, less key-person risk) can make for a good GP stake investment.
Why a GP would sell an equity stake in its firm to finance its growth.
Unpacking the middle-market GP landscape and where middle-market GPs need help growing their firm.
The evolution from fund to firm and what’s next for GP stakes.
Bio
Anthony Maniscalco is the Managing Partner and Business Head of Investcorp Strategic Capital Group (ISCG), based in New York. ISCG is focused on providing capital solutions to the GPs of mid-sized private market alternative asset managers. ISCG closed its inaugural fund in the Spring of 2022 and currently manages over $2.2 billion of AUM. In his current role, Mr. Maniscalco is focused on managing the overall business, sourcing new investment opportunities, advising portfolio GPs and is the chairperson of the Investment Committee.
Prior to his current role, Mr. Maniscalco was a Managing Director and Co-Head of Credit Suisse Anteil Capital Partners. Prior to this, he was Managing Director of the Hedge Fund Solutions business at The Blackstone Group. At Blackstone, he was a founding member and on the investment committee of Blackstone Strategic Capital Holdings, a USD 3.3 billion private, permanent capital vehicle focused on acquiring minority interests in alternative asset manager GPs.
Prior to Blackstone, Mr. Maniscalco was Head of Alternative Asset Management Banking at Barclays (and its predecessor Lehman Brothers) within its Financial Institutions Group. Prior to this role, Mr. Maniscalco was head of the Media and Telecom vertical within Lehman Brothers’ Leveraged Finance Group.
Early in his career, he worked at Bank of America and its predecessor Continental Bank in Chicago, focused on high-yield, mezzanine, syndicated bank loans, and interim financing products.
Anthony holds a B.S. from Indiana University (2026 College Football National Champions!) and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.
Thanks, Anthony, for sharing your expertise, wisdom, and passion about GP stakes and the business of alternative asset management.
Show Notes
00:00 Live From Berlin
00:15 Meet Anthony Maniscalco
02:56 Early Staking Was Hedge Funds
03:05 Banks And Prime Brokerage
03:40 Private Equity Hits A Wall
03:53 Shift To Private Equity Stakes
04:30 Why Stakes Are Attractive
04:54 Locked In Fee Streams
05:31 Carry And Diversification
06:06 How LPs Classify Stakes
06:59 Three Allocation Buckets
07:55 Strategic Access Flywheel
09:05 Tougher Fundraising Today
09:19 Why Middle Market
09:05 Fundraising Help For GPs
10:55 Underwriting Growth Readiness
12:15 Primary Capital Use Of Proceeds
12:49 Why Equity Is Worth It
14:46 Talent Retention And Next Gen
15:46 Wealth Channel Fit
18:23 Portfolio Construction Framework
19:36 Why Venture Is Harder
23:23 From Fund To Firm
24:34 Liquidity And Exit Paths
27:35 Prefs, Debt, And New Solutions
38:41 Continuation Vehicles Flywheel
41:02 Closing Thoughts

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
We sat down with Jake Elmhirst, Partner, Head of Private Wealth Secondaries Solutions and Head of Capital Formation at Coller Capital.
We were live from Berlin, which becomes the “capital of private capital” in June as private equity industry leaders make the annual pilgrimage to the city for one of the marquee private equity conferences, SuperReturn Berlin.
With Prosek Partners and former Bloomberg TV journalist Deirdre Bolton as my producer, along with her team, we took over a Tiny Space cabin to hold big conversations with some of the industry’s leading alternative asset managers.
Coller Capital has been a pioneer in the rapidly growing secondaries market. Coller’s tagline? “First in secondaries.” 
Coller might be “first in secondaries.” The industry they focus on has moved to the forefront of private markets. Secondaries are coming in first for many LPs, in part because secondaries are now an active portfolio management solution for LPs (LP-led secondaries) and a way for LPs and GPs to continue to invest in the growth and value appreciation of some of their funds’ best assets (GP-led secondaries). 
The firm completed its first secondaries transaction in 1990 and its first GP-led investment in 1996. Today, Coller has $55B in AUM (as of 3/31/26). 
Jake joined Coller after a long career at UBS, where he partnered with Coller from a few different vantage points co-founding and co-leading the Private Funds Group within UBS Investment Bank and leading the Private Markets effort within UBS Global Wealth Management. His perspective on Coller was very much a reason why he decided to leave his farm in Yorkshire (as a 23rd generation farmer!) to join Coller as they build out their wealth efforts.
Jake and I had a fascinating conversation about the evolution of secondaries and how they are increasingly “solutions” for LPs and GPs. We covered:
Jake’s experience witnessing the rise of the early days of private markets and how that’s shaped how he thinks about secondaries today.
Why secondaries are becoming “solutions” for LPs and GPs.
Why secondaries can be a core portfolio holding.
The features of secondaries. 
The drivers of the increase in LP-led sales.
Why have GP-led continuation vehicles become a popular solution?
Why secondaries make sense for private wealth investors.
Bio
Jake is a Partner and Head of Private Wealth Secondaries Solutions and Head of Capital Formation. He is based in the firm’s London office.
Prior to joining Coller Capital in April 2022, Jake spent 25 years at UBS where he led the Private Markets effort within UBS Global Wealth Management, based in London. Prior to that, Jake co-founded and co-led the Private Funds Group within UBS Investment Bank, based in New York.
He previously worked at Freshfields in London, where he qualified as a solicitor working in the Tax Team with a focus on collective investment schemes.
Jake has a degree in Law (LLB) from the University of Bristol.
Jake Elmhirst is a registered representative of Parallel Distributors LLC.
Thanks, Jake, for sharing your wisdom, expertise, and passion in private markets, private wealth, and secondaries.
Show Notes
 
00:00 Live in Berlin Intro
00:39 Jake Elmhirst’s Career Journey
02:08 Wealth Channel Lessons
05:06 Farming Roots Detour
07:34 Secondaries Liquidity Fix
09:26 Continuation Vehicles Impact
11:21 Wealth Channel and Scale
13:21 Why Secondaries Work
15:15 Core Holding for Wealth
16:31 Discount Versus Quality
18:43 Underwriting in CV Era
20:56 Evergreen Portfolio Mix
21:56 Future of Solutions
23:02 Toolbox Expansion Ideas
24:55 Why Scale Matters
25:53 Discount Nuance Explained
27:30 Active Portfolio Management
28:45 Closing Thoughts

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
We sat down with Kyle Kniffen, Managing Director, Global Head of Alternatives, Third Party Wealth at Goldman Sachs. 
We were live from Berlin, which becomes the “capital of private capital” in June as private equity industry leaders make the annual pilgrimage to the city for one of the marquee private equity conferences, SuperReturn Berlin.
With Prosek Partners and former Bloomberg TV journalist Deirdre Bolton as my producer, along with her team, we took over a Tiny Space cabin to hold big conversations with some of the industry’s leading alternative asset managers.
A little over two years ago, I wrote on AGM about how, at $456B in AUM in alternatives, Goldman Sachs was a “sleeping giant” in private markets. In reality, Goldman is anything but a sleeping giant in private markets, having started its private equity business in 1984 and earning the distinction of being a top-5 alternatives manager by AUM across both traditional and alternative asset managers.
Today, Goldman has grown its alternatives business to over $625B in AUM.
The firm has expanded its platform with the acquisition of Industry Ventures and a partnership with T. Rowe Price to deliver public and private markets solutions to the wealth channel, and, most recently, the creation of its Alternative Investment Platform to provide HNW clients with direct access to private companies.
The evolution of Goldman’s Alternatives business reflects a thoughtful, measured approach to understanding the needs of wealth channel investors and finding the utility and purpose of strategy, product, and product structure.
That was much of the focus of the conversation Kyle and I had in Berlin. We discussed the objective and utility of private markets in a portfolio. We covered:
The growth of evergreen funds.
Why evergreens are the product structure of choice.
Why are evergreens also appealing to institutional allocators, insurance companies, and UHNW investors?
How GPs and LPs are approaching LP composition to evergreen vehicles.
The next wave of product innovation.
The build, buy, partner framework 
Why Goldman is so excited about the GeoWealth partnership and what the future of model portfolios look like.
What is not known but should be known about the Goldman Alternatives franchise.
Bio
Kyle Kniffen is a managing director in the Client Solutions Group within Goldman Sachs Asset Management. He serves as global head of Alternatives for Third Party Wealth (TPW), overseeing client strategy for the firm’s TPW clients globally, delivering the power of the Alternatives investing platform to a broad set of individual investors through our partnerships with financial intermediary clients and their advisors, including Private Banks, Broker-Dealers, RIAs and other distribution platforms. Kyle partners closely with leadership across our Alternatives franchise to develop products that meet our clients’ evolving needs. He is also co-chair of the AWM Global Distribution Working Group.
Prior to this role, Kyle was in Alternative Capital Markets (ACM), serving as head of ACM for Goldman Sachs Ayco and leading coverage for One Goldman Sachs financial sponsors globally. He joined Goldman Sachs in 2018 as a vice president in ACM and was named managing director in 2021.
Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Kyle led a variety of distribution and product management teams for Bank of America’s Alternative Investment Group within their Global Wealth and Investment Management division.
Kyle is a board member for the Institute of Portfolio Alternatives (IPA), and a member of The Economic Club of New York. Kyle earned a BA from Gettysburg College.
Thanks, Kyle, for sharing your wisdom, expertise, and passion about private markets and serving the wealth channel.
Show Notes
00:00 AGM Live from SuperReturn Berlin
00:22 Meet Kyle Kniffin
01:10 Wealth Meets Private Markets
01:37 Big Pools Little Allocation
02:24 Alt Strategies Explosion
03:04 Lessons from Hedge Funds
03:34 Start with Client Goals
03:53 Risk Liquidity Tradeoffs
04:10 Portfolio Utility First
04:25 Holistic Private Markets
04:44 Fit and Terms Matter
05:07 Setting Expectations
05:32 Product Innovation Shift
05:52 Evergreens and Flexibility
06:10 Monthly Access and Tactics
06:39 Evergreen Growth Rates
06:45 Education and Dispersion
07:15 Why Evergreens Exist
07:41 Diversification Lower Minimums
08:04 Operational Simplicity
08:21 Evergreen Nuance Phase One
08:47 Goldman in Third Party Wealth
09:26 Institutions Buying Evergreens
10:31 LP Mix and Liquidity Caps
11:36 Institutionalizing Wealth Platforms
13:29 Goldman Platform Advantage
14:46 Feeding the Evergreen Engine
15:13 GeoWealth and Model Portfolios
15:45 T Rowe Price Collaboration
16:12 Build vs Buy Partner Balance
16:42 Industry Ventures Acquisition
17:33 Goldman Alts Heritage
18:35 Pioneering GP Stakes
19:45 Secondaries Since 1998
20:12 Apex of Private Markets
21:08 Will Secondaries Be Core
21:48 Max Flexibility for Wealth
22:42 Customization vs Scale
23:16 Flagships Then Bespoke
23:49 Lessons from Private Wealth
25:10 Broader Menu of Privates
25:34 Closing Thoughts

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
We sat down with Paul Desmarais III, the Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Sagard, the fast-growing $46B global multi-strategy alternative asset manager.
We were live from Berlin, which becomes the “capital of private capital” in June as private equity industry leaders make the annual pilgrimage to the city for one of the marquee private equity conferences, SuperReturn Berlin.
With Prosek Partners and former Bloomberg TV journalist Deirdre Bolton as my producer, along with her team, we took over a Tiny Space cabin to hold big conversations with some of the industry’s leading alternative asset managers.
Sagard combines a rich history and heritage of building asset management businesses with a modern approach to building a global alternative asset manager.
Paul’s deep understanding of the industry comes from being part of a family of multiple generations of asset management pioneers in Canada who have built some of the industry’s largest financial services businesses. 
Paul is the “next first generation” of asset management pioneers to come out of the Desmarais family. He started Sagard with $400M in seed capital in 2016 and, in ten short years, has grown the platform into a global multi-strategy alternative asset manager with over $46B. 
Sagard’s mission to empower founders by being a business that builds businesses shines through in the approach Paul and the team have taken in building Sagard. The firm has incubated, built, and acquired asset management talent and firms to scale across strategy and geography into the global platform that it is today.
Paul and I had a fascinating conversation about the business of asset management and why Sagard exists to serve entrepreneurs around the world. We covered:
Sagard’s entrepreneurial DNA.
What does it mean to build a business that builds businesses?
Being the “next first generation.”
How Sagard approaches the buy, build, partner framework of asset management businesses.
How Sagard has expanded its platform across asset classes and strategies.
How to build a global, multi-strategy asset management brand.
Why specialization matters in asset management.
How to approach the wealth channel.
The decentralized pod shop model.
The future of private markets.
Bio
Paul Desmarais III is the Chairman and CEO of Sagard, an alternative asset management firm active in venture capital, private equity, credit, and real estate.
Paul has led Sagard since 2016, along with a handful of close partners bound by a common vision: partnering with entrepreneurs to catalyze transformation in our investments and communities. Sagard has experienced outstanding growth, with assets under management increasing to over $46B.
Under Paul, Sagard has built a global network of expertise that helps companies lead, embrace, and stay ahead of disruptive trends, expanding activity in North America, Europe, and the Middle East. Paul engages actively in growing Sagard companies. Within the Sagard ecosystem, Paul is the Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of Portage (fintech & financial services investing) and the Chairman and Co-Founder of Diagram (venture builder). Within the investment portfolios, he is the Chairman of Wealthsimple, Novisto, and Sagard Wealth, and a director of Nesto and Midas. Paul also sits on the board of Empower, the number two 401(k) business in the U.S.
Show Notes

00:00 Live From SuperReturn
00:10 Meet Paul Desmarais III
01:06 Family Business Roots
01:23 G1 Entrepreneur Mindset
01:35 Launching Sagard 2016
01:51 Generational Reinvention
02:02 Early Spark To Build
03:40 Learning From Mistakes
04:33 By Entrepreneurs For Entrepreneurs
04:45 Sagard Origin Story
04:58 Power Corp Alternatives Gap
05:43 Starting With Credit
06:10 Serving Beyond The Family
06:46 Alignment With Family Capital
07:19 Customer First Performance
07:44 Team Money Invested
07:53 Generational Time Horizon
08:47 Patience Builds Partnerships
09:22 Innovation In The DNA
09:39 Regional To Global Champions
09:53 Why Reinvention Matters
10:26 Platform Strategy Mix
11:02 Pillars Of The Firm
11:25 Fintech Ecosystem Flywheel
11:35 Building The Competitive Moat
12:07 Emerging Managers Advantage
12:41 Synergies At Scale
13:08 Designing Collaboration
13:47 Incentives And Shared Carry
15:07 Values Drive Culture
23:25 Legacy And Entrepreneur Impact
24:39 Closing Thanks

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.
We sat down with Brookfield Private Equity CEO Anuj Ranjan. 
We were live from Berlin, which becomes the “capital of private capital” in June as private equity industry leaders make the annual pilgrimage to the city for one of the marquee private equity conferences, SuperReturn Berlin.
With Prosek Partners and former Bloomberg TV journalist Deirdre Bolton as my producer, along with her team, we took over a Tiny Space cabin to hold big conversations with some of the industry’s leading alternative asset managers.
Brookfield has a rich legacy as an asset owner and operator of some of the “businesses that drive the global economy.” Brookfield is a firm where skin in the game (~25% of every fund includes an investment from Brookfield’s balance sheet) meets scale and synergies across its investment platform, which spans private equity, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and energy.
Now, they are looking to own what’s next.
What will the next era of private equity require? A different approach, according to Brookfield Private Equity CEO Anuj Ranjan. 
The conversation that Anuj and I had in the Tiny Space cabin covered big themes.
Brookfield is investing in the megatrends that are driving the world’s economy across its platform, from digitalization to decarbonization to deglobalization. The firm’s focus on industrials in its private equity business makes it well equipped to invest in essential companies, as Brookfield aptly describes their investment focus as “own[ing] the boring that makes exciting possible.”
Anuj and I had a fascinating conversation about the current state of private equity and what it will take to drive value in a new era for the industry where “12 is the new 5.” We covered:
Brookfield’s history as an owner-operator.
How the firm’s long-term perspective informs its investments in and ownership of private equity-backed companies.
Anuj’s experience investing in India was an exercise in patience.
Why is today the era of “roll up your sleeves private equity?”
How Brookfield is approaching value creation in industrial companies.
Where Brookfield believes it can leverage AI to create post-deal operational value.
Why Brookfield partnered with OpenAI to create DeployCo in order to scale enterprise AI deployment.
Where are we in the adoption curve of physical AI and robotics?
Bio
Anuj Ranjan is Chief Executive Officer of Brookfield’s Private Equity Group and Brookfield Business Corporation. In this role, Mr. Ranjan is responsible for the investments, operations, and expansion of the Private Equity business, in addition to managing Brookfield’s external strategic partnerships. He is a member of Brookfield’s Executive Committee.
Mr. Ranjan joined Brookfield in 2006 and has held various positions within the company and its affiliates. He established and previously led Brookfield’s India and Middle East operations.
Mr. Ranjan holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Ivey Business School at Western University and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alberta.
Thanks, Anuj, for sharing your wisdom, expertise, and passion about private markets and how to create value through operating companies better.
Show Notes
00:00 Welcome to SuperReturn
00:07 Meet Anuj Ranjan
00:55 From Software to Finance
02:03 Building India and Mideast
02:48 India Deal Frenzy
03:17 Five Years of Patience
03:22 Learning Before Buying
03:28 First True Buyouts
04:06 Profits and Team Growth
04:16 Taking Model Global
04:32 Growth Amid Headwinds
04:58 Roll Up Sleeves Private Equity Era
05:06 Operational Value Creation
05:12 Brookfield Platform DNA
05:33 Balance Sheet Advantage
05:54 Long-Term Investing
06:12 Patience Gets Rewarded
07:14 Testing Tech on Balance Sheet
07:32 Owning What’s Next
07:41 AI Needs Hard Assets
07:58 Brookfield at the Center
09:09 One Firm Collaboration
09:51 Platform Informs Deals
11:27 Westinghouse Nuclear Bet
15:19 Picking the Right Carve Outs
16:34 Pricing Power Example
17:51 From Five to Twelve
18:59 Why Carve Outs Win Now
20:05 AI for Industrial Ops
20:53 Data Before AI
22:12 Predictive Maintenance Story
23:31 Physical AI and Robotics
24:52 Digitizing the Physical World
25:33 Humanoid Robotics Timeline
26:28 Deploying AI at Scale
26:56 Execution Beats Innovation
27:52 Best AI Investment Thesis
28:00 Buying Boring Businesses
28:52 AI Ready Leadership Team
29:30 Hiring Real Tech Leaders
30:00 Blockbuster vs Netflix
30:43 Closing Reflections