This is not a well-known story, so it bears telling. Five years back, in 2013, a global real estate fund decided to shut shop. Its partners, though, decided to stick around. With a plan to raise a Rs 300-crore ($42.8 million) residential fund. Over the next two years, they met investors across New York, Hong Kong, and Singapore, but capital never found its way. They didn’t give up easy. Kept at it for a good two years, before realising that it wouldn’t work out and it was best to shut shop. In 2015, they went back to traditional jobs, managing a fund, whatever was on offer; their entrepreneurial turn scuppered.
Raising the bar
Alternate assets: The new cash cow for financial corporates
Even as private equity funds struggle to raise money, financial services firms—backed by their wealth management business and distribution strength—are growing their alternative asset management aggressively
Financial services firms are leveraging their wealth management business to raise capital for their alternate asset funds
These funds are launching new strategies at a rapid rate to raise capital from domestic and offshore investors
FinServ firms are now moving away from pure lending to fund strategies as it directly adds to their return on equity and increases profitability
With the rise of the alternate asset businesses of financial corporates, the lines are blurring for what constitutes a private equity fund business
