Alternative Investing Report - February 28, 2025
Vincent Alternative Investments
Keep up-to-date on the latest alternative investing news and insights in less than 5 minutes per week.
Happy Friday. A major private credit ETF launched, a contemporary art auction made a strong showing, another $1 billion AI raise, and crypto sentiment is falling. Let’s dive in!
?? Listen: To the latest episode of Smart Humans, where Slava Rubin talks with Argo’s Peter Grosskopf about investing into gold.
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?? DAILY MARKETS
?? PRIVATE CREDIT ETF
On Thursday, State Street Global Advisors and Apollo Global Securities launched a new private credit ETF, the SPDR SSGA Apollo IG Public & Private Credit ETF (NYSE Arca: PRIV). The fund has a complicated structure, with $50 million in AUM primarily provided by Apollo’s direct lending platform but managed by State Street’s private credit team, along with Apollo obligated to provide liquidity. Private credit assets will make up anywhere between 10% and 35% of the portfolio.
? TAKEAWAY: This ETF has been in the works for awhile, and will offer retail investors some exposure to an asset class that is generally fairly difficult to access. There are two other private credit ETFs that have launched in the past few months, from BondBloxx (Nasdaq: PCMM) and Virtus (NYSE: PCLO). Investors should be aware that there are some questions about liquidity, with the SEC voicing concerns about that, as well as about how the ETF will value private debt.
?? NOTABLE NEWS
?? Yet another $1 billion AI raise: Thinking Machines, the AI startup founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, is in talks for a $1 billion fundraising round at a valuation of $9 billion.
?? Crypto sentiment falls: As Bitcoin hovers around the $80,000 range, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index fell to its lowest point since June 2022 when the industry confronted the aftermath of the collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin.