Rise of evergreen funds includes new risks for investors. Plus: ILPA updates reporting standards

Welcome to the weekly round-up of highlights from our free daily Preqin First Close newsletter, your go-to guide to the global alternatives industry. I’m Jayda Etienne , Deputy Editor, and every Friday I select exclusive news and insights from over the past week.?????

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Let’s kick things off with some trivia – Global fertility levels are in decline as many women delay motherhood due to social, political, and economic factors. Governments large and small are searching for creative policies to tackle this significant economic challenge. Which country has the lowest birth rate in the world?

a) Poland

b) Japan?

c) Taiwan

d) Spain

Find the answer at the end of the newsletter.

Will the price of liquidity be too high?

This week, LA-based Ares Management Corporation announced it had raised €2.2bn ($2.3bn) for an open-ended direct lending fund, mostly from wealthy Europe- and Asia-based investors.?

Ares European Strategic Income Fund was the first?raised through its Wealth Management Solutions platform, which launched in 2021 to offer investment opportunities for private wealth clients across credit, private equity, real estate, and infrastructure.??

The largest alternative asset managers have had success raising capital from high-net-worth?individuals via open-ended vehicles. But it’s not just affluent investors opting for these structures. Institutions are turning to evergreen opportunities for a variety of reasons, including regulatory requirements and a desire for greater flexibility to rebalance portfolios.?

Between 2019 and 2024, GPs launched 333 evergreen funds, which includes BDCs, ELTIFs, interval funds, LTAFs, non-traded REITs, and tender offers. The number of launches peaked at 77 in 2021, before dropping to 43 in 2024, according to Preqin data.

These funds have a total disclosed NAV of $381bn, though this understates their scale because some fund types – such as ELTIFs and LTAFs – do not disclose their NAVs. ?

However, liquidity comes at a price. In the Strategy in Focus: A Guide to Open-Ended Funds report (for Insights+ subscribers), Preqin’s Nicholas Mairone says there are trade-offs and risks introduced when offering more liquid fund structures, such as higher costs and greater regulatory attention.?

But he also anticipates?new and more niche liquid options will be developed: ‘In many asset classes within private markets, novel fund structures are given as much focus as new strategies, as they can fundamentally change the investment thesis for LPs.’

By, Will Bennett-Lynch , Reporter, Preqin News.

Updated reporting guidance aids standardization in private capital

Last month, the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA) published an?updated Reporting Template and new Performance Template. The association aims to promote greater standardization, transparency, and comparability in private fund reporting. The 2025 ILPA Reporting Template supplements quarterly reporting by managers as mandated by limited partnership agreements (LPAs), other governing documents, and jurisdictional requirements.??

Enhancements and additions in the new template include:?

? presentation of partnership expenses, management-fee offset, and carry, with clearer definitions for the various reporting fields;?

? GP chargebacks and offsets specifically designed to separate out internal versus external charges to a fund; and?

??cash and non-cash flow sections, such as details of offering/syndication costs, placement fees, and partner transfers.??

The new reporting template replaces the 2016 version on a go-forward basis for funds still in their investment period in Q1 2026, and for funds commencing operations on or after January 1, 2026.?

Get the full story by Heather Heys .

Private wealth and private markets in 2025. More than half of advisors expect to allocate more of their book to private markets this year, according to Hamilton Lane Private Wealth Survey. With an increasing array of platforms and options, GPs also expect to see more capital flowing into their funds from private wealth.

Generative AI tools can accelerate fundraising, deal sourcing, and due diligence, says Frederik Muelke , Head of Alternative Assets at Robin AI . Private capital GPs are planning to or already expanding their use of AI tools across the investment, finance, and legal sectors.

Weekly people moves from service providers and advisors around the world, including DLA Piper, Linklaters, and Stax.

c) Taiwan

The country with the lowest fertility rate in the world is Taiwan, at an estimated 1.11 child per woman. While parts of Asia are particularly exposed, no continent has been unaffected by this trend. Two-thirds of the world’s population now lives in countries where people are having babies below the replacement rate (2.1 children per woman).

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