Alternative investments fintech iCapital has agreed to acquire Citi Global Alternatives, an indirect subsidiary of Citi. Citi Global Alternatives manages over 180 alternatives funds around the world. It uses a feeder fund model to provide access to private equity, growth equity, private credit, infrastructure, venture capital, real estate and hedge funds.
In feeder funds, an L.P. (in this case, Citi) aggregates client investments to invest in other funds. Feeder funds are often used when individual investors may not be able to or want to meet the minimums required for a specific private fund. Instead, the feeder fund can meet the minimum by pooling the capital.
With this transaction, iCapital will manage and operate the fund platform, while Citi remains the distributor and will continue to offer guidance to its clients on using alts in their portfolios. In addition, going forward, Citi Wealth will tap iCapital to source and manage alternative investments for its clients.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
“We will enhance Citi Wealth’s global sales capabilities with a dedicated alternative investment specialist team, equipping advisors with more resources focused on pre-sale, sale and post-sales investment activities,” iCapital Chairman and CEO Lawrence Calcano said in a statement. “The team will cover all asset classes and product structures, working in close partnership with Citi and general partners to support alts platform growth.”
“Citi Wealth already has a strong working relationship with iCapital on alternative solutions, and we’re excited to expand our relationship to bring greater integration of iCapital’s market-leading digital capabilities to our advisors, bankers, investment counselors and clients,” said Daniel O’Donnell, head of Citi Wealth Alternatives and Investment Manager Solutions.
This is iCapital’s 14th acquisition of a fund platform from a financial institution, and it comes amid a flurry of platform developments.
The deal follows one week after crypto asset manager Bitwise Asset Management announced that its strategies will now be available on iCapital.
In addition, MAI Capital Management, a Cleveland-based RIA with $29.2 billion in AUM, announced it was integrating iCapital’s tech into its custom in-house platform to manage alternative investments.
Lastly, a partnership between Goldman Sachs Asset Management, GeoWealth and iCapital to build portfolios of public and private investments in a single account for RIAs, announced last October, brought its first products live.