GSFM has launched two global private markets funds amid growing demand in the Australian market with the underlying funds managed by CI Global Asset Management (CI GAM).
The CI Global Private Markets Growth Fund and CI Global Private Markets Income Fund invest in multi-manager, open-architecture funds-of-funds seeded and managed by CI GAM, an affiliate of GSFM.
Looking closer, the growth fund is designed to provide long-term capital growth and will primarily invest in a globally diversified portfolio of private equity, venture capital, private credit, private infrastructure, private real estate and other private market funds.
Meanwhile, the income fund is aimed at providing similar returns to public markets with far less volatility by investing in income-producing assets including private credit, private equity, private real estate, private infrastructure and royalty funds.
Both funds will be available to institutional, wholesale and family office investors with a minimum investment of $50,000.
GSFM chief executive Damien McIntyre said the funds grant investors access to all five of the major private market sectors through actively managed portfolios to benefit from diversification and expertise.
“The underlying funds’ size provides a significant competitive advantage. This immediately gets the GSFM funds to scale, providing access to a range of superior opportunities and attractive pricing that is not available to smaller funds,” McIntyre said.
“This provides immediate diversification by manager, vintage and geography – an outcome that is incredibly hard to achieve if you don’t have the scale to access and the ability to evaluate the world’s top-tier managers.”
As demand for solutions beyond public markets continues to grow in Australia, Marc-André Lewis, chief investment officer at CI GAM, pointed to the funds’ diversification within private markets themselves as a key opportunity.
“Private markets are expected to grow to around US$30 trillion by 2029, making this asset class hard to ignore for investors. GSFM’s clients are showing heighted interest in private market investments, given this expected growth from the asset class and the need to diversify investments outside of public markets.
“Both strategies have a strong track record. They are fund-of-funds solutions that provide exposure to a diversified set of private market funds managed by leading and emerging private market managers.”
McIntyre added: “The CI Global Private Markets Funds are supported by a team of dedicated and experienced private market specialists that focus on manager sourcing, due diligence and ongoing manager oversight.
“Until now, Australian investors have struggled to implement the same asset allocation discipline in their private investing as they do on the listed side. Everyone believes in diversification but it’s difficult to get access to the best managers in the world, let alone understand how to combine them efficiently.
“These funds now give Australian investors the opportunity to diversify properly across the entire private markets universe – not just pick a few well-known brands and hope they all fit together.”
GSFM had shared plans of the launch in June last year, with McIntyre telling Money Management at the time that they would be a “one-stop solution” for retail and wholesale investors.
The funds had initially been scheduled for launch late 2025 but were delayed, though the reasoning is unclear.
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