As private markets mature and wealth managers seek new ways to diversify client portfolios, StepStone Private Wealth Solutions is positioning itself at the heart of a generational shift in investment access.
A division of StepStone Group, one of the world’s largest private markets investors, StepStone Private Wealth (SPW) delivers private market opportunities traditionally reserved for institutions to a growing base of individual investors and their advisers.
“StepStone Group is a global private markets investment firm, responsible for $723bn in total capital, and is among the world’s largest private market investors,” explains Neil Menard, Partner and President of Distribution at StepStone Private Wealth. “StepStone has been a trusted partner to institutional investors across the globe for many years, and our Private Wealth team brings that same expert guidance and high-quality opportunity set to wealth managers and their clients. We deliver tailored portfolios across private equity, private debt, real assets and venture capital to meet the specific goals of individual investors and their advisers.”
The expansion of StepStone’s private wealth platform into Europe comes at a pivotal time. Regulatory evolution, product innovation, and investor demand are converging to open new pathways for private markets access.
“We’re seeing a real shift in Europe, where appetite for private markets from individual investors is surging, especially with new semi-liquid, evergreen structures like ELTIF 2.0,” says Menard. “European IFAs and intermediaries now see the potential in private markets investments that were once largely inaccessible to their clients. We’re excited to now be in a position to offer institutional-grade investments better tailored to the dynamics of European wealth platforms, delivering on our mission of providing convenient, efficient and transparent private markets opportunities to global investors.”
This growing appetite has been driven by the introduction of new vehicles that make investing in private markets more flexible, transparent, and administratively efficient for wealth managers.
Across Europe, the rise of evergreen and semi-liquid fund structures is transforming how wealth managers approach alternative assets. Menard notes that this trend is accelerating rapidly.
“In the next three to five years, private banks and wealth managers expect that allocations to evergreen funds could reach up to 90% of total private asset investments,” he says. “The catalyst is that these funds remove barriers to entry like high minimum commitments and long lock-up periods, that historically made these investments hard to access.”
That evolution, he adds, is being driven by both performance and practicality.
“It’s the convergence of two key factors. First, private markets assets, particularly private credit, are gaining popularity for the yield and resilience they may offer. Second, investors want formats that work better for them. Closed-end funds can be too complex or too rigid for many wealth clients. Evergreen structures may solve for that, offering lower minimums, easier onboarding, and periodic liquidity. It’s a natural evolution in response to client needs.”
Liquidity – often cited as a sticking point for private markets, is a challenge StepStone has set out to solve. “We’ve made liquidity a core feature of our product design,” Menard says.
The firm’s SPRIM Lux fund, structured under UCI Part II, offers 5% quarterly liquidity and provides immediate exposure to a diversified portfolio. “These funds were built with wealth investors in mind, with low minimums, more transparency, and access to the same quality deal flow our institutional clients benefit from. It’s about providing flexibility without cutting corners.”
Menard emphasises that thoughtful portfolio construction is key. “If we design our portfolios correctly, we will be able to meet the liquidity needs of our clients without holding too much cash which puts a drag on performance.”
The balance between liquidity and quality is one StepStone believes it has achieved. “We don’t believe wealth investors should have to choose between liquidity and quality – ELTIF SCRED and SPRIM Lux are great examples of that in practice. They’re built on the exact same institutional-grade platform that we use for some of the world’s largest investors, with the same origination teams, same governance and same investment discipline. The wrapper may be different, but the underlying standards are identical.”
Nowhere is StepStone’s conviction stronger than in private credit. “Today, we see some of the most compelling opportunities in European private credit, particularly in direct lending,” Menard explains. “As traditional banks have retreated, private lenders have stepped in to meet demand from Europe’s vast middle market, comprising more than 200,000 businesses across all industry segments, representing roughly a third of Europe’s GDP.”
This dislocation, he adds, has created a fertile ground for experienced investors. “The market is highly fragmented and relationship-driven, which creates attractive entry points and allows experienced investors like StepStone to negotiate better terms, stronger covenants, and potentially deliver enhanced risk-adjusted returns. Importantly, the asset class has proven its resilience through multiple market cycles, consistently offering higher yields with lower volatility compared to public fixed income.”
For wealth clients, access is everything. “We translate institutional-quality deal flow into wealth-friendly formats through semi-liquid evergreen wrappers, combining lower minimums with features such as quarterly liquidity windows and broad diversification across geographies and strategies. That way, wealth investors can benefit from the same institutional-grade origination and governance while gaining the flexibility and transparency they need.”
Diversification is central to StepStone’s approach. “We give wealth managers institutional-grade access through structures like ELTIF SCRED, which plug directly into StepStone’s global platform,” Menard says. “That means access to over 100 GPs and opportunities across co-investments, secondaries, and private credit, in ELTIF SCRED alone. And because it’s all wrapped in a semi-liquid, lower-minimum vehicle, it works well for the wealth channel.”
That scale translates directly into risk mitigation. “Strategies such as ELTIF SCRED – which incorporates deals from over 100 GPs globally, spanning different geographies, sectors, and credit profiles – naturally lend themselves to diversification,” Menard adds.
“By combining multiple managers and counterparties in a single vehicle, wealth clients avoid the concentration and timing risks of single-GP funds. The breadth of the portfolio, alongside a focus on lower-duration transactions and reduced leverage, helps smooth cashflows and lowers distribution risk, making returns more consistent and predictable.”
With private markets now reaching a broader investor base, transparency and governance have become critical. “We designed SCRED with exactly those concerns in mind. It’s built for transparency, with regular valuations, detailed reporting, and tight risk controls. Compared to more concentrated products, our approach offers broader diversification and lower leverage. Wealth investors deserve the same kind of care and oversight that institutions expect, and we’re committed to delivering that,” says Menard.
That oversight runs deep. “We leverage over 4,700 GP meetings annually to source opportunities, but only a small fraction makes it through our multi-step evaluation funnel. Every investment undergoes a rigorous, multi-step review, with institutional processes applied across deal structuring, monitoring, and execution.”
Through relationships with more than 100 co-investment partners, StepStone can access what Menard calls “a broad universe of what we believe to be high-quality deals beyond any single GP’s scope.” This, he adds, “may reduce concentration risk and provides flexibility to adapt across market cycles, which is a key advantage in the current environment.”
Technology, too, is playing a transformative role. “In our client work, we’ve seen firsthand how technology can bridge critical gaps in alternative investments,” Menard says. “SPI by StepStone, our industry-leading platform, embodies our belief in the power of data and has been central to both our growth and our clients’ success. By leveraging SPI, wealth managers gain direct access to the same data we use, opening doors to investment opportunities that were once inaccessible or administratively burdensome.”
As private markets continue to evolve, Menard believes the story is just beginning. “I believe we are in the early innings of private market allocations for private wealth clients,” he says. “The industry has seen the institutionalisation of ‘retail private markets’ with firms like StepStone entering the space. I would expect the trend to continue and gain momentum over the next three to five years.”
What sets StepStone apart, he argues, is authenticity. “The key difference is that we’re not creating watered-down versions for private wealth, we give wealth clients access to the same institutional-grade platform we’ve built for some of the world’s largest investors over the last 20 years. That means the same origination, the same investment teams, and the same global platform.”
With over two decades of institutional heritage and a robust platform spanning more than 100 partners worldwide, StepStone is well placed to redefine how wealth clients engage with private markets. “For years, institutional investors around the world have relied on StepStone for access to quality private markets opportunities and trusted guidance. Today, our private wealth team extends that same level of expertise to wealth managers, helping them deliver institutional-quality solutions to their clients with confidence.”
“The Next Wave of Alternatives” was originally created and published by Private Banker International, a GlobalData owned brand.
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