After launching its first Global Bond ETF early this month, Betashares is seeking to capitalise on growing investor and adviser demand for diversified portfolios of equities and bonds - offering compelling risk-adjusted returns – by opening a new Private Capital division.
Having recognised that the Australian market has been underserved when it comes to high-quality global private asset options, Betashares initially flagged its plans to push into private markets earlier this year.
Since then, Betashares has hired James Fleiter, a former relationship manager at Ares Management, to lead the development of its private assets offering.
In response to the rising prominence of private markets among wealth managers and institutions, Betashares expects its private capital division to offer institutional-grade private market investment solutions - plus educational content - to Australian wholesale investors, financial advisers and their clients.
To the uninitiated, private markets refer to the investment in the capital of privately owned companies versus publicly traded companies and typically includes asset classes like private credit, private equity, venture capital, private infrastructure, and private real estate.
Given that they typically sit outside more traditional investment buckets, private assets are often lumped under the broader umbrella of “alternatives”.
Partnership with U.S.-based fund manager
Fleiter has been charged with developing a range of unlisted investment solutions in partnership with experienced managers, with a focus on U.S. private credit expected to feature early in the rollout.
The first of these partnerships is with US-based fund manager and investment adviser Cliffwater LLC, which will provide access to its flagship U.S. private credit strategy.
Expected to launch in late August, the new fund will initially be made available in Australia as an unlisted offering via platforms for financial advisers, and to wholesale clients through Betashares Direct.
BetaShares founder and CEO, Alex Vynokur, describes the launch of its Private Capital division as a logical extension of its plans to grow its range of asset classes and investment styles through private assets solutions.
“We believe there is a real opportunity to address this gap, and with that enable Australian investors and their financial advisers to have the opportunity to improve risk adjusted returns in portfolios by including robust, diversified private asset investments,” Vynokur said.
"We're now taking the next step by providing access to private assets in line with our guiding value of building cost-effective and diversified wealth solutions."
Initial offering
The initial offering will provide A$-hedged exposure to Cliffwater’s Corporate Lending Fund Platform, which employs a multilender model to focus on direct loans to U.S. middle market companies.
Cliffwater partners with top-tier global lenders like Carlyle, HPS and Barings to construct a diversified portfolio of high-yield, senior secured, floating-rate loans.
It’s understood that the platform currently holds over 3,900 loans across industries, including IT, healthcare, industrials and financials.
Since its inception in June 2019, the platform has historically delivered stable capital and quarterly income and generated an annualised net return of 9.63% in U.S. dollars, as at the end of June 2025.
Having gained strong support from U.S. financial advisers and clients, Cliffwater manages the largest suite of private markets interval funds in the U.S., with US$30 billion in its flagship private credit fund.
Both Betashares and Cliffwater are expected to further expand the range of investment opportunities made available through the partnership to investors here in Australia.
Unique value
Given their performance and highly diversified/defensive nature of their investment strategies, Cliffwater founder and CEO, Stephen Nesbitt, expects this initial offering – plus future offerings - to bring unique value to Australian investors.
“Our US private credit strategies have also been cycle-tested, producing attractive levels of income with low volatility across a range of different market conditions,” Nesbitt said.
“Our unique multilender model has allowed us to avoid the pitfalls of other private credit funds that are often far more concentrated in single positions or sectors, while also maintaining strong, risk-adjusted total returns.”