Betashares opens new private assets investment arm

Betashares has further diversified its financial services offering with the launch of a dedicated private markets investment arm, Betashares Private Capital.

The firm said the new division and its ‘institutional grade’ solutions will address the surging demand for private market investment opportunities from Australian investors and financial advisers by partnering with “leading global private asset managers”.

Betashares chief executive, Alex Vynokur, said the division’s primary goal is to broaden access to investment opportunities that have been “traditionally… reserved for the world’s largest investors”.

“For nearly 15 years, we have consistently raised the bar, providing convenient and cost-effective access to high quality investment solutions,” he said.

“We have pioneered the delivery of access to a growing range of asset classes and investment styles that have historically been the domain of institutional investors. 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.

“Despite the increased demand for private assets, Australia remains relatively underserved by high quality, global investment options. 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.”

Betashares also announced its first fund manager partner, US-based private markets specialist Cliffwater. The partnership will see Cliffwater’s flagship US private credit strategy be made available as an AUD-hedged unlisted fund, leveraging Betashares’ reach in the Australian markets to launch on investment platforms for financial advisers and on Betashares’ own platform – Betashares Direct – for eligible wholesale investors.

Cliffwater’s US private credit strategy also harnesses its underlying Corporate Lending Fund Platform to gain exposure to direct loans for US middle market companies, powered by a ‘multi-lender’ model to construct a “highly selective and diversified portfolio”.

The Fund Platform currently has exposure to almost 4,000 loans across several sectors including IT, healthcare, industrials and financials, having returned 9.63 per cent per annum net of fees in US dollars since inception in June 2019 (as of 30 June 2025).

Betashares also indicated that its partnership with Cliffwater will extend further across its Fund Platform and its suite of private markets interval funds, including US$30 billion in its flagship private credit fund.

“Our US private credit funds have seen significant investor interest given their performance and highly diversified and defensive nature of their investment strategies,” Cliffwater Founder and CEO, Stephen Nesbitt, said.

“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.

“Our unique multi-lender 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.”

Betashares said its first private credit exposure is on track to launch by the end of the month.