Mercer lands $3.8bn for alts fund despite challenging market

Mercer has raised nearly $4bn (£2.9bn) for its multi-asset private markets strategy at final close, despite what it described as a “challenging fundraising and distribution environment”.

Mercer Private Investment Partners VIII (PIP VIII) secured a total of $3.8bn from limited partners, according to Mercer, a business of Marsh, the risk and insurance consultancy.

The capital was raised from a mix of wealth managers, endowments and foundations, insurers as well as pension funds, many of which had previously backed earlier PIP vintages.

“Despite a challenging fundraising and distribution environment, we’re delighted with the ongoing trust and confidence placed in our capabilities and solutions,” said Michael Lernihan, Mercer’s global commercial leader for investments. “We look forward to continuing to support clients with discerning and targeted private market opportunities and specialised investment vehicles designed to capture this attractive source of potential long-term growth.”

According to the firm, this is the eighth vintage in Mercer’s PIP series, which offers investors access to private equity, private debt, infrastructure and real estate.

The PIP VIII fund invests across primaries, co-investments, secondary opportunities and other specialised strategies, Mercer said.

“We designed our PIP series to provide simplified access to compelling opportunities across private asset classes and structures while helping investors maintain control over their risk profile and asset allocation,” said Niall O’Sullivan, Mercer’s global solutions chief investment officer. “This is critical in today’s environment, when the stealth risk associated with investment trends such as artificial intelligence challenges traditional assumptions about portfolio diversification.”

The PIP series includes a US vehicle for domestic investors and a Luxembourg-based vehicle for non-US investors.