This week’s big news saw MSCI taking a significant minority stake in Burgiss Group. We take a closer look at the details and what this means for the wider segment.
In the past few years we have seen some major changes in the market for LP focused portfolio monitoring tools, both in terms of the huge growth of companies operating in this area and the nature of the services they provide.
For today’s allocator, perhaps the biggest decision is around adopting a so-called ‘point solution’ with a specific focus on private capital asset classes, or a ‘multi asset class’ (MAC) solution which offers portfolio-wide data and analytics.
Platforms such as Solovis, Caissa and Addepar have seen significant growth as allocators increasingly see the value in analytics around exposure and risk on a portfolio-wide basis. As Solovis in particular has started to win major clients in the larger institutional space, certain LPs have been re-evaluating their approach to managing private capital within a wider portfolio, Burgiss Founder and CEO James Kocis included the following statement when announcing this deal which could indicate that this new partnership will facilitate a similar approach:
“This strategic alliance between Burgiss and MSCI makes perfect sense. For 30 years, Burgiss has focused on building best-of-breed tools for private capital investors. With the rising importance of private markets, our clients have been asking for solutions that span both public and private assets. We are excited to partner with MSCI to help develop and drive adoption of tools that meet our clients’ needs.”
LP Portfolio monitoring is among the most dynamic sectors in the wider private capital SaaS industry and competition has been intense with a number of compelling platform solutions in the market competing for clients. We have also seen a number of partnerships and acquisitions in this space involving Chronograph, Cepres, Caissa, eFront and more.
Key factors in the decision-making process around LP portfolio monitoring solutions include: MAC vs point solution, data ingestion process, analytics and functionality, the availability of benchmarks and market data plus the flexibility and power of the database layer. LPs are also considering experience and reputation plus the availability of value-added advisory and professional support services.
Further adding to the complexity facing today’s LP is the availability of platforms such as SimCorp which offer an Investment Book of Record (IBOR) as the foundation for superior asset management. IBOR integrates across front, middle and back office, providing a complete operational overview with reliable positions data to make informed decisions. Larger allocators in particular are increasingly seeing the implementation of IBOR as the best way to gain a holistic view across their portfolio, including private capital asset classes.
We are currently putting together an extended report which is specifically focused on this space, and of course you can always view full profiles for all private capital software and data solutions on our free Vendor Profiles platform. Make sure to register and follow us on LinkedIn to see the finished product; if you are interested in sponsorship or providing an expert contribution, please let us know.
For those that wish to dig a little deeper, PE Stack maintains a database of transparent pricing data showing which products are being used by major institutional investors, what they are paying and when they are up for renewal. For more information, please get in touch:
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