pichbook分析师注：401（k）计划中私募市场的新面貌

The New Face of PrivateMarkets in Your 401(k) PitchBook Data, Inc. Nizar TarhuniExecutive Vice President ofResearch and Market Intelligence Daniel Cook, CFAGlobal Head of QuantitativeResearch and Market IntelligenceZane Carmean, CFA, CAIADirector ofQuantitative Research Private assets include more than PE and VC PitchBook is a Morningstar company providing the most comprehensive, mostaccurate, and hard-to-find data for professionals doing business in the private markets. Institutional Research Group Analysis Hilary Wiek, CFA, CAIASenior Strategist, Fund Strategies& Sustainable Investing Key takeaways •There is much excitement stemming from the Mansion House Accord in theUK and the “Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors” pbinstitutionalresearch@pitchbook.com PublishingDesigned byJenna O’Malley •The language coming from the UK and US governments, as well as assetmanagers working on providing products to DC audiences, purposely usesgeneral phrases like “alternative assets,” “private market investments,” and Published on October 24, 2025 Contents •The asset managers most eager, and most capable, of absorbing potentiallyenormous inflows from this new source of capital may have the most Conclusion6 Introduction During a recent conversation about private assets going into defined contribution(DC) retirement plans, I had an important realization: Many people’s assumptionsand expectations about what this means are markedly different from what thereality currently looks like. I was reminded of the popular meme that starts with ajob title, then proceeds to show what the person’s boss thinks he does, what his The arguments for the democratization of Many arguments have been made in support of extending private assets to morepeople than just the institutions or individuals able to clear certain wealth or incomehurdles.1One commonly cited loophole and rationale for a less restrictive regimewas that individuals with defined benefit (DB) pensions—a retirement offeringavailable to a diminishing number of workers over the past 40 years—profited fromexposures to investment strategies such as PE, VC, and private credit. In actuality, Another pro-democratization argument has been that so many more companies arestaying—or going—private that the ability to gain exposure to the highest-growthportions of the economy has been curtailed. Companies are more frequently waiting until they are mature before listing, if they list at all. Most individual investors areexcluded from investing directly in VC and often can only participate in that part of the market through small allocations to pre-IPO companies within crossover funds.2In addition, more platforms are being established to facilitate tokenized trading in Investors and those reporting on investment trends seem excited about theexpansion of access to private markets to those historically excluded, often throughfunds structured to be more investor-friendly for individuals. We described thistrend initially inThe Evergreen Evolution, which was our first effort to bring data onthese funds to our readers. As we noted in that piece, every evergreen structuresave tender offer funds was dominated by credit (interval funds and business Expect much more data and analysis from our research team on this topic in the The executive order While the democratization of private markets via DC plans has been on the mindsof investors and asset managers for some time now, things came to a head in 2025: first with the Mansion House Accord in the UK in May,4and then with the Augustrelease of the US executive order (EO) “Democratizing Access to Alternative Assetsfor 401(k) Investors.” InIssues Around Private Assets and 401(k)s, we wrote up implementation of private market assets into DC plans under current rules appearsto be as part of a sleeve through target date fund lineups or managed accounts, Since the EO came out on August 7,5the picture has not been made much clearer, as it instructed the Department of Labor (DOL), the Securities and ExchangeCommission, and the Department of the Treasury to come up with rules andguidance by February 3, 2026, that would further the cause of getting private assetsinto 401(k) accounts. It did cite “burdensome lawsuits” as a problem, though how to prevent those was not made clear. The fear of lawsuits has been a primary reason It is important to note that the EO does not mandate the inclusion of alternatives,but it does say that “every American preparing for retirement should have accessto funds that include investments in alternative assets.” The sentence does discusssuitability, however, going on to say “…when the relevant plan fiduciary determines The EO speaks to “alternatives” generally, including private market equity and debt,real estate equity and debt, digital assets, commodities, and infrastructure. Yet,much of the public conversation since has been focused on how well PE has done As an aside, in