While some alternative managers have been benefiting from the market volatility, it’s been a challenging environment for fundraising. In fact, some of the top brand-name firms are having trouble hitting their targets, let alone their hard caps, according to industry insiders. While there are several reasons for this, liquidity issues among limited partners from the "denominator effect" is high on the list. The denominator effect is when volatility in the public markets impacts fundraising in the private markets. It occurs when the value of one portion of a portfolio decreases drastically and pulls down the overall value of the portfolio. Last year, capital commitments were down 1.4% to $497.3 billion as of Dec. 22 compared to $504.3 billion in all of 2021, according to Pensions & Investments data. Private equity was the only alternative category in which both the number of funds and the amount of capital committed increased in 2022. However, fundraising by private equity funds worldwide was down 41.8% year over year in the third quarter of last year based on data from Preqin. According to Adam Bragar, New York-based head of the U.S. private equity practice of Willis Towers Watson PLC, “Whether the slowdown in commitments will continue into 2023 depends on investors' current and projected liquidity.”

Finsum: It’s been a challenging fundraising environment for alternative managers stemming from liquidity issues among limited partners due to the denominator effect.