PARTNER CONTENT
Driven by a deep understanding of what it takes to succeed in the alternatives market, Alter Domus – winner of the Fund Administrator of the Year – Overall award at this year’s Private Equity Wire European Awards – has developed an offering that both meets and anticipates the ever-changing needs of investment managers and asset owners worldwide. David Carol, Head of Sales and Relationship Management, outlines what sets the firm apart and highlights some of the current challenges and opportunities facing the business and its clients…
What are the three key selling points of your business and service range?
At Alter Domus, we serve 90% of the world’s largest PE firms and of our $2.7tn assets under administration globally, private equity in Europe makes up $900bn. And it’s what drives these numbers that gives our clients the edge.
We are known for the quality and depth of our expertise across fund administration, capital administration and third party AIFM. Our award-winning service combines proprietary technology with strategic collaborations giving clients actionable data. And finally, our bespoke operating models are built on individual client needs across people, technology and data.
What product or service innovation from the past 12 months are you most proud of?
We are proud to have made significant investment in data analytics and workflows automation, and we have seen this investment really payoff in the last 12 months.
We are seeing the results of our proprietary technology, driving significant efficiencies in GP back-offices. Clients are reporting gains of between 10% and 20% in overall operational efficiency after implementing Alter Domus workflows tools- strengthening audit trails and enhancing data accuracy.
What economic forces – in Europe and/or globally – do you anticipate having the biggest impact on your business over the next 12 months?
The resurgence of tariffs and trade protectionism is reshaping the global economic landscape, with wide-ranging implications for investors, fund managers, and the service providers who support them. While much of the attention focuses on the immediate risks – cost increases, supply chain disruption, and regulatory uncertainty – there are also long-term structural shifts underway that present significant opportunities, particularly for private markets asset managers and fund administrators.
How are you preparing for the above?
Market volatility may initially present as a challenge, but for agile and forward-thinking firms in private markets, they present a clear opportunity to evolve, differentiate, and lead. There is certainly enhanced risk, but this can be minimised by working with the right operational partner to navigate greater investor scrutiny, frequency of reporting, and absolute accuracy in data performance.
Times of stress are when operational partners come to the fore, strategic risk is managed by maintaining operational excellence to ensure fund performance is accurate throughout the life cycle of the funds. Those who embrace this complexity will not only weather the storm but emerge stronger, smarter, and more relevant in a rapidly changing global investment landscape.
What are the key developments to watch in the private markets space, and how is your service offering helping firms navigate them?
There are two main trends to keep an eye on – the democratisation of the private markets investor base, and the variety of structures and tools that have emerged to provide liquidity to what has always been an illiquid market.
Expanding the private markets investor base to include non-institutional investors will be the engine of growth of this next decade. Supporting managers in handling the significantly heavier workloads that come with onboarding high numbers of smaller, non-institutional and the technical capability to administer the semi-liquid and feeder funds that will be primary conduits for non-institutional capital flows will be key.
The industry has demonstrated its ability to innovate to unlock liquidity in market down-cycles with the growth of technologies such as continuation funds and NAV financing. Putting in place the reporting and fund accounting tools to support these new technologies can be a heavy lift for managers – we are ready and equipped with the bandwidth and expertise to help our clients take full advantage of the flexibility these tools provide.
David Carol, Head of Sales and Relationship Management, Alter Domus
