BlackRock, Partners Group roll out private markets SMA

BlackRock and Partners Group are teaming up to make private markets look more like a model-ready building block for advisors through an industry-leading partnership.

On Thursday, the companies unveiled a multi-alternatives separately managed account offering on the Morgan Stanley wealth platform designed to bundle several illiquid strategies into a single, outcome-based solution.

The firms are billing the product as a first-of-its-kind SMA that lets advisors allocate to private equity, private credit, and real assets in one account, rather than stitching together individual funds.

The new offering is being made available in three goals-based strategies – income-focused, balanced, and growth – that sit on top of seven underlying evergreen private market funds run by BlackRock, HPS, and Partners Group, all accessed through a single subscription document.

BlackRock, which reports more than four decades of SMA experience and $250 billion plus in assets on its SMA platform, framed the new vehicle as a complement to its existing alternatives lineup, including private markets model portfolios distributed on platforms such as Geowealth, Envestnet, Vestmark, iCapital and CAIS.

For advisors, the pitch is operational simplicity and portfolio fit. Instead of juggling multiple subscription documents, capital calls, and reporting lines, the SMA is meant to function more like a multi-asset sleeve that can slot into a broader asset allocation.

Jon Diorio, head of alternatives for BlackRock’s US wealth business, told InvestmentNews that the firm’s goal is to help advisors “access private markets in a more convenient and scalable manner."

"By delivering diversified private markets exposure through a single SMA structure, we’re able to reduce the operational friction that has historically limited advisor adoption and make these strategies easier to implement across a broad client base," Diorio said in emailed comments. "BlackRock aims to rectify barriers to access and make it easy for wirehouse advisors and RIAs to allocate across the whole portfolio with confidence and ease."

The launch lands at a moment when private markets are drawing more attention from wealth managers but remain underrepresented in many client portfolios. Recent survey data from BlackRock show that while more than half of advisors now invest in private markets, average allocations hover around just 7%, with 68% of respondents saying they need more education on how to build portfolios that incorporate private assets. At the same time, companies are staying private longer and public markets have become more concentrated, trends the firms argue strengthen the case for diversified exposure to nonpublic assets.

Partners Group is leaning on its evergreen fund experience as part of the joint effort. Rob Collins, co-head of private wealth at Partners Group, said in the Thursday launch announcement that embedding diversified private markets exposure into a scalable, outcome-oriented SMA is intended to help advisors move “beyond product selection towards a more holistic portfolio solution” that taps into a larger slice of the real economy.

Advisors are already under pressure to deliver that kind of holistic experience. A 2025 Cerulli Associates report commissioned by Parametric found that 78% of affluent investors say it is important that their accounts be customized to their situation, and 69% want providers to help reduce their tax bill. Nearly half of advisors now offer tax planning services, rising to 53% among those focused on clients with more than $5 million, underscoring how fast advanced planning and customization are becoming table stakes at the high end.

Cerulli’s work also points to SMAs and other managed account structures as key tools in that shift. The firm notes that wealth managers, asset managers and technology providers are racing to assemble platforms that support household-level portfolio construction, often by pairing process capabilities like tax budgeting and reporting with customizable products such as direct indexing and SMAs.