Betashares confirms private capital division with first US partnership

ETF provider Betashares has announced the formation of Betashares Private Capital, a new division aimed at offering institutional-grade private market investment solutions to Australian wholesale investors, financial advisers and their clients.

The formation of the private credit arm comes off the back of increased demand from investors and advisers alike due to its potential to complement diversified portfolios of equities and bonds, while offering compelling risk-adjusted returns.

The potential launch was rumoured back in June when it appointed James Fleiter – formerly a relationship manager at Ares Management – to lead the development of its private assets offering.

Betashares Private Capital will selectively partner with leading global private asset managers to deliver high-quality opportunities that have traditionally been reserved for the world’s largest investors, according to Betashares.

The first of these partnerships is with US-based fund manager and investment adviser Cliffwater LLC, providing access to its flagship US private credit strategy. The new fund will first be available in Australia as an unlisted offering via platforms for financial advisers, and to wholesale clients through Betashares Direct.

The firm is also committed to providing institutional-grade investment materials and educational content to support investor understanding of private assets and their role in diversified portfolios.

Betashares confirmed the first private credit fund offering from Betashares Private Capital is expected to launch in late August.

Betashares founder and CEO, Alex Vynokur, said the launch of the division by the company is “the next step” in the delivery of a growing range of asset classes and investment styles by providing access to private assets in line with Betashares’ “guiding value of building cost-effective and diversified wealth solutions”.

The offering will provide AUD-hedged exposure to Cliffwater’s Corporate Lending Fund Platform, which focuses on direct loans to US middle market companies. Cliffwater employs a multilender model, partnering with top-tier global lenders such as Carlyle, HPS and Barings to construct a diversified portfolio of high-yield, senior secured, floating-rate loans.

The platform currently holds more than 3,900 loans across industries including IT, healthcare, industrials and financials, and has historically delivered stable capital and quarterly income, generating an annualised net return of 9.63 per cent in US dollars since its inception in June 2019, as at the end of June 2025.

Additionally, Cliffwater has gained strong support from US financial advisers and clients, Betashares stated, ranking among the top five credit managers by investment inflows.

It now manages the largest suite of private markets interval funds in the US, with US$30 billion in its flagship private credit fund – the same strategy Betashares will make available to Australian investors.

Both firms intend to expand the range of investment opportunities offered through the partnership in future.

Cliffwater founder and CEO, Stephen Nesbitt, said the offering will bring unique value to Australian investors.

“Our US private credit funds have seen significant investor interest given their performance and highly diversified and defensive nature of their investment strategies,“ Nesbitt said. “Our US private credit strategies have also been cycle-tested, producing attractive levels of income with low volatility across a range of different market conditions.”

“Our unique multilender model has allowed us to avoid the pitfalls of other private credit funds that are often far more concentrated in single positions or sectors, while also maintaining strong, risk-adjusted total returns.”

Vynokur added that the Australian market has been underserved when it comes to high-quality global private asset options.

“Despite the increased demand for private assets, Australia remains relatively underserved by high quality, global investment options.” 

“We believe there is a real opportunity to address this gap, and with that enable Australian investors and their financial advisers to have the opportunity to improve risk adjusted returns in portfolios by including robust, diversified private asset investments,” he said.