Preqin forecasts global alternatives AUM rising from $16.8T at end-2023 to $29.2T by 2029, with private equity AUM alone expected to reach $11.97T. Private markets are becoming too large to be treated as "alternative" in the old sense.
Commercial insight
If alternatives reach nearly $30T by 2029, the commercial battleground is not only performance. It is access, liquidity design, reporting, governance, secondaries, operational infrastructure and the ability to help LPs explain private exposure to boards and beneficiaries.
Allocator insight
Universal owners must decide whether alternatives still diversify public markets — or whether they increasingly import the same macro, liquidity and valuation risks through less transparent vehicles.
Source: Preqin, Future of Alternatives forecast.