A majority of alternative fund administration firms – 74 per cent – expect consolidation in the alts fund admin space, according to the just-released eVestment Alternative Fund Administration 2018 survey.
This is up dramatically from the 47 per cent of survey respondents who expected consolidation in 2017’s survey.
And despite technology and new players disrupting numerous industries around the world, only 11 per cent of survey respondents expect to see new entrants into the fund administration business over the near term, down from 26 per cent of respondents in the prior year’s results.
Alternative asset managers are increasingly outsourcing operational functions to third-party fund administrators and eVestment’s annual fund administrator survey represents the current state of the global alternative fund administration industry.
Firms participating in the survey administered private equity, real asset, hedge fund, fund of funds and liquid alternative assets totalling USD8.42 trillion as of year-end 2017, increasing +10.20 per cent compared to assets under administration reported in last year’s survey.
According to the survey, private equity is seen as the greatest avenue for growth among fund administration firms, followed by hedge funds and real assets, the same positions these asset classes occupied in 2017’s survey.
Geographically, North America continues to be seen as the top area for growth for fund administration firms, followed by Europe and Asia Pacific. Opportunities for growth in the Middle East ticked up slightly compared to last year’s survey, while expectations for growth in Latin America and Africa are both down.
