Welcome to Citywire Private Markets Forum, Zurich
Citywire is back to Zurich and will once again bring leading fund selectors together for an intense but rewarding half-day forum.
Over the last year, private markets have grown rapidly, as investors seek new sources of income, capital growth and diversification. That’s why we're bringing together top asset management firms to present their alternative strategies, and to explain the ways they’re exploiting opportunities in the private asset realm.
On the 24th of June 2026 we will be hosting a tailored afternoon programme at the Mandarin Oriental Savoy with five top fund managers presenting. Following the presentations, you will have the chance to unwind and exchange views with your peers over networking drinks.
The Citywire team is looking forward to welcoming you!
Key benefits of attending
Tactical, intimate meetings
Gain market insights through direct conversations with leading fund managers.
Peer-to-peer networking
Connect with fellow fund selection leaders to exchange strategies and challenges.
Game-changing insights
Explore practical solutions for compliance, fees, tech adoption and portfolio design.
Selector Hard Talk
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Hunting for Alpha, Wrestling with Data in Private Market
As investors increasingly blend traditional and alternative assets, professional fund investors face a dual challenge: navigating vast return dispersion while wrestling with fragmented, non-standardised performance data. In a crowded market of countless illiquid funds, mastering the manager interview process is critical. Asking the right questions is essential, and pushing managers out of their comfort zone is paramount. Furthermore, integrating these illiquid strategies into multi-asset portfolios introduces complex operational hurdles, making continuous monitoring key to portfolio success.
With the rapid expansion of private markets, crucial questions arise:
- The Portfolio Puzzle: What are the challenges of building and monitoring a multi-asset portfolio that includes both traditional asset classes and private markets?
- The Diligence Playbook: How do you prepare for fund manager interviews, and what are the most important questions you ask during a first-time meeting?
- Breaking the Surface: What is your "killing question" to push private market managers out of their comfort zone, and what are the best or worst practices you’ve learned when selecting these funds?
- Structural Hurdles: How do you tackle the wider dispersion of returns than is typical in public markets?
- The Data Gap: How do you navigate the lack of standardized presentation of fund performance and insufficient benchmarking data?
- The Allocator's Ledger: Where do the best investment opportunities lie today, and what are the private market strategies which have deeply disappointed selectors’ expectations?
In this brand new session, our guests will tackle these questions and more.
Panellists will be revealed soon, stay tuned!
Selector Hard Talk
.jpg?width=6000&height=4000&name=250605%20-%20Private%20Markets%20Forum%20Zurich%20-%20Panel%20Session%20(20).jpg)
Hunting for Alpha, Wrestling with Data in Private Market
As investors increasingly blend traditional and alternative assets, professional fund investors face a dual challenge: navigating vast return dispersion while wrestling with fragmented, non-standardised performance data. In a crowded market of countless illiquid funds, mastering the manager interview process is critical. Asking the right questions is essential, and pushing managers out of their comfort zone is paramount. Furthermore, integrating these illiquid strategies into multi-asset portfolios introduces complex operational hurdles, making continuous monitoring key to portfolio success.
With the rapid expansion of private markets, crucial questions arise:
- The Portfolio Puzzle: What are the challenges of building and monitoring a multi-asset portfolio that includes both traditional asset classes and private markets?
- The Diligence Playbook: How do you prepare for fund manager interviews, and what are the most important questions you ask during a first-time meeting?
- Breaking the Surface: What is your "killing question" to push private market managers out of their comfort zone, and what are the best or worst practices you’ve learned when selecting these funds?
- Structural Hurdles: How do you tackle the wider dispersion of returns than is typical in public markets?
- The Data Gap: How do you navigate the lack of standardized presentation of fund performance and insufficient benchmarking data?
- The Allocator's Ledger: Where do the best investment opportunities lie today, and what are the private market strategies which have deeply disappointed selectors’ expectations?
In this brand new session, our guests will tackle these questions and more.
Panellists will be revealed soon, stay tuned!
Partners
From investment strategy to client experience, these firm-led workshops offer direct and focused conversations with the providers helping our delegates solve real challenges and grow with clarity and purpose.
Partners
From investment strategy to client experience, these firm-led workshops offer direct and focused conversations with the providers helping our delegates solve real challenges and grow with clarity and purpose.
Franklin Templeton
Real Estate Debt: high income strategy backed by hard assets
Speakers
Representatives
Real estate debt offers investors compelling risk-adjusted returns and high income, backed by tangible hard assets such as multifamily homes and industrial properties. Real estate debt benefits from strong borrower demand, reduced bank lending, and attractive real estate valuation offering competitive entry points for lenders and downside buffer. BSP focused on senior, secured, floating rate mortgage loans underwritten on multifamily properties, targeting a 8 – 9.5% return and 8% distribution.
Workshop Objectives: Discover the power of Real Estate Debt - why the asset class is gaining momentum, where today’s opportunities lie, and why now is a compelling moment to invest in the Franklin BSP Real Estate Debt Fund.
Company Profile: Your trusted partner for what’s ahead™ We believe that success requires more than just expertise - it demands powerful partnerships. As a forward-thinking asset manager, we build dynamic relationships with our clients, understand their goals, and navigate the complexities of the market together. Our team leverages cutting-edge strategies and deep industry insights to unlock opportunities to help grow wealth. With Franklin Templeton by their side, investors don’t prepare for the future - they shape it.
Sosteneo Infrastructure Partners, part of Generali Investments
Infrastructure Investing in an Age of Energy Security
Representatives
With geopolitical tensions exposing Europe’s reliance on imported energy and volatile power prices, investors are increasingly looking for ways to back resilient, flexible power systems. In this presentation, Chris Twomey, Founding Partner, CFO & COO at Sosteneo Infrastructure Partners (part of Generali Investments), discusses how clean energy infrastructure goes beyond climate ambition, representing a powerful economic and financial opportunity, at the same time delivering energy security, affordability and decarbonisation for Europe.
Workshop Objectives: Explore how clean energy infrastructure can enhance portfolio resilience, support energy security, and generate attractive long‑term, risk‑adjusted returns amid geopolitical uncertainty and volatile European power markets.
Company Profile: Sosteneo is a specialist investment manager focused on construction-ready clean energy infrastructure.
The firm targets the value inflection between development and operations, investing in projects that address system needs across flexibility, supply, and end-use. This approach enables delivery of new infrastructure with structured downside protection and visible cash flows.
Established in 2022 and headquartered in Milan, Sosteneo combines industrial expertise with institutional investment discipline.
Sosteneo is part of Generali Investments, the asset management arm of the Generali Group, one of the world’s largest insurance and asset management players, with a global platform spanning public and private markets.
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HarbourVest Global Private Equity
Unlocking Value in Private Markets
With public markets trading near all-time highs, investors may be looking for opportunities in “unloved” areas that have not yet participated in the recovery. In this presentation, Richard Hickman, HarbourVest Managing Director, sheds some light on how investors can access value opportunities in private markets through a listed structure.
Company Profile:
HarbourVest Global Private Equity (HVPE) is a listed investment company that provides investors with access to private company investments. Listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange, HVPE sits in the FTSE 250 and has net assets of $4.2 billion and a market capitalisation of approximately £2.3 billion as at 31 January 2025. HVPE invests exclusively in HarbourVest managed funds. HarbourVest Partners is an independent, global private markets asset manager with over 43 years of experience.
Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM)
The Next Phase of Private Markets: Allocations, Access, Outcomes
Representatives
The investment objective of the Private Markets ELTIF is to generate capital gains and income by following a globally diversified multi-alternative strategy comprised primarily of private equity, private credit and private real assets investments (“Private Investments”) as well as certain public investments (“Public Investments”). Considering the long-term nature of the Sub-Fund and the characteristics of the investments, the performance of the Sub-Fund depends on the performance of the investments over time.
The portfolio is designed to efficiently deploy capital through a combination of direct investments and co-investments. We believe the investment strategy presents a distinctive opportunity for eligible investors to gain high conviction and thematic exposure to Private Equity, Private Real Assets and Private Credit in a semi-liquid vehicle.
Workshop Objective:
The objective is to introduce the attendees to our capabilities in the multi-alternatives private markets space.
Company Profile:
Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM), a division of Morgan Stanley, is a client-focused organization that provides investment and risk management solutions to a broad range of investors and institutions, including corporations, pension plans, financial intermediaries, sovereign wealth funds, central banks, endowments, foundations, governments, and global consultants.
With over 50 years of experience in asset management, MSIM offers strategies across the risk/return spectrum, spanning different geographies, styles, and asset classes, including equities, fixed income, alternatives, and private markets.
MSIM delivers personalized service to its clients through the expertise of highly skilled professionals and access to Morgan Stanley’s global resources, combining local knowledge with an international presence to best serve its partners.
PGIM
Private Credit Secondaries: Unlocking Liquidity in a Growing Market
Representatives
Private credit’s rapid expansion has created a large pool of mature, illiquid loans and, with it, growing demand for liquidity and portfolio flexibility. This workshop explores the accelerating private credit secondaries market and its role as a strategic solution for investors and fund managers seeking greater liquidity, portfolio flexibility, and more predictable cash flows amid delayed repayments and maturity extensions. Participants will examine the key growth drivers behind this emerging asset class, including the scale of private credit AUM growth and the current supply‑demand imbalance. The session also highlights portfolio benefits such as discounted entry points, immediate diversification across seasoned loans, enhanced risk‑adjusted returns, and reduced blind‑pool risk. Finally, the workshop addresses the manager capabilities required to successfully source, underwrite, and execute private credit secondary investments.
Workshop Objective:
To equip participants with a clear understanding of private credit secondaries, their growth drivers, portfolio benefits, and the manager capabilities required to effectively deploy capital and manage liquidity risk.
Company Profile:
PGIM, the global asset management business of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), builds on 150 years of stability and disciplined risk management. With US $1.5 trillion in assets (30 Sep 2025) and expertise across public and private markets, PGIM offers diverse strategies through 1,400 professionals in 41 offices worldwide.
Wellington Management
Where Have All The Successful Small Caps Gone? Capturing Innovation Through Private Equity Late-Stage-Growth investing
Representatives
Today, many innovative and strongly growing companies are staying private for longer than in the past and accruing more value while private. In this new market landscape, a traditional public-market small-cap allocation may miss out on an important phase of growth. Late-stage growth capital fills this gap by investing in emerging growth companies while they’re still private, enabling the capture of a larger share of their value creation potential.
Company Profile:
Wellington Management is one of the world’s largest independent investment management firms, serving as a trusted advisor to over 2,500 clients in more than 60 countries. The firm manages more than US$1.3 trillion, as of 31 December 2025, for pensions, endowments and foundations, insurers, family offices, fund sponsors, global wealth managers, and other clients. Wellington aspires to provide excellent service to clients through a unique combination of independence enabled by its distinctive private partnership model; diverse perspectives through its unified, multi-asset investment platform; and relentless curiosity and intellectual rigor fostered by its enduring collaborative culture.
Add extra partners (e.g. tech or media partners)
Partners
Agenda
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Time
Agenda
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12:00 - 13:00
Registration and Lunch Buffet
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13:00 - 13:05
Welcome
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13:05 - 13:50
Panel Session
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13:50 - 14:20
Fund Group Workshop 1
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14:30 - 15:00
Fund Group Workshop 2
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15:10 - 15:40
Fund Group Workshop 3
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15:50 - 16:20
Fund Group Workshop 4
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16:30 - 17:00
Fund Group Workshop 5
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17:00
Networking Drinks
Register
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