Investcorp Strategic Capital Group's Anthony Maniscalco - the evolution of GP stakes

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

We sat down with Anthony Maniscalco, the Managing Partner and Business Head of Investcorp Strategic Capital Group (ISCG).

We were live from Berlin, which becomes the “capital of private capital” in June as private equity industry leaders make the annual pilgrimage to the city for one of the marquee private equity conferences, SuperReturn Berlin.

With Prosek Partners and former Bloomberg TV journalist Deirdre Bolton as my producer, along with her team, we took over a Tiny Space cabin to hold big conversations with some of the industry’s leading alternative asset managers.

Investcorp has been a pioneer in private equity. Since its founding in 1982, the firm has grown from a “boutique Gulf firm” into a global and diversified alternative asset manager.

Investcorp launched its Strategic Capital Group (SCG) (GP stakes) business long after its founding in 1982. But the firm brought in a pioneer to launch and build SCG into a leading GP stakes firm, which now has over $2.2B of AUM.

Anthony has been involved in GP stakes from the industry’s early days. He was a founding member of Blackstone Strategic Capital Holdings, a $3.3B private, permanent capital vehicle focused on acquiring minority interests in alternative asset manager GPs. He was also a Managing Director of the Hedge Fund Solutions business at The Blackstone Group. Prior to joining Investcorp, Anthony was a Managing Director and Co-Head of Credit Suisse Anteil Capital Partners.

Launched in 2019, Investcorp’s SCG acquires minority interests in alternative asset managers, particularly GPs that manage longer-duration private capital strategies. SCG has completed 12 investments since inception.

Anthony and I had a fascinating conversation about the evolution of GP stakes and the benefits of GP stakes for investors. We covered:

Why have stakes shifted from hedge funds to alternative asset managers?Why the features of the alternative asset management business model (contracted management fees, locked-up capital, less key-person risk) can make for a good GP stake investment.Why a GP would sell an equity stake in its firm to finance its growth.Unpacking the middle-market GP landscape and where middle-market GPs need help growing their firm.The evolution from fund to firm and what’s next for GP stakes.Bio

Anthony Maniscalco is the Managing Partner and Business Head of Investcorp Strategic Capital Group (ISCG), based in New York. ISCG is focused on providing capit