The Milan-based firm said the offering will add important sources of return in client portfolios.

Italy-based Mediobanca announced yesterday that its private banking arm has added to its offering in semi-liquid products for professional customers.

Apollo Global Management, the alternatives asset manager overseeing about $598 billion in client AuM, will be involved in completing the first placement, Mediobanca said in a statement. 

The agreement with Apollo aims to provide the bank’s ultra-high net worth clients with access to a “broad private markets strategy” and portfolio of investments built by Apollo over the past 10 years, the lender said. 

“Compared to traditional investments in the real economy through closed end vehicles, semi-liquid products enable individual investors to commit capital faster and with more flexibility,” Mediobanca said. “This will allow Mediobanca’s clients, the majority of which are Italian, to be more dynamic in their allocation and to access a higher number of counterparties across all asset classes.”

The move is an example of how, despite headwinds caused by recent rises to interest rates, private market investing – covering areas such as venture capital, private credit, equity and infrastructure – remains popular with wealth managers. This field has surged in recent years, partly because of the illiquidity premium attached to it – contrasting with how yields on listed equities and bonds were squashed by central banks’ quantitative easing.

Mediobanca said the move allows private market investments to be embedded more efficiently into model portfolios, adding new sources of return while keeping volatility under control.

WealthBriefing recently interviewed CMB, part of Mediobanca’s private banking operations, about its strategy. The Milan-based firm also spelled out its strategy for wealth management in recent weeks.