AllianceBernstein sees growing investor appetite for alternatives

AllianceBernstein reported accelerating institutional investor demand for alternative assets in the third quarter of 2025, with $2.8bn (£2.1bn) of inflows fuelling higher deployments across private credit.

The US asset manager said institutional investor appetite gathered pace in the period, marking another quarter of gains for its alternatives and multi-asset strategies. Investor demand was concentrated in commercial real estate debt, private placements and direct lending.

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“Institutional demand was headlined by $2.8bn of inflows into alternatives and multi-asset strategies, driven by net deployments across commercial real estate debt, private placements, residential mortgages and private credit,” said Seth Bernstein, president and chief executive of AllianceBernstein.

The firm’s total net inflows across all investor types for alternatives and multi-asset strategies was reported at $3.2bn for the quarter.

AllianceBernstein’s private markets assets under management (AUM) rose to around $80bn in the third quarter, while total firm-wide AUM reached a record $860bn.

Corporate direct lending led the firm’s private markets portfolio at $22.4bn, followed by alternative credit at $20.4bn, commercial real estate debt at $12bn and private placements at $18.1bn.

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Performance-related fees from the private markets platform accounted for around two-thirds of AllianceBernstein’s annual performance fees, driven by its private credit operations across middle-market lending, AB CarVal and commercial real estate debt.

The firm guided for full-year 2025 performance fees of between $130m and $155m, up from $110m to $130m a year earlier, across both its private and public market strategies.

Read more: AllianceBernstein targets wealth market for private credit growth