Demand for semi-liquid funds in Europe is not the problem. The rails between the fund and the end client are. That is the argument our Co-CEO, Michael Gruener, makes in a new piece for Funds Europe, published on 20 October 2026.
Here is a short summary, including the four steps he believes asset managers can take with their distributors today. Read the full article in Funds Europe.
From "should we?" to "how do we?"
Michael spends much of his time with private banks and wealth managers across Europe. Not long ago, the conversation was about whether to offer private markets to clients at all. With ELTIF 2.0, the UK's LTAF and clients actively asking for access, that debate has largely moved on. We've looked at the private markets opportunity in Europe's retail wealth channel before. What wealth firms want to know now is how to run these funds well once they are on the shelf.
Michael's point is that, for an asset manager, running a fund well can't stop at the fund itself. Every distributor between the fund and the end investor is part of how that fund is experienced.
Where the friction sits
Fund distribution in Europe grew up around UCITS: liquid assets, daily dealing and orders pooled at omnibus level. It does that job well. Evergreen funds ask far more of it. Valuations arrive monthly or quarterly. Investors face notice periods, gates and lock-ups when they want to redeem. Who can invest depends on the product and the country.
Michael's observation is that today's distribution set-up has nowhere to hold these rules, so they land with the distributor, who often manages them manually for each client. We've written before about why evergreen funds can't yet be traded the way public markets can.
The cost for asset managers
This is where Michael turns the problem back to the manager. A distributor relying on manual checks will be cautious about taking a fund to more clients, and may decide not to offer it at all. That limits fundraising even when investors want in.
He also points to the reputational exposure. A missed lock-up, or an investor let in who shouldn't have been, reflects on the fund rather than the intermediary. And with orders pooled at omnibus level, many managers have little sight of where their capital actually comes from.
"The demand is real. The plumbing between fund and client cannot carry it."
Michael Gruener, Co-CEO, Titanbay
What Michael suggests managers do now
His advice doesn't involve replacing custodians or transfer agents. Instead, he sets out four practical moves:
1. Test your distributors' controls. Find out how each one applies your lock-ups, gates and eligibility rules to individual clients. Manual processes show you where growth will stall.
2. Build liquidity terms that work in practice. Redemption features need to be designed into operations, not only written into the prospectus.
3. Fit into the systems distributors already use. Funds that trade and report inside the tools wealth firms rely on are the ones that scale.
4. Get visibility by distributor. Flow data split by distributor is what lets a manager plan liquidity and distribution with confidence.
The bigger picture
Michael's closing argument is that operations is no longer a back-office topic in private markets. With evergreen funds, the strength of the connection between fund and client decides how far a manager can reach into the wealth channel. In his view, Europe has already created the demand. The work now is building what's needed to serve it.
Read Michael's full article in Funds Europe.
About Titanbay
Titanbay structures, launches, runs, and trades private markets funds, in one place and on technology we built ourselves. The funds are managed by our own alternative investment fund manager, Titanbay Ireland Limited, authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland. Our technology takes on the operational work behind every fund, from structuring and onboarding through to trading and reporting. That lets asset managers bring funds to market and run them at scale, and lets wealth managers access and trade those funds through the systems they already use.
Private markets has run on spreadsheets and fragmented providers for decades. We knew there was a better way, so we built it.
Important disclosures
This article is for information purposes only. Nothing in this article is investment, legal, tax or other advice. It is not investment research, a recommendation, or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any financial instrument or invest in any fund. It does not take account of any reader’s objectives, financial situation or needs.
Investing in private markets involves significant risk. You may lose some or all of the capital you invest, and these investments can be illiquid. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Any forward-looking statements are the author’s opinion and are not guaranteed.