Private Equity Courts a Growing Class of Mini-Millionaires
The industry is racing to secure a share of the trillions of dollars in wealth held by the rising suburban rich.
In September, dozens of financial advisers from around the US converged on an upscale Greek restaurant in Midtown Manhattan for cocktails and dinner. The venue, Avra Madison Estiatorio, gets rave reviews for its first-class service and grilled branzino, but the main attraction that evening was tennis legend John McEnroe. The following day, after presentations on alternatives to stocks and bonds, the crowd proceeded to Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens to watch a US Open quarterfinal, where then-world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz defeated Germany’s Alexander Zverev.
The event was put on by alternative investment giant Ares Management Corp., one of a growing group of private equity firms courting the people who control the purse strings of everyday millionaires—doctors, attorneys and other affluent-but-not-quite-1% folks whose combined wealth stands at about $100 trillion globally, according to consulting firm Bain & Co.