Real Assets Stay in the Fundraising Flow
Real asset managers are still finding ways to raise capital in an otherwise uneven private markets environment, with investors gravitating toward strategies that offer tangible collateral, contractual cash flows, and inflation protection.
Over the past few months, managers across real estate, infrastructure and real asset secondaries have announced multi‑billion‑dollar closes and strategic mandates, even as broader private equity fundraising remains subdued and highly selective. The pattern underscores persistent reallocation toward real assets and income‑oriented vehicles that can help institutional portfolios navigate higher-for-longer rates and geopolitical risk.
Infrastructure and Secondaries Drive Fundraising Activity
Infrastructure continues to dominate recent capital raising activity. NOVA Infrastructure recently closed its second fund at approximately $1.5 billion in capital commitments, surpassing its target by more than 30% and more than doubling the $700 million raised for its 2022 debut vehicle, highlighting growing institutional appetite for these strategies and liquidity solutions in private markets. Meanwhile, Pantheon launched the Pantheon Global Infrastructure Secondaries Fund (PGIS), a Luxembourg-established evergreen vehicle designed to provide investors with diversified exposure to global infrastructure secondaries.
This trend aligns with broader market dynamics. According to recent industry analysis, the largest infrastructure funds are capturing an outsized share of capital, with the top five funds accounting for roughly 65% of total infrastructure fundraising in recent cycles.
At the same time, major managers continue to scale strategies tied to digital infrastructure, energy transition and logistics. ArcLight Capital Partners, for example, has closed its eighth value-added infrastructure fund at $3.9 billion, exceeding its $3 billion target and bringing total capital raised across its platform to more than $6 billion over the past 24 months.
Pension funds also remain heavily invested in the space. The Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System is moving to scale its real assets exposure, issuing RFPs to deploy approximately $1.5 billion across global listed infrastructure strategies. The $298 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund is stepping up its real assets program, concentrating new commitments in infrastructure strategies tied to renewable energy, digital infrastructure, transportation and other core assets, alongside targeted real estate bets.
At the broader market level, Preqin’s latest North America private markets report highlights that regional fundraising across private capital rose from to $861 billion in 2025 from $762 billion in 2024, with real estate and infrastructure playing an important role in that rebound.
Real Estate Capital Returns as Allocation Gap Widens
Capital is also flowing back into real estate, driven by a structural supply-demand imbalance. A global investment gap estimated at $1.3 trillion annually across housing, energy and infrastructure is increasingly being filled by private capital.
Recent transactions reinforce that trend. Ridgewood Infrastructure, for example, acquired a controlling interest in Sierra Railroad Company, a California-based shortline rail platform providing freight rail, switching, storage and transloading services across key industrial, agricultural and energy supply chains.
Within that mix, real estate debt and secondaries strategies have been notable bright spots. StepStone recently announced $4.5 billion raised for its latest real estate secondaries program, including $3.8 billion for its flagship StepStone Real Estate Partners V fund. OIC has closed its fourth credit opportunities fund at approximately $1.58 billion, exceeding its $1.1 billion target and highlighting continued investor appetite for middle-market infrastructure credit strategies.
Capital Rotation Defines the Current Cycle
The data points to a broader reallocation underway across private markets. Real assets, particularly infrastructure secondaries, digital infrastructure and income-oriented real estate, are emerging as preferred allocations as investors seek diversification and inflation resilience. With capital increasingly concentrated in large, scalable platforms and strategies tied to essential services and physical assets, real asset fundraising is entering a new phase.