When TPG Inc. announced May 15 that it agreed to a $3 billion deal to acquire investment firm Angelo Gordon & Co. LP, the listed private equity firm touted the addition of a $55 billion credit business to its portfolio, increasing its exposure to a strategy currently in demand with institutional investors. 

But there was more to the deal for TPG, including the addition of new products targeting retail investors, CEO Jon Winkelried explained on the firm’s first-quarter earnings call that same day. 

“Our ability to deliver product to our retail channel partners is greatly enhanced by this transaction,” Winkelried said. 

The potentially massive individual investor market was a hot topic on first-quarter earnings calls, with Blackstone Inc. President Jonathan Gray reiterating his estimate that wealthy individuals hold $85 trillion in investable assets globally. Compared to private equity’s typical partners, institutional investors who have 25%-30% of their portfolios in alternative assets, those individual investors have just 1%-2% of their portfolios in alternatives, Gray said. 

The conversation around further opening alternative investments to individual investors has been going on for some time, but it has taken on a new urgency as fundraising slows. Institutional investors have shown a reduced appetite for alternatives, particularly for the firm’s private equity strategies.