Interval fund AUM growth continues apace. Total interval fund net assets equaled $23.3 billion as of the most recent public filings available at the end of the second quarter, up 48% compared to the prior year, and 9% compared to the prior quarter.
Filings released subsequent to the end of the quarter increased the total net assets to over $24.9 billion.
Interval fund assets remain highly concentrated. Although there are over 50 active interval funds, the five largest alone account for approximately two-thirds of total net assets. The following table shows the ten largest funds by net assets based on data available as of July 13, 2018:
Fund |
Reporting Period |
Net Assets MRQ |
% of total |
Stone Ridge Trust II (Stone Ridge Reinsurance Risk Premium Interval Fund) |
April 30 |
$6.06 billion |
24.9% |
February 28 |
$3.17 billion |
13.0% |
|
March 21 |
$2.69 billion |
11.0% |
|
March 31 |
$2.18 billion |
8.8% |
|
March 31 |
$2.14 billion |
9.0% |
|
April 30 |
$1.55 billion |
6.4% |
|
March 31 |
$931.0 million |
3.8% |
|
April 30 |
$810.2 million |
3.0% |
|
March 31 |
$802.7 million |
3.3% |
|
February 28 |
$740.2 million |
1.7% |
Fastest Growing Interval Funds
Twenty-nine active interval funds reported net asset growth in the most recent quarter. Fourteen reported a decrease, and seven reported no change. The five fastest growing interval funds alone accounted for over 70% of the quarterly increase in net assets for the entire niche. Astute readers will notice substantial overlap between the lists of largest and fastest growing interval funds. The following list shows the ten fastest growing interval funds, based on net asset growth in the most recent reported quarter:
Fund |
Date of Reporting Period |
Net Assets Increase MRQ |
Stone Ridge Trust II (Stone Ridge Reinsurance Risk Premium Interval Fund) |
April 30 |
$1.04 billion |
March 31 |
$275.3 million |
|
February 28 |
$266.9 million |
|
March 31 |
$238.1 million |
|
Versus Cap Multi-Manager Real Estate Income Fund |
March 31 |
$188.6 million |
March 31 |
$175.6 million |
|
March 31 |
$147.1 million |
|
April 30 |
$133.8 million |
|
March 31 |
$120.4 million |
|
March 31 |
$65.5 million |
Fee structures are becoming more standardized, and several service providers have become critical to the interval fund ecosystem.
Pipeline of new funds
Growth of the interval fund pipeline accelerated in the second quarter. Pace of fund registrations and launches is a strong leading indicator of future sector growth.
New registrations
Seven interval funds filed initial registration statements with the SEC in the second quarter.
Fund |
Registration Date |
Strategy |
Oppenheimer ILS Interval Fund |
2018-06-13 |
Insurance-linked securities |
American Beacon Apollo Total Return Fund |
2018-06-11 |
Other |
Hatteras Reinsurance Fund |
2018-05-15 |
Insurance-linked securities |
City National Rochdale Strategic Credit Fund |
2018-05-14 |
Credit |
FS Multi-Alternative Income Fund |
2018-04-17 |
Other |
Variant Alternative Income Fund |
2018-04-13 |
Credit |
Savyon Trust Group, Inc. |
2018-04-10 |
Credit |
Credit strategies, broadly defined, continue to be the most popular among fund managers getting ready to launch an interval fund.
New funds declared effective
The SEC declared effective five interval fund registrations statements in the second quarter. Additionally, one interval fund offering shares via a private offering started raising capital in the quarter. This is an acceleration in pace compared to prior quarters.
The public interval fund offerings declared effective in the second quarter are shown in the following table:
Fund Name |
Effective Date |
Strategy |
Maximum Offering Proceeds |
American Beacon Sound Point Enhanced Income Fund |
2018-06-29 |
Credit |
$250,000,000 |
NexPoint Latin American Opportunities Fund |
2018-06-25 |
Credit & Equity |
$100,000,000 |
OFI Carlyle Global Private Credit Fund |
2018-05-31 |
Credit |
$1,000,000,000 |
NexPoint Healthcare Opportunities Fund |
2018-05-10 |
Credit & Equity |
$100,000,000 |
Destra International & Event Driven Credit Fund |
2018-05-09 |
Credit |
$126,000,000 |
Note that the Flat Rock Opportunity Fund also launched during the first week of the third quarter. It was declared effective on July 2.
Interval fund research white papers
Several service providers and fund sponsors released several notable research pieces in the second quarter:
- DST Systems published Leveraging Interval Funds to Generate Alpha for Active Strategies.
- UMB Fund Services published Unlisted Closed End Funds: Platform Perspectives and Market Update(note that the data in this paper includes both all subtypes of unlisted closed end funds, while this site covers interval funds exclusively).
- Union Square Capital Partners, which manages the USQ Core Real Estate Fund, published Interval Funds: What Investors Need to Know.
For a comprehensive collection of whitepapers, see the resources at this link.
Note: this was originally posted by the author on Interval Fund Tracker.