The private markets gap is closing, FinCap is leading the way

Private markets for financial advisers have long meant workarounds, limited access and governance gaps. Superannuation funds, endowments and sovereign wealth funds have had the infrastructure to invest at scale.

Wholesale investors and their advisers sit outside those structures entirely. They sit on the sidelines, held back by limited access, patchy governance and infrastructure never built for illiquid assets.

FinCap wants to change that.

The firm has launched its managed account platform, bringing institutional-grade private markets access to wholesale investors and their advisers. The platform is built around genuine return conviction, a two-engine investment architecture and strong governance.

Ben Davis, head of portfolio and investment solutions at FinCap, says the gap has been structural, not inevitable.

“What we are building at FinCap changes that. Increased manager specialisation and the rise of evergreen investment structures have broadened access beyond traditional multi-strategy platforms.”

Two portfolios, one clear purpose

The platform launches with two managed portfolios: Helm Income and Helm Growth, spanning private equity, private credit and real assets.

Each portfolio holds 10 to 20 funds, with around 15 preferred positions and a 15 per cent single-fund cap. Before the platform makes any allocation, every manager must first pass both institutional investment due diligence and operational due diligence.

BCA Research, a global independent investment research firm, handles top-down allocation and forward-looking capital market assumptions.

A global manager research partner anchors bottom-up manager selection. FinCap selected both partners for their global capabilities. From Q3 2026, the platform will extend into offshore product access and closed-end, capital-call structures.

Davis is clear about the intent. “FinCap has designed these highly concentrated portfolios to be genuinely complementary to existing public market holdings rather than diluted private markets beta that an adviser could replicate themselves,” he says.

Three problems, built into one solution

FinCap built the platform to solve three specific pain points that have historically kept wholesale investors out of private markets at scale.

Christian Ryan, executive chair of FinCap, names them directly: “The platform addresses three problems that have historically locked wholesale investors out of private markets at scale: liquidity, technology and governance.”

• Helm runs a multi-stage liquidity architecture designed to match the redemption realities of illiquid assets.
• The platform is built natively for periodic valuations, capital calls and illiquid redemption windows, not retrofitted from listed-market infrastructure.
• Governance was designed from day one to support it, not added as an afterthought.

These are not cosmetic differences. They reflect a genuine rethinking of how a platform needs to function to serve the illiquid asset class. Legacy infrastructure simply cannot support the liquidity expectations advisers need to manage for clients.

Making the case for private markets for financial advisers

Listed investments account for only a small fraction of global investable assets. Private equity, private credit, infrastructure and specialised real estate have been key components of institutional portfolios for decades. For most wholesale investors and their advisers, meaningful access has simply not existed at scale.

Ryan makes the case for a measured shift, “A strategic allocation of 10 to 20 per cent to private markets can materially enhance portfolio outcomes without compromising overall flexibility.

This is not a radical proposition, but a measured evolution of traditional portfolio construction and one that aligns more closely with how institutional investors have approached asset allocation for years.”

The Helm portfolios target the illiquidity and complexity premium that listed markets cannot reach, backed by the governance and due diligence infrastructure to give investors a genuine shot at capturing it.

Beyond the managed portfolios

Beyond the two core engines, the platform also features FinCap Direct, a co-investment channel giving platform members access to single-asset opportunities in private equity and real estate. It is a meaningful addition for advisers who want to complement a core portfolio allocation with targeted, high-conviction exposure.

FinCap was founded by Ryan and is backed by a strategic investment from Pinnacle Investment Management Group, one of Australia’s leading multi-boutique investment managers.

What advisers should do now

The access gap in private markets for financial advisers is narrowing, and the infrastructure to act on it now exists.

For advisers who have long wanted to build a genuine private markets allocation for wholesale clients but struggled with governance, technology and liquidity architecture, FinCap’s platform addresses each of those barriers directly.

The illiquidity premium is real, and the opportunity is not waiting.

For advisers still on the sidelines, the question is no longer whether private markets belong in a client portfolio. It is how much longer they can afford to sit out.