As the fourth business arm of the group, the new entity concentrates on choosing investment opportunities across private markets, offering tailor-made solutions through thematic funds and co-investment vehicles, as well as advisory services focusing on financing solutions and capital structuring.

Based in Zurich and co-managed by Marc Syz and Olivier Maurice, the company delivers a partnership model which aims to attract the next generation of private market specialists. This approach is supported by an advisory network of private equity specialists, debt and real estate practitioners, as well as recognised industry experts.

Private client investors and organisations such as family offices are increasingly allocating capital to private debt, equity, infrastructure and property markets, attracted by the higher returns that such relatively illiquid assets offer compared with listed equities and government bonds. A period of low or even negative interest rates has seen an expansion of private capital markets generally. More recently, there have been some concerns over how well the private capital sector can digest strong investor inflows.

SYZ Capital will offer a diversified, multi-manager fund, which will use a proprietary asset allocation model to assess opportunities on an absolute and relative value basis across markets, while being cognisant of market cycles. A team will focus on growth investment opportunities, such as buy-and-build strategies.

The firm argues that while investors have had access to hedge fund strategies for decades, private markets are still dominated by institutional capital. SYZ hopes to widen access to these spaces to a broader investor base.