(Bloomberg) — HarbourVest Partners has hired an executive from BlackRock Inc. to boost its offerings for wealthy individuals, an area of increasing focus in the sector as some institutional investors pare their private equity holdings.
Venu Krishnamurthy joined the Boston-based HarbourVest, which manages more than $147 billion, as head of global private wealth. He had served as a top executive for BlackRock’s Aladdin technology system, where he oversaw the wealth management business.
HarbourVest aims to tap Krishnamurthy’s digital expertise to help broaden the reach of its products that target wealthy investors, Chief Executive Officer John Toomey said in an interview.
Private equity companies are fighting for the business of wealthy individuals, a largely untapped client source, as the endowments and pension funds that have historically plowed their money into the industry look to diversify elsewhere.
Founded as a fund of funds four decades ago, HarbourVest has struck partnerships with Vanguard Group and other partners in recent years in its bid to make private equity available to individual investors. The firm has also launched open-end funds to entice the wealthy, including one earlier this year that offered exposure to almost 40 companies across 30 managers.
HarbourVest now has almost 100 employees in its wealth business. In a given year, 15% to 20% of the capital raised by the firm comes from wealthy investors, according to Toomey, a figure that he expects to rise over the long term. HarbourVest sees its multimanager strategy as a competitive edge in a market where liquidity is crucial.
“It allows us to invest at pretty significant scale,” Toomey said. “We’re investing with lots of managers, as opposed to just the large buyout or one segment of the market.”
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