New Quarterly Report from Morningstar and PitchBook Brings Transparency to Rapidly Expanding Evergreen Fund Universe

Key Terms

evergreen private market funds financial

Evergreen private market funds are investment vehicles that hold stakes in privately owned companies or assets without a fixed end date, and they continually accept new money and may allow withdrawals over time. For investors, they offer ongoing access to private-market returns—like a savings account that invests in startups or real estate instead of cash—while using cash management and periodic valuation rules to balance long-term growth with occasional liquidity needs.

semiliquid funds financial

Semiliquid funds are investment pools that let investors take money out only under certain conditions or at set times, rather than on demand like a bank account. They typically invest in assets that can be sold but may require notice periods, limited windows for withdrawals, or fees to access cash. For investors this matters because semiliquid funds balance higher potential returns from less-traded assets with reduced short-term access to cash—think of them as a savings jar you can open only on specific days.

assets under management (AUM) financial

Assets under management (AUM) is the total value of all the investments that a financial company or fund is responsible for overseeing on behalf of its clients. It’s like a bank counting all the money it manages for people and organizations—more AUM generally means the company is trusted with larger amounts and can charge higher fees.

interval funds financial

Interval funds are pooled investment vehicles that hold a mix of assets, often including less-easily-sold investments, and allow investors to sell shares back to the fund only during set short windows (for example quarterly). Think of them like a club that opens its exit door occasionally: they offer access to investments that can boost returns or income but come with limited liquidity, so they matter to investors who can tolerate being locked in for longer periods.

tender offer funds financial

Tender offer funds are the money set aside by investors or companies to buy shares directly from shareholders during a takeover or buyout process. They are important because they determine how much financial backing is available to acquire a company, influencing whether the offer is attractive and successful. Essentially, these funds act as the pool of resources used to persuade shareholders to sell their ownership stakes.

expense ratios financial

A fund's expense ratio is the annual percentage taken from the fund’s assets to pay for running the fund — such as management, record-keeping and other operating costs. Investors care because that fee comes out of returns over time, so even a small difference acts like a regular maintenance charge (similar to a subscription or car upkeep) that can noticeably reduce compounded gains.

perpetual-life private market vehicles financial

Perpetual-life private market vehicles are investment funds that invest in non-public companies or assets and are structured without a fixed end date, so they can hold investments indefinitely rather than being forced to sell after a set term. For investors this matters because it allows managers to focus on long-term value creation instead of rushed exits, but it also affects liquidity, fee structures and how and when investors can get their money back—think of it like a garden you can tend forever rather than a crop you must harvest by a deadline.

CHICAGO & SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment insights, and PitchBook, a Morningstar company and a leading private capital market intelligence provider, today announced the launch of “The Evergreen Fund Landscape” report, a new quarterly research series offering comprehensive analysis of the performance, fund flows, fee structures, and emerging trends shaping evergreen private market funds in the United States, also known as semiliquid funds. The report leverages preliminary findings from the Morningstar PitchBook US Evergreen Fund Indexes, alongside Morningstar and PitchBook’s growing dataset on evergreen vehicles to bring greater transparency to an increasingly important investment structure.

The inaugural edition highlights the continued acceleration of evergreen fund adoption, driven by rising investor demand, regulatory tailwinds, and the broader “public-private convergence” reshaping how private markets are accessed. This launch builds on Morningstar and PitchBook’s joint initiatives to establish standardized benchmarks and enable meaningful comparisons between evergreen funds, their peers, and traditional public market exposures.

“The evergreen fund universe is expanding at a pace that would have been hard to imagine even a few years ago,” said Bryan Armour, director of ETF and passive strategies at Morningstar. “As regulatory developments and evolving fund structures accelerate the convergence of public and private markets, investors should carefully assess the risks and consider how these strategies fit in a portfolio. With this new quarterly research, Morningstar and PitchBook are delivering the transparency, data, and benchmarking tools needed to navigate this evolution with confidence.”

The inaugural report's key findings include:

• Evergreen fund assets continue to scale rapidly: Assets under management (AUM) has doubled since 2022, approaching $500 billion as structural and technological advancements broaden access to private markets.
• Private credit remains the primary growth engine: Direct lending has more than tripled in AUM since 2022, while alternative credit strategies continue to gain traction with private wealth investors.
• New product creation hits an all-time high: More evergreen funds launched in 2025 than any previous year, reflecting strong demand for semiliquid private market access.
• Flows underscore shifting investor preferences: Interval and tender offer funds brought in more than $40 billion in net inflows through September 2025, led by credit-focused vehicles; real estate funds experienced net outflows.
• Early index results show wide performance dispersion: Preliminary data from the new Morningstar PitchBook US Evergreen Fund Indexes highlights substantial variation in returns across strategies, reinforcing the importance of manager selection.
• Fee structures vary widely and often exceed public market norms: Median expense ratios remain above 3%, with dispersion driven by strategy differences and layered acquired fund fees.
• Real assets continue to gain momentum: More than 80% of evergreen infrastructure and natural resources AUM is concentrated in themes such as decarbonization, digital infrastructure, energy security, and supply-chain modernization.

“This inaugural report highlights just how quickly evergreen vehicles are becoming central to private market access,” added Zane Carmean, director of quantitative research at PitchBook. “Direct lending alone has more than doubled in net assets since 2022, and we’re seeing record numbers of new fund launches alongside strong inflows into credit, multi-asset, and private equity strategies. As evergreen structures mature and diversify, our combined datasets and new index suite will be essential in helping investors assess performance, fees, and long-term outcomes.”

The report’s debut builds on a growing suite of joint Morningstar and PitchBook initiatives designed to advance transparency and standardization across private markets. Most recently, Morningstar and PitchBook released the methodology and preliminary outputs for the Morningstar PitchBook US Evergreen Fund Indexes, marking a significant milestone in benchmarking and evaluating perpetual-life private market vehicles. Set to fully launch in early 2026, these indexes offer the industry’s first dedicated, standardized framework for comparing evergreen fund performance across strategies and relative to public market equivalents. Earlier this year, Morningstar introduced a new methodology for rating semiliquid funds and published Medalist Ratings on several notable products, supporting greater comparability for advisors and investors. The firms also co-developed the Modern Market 100 Index to track the performance of the largest public and private companies, providing a clearer lens into the evolving interplay between public and private markets.

The full report with more information on asset flows, fees, and product trends is available here.

About Morningstar, Inc.

Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment insights in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The Company offers an extensive line of products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers and owners, retirement plan providers and sponsors, institutional investors in the debt and private capital markets, and alliances and redistributors. Morningstar provides data and research insights on a wide range of investment offerings, including managed investment products, publicly listed companies, private capital markets, debt securities, and real-time global market data. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries, with approximately $369 billion in AUMA as of Sept. 30, 2025. The Company operates through wholly-owned subsidiaries in 32 countries. For more information, visit www.morningstar.com/company. Follow Morningstar on X @MorningstarInc.

About PitchBook, a Morningstar company

As the pulse of private capital markets, PitchBook delivers trusted, real-time data, research, and technology to help investors, dealmakers, and innovators make decisions with confidence. Its products provide comprehensive information on companies, investors, funds, deals, and people, along with tools that help professionals analyze market activity and make informed decisions. Founded in 2007, PitchBook today serves more than 100,000 clients worldwide and is recognized as the leading source of private capital market intelligence. PitchBook has grown to over 3,000 employees across offices in Seattle, San Francisco, New York, London, Singapore, Mumbai, and other global locations. Since 2016, PitchBook has operated as a subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc.

For more information, visit www.pitchbook.com.

©2025 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved.

MORN-R

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251217936010/en/

Morningstar Media Contact: Michael Claussen, +1 312 696-6037, newsroom@morningstar.com

PitchBook Media Contact: Bailey Fox, +1 425 894-2909, pr@pitchbook.com

Source: Morningstar, Inc.