Private fund managers are increasingly launching retail alternative products to access broader mass affluent distribution channels, raise sticky long-term capital, generate more fees, diversify their product line and grow significant assets under management. Amid ongoing industry consolidation in the U.S. and Europe, investment managers traditionally focused on private credit, PE (including venture capital and growth equity) and real estate are expanding their platforms through vehicles such as business development companies, interval funds, tender offer funds and non-traded real estate investment trusts. Those vehicles offer a means to tap into the retail market and can be designed to co‑invest alongside existing institutional private funds. Fund managers accustomed to institutional capital typically draw on coordinated teams of private fund and registered fund experts to add new distribution channels to their business. Launching a retail alternative product is more than the addition of a new fund or an extension of an existing private fund, however; it is an entry into a well-established regulatory framework, with distinct operational nuances and a broader distribution network. In a guest article, Alston & Bird partners Heather N. Wyckoff and George M. Silfen outline the key issues – notably, the structural, procedural and fundraising considerations – for private fund managers seeking to launch retail alternative products. See “Inherent Obstacles and Promising Pathways to Retailization in the PE Industry” (May 29, 2025).