Updated October 2026

How the lists are built, in plain terms.

Methodology

These lists rank private-capital managers by regulatory assets under management reported to the SEC on Form ADV. The number is the adviser’s reported assets. It is not the size of one fund, and it is not a measure of how well the firm has invested.

The seven lists

Each list names its ten largest firms. More firms meet the standard for the list than the ten we name. Those other firms are counted, and they do not have a profile on this site.

65 firms are named, across 70 listings. 1,031 is the sum of the seven lists. A firm that appears on two lists is counted twice in that sum.

We reviewed 3,040 advisory firms that reported an asset figure and had a website on file. 2,096 could be placed with high confidence and 811 with medium confidence. 133 were set aside because we were not confident where they belonged, including 22 that would otherwise have sat on one of these seven lists.

Also in that wider set, and not ranked here: 603 traditional asset managers; 598 wealth managers; 444 banks and brokerages; 98 family offices; 134 other firms.

Who is left off

Banks, brokerages, index managers, and wealth advisers are not ranked here. Their assets are deposits, custody, or mutual-fund holdings, which are a different measure from a fund manager’s regulatory assets. Family offices are not ranked here either. Their asset figures are reported to a commercial list, not to a regulator.

A firm is placed on the list that matches the strategy it is known for. When one manager files more than one advisory entity, that list shows the firm once, at its largest filing.

How to read a rank

Number 1 is the firm with the largest regulatory assets on that list. The ten names are the ten largest. A firm that also appears on another list keeps a separate figure there. We do not add those figures together, because they come from different filings.

  • Blackstone: Private Equity — Buyout, Real Assets & Infrastructure, Secondaries & Fund-of-Funds
  • Blue Owl Capital: Real Assets & Infrastructure, Secondaries & Fund-of-Funds
  • Brookfield: Private Credit, Real Assets & Infrastructure
  • KKR: Private Equity — Buyout, Private Credit

Websites

We link to a firm’s own website only after checking that the address answers. We do not link to YouTube, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Wikipedia, or other sites that merely mention the firm. If we cannot confirm the firm’s site, we show no link. A site that blocks automated visits is still treated as a live site. In this edition, Nuveen is listed without a website because we could not confirm one.

What a profile shows

Each profile names the list, the firm’s place on that list, the regulatory assets, the name on the Form ADV filing, a short description when we have one, and the website when it is confirmed. Confidence is high or medium. Firms we could not place confidently are not named. “Main advisory entity” means the filing is the firm’s main entity rather than a single fund or a sub-adviser.

Notes

Finished notes appear under Insights. No notes are published yet.

Dates

The “Updated October 2026” line is when these pages were published. It is not the date of each Form ADV filing. The figures we publish do not include a filing date.

The deal map

The deal map is separate from these manager lists. It counts Regulation D filings with the SEC by the state the issuer calls home. It is not a map of where the managers on these lists are based.

What this is not

Nothing here ranks firms by investment performance. Regulatory assets under management, as reported on Form ADV, is the only size figure these lists use. The pages do not add a city, a performance record, or a fund size.

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