Alternative Asset Managers Sector Primer
A 46-page primer plus Excel model on alternative asset manager valuation: FRE vs DE, P/FRE multiples, perpetual capital and carry waterfalls.
PDF Only
The full primer in PDF format
£25 / ~$32- ✓ 46-page sector primer
- ✓ Worked valuations
- ✓ Screening thresholds
Excel Model
Plug-and-play valuation template
£45 / ~$58- ✓ Pre-built valuation model
- ✓ Sensitivity tables
- ✓ Scenario toggles
PDF + Model
Everything you need in one package
- ✓ 46-page sector primer
- ✓ Valuation model (.xlsx)
- ✓ Save £11 vs buying separately
Three primers, three Excel models
Banks, Insurance, and Alternative Asset Managers. Everything at ~25% off
Inside the primer
The 20-section contents, a worked valuation page, and the Excel dashboard.
Table of Contents
- 01 How Alt Managers Make Money
- 02 Listed Company Types
- 03 The Fund Lifecycle and Vehicle Ladder
- 04 Strategy Segments and Sub-Markets
- 05 Revenue Drivers: Building FRE from Round Numbers
- 06 FRE Margin and the Distributable Label Trap
- 07 Valuation Frameworks: P/FRE and P/DE
- 08 Worked Example: Sum-of-the-Parts Valuation
- 09 Worked Sensitivities
- 10 Applied Case: Blackstone as the FRE/DE Benchmark
- 11 AUM Mechanics and Perpetual Capital
- 12 Carried Interest: the Waterfall
- 13 The Insurance Engine
- 14 Fundraising, Deployment and Cycle Risk
- 15 The Companies in This Primer
- 16 Listed Managers Outside the United States
- 17 Key Metrics and Screening
- 18 Risk Factors, Benchmarks and Comparative Case Study
- 19 Glossary of Essential Terms
- 20 Quick Reference Cheat Sheet
46 pages · 20 sections · 2 worked valuations
The Excel model
Educational material for professional use. This primer and its model are not investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security, and they are not personalised. Worked valuations use illustrative calibrations, not fair-value estimates for any company.
Alternative asset managers earn management fees on capital they have raised but not yet invested or returned, plus a share of the profit their funds generate above a hurdle. Fee-related earnings capture the first and compound predictably; distributable earnings add carry and realisations on top, which are lumpier and depend on when funds exit. The market prices the fee engine first, on a multiple of fee-related earnings, because that stream has the growth profile a public shareholder can underwrite. Perpetual, permanently fee-paying capital raises that multiple further, since it removes the redemption risk a closed-end fund always carries.
The primer builds the tools in order: the listed company types, the fund lifecycle and vehicle ladder, the strategy segments, then how fee-related earnings are built from base and hurdle-related fees and where the distributable-earnings label traps sit. A worked sum-of-the-parts valuation runs from fee-paying AUM through a ten-year FRE DCF and accrued carry to value per share, with a P/DE cross-check and its sensitivities, before applied cases on Blackstone, KKR, Apollo, Ares, Brookfield and Carlyle. The primer also covers AUM mechanics, the carry waterfall and the insurance origination engine behind several of these balance sheets. Screening closes with P/FRE bands read by archetype and the perpetual-capital share.
Free guides on the site cover the individual pieces, so you can revise one idea without reopening the PDF: FRE vs distributable earnings, AUM and perpetual capital, alternative manager valuation, carried interest and hurdle rates and the insurance engine. Research profiles for BX, KKR, APO, ARES, BAM and CG run the same screens on filed results. The companion Excel model spans twelve sheets, from two worked manager tabs through the FRE build, DE bridge and carry screens to a live sensitivity grid, so swapping in your own manager rebuilds the valuation from the FRE build up.
Sheets: Quick Start, Instructions, Assumptions, Manager 1, Manager 2, Valuation Summary, FRE Build, DE Bridge, Carry & Realisations, Perpetual Capital & Multiple, Sensitivity, Dashboard.
See this methodology applied to a real company:
Blackstone (BX) →