The Inflection Point - Scaling Hedge Fund Infrastructure Amid Investment Complexity
September 17, 2026 at 3:00 pm
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Talking Points:
Infrastructure has flipped from a back-office function to a pre-sale differentiator: infrastructure used to scale up after AUM growth; now 85% of managers say it is a priority before they even hit $250 AUM and 47% treat it as critical pre-launch.
Structural complexity is exploding: 82% of funds made structural changes in the past two years, 44% grew their SMA book, 29% launched new fund structures, 18% expanded into new asset classes.
Due diligence is bifurcated by fund size. For sub-$100m managers allocator due diligence is the number 1 challenge, for funds over $1bn the challenge shifts to handling complexity – supporting SMAs and handling multiple fund structures.
Infrastructure was stress-tested by 2024-25 volatility and passed: 71% says infrastructure fully met expectations during that volatile period; only 6% saw serious weaknesses.
Scalability is the most importing when choosing a partner: 50% of managers rank ability to scale with AUM growth as their top infrastructure priority, far ahead of cost-benefit (38%), integration (18%) and flexibility/vendor stability (15%).
Speakers:
(Moderated by) Manas Pratap Singh, Head of Hedge Fund Research, Hedgeweek®
Aani Nerlekar, Managing Director, SS&C Advent
Doc Horn, Equity Partner and Head of Total Return, Pictet Asset Management
Isabelle Mayne, Partner and Chief Operating Officer, Ironshield Capital Management
