Hedge fund bonanza in Miami Beach
Nothing quite captures the zeitgeist on Wall Street in 2025 like your Uber driving talking about private credit and asset-backed finance.
That was how DD was greeted this week as we pulled away from the Miami International Airport en route to the Global Alts conference. The days-long bonanza in South Beach has become a popular destination for the world’s biggest investors and hedge fund managers to beat New York’s brutal winter.
Fleece vest-clad fundraising executives, allocators and dealmakers fanned out across the city’s Fontainbleau Hotel, the Ritz-Carlton and Nobu to attend a busy schedule of meetings and parties.
Many managers compared the week to speed dating. It’s a chance to try to win capital from potential limited partners, including family offices, pension funds and retirement plans. But the meetings are often limited to just 20 minutes, meaning stamina is key.
It was a rough start to the week. Investors descended on Miami amid a market rout that gripped tech and energy stocks on the heels of DeepSeek’s debut on the world stage.
As DD’s Amelia Pollard took off on one of the first flights out of New York on Monday morning, the plane was filled with a sea of screens turned to CNBC, eyes glued to tickers all in the red.
Yet on Tuesday — as Nvidia recovered a bit from its 17 per cent drop the prior trading day — the mood lightened, and the biggest themes of the year began to percolate.
“Interval funds” was the big buzzword. These are a relatively new creation of funds that are more widely available to retail investors. (Financial giants such as Blackstone helped popularise them.)
The arrival of Donald Trump in the White House is giving a new boost to the fund structure, with many on Wall Street hoping for a softer regulatory regime.
Aside from the lucrative fund structure, though, conversation drifted towards the White House and how a number of potential policies could impact the market this year.
There was a physical presence hailing from Camp Trump, too. Elon Musk’s brother Kimbal Musk made an appearance, as did Vivek Ramaswamy — formerly of the new Doge agency and now “highly likely” running for Ohio governor.
Vivek’s message to the audience? “More people who have a successful track record in business should pursue public service for limited periods of time,” he said. “And then go back to being a capitalist or whatever it is one wants to do.”