Key Takeaways
- • Australian family offices grew from 10% to 40% of all domestic private capital investors between 2020 and 2024, according to the Australian Investment Council's Private Capital Yearbook as cited by Firstlinks.
- • Superannuation funds' share of domestic private capital investors fell from 48% to 13% over the same 2020-2024 period.
- • Super funds face structural constraints around liquidity, daily unit pricing, APRA reporting and the Your Future, Your Super performance test, which limit illiquid allocations.
- • The UBS Global Family Office Report 2025 recorded private equity allocations at 21% of total assets among 317 single family offices in 2024, with private debt doubling from 2% to 4%.
- • ASIC's Report 820 estimates the Australian private credit market at A$200 billion, up 500% over the past decade, with family offices among the largest direct beneficiaries of bank retreat from middle-market lending.
Summary
According to Firstlinks, citing the Australian Investment Council's Private Capital Yearbook, Australian family offices grew from 10% of all domestic private capital investors in 2020 to 40% in 2024. Over the same period, superannuation funds fell from 48% to 13%. The article, written by Hayden Green, characterises the shift as the most significant reordering of Australian private capital structure in modern history, with direct implications for who funds Australian private equity, private credit and venture capital, and on what terms.
The article attributes the retreat of super funds to two factors. The first is scale: industry funds such as AustralianSuper, with over A$390 billion in assets, struggle to deploy meaningful capital into mid-sized private deals without creating concentration risk. The second is structural constraints around liquidity, member services, daily unit pricing and APRA reporting. The Your Future, Your Super performance test, introduced in 2021, is also cited as discouraging allocations that could underperform a benchmark in any single year, a difficult standard for multi-year private market vintages with J-curve dynamics. Family offices, by contrast, operate without redemption obligations or APRA frameworks.
On allocation patterns, the article cites the UBS Global Family Office Report 2025, which surveyed 317 single family offices averaging US$1.1 billion in assets. Those offices held 21% of total assets in private equity in 2024, while private debt allocations doubled from 2% in 2023 to 4% in 2024. Australian single family offices typically allocate 10-25% of portfolios to private equity and venture capital combined. The article identifies three features of Australian behaviour: a shift toward in-house deal sourcing and informal co-investment clubs, a preference for offshore exposure given the ASX's limited representation of AI, defence technology, space and biotech companies, and a large role in private credit. ASIC's Report 820 estimates the Australian private credit market at A$200 billion, having grown 500% over the past decade, and ASIC surveillance has identified meaningful variance in disclosure and valuation practices.
The article argues that family offices are not merely filling a gap but increasingly setting terms. Per the Australian Investment Council, co-investment activity has accelerated since 2022, and pooled vehicles with 2-and-20 fee structures face fee pressure for the first time in two decades. A new intermediary layer, including SPV-based platforms, secondary marketplaces and club structures, has emerged to serve direct demand. The author notes he runs NonPublic, which sits in this category alongside Forge and Hiive. For individual wholesale investors, the article suggests the 20-25% private markets allocation used by family offices as a sizing reference, emphasises multi-year patience given five-to-ten-year capital lock-ups, and highlights platform selection based on regulatory standing and fee transparency.
The article attributes the retreat of super funds to two factors. The first is scale: industry funds such as AustralianSuper, with over A$390 billion in assets, struggle to deploy meaningful capital into mid-sized private deals without creating concentration risk. The second is structural constraints around liquidity, member services, daily unit pricing and APRA reporting. The Your Future, Your Super performance test, introduced in 2021, is also cited as discouraging allocations that could underperform a benchmark in any single year, a difficult standard for multi-year private market vintages with J-curve dynamics. Family offices, by contrast, operate without redemption obligations or APRA frameworks.
On allocation patterns, the article cites the UBS Global Family Office Report 2025, which surveyed 317 single family offices averaging US$1.1 billion in assets. Those offices held 21% of total assets in private equity in 2024, while private debt allocations doubled from 2% in 2023 to 4% in 2024. Australian single family offices typically allocate 10-25% of portfolios to private equity and venture capital combined. The article identifies three features of Australian behaviour: a shift toward in-house deal sourcing and informal co-investment clubs, a preference for offshore exposure given the ASX's limited representation of AI, defence technology, space and biotech companies, and a large role in private credit. ASIC's Report 820 estimates the Australian private credit market at A$200 billion, having grown 500% over the past decade, and ASIC surveillance has identified meaningful variance in disclosure and valuation practices.
The article argues that family offices are not merely filling a gap but increasingly setting terms. Per the Australian Investment Council, co-investment activity has accelerated since 2022, and pooled vehicles with 2-and-20 fee structures face fee pressure for the first time in two decades. A new intermediary layer, including SPV-based platforms, secondary marketplaces and club structures, has emerged to serve direct demand. The author notes he runs NonPublic, which sits in this category alongside Forge and Hiive. For individual wholesale investors, the article suggests the 20-25% private markets allocation used by family offices as a sizing reference, emphasises multi-year patience given five-to-ten-year capital lock-ups, and highlights platform selection based on regulatory standing and fee transparency.
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