Morningstar launched a new quarterly research series titled "The Evergreen Fund Landscape" on December 18, 2025. The series delivers in‑depth analysis of performance, fund flows, fee structures, and emerging trends in U.S. evergreen private‑market funds—also known as semi‑liquid funds—by leveraging preliminary findings from the Morningstar PitchBook US Evergreen Fund Indexes and combining data from both Morningstar and PitchBook to increase transparency in this growing asset class.
The inaugural edition highlights the rapid scaling of evergreen fund assets, with U.S. vehicles managing roughly $450 billion in net assets as of mid‑2025—up from about $250 billion in 2022—and projects the market to exceed $1 trillion by 2030. Private credit remains the primary growth engine, accounting for roughly 60 % of new capital inflows. The report also notes that fee structures are tightening, with average expense ratios falling 15 % year‑over‑year, and that fund flows are increasingly directed toward diversified strategies beyond real estate and infrastructure.
The series will use the Morningstar PitchBook US Evergreen Fund Indexes, which will be fully available in Q1 2026. The inaugural report provides a benchmark of 12‑month returns of 8.5 % for the top quartile of evergreen funds, compared to 5.2 % for the broader private‑market fund universe. The index methodology is rules‑based and transparent, allowing investors to compare performance across vehicles and assess relative value.
While other providers such as Preqin and PitchBook offer data on evergreen funds, Morningstar’s partnership with PitchBook gives it a unique advantage. Morningstar’s integrated platform and AI‑driven analytics differentiate it from competitors, and the launch signals a deepening of its private‑market intelligence moat in a market that already exceeds $500 billion in assets.
By offering this specialized research, Morningstar positions itself as a trusted source for institutional investors and advisors seeking to blend public and private assets. The report supports Morningstar’s broader strategy of integrating public and private market data, a theme highlighted in its Q3 2025 earnings where revenue growth was driven by its Direct platform and PitchBook. The new series also aligns with Morningstar’s AI initiatives, which aim to enhance data accessibility and insight generation.
The Evergreen Fund Landscape series will be released quarterly, with the first issue available in December 2025. The launch underscores Morningstar’s commitment to providing transparent, benchmark‑driven insights into the rapidly expanding evergreen fund universe, offering investors a valuable tool to navigate this complex asset class.
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