Investment manager Azalea Asset Management, which focuses on offerings for non-institutional investors, is evaluating how it could add evergreen funds to its repertoire.
“We might do something in the future,” CEO and chief investment officer Chue En Yaw said during a briefing to investors.
Evergreen funds, or open-ended, semi-liquid vehicles, are part of the firm’s product development, Chue said.
“We are continuously monitoring and evaluating the development of the markets. I think the evergreens market has been developing quite rapidly over the last few years, and has seen very strong demand from the private wealth channel.”
Evergreen structures have been expanding globally, driven by investor demand for liquidity and flexibility under current market conditions, and its accessibility to a broader set of investors. According to Morningstar, evergreen funds’ net assets grew to nearly $500 billion last year, doubling from 2022. And it is expected to balloon to $1.1 trillion by 2029.
At the briefing, Azalea executives also noted “early signs of recovery” in PE exits.
“Since 2023, both exit volumes and exit values have been trending upwards. While activity remains below the peak seen in 2021, the market is rebounding nicely again. Stabilising interest rates, improved price discovery, and stronger public markets have all supported this recovery,” said Justin Keh, Managing Director, Investments at Azalea.
Yet, there is a decline in the rate of distributions, from about 20% before 2021, to the mid-teens since 2022, Keh pointed out. This can be attributed to the growing amount of unrealised value held in PE funds, as traditional exit routes remain limited.
“However, what this has led to is an acceleration in the growth of the PE secondary market. From 2022 onwards, secondary transaction volume has seen a jump in growth rate as LPs and GPs have become more creative in generating liquidity for investors,” Keh said.
The secondaries market, which is a rapidly-growing part of the PE market, is a key strategy in the Astrea programme, the Azalea executives noted. It has allowed for diversification and liquidity, which have in turn supported the Astrea programme’s regular cash flow.
Since inception, the programme has acquired over 158 funds managed by more than 60 GPs comprising $10 billion worth of net asset value, they said.
Azalea Investment Management is a subsidiary of Seviora Holdings, the Temasek-backed asset manager. Apart from the Astrea bond programme, which is in its ninth series, it manages more than $2.3 billion in assets on its Altrium platform, targeted at accredited investors. In 2025, Azalea secured $262 million in commitments for the first close of its third buyout-focused fund.
Separately, Seviora’s asset management companies include Fullerton Fund Management, Innoven Capital, SeaTown Holdings International, and Seviora Capital. Seviora has $59.5 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2025.
