Private markets for retail investors in Singapore

Semi-liquids sit between liquid public investments and traditional private funds, which lock up money for 10 to 15 years. Investors can withdraw their money at set intervals, but there may be a limit to how much they can take out each time.

Sia added that ADDX has brought its minimum investment amount down to between $5,000 and $10,000. This threshold makes private markets a viable option for individuals with $100,000 to $200,000 in total investable assets.

With these lower entry points, Hwang noted that investors can now build a diversified portfolio across many investments, instead of putting all their eggs into a single private product.

That said, Shawn Tan, counsel at international law firm Reed Smith, cautioned that private markets are new territory for retail investors.

He noted that because private markets behave differently from public stock exchanges, these investments “can offer attractive returns that are less correlated to public markets”.

However, Tan emphasised that investors must understand why they cannot simply sell their private investments at any time, and “be genuinely comfortable” with that notion before committing any capital.

Anthony Rollet, founder and chief executive of private-equity real estate firm Kane Capital Partners, said that private markets offer diversification and return potential that public markets cannot replicate.

Private markets span several asset classes, including private equity, private credit, real estate and infrastructure – each with distinct risk and return profiles.

Johnny Lim, a partner at Reed Smith, likened the various choices to hiking trails with different levels of difficulty, durations and potential rewards.

“Some are a gentle half-day loop, others are a multi-day trek to the summit, which offers (potentially) much better views, but comes with a longer commitment and fewer points to turn back,” he said.

The trail is not “good” or “bad”. Rather, it is about allowing investors to choose the path that matches their risk appetite and goals.

Lim said: “At the end of the day, the objective is not to keep people off the mountain, but to ensure they can make an informed decision about the trail they choose.”

Education is crucial to help retail and accredited investors navigate these options. 

Hwang said: “We are putting a lot of effort into educating investors on how the fund manager is generating returns, so that they are more aware of the risks that they are taking.” 

He shared that when ADDX first introduced private credit funds, investors asked questions about how private credit differs from a public bond fund. 

While both products deal with corporate debt, public bond funds lend to companies in the open markets, whereas private credit funds lend directly to unlisted businesses, making them less liquid – meaning they are harder to sell quickly. 

Beyond initiatives to educate retail investors, Lim emphasised that there must also be “honest, prominent and easy-to-understand disclosures about the risks involved”.

“The Product Highlights Sheet should read like good food labelling, with standard fields that allow easy comparison and convey, at a glance, the potential returns, the investment horizon and the expected risks,” he added.

Daniel Yong, joint managing partner and head of the Singapore funds practice at Withers KhattarWong, said proper disclosure bridges the gap between what investors think they are buying and what a fund manager actually holds. 

He elaborated that if a fund manager markets a project as a solar panel manufacturing company, investors are far more likely to invest in it. 

Conversely, if investors are told only that the company has a vacant piece of land, they would avoid that investment, he said. 

Yong added that the Lehman Minibonds crisis in 2008 underscored the importance of proper product disclosure. The affected investors, many of whom were elderly and less educated, were misled into buying the investment products, which were marketed as “safe” investments. In reality, they were relatively high-risk, complex structured products.

Yong believes the MAS will enforce strict rules for private market investments to ensure that retail investors are in as good a position as any other investor to access private markets, should they choose to do so. 

“The MAS is likely to require very clear disclosures about how the fund is going to work, what the liquidity looks like, what the mix of portfolio assets looks like,” he said, adding that “there might be rules around how much the retail investor can invest as well”.