Cliffwater LLC
Cliffwater LLC is a leading alternative investment adviser and fund manager providing institutional investors and individual investors with research, consulting, and fund management services across private equity, private credit, real assets, hedge funds, and other alternative investment strategies. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, Cliffwater has grown to advise on or manage over $25 billion in alternative assets, building one of the most respected and influential research and advisory platforms in the alternative investment industry. According to its website at cliffwater.com, the firm serves a diverse client base of state and local pension funds, endowments, foundations, sovereign wealth funds, and individual investors, providing them with the alternative investment expertise, manager access, and portfolio construction capabilities required to build high-quality alternative investment programs.
Cliffwater's business encompasses two primary activities: investment advisory services for institutional clients seeking independent, conflict-free research and guidance on their alternative investment programs, and direct investment management through the Cliffwater Corporate Lending Fund and other registered fund vehicles that provide individual and institutional investors with access to Cliffwater's private credit investment expertise. According to cliffwater.com, the Cliffwater Corporate Lending Fund — one of the most successful interval funds in the alternative investment market — provides accredited investors with access to a diversified portfolio of private middle market loans, leveraging Cliffwater's extensive manager relationships and private credit research capabilities to construct a well-diversified loan portfolio with attractive risk-adjusted return characteristics. The fund's scale and growth have made it one of the largest interval funds focused on private credit in the U.S. market.
Cliffwater's advisory research platform produces a comprehensive body of alternative investment research — including the Cliffwater Direct Lending Index, one of the most widely cited benchmarks for U.S. private middle market corporate lending performance — that informs both its client advisory work and its proprietary investment management activities. According to cliffwater.com, the firm's commitment to independent, research-grounded investment advice and its conflict-free business model have built enduring relationships with institutional clients who trust Cliffwater to provide objective guidance on their alternative investment programs without the conflicts of interest that can arise at firms that both advise clients and manage investments in which they have financial stakes. Cliffwater's combination of research excellence, institutional advisory credibility, successful retail fund business, and conflict-free advisory model establishes it as one of the most respected alternative investment advisory and management firms in the industry.