Cliffwater
Cliffwater LLC is a leading independent alternative investment adviser and fund manager headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, founded in 2004. The firm has grown from an alternatives-focused advisory shop into a market leader in providing private markets funds to institutional and wealth management investors. Cliffwater is an SEC-registered investment adviser and serves some of the largest institutions in the world, including public pension plans, endowments, foundations, and insurance companies, providing research, advisory, and investment management services across private credit, private equity, hedge funds, and other alternative asset classes. The firm has attracted significant minority equity investors including TA Associates, TPG, and Temasek, reflecting the confidence of leading global private equity firms in Cliffwater's growth trajectory.
Cliffwater is particularly recognized as a pioneer and leader in the private debt investment space, having published the Cliffwater Direct Lending Index (CDLI) — the first and most widely accepted benchmark for tracking the performance of middle-market direct lending — since 2004. The firm manages the Cliffwater Corporate Lending Fund (CCLFX) and the Cliffwater Enhanced Lending Fund (CELFX), two of the largest and most established private credit interval funds in the market. These funds provide individual investors and financial advisors with access to broadly diversified portfolios of corporate middle-market direct loans, offering institutional-quality private credit exposure through accessible, registered fund structures with periodic liquidity.
Cliffwater's research and analytics capabilities are a core competitive differentiator, producing industry-shaping insights on private markets performance, risk, and portfolio construction that are relied upon by institutional allocators and wealth managers worldwide. The firm is continuously expanding its platform, recently adding private equity secondaries capabilities to complement its established private debt and advisory businesses. Cliffwater's combination of deep research expertise, proven fund management track record, and influential proprietary indices make it one of the most credible and comprehensive alternative investment platforms serving both institutional and individual investors in the market today.