Schroders Takes Full Control of Private Opportunities Fund and Pays Holders to Stay

The bonus shares come with a three-year clawback, and the fund’s entire governance and operating stack moves to SEI Investments at the same time.

September 14, 2026

Schroders is taking sole ownership of the private equity vehicle it has run alongside Hartford Funds since 2023, rebranding the fund under its own name, replacing its board and service providers, and offering existing shareholders free stock to stay put through the handover.

The Hartford Schroders Private Opportunities Fund will become the Schroders Capital Private Opportunities Fund, with the change slated to take effect on November 16, 2026. Hartford Funds Management Company, the fund’s adviser since it began operations on July 31, 2023, steps out entirely. Schroder Investment Management North America, until now the sub-adviser, moves up to adviser, and Schroders Capital Management (US) takes the sub-advisory seat. The fund keeps its three share classes and their existing tickers.

A new board and a new operating stack

The reshuffle reaches well beyond the nameplate. Every trustee listed has served only since 2026, and the entire board now sits at the offices of SEI Investments in Oaks, Pennsylvania, which also becomes the fund’s principal office. The independent trustees are Jon Hunt, Thomas Lemke, Nichelle Maynard-Elliott, Jay Nadel and Randall Yanker, several of whom previously sat on the boards of Schroder Series Trust and Schroder Global Series Trust. John Alshefski, a longtime SEI executive, serves as the lone interested trustee.

SEI picks up the operational functions along with the governance: SEI Investments Global Funds Services becomes administrator and fund accountant, SEI Transfer Agency and Registrar Services becomes transfer agent, and SEI Investments Distribution Co. replaces the prior underwriter as distributor. Brown Brothers Harriman remains custodian. The administration and accounting fee carries a floor of $125,000 a year.

Paying shareholders to stay

The most consequential piece for advisors already holding the fund is a retention program funded not by the fund but by Schroders itself. The firm will contribute its own cash to buy additional shares that the fund then issues to qualifying existing holders at no cost. Two tranches are on offer:

• Through October 31, 2026 — additional shares equal to 3.00% of holdings, for shareholders holding through a financial intermediary that is the record owner of more than $50 million in fund shares, or through an intermediary maintaining accounts directly with the transfer agent where Schroder Fund Advisors is the broker of record, again above $50 million. Recipients must sign a letter agreement accepting a forfeiture condition.
• Through January 31, 2027 — additional shares equal to 1.50% of holdings, open only to those who missed the first tranche, with the intermediary threshold dropped to more than $10 million.

Eligibility turns on the size of the intermediary relationship rather than the individual account. Subscriptions submitted during the final month of either period are excluded from the measurement, because those shares are not issued until the following month.

The forfeiture condition is where the retention logic becomes explicit. A shareholder who takes first-tranche shares and then tenders fund shares within three years of the original purchase date of those shares, where the original purchase was on or before October 31, 2026, may have the bonus shares cancelled and re-registered to the Schroders entity that funded them. The provision is applied at the investment manager’s discretion under board oversight. Retirement accounts are exempt, as are shares issued in the second tranche.

Additional shares carry the same rights as other shares of their class, and all three classes participate. Schroders may modify, suspend or terminate the program with board approval, and the filing cautions investors against relying on its continued availability.

Fees and terms

The management fee is set at 1.50% of net assets, against which the adviser has contractually agreed to waive 0.50% through November 16, 2027. A separate expense limitation caps annual aggregate expenses at 0.75% of average monthly net assets through the same date, though that cap excludes advisory fees, 12b-1 fees, acquired fund fees and expenses, interest, brokerage, extraordinary items, and transactional or professional services costs tied to private equity investments.

Class A carries a front-end sales charge of up to 3.50% and a 0.70% distribution and service fee. Classes I and SDR carry neither. Minimum initial investments are $25,000 for Class A and Class I and $100,000 for Class SDR. All three classes are subject to a 2% early repurchase fee on shares tendered before the one-year anniversary of purchase, applied first-in, first-out and retained by the fund.

Liquidity terms are unchanged in substance. The shares remain unlisted with no expected secondary market, and the fund intends to offer quarterly repurchases of up to 5% of net asset value measured at the prior quarter end — an intention, not an obligation, with the board retaining full discretion over whether any given quarter’s offer happens. Net asset value is struck monthly rather than daily, reflecting a portfolio valued largely off capital account statements from underlying managers.

Strategy untouched

The investment program itself is unchanged. The fund targets long-term capital appreciation through global private equity, committing at least 80% of assets to private investments across co-investments and direct deals, primaries, secondaries and fund interests, with a focus on companies carrying enterprise values between $50 million and $1 billion. Buyout, growth capital, venture and special situations are all in scope, and the advisers integrate financially material ESG characteristics where available. Investment decisions require unanimous approval from the Schroders Capital global investment committee, headed by global private equity chief Rainer Ender.

The 80% policy is fundamental and cannot be changed without a shareholder vote. The fund’s name, by contrast, can be changed by the board alone.

A small fund with room to run

The fee history gives a sense of scale. Gross advisory fees payable to Hartford Funds Management rose from $163,156 in the partial year ended March 31, 2024 to $396,699 in fiscal 2025 and $777,557 in fiscal 2026 — roughly a doubling each year, but from a base that still implies a modest asset pool. Waivers absorbed the majority in every period, leaving net fees of $27,193, $66,116 and $232,210 respectively.

The offering registers up to $200 million across up to 14,441,939 shares. Hartford Funds Management, Schroders US Holdings and Affiliated Independent Distributors all appear on the list of holders of 5% or more, with Affiliated Independent Distributors flagged as potentially controlling the fund through beneficial ownership of 25% or more.

Several items remain to be filled in by later amendment, including the financial highlights table, the identity of the independent accounting firm, the expense ratio percentages, and the fund’s post-transition website.