Titan Investors Can Now Access Private Equity Markets

Online brokerage Titan is now providing its retail investor users access to private funds offered by alternative investment managers Apollo Global Management APO and Carlyle Group Inc CG.

What Happened? In an interview with Yahoo Finance earlier this month, Titan co-founder and co-CEO Joe Percoco said Titan's new partners will provide its users with access to the private credit and real estate markets, areas typically reserved only for institutional investors.

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Asset managers such as Apollo and Carlyle are reportedly pushing to give retail investors more access to private markets.

Titan's new real estate fund offering will come from Apollo and will include a 1.5% fee on top of Titan's 1% annual fee on deposits of $10,000 or more. Users with deposits of less than $10,000 pay a flat $5 per month fee.

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The private credit offering from Carlyle includes a 1% fee with an additional incentive fee added once a certain hurdle is met.

Investors must qualify as accredited investors to invest in private equity companies that have not yet gone public via an IPO or other means.

In order to qualify as accredited, an investor must meet one of the following two conditions:

1. Individual income of $200,000 or more (or joint income with a spouse of $300,000 or more) in each of the last two years and a reasonable means of maintaining that income level in the future.

2. Net worth of more than $1 million, excluding the value of a primary residence.

Titan is planning on expanding its partnerships to additional investment managers and offering investors access to new asset classes and funds along the way.

Benzinga's Take: Access to private market offerings can help retail investors further diversify their portfolios, but private equity markets are also relatively illiquid and high-risk compared to public markets.

Retail investors should proceed with caution and make sure they fully understand any private investments they may buy.

Photo: Dilok Klaisataporn via Shutterstock