Matthew D. Bass
14 Years at AB|24 Years of Experience
Matthew Bass is Head of Private Alternatives and a member of the Operating Committee. As head of AB’s Private Alternatives SBU, he is responsible for the leadership and strategic growth of the business, which includes all of AB’s private market investment strategies. Previously, Bass held various roles in the firm’s Alternatives business (including as head of Alternatives and Multi-Asset Business Development, and COO), where he was responsible for business strategy, sourcing of new investment teams, product development and capital raising. Prior to joining the firm in 2010, Bass was a program director at the US Department of the Treasury, responsible for the design and implementation of various real estate and real estate capital-markets programs pursuant to the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Before that, he was a vice president at The Blackstone Group’s GSO Capital Partners unit, where he was involved in analyzing, evaluating and executing private debt and equity investments. Bass began his career in the Financial Institutions Investment Banking Group at UBS, where he was responsible for executing M&A and capital-raising transactions for banks, asset managers and specialty finance companies. He holds a BS in finance from Lehigh University. Location: New York
Published Work
The journey from niche asset to core allocation looks set to continue.
Interest rates are falling but growth is holding up. Still, we see ways to proactively shore up private allocations.
Private market growth in recent years has been remarkable. We think there's more to come.
More clarity on interest rates means more clarity on the investment outlook and the opportunities across private markets.
Private credit has in a little more than a decade evolved from a niche asset class to a key component of a diversified investment portfolio. We think it will be even more important in 2024 as banks’ reluctance to lend widens the opportunity set for investors.
Investors are entering the new year with many concerns about macroeconomic conditions and market volatility. The heads of our fixed-income, equities and alternatives businesses lay out some of the key investment storylines to watch in 2024.
Slower growth and rising interest rates have tapped the brakes on private deal activity this year. But as banks continue to retreat from lending, we see plenty of opportunity for investors to pick their spots across the broad private credit universe. In this quarter’s outlook, we weigh short-term challenges against the long-term secular trends likely to support continued growth in private credit.
The appropriate weight of private assets in portfolios is arguably the key question for strategic asset allocation today. These investments were the fastest-growing share of many portfolios for the past decade: Will the abrupt change in investment regime and greater need for liquidity halt that increase?