Morningstar and Pitchbook plan to release a suite of evergreen private market fund index that can serve to benchmark and track the performance of nontraded, semi-liquid funds, according to a Wednesday release.
The Morningstar PitchBook US Evergreen Fund Indexes will combine private assets with regular liquidity and periodic net asset value pricing, according to the release. The private assets included will span private equity, private credit, real estate, infrastructure and multi-asset strategies. The indexes are scheduled to be released in the first quarter of 2026.
Before the federal government shutdown, the first quarter of 2026 was the approximate target by which the secretary of labor was instructed to “clarify the Department of Labor’s position on alternative assets and the appropriate fiduciary process associated with offering asset allocation funds containing investments in alternative assets under ERISA.”
President Donald Trump, in an executive order on August 7, gave Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer and other federal regulators 180 days to review existing federal guidance on and propose new rules or guidance for including funds holding private market assets in defined contribution plan.
According to Morningstar and Pitchbook, the suite aims to bring greater transparency, consistency and comparability to one of the fastest-growing segments of private markets.
The initiative follows Morningstar’s expansion of its new fund classification system introduced last month, with seven new categories in the U.S. and three in Europe. The new tools are intended to provide investors with clearer peer comparisons and support due diligence as private and public markets continue to converge.
The Morningstar PitchBook US Evergreen Fund Indexes will provide performance comparisons for several unlisted, semi-liquid investment vehicles, such as interval and tender offer funds, BDCs and REITs.
According to Morningstar and PitchBook data, U.S. evergreen funds held about $450 billion in net assets as of mid-2025, up from $250 billion in 2022. The firms project assets to surpass $1 trillion by 2030.
The new index suite will include both monthly and daily calculated benchmarks to capture the full spectrum of unlisted evergreen funds and their differing reporting cadences.
Morningstar characterized the new indexes as part of a broader effort to integrate its capabilities in data, analytics and advisory tools to enhance transparency and portfolio construction across asset classes.
“Despite the rapid growth of the evergreen fund market, investors have lacked essential tools to conduct due diligence and compare performance on a consistent basis,” said Sanjay Arya, head of index innovation at Morningstar, in a statement. “With the Morningstar PitchBook US Evergreen Fund Indexes, we’re addressing that gap—bringing greater transparency, comparability, and rigor to one of the fastest ways for investors to gain access to private markets.”