Evergreen funds have become the dominant vehicle for delivering alternative investments to individual investors. But as the number of available funds grows, so does the challenge of evaluating them. How should an advisor compare a private credit fund against a real estate fund? What does "good" liquidity really mean when every fund has different redemption terms?
At Sekond, we built our ratings methodology to answer exactly these questions — transparently and independently. Here's how it works.
Our methodology starts with a simple premise: every piece of data we use must come from a publicly verifiable source. We pull from SEC filings including N-PORT, N-CEN, and registration statements, as well as other regulatory disclosures. We do not use self-reported data from fund managers, and we do not accept payments from funds in exchange for coverage.
Sekond Ratings evaluate each fund across three pillars. The first is Performance — how the fund has delivered relative to its stated objectives, relevant benchmarks, and peer funds within the same strategy category. We look at absolute and risk-adjusted returns across multiple time horizons.
The second pillar is Portfolio. We analyze the underlying holdings of each fund to assess concentration risk, sector exposure, and the quality of the portfolio relative to the fund's stated strategy. This is where our Alternatives Genome technology is critical — it links managers, funds, and individual holdings into a unified data layer.
The third pillar is Liquidity. This is arguably the most important and least understood dimension of Evergreen funds. We analyze redemption terms, notice periods, gate provisions, and queue mechanics. We assess how much of the portfolio could realistically be liquidated under various market conditions, and we flag funds where the liquidity terms may not match the liquidity profile of the underlying assets.
Each fund receives an overall grade as well as individual scores across each pillar. The methodology is designed to be intuitive for advisors while remaining rigorous enough for institutional due diligence teams.
We update ratings continuously as new regulatory filings become available, rather than on a fixed annual or quarterly cycle. This means advisors always have access to the most current assessment, reflecting the latest portfolio and performance data.
Our goal is not to tell advisors which funds to buy or sell. Sekond Ratings are opinions, not investment recommendations. But we believe that better data and clearer analysis lead to better decisions — and that's what the alternatives market needs most right now.