Alternative assets demonstrated their resilience and adaptability in a tumultuous 2020, and our latest survey of alternatives investors, conducted in November, bears this out.
Last year, investors were not only satisfied with their investments, but told us they were gearing up to increase their exposure to alternatives. Only 7% of respondents are looking to invest less capital in alternatives this year, our lowest proportion in any year-end survey to date.
Investors plan to increase capital allocations to all private capital asset classes except real estate over the next 12 months. Private capital’s long-term value focus is helping investors look beyond the pandemic, too. Longer-term trends in allocations point to the continued strong growth of the alternatives industry generally, with demand for open-ended structures increasing.
Our biannual survey also reveals that 2020 was something of a turning point in the rise of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing in alternatives. We asked investors what’s driving ESG adoption and change, and which asset classes have the best opportunities to capitalize on ESG’s growing importance in allocation decisions.
In this H1 2021 edition of our Investor Outlook series, we analyze responses from almost 500 institutional investors across private equity, private debt, hedge funds, real estate, infrastructure, and natural resources. Read the report to understand how each asset class is meeting investors’ expectations, and for expert commentary that boils down survey responses alongside global market developments, providing the context needed to turn data into action.