APAC

Inflation-linked income and capital protection are the top reasons for institutional interest in real assets, while APAC and European institutions are leading the way on ESG.

As funds get bigger and bigger – and the Your Future Your Super (YFYS) performance test bites – they’re rethinking everything from alpha generation to their intrinsic investment philosophies. While the increasing size of super funds will benefit them in unlisted markets – where big funds can increasingly play on the same field as global…

Like all big investors, global asset managers have to have a view on China. Most also have a view on alternatives, even if seen only as competition to traditional investment management. Against this backdrop, UBS Asset Management held its inaugural global investor conference, virtually, last month (May 19-20), in which many discussions inevitably led to…

It was little more than a year ago that trading spreads across a range of instruments had blown out to record levels, courtesy of the first market impact of covid-19. Now, they are as narrow as they have ever been. It’s that sort of volatility with which most of the investment community has had to…

A wave of digitalisation is pushing venture capital to the fore, building capital raisings and deal-making momentum, according to the latest information and views collected by Preqin. The global research firm which specialises in alternatives, has a growing presence in the Asia Pacific region, including an office in Sydney opened last year. It held a…

While a combination of factors is driving the alternatives investment sector towards full maturity, pressure is also mounting on fund manager and investor capabilities for efficiency and governance. According to a short paper by Northern Trust’s asset servicing arm, the weight of money into alternatives leading to a broadening investor base, regulators and increasing congestion…

They may be late to the party compared with Europe but companies and investors in the Asia Pacific region have taken to ESG principles and practices in a big way. They are particularly concerned about ‘greenwashing’, according to BNP Paribas. In a webinar for the region’s media earlier this month (February 5) three ESG specialists…

While distressed debt funds have mushroomed to record levels in major markets, helped by the belief that the pandemic is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Asia has languished. Already a small market for the broader private debt alternatives asset class, Asian distressed debt funds in the market for capital have declined over the past five years, from…

Investors need to watch for a surge in poor governance practices by company boards and management under the veil of responding to the impact of COVID-19. The latest stewardship report of a major global manager, Dimensional Fund Advisors, warns of an increase in questionable corporate activity this year. Dimensional managed US$527 billion ($A685 billion), as…