private equity

The asset class is top of the private market pops as institutional investors fret valuations and liquidity in private equity and watch the ongoing commercial property dislocation with growing concern.

If greed is good in the world of private equity, it’s anathema to super funds and other pension plans with members that will never make as much money as the people who manage their retirement savings.

A BlackRock survey of institutional investors has found the growing appetite for private markets is dampened only by liquidity concerns. Meanwhile, its strategists warn that the efficacy of the classic 60/40 portfolio is waning.

Private market managers aren’t entirely insulated against falls in the public markets, which have resulted in diminished fundraising activity. But private assets aren’t going to stop outperforming anytime soon.

Institutional investors using private equity for diversification are just “doubling up on their main bet”, according to Capital Fund Management, and true diversification will only come through strategies that have fallen out of favour in the last decade.

The only reason private equity hasn’t suffered as much in this downturn is the discretion that sponsors have over its valuation. That’s going to change – and so is investors’ willingness to believe the impossible.

Canva was the poster child on the way up, and it’s the poster child on the way down. PE might get harder from here, but for Australia’s biggest investors it’s almost always worth it.

Asset owners haven’t been challenged with a sustained crisis in nearly 20 years, and it’s possible they’ll get one just as they make the jump into markets they’re unfamiliar with. Governance will be key. As inflation climbs and market volatility increases, Rich Nuzum, president of Mercer’s investments and retirements business, says that asset owners need…

The money that industry super funds are spending on buying renewables would be better spent building them, according to Quinbrook. But there’s plenty of challengers for that view. The fresh interest in renewable infrastructure from industry funds has come with plenty of caveats. One of the major problems is finding investment opportunities at scale, while…

Asia and Australia are outstripping most of the rest of the world for growth in private capital raisings. But private equity managers, especially big buyout firms, are finding deals to be slow to bring to fruition. In its first special report on alternatives in the Asia Pacific region, Preqin provides more detailed analysis of private…