Investing in private markets
Private markets offer diversification away from listed markets and investors have the potential to benefit from risk-adjusted returns, an illiquidity premium and potential for greater protection from market shocks.
Private markets are a rapidly growing and diverse set of asset classes outside of listed equities and bonds that may provide multiple benefits to your portfolio.
Accessing private markets requires patience and expertise, as well as a long-term strategy. Understanding the options available and how they can complement each other, alongside your other investments will help you construct a robust portfolio, helping you to meet your objectives. There are several strategies within private markets, each of which is a broad and varied asset class in its own right.
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Private equityAdding a private equity allocation to your portfolio could open up a number of new investment opportunities. From large buyouts of established firms to venture capital deals supporting innovative start-up companies and small businesses, there presents great potential. Allocating to co-investments and secondaries is also gaining significant momentum.
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Private debtDirect lending and other types of private debt can provide investors with the opportunity to allocate capital to privately owned mid-size companies in the form of loans. These loans can help earn incremental yield away from traditional fixed income investments and are typically backed by senior claims on company cash flows or assets, helping to give the lender more security.
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Real estateBricks-and-mortar assets, such as commercial and residential buildings, have a long lifespan and may provide inflation protection through rental increases. Property assets have the potential to generate higher returns than fixed-income assets, at lower volatility than equities, demonstrating the sector’s importance as a portfolio diversifier. Investors can also capitalise on changes in population demographics, urbanisation and the digital economy through thematic real estate strategies.
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InfrastructureInfrastructure assets provide essential services that underpin the structure of an economy or society. As an asset class, it provides investors with stable, relatively uncorrelated, often inflation-protected returns. It also enables investors to allocate capital to the energy transition, digital infrastructure and other transformative trends. Infrastructure investing can also provide strong ESG-alignment within portfolios.
Building a private markets portfolio
Accessing private markets opportunities
We believe the best way to capture private markets opportunities is by working with highly-rated asset managers. To access these asset managers requires strong relationships, patience and flexibility with capital.
Our scale, global reach and long history in this area of investments gives us an advantage when connecting you with the most appropriate opportunities for your portfolio. There are several elements you need to be sure of before you embark on building out your private markets portfolio.
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