Noting that institutional investors are increasingly allocating to private asset classes, the boutique institutional asset manager said it is becoming challenging to determine the contribution to an asset class in terms of risk, return, correlation and other characteristics of their portfolios.
Apart from private equity, these investors are also diversifying their portfolios to other private asset classes such as infrastructure, private debt, natural resources, timber, agriculture and other “real assets”.
Unigestion’s private asset allocator enables institutional investors to determine their allocations based on their specific objectives, such as the need to boost returns, early cash distribution, de-correlation to listed assets, inflation protection or to meet regulatory capital requirements.
The tool allows investors to define the objectives they seek to achieve with private assets and to rate these objectives on a scale of importance. The tool then provides an allocation recommendation across the various types of private assets in line with the investor’s objectives and calculates the key characteristics of the proposed portfolio.
Hanspeter Bader, managing director and head of private assets said: “In what remains a challenging environment, it is vital institutions carefully assess allocations to ensure their investments deliver in line with their specific long term objectives.”
As of June-end, Unigestion had £9.4bn ($16.2bn) in assets under management with about 94% managed on behalf of 250 institutional investors and 6% on behalf of a few high net worth families.
The Geneva-headquartered firm also has offices in Zurich, London, New York, Paris, Singapore, Toronto and Montreal.
