The opportunity for a broad pool of investors to benefit from the returns that private equity can deliver has never been greater, journalists at Schroders Private Assets Media Summit 2021 heard.
Private equity as an asset class has traditionally been the domain of institutional investors, but retail investors globally are now poised to become a greater proportion of the investor base.
Regulatory and investment developments worldwide mean that a broad spectrum of retail investors from high net worth individuals, through to those with a defined contribution plan are set to boost their allocations.
Rainer Ender, Head of Private Equity, Schroders Capital, commented:
“Retail clients are a growing share of the asset management market but are significantly under allocating to private assets.
“Investing in private equity has historically been out of reach for the vast majority of investors apart from big institutions but this is changing quickly and we are well placed to support investors take full advantage of this shift.”
Schroders offers a range of investment options which are democratising investors’ access to private equity.
According to Schroders Institutional Investor Study 2020*, 27% of investors globally are expected to increase their allocations to private equity over the next three years, making it the most in-demand asset class in private assets.
Furthermore, according to the study, investors’ return expectations were also the highest for private equity, with 21% believing their allocation to private equity will deliver more than 10% of their net returns over the next twelve months.
* About Schroders Institutional Investor Study:
This global study was commissioned by Schroders for the fourth consecutive year to analyse institutional investors and their attitudes towards investment objectives, performance outlook and risks to their portfolio. The respondent pool represents a spectrum of institutions, including pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, endowments and foundations managing approximately $25.9 trillion in assets. The research was carried out via an extensive global survey during April 2020. The 650 institutional respondents were split as follows: 179 in North America, 248 in EMEA, 173 in Asia Pacific and 50 in Latin America. Respondents were sourced from 26 different countries.