The rise of private markets, how and why asset management is changing
06 September 2018
It is incredible how the vocabulary of the asset management industry has changed in the last few years. “Alternatives” has become an almost overused word for an asset class that is an increasingly prominent and often critical component of the portfolios of many sophisticated investors. There is also no agreement on what it fully includes. Everything from some structured products, hedge funds to leveraged private equity buyouts has found space within this word. Similarly, private equity is no longer always private nor necessarily equity. And then there are ambiguous terms, such as “real assets”, which now encompass everything from affordable housing, toll roads, renewable energy projects to commercial real estate.