Asset Class Insights and Education

Hedge funds can be difficult to generalize since they use a wide variety of strategies. They are frequently used to diversify portfolios since they tend to have lower correlations to stocks and bonds, and they often outperform stocks in weak markets. But some hedge funds cannot be called low risk since they intentionally increase risks…

Private equity co-investing has become a core component of how private markets operate, enabling investors to invest directly into individual deals alongside private equity funds. This paper explains what co-investing is, why it exists, how it works and how it fits within a broader private equity portfolio. For individual investors, co-investment funds are often the…

Private equity is one of the main ways investors gain exposure to privately held companies. It has historically delivered better long-term risk-adjusted returns than public equity1, achieving this primarily by making operational improvements across portfolio companies, with the aim of growing revenues and expanding margins.

A Net Lease is a long-term, single-tenant lease where the tenant pays base rent plus some or most operating expenses such as taxes, insurance, and maintenance. For investors, it offers predictable cash flows, appreciation potential, certain tax advantages as well as a potential hedge against inflation.

Private Credit has grown in recent years to become one of the primary ways companies raise capital. While the private credit market, which amounts to roughly $2.7 trillion1, has been around for decades, its popularity began to grow in earnest in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, when non-bank lenders stepped in to provide…

The software sector has undergone a dramatic reset — erasing nearly $2 trillion in public equity value — as investors grapple with the implications of AI. But is this a true disruption, or a misreading of where value will ultimately accrue?

Net lease investing has grown increasingly popular for its stability and inherent low-risk approach to real estate investing. In a world awash with uncertainty, net lease provides a predictable income return that is fixed and durable, with lower volatility given the long-term nature of the lease. Relative to other types of real estate, net lease…

Private Credit investing is a form of lending capital outside of the traditional banking system, whereby lenders work with borrowers to originate and negotiate privately held loans not traded in public markets. Investor allocation to Private Credit has grown significantly in recent years, with a total market size of approximately $1.8 trillion as of the…

In an increasingly divergent market, a combination of lower new supply and pricing that remains below replacement cost has created an attractive cyclical entry point for investors. At the same time, powerful secular forces, including AI, deglobalization, demographic change and rising energy demand, are reshaping the investment landscape and creating distinct winners and losers across…

As inflation risks persist and central bank policy paths continue to diverge, investors are navigating a market environment characterized by greater uncertainty. At the same time, evolving AI positioning, shifting rate expectations and rising stock-bond correlations are creating a more complex backdrop for traditional portfolios. We believe these conditions may create a compelling opportunity set…

Infrastructure is increasingly being shaped by a widening gap between demand and capacity. As AI, electrification and energy security drive growing demand for compute, power and connectivity, constraints across the infrastructure ecosystem are becoming more apparent. We believe these dynamics are creating compelling opportunities in the assets that enable and support long-term growth. Our 2026…

Private credit’s story in 2026 is becoming less about credit stress and more about lender opportunity. While market sentiment has been tested by persistent inflation, AI disruption, and fundraising pressures, borrower fundamentals have steadied while market conditions have become more lender friendly. As financing demand accelerates and spreads widen, we believe the balance of power…

Private equity is entering its next chapter. While overall M&A activity has surprised on the upside, broader sponsor-backed participation has yet to fully emerge. We believe that unlocking middle market deal activity could be the catalyst for the next phase of private equity’s recovery. At the same time, AI is creating new opportunities for operational…

This paper introduces our proprietary Private Markets Asset Allocation Framework (PMAAF), designed to help investors think about how to allocate their dry powder across private markets and cycles.

The term “alternative investments” is broad and, in our view, not particularly descriptive or useful. It encompasses all strategies that cannot be accessed through traditional equity and fixed income solutions. These strategies have the potential to address many of the challenges that investors face today—the need for enhanced income, inflation protection, diversification, and stability amid…

Most investors are familiar with traditional investments, which include cash and long-only positions in publicly traded stocks and bonds. Alternative investments are comprised of more complex investments and include private strategies focused on illiquid holdings. Within the private alternatives universe, asset classes include private equity, private credit, real estate and infrastructure. Among these asset classes,…

In particular, the wealth management segment is fast emerging as a key private markets growth area. McKinsey projects that private markets allocations will comprise 3-5% of U.S. wealth management assets by 2025 from 2% in 2020, a rise of $500 billion to $1.3 trillion in assets. Investor requests for increased liquidity and accessibility has been…

In recent years, investors and advisors have started to rethink portfolio construction. This has been driven by an era of low interest rates, dissatisfaction with the diversification of publicly traded portfolios, and the substantial growth of alternative investments, including private equity, private credit, hedge funds and real assets. Investors who remain exclusively invested in public…

With more than 99% of the 33 million businesses in the U.S. being privately held, institutional investors have long used private equity (PE) as a means to tap into this vast ecosystem of private companies. The reason is clear: returns from private equity have consistently ranked among the highest of any asset class on a…

As investors seek to diversify their portfolio exposures beyond traditional assets, alternative lending may offer attractive absolute and risk-adjusted return characteristics. An allocation to alternative lending may provide investors with exposure to a secular shift in the way consumers and small businesses access capital. In this paper, we provide insights on this asset class and…