Northern Trust Survey: Allocations to Alternative Asset Classes and ESG Set to Increase with Private Equity and Infrastructure to Receive Highest New Allocations
Innovative Range of Products Designed to Support Clients in Shift to Alternatives
July 11, 2016 08:12 AM Eastern Daylight Time
LONDON & STOCKHOLM–(BUSINESS WIRE)–More than 80 percent of institutional investors surveyed at a recent event hosted by Northern Trust (Nasdaq: NTRS) in Stockholm expect investor allocations to alternative assets to increase within the next five years, with private equity and infrastructure to receive the highest new allocations.
Approximately 50 Nordic institutional investors – including some of the largest and most sophisticated asset owners in the world – were surveyed on their perspectives on the evolving role of alternative investments.
“In the current low growth, low interest rate environment, alternative investments play an increasingly important role for investors looking for higher yield and lower volatility,” said Paul Cutts, head of Alternative Investment Services for Northern Trust Global Fund Services across Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). “This survey confirms that institutional investors are expecting to allocate more to alternative investment funds over the next five years.”
Respondents also expect an increased focus on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors within the investment process over the next five years. Nearly 50 percent believe that it will be of significant importance and more than a quarter of respondents (26 percent) stated that ESG credentials could “make or break” a deal.
“ESG considerations are naturally linked to infrastructure investments,” said Mamadou-Abou Sarr, global head of ESG investing at Northern Trust Asset Management “At Northern Trust we recognize the importance of ESG and have more than 25 years of experience managing socially responsible portfolios. As of Q1, 2016, we manage approximately US$57.9 billion in responsible investment portfolios, helping investors to automate and simplify the oversight process.”
Northern Trust provides a full range of services for both asset managers and asset owners – including back and middle office services, as well as investment solutions. For more than 30 years, Northern Trust has supported a full spectrum of alternative assets, including hedge, private equity, real estate, infrastructure and debt strategies and offers a range of innovative products and services and continues to build capabilities for emerging asset classes.
For alternative investments, Northern Trust can support managed account solutions, providing daily hedge fund transparency with investment and portfolio-level risk and compliance. It also offers sophisticated strategy tagging, real time cash and liquidity tools and services all asset classes on one platform, including the most complex and structured products.
In April 2016, Northern Trust and ALTX announced they had entered into an exclusive agreement to offer Northern Trust’s global institutional clients access to the largest ever amount of structured and unstructured data for hedge funds, on one platform.
As at 31 December 2015, Northern Trust had approximately US$450 billion in alternative assets under administration on behalf of asset managers and approximately US$531 billion in alternative assets for institutional investors, globally.
About Northern Trust
Northern Trust Corporation (Nasdaq: NTRS) is a leading provider of wealth management, asset servicing, asset management and banking to corporations, institutions, affluent families and individuals. Founded in Chicago in 1889, Northern Trust has offices in the United States in 19 states and Washington, D.C., and 20 international locations in Canada, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. As of March 31, 2016, Northern Trust had assets under custody of US$6.2 trillion, and assets under management of US$900 billion. For more than 125 years, Northern Trust has earned distinction as an industry leader for exceptional service, financial expertise, integrity and innovation. Visit northerntrust.com or follow us on Twitter @NorthernTrust.
Northern Trust Corporation, Head Office: 50 South La Salle Street, Chicago, Illinois 60603 U.S.A., incorporated with limited liability in the U.S. Global legal and regulatory information can be found at https://www.northerntrust.com/disclosures.
Contacts
Northern Trust
Europe, Middle East, Africa & Asia-Pacific Contact:
Camilla Greene
+44 (0) 207 982 2176
[email protected]
or
US & Canada Contact:
Tim Hacker
+1 312 557 6090
[email protected]
http://www.northerntrust.com
