IPE: Key influencers at pension funds 'sceptical' of private equity

10 June 2013

More than one-third of pension fund respondents to Coller Capital's latest Global Private Equity Barometer, and 43 per cent of endowments and foundations, said they faced "influential colleagues" who think private equity allocations should be reduced or even removed entirely.

Coller Capital was unable to speculate on why these institutions harboured such influential sceptics, but CIO Jeremy Coller warned that while private equity had confirmed its core place in institutional portfolios, complacency would be mistaken. "With sceptics at senior levels within LP organisations, the industry will have to justify its performance again and again", he said.

LPs plan to have increased their allocations to private equity in 12 months' time – as opposed to hedge funds, where the split between planned increases and decreases is a much closer-run thing. Coller partner Stephen Ziff said: "Taking the temperature of LPs on private equity, we see appetite to increase exposure".

Half of the LPs surveyed have already invested in or are considering the private debt funds that have proliferated since the financial crisis to step into the financing gap left by de-leveraging banks. By comparison, between a third and a half of LPs have commitments to funds-of-funds and venture capital, according to Coller. Ziff said: "Credit is a theme that has come through in a number of market surveys".

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Survey © Coller Capital


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