Accessing private markets

December 2024

What could higher tariffs mean for trade finance?

Higher tariffs planned by Donald Trump against China, Mexico and other big trading partners could shake up global trade patterns. But we think trade finance can adapt to a more protectionist global landscape as businesses continue to need financing for domestic and cross-border deals.

November 2024

Infrastructure debt: appealing and evolving

Infrastructure debt, an appealing and evolving asset class, offers a valuable source of duration and several merits to insurers seeking to hedge their duration gap. The need for infrastructure debt has evolved while infrastructure keeps adapting to new market environments such as digitalisation, energy transition and the impact of sustainability. Finding new ways to invest is necessary.

August 2024

Net zero, digitalisation to boost private infrastructure investment

Decarbonisation and digitalisation trends are increasing the need for private investment in infrastructure. Infrastructure debt investors can play an important role in supporting energy transition and digital transformation. Claus Fintzen, Chief Investment Officer and Head of Infrastructure Debt, provides insights into the trends influencing this asset class.

August 2024

How can institutional debt investors support sustainable infrastructure?

The provision of debt capital in the infrastructure sector can play a decisive role in supporting or shaping the sustainability transformation. There are various instruments to promote investment in sustainable infrastructure. Debt investors have various levers, such as loan documentation, to influence sustainable behaviour on the part of their borrowers

August 2024

Infrastructure secondaries on the upswing

Infrastructure secondaries can be a compelling option for institutional investors as they combine the advantages of the robust infrastructure asset class with the dynamics of the secondary market. Derived from the size and maturity of the primary market, which is also further driven by necessary investments for energy transition and digitalisation, the infrastructure secondary market will continue to grow.

April 2024

Private markets – still attractive?

Changing interest rates can present opportunities for investors to reassess their portfolios. Our investment experts gathered at IDEAS Connect Asia to discuss whether private markets remain attractive in a high-interest rate environment. While many investors have primarily allocated to private equity in the past, other asset classes, like private debt, are becoming increasingly important.

April 2024

Asian private debt seen as a big draw

Asian private debt is likely to attract strong institutional interest due to the growing demand for corporate financing in Asia. What are the key trends driving the demand for corporate credit in the region? Where are the bright spots for investors? Sumit Bhandari, Lead Portfolio Manager for Asia Private Credit, shares his insights in this article.

April 2024

Understanding private debt secondaries

Secondary market transactions, or secondaries, involve trading existing investment fund shares. Secondaries have the potential to generate better risk-adjusted returns versus similar primary investments. This paper highlights the type of transactions, different players, and our key insights in the Private Debt Secondaries segment.

February 2024

Q&A with Matt Christensen: How we define impact in private markets

As impact investing has accelerated, definitions and approaches vary widely. This is why we have developed three proprietary sustainability typologies as the types of impact that investments could deliver. By defining them, we can better determine how impactful an investment could or should be.

January 2024

Daring to do more blended finance

Oliver Bäte, CEO of Allianz SE, contributed a chapter to a new book, Germany 2030 – Decade of Decision, which focuses on how to accelerate a sustainable transformation. His chapter suggests, “Why don’t we also apply blended finance in the European Union? It could be a major lever in mobilising much more capital for public-private partnerships and thus help achieve our ambitious climate goals faster and more easily.”

January 2024

Trade finance: a portfolio staple?

Trade finance, which has maintained its resilience through recent economic uncertainty, provides a range of financing solutions which serve as the backbone of global trade. As investors look beyond the main asset classes to diversify return streams, trade finance can offer an attractive diversification option. It can help investors plot a path through a shifting landscape of higher interest rates and slowing growth.

January 2024

Why private debt secondaries can be first choice

Secondary market transactions in private debt are on the rise. Secondaries can complement an investor's portfolio of existing primary fund investments thanks to their higher transparency, faster capital deployment, and quicker access to potential returns. Depending on the maturity, the market environment and the seller's situation, private debt secondaries may offer investors a favourable entry opportunity.

September 2023

Tougher bank lending: a boon for private credit investors

The stress in the banking sector has sent ripples across credit markets, accelerating the withdrawal of banks from the middle market. Contributed by Voya Investment Management, this paper explains how tougher lending conditions have affected the opportunity in the US private credit middle market.

August 2023

Investing in the energy transition: what institutional debt investors should consider

The global shift toward sustainable energy has sparked a need for investments in energy transition assets. What types of assets and investment opportunities are available for institutional debt investors?

July 2023

Investing for meaningful impact in private markets

As impact investing has accelerated, definitions and approaches very widely. Here we share our perspective on meaningful impact in private markets.

July 2023

US private credit: We’re gonna need a bigger boat

This paper contributed by Voya Investment Management discusses direct lending in the US middle market. The retreat of conventional lenders from the segment has created an attractive investment opportunity within private credit. The discussion also addresses some issues that can have an impact on performance.

July 2023

Q&A with Sebastian Schroff: Why private credit?

Sebastian Schroff, Lead Portfolio Manager for global private debt at Allianz Global Investors, shares perspectives on the growing institutional interest in private credit. Sebastian also explains why its characteristics are well-suited for the current market environment.

July 2023

Expanding the diversification toolkit with private markets

Private markets play a vital role in portfolio diversification. The concept is not new but raises some challenges for many investors. We describe an approach to modelling various asset classes, which can facilitate investors in making a strategic allocation to private markets and building a broadly diversified portfolio.

April 2023

Impact private credit: investing beyond the bottom line

Investors can help to address some of the global economy’s most pressing challenges through impact private credit, an emerging asset class focusing on a broader perspective of business value than profits to incorporate people and the planet.

March 2023

The Importance of Sustainability in Private Markets

Investors have become increasingly aware of the role their capital should play in addressing environmental and social concerns whilst seeking a potential return. Private markets are well placed to support these twin goals. The integration of ESG risk assessment can be systematically included in their investment processes.

March 2023

Infrastructure Financing for High Impact Development

Debt financing for infrastructure projects in emerging markets as an asset class is expected to develop further in the coming years. How can institutional investors participate in impact-focused credit opportunities in a de-risked way? This paper examines the key factors that have favoured the development and a risk-tiered structure of "blended finance" vehicle.

March 2023

Managing and Measuring Impact in Private Markets

As more capital is allocated to impact investing in private markets, measuring the delivery of impact in a robust and credible way is essential. This paper looks at the AllianzGI’s proprietary impact framework, which facilitates due diligence and selection of investments in private markets. We also illustrate how the AllianzGI impact scoring system works in practice.

November 2022

Digital Infrastructure: Connecting to the future

The need for more infrastructure investments is rising. Digital infrastructure is being seen as critical infrastructure and increasingly popular with investors. Three key areas with growth opportunities are identified in the paper. The highly complex nature of the digital infrastructure ecosystem requires specific capabilities and expertise to access the market.

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November 2022

Real Estate Private Debt: Rising to the challenge

In periods of accelerating inflation, assets that retain their value are always in demand. Real estate is one example. The risks have risen significantly in some property sectors, hit by the pandemic. With the global rise of digitalisation, real estate landscape is changing, and so is real estate private debt investing. Is this asset class worth considering for institutional investors?

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April 2022

From Crisis to Sustainability: Key issues for infrastructure debt investors

From the confluence of crises caused by the on-going Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the goal of carbon neutrality: 2022 will be a year of challenges in both political and economic terms. The paper highlights five key issues and potential opportunities for infrastructure debt investors to consider in the year ahead.

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February 2022

Impact Investing: The third dimension

Where investors previously thought only in terms of risk and reward, they can now add a third dimension of oversight to their portfolios: Impact (social and/or environmental outcomes). Growing numbers of investment options – across both public and private markets – are making Impact Investing more accessible. Importantly, the industry is coming up with standards for measuring and reporting impact.

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November 2021

Private Markets: Turning inflation into opportunity

Private markets may be well-equipped for a range of inflationary environments. The paper discusses how various asset classes across private markets can turn inflation into opportunity. There are key asset classes institutional investors may want to consider: private equity, private credit and infrastructure. Each has its own unique qualities that respond differently to inflation.

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November 2021

Private Equity Investing – A simplified guide for “first-time” investors

Private equity often attracts media headlines, for instance, “Alternatives going mainstream with private equity leading the way: Preqin”, Advisor’s Edge, October 2021. Here is a basic guide simplified with illustrations to help starters or first-timers understand how private equity works, including some need-to-know definitions, implementation routes, and capital flows between a private equity fund and its investors.

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July 2021

Infrastructure Debt – Taking on bond-like risk to boost returns

Infrastructure projects are normally leveraged with debt. By taking on the role as lender of infrastructure debt, institutional investors can open their traditional equity/bond portfolios up to additional sources of duration and risk premium. Also, there are ways to enhance returns further within infrastructure debt. This paper gives a sense of different types of infrastructure debt portfolios across the risk-return spectrum for institutional investors to consider.

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June 2021

World’s Biggest Asset Owners Increase Infrastructure Allocations

Get a free copy of the 2021 Infrastructure Investor’s Global Investor 50 report that ranked institutions allocating assets to infrastructure. No registration required.

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February 2021

Private credit in Asia: Higher yield potential in a low-yield world

Institutional investors can play a vital role in financing the recovery from the global slowdown caused by COVID-19. Middle-market or medium-sized companies in Asia are increasingly struggled to access traditional (bank) lending in the current environment. Investors have an opportunity to provide funding to these companies through the private credit markets and can earn potentially higher yields.

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Projected analysis: Adding Asian private credit to a portfolio

We believe the asset class can potentially enhance overall portfolio returns at acceptable levels of risk. To put the idea to the test from a forward-looking perspective, this paper analyses the impact of a 10% allocation to Asian private credit on a portfolio. The analysis was performed by risklab, a global team of more than 60 investment and risk advisory experts within Allianz Global Investors.

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