Investing

Investors in evergreen funds apparently did not fully grasp what they were getting into when they entrusted their capital to these “semi-liquid” vehicles investing in private markets. After Blue Owl, two large private credit funds managed by Blackstone and Blackrock were hit last week with a surge in redemption requests.

Oil prices can swing by tens of dollars within hours, as happened this week amid the war surrounding Iran. Yet the headline oil price is only one signal from the commodity markets. A further ten indicators reveal where pressure in the energy system is truly building.

In a fund market that is becoming increasingly fragmented between European requirements, rising regulatory pressure, and the growth of private markets, large offshore firms can no longer ignore Luxembourg. For Mourant, historically established in Jersey, Guernsey, and the Cayman Islands, opening an office in the Grand Duchy two years ago was not merely a geographic expansion. It was a strategic repositioning.

A large share of the bond markets currently offers yields that look attractive, above the magical threshold of 4 percent. But the war in the Middle East is fueling fears that inflation could move in that direction as well, which would erode much of the real return.

For more than a century, it has been “very unwise” for investors to position themselves against the United States, according to professor Paul Marsh of London Business School. The US is likely to remain dominant in terms of market size in the future, but its outperformance may well be coming to an end, he argues.
Today, US equities account for nearly two thirds of global market capitalization, and the world’s largest bond market sits in the same jurisdiction.

With the restoration of the negative correlation between equities and bonds, the structure of strategic asset allocation is once again under debate among asset owners and asset managers. Was the shift away from the traditional 60/40 portfolio towards a permanent allocation to private markets a lasting course correction — or merely a temporary response to an extraordinary period? Investment Officer spoke to four leading investment professionals.

Oil and gas prices rose sharply on Monday as investors assessed the implications of U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran and Tehran’s retaliation, with markets focused on whether the conflict risks widening.

When a US private credit fund closed its exit window to investors, confidence immediately came under pressure. The question is no longer just what went wrong, but whether the mechanisms underpinning these semi-liquid funds are functioning precisely as intended.

As real estate returns to favor as an asset class, sourcing investment opportunities is not necessarily the biggest challenge that wealthy families face. The real hurdle is conducting thorough due diligence—but this can be tackled by joining forces with other family offices.

Prime Minister Takaichi’s clear reflation policy is making Japan attractive to investors once more, even though the policy rate, at 0.75 percent, stands at its highest level in thirty years. The panic surrounding the unwinding of the yen carry trade, which caused global turmoil two years ago, now appears to have definitively faded into the background.