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A service from MandateWire, part of the Financial Times, Asset Owner Exchange (AOX) helps asset owners understand how their peers are investing their assets. Combining MandateWire’s comprehensive database and commentary from our journalists, AOX equips readers with actionable, data-led insight and analysis to make more informed investment decisions and drive stronger long-term returns.
PwC expects 2026 to be a “jumbo” year for pension buyouts in the UK asset owner space, with more than £50bn of transaction volumes forecast. But how is that changing the way insurers, on the other side of the transaction, invest?
Highlights
By the Norwegian Government Pension Fund’s own admission, its peers have adapted to changes in the real estate investment market much better than it has. So now it is shaking things up
European equities have been unsettled by escalating tensions between the US and several European countries over Greenland but there are other issues which dent optimism, including the lack of innovative tech businesses
According to new research from Standard Chartered Private Bank, which surveyed more than 300 ultra-wealthy families globally, nearly seven in 10 (69 per cent) are using an "institutional" approach to investment decisions rather than taking a "personal" approach to family affairs
All articles
By the Norwegian Government Pension Fund’s own admission, its peers have adapted to changes in the real estate investment market much better than it has. So now it is shaking things up
European equities have been unsettled by escalating tensions between the US and several European countries over Greenland but there are other issues which dent optimism, including the lack of innovative tech businesses
We seem to be living through a boom time for commodities, with the price of gold breaking the $5,000 barrier for the first time. But as commodity markets become dominated by institutional investors, this may have unintended consequences
PwC expects 2026 to be a “jumbo” year for pension buyouts in the UK asset owner space, with more than £50bn of transaction volumes forecast. But how is that changing the way insurers, on the other side of the transaction, invest?
According to new research from Standard Chartered Private Bank, which surveyed more than 300 ultra-wealthy families globally, nearly seven in 10 (69 per cent) are using an "institutional" approach to investment decisions rather than taking a "personal" approach to family affairs
BlackRock lost several high profile mandates during 2025 because of its supposed lack of commitment towards ESG. So we look at the numbers and see how much of a problem it is proving for the world’s largest asset manager.
Canadian prime minister Mark Carney won last year’s election in part due to economic nationalism in response to US tariffs. But is this the right approach to the country’s widely-respected pension funds?
Aberdeen City Council is taking Federated Hermes to court over an investment in Swedish wind farms which, it alleges, lost $117mn or 83 per cent of the total investment
The $25bn AkademikerPension fund is selling off its US Treasury holdings, a decision it insists is rooted in the American government’s “poor” finances rather than geopolitics
European asset owners are grappling with the “concentration risk” in portfolios towards US technology and AI businesses in the S&P 500
The NFL recently opened-up minority stake ownership in its teams to institional investors, which has prompted some asset owners to dip their toes into the sport. What’s the thinking behind asset owners getting involved in sport?
UK local government pension schemes are being ‘essentially forced’ to pool their management ahead of the April 1 deadline - but not everyone is happy about it
Fabian Thehos, the co-chief investment officer of the Wellcome Trust, has warned about the growing level of concentration in the US market - particularly around tech - and he explains to AOX what the trust is doing about it
Evolving governance requirements around private transactions, such as the EU’s 2024 package of anti-money laundering regulations, are steering families towards more institutional investment practices
China, Taiwan and South Korea have driven the MSCI Emerging Markets index to deliver double-digit returns and outpace the MSCI World index which has prompted European asset owners to look at these opportunities
A combination of Donald Trump’s pestering and nervousness about America’s reliability as an ally - including concern Greenland might follow the fate of Venezuela - has prompted European nations to increase the amount they spend on defence. Does that mean asset owners view defence as an attractive investment opportunity? And could it even be defined as an ESG asset?
Around the world, asset owners are finding alternatives increasingly attractive, with one exception: North America, where fixed income is increasingly the flavour of the month
As the UK government pushes for pension scheme consolidation, dreaming of economies of scale and a dearth of domestic private investment, we look at the Netherlands and Australia for clues as to what that might look like
Outgoing New York City comptroller Brad Lander has told the city’s pension systems to fire BlackRock over its climate track record. This has not gone down well with the world’s largest asset manager
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has published proposed rules on cryptoassets which it says are the most comprehensive regime globally
The growing need for green infrastructure in the UK and across Europe is driving large-scale investors like Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global and the Australian-owned IFM Investors into projects - with family offices also joining the party
Appetite for hedge funds has been strongest among European asset owners, so far in 2025, while those in other regions seem less keen
Brazil’s family offices are moving in the opposite direction of their North American peers. While US investors pile into private credit and AI-driven growth, Brazilian wealth managers are building buffers, expanding exposure to fixed income, tax-exempt bonds, and government bonds
Many US asset owners are crowding into sectors which have seen strong demand: medical offices, self-storage and care homes and are wary of traditional office space
Nvidia, which makes the chips which power AI and which is at the forefront of the boom, has seen its share price go up 290 per cent over the past two years, leaving most market indices in the dust. So does that mean a bubble is forming?
Steve Hodder, a partner at LCP, said the proportion of the gilt market owned by defined benefit schemes was “quite frightening” - particularly given the number of DB schemes closing and the large amount of buy-out activity
According to Antonina Scheer of the Transition Pathway Initiative, one of the big wins of the COP30 summit was the lack of backsliding on climate finance after the US pulled out of the Paris Agreement
Increasing running costs, turbulent global markets and declining voluntary incomes are putting charitable organisations under more financial pressure than ever, driving them to rethink the role of their investment portfolios
State Street has described the current environment as a “Goldilocks” scenario for emerging market debt with the US dollar in a slump and the Federal Reserve expected to cut rates
People’s Pension, which runs £38bn in assets, is aiming to align its investments with the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global warning below 1.5C but some US asset managers are pivoting away from ESG investments