More institutional investors are investing in real assets in an effort to improve diversification, said a report from Greenwich Associates.
In a survey, Greenwich found 83% of fund executives cited diversification as an objective of a real asset allocation, followed by 65% who cited inflation protection and 53% who cited growth/capital appreciation.
Fund executives do disagree on how to categorize real assets, with 40% of executives including real assets in their alternatives allocations, and 34% maintaining separate real assets allocations.
For the report, sponsored by Cohen & Steers, Greenwich Associates interviewed more than 100 fund executives from corporate and public defined benefit plans, defined contribution plans, and foundations and endowments, in addition to 18 investment consultants in the first half of 2014.
