Asset owners remain drawn to alternative assets

Hiring activity in 2021 continues to outpace the prior year. Through the end of September, asset owners have made 1,586 manager hirings for more than $166 billion in investment mandates. During the same time last year, there were 1,597 hirings for a total of about $120 billion.

Asset owners continued to seek out alternatives, which accounted for 82% of the activity, although this was down from the 94% of hirings in the first nine months of 2020. While lower than a year ago, private equity funds, with more than $64 billion of hirings this year, continue to draw the majority of funds. Real assets and real estate were increasingly popular categories, with asset owner hirings totaling $15.6 billion and $28.5 billion vs. $10.7 billion and $16.1 billion, respectively.