CBRE Outranks Carlyle, Macquarie, Brookfield, Goldman, UBS, RREEF, Morgan Stanley, Blackstone as Largest Manager
Global assets managed by the Top 100 alternative investment managers now exceed $3 trillion and
commercial real estate is making up more and more of that total, according to research from Towers Watson in conjunction with The Financial Times.
The Global Alternatives Survey, which for the first time includes individual private equity and hedge funds, found that of the Top 100 alternative investment managers, real estate managers have the largest share of assets (35%, at $1.1 trillion) followed by private equity managers (22%, at $696 billion) and hedge funds (21%, at $643 billion).
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"The ongoing global economic crisis has driven all types of institutional investors toward having more diversified investment portfolios, with investment managers offering significant alternative capabilities being the clear beneficiaries. Notably, allocations to alternative assets now account for 20% of all pension fund assets globally, up from 5% 15 years ago," said Craig Baker, global head of research at Towers Watson Investment.
The research for the first time includes a diversified range of institutional investors outside pension funds and found that pension fund assets represent a third of the Top 100 alternative managers' assets, followed by insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds and endowments and foundations.
"Pension funds have always been and will remain a very large client group for top alternatives managers, but the demand from non-pension fund investors, such as sovereign wealth funds, is only going to increase in the future," Baker said.
The research shows that for the Top 100 managers, North America continues to be the largest destination for alternative capital (48%), with infrastructure the only exception, with more capital invested in Europe.
According to the research, CBRE Global Investors now ranks as the largest real estate manager, with $94 billion and tops the overall rankings, displacing last year's leader, Macquarie Group ($89 billion), which is still the largest infrastructure manager. In the past year, CBRE acquired most of the global real estate investment management business of Netherlands-based ING Group NV for $940 million in cash. ING had $59.8 billion in assets under management at the time of the purchase.
Second on the list was The Carlyle Group, the largest private equity manager, at $91 billion, with AlpInvest Partners entering the game for the first time as the top private equity fund of funds, at $41 billion. Blackstone Alternative Asset Management is the largest fund of hedge funds, with $39 billion, while Bridgewater Associates is the largest hedge fund, with $76 billion. BlackRock is the largest commodities manager, with $77 billion.
The Top 25 Firms & Amount Managed
| Firm | AUM $ | Type of Fund | Country
| CBRE Global Investors | $94.1 bil. | Real Estate | United States
| | The Carlyle Group | $90.7 bil. | Private Equity | United States
| | Macquarie Group | $88.7 bil. | Infrastructure | Australia
| | Brookfield Asset Management | $84.3 bil. | Real Estate | Canada
| | Goldman, Sachs & Co. | $78.0 bil. | Private Equity | United States
| | BlackRock | $77.3 bil. | Commodities | United Kingdom
| | Bridgewater Associates | $76.1 bil. | Hedge Funds | United States
| | UBS Global Asset Management | $60.0 bil. | Real Estate | United Kingdom
| | RREEF Alternatives | $57.4 bil. | Real Estate | Germany
| | Morgan Stanley | $56.4 bil. | Real Estate | United States
| | AXA Real Estate | $54.5 bil. | Real Estate | France
| | Blackstone Capital Partners | $53.2 bil. | Private Equity | United States
| | TPG Capital | $49.4 bil. | Private Equity | United States
| | Invesco | $48.3 bil. | Real Estate | United States
| | Blackstone Capital Partners** | $48.0 bil. | Real Estate | United States
| | AEW Capital Management | $47.4 bil. | Real Estate | United States
| | LaSalle Investment Management | $47.4 bil. | Real Estate | United States
| | Ares Management | $47.0 bil. | Hedge Funds | United States
| | J.P. Morgan Asset Management | $45.0 bil. | Hedge Funds | United States
| | Oaktree Capital Management | $41.8 bil. | Private Equity | United States
| | AlpInvest Partners | $40.9 bil. | Private Equity Fund of Funds | The Netherlands
| | Bain Capital | $39.4 bil. | Private Equity | United States
| | Blackstone Alternative Asset Management | $39.0 bil. | Fund of Hedge Funds | United States
| | Credit Suisse Asset Management | $38.8 bil. | Private Equity Fund of Funds | United States
| | Principal Global Investors | $38.5 bil. | Real Estate | United States | |
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