AsianInvestor - Knowledge Hub

The non-sponsored market offers a distinct complement to sponsor-backed private credit. Financing family-owned and entrepreneur-led businesses can bring diversification, lower leverage and typically a premium reflecting complexity and flexibility. For Asian investors seeking diversification within their private credit allocations, non-sponsored private credit, particularly in Europe, may offer a differentiated opportunity set, according to M&G Investments.

Asia’s diverse markets offer private equity investors opportunities beyond economic growth. Corporate reform, changing ownership structures and rising consumption are creating new avenues for active ownership and long-term value creation, according to KKR.

Sourcing income across regions, asset classes and private markets has the potential to improve risk-adjusted returns. Lucy Thomas, Head of Active Multi Asset Investing at UBS Asset Management, explores how Asian investors can redraw the income map by looking beyond domestic markets.

As insurers in Asia Pacific adapt to risk-based capital rules, derivatives can sharpen asset-liability management, offer control of portfolio risks and potentially improve returns, without forcing costly changes to physical holdings, according to BNP Paribas Asset Management’s Arnaud Lebreton, global head of insurance coverage, and Stéphane Marot, head of derivatives for Japan.

Europe’s experience under Solvency II shows how insurers’ priorities can evolve from regulatory compliance towards sustainable capital generation, balance-sheet stability and liquidity under stress. For insurers in Asia Pacific (Apac), four observations stand out, says Soraya Kazziha, Managing Director, Institutional Capital Insurance Solutions, at Blue Owl Capital.

As AI-driven concentration risk reshapes direct lending, Nuveen's latest insights explore how institutional investors in Asia Pacific (Apac) are building genuine diversification across alternative credit – without accumulating hidden risk. The key is to create more resilient portfolios by moving beyond concentrated direct lending toward energy infrastructure credit and real estate debt.

Investor preferences are shifting quickly, but not always in the same direction. Asia Pacific (APAC) remains a region of sharply different market structures, distribution models and regulatory regimes, which means what works in one market may not translate cleanly to the next. Dan Watkins, CEO for Asia Pacific at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, says the job for asset managers is to stay close to how decisions are being made amid the increasing role of AI, active ETFs and private markets in portfolio conversations – and to execute well as playbooks change.

Benchmarks remain a vital tool for active fixed income investors, but they were never meant to be the final destination. As market dynamics become more complex and investor priorities evolve, allocators are increasingly adopting a total portfolio approach (TPA), focusing more on whether portfolios are delivering the outcomes that matter most to investors. By L&G's Alex Mack, Head of Rates and Inflation; Ian Hutchinson, Head of Global Bond Strategies - Benchmark; and Radha Mathur, Fixed Income Investment Specialist.

Benchmarks remain a vital tool for active fixed income investors, but they were never meant to be the final destination. As market dynamics become more complex and investor priorities evolve, allocators are increasingly adopting a total portfolio approach (TPA), focusing more on whether portfolios are delivering the outcomes that matter most to investors. By L&G's Alex Mack, Head of Rates and Inflation; Ian Hutchinson, Head of Global Bond Strategies - Benchmark; and Radha Mathur, Fixed Income Investment Specialist.

Real estate is racing to catch up as technology, regulation and capital costs accelerate obsolescence. Robert Balick and Frédéric Laurent of BauMont Real Estate Capital, in which M&G Investments holds a majority stake through its real estate platform, examine how value add strategies are evolving and why building portfolios around more than one market story is becoming increasingly important.