A survey of institutional investors’ investment and management decisions on illiquid assets
Jansen,Kristy Tuijp,P.F.A.
Jansen,Kristy
Tuijp,P.F.A.
Abstract
This article reports the results of a survey of nine Dutch (assets under management [AUM] EUR 342 billion) and five Canadian (AUM CAD 203 billion) pension funds and fiduciary managers on the investment and management decisions regarding illiquid assets. The Dutch pension funds in the sample invest 15% of their portfolio in illiquid assets, whereas the Canadian pension funds invest 34%. The authors put forward three reasons for the stark difference in the average illiquid asset allocations: (1) the strong focus of Dutch survey participants on investment costs, which are made available to the public and are higher for illiquid assets, (2) supervisory requirements, and (3) the division of Dutch pension fund assets into a liability matching portfolio and a return portfolio, which potentially leads to liquid assets crowding out illiquid assets. Regarding the management of illiquid assets, many survey participants report that they perform liquidity stress tests and have liquidity management policies to free up cash if necessary. The authors formulate four best practices based on these findings.
Description
Date
2021-02
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Research Projects
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Journal Issue
Keywords
Pension funds, portfolio construction, developed markets, real assets/alternative investments/private equity, G11 - Portfolio Choice ; Investment Decisions, G23 - Non-bank Financial Institutions ; Financial Instruments ; Institutional Investors
Citation
Jansen, K & Tuijp, P F A 2021, 'A survey of institutional investors’ investment and management decisions on illiquid assets', Journal of Portfolio Management, vol. 47, no. 3, pp. 135-153. https://doi.org/10.3905/jpm.2020.1.202
License
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess