Figures suggest that over a quarter of all searches carried out by institutional investors, relating to new mandates, are expected to be looking for alternative investments.

Boston, MA, March 30, 2012 – According to new figures from a survey carried out by eVestment Alliance in the US, over a quarter of all searches carried out by institutional investors, relating to new mandates, are expected to be looking for alternative investments. The news has been welcomed by alternative investment advocacy group, Alternative Asset Analysis (AAA), which supports many forms of alternative investments.

eVestment’s Casey Quirk spoke to some 30 investment consultants between December 2011 and January 2012 and found that those surveyed predicted that the alternative sector will be the most popular search category for institutional investors.

“This news is very welcome from our perspective as it illustrates the fact that alternatives are becoming increasingly attractive to institutional investors, as well as individuals, as a way to diversify the risk in a portfolio,” stated AAA’s analysis partner, Anthony Johnson.

The survey found that consultants expect alternative managers to be the subject of more than a quarter of searches carried out by institutional investors looking for new investments. The next two most frequently expected searches were domestic an international equities, which are expected to attract 19 per cent and 14 per cent of searches respectively.

AAA claims that the results show that the popularity of alternative asset classes, such as real estate, hedge funds and private equity, is continuing to grow as a result of the volatile equity markets. “Alternatives, such as hedge funds and real estate, as well as more left field alternatives, such as art, antiques, gold, forestry and even wine, are proving to be much more popular as here is evidence to show they are often outperforming equities in the current economic climate.”

AAA supports a range of alternative and ethical investments and concentrates much of its focus on environmentally responsible sustainable forestry investment, such as the plantation projects run by firms like Greenwood Management in Brazil ,Canada and elsewhere.

Contact:
Anthony Johnson
Alternative Asset Analysis
71 Commercial St
Boston, MA 02109-1320
617-939-9596
info@alternativeassetanalysis.com
http://www.alternativeassetanalysis.com