Did you know that more than 73 per cent of institutional investors believe private markets will outperform public markets over the next five years?
Or that global private market allocations have grown to an average of 11 per cent of portfolios?
Or that for 40 per cent of North American investors, the difficulty of benchmarking performance is a key barrier to investing in private markets?
Our Private Markets Study 2025 taps into the views of 500 institutional investors managing $4.3 trillion in assets across Asia, Europe, and North America. The findings reveal how institutional allocations are shifting globally and reflect a growing sophistication in investor motivations, such as unlocking the illiquidity premium. At the same time, issues such as transaction costs and the need for high-quality data are posing challenges in an otherwise promising private markets environment.
With rising sustainability priorities and a sharper focus on recession and liquidity risk, private markets remain a critical investment frontier. This study uncovers the trends, opportunities, and barriers investors are navigating in the pursuit of long-term outperformance.
Download the study to explore how private markets are shaping the investment landscape in 2025.
Highlights
Among an array of findings, here are some of the themes investors told us about.
of respondents
plan to increase their allocations to private markets over the next two years
percentage point increase
in the share of investors saying the illiquidity premium is one of their main reasons for investing in private markets today
biggest barriers
asset valuations and high transaction costs are the two biggest barriers to investing in private markets
What's covered?
Key sections of the study include:
Asset allocation and return expectations
Private market allocations continue to rise globally, driven by investor confidence in long-term outperformance. Equity-based assets such as private equity, real estate, and infrastructure lead in expected risk-adjusted returns, while interest in diversification remains strong.
Sustainability in private markets
Sustainability is now central to investment strategies, with 75 per cent of investors considering it in decision-making. Demand for net-zero infrastructure, renewable energy, and battery storage highlights the pivotal role of private markets in achieving global climate goals.
Drivers, barriers and risks
The illiquidity premium is emerging as a major motivation for private market investments. However, challenges such as high transaction costs, valuation concerns, and geopolitical risks underscore the need for strategic navigation in a complex investment environment.
Private Markets Study 2025
In the seventh edition of the study, we collected the views of 500 institutional investors around the world. We delved into some of the key questions facing private market investors today: Why do they invest in private markets? How do they expect the asset classes to perform over the next few years? What are the biggest barriers to investing today? And how do they incorporate sustainability?
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