Panel
Multi-Asset Management Across Public and Private Markets | Global Conference 2026
Milken InstituteRomaine Bostick, Michael Brandmeyer, Shikha Gupta, Nabeel Qadir, Rohit Sipahimalani, David Steinbach
- Public and private market distinctions are expected to progressively merge due to sophisticated data tools, driving a shift toward a total portfolio approach that avoids rigid asset class separations.
- Private wealth capital is projected to grow from 25% of total capital raised last year to approximately 50% this year, serving as a significant, rapidly expanding source of capital that is twice the size and growth rate of traditional institutional capital.
- Private wealth investors, currently under-allocated to real assets, anticipate these assets will act as a safe haven and growth driver over the next five years, potentially prioritizing aggregate gain and displaying reduced liquidity concerns compared to institutional peers.
- Private credit and real estate are forecast to remain primary investments for individual investors over the next five to ten years, driven by understandability, yield, and an expected supply deficit in global development that will drive rent growth.
- The return premium for illiquid assets is anticipated to remain significantly higher than historical averages, while the return difference between private equity and other private assets like infrastructure is expected to narrow from a historical 500 basis points to 100–150 basis points over five years.
- Future Fund exposure to AI beneficiaries is targeted to double over the next four years leading to 2030, while liquid equity allocation is expected to rise from 20% to approximately 25% and private credit is favored for its shorter duration and yield.
- Investments in hard assets such as infrastructure and commodities are expected to increase to hedge against AI-induced disruption and provide balance in high-inflation environments, alongside a trend toward investing within large, self-sufficient geoeconomic spheres to mitigate geopolitical risks.
- The secondary market for private assets is projected to grow from $250 billion in transactions last year to approximately $500 billion over the next four to five years, supporting a "sorting" of managers where only those demonstrating active operating value creation will succeed.
- Managers will need to leverage AI and data tools to provide differentiated value beyond execution, particularly for scaled platforms, while the number of managers capable of "purest form" corporate value add will become the primary return source.
- A widening gap between TBPIs and DPIs is expected to necessitate creative valuation vehicles and continuation structures, with semi-liquid private assets being re-conceptualized as evergreen or open-ended for new investor classes.
- Private equity duration is expected to extend further, increasing the criticality of portfolio balance and liquidity management, while liquidity pools are likely to dry up or become prohibitively expensive during a real crisis.
- Market opportunities are expected to emerge to fill the void of reduced public companies despite doubled global wealth, with innovation likely arising to serve new demand corridors driven by deglobalization and national resiliency.
- Manager skill is projected to become a more resilient return stream with higher value in future forecasts, while investors will likely need to be creative with portfolio finance solutions like preferred equity and cash flow swaps to manage stress periods.
- Asset-based finance is expected to gain attractiveness compared to corporate lending as spreads tighten, with the Future Fund increasing allocations to this space to access complex markets and improve diversification.
- The market will likely experience a "barbell economy" where the middle is squeezed, forcing managers to choose between scaling or going niche, while investors will prefer public exposure for fast-changing themes like AI and private exposure for contracted lease areas like data center infrastructure.
- Real estate and real assets are expected to benefit from an early innings recovery and new demand corridors, with a lack of new global development reaching historic lows to drive cash flow returns.
- Predicting market movements three to five years ahead will remain difficult compared to recent decades, and while volatility triggers are unlikely to be predicted, the Future Fund will continue scenario testing to ensure resilience against fragmentation and inflation.
- A total portfolio approach will likely require weekly investment committee meetings to evaluate individual deals against the overall portfolio, while the Future Fund continues to underwrite deals based on specific risk-adjusted return hurdles rather than forced geographic diversification.
- Recency bias is identified as a risk preventing many investors from adapting to the new operating environment and capturing uncommon returns available to those who recognize the wave of change.