SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSNC) today announced its SS&C Intralinks 2021 LP Survey results. The survey found many investors are looking to increase their allocation to alternatives to protect portfolios from market volatility. Produced in partnership with Private Equity Wire, this fifth annual survey offers exclusive insights from 196 globally dispersed investors.
“Overall, respondents felt alternatives performed well compared with 2018, and the pandemic has perhaps accelerated further demand for alternatives,” said Bob Petrocchi, SVP & Co-Head, SS&C Intralinks. “Nearly 20 percent of investors noted they plan to increase their allocation to alternatives by 10 percent or more.”
Limited Partners (LPs) expressed overall satisfaction with alternative portfolio performance in 2019. Exactly 50 percent said performance met their objectives, with more than 25 percent holding the view that performance exceeded expectations compared with 2018. Hedge funds also had their best returns in a decade in this period. However, the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact has factored heavily into the moves many investors are now considering.
Other key findings include:
- Many LPs are not convinced private-equity valuations have dropped enough: four out of ten LPs indicated private equity would be their most overweight allocation.
- Some LPs seek to rotate opportunistically from hedge funds to additional investments in private markets.
- Data and reporting still have a long way to go — only 15 percent said they were ‘very satisfied’ with their GPs’ reporting, and 70 percent said they were only ‘moderately satisfied’ with data governance measures.
- The move to virtual operational due diligence (ODD) processes, made essential by the pandemic, may become a long-term structural change in the alternative fund industry.
- Investors are becoming more receptive to outsourcing, with 90 percent ranking a GP’s outsourced technology capability as either ‘important’ or ‘very important.’
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