Moving Your Emerging Markets Strategy from "How Much" to "How"
In a recent survey of North American institutional investors, 138 endowments, foundations, and corporate and public pension plans reported that they are interested in emerging markets specifically, more than double the number of those who were interested in commodities, private equity, fixed income, real estate, and even equities. This response demonstrates the widespread interest among investors in these markets and the opportunities to be found there. This in itself is evidence of a significant sea change among US institutions as they move rapidly to assess the investment opportunities to be found in the BRIC economies and the ones "beyond BRIC".
What is equally significant is the pace at which US institutions have moved beyond a discussion of how much of their portfolios to allocate to the emerging markets to consideration of how to implement these investments. What strategies are proving most effective? What is the right allocation to equities, fixed income, and alternatives like private equity, infrastructure, and real estate? Should these institutions use external managers, local managers, or increase their in-house resources? As investors supplement their historic equity and fixed income allocations with alternative strategies, how can they address liquidity risk?
The Emerging Markets Forum will focus on how North American pension funds, endowments, and foundations are moving their emerging markets strategies from a focus on "how much" to allocate to these markets to a discussion of how best to executive those investments.