U.S. pension funds came in as the top allocators to real estate/infrastructure in 2021, according to the second edition of the AW Research Investor Compendium that was recently released by Alternatives Watch Research in association with Vidrio.
The study tracked a total of $130 billion in capital across more than 900 individual investor mandates among some of the world’s largest allocators. Real estate/infrastructure and credit strategies attracted $27 billion each in capital for the calendar year 2021, tying for second place after private equity.
Of the top 10 allocators to alternative investments in 2021, the investment gains spanned 12 percent to 34 percent annualized. The actual amounts put to work — mainly by U.S. public pensions — ranged from $5 billion to $17 billion.
The top allocator to real estate/infrastructure was the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board with $6.1 billion of activity in 2021, followed by the New York State Common Retir