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Portfolio construction

Five institutional investment trends – year-end 2024

January 21, 2025 - 20 min read

Natixis Investment Managers Solutions portfolio consultants monitor asset classes, investment products, and market activity in real time. Our semi-annual institutional trends report highlights key trends impacting institutional investors. Five key insights are summarized below.


1. Strong market returns drive funded status gains

Funded status for the top corporate and public pensions saw gains throughout 2024, with corporate pensions reaching an all-time high in Q4 2024. This supports continued flows into fixed income and defensive equity strategies, as well as elevated risk-transfer activity.


Milliman Corporate and Public Pension Funding index
Line graph of Milliman Corporate and Public Pension Funding Index. Source: Bloomberg, Natixis Investment Managers Solutions

2. Fixed income allocations are increasing

Higher yields have led to higher target allocations to fixed income over the past two and ten years. Longer term, institutions have favored private equity over hedge funds, public equity and real estate/real assets.


Institutional average asset allocation over time
Bar graph of Institutional average asset allocation over time. Source: Investment Metrics, Natixis Investment Managers Solutions. Institutional plans include an average of allocations for Corporate DBs, Public, Taft Hartley DB, and Endowment & Foundations.

3. Private equity returns show lower dispersion

Private equity investors are experiencing the tightest return dispersion in the past five years. A slower exit environment has meant recent returns have been more valuation-based, highlighting the need to evaluate performance via other metrics beyond internal rate of return and time-weighted returns.


Private equity returns by percentile, US endowments and foundations
Bar graph of private equity returns by percentile, US endowments and foundations. Source: Investment Metrics, Natixis Investment Managers Solutions. Percentiles based on US Endowments and Foundations universe as of 9/30/24.

4. Global unicorns fly higher

Unicorn growth has been much more measured since 2022, with just over 1,250 at 12/31/2024. Combined valuations have spiked to $4.4 trillion, with $3.2 trillion of that from the US and China.


Privately held start-ups valued at 1B or more
Line graph of global unicorns, privately held startup companies valued at 1B or more.

Source: CB Insights Unicorn Tracker, Natixis Investment Managers Solutions



5. Public/Private real estate returns flip

Real estate returns often lag public market fluctuations in the real estate investment trust (REIT) market, and although a recent rebound in REITs could bode well for private real estate to catch up in 2025, much of the returns have been driven by “other” sectors like healthcare and data centers, which comprise a smaller percentage of core real estate mandates.


Returns since 9/30/2021, indexed to 100
Line graph of returns since 9/30/2021, indexed to 100. Source: Morningstar Direct, NCREIF, FactSet, Natixis Investment Managers Solutions.

The S&P 500® Index is a widely recognized measure of US stock market performance. It is an unmanaged index of 500 common stocks chosen for market size, liquidity, and industry group representation, among other factors. It also measures the performance of the large-cap segment of the US equities market.

This content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. Any opinions or forecasts contained herein reflect the subjective judgments and assumptions of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the views of Natixis Investment Managers or any of its affiliates. There can be no assurance that developments will transpire as forecasted, and actual results will be different. Data and analysis do not represent the actual or expected future performance of any investment product. We believe the information, including that obtained from outside resources, to be correct, but we cannot guarantee its accuracy. The information is subject to change at any time without notice.

The data contained herein is the result of analysis conducted by the Natixis Investment Managers Solutions consulting team on model portfolios submitted by Investment Professionals. The Moderate Peer Group consists of model portfolios that have been analyzed by the consulting team and have been designated as moderate by Investment Professionals.

Natixis Investment Managers Solutions collects portfolio data and aggregates that data in accordance with the peer group portfolio category that is assigned to an individual portfolio by the Investment Professionals. At such time that a Professional requests a report, the Professional will categorize the portfolios as a portfolio belonging to one of the following categories: Aggressive, Moderately Aggressive, Moderate, Moderately Conservative, or Conservative. The categorization of individual portfolios is not determined by Natixis Investment Managers Solutions, as its role is solely as an aggregator of the precategorized portfolios. Please note that risk attributes of the Moderate Peer Group will change over time due to movements in the capital markets. Portfolio allocations provided to Natixis Investment Managers Solutions are static in nature and subsequent changes in a Professional’s portfolio allocations may not be reflected in the current Moderate Peer Group data.

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Index information contained herein is derived from third parties and is provided on an “as is” basis. The user of this information assumes the entire risk of use of this information. Each of the third-party entities involved in compiling, computing or creating index information disclaims all warranties (including, without limitation, any warranties of originality, accuracy, completeness, timeliness, noninfringement, merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose) with respect to such information.

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