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The proportion of private assets will continue to rise in 2025: analysis by Maxime Vanneaux

Read this analysis of unlisted investment in 2025 by Maxime Vanneaux, Director of Partner Relations at Private Corner, on the Club Patrimoine studio programme.

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To see Maxime Vanneaux' analysis of unlisted assets, watch his full video analysis here

What are the trends for unlisted assets in 2025?

After a drop in fundraising and exits in 2022 and 2023, mainly due to macroeconomic uncertainties, the unlisted sector has shown signs of recovery, particularly in the second half of 2024, with a resumption of M&A activity supported by inflation that is becoming moderate and interest rates that have stabilised.

In terms of performance, this asset class continues to offer very attractive returns. Unquoted assets have outperformed traditional stock markets over 20 years, averaging 13% on growth and buy-out transactions, compared with 8% on the MSI World index. We need to remain cautious, as the new economic era is likely to widen the gap between the top and bottom quartiles - the 25% of the best and worst managers. We will have to be very selective in terms of managers and strategies if we hope to maintain this alpha generation.

For 2025, we believe that private equity/non-listed investments will continue to grow, mainly driven by increased demand for portfolio diversification and sustainable performance. At Private Corner, we are convinced that rigorous selection of assets and managers, as well as the integration of ESG criteria, will enable us to stand out from the crowd, as will, for example, transparency, which is becoming increasingly important in the light of investor expectations and, moreover, is legitimate.

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How do you invest in unlisted assets?

Investing in non-listed assets is not based on market timing, but on a long-term approach. In fact, unlisted investment funds invest progressively over several years, which allows entry points to smooth out naturally. That's the first point.

The second is that there is no ideal weighting. Allocations to non-listed investments vary between 5 and 15 per cent for wealthy investors, and sometimes up to 40 per cent for more dynamic profiles. This phenomenon is widely observed in the United States, where the private asset market is more mature.

And finally, the last point is that diversification remains and is essential to limit risk, and to spread these investments across different strategies, different sectors and different types of asset. At Private Corner, we believe that the mid-market market, which represents companies with an enterprise value of between €150 million and €500 million, offers great adaptability and diversification in markets that are in flux.

Investing in unlisted companies with Private Corner

At Private Corner, we have always favoured core portfolio approaches. Today, we have a secondary private equity fund that we have just launched with a very emblematic manager called Partners Group, which gives our partners' clients the opportunity to invest in more mature assets, in assets offering a very attractive return, with a slightly shorter investment horizon and very strong simplification diversification. And then, for more dynamic profiles, there is the possibility of investing in thematic private equity solutions with :

There's also the energy transition theme, which is very popular. In this area of thematic private equity, we wanted to create a fund with Tikehau Capital, which is one of the world's leading managers of non-listed companies, focusing on the environmental revolution, ecological transition and energy, with a fund dedicated to decarbonisation. We are convinced that this is a theme with very significant value creation drivers and a depth of investment that is also extremely broad.

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