Listed alternative assets

Investors are looking for new sources of growth, reliable income and reduced volatility of returns.

Risk warning

The value of investments, and the income from them, can go down as well as up and an investor may get back less than the amount invested. Past performance is not a guide to future results.

Listed alternatives

Here we highlight five alternative asset classes available through listed investment companies:

Infrastructure

Physical assets such as roads and bridges (hard infrastructure); and services that support economic and social needs (soft infrastructure). Projects often benefit from subsidies and inflation-linked revenues (such as renewable energy), offering some shelter from economic cycles and volatility.

Listed private capital

Investing in underlying assets not traded on a public exchange, including in private companies (private equity); in private debt, where investors lend directly to borrowers; and in listed managers of those assets. Listed private capital offers exposure to a range of assets with strong return potential.

ESG house with a person
Specialist property

Selected areas of the property market including healthcare social housing, student accommodation and residential. These more specialist areas can provide resilience against downturns in the economic cycle.

Special opportunities

Includes royalties for healthcare, music and precious metals. Royalties are payments to the owners of assets. Some firms invest in debt backed by royalties’ income. This sub-sector includes litigation finance – firms earning income by financing commercial litigation cases.

Asset-backed securities

A portfolio of largely mezzanine and collateralised debt backed by income-generating assets, typically offering higher yields than traditional credit but with comparable risk. Investments that have a variable rate structure are less sensitive to changes in interest rates.