{"id":390030,"date":"2026-04-13T16:02:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T16:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/390030\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T16:02:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T16:02:07","slug":"europes-biggest-pension-investor-seen-boosting-private-markets-allocation-amid-sector-woes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/390030\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe\u2019s biggest pension investor seen boosting private markets allocation amid sector woes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A view of Amsterdam’s city centre in February, 2023.Peter Dejong<\/p>\n

Europe\u2019s biggest pension investor, APG, will increase its allocation to private markets to just over 30 per cent and sees current credit market flux as a potential buying opportunity, its chief investment officer for private investments told Reuters.<\/p>\n

APG invests around \u20ac600-billion (US$702-billion) for clients including ABP, the Netherlands\u2019 biggest pension fund. Around 26 per cent of its assets are currently in private markets but it would add more after ongoing changes to investment rules in the Netherlands, Patrick Kanters said.<\/p>\n

The new rules under the Future Pensions Act, introduced in phases since 2023, free Netherlands-based funds from committing to a defined retirement payout for workers and allow more risk to be taken, including reducing the money kept in lower-yielding but liquid government debt.<\/p>\n

With people living longer and having more jobs over their lifetime, the new system gives younger workers their own pot of money which can potentially grow much more quickly.<\/p>\n

Private credit sector stresses could be catastrophic, but not just yet<\/a><\/p>\n

Currently, APG has around 10 per cent of its total assets in real estate; 5 to 6 per cent in infrastructure, which would rise to 10 per cent over time; 8 per cent in private equity, up from 6 per cent historically; and a sub-1-per-cent allocation to natural capital assets such as forestry.<\/p>\n

It also has a \u201crather small\u201d holding of 1.5 per cent in private debt which could rise to between 2 per cent and 4 per cent over time, depending on the client. Based on its current assets, that could mean its allocation rising closer to \u20ac24-billion from around \u20ac9-billion.<\/p>\n

Large Dutch funds are beginning to transfer clients\u2019 money to the new pots this year and all Dutch pension funds have until Jan. 1, 2028, to complete the transition.<\/p>\n

The move comes as the broader market faces increased volatility after several U.S. retail-focused funds were hit by a surge in redemption requests amid concerns around falling returns and the impact of AI on software firms.<\/p>\n

Goldman Sachs\u2019s private credit fund defies sector-wide redemption surge<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cSome sub-markets are correcting, and that can indeed provide opportunities going forward,\u201d Kanters said in an interview this month. \u201cFor these types of investments, you need to have a very long investment horizon.\u201d<\/p>\n

For APG, the focus was on investing where capital was scarce, structures were robust and underwriting discipline was strong, including in real assets and infrastructure-related financing, Kanters said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, manager quality, deal structuring, and downside protection matter more to us than making thematic sector calls.\u201d<\/p>\n

APG\u2019s existing private debt investments cover areas including real asset credit, speciality finance, structured credit, direct lending and non-performing loans. Around 60 per cent is in Europe against a market average allocation of around 30 per cent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe U.S. remains the largest and most established private debt market globally. For a long-term investor like us looking to build a larger and diversified portfolio, it is difficult to ignore that depth and breadth,\u201d Kanters said.<\/p>\n

Asia also presented attractive returns and high-quality managers, he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: A view of Amsterdam’s city centre in February, 2023.Peter Dejong Europe\u2019s biggest pension…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390031,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[246,229,247,220,218,248,114,245,217,236,237,232,219,216,184,243,242,235,268,227,259,221,222,234,85,46,230,231,224,249,225,254,255,257,252,256,250,253,266,267,223,240,241,238,239,251,228,125,244,233,226,126,258],"class_list":{"0":"post-390030","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-business","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-canada-news","17":"tag-canada-sports","18":"tag-canada-sports-news","19":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","20":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","21":"tag-canadian-news","22":"tag-economy","23":"tag-education","24":"tag-environment","25":"tag-federal-government","26":"tag-finance","27":"tag-foreign-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","30":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","31":"tag-government","32":"tag-il","33":"tag-israel","34":"tag-life-news","35":"tag-lifestyle","36":"tag-local-news","37":"tag-manitoba","38":"tag-national-news","39":"tag-new-brunswick","40":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","41":"tag-northwest-territories","42":"tag-nova-scotia","43":"tag-nunavut","44":"tag-ontario","45":"tag-pei","46":"tag-personal-finance","47":"tag-personalfinance","48":"tag-photos","49":"tag-political-news","50":"tag-political-opinion","51":"tag-politics","52":"tag-politics-news","53":"tag-quebec","54":"tag-sports-news","55":"tag-technology","56":"tag-travel","57":"tag-trudeau","58":"tag-us-news","59":"tag-world-news","60":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}