Amid a hot start to 2025, these are the key themes to pay attention to

Our investment professionals share their views and insights into the year that was and the year ahead across key asset classes, including private credit, real estate, equities, private equity and venture capital. 

DOWNLOAD THE FULL OUTLOOK HERE

In 2024 we witnessed an ever-increasing trend towards investors seeking opportunity in defensive alternatives as they continue to become comfortable with the diversification benefits and risk/return and duration characteristics of private market assets. We remain cautiously optimistic for Australia’s economic outlook for 2025 and our investment teams will continue to seek opportunities based on sound market fundamentals, investing with discipline and rigour. 

Regardless of market conditions, our focus remains on delivering attractive long-term risk-adjusted returns and co-investing in our strategies alongside our investors, aligning our interests with theirs. We hope you enjoy reading our 2025 Investment Outlook. 

Key themes

• Cautiously optimistic local and global economic outlook as inflationary pressures have eased and central banks now have room to lower rates further to support growth
• Private credit continues its rapid growth, marching towards a US$2.8 trillion global asset class. We continue to have strong conviction in asset backed lending and believe alignment and workouts capabilities matter most
• Structural shift to private lenders continuing in 2025 for real estate credit, with cautious and patient deployment of capital, manager experience, platform strength and exit strategies fundamental to success
• Elevated construction costs will constrain supply and result in scarcity of options for quality core and alternative real estate assets as demand recovers. The ability to acquire assets at meaningful discounts to replacement value offer a once-in-a-cycle buying opportunity
• Major equity market indices in Australia and the US reached new highs in 2024, and regardless of economic conditions we see opportunities to deploy capital in attractive businesses at reasonable prices in 2025
• We expect merger and acquisition activity in the growth-tech sector to remain buoyant in 2025 driven by the benefits of consolidation and scale on growth and margins