08:00
Registration and coffee
08:50
Chair’s opening remarks
9:00
Macro-economic and geopolitical outlook and the implications for real asset investments
- The Trump administration and implications for investments in real assets: How might public spending change? What could be the impact of trade tariffs? Will the US economy continue to over-perform compared to Europe?
- In the meantime, in the more sluggish European economy, will inflation linger and continue to be sticky? Will this divergence between US and European economies grow?
- Discussing the investment landscape in the UK under the labour government
- Examining the Chinese economy – how has it weathered its real estate crisis, and can it get back on its growth path?
- Discussing political instability in Russia, Ukraine and the Middle East and what this means for investment and risk management strategies
- What are the expectations for interest rates, and the potential implications for liquidity risk appetite and real asset investment strategies?
- Discussing the potential outlook for the rest of 2025 and beyond
09:45
Public versus private assets in the current interest rate environment
- Comparing the benefits of the private markets versus equity markets when investing in real assets
- Examining the risks and concerns associated with private markets/equity markets
- How are the current interest rates impacting public versus private allocations?
- Looking ahead, how could a falling interest rate change allocations to real assets, in public and private markets?
10:30
Coffee
11:00
Update on UK Solvency II reform - to what extent have changes to the MA rules unlocked investment opportunities in real assets?
- Update on the implementation of the Matching Adjustment (MA) reforms - to what extent have they achieved their goal of increasing flexibility and competitiveness? Did the reforms go far enough?
- How have the reforms impacted insurers' investment strategies, in particular with relation to real assets?
- Are insurers modelling new asset classes for the MA investment portfolio? If so, which of these are attractive from the real assets space?
- How useful is the introduction of highly predictable cash flows to tap in new assets?
- Looking ahead, what other reforms could be envisaged to enable investments in real assets, within and outside the UK?
11:45
Real estate debt: identifying the hot spots, growth areas and outlook for commercial, industrial and residential real estate
- Reviewing global trends impacting the real estate sector, and macro factors influencing pricing and valuation in different markets/regions
- How will the inflationary environment in interest rates movements impact borrowers, and as a result, lenders?
- Exploring the investor appetite and growth potential in:
- Commercial: retail, hotels, office space
- Industrial: warehouses, logistics, storage
- Residential, including student housing and social housing
- Public hospitals and schools
- Examining the challenges of getting access to deal flow and origination of attractive, high quality real estate assets
- How much will interest rates need to come down to increase insurers' appetite in real estate investments? Is a stabilisation of prices from a slight drop in rates more likely than a rush to invest?
12:30
Lunch
13:30
How are net-zero pledges translated into insurers' real estate investment decisions?
- Examining the current role of real estate investments in net-zero transition strategies and how this might evolve
- Discussing the role of climate risk in property valuations – to what extent should these risks be priced into values
- Considerations and challenges when developing a green real estate portfolio
- The impact of regulation, policies and government spending: what changes could help channel insurers' capital towards green real estate projects and enhance yield?
14:15
Infrastructure – a resilient asset class? Investment trends and outlook
- Reviewing the current state of the infrastructure sector and sectors which have recently caused concern, such as water utilities in the UK
- Discussing infrastructure debt versus equity, public versus private capital, and PPPs
- In the current climate of tight government budgets for public spending, to what extent can the private sector bolster the sector?
- Discussing the outlook for the different infrastructure sectors:
- Transport: rail, road and ports
- Energy: navigating high energy costs
- Renewables: sourcing investable deals, navigating pricing challenges and market risk
- Digital infrastructure
- How are infrastructure investments being used in net-zero transition strategies?
- Infrastructure investments in emerging markets – risks and opportunities
15:00
Closing remarks
15:05
Coffee and networking