News Releases
Barclays Capital finds growing investor appetite for sophisticated commodities strategies
NEW YORK,
About half of the investors surveyed expect to have more than 10% of their overall portfolios in commodities during the next three years. That’s more than a three-fold increase from 2005 when a similar poll showed only 15% of investors expected to have more than 10% of their investments in commodities. Most investors answering this year’s survey still expect to hold these commodity exposures for three years or longer, but an increasing number of investors plan to increase their short term holdings.
The survey showed that investors continue to adopt a broadening suite of investment options for their commodities holdings, including active management strategies and structured products. This year investors said absolute performance is one of the most attractive aspects for investing in commodities, while portfolio diversification is no longer the most important single reason for investor interest.
"Investors demonstrated a high level of sophistication about commodities in this year’s survey", said Benoit de Vitry, Managing Director, Head of Commodities, Emerging Markets and Quantitative Analytics at Barclays Capital. “We have seen this trend in the types of commodity products that we have developed to meet the needs of our investors, and we believe this trend will continue as the asset class grows.”
In addition, investors are interested in getting exposure to environmental markets. Carbon emissions trading was the most popular vehicle to gain such exposure, followed by alternative energy equities.
Almost two-thirds of investors thought the average oil price would reach US$100 a barrel in the next five years, significantly up from December 2005 when only 32% of respondents thought the price would average over $60 a barrel.
The electronic audience response survey was conducted live during the conference, which brought together Barclays Capital experts in oil, natural gas, metals and environmental markets with investors looking for more information on the increasing potential of this asset class. Investors included asset managers, banks, endowments, hedge funds, insurance companies and pension funds.
About Barclays Capital
Barclays Capital is the investment banking division of Barclays Bank PLC which has an AA long-term credit rating and a balance sheet of over £1.1 trillion (US$2.3 trillion*). With a distinctive business model, Barclays Capital provides large corporate, government and institutional clients with solutions to their financing and risk management needs. Barclays Capital has offices in 26 countries, employs over 15,700 people and has the global reach and distribution power to meet the needs of issuers and investors worldwide.
For further information about Barclays Capital, please visit our website www.barclayscapital.com.
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