Institutional investors participating as LPs ('limited partners') maintain their confidence in private markets to shape their portfolios and, in particular, in the infrastructure and secondary segments, according to the survey "2026 Global Alternatives Survey: The LP View" prepared by Goldman Sachs Alternatives.
In detail, 43% of respondents appreciate a "more favorable" outlook for investment in infrastructure, while 44% anticipate a positive scenario for secondary funds.
In the real estate sector, 37% of LPs perceive a more attractive environment, compared to 16% who believe the situation is less favorable. In private equity, the feeling of continuity prevails: 56% do not foresee changes in their expectations and 24% maintain a constructive outlook.
Regarding stakes in managers or general partners (GPs), the majority perception (69%) remains unchanged. However, the study detects a rebound in interest, which stands at 34% of respondents.
Private credit is the area where the negative outlook has increased the most in the last year, up to 35%. Nevertheless, 65% continue to see "equal or better" opportunities than in the past.
Globally, 84% of participants expect to allocate the same or a higher volume of capital than the previous year, a figure very similar to the 83% recorded in the previous edition. Within this group, 37% plan to increase their commitments and 11% intend to reduce them.
Geopolitics consolidates as the main risk focus
For the third consecutive year, geopolitical tensions rank at the top of the most relevant risks for investment. This factor appears in 82% of responses among the five biggest threats and is also the most individually cited (36%).
Following geopolitics, LPs point out other highlighted risks, such as inflation (67%) and the potential economic slowdown or recession in the United States (63%).
Artificial intelligence is also beginning to be perceived as a challenge (28%), mainly due to the potential displacement of workers associated with the adoption of this technology. Despite this, 34% of respondents believe that AI will be the main driver of transformation in alternative assets in the next five years, ahead of sector consolidation and economic disruption (13% in each case).
On the geographical level, investors from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa appear to be the most concerned about geopolitical risk (44%), clearly above the 31% in Asia-Pacific and the 30% in America.
Among the specific challenges by asset type, LPs mention liquidity as the main obstacle in private equity (28%). This is followed by performance in real estate (32%), access to co-investments (21%), and manager selection in private credit (20%) and infrastructure (15%). Additionally, valuations rank as the second most relevant issue in three of the five asset classes analyzed.
"LPs are increasingly using secondaries as a central tool for portfolio allocation and cash flow management, in order to build more resilient portfolios," says the global co-director of Alternative Capital Formation at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Stephanie Rader.