European pension assets reached €10 trillion (US$11.9 trillion) in 2020 and Cerulli forecasts suggest they will grow to around €12 trillion by 2025, with more than €5.3 trillion of pension assets addressable for managers. While the market is growing, managers are facing an increasingly competitive environment with more consolidation across pension funds—specifically in the U.K.—and fee pressure. Managers seeking mandate wins will find success by offering illiquid assets and providing exposure to private investments, according to our latest research.

Here’s what pension funds are saying:

85% of pension funds polled plan to fully outsource private equity buyout strategies to external managers over the next 12 months. However, around 37% of pension funds anticipate leveraging their existing asset manager relationships instead of appointing new assets managers.

European pensions have shown increasing demand for private investments in recent years, but not all have invested significantly. Nearly half of the Dutch, French, and German pensions expect to increase their allocations to private equity growth strategies and a similar proportion of them will be looking to increase their exposure to real estate equity over the next 12 months.

Within the private debt space, direct lending, trade finance, and infrastructure debt will gather most inflows from European pension funds over the next 12 months.

Our latest report provides a comprehensive overview of the European retirement market. As a guidebook for managers seeking expansion opportunities, our report quantifies the addressability of seven key markets, offers growth projections, and provides an overview of managers’ plans for addressing pensions’ needs, with data drawn from our surveys of pension schemes and institutional asset managers. Take a look at the how the market is changing and where you can gain a foothold.