Multi-Asset Investing

Aegon AM has been managing multi-asset portfolios for over 35 years. We have significant experience of managing large balanced mandates for insurance affiliates.

 

Our multi-asset portfolios are managed by our dedicated 14-person multi-asset team, which works closely with our 20-person Investment Solutions Team, which constructs customized portfolios for insurance, pension and wealth management clients. They are supported by colleagues across Aegon Asset Management’s 375 investment team, which includes specialists in fixed income, equities, real estate and alternatives.

 

We offer two flagship multi-asset strategies – Diversified Growth2 and Diversified Income2. Both are globally diversified with a focus on alternative assets. We also manage specialist multi-asset strategies, such as Alternative Risk Premia, Tactical Asset Allocation and currency.

Key facts

 

as of June 30, 2023


USD 50.1 billion

 

 

invested in multi-asset strategies*

35 years'

 

 

experience of managing multi-asset portfolios

34 dedicated

 

 

multi-asset & solutions investment professionals

Our multi-asset philosophy

 

We believe:

  • Market inefficiencies can offer profitable opportunities for active investment strategies
  • Market risk can be diversified by selecting lowly-correlated sources of return
  • Customized implementation can enhance return potential
  • Selection should be based on total-return potential

 

Key elements of our multi-asset approach are:

  • Active asset allocation
  • Diversification of returns
  • Ongoing assessment of risk

What we invest in

We believe that asset allocation is a primary driver of investment returns and diversifying portfolios across a wide range of lowly-correlated investments can help reduce risk. To support our investment objectives we employ a thematic multi-asset approach that reflects our conviction views.

 

Our Diversified Growth and Diversified Income strategies bring together a broad range of assets. In the table below we show the primary ‘building blocks’ of our strategies. This is not an exhaustive list of all the assets that we can invest in and we have the flexibility to access others to help achieve each strategy’s objectives.

Asset Class What we invest in How we invest
Alternatives
  • Infrastructure
  • Renewables
  • Asset leasing
  • Listed property
  • Mortgage REITs
  • Loans
  • Preference shares
  • Insurance-linked
  • Gold

Alternative assets have the potential to offer relatively low volatility and low correlations to traditional asset classes. Our exposure varies by strategy.

Equities
  • Developed market equities
  • Emerging market equities
  • Thematic strategies e.g. growth and value
Equity allocations are driven by total return potential for our Diversified Growth strategy and by total return and income sustainability considerations for our Diversified Income strategy. Our unconstrained approach is free of any benchmark considerations. We access equities through bespoke portfolios of individual securities, single stocks and equity index futures.
Credit
  • Investment grade credit
  • High yield bonds
  • Bank credit
  • Emerging market debt
Credit has the potential to provide attractive total return and diversification benefits. Our allocation is highly selective.
Government bonds
  • Sovereign bonds
  • Index-linked bonds
We typically use government bonds strategically for risk management and tactically to pursue additional returns.
Currency
  • Foreign exchange
Our default is to hedge exposures back to base currency. We actively manage currency exposures using currency forwards to seek returns and mitigate risks.
Cash and other
  • Cash
We may hold cash to limit market exposures and manage liquidity.

Our investment process provides a disciplined approach to research, analysis and portfolio construction. We focus on identifying the best investment ideas and our process provides a forum for constructive engagement across the team. We follow the same process whether we are managing to an income or growth-oriented objective. We seek to maintain balanced portfolios, although are prepared to adjust our risk-tilts to reflect emerging opportunities and threats. 

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Key multi-asset strategies

Diversified Growth (2)

Diversified Income (2)

The strategy aims to maximize total return (income plus capital) at a lower risk than global equity markets by investing in a diversified portfolio of global assets.

The strategy aims to deliver an income with potential for capital growth by investing in a diversified portfolio of bonds, equities and other asset classes.

AUM disclosures

*As of June 30, 2023. Assets under management/advisement exclude joint venture assets. Multi-Asset & Solutions platform assets include equity, fixed income and real assets allocations within multi-asset portfolios, including those which are sub-advised to specialist investment platforms. In this view, these assets are included in the Multi-Assets & Solutions platform. Personnel may be employed by any of the Aegon AM affiliates. Does not include all investment professionals.