Macquarie Asset Management
610 Market Street, Philadelphia PA 19106
Shannon Pons
Head of Americas Insurance Solutions
Shannon.Pons@macquarie.com
704-975-5621
Ping Li
Senior Vice President
Insurance Strategy Lead
ping.li@macquarie.com
347-237-2454
Macquarie Asset Management
Macquarie Asset Management is a global asset manager, integrated across public and private markets. Trusted by institutions, governments, foundations and individuals to manage approximately $US588 billion in assets, we provide a diverse range of investment solutions including real assets, real estate, credit and equities & multi-asset.
Macquarie Asset Management is part of Macquarie Group, a diversified financial group providing clients with asset management, finance, banking, advisory, and risk and capital solutions across debt, equity and commodities. Founded in 1969, Macquarie Group employs approximately 19,700+ in 31 markets and is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.
All figures as of 31 March 2025.
Infrastructure-Adjacent Private Equity: A Balanced Solution for Insurers
We believe there is a significant investment opportunity in the infrastructure ecosystem, driven by, among other factors, an estimated $US7.6 trillion investment gap in the US alone.
Data centres: Powering the growth of AI and cloud computing
While wind and solar remain compelling renewable energy sources, meeting the escalating demands of the digital economy will also necessitate significant investments in energy storage, grid modernization, and diversified energy solutions. Despite advancements in efficiency, power demand is expected to grow substantially due to the rapid expansion of data centres.
Equity CIO Note: The path forward: Opportunity amid uncertainty
2Q 2025 commenced with heightened volatility in equity markets but demonstrated a swift recovery, overcoming trade concerns, geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and associated energy market disruptions. As we move into the second half of the year, the confluence of macroeconomic, monetary, fiscal, trade, and geopolitical dynamics continues to be a significant driver of market volatility. We are cautiously optimistic about the outlook for emerging markets, despite the possibility of near-term volatility due to uncertainty over tariffs.
Fixed Income Strategic Forum: An Erosion of Trust in an Era of National Policy Musts?
Our first Strategic Forum of 2025 provided an opportunity to pause, take a breath, and reflect on the recent volatile markets and economies. This forum, grounded in deep research and robust debate, centered on the fact that we are encountering significant change in global priorities and perhaps the global world order. This shift toward national interests is accompanied by, or indeed requires, a similarly meaningful shift toward a fiscal-led era. However, for many major economies, the starting fiscal position is already challenged, raising concerns of debt sustainability, exacerbated by a high cost of capital and lingering inflation fears. If these critical themes were not enough for markets to grapple with, the heavy-handed execution has also stirred an erosion of trust that, in turn, raises the risk of a reallocation to, or at least reevaluation of, unconscious, overweight positions in US markets. What happens when a policy of musts risks being trumped by an erosion of trust?
PODCASTPathways Podcast: Investing Across Asset Classes in a Shifting World
This episode of the Pathways Podcast delves into the complexities of the current macroeconomic environment and its profound impact on asset classes. Daniel McCormack, Head of Research, hosts a discussion with Jüergen Wurzer, Deputy Head of the Global Multi-Asset Team, on navigating today’s volatile investment landscape. They discuss persistent geopolitical tensions, rising protectionism, and lingering inflation concerns that are shaping market dynamics.
Market Perspectives Webinar: Investing in the Hydrogen Economy: Opportunities and Obstacles
Hydrogen’s clean-burning properties and numerous potential applications give it the potential to play an outsized role in the move towards a low-carbon global economy. But there are challenges on the road to hydrogen adoption. These include prohibitive costs, infrastructure needed to transport it, and competition from other decarbonisation options.
Equities & Multi-Asset CIO Update: Positioning for Clarity in a Cloudy Market
In-depth analysis of 1Q25 results and a comprehensive outlook on equity markets and how to navigate the evolving landscape in 2025.
ESG in Emerging Markets Sovereign Debt
In 2025, the financial industry is seeing a significant shift towards a more nuanced approach to evaluating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in sovereign debt analysis, particularly for emerging markets. Unlike corporate entities, sovereign states have unique factual and ethical differences that necessitate a tailored ESG assessment. For example, social and governance scores for sovereigns correlate with credit quality, whereas corporate ESG scores do not. Additionally, while it is acceptable for corporations to fail, the collapse of sovereign states can lead to significant socioeconomic costs. As a result, models have been developed to adjust social and governance scores based on a country's level of development and consider changes in income-adjusted ESG scores as reflections of effort, ensuring that poorer countries are not penalized for low environmental scores.
Infrastructure Portfolio Allocation: What Could Optimal Look Like?
Explore how adding private infrastructure equity to an investment portfolio can help expand the efficient frontier.
Infrastructure Secondaries Specialisation Can Unlock Opportunities
The secondaries market presents opportunities for investors to gain immediate exposure to seasoned and high-quality infrastructure assets.
Unpacking the Credit Mechanics of Infrastructure Debt
Explore the credit mechanisms that make infrastructure debt an attractive asset class, including the potential for attractive yields and portfolio stabilization.
Market Perspectives Webinar: AI, Data Centres and the Road Ahead
The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing is driving unprecedented demand for data centres, positioning the sector as one of the most exciting investment opportunities. As the foundation of the digital transformation, data centres offer investors compelling opportunities for growth, resilience, and long-term value creation.
Pathways: Asia-Pacific Infrastructure: A market with structural growth drivers
Historically, Asia-Pacific (APAC) has demonstrated rapid economic growth, outpacing the Group of Seven (G7) nations and showing strong potential to maintain this trend. Key drivers of this growth include catch-up productivity improvements, institutional development, and favourable demographic trends in areas such as South Asia.
Trump 2.0 and the implications for energy transition
US President-elect Donald Trump and the Republican control of both houses of Congress is expected to have significant economic and policy implications, particularly for renewable energy. In a recent webinar, we explore the potential impacts for investors and discuss why we continue to believe the US energy transition sector is a compelling investment.
PODCASTDirect Lending Decoded: Macquarie's Strategic Approach to Middle Market Investing
Join host Stewart Foley on the InsuranceAUM.com Podcast as we explore the evolution of direct lending, its role in insurance portfolios, and key considerations for investors navigating private credit.
Macquarie Asset Management’s Outlook 2025: Plan for growth, prepare for volatility
We invite you to join our expert panel for an insightful discussion on the key macroeconomic trends, opportunities and implications set to define 2025. Our panel will delve into the resilience of the global economy, the strength of the developed-world consumer as a key driver for growth, and the implications for real estate, infrastructure and listed equities.
Securing stability: The strategic role of infrastructure debt in US insurance portfolios
Insurance companies often prioritize public and private credits to fulfill liability cash flow requirements.
Market Perspectives webinar replay – US elections: Assessing the impact on financial sectors
Our recent Market Perspectives webinar panel discussed implications of the upcoming US presidential election on financial markets. Our panel of experts discussed potential election scenarios, as well as policy changes and their anticipated effects on various asset classes.
Pathways Podcast - Global transport sector: On the road and flight path to net zero
As the world transitions towards a net zero future, the transport sector is undergoing rapid technological advancements. In this two-part series, hear from Daniel McCormack, Yufei Zhang, and Audrey Lee as they examine the ambitious road to net zero, the role of policy and infrastructure, and what all this may mean for investors.
Market Perspectives- Transforming tomorrow: Trends shaping data centres and AI
Our recent Market Perspectives webinar panel discussed trends re-shaping the digital infrastructure landscape, including exploding data use and increasing interest in data centres, which serve as the backbone for the digital economy. Watch the replay for a discussion of the trends that are shaping the future of data centres, making them more efficient and responsive to growing digital demands.
Perspectives - Infrastructure debt: First among equals
Infrastructure is one of the most rapidly growing asset classes globally, with assets under management increasing by 19.7% per year since 2015. Within infrastructure, it is infrastructure debt that has seen the most rapid expansion, boasting lower default rates and higher recovery rates compared with similar non-financial corporate debt.
Pathways Podcast: Infrastructure debt: The evolving investment opportunity
Join speakers Daniel McCormack, Harlan Cherniak, and Gurjit Orjela for an insightful discussion on the current state and outlook of infrastructure debt.
A turning tide: what lower interest rates could mean for listed real estate
As inflation and interest rates stabilise, we believe real estate fundamentals are positioned to become the most important driver of opportunity and return.
Market Perspectives - Global real estate: Approaching the turn Replay
With interest rates falling and global growth stabilising, opportunities are emerging in global real estate. Watch the replay to hear from Macquarie Asset Management’s panel of experts as they discuss the outlook and how investors should position their portfolios to take advantage of current market pricing.
Macquarie - To hold or to fold?
Multiple factors have created opportunities and challenges for bond investors, who need to balance risks and rewards. In Issue 01 of our Fixed Income Strategic Forum 2024, we address the key question facing investors in the current environment: To hold or to fold?
Global real estate: Approaching the turn
Risk-free rates and the cost of capital lifted sharply in 2023, pressuring commercial property pricing and transactions across most markets. However, selective opportunities are now emerging in private markets, including in the logistics sector.
Select real estate opportunities emerging in 2024
In this insight, we provide analysis of the current real estate landscape and where opportunities in private markets may be emerging as pricing adjusts, including in the logistics sector.
Fixed Income Strategic Forum 2023 - Higher rates, tighter credit, and less liquidity matter
Since Issue 02 in May, financial markets have continued to perform well, dismissing the likelihood of recession and seemingly embracing the soft-landing or even no-landing scenario. However, upon examination of the evidence in September for Issue 03, we are of the view that the question is not if a recession will occur but rather when it will occur and how hard it will be.
A retightening of policy mix: Impact on growth and inflation
Going into 2024, our analysis for Issue 03 of the Fixed Income Strategic Forum 2023 suggests the current policy mix of easier fiscal policy and tighter monetary policy may revert to an overall tighter stance, mainly due to a gradual diminishing of the fiscal policy impulse while the monetary policy stance remains tight. In this insight, we delve deeper into these current macroeconomic trends and, more importantly, how their projected trajectories will affect the growth and inflation outlook into 2024.
Market Perspectives webinar replay - Outlook 2024: A world in transition
After the most aggressive monetary policy tightening cycle in more than 40 years and bond yields at levels not seen since 1979, the world’s major developed economies are still standing.
Pathways: Private infrastructure valuations: Relative value macroeconomic drivers and implications for investors
Using a large dataset of more than 1,000 transactions, we have derived a time series of private infrastructure valuations. This allows us to make direct comparisons with valuations in listed equity markets.
Market Perspectives – Outlook 2024: A world in transition
After the most aggressive monetary policy tightening cycle in over 40 years and bond yields at levels not seen since 1979, the world’s major developed economies are still standing. At the same time, there have been powerful structural changes in recent year in how the globally economy behaves. Understanding these deep forces and how they intersect with the cycle will be crucial to return delivery in the coming years. Join us for an in-depth discussion on the following topics:
Market Perspectives webinar replay – US real estate: Opportunity amid the volatility
With bond yields rising recently, interest rates remain a headwind for private real assets, including real estate. But this dislocation is creating opportunities as property pricing adjusts, including in sectors with solid fundamentals where development pipelines are under pressure.
Market Perspectives - US real estate: Opportunity amid the volatility
With bond yields rising recently, interest rates remain a headwind for private real assets, including real estate. But this dislocation is creating opportunities as property pricing adjusts, including in sectors with solid fundamentals where development pipelines are under pressure. Register now to hear Macquarie Asset Management’s panel of experts discuss the outlook for US real estate, how it compares with other markets, and where opportunities may be emerging.
PODCASTPathways Podcast: Infrastructure valuation: New tools for the toolkit
Valuations for private infrastructure investment have long been murky and at times challenging to compare to other asset types. Using a large dataset of more than 1,000 transactions, Macquarie research has derived a time series of private infrastructure valuations to gain new insights.
PODCASTGlobal Private Placements Deconstructed
Alex Alston is the Division Director and Co-Head of Private Placements at Macquarie Asset Management.
Pathways Podcast: Instant basket of infrastructure: The case for holding secondaries
Wandy Hoh, Head of the Infrastructure Secondaries business at Macquarie joins the show to discuss infrastructure secondaries and how they are creating liquidity for investors while creating new opportunities to enter the market
Fixed Income Strategic Forum 2023 – Delayed reaction, liquidity contraction
We believe a recession is likely by the end of 2023, but the real question is, will financial markets have a soft or hard landing?
Integrating public and private credit to build better portfolios
Views on portfolio construction are evolving as yields move into a rising rate environment. By expanding the investable universe and understanding what drives asset classes, investors can gain greater confidence that risk is distributed across their investment portfolios.
Navigating to Net Zero
In December 2020, Macquarie Asset Management (MAM) announced a commitment to manage its portfolio in line with global net zero emissions by 2040, 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement goal.
Pathways – Real Assets Outlook 2023
Inflation is likely to fall over the next 12 months as supply chains normalise, commodity markets realign, and aggregate demand softens. But, in our view, inflation is unlikely to fall back to central bank targets quickly.
Finding value in dislocated real estate markets
2022 was characterised as a year of heightened macroeconomic uncertainty spurred by geopolitics, rising interest rates, and growing inflation. These factors, combined with the rising cost of capital, have driven dislocation and mispricing in the global real estate market.
The Case for Infrastructure
Infrastructure has been growing in popularity in recent years, with unlisted infrastructure funds raising a record $US125 billion of capital in 2021. The increasing appetite from institutional investors could be explained by its impressive risk-adjusted return delivery as well as its attractive characteristics.