Fund of funds assets under management rose from €35.5 billion in 2011 to €80.2 billion in 2022, according to the ANREV/INREV Funds of Funds Study 2023. The same research records changing capital-raising patterns, a strong concentration of assets in core strategies, and 10 consecutive years of positive returns through 2022.
Contents
- Global assets under management
- Capital raised by year
- Where new capital was allocated
- Investment style and asset concentration
- Regional strategy split
- Returns and performance comparisons
- Study sample and coverage
Global assets under management
The ANREV/INREV Funds of Funds Study 2023 reports global fund of funds AUM for each year from 2011 through 2022. The series was relatively stable at the beginning of the period, then moved through several pronounced rises and falls.
| Year | Global fund of funds AUM |
|---|---|
| 2011 | €35.5 billion |
| 2012 | €35.6 billion |
| 2013 | €38.8 billion |
| 2014 | €46.1 billion |
| 2015 | €27.8 billion |
| 2016 | €27.7 billion |
| 2017 | €32.3 billion |
| 2018 | €27.1 billion |
| 2019 | €45.9 billion |
| 2020 | €60.4 billion |
| 2021 | €74.2 billion |
| 2022 | €80.2 billion |
The highest reported AUM in the series was €80.2 billion in 2022. That followed €74.2 billion in 2021 and €60.4 billion in 2020. The earlier peak was €46.1 billion in 2014, before AUM fell to €27.8 billion in 2015 and €27.7 billion in 2016. A further low of €27.1 billion was recorded in 2018, followed by €45.9 billion in 2019.
The sequence shows why a single year should not be treated as a complete description of the fund of funds market. Within the reported period, AUM moved from the mid-€20 billions to more than €80 billion, while the study label and measurement periods remained consistent across the series.
Capital raised by year
The study reports capital raised from 2015 through 2022. Annual fundraising varied considerably, with a high of €8.2 billion in 2021 and a low of €1.9 billion in 2020.
| Year | Fund of funds capital raised |
|---|---|
| 2015 | €3.1 billion |
| 2016 | €3.5 billion |
| 2017 | €5.6 billion |
| 2018 | €5.2 billion |
| 2019 | €7.8 billion |
| 2020 | €1.9 billion |
| 2021 | €8.2 billion |
| 2022 | €5.2 billion |
Capital raised increased from €3.1 billion in 2015 to €5.6 billion in 2017, then reached €7.8 billion in 2019. It dropped to €1.9 billion in 2020 before reaching the series high of €8.2 billion in 2021. Fundraising then stood at €5.2 billion in 2022.
These figures describe capital raised during each stated year, not total AUM. The distinction matters: fundraising was €5.2 billion in 2022 while reported global AUM was €80.2 billion. The two measures answer different questions about the market and should be read separately.
Where new capital was allocated
The ANREV/INREV study also reports the geographic strategy allocation of capital raised. The mix changed sharply by year, with Global strategies leading in some periods and Asia Pacific or Europe leading in others.
In 2015, 27% of capital raised was allocated to Asia Pacific strategies, 12% to Europe strategies, and 58% to Global strategies. In 2016, the distribution was 29% Asia Pacific, 14% Europe, 43% Global, and 14% North America.
Europe was the largest stated destination in 2017 and 2018. In 2017, 18% went to Asia Pacific, 44% to Europe, 24% to Global, and 12% to North America. In 2018, the corresponding shares were 14% Asia Pacific, 54% Europe, 14% Global, and 18% North America.
The 2019 allocation included 33% for Asia Pacific strategies and 58% for Europe strategies. The supplied study figures for that year do not state a separate Global or North America share. In 2020, 14% went to Asia Pacific, 14% to Europe, and 71% to Global strategies.
The allocation became especially concentrated in Global strategies in 2021: 12% of capital raised was allocated to Asia Pacific strategies and 88% to Global strategies. In 2022, the pattern reversed between those two categories, with 78% allocated to Asia Pacific strategies and 22% to Global strategies.
The reported percentages are strategy-allocation shares for capital raised in each measurement year. They are not a regional breakdown of total AUM, and the available figures do not support filling in unreported categories.
Investment style and asset concentration
The study gives two different views of investment style: the distribution of vehicles by number and the distribution by AUM. Those views diverge substantially.
About 60% of all fund of funds had a core investment style, while the remaining 40% had non-core styles. A separate distribution by number reported 59% as value add, 27% as core, and 14% as opportunity. By AUM, however, 96.7% was core, 2.3% was value add, and 1% was opportunity.
This comparison indicates that the largest share of vehicles by count was value add in the stated distribution, while the largest share of assets was core. The study also reports that core-style fund of funds represented 95% of total NAV in the universe. Because the source presents both a style classification and an AUM/NAV view, readers should avoid treating vehicle count as a proxy for asset concentration.
| Investment-style measure | Reported share |
|---|---|
| Core, approximate share of all fund of funds | About 60% |
| Non-core styles, approximate share of all fund of funds | About 40% |
| Value add, by number | 59% |
| Core, by number | 27% |
| Opportunity, by number | 14% |
| Core, by AUM | 96.7% |
| Value add, by AUM | 2.3% |
| Opportunity, by AUM | 1% |
| Core-style fund of funds, total NAV | 95% |
The differences in the reported percentages may reflect different cuts of the study universe or classification views. The figures should therefore be retained with their original labels rather than combined into a single ranking.
Regional strategy split
The regional strategy split also shows a strong difference between the number of vehicles and the amount of capital represented. Global fund of funds accounted for 77% by number but 95% by AUM. European fund of funds accounted for 23% by number and 5% by AUM.
| Regional strategy | By number | By AUM |
|---|---|---|
| Global fund of funds | 77% | 95% |
| European fund of funds | 23% | 5% |
On the historical performance comparison reported by the study, global fund of funds outperformed European peers by 322 basis points per annum on average. The study separately records 611 basis points of outperformance for global fund of funds in 2021.
The regional split is not the same measure as the annual capital-allocation figures. The former describes the composition of the reported regional strategy universe by number and AUM; the latter describes where capital raised in particular years was allocated. Keeping those scopes separate is essential when interpreting the statistics.
Returns and performance comparisons
Fund of funds average total return was 13.96% in 2021 and 2.93% in 2022, according to the ANREV/INREV Funds of Funds Study 2023. The study reports 10 consecutive years of positive returns through 2022.
For the 2022 regional comparison, global fund of funds returned 2.92% and European fund of funds returned 3.06%. The study reports 14 basis points of outperformance for European fund of funds versus global peers in 2022. This one-year result differs from the historical average comparison, under which global fund of funds outperformed European peers by 322 basis points per annum.
| Performance measure | Reported result |
|---|---|
| Average total return in 2021 | 13.96% |
| Average total return in 2022 | 2.93% |
| Global return in 2022 | 2.92% |
| European return in 2022 | 3.06% |
| 2022 European outperformance versus global peers | 14 bps |
| Historical average global outperformance | 322 bps per annum |
| Global outperformance in 2021 | 611 bps |
The reported 2022 average total return and the regional returns are close but not identical measures. The source labels the first as average total return and the latter as returns for global and European fund of funds, so they should not be substituted for one another.
Study sample and coverage
The 2023 sample for the study included 22 fund-of-funds vehicles managed by 9 managers. Those 22 vehicles represented €25.6 billion in NAV. For 2022 performance, the sample included 12 fund-of-funds vehicles representing €10.6 billion in NAV.
The sample counts provide context for the performance figures. A reported return is associated with a defined set of vehicles and managers, rather than necessarily representing every fund of funds in the global market. The broader AUM series and the narrower performance sample should therefore be read as related but distinct parts of the study.
The supplied research identifies the ANREV/INREV Funds of Funds Study 2023 as the source for the AUM, fundraising, strategy, regional, performance, and sample statistics in this article. Its original measurement dates and source labels are retained here; the underlying legacy research was not independently verified.