Interest-rate cuts expected to send money into private assets

CUTS in interest rates should push investors out of the comfort of money-market funds and government bonds and into riskier products, including private assets, market watchers said.

Even as central banks around the world cut interest rates to stimulate their economies, however, rates are unlikely to fall to the near-zero levels of recent years.

This higher-for-longer environment means it will be important for private-asset investors to pick good managers who can deliver value without relying heavily on leverage.

“Rates are still very much in focus,” said Neo Bee Leng, investment strategist at Bank of Singapore (BOS). “We have been of the view that rate cuts are definitely a second-half story……