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2020 Transition Management Survey

Art by Chris Buzelli

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Industry Trends


Asset pools managed by responding organizations

Traditional pension or defined benefit (DB) plan 77%
Defined contribution (DC) plan 44%
Endowment 13%
Foundation 14%
Other 17%

Total investable assets of responding organizations

<$1B 8%
$1B – $5B 23%
>$5B – $15B 21%
>$15B – $50B 21%
>$50B – $100B 13%
>$100B 14%

Total value of all portfolio transitions conducted since 01/01/2019

<$100MM 15%
$100MM – $250MM 21%
≥$250MM – $500MM 14%
≥$500MM – $1B 15%
≥$1B 35%

Average number of portfolio transitions (include legacy and target) completed by period

Average
2016 4.8
2017 6.4
2018 6.5
2019 8.2
2020 (through 06/30/2020) 7.7

Expectation on number of portfolio transitions in 2021

Expect more transitions in 2021 than in 2019 20%
Expect fewer transitions in 2021 than in 2019 30%
Expect roughly the same number of transitions
in 2021 as 2019		 50%

Main reasons for conducting transition(s)

Manager underperformance 59%
Asset allocation shift 41%
Restructuring fund 36%
Rebalance 29%
Change in manager personnel and/or structure 28%
Change in fund/manager benchmark 13%
Cash flow, in or out 12%
Merger of firms 6%
Other 10%

Was an unaffiliated consultant used to assist in transition(s)?

Yes 33%
No 67%

Since January 2019, were any transition events completed DIRECTLY with an investment manager(s)?

Yes 55%
No 41%
Unsure / Don’t know 4%

Do you have a panel of approved transition management providers?

Yes, officially (i.e., providers have completed ‘evergreen’ agreements) 43%
Yes, unofficially (i.e., list of ‘trusted’ providers but no formal agreements) 32%
No 25%

Number of firms on panels

1 15%
2 36%
3 30%
4 13%
5 or more 6%
1 2 3 4 … 13