Union Investment
The latest research and outlooks in the ProAllocate library
- Portfolio Construction
Europe's growing role in institutional portfolios
Union Investment's Jens Gottsmann argues European equities merit higher strategic weighting given cheaper valuations and underappreciated AI, infrastructure and defence beneficiaries, while favouring active bond selection, cautious duration and hybrid portfolios blending private assets.
- Thematics
Innovation made in Europe
Union Investment's Dr. Manuel Steinbrinck argues Europe's innovation gap versus the US stems from weak commercialisation and venture funding, not ideas. Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands show how education, infrastructure and capital ecosystems can scale innovation and create investor opportunities.
- Portfolio Construction
Three capital market challenges — insights for building more resilient portfolios
Union Investment's Tobias Schmidt argues portfolios should be stress-tested via scenario analysis and uncorrelated return sources rather than predicting geopolitical shocks, citing resilient growth, elevated inflation and AI-driven equity concentration as key risks. He advocates active stock selection, duration management and diversification beyond major AI stocks to stabilise returns.
- Fixed Income
How Hyperscalers Are Reshaping Global Bond Markets
Union Investment's Moritz Krohn argues hyperscaler AI spending remains credit-supportive as infrastructure demand outstrips supply, with monetisation through cloud revenues—not investment scale—determining credit quality. He expects technology issuers to dominate USD investment-grade markets, making issuer selection increasingly critical.
- Thematics
The space economy: between SpaceX hype and real potential
The space economy, projected to reach $1.8 trillion by 2035, extends beyond rockets and satellites into logistics, retail, communications and defence. Falling launch costs and geopolitical competition among the US, China and Europe are creating investment opportunities across the value chain.
- Hedge Funds
Market-neutral equity investing
Union Investment portfolio managers argue that sector-focused equity long/short strategies in industrials and financials can deliver market-neutral, low-volatility excess returns with low correlation to broader equities. They contend fundamentals-driven mispricing exploitation remains viable despite recurring geopolitical shocks disrupting short-term pricing.
- Digital Assets
Stablecoins: Trump’s digital dollar dream
Stablecoins, mostly dollar-pegged and backed by short-dated Treasuries, offer fast, low-cost transactions with strongest potential in cross-border payments. Widespread adoption could boost demand for the US dollar and Treasuries but poses risks around money laundering, issuer confidence and financial stability.
- Fixed Income
Bond Market Outlook: “Yield Curves Remain Steep”
Kopf argues geopolitical crises create buying opportunities in fixed income, with credit quality shifting from sovereigns to corporates. He favours investment-grade euro corporate bonds, overweights euro government bonds versus US Treasuries, and views emerging-market debt as a diversifier.
- Thematics
“The Greatest Value Creation in AI Lies in Its Application”
An interview arguing AI is a decades-long, foundational transformation whose greatest value lies in real-economy adoption rather than model-building. Investors should look beyond today's US tech leaders to the broader AI value chain, with Europe well-placed to industrialise applications.