Asset managers are key figures in your life, although you may not be aware of it. These investment firms are mostly recognised for their ownership of financial assets such as stocks and bonds. But as well as owning financial assets, in recent decades they have been buying huge volumes of so-called “real assets”, which in many cases represent necessities of everyday life such as housing, schools, care homes, roads, energy systems, farmland and water-supply networks.
Thus, the regular payments to asset owners that we make to stay alive and thrive – such as for shelter, electricity, water or food – increasingly end up in part or in full in the hands of asset managers. Those managers decide both how much we pay, and what condition the apartment, care home or pipes that supply our drinking water are in.
