Japan’s $1.81T (¥277.6T) Government Pension Investment Fund is taking a data-driven approach to private markets, launching a first-of-its-kind database to track the performance of alternative assets, including infrastructure, private equity and real estate.
According to a news release, the world’s largest pension fund is seeking more rigorous insight into its alternatives portfolio – which make up 1.62% of its holdings – as it aims to generate returns above traditional markets.
In the news release, GPIF said the database is intended “to regularly and efficiently obtain detailed data on the investment performance of funds in the market” and to support “advanced quantitative analysis” of alternative assets. The fund noted that such a database is uncommon in the sector, in contrast to the data infrastructure available for public equities and bonds.
Historically, GPIF and other institutional investors have evaluated alternative funds largely through qualitative assessments, relying on a narrow set of metrics such as internal rate of return and investment multiples. The new system is designed to expand the fund’s analytical toolkit, helping it identify opportunities expected to generate excess returns relative to public markets.
The effort is part of GPIF’s five-year medium-term target, which begins in fiscal 2025 and explicitly frames alternatives as a source of potential outperformance. To collect the data, GPIF will work directly with domestic and overseas fund managers and has hired Eagle Investment Systems LLC, an affiliate of BNY Mellon, to help aggregate and manage the information.
For the second quarter of fiscal 2025, the fund reported a gain of ¥14.45T and a quarterly return of +5.52%. Cumulative returns since fiscal 2001 reached ¥180.18T, including ¥58.69T in interest and dividend income. The annualized return from FY2001 through FY2025 2Q stood at +4.51%.
