Key Takeaways from London Morgan Stanley Conference (2025)
In a shifting macro environment, the role of capital stewards like family offices is evolving.
MJ&Cie’s CIO, Otmane JAI, attended the last MS-hosted investment conference in London. Themes ranging from macro imbalances to emerging market opportunities and AI-driven disruption were explored through a strategic, long-duration lens.
Below are 7 takeaways customized for family office decision-making, a distilled summary that we are happy to share!
- 1. Multi-PM Hedge Funds: Too Big, Too Fast – Systemic Risks Emerging
“Too much leverage, too big — and still underperforming in key dislocations.”
Multi-manager hedge funds (MMHFs or “pod shops”) have ballooned in AUM, creating internal complexity and external crowding. Despite advanced, sometimes complex, risk systems, performance dispersion among PMs is high, and statistical analysis suggests little outperformance from big shops compared to smaller ones. The question is do we need so much complexity to achieve uncorrelated consistent returns?
Moreover, with current level of uncertainty, controlling volatility and leverage is key, along with “alpha correlation” especially during stress.
Family Office Insight :
Allocators must recognize that scale ≠ safety. While MMHFs offer access to diverse strategies under one roof, the actual risk concentration can be hidden. For family offices, this is a time to:
- Interrogate manager–level correlation
- Favor low-beta, high-conviction PMs with clear style discipline
- Consider funds of one or bespoke mandates for greater transparency
MMHFs are not uninvestable, but their operational leverage and reliance on seamless execution require constant due diligence.
- 2. Healthcare & Oncology: Long-Duration Structural Demand
“Oncology market valued ~ $150bn in the U.S., 11% CAGR forecast over the next decade”
Healthcare is not just defensive — it’s a structural growth theme. In oncology particularly, innovation is exponential: cell therapy, biologics, and AI–assisted diagnostics are reshaping care and capital flows.
Family Office Insight:
Healthcare, especially precision medicine and late-stage venture or growth equity in biotech, aligns well with patient capital. It offers asymmetric returns, often uncorrelated with public markets, and fulfills both impact and return mandates.
- 3. Private Markets: Secondary Funds & Trophy Assets
In a tightening liquidity environment, secondary funds—especially GP-led continuation vehicles—are gaining traction. Yet, they still represent just 1.5% of total private equity market value, highlighting how underpenetrated this segment remains.
The underlying driver is structural: the average holding period for private assets now exceeds 6.5 years, outpacing the traditional 10-year fund lifecycle and challenging exit timelines. This has spurred GPs to retain their most prized assets—mature, de-risked, and growth-ready—through continuation vehicles rather than exit them prematurely.
Trophy assets, when recycled into continuation structures, offer investors access to:
- Strong operational visibility
- De-risked growth
- Alignment with GPs (who often roll over carry and reinvest new capital)
These dynamics enhance governance and continuity while reducing blind-pool risk. From a risk-return standpoint, this is less about venture-style upside and more about capturing compounded performance in proven winners.
Family Office Insight:
Continuation vehicles present a strategic way for family offices to deploy capital into high-quality assets at a mature stage—balancing liquidity management with continued upside participation alongside top-tier sponsors. Underwriting these opportunities can be a smart method to recycle liquidity and deepen GP relationships without re-entering at full risk.
- 4. AI & Software: Still Early in the Curve
“AI is a way to algorithmically grow companies.”
AI is not fully priced yet. The biggest opportunities lie not in flashy startups, but in core enterprise productivity: logistics, insurance, legal, finance. Success depends on data proprietary access and domain–specific applications.
Family Office Insight:
Build exposure via funds focused on applied AI or vertical SaaS. Look for differentiated, high-margin businesses that solve industry-specific pain points, ideally with sticky recurring revenue.
- 5. Emerging Markets: A Third Cycle Starting?
“Every time EM outperformed, the dollar was weak.”
Historically, EM outperformance has aligned with dollar weakness (e.g., 2002–08). Another cycle may be brewing, but not all EMs are positioned equally. Political risk and U.S.–China fragmentation matter.
With EM market, you can build a highly diversified and uncorrelated portfolio, think of aviation in Brazil, financials in India od semis in South Korea.
Family Office Insight :
Focus on currency–independent or commodity-levered markets (e.g., Brazil, Indonesia). Diversify EM exposure via private deals, local-currency debt, and companies aligned with regional supply chains.
- 6. India : From Scale to Systemic Engine
“20–25% of global growth in the next decade.”
India is no longer just a scale story — it’s becoming a systemic driver of global demand. The digital economy has overtaken the U.S. and China in transaction volume.
Family Office Insight :
India should be core, not satellite. Exposure via mid-market private equity, logistics, digital infra, and financials offers growth with diversification. Think of India as a secular EM, not a tactical one.
- 7. Private Credit : Alpha Compression, Crowded Field
“Too long for HF, too short for PE — that’s private credit now.”
Private credit remains a favorite, but competition is intensifying spreads are narrowing, competition is rising, and sourcing advantage is harder to maintain. Many strategies are still adapting to de-globalization and rate normalization.
Family Office Insight:
Focus on niche and complex credit: asset-backed finance, cross-border trade credit, or litigation funding. Partner with managers who can originate, not just repackage.
Final Thought
Family offices operate on long cycles, but 2025 calls for tactical agility within strategic conviction. The biggest risks are crowding, complacency, and correlation. Allocate to where others aren’t looking and remember resilience is a return driver too.