Real assets and their role in the post 60:40 world
Wednesday 29 April 2026 | 18:00 - 20:30 | Evening Event
CFA UK’s Private Markets Community are teaming up with UBS Asset Management to deliver an energising in-person evening bringing together leaders across real estate, infrastructure and private markets.
Hosted and moderated by Jose Carlos M. Iraculis at UBS London, the event features exclusive insights from Alex Murray, Director Infrastructure Research & Strategy, UBS and Fergus Hicks, Senior Real Estate Strategist and Portfioli Manager, UBS
Learn about the latest research and on-the-ground intelligence shaping institutional allocation across global alternatives, from digital infrastructure and data-driven assets to real estate sector shifts and private equity opportunities.
This will then be followed by networking drinks.
What You’ll Learn:
- The 2026 macro case for unified global alternatives and how institutions are blending real estate, infrastructure and private markets.
- Real estate’s sector winners and inflow trends, capital rotation, and where institutional demand is accelerating.
- The KPIs driving infrastructure allocations, and why digital and data-driven assets (data centres, fibre, digital infra) are expanding fastest.
- Private equity deal flow and valuation dynamics including pipeline health, pricing trends and GP - LP relationship shifts.
- Practical takeaways for building durable private markets strategies in a shifting rate and macro environment.
- Join now and make meaningful connections in the private markets landscape.
Timing:
18:00 - 18:30 Registration
18:30 - 20:30 Event
Speakers
Alex Murray, Director Infrastructure Research & Strategy, UBS.
Alex Murray is a Director of Infrastructure Research and Strategy as part of Unified Global Alternatives (UGA), within UBS Asset Management (UBS-AM). Alex joined UBS-AM in April 2025. In his current role he conducts sector and thematic research on the unlisted infrastructure asset class, informing investment strategies that anticipate market and industrial return drivers. Prior to joining UBS-AM, Alex was a Vice President and Head of Real Assets at Preqin, a leading data provider on private markets where he helped establish a commercially successful institutional research product. Alex was formerly a Senior Analyst in the Infrastructure and Projects Authority within the UK Cabinet Office where he led the monitoring of UK PPP investments.
Prior to this he was a tenured academic at University College London’s Bartlett Faculty, after starting his career with KPMG Corporate Finance in London.
Fergus Hicks, Senior Real Estate Strategist and Portfioli Manager, UBS.
Fergus Hicks joined UBS Asset Management (UBS-AM) in May 2016 and sits in the Unified Global Alternatives-Real Estate (UGA-RE) unit.
Fergus’s role is split between strategy work and portfolio management. In strategy, Fergus supports real estate investment mandates and clients by providing quantitative and qualitative analysis of property markets around the world and the investment outlook. On the portfolio management side, Fergus is a Portfolio Manager for the UBS (Lux) Global Living Fund. This fund was launched in 2023 in partnership with UBS-WM and invests in living real estate globally.
Fergus joined UBS-AM from global property consultancy, Cushman & Wakefield (2010–2016), where he was the firm’s Global Head of Forecasting, leading the team responsible for producing global real estate forecasts, covering over 200 markets on a quarterly basis.
Fergus’s other roles include Property Economist at Capital Economics (2009–2010) and Head of EMEA Forecasting & Economics at JLL (2006–2009). He also previously worked at the Council of Mortgage Lenders (2006), DRT (2005), RBB Economics (2004–2005) and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (2000–2003).
Moderator: Jose Carlos, Investment Associate, UBS
Jose Carlos is a Co-investment Specialist in Unified Global Alternatives – Infrastructure within UBS Asset Management.
Jose Carlos joined UBS in 2022, to originate transactions, lead due diligence and execute co-investments, in addition to primaries and secondaries, while building and improving relationships with fund managers.
Prior to UBS, he worked at Mercer Private Markets and BlackRock Real Assets, covering Co-investments and Primaries. Previously, he worked for MetLife Investments, the investment arm of MetLife, as an Investment Projections Analyst and completed a graduate training program at the Central Bank of Spain.
Jose Carlos started his career at Santander Private Banking and UBS Wealth Management, dealing with Fund Managers and HNWI. He moved to London to work as an Investment Analyst for mutual funds at Allfunds Bank, serving institutional clients and family offices.
He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and the European Financial Advisors (EFA) designations. Jose Carlos is invited as speaker by business schools in London and the CFA UK Society.
He was awarded the European Union Scholarship ‘Erasmus’ to complete its BA with honors in Business Studies.