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Methodology

In the first and second quarter of 2014, Greenwich Associates interviewed over 100 fund executives from 28 corporate DB plans, 33 public DB plans, 15 endowments/foundations, and 16 defined contribution plans, in addition to 18 investment consultants.

The goal of this research was to develop a systematic understanding of how real assets are perceived and used by institutional investors.The funds participating in the research are significant investors in real assets in terms of total dollar amount invested. To reflect the typical real-asset investor base, Greenwich Associates targeted some of the largest U.S. institutional investors and investment consultants.