Roughly $315 billion of capital will be chasing investments globally during the following year. During 2009 a total of $157 billion in capital was invested. The majority of money will be invested in Europe, with 50% of investors targeting that part of the world; 27% of the money is likely to be funneled into Asia-Pacific.

"Regional investment patterns are expected to continue in line with 2009 trends, with 23% of capital targeting investment in the Americas," Jason Spicer, head of research in the US. "While nearly 50% of capital has been raised in the Americas, only 23% of global capital is targeting the region, with investors more willing to invest in Europe and Asia Pacific."

Investors will be mostly third party managed funds--about 60%--while 28% will be institutions. Almond believes the remainder of the capital will be provided by sovereign wealth funds, such as German open-ended funds, publicly listed companies and private/high net worth investors. These investors are looking toward multi-sector opportunities.

"Globally, most investors are adopting multi-sector and/or multi-country strategies as part of sector and geographic diversification strategies, and reflecting the opportunistic nature of most fund mandates," Almond says. "Eighty-one percent of capital is being directed towards multi-, rather than single-sector investments, and 70% of total capital is targeting two or more countries."

Investors interested in one country plan to focus their attention on major liquid markets in the United Kingdom and US; these will include 16% of the total capital invested in 2010.