(Bloomberg) -- Nearly two thirds of respondents in a survey by Ninepoint Partners LP plan to increase investments in private credit over the coming year. 

The alternative investment firm, which has about C$8 billion ($5.9 billion) under management, said 63% of respondents expect to put more money into private credit. Ninepoint polled over 100 financial advisers, institutional investors and other executives who attended an investment event in Toronto last week. 

Exposure to private credit assets in Canada remains low, with 83% of advisers saying that fewer than 10% of their clients have allocated a portion of their portfolio to the asset class, according to the survey.

Private credit has grown quickly, hitting $1.5 trillion of assets under management globally at the end of 2022, up from about $500 billion in 2015, according to Preqin, a research firm. Preqin expects the market to grow to $2.3 trillion by 2027.

“Canada is significantly behind other developed countries when it comes to retail investors allocating to alternative investment strategies, including private credit,” John Wilson, Ninepoint’s co-chief executive officer and managing director, said in a statement. 

Roughly a third of advisers described the market sentiment toward private credit in Canada as very or somewhat positive, while 45% named diversification as the biggest advantage of private credit investments. Advisers said they would most likely increase allocations to infrastructure, private credit and real estate should inflation remain sticky.

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