Institutional investors including pension funds last year doubled the amount of new money they put into Towers Watson's smart beta strategy that uses alternative indices as their basis, the company reported.

The investments reached $11 billion over 180 portfolios compared to $5 billion in 2012, the company said. The total amount allocated at the end 2013 to the strategy was $32 billion in 500 portfolios.

Alternatives, which are gaining in popularity, are four times what they were five years ago, the company said. The most popular of such investments were real estate (more than $4 billion, with a quarter in smart beta), direct hedge funds (more than $2 billion, a third in smart beta) and infrastructure ($1.5 billion, a third in smart beta).

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