PRI in Person '19
Asset owners demand more ESG from GPs
ESG is a core expectation of LPs in assessing private equity managers, and some asset owners including AP2 are willing to forego opportunities if a manager is not transparent on ESG, a panel at PRI in Person discussed.
Sarah RundellSeptember 11, 2019
Private Equity
Future Fund searches for VC managers
Australia’s sovereign wealth fund is looking to partner with top managers to find value in the rapidly-changing venture capital market but warned that the intense competition for assets makes closing deals difficult.
IFSWF Conference
SWFs act LT, and collaborate, to thrive
SWFs are long-term investors and will weather whatever storm is coming, says Majed Al Romaithi, chair of IFSWF and executive director of the strategy and planning department at ADIA, who also encouraged investors to consider risk in a more “sophisticated” way.
PRI in Person '19
Slavery victims look to financial world
Speaking at the PRI in Person in Paris in a panel to highlight the role of finance in addressing social issues, Ghanaian James Kofi Annan, sold into slavery at the age of six, told his story.
PRI in Person '19
PKA pioneers SDGs in emerging markets
Denmark's PKA pension fund is leading the way in investing in emerging markets in line with the SDGs. It targets 10 per cent of its $40 billion in alternative ESG investments and an increasing portion of that is invested in emerging markets via allocations to green bonds, infrastructure, microfinance, water sanitation and a specific SDG fund.
PRI in Person '19
Climate needs response at SAA level
Investors should use the strategic asset allocation process to adjust their portfolios to plug the SDGs and climate finance gap, according to an expert panel at PRI in Person.
Sarah RundellSeptember 13, 2019
PRI in Person '19
Policy response inevitable, says PRI
PRI has developed an Inevitable Policy Response (IPR) that lays out a realistic forecast of how governments will respond with policy to try and navigate climate risk by 2025.
Sarah RundellSeptember 12, 2019
PRI in Person '19
Shell and shareholders chart evolution
At PRI in Person Sylvia van Waveren, director, active ownership at Robeco, and Adam Mathews, director of ethics and engagement at The Church of England’s Pensions Board sat down with Ben van Beurden, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell to chart their journey of dialogue and evolution that resulted in the oil giant setting carbon emissions targets linked to executive pay.
Sarah RundellSeptember 12, 2019
Investor Profile
AP1’s young, quant team making change
Dmytro Sheludchenko, part of the internal quant team at AP1, underscores how leading pension funds are building internal young teams to embrace technology, look beyond short-term implementation to focus on long-term value, and draw expertise from the vast amounts of data in today’s new investment landscape.
Sarah RundellAugust 29, 2019
Sustainability
Responsible FI promotes good markets
Responsible investment has assumed an increasingly central role in fixed income portfolios and in the experience of Jørgen Krog Sæbø CIO, fixed income, and Lars Tronsgaard deputy managing director at Folketrygdfondet, which manages the Government Pension Fund Norway, one part of Norway’s Government Pension Fund, adopting a responsible investment focus builds more integrated understanding and deeper insight into companies.
Jørgen Krog Sæbø and Lars TronsgaardSeptember 6, 2019
Sustainability
Shareholders need to step up: Bischoff
Shareholders, including institutional investors, were at the core of the move to an obsession with short term returns by corporates, and are key to its reversal, according to Sir Winfried Bischoff chair of the UK regulator, the Financial Reporting Council.
Amanda WhiteSeptember 4, 2019
Sustainability
Hong Kong’s corporate governance waning
Why the Asian Corporate Governance Association wants more ESG from HKex.
Bilal KhanAugust 30, 2019
Sustainability
Plastic pollution: A call to arms
Plastic production is projected to triple by 2050, yet only 14 per cent of plastic packaging is now collected for recycling. Consumers are beginning to reject the use of single use plastic and if this continues the financial impacts could be significant. So what is the role of asset owners in bringing this to light?
Conrad MacKerronAugust 16, 2019
Asset Classes
UTC and AEW build recipe for RE success
Industrial group UTC and global real estate manager AEW have structured a joint-venture investing in value-add real estate. In a relationship forged on trust and friendship, the allocation has grown to become the corporate pension fund’s best performing asset class.
Sarah RundellAugust 15, 2019
Asset Classes
Is PE a superior form of ownership?
Almost exactly 30 years ago, a famous article by Michael Jensen in the Harvard Business Review predicted that private equity would “eclipse” the public corporation because it was a superior form of corporate ownership. Academics at Oxford's Said Business School examine whether this prediction has played out.
Peter Morris and Ludovic PhalippouAugust 13, 2019
Asset Classes
Are US co. profit margins sustainable?
US companies have some defensible profitability advantages but elevated margin levels may be poised for a reversal of fortune. The tide appears to be turning on some of the secular trends that have supported high US profit margins.
Celia DallasAugust 7, 2019
Asset Classes
QSuper: standing out from the crowd
QSuper CIO, Brad Holzberger, has long stood out from his peers by loading up on long-term government bonds and even the recent sudden collapse of yields, as investors started pricing in slower growth, hasn’t deterred him from sticking with this asset class. The retiring CIO of one of Australia's largest funds about expectations.
Elizabeth FryAugust 1, 2019
FIS Cambridge '19
What can the past teach us?
Institutional investors' investment strategy should be serving the China middle class and the dislocation from within Asia, according to Stephen Kotkin,Professor of History and International Affairs at Princeton University speaking at the Fiduciary Investors Symposium at Cambridge University. He explored what the geopolitical conflicts of the past can teach us about the future. He looked at some of the key points in history, how China, the European Union and the US have survived, and what it means for the future.
Amanda WhiteMay 17, 2019
FIS Stanford
FIS Stanford Photo Gallery
View photos from the 2018 Fiduciary Investors Symposium, held at Stanford University, United States.
Dorian SimesAugust 29, 2019
FIS Stanford
FIS Stanford Photo Gallery
View photos from the 2018 Fiduciary Investors Symposium, held at Stanford University, United States.
Amanda WhiteOctober 22, 2018
FIS Stanford
Rise of the unicorns: venture capital
The increase in privately held start-ups has piqued interest in venture-capital markets. The opportunities are there but investors must realise that technological innovation has changed the game.
Sarah RundellOctober 18, 2018
FIS Stanford
China’s enticing, challenging market
Inefficient markets and an explosion of technological innovation fuelled by Millennial consumers make China a tantalising prospect but accessing strong returns there isn’t as simple as it looks.
Sarah RundellOctober 12, 2018
Asset Allocation
Hiding behind diversification
Modern portfolio theory has created the impression that diversification is always a good thing, but asset owners could benefit from a more sceptical attitude. This article suggests over-diversification favours managers at the expense of returns to investors.
Phil EdwardsSeptember 6, 2019
Asset Allocation
The impact of technology on investments
Harshal Chaudhari recently sidestepped from his role as company-wide CIO at IBM, looking after $150 billion in pension assets, to a new role as the tech giant’s chief analytics officer. He spoke to Top1000Funds about the strategy he ran at the pension fund, his wider thoughts on the global economy and the impact of technology on the investment world.
Sarah RundellAugust 6, 2019
Asset Allocation
ADIA boosts internal active fixed income
The $700 billion Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, ADIA, is boosting its internal fixed income capabilities and scaling up capacity to run active strategies in-house as it simplifies the portfolio to become more fleet-of-foot.
Sarah RundellJuly 29, 2019
Asset Allocation
Finding risk: First State Super
A decade of ultra-low rates and mediocre growth does not mean that every year will yield low returns for investors, according to Damian Graham, the CIO of First State Super one of Australia's largest institutional investors. He talks about how to get enough risk in the portfolio.
Elizabeth FryJuly 25, 2019
Strategy
Risk aversion matters: life-cycle design
A key issue in life-cycle fund design is setting the right ‘glide path’ for switching from growth to defensive assets over time. As it turns out, risk aversion is far more important than pension fund balance. New research raises a note of caution over offering a single, one-size-fits-all life-cycle fund.
Geoff WarrenJuly 30, 2019
Strategy
Tough times greet new CalPERS CIO
Ben Meng isn’t easing into his role. The new CIO of CalPERS faces three new board members, a stressed private equity program and executive turnover, all under the pressure of a 70 per cent funded status and a maturing membership at the $340 billion fund.
Sarah RundellFebruary 26, 2019
Strategy
Value lies where precious data is stored
Organisations across the globe are collecting data, analysing and re-analysing it more and more every day. As this trend continues, data infrastructure – tangible or intangible – becomes increasingly attractive. Canada’s OPTrust cites this reality as the rationale behind the EdgeCore partnership. It thinks data is its own asset class.
James DavisFebruary 25, 2019
Strategy
Asset owners’ climate-change advice
A new guide, Climate Change for Asset Owners, provides case studies and other practical advice for how to get investor organisations focused on climate change, how to craft a related investment strategy and how to implement it. The publication includes content from 10 asset owners.
Amanda WhiteFebruary 6, 2019
