The “CalPERS effect” on targeted company share prices

CalPERS’ approach to improving portfolio returns by engaging management of poorly performing companies to rethink governance and strategy has had a substantial endorsement, with analysis by Wilshire Associates demonstrating that the fund has had a dramatic effect on the performance of the companies placed on its Focus List.

BT Pension Scheme digs deep to plug deficit

The £31.3 billion ($51 billion) BT Pension Scheme will make additional deficit contributions of $862 million per year over the next three years after suffering an $13.6 billion loss on its investments in 2008. Kristen Paech reports on the scheme’s performance in 2008 and its new strategic asset allocation, which includes a 20 per cent

SWFs eye offshore deals after quiet Q1

Hurt by mark-to-market losses and exercising caution in the face of an unforgiving investment environment, sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) made only 26 investments, worth $6.8 billion, in the first quarter of 2009 – their lowest deployment of capital since the fourth quarter of 2005.