Investment professionals from pension funds, endowments and family offices in the UK and Europe were brought together for an investment think-tank with leading academics from London Business School and Cambridge University to discuss the latest investment thinking and application to institutional investors’ portfolios.
The academics presented to the investors who then discussed the outtakes and the implications of the lectures with their peers via roundtable discussion.
The highly interactive format, expertly facilitated by Conexus Financial and conexust1f.flywheelstaging.com with sponsorship support from Winton, allowed for the fusion of academic thinking and investment best practice, giving investors an edge in their decision making.
The presentations were:
• Investing in financial assets for the long term, presented by Elroy Dimson
• Hedge fund factors and extracting absolute returns, presented by Narayan Naik
• Incorporating lessons of financial history into investment practice, presented by David Chambers
Asset Classes
London investment think-tank
Equities
Future Fund flags expansion of active equity program
Emerging markets, Europe and Japan are all in focus for Australia’s sovereign wealth fund as it looks to ramp up active equities and diversify its exposures, as the fund grows wary of US markets amidst heightened political uncertainty.
Lachlan MaddockSeptember 11, 2025
Infrastructure
APG’s infra ramp-up: APAC markets in focus
APG Asset Management, Europe’s largest pension investor, is set to double its global infrastructure allocation in the next five years and is stepping up its push into infrastructure assets in the Asia Pacific with a focus on Australia, India and Southeast Asia and opportunistic investments in Japan and Korea.
Darcy SongAugust 18, 2025
Private Credit
Mid-market, asset-backed private credit shines for growing Asian allocators
Asia's growing investors, including university endowments and family offices, are hunting for returns in lower-middle market and asset-backed private credit. In an interview with Top1000funds.com, head of Asian clients at the $92 billion OCIO Cambridge Associates, Prabhat Ojha, talks manager selection and Asian allocators' rising appetite for alternatives.
Darcy SongAugust 11, 2025
Investor Profile
AP4: Why a dynamic, shorter term allocation is paying off
Volatile markets have provided a rich hunting ground and opportunistic best ideas have come thick and fast for AP4’s new five-pronged global allocation made up of systematic equity, currency and rates, asset allocation, hedge funds/external mandates and analysis. Magdalena Högberg explains the risks and opportunities of the best ideas allocation.
Sarah RundellAugust 5, 2025
Equities
New study flags risk in Dutch pensions’ concentrated stock strategy
Under strict ESG guidelines and pressure to closely engage with their investee companies, Dutch pension funds have developed an affinity for concentrated equity allocations with some owning as few as 65 stocks in their entire portfolio. But the Erasmus University flagged the diversification risk and higher volatility the strategy introduces.
Darcy SongJuly 31, 2025
News
GIC ups US equities allocation despite valuation worries
Singapore's GIC boosted its US equities allocation in the year to March 2025 despite the expectation that high valuations could "provide a challenging backdrop for forward returns”, according to the fund's latest annual report released on Friday.
Darcy SongJuly 25, 2025
Private Equity
TRS eyes threat of retail investors in private markets
The growing amount of capital from retail investors flowing into private equity and real estate has consequences for institutional investors. The private markets team at the Teacher Retirement System of Texas pondered the risks in a recent investment committee meeting.
Sarah RundellJuly 24, 2025