Editor of the Financial Analysts Journal and chair of Ennis Knupp & Associates, Richard Ennis, believes contemporary asset allocation schemes are becoming unwieldy for many decision makers because of the proliferation and splintering of investment categories, and advocates an approach that relies more on empirical evidence than on assumptions or intuition.
The State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio has warned of a “material” increase in US recession risk compared to last year as the fund braces for a wider, “negatively skewed” distribution of outcomes in the next 12 months. It came as the mature plan, which is 81 per cent funded, is tilting to fixed income and new asset classes like liquid alternatives over equities.
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.
Fonds de reserve pour les retraites (FRR), France’s €21 billion ($24 billion) pension reserve fund, has increased its weighting to equity in line with a new strategic asset allocation to reflect the investor's longer return horizon. It is also eyeing more unlisted assets including private equity, private debt and infrastructure.
Jagdeep Singh Bachher, the CIO who oversees the University of California's $198 billion in pension and endowment assets, says that he wants to keep investment simple as the fund removed its hedge fund allocation completely, conceding "it’s not one of the things we are good at doing".
Investors are grappling with a multi-regime change that is manifesting in trade and geopolitical upheaval and a rise in real interest rates. But at a recent meeting, the CalPERS board heard that US equities remain top performers and the dollar, though weaker, is still historically strong and wil remain so.
A quest for manager and fund strategy diversification has led the world's largest pension fund, Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund, to reach a decade-high allocation to active global stocks. Its active equity portfolio now consists of 103 funds, increasing fivefold compared to 2020 when it only invested in 20.
Canada's University Pension Plan is eyeing new risks and opportunities triggered by policies from the Trump administration, like additional taxes for US investments and a surge of public spending on defence and infrastructure in Germany. It is also fine-tuning its roster of active managers.
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