When a consortium of investors, which included the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, bought a majority stake in Skype from eBay in September 2009, it was valued at $2.75 billion. This week Microsoft agreed to buy Skype for $8.7 billion in cash.
The portion of Ireland’s sovereign wealth fund where investments can be made at the direction of the Minister for Finance, directed investments, is now considerably bigger than the fund’s discretionary portfolio, following a further €4.5 billion liquidation in April.
Scott Powers, president and chief executive of State Street Global Advisors, believes the financial crisis has created a unique opportunity for funds managers to provide more collaborative services, and relationships, to clients.
The Teachers Retirement System of Texas (TRS) has outlined a set of five investment performance measurement priorities, which include a new detailed quarterly report for the internally actively managed $19.9 billion global best-ideas flagship fund, and incorporating external managers’ signals into the investment process to enhance performance.
The extensive use of derivatives has been a big contributor to the C$35.7 billion ($37.4 billion) HOOPP reaching fully funded status. Jim Keohane, chief investment officer, explains how the fund manages its assets and liabilities through liability-hedging and return-seeking portfolios and the role derivatives play in dialling risk up, or down.
Can the seemingly insatiable appetite for anything Facebook guide the pension industry on how to create the same demand, and market, for climate change?
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