Germany’s €70 billion pension provider VBL is increasing its diversification, notably investing in overseas real estate outside Germany for the first time. It's also increasing its tilt to international equities over European stocks, enabled by an organisational and investment process overhaul.
Despite upturns in equity and bond prices sending 2012 returns into double digits at many large Danish funds, it appears that successfully implementing infrastructure initiatives remains the holy grail of Danish institutional investing. Instead of merely basking in 12.9-per-cent annual returns, Industriens Pension, for instance, used its 2012 results announcement to make a commitment to
Some pension funds have hit on a lucrative strategy to extract more value from their private equity portfolios. The £34-billion ($51.6-billion) Universities Superannuation Scheme, the United Kingdom’s second biggest pension fund for university and higher education staff, is expanding a private equity co-investment strategy begun in 2008. It’s a model whereby schemes portion some investment
Last May, when Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global bought 4 per cent of the Formula One motor racing group from private-equity firm CVC Capital Partners, its goal was clear. The sovereign wealth fund, which invests Norway’s oil revenues, wanted the inside track on Formula One’s IPO in Singapore, scheduled for June. Instead, the GPFG’s foray
Reaching-for-yield — the propensity to buy riskier assets in order to achieve higher yields — is believed to be an important factor contributing to the credit cycle. This Harvard Business School finance working paper analyses this phenomenon in the corporate bond market. The paper’s authors Bo Becker and Victoria Ivashina show evidence for reaching for
The new low-return, high-volatility environment requires broadly diversified portfolios, dynamic decision-making and rigorous due diligence, which is beyond the internal capacity of most small funds under $10 billion, warns Russell Investment’s global chief investment officer Peter Gunning. He says smaller funds must decide if it is cost effective and even possible to internally manage investment
The role of emerging markets debt is evolving from a return-enhancer to providing some buffer against volatile markets. Emerging markets debt has been one of the best performing asset classes in the last decade but experts say those spectacular returns may be a thing of the past. There are signs emerging markets debt is becoming
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