PKA, one of Denmark’s largest pension service providers, is exploring whether to increase its risk budget by 10 per cent to boost returns. Michael Flycht, deputy director of equities and liquid alternatives at PKA, outlines why the fund is achieving this objective via leverage rather than direct exposures, and where it's allocating towards in hedge funds and infrastructure.
Michael Brakebill had never visited Nashville, Tennessee before he interviewed for the role of chief investment officer at the $36.6-billion Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System (TCRS) back in 2008. Landing the job at the defined benefit scheme for Tennessee’s public sector workers, he left his position as head of domestic equity at Texas’ Teachers Retirement System
The herd mentality of investors has been agonised over for as long as markets have been around. The dilemma is often raised of whether to participate in or shun market trends, but the DKK150-billion ($27-billion) Sampension has succeeded recently with a selective approach. It has fully embraced the institutional diversification movement by building a significant
The National Employment Savings Trust, NEST, the UK government-backed pension scheme set up a year ago with the introduction of auto-enrolment, developed a new allocation to real estate this summer. Now it is planning to add infrastructure to its illiquid allocations in a move reflective of a change of thinking to embrace more risk. NEST’s
The SEK150-billion ($22-billion) AP7 fund supplies the cream on the top of the Swedish public pension system. It essentially delivers premium pensions (in addition to the much larger pay-as-you go component) with a generous dose of equities. It has been able to further sweeten its offering by leveraging the main chunk of its portfolio. AP7
“We are slightly unusual,” admits David Adkins, chief investment officer of The Pensions Trust (TPT), the £5.5-billion ($8.7-billion) pension fund founded after the end of World War II to provide retirement benefits for social workers. Talking from the trust’s Moorgate headquarters in London, Adkins explains how its umbrella structure has grown to provide pensions for
Sunil Krishnan, head of market strategy at $62-billion British Telecom Pension Scheme Management Limited (BTPS), the United Kingdom’s largest pension fund for employees of global telecoms operator BT Group, has sage advice for investors contemplating their exposure to emerging markets. Examining the pros and cons of the asset class, Krishnan counsels caution. Speaking at a
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