This session explored how the private credit market has evolved, what it’s role in broad fixed income portfolios will be in the future and what return premium investors should expect as they move further out the risk spectrum.

Speaker

Prior to joining SVP, Ranji Nagaswami was most recently chief executive and board director at Hirtle Callaghan & Co., a $20 billion+ outsourced chief investment officer platform serving endowments, foundations and ultra-high net worth families. She has held various leadership roles throughout her career, including as chief investment advisor to Mayor Bloomberg and the City of New York and at AllianceBernstein where she rose over 10 years to serve as chief investment officer of the multi-asset and retail investment businesses. She started her career at UBS, where she became a co-head of the US fixed income division.

Nagaswami has served as trustee and member of several boards and investment committees, including the Yale University investment committee, UAW VEBA investment advisory council, and the Curtis Institute investment committee. She is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and also the founder and lead moderator of the Aspen Finance Leaders Fellowship program, designed to create a global network of enlightened leaders that use finance to advance society.

She graduated from Mumbai University with a Bachelors of Commerce, received her MBA from Yale University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Moderator

White is responsible for the content across all Conexus Financial’s institutional media and events. She is responsible for directing the bi-annual Fiduciary Investors Symposium which challenges global investors on investment best practice and aims to place the responsibilities of investors in wider societal, and political contexts, as well as promote the long-term stability of markets and sustainable retirement incomes. She is the editor of www.top1000funds.com, the online news and analysis site for the world’s largest institutional investors. White has been an investment journalist for more than 20 years and has edited industry journals including Investment & Technology, Investor Weekly and MasterFunds Quarterly. She was previously editorial director of InvestorInfo and has worked as a freelance journalist for the Australian Financial Review, CFO, Asset and Asia Asset Management. She has a Bachelor of Economics from Sydney University and a Master of Arts in Journalism from the University of Technology, Sydney. She was previously a columnist for the Canadian publication, Corporate Knights, which is distributed by the Globe and Mail and The Washington Post. White is currently a fellow in the Finance Leaders Fellowship at the Aspen Institute. The two-year program consists of 22 fellows and seeks to develop the next generation of responsible, community-spirited leaders in the global finance industry.

Poll results

To follow

In the next 12 months are you going to allocate/add to

This session examined what the world will look with an energy system dominated by wind and solar and specifically examine the implications on energy system pricing, access and risks for consumers and investors. 

Speaker

Alex joined Octopus in 2015 as the co-head of Octopus Renewables to help develop the energy strategy, originate and structure investments in new areas and to widen investor relationships. Brierley manages Octopus Renewable’s private institutional funds which serve a number of large pension and insurance company investors.

Prior to joining Octopus, he was director in the energy and environmental infrastructure team at EY LLP where he provided a wide range of corporate and project finance services to leading players in the renewable energy industry. Brierley is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, qualifying in 2003.

Richard Howard is Aurora’s research director and is responsible for managing and developing Aurora’s suite of market intelligence services across European power markets, renewables, flexible and distributed energy, and global commodities.

Before joining Aurora he was a director and head of energy and environment at policy exchange, where he authored a number of influential reports on energy and environmental policy and regulation. Prior to that he was the chief economist at The Crown Estate.

Richard has a first class Degree in Economics and an MSc in Environmental Policy.

Investor Response

Michael Cappucci is the senior vice president for compliance and sustainable investing of Harvard Management Company (HMC). He joined HMC in 2012.
Michael helps to manage HMC’s sustainable investment program, where he focuses on integrating ESG factors in HMC’s private fund investments. He is also part of the compliance group that supports HMC’s investment activities. In this capacity, he has extensive expertise in the structuring and implementation of various investment strategies, including private fund investments, separately managed accounts, complex derivatives, and listed equity.
He has written on the topics of sustainable investing, regulatory reform, and teamwork, and his article on ESG integration has been featured in the Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Responsible Investor, and the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance. He is a member of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment Hedge Fund Advisory Committee and Private Equity Advisory Committee.
Prior to joining HMC, Michael served in the Fidelity Investments legal department, and as an associate in the private funds group at Ropes & Gray LLP. Michael holds a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and a B.A. in philosophy from Tufts University.

Before joining Aurora he was a director and head of energy and environment at policy exchange, where he authored a number of influential reports on energy and environmental policy and regulation. Prior to that he was the chief economist at The Crown Estate.

Richard has a first class Degree in Economics and an MSc in Environmental Policy.

Moderator

Tate has been an investment industry media publisher and conference producer since 1996. In his media career, Tate has launched and overseen dozens of print and electronic publications. He is the chief executive and major shareholder of Conexus Financial, which was established in 2005, and is headquartered in Sydney, Australia.

The company hosts more than 20 conferences and events globally each year and publishes three digital publications, including the global website and strategy newsletter for global institutional investors Top1000Funds.com, Professional Planner for financial planners, accountants and private bankers in Australia and Investment Magazine for Australian superfunds and institutional investors. One of the company’s signature events is the bi-annual Fiduciary Investors Symposium attended by global asset owners and hosted in the Americas and Europe.

Conexus Financial’s events aim to place the responsibilities of investors in wider societal and political contexts, as well as promote the long-term stability of markets and sustainable retirement incomes.

Tate served for seven years on the board of Australia’s most high profile homeless charity, The Wayside Chapel; and he has underwritten the welfare of 60,000 people in 28 villages throughout Uganda via The Hunger Project. In 2021 was appointed as a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia (General Division) for significant service to the community through charitable initiatives.

The next phase for private credit markets

The resilience and adaptability of the asset class during the ongoing pandemic has helped to cement private credit’s permanence in the minds of strategic asset allocators. In this paper, M&G Investments reflects on the changed, and changing, landscape for private credit investing, and offer a perspective on the multi-faceted role private credit could have in helping to finance the post-pandemic recovery, and support many of the changes the world needs over the longer term. The paper also focuses on some of the key themes influencing private credit today and discusses what the coming five to ten-years could have in store for the growth and development of the diverse and dynamic private credit markets and what this could mean for investors.

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For Investment Professionals only. Not for onward distribution. No other persons should rely on any information contained within. This guide reflects M&G’s present opinions reflecting current market conditions. They are subject to change without notice and involve a number of assumptions which may not prove valid. The distribution of this guide does not constitute an offer of, or solicitation for, a purchase or sale of any investment product or class of investment products, or to provide discretionary investment management services. These materials are not, and under no circumstances are to be construed as, an advertisement or a public offering of any securities or a solicitation of any offer to buy securities. It has been written for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered as investment advice, a forecast or guarantee of future results, or as a recommendation of any security, strategy or investment product. 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Fiona Reynolds, chief executive of the PRI, provided an update investors on the COP26 meetings including the key considerations of “finance day”.

Speaker

Fiona Reynolds is the CEO of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and has responsibility for its global operations. The PRI is a U.N. supported organisation, with more than 2,000 signatories who collectively represent over US $80 trillion in Assets Under Management. The PRI is the major global organisation for responsible investment practices and leadership and the integration of environmental, social and governance issues across the investment chain. The PRI’s mission is to create a sustainable global financial system and the organisation aims to bring responsible investors together to work towards creating sustainable financial markets that contribute to a more prosperous world for all. Appointed in 2013, Fiona has 25 years’ experience in the financial services and pension sector, Fiona joined the PRI from Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST), where she spent 7 years as the CEO, working within the Australian superannuation sector and played an active role in advocating pension fund policy and participated in a number of government committees and working groups on superannuation and retirement incomes policy. Fiona also serves on the Board of the U.N. Global Compact, she is the Chair of the Financial Services Commission into Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking (The Liechtenstein initiative), which has been developed by the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research (UNU-CPR) and supported by the Government of Liechtenstein and. Fiona is also a member of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), the Global Advisory Council on Stranded Assets at Oxford University, the UN Business for Peace Steering Committee, the Global Steering Committee for the investor agenda on climate action and the Steering Committee for Climate Action 100+ which is the largest ever investor engagement with listed companies. Fiona has been a member of the UK Government Green Finance Taskforce. In 2018 Fiona was named by Barron’s magazine of one of the 20 most influential people in sustainability globally and by the Australian Financial Review of one of Australia’s one hundred women of influence for her work in responsible investment globally. Fiona has formerly been a pension fund director/trustee of AUSfund and been on the boards of Industry Funds Credit Control, Australia for UNHCR, the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors and the National Women in Super Network. In September 2012, she was named by the Australian Financial Review as one of Australia’s top 100 women of influence for her work in public policy.

Moderator

Tate has been an investment industry media publisher and conference producer since 1996. In his media career, Tate has launched and overseen dozens of print and electronic publications. He is the chief executive and major shareholder of Conexus Financial, which was established in 2005, and is headquartered in Sydney, Australia.

The company hosts more than 20 conferences and events globally each year and publishes three digital publications, including the global website and strategy newsletter for global institutional investors Top1000Funds.com, Professional Planner for financial planners, accountants and private bankers in Australia and Investment Magazine for Australian superfunds and institutional investors. One of the company’s signature events is the bi-annual Fiduciary Investors Symposium attended by global asset owners and hosted in the Americas and Europe.

Conexus Financial’s events aim to place the responsibilities of investors in wider societal and political contexts, as well as promote the long-term stability of markets and sustainable retirement incomes.

Tate served for seven years on the board of Australia’s most high profile homeless charity, The Wayside Chapel; and he has underwritten the welfare of 60,000 people in 28 villages throughout Uganda via The Hunger Project. In 2021 was appointed as a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia (General Division) for significant service to the community through charitable initiatives.

Anne Simpson, managing investment director, board governance and sustainability tells Amanda White why transparency is so important at CalPERS and what the fund is doing to improve it.

“Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander,” says Anne Simpson CalPERS’s managing investment director, board governance and sustainability.

She’s talking about how the fund needs to hold its own team, and its processes, to account in the same way it does the companies it invests in, specifically when it comes to corporate governance and the role of transparency.

“The whole issue of transparency is relevant to accountability which is important to performance,” she told Top1000funds.com in an interview. “That is our intuition, we see the evidence of that in corporate governance, so the question is how does that play out for investment governance.”

As the largest pension fund in the United States, CalPERS was one of the five funds reviewed for the Global Pension Transparency Benchmark, a collaboration between Top1000funds.com and CEM Benchmarking. The GPTB looked at the transparency of disclosure across four key areas that were determined as driving value: cost, governance, performance and sustainability. The launch of the benchmark, in February 2021, has prompted a number of funds to look more closely at their peer group and what innovation is needed to be a leader in transparency.

“The benchmarking project is important as it acknowledges that governance matters whenever there is an exercise of power. We take it as a fundamental purpose of a pension fund to look after other people’s money. The governance questions look at our own transparency and accountability and ensures performance is as good as it can be,” she says.
Simpson says as fiduciaries it is important for pension funds to understand leading practice and improve, and that the benchmarking process was valuable in gauging best practice relative to peers.

“What came out of benchmarking was incredibly valuable, one of the things we learned was just because the information has been presented to the board doesn’t mean it is in a practical published form that can be absorbed by other stakeholders.”

As a public fund CalPERS has a huge deal of transparency and publishes “99% of everything going on” including via a Youtube channel. There are some exclusions around market issues, confidentiality around any litigation and personnel matters.

“We are a full force on transparency, we are eating our own cooking, walking the talk,” Simpson says. “We had assumed the information in the public domain, like board papers, would be accessible. But the GPTB looked at published documents because that is where people find information. We are taking that back and saying we have all this information you can retrieve it but it’s not in a published form. We are being fully transparent but another step for us to take is for it to be accessible. Taking this assessment very seriously, we can change things and find the feedback helpful.”

While the process has been important and change is afoot, the fund is also cognisant that any new reporting frameworks are resource intensive. For example in sustainability alone it already does a TCFD report, a GRI report and the PRI report. It also signed up on a voluntary basis to the Council for Inclusive Capital which is a set of reporting principles for the entire enterprise, such as an internal childcare centre, not just what is in the portfolio.

It also has legislated reporting criteria such as those around Northern Ireland and emerging managers.

“A new framework is not trivial for us but this transrparency benchmark process made us more sensitive to the fact that we disclosed some things but is that being transparent, is it easy to find the information?”

“I dream of a common language, a reporting format for investors that is searchable and people can retrieve standardised metrics. But we are a long way from that,” she says.

 

Investors are constantly looking at what the next drivers of growth will be, where they will be located, and who will benefit from them. Technology is enabling growth across the world, but what differentiates the hundreds of companies headed for mediocrity or failure from the few that will excel? And how much more room is there to grow?

Speaker

Mark B. Baribeau, CFA, is a managing director, the head of global equity, and a global equity portfolio manager. He joined Jennison Associates in April 2011. He was previously with Loomis, Sayles & Company for more than 21 years, where he was lead portfolio manager for the global equity opportunities strategy, beginning in 2004. In addition, he managed large cap growth portfolios from 1992 to 2010, serving as lead manager from 1999 to 2010. Prior to his tenure at Loomis, Sayles & Company, Baribeau was an economist at John Hancock Financial Services. He received a BA in economics from the University of Vermont and an MA from the University of Maryland. He has a CFA designation and is a member of the Boston Security Analysts Society and the National Association of Business Economists.

Moderator

White is responsible for the content across all Conexus Financial’s institutional media and events. She is responsible for directing the bi-annual Fiduciary Investors Symposium which challenges global investors on investment best practice and aims to place the responsibilities of investors in wider societal, and political contexts, as well as promote the long-term stability of markets and sustainable retirement incomes. She is the editor of www.top1000funds.com, the online news and analysis site for the world’s largest institutional investors. White has been an investment journalist for more than 20 years and has edited industry journals including Investment & Technology, Investor Weekly and MasterFunds Quarterly. She was previously editorial director of InvestorInfo and has worked as a freelance journalist for the Australian Financial Review, CFO, Asset and Asia Asset Management. She has a Bachelor of Economics from Sydney University and a Master of Arts in Journalism from the University of Technology, Sydney. She was previously a columnist for the Canadian publication, Corporate Knights, which is distributed by the Globe and Mail and The Washington Post. White is currently a fellow in the Finance Leaders Fellowship at the Aspen Institute. The two-year program consists of 22 fellows and seeks to develop the next generation of responsible, community-spirited leaders in the global finance industry.

Poll results

To follow

Which secular theme do you think is most compelling?