France’s Union Mutualiste Retraite is planning slight increases to its allocation to cash, private equity, private debt and infrastructure, in the face of high valuations and the late cycle. The fund has already added to its direct real-estate investments this year and is bracing for incoming regulations.
Fee compression is here to stay. Only the few active managers that have met their benchmarks over the past few years have been immune. But make no mistake, asset owners will be reviewing all strategies for their value and fee models will continue to evolve.
A coalition of 13 institutional investors, led by the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, has crafted principles for engaging with entities that manufacture, sell or regulate guns in a way that fosters a responsible civilian gun industry and reduces risk. The guidelines are intentionally flexible so each organisation can apply them in accordance with its own models for engagement.
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System decides to stick with a traditional approach to direct investment within its private equity portfolio, planning to use a model that features ‘captive’ general partners that will operate independently but with a clear mandate from the fund for long-term value and benefit to society.
In the near future, age demographics may very well reach a critical tipping point as dwindling numbers of Millennials and other younger generations become inadequate to support the large cohort of retiring Baby Boomers – and economic growth won’t fix the problem, a UK pension expert has said.
Since splitting from its former inhouse manager, Hermes, the £50 billion British Telecom Pension Scheme has set about redefining itself. With a self-reliance borne of technology, the fund has brought portfolios and functions inhouse and started a bigger push into mature infrastructure.
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