Relief for Californian state fund investment chiefs, their bosses and their members – with CalSTRS and CalPERS both returning 20+ per cent for the financial year – has been usurped by a reminder to politicians that the funds cannot invest their way to good health and a responsible funding strategy is required.
Whether it involves skill, good judgment or just plain luck, choosing the right manager is never an exact science but recently published research reveals institutional investors can make better decisions by avoiding conventional wisdom around past performance. (more…)
Bond indices’ risk exposures are very unstable measures over time, and further this instability is accentuated in the indices with the smallest number of bonds, according to research by EDHEC-Risk Institute which examines two sets of four corporate investment-grade bond indices in the US and Europe. It concludes that the more investable the index is meant to be, the less reliable it is.
The Chicago Policemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund is nearly 125 years old, but with a funding level of merely 35 per cent, it is perilously dehydrated. Chief investment officer Sam Kunz discusses his investment plan for the fund’s survival. (more…)
There is nothing like a bit of red-hot competition to get the blood pumping – 37 Principle for Responsible Investment (PRI) signatories are running for only six positions on the newly-structured PRI Advisory Council. Let’s hope this has the effect of actually transforming institutional investment portfolios, not just getting these responsible types a little spirited. (more…)
Domestic emerging managers are the latest focus in the private equity portfolio of the $239 billion CalPERS, with the fund searching for a new investment vehicle, most likely a customised fund-of-funds, to invest in partnerships that may be under-capitalised. (more…)