The $9.4 billion Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System (LACERS) has extended its request for a proposal for a general consultant to the end of January 2010, as it looks to consider for the first time using a pool of consultants to bid on special projects.
Pension funds globally should maintain the pressure on governments to deliver on their promised emission reduction targets, in the wake of a “disappointing” result in Copenhagen, according to the executive director of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change, Stephanie Pfeifer.
The trend towards the use of strategic partnerships by large US public pension funds is paying off, with the Teacher Retirement System of Texas claiming its program of a committed $4 billion produced returns of 7.3 per cent for the year to the end of September, well above expectation.
The giant Danish fund ATP has earmarked €1 billion to a climate change action fund, deliberately timing the launch of the commitment to coincide with the UN conference in its capital, Copenhagen. Amanda White spoke with chief investment officer of ATP, Bjarne Graven Larsen, about how the fund is using its sizeable capital to incite political action, and how it plans to allocates the funds alongside other investments.
The C$41 billion ($38 billion) Public Sector Pension Investment Board plans to bring more assets in house in a bid to lower costs, and will increase the number of direct investments to increase control, the chair Paul Cantor said at the annual public meeting.
CalPERS and CalSTRS have collaborated to build a network of more than 150 individuals from a diverse pool of sources to act as potential candidates for nomination to corporate boards, as CalPERS’ consultant advises it to synchronise proxy votes between internal and external portfolios.