In the latest chapter regarding the role of third-party placement agents, the California Senate has passed a bill supported by the state’s largest pension fund, CalPERS, aimed at increasing transparency
around the fees paid to these agents doing business with public pension plans.
The scientific side of the active/passive debate
The recent decision by Norway’s SWF and some large US pension funds to explore their active management allocations, reported last week by conexust1f.flywheelstaging.com, reflects the re-ignition of the age-old active versus passive debate. But according to the scientifically-based INTECH, if maths prevails, it is an argument that is dead in the water. Amanda White spoke to president of the international division, David Schofield.
Why credit matters
The structural changes in the fixed income market mean corporate credit may be the single most important factor in generating risk-adjusted performance in fixed income, according to Janus.
Warren Buffet shapes AP4’s “contrarian” investment approach
Sweden’s SEK175.7 billion ($24.9 billion) AP4 is planning to introduce active management to its global equities portfolio and is investing in people with the hope of driving better investment performance. Kristen Paech talks to chief executive, Mats Andersson, about the merits of being contrarian and why AP4 is standing by active management despite historical poor performance.
CPPIB consortium purchases Skype majority
The C$116 billion ($105 billion) Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board is part of an investor group led by private equity technology-specialist, Silver Lake, that has purchased a majority-stake in Skype Technologies from eBay, and “plans to build the company into a core internet franchise at huge scale”Â.
UK’s Lothian Pension Fund boosts alternatives
The £2.3 billion ($3.7 billion) Lothian Pension Fund, part of the Scottish Local Government Pension Scheme, has
overhauled its investment strategy, increasing its alternatives weighting to more than one third of the total fund, after poor performance in financial year 2008-09 wiped 17 per cent off the fund’s value.
