The financial crisis has put an end to the excessive use of leverage by real estate companies, and the prospect of distressed assets presents opportunities for pension funds. Kristen Paech discusses the outlook for the sector with Ritson Ferguson, CEO and chief investment officer of ING Clarion Real Estate Securities.
Fresh from a stint as head of asset management at China’s second largest insurance company, Ping An, the new chief investment
officer of the $A19 billion ($16 billion) UniSuper, John Pearce, has some definitive views on how to position the fund for the future, including bringing some equities management in-house, focusing on infrastructure in the developed world, and being more creative in setting its investment mandates.
The $109 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund will internally manage $200 million allocated to companies in the FTSE Environmental Technology 50 and the HSBC Global Climate Change Index under the fund’s green strategic investment program.
Norway’s NOK 2385 billion ($390 billion) sovereign wealth fund has overhauled its strategy for active ownership, adding water management as a new focus area, as the fund achieved its biggest ever single quarter return of 12.7 per cent.
Faced with falling valuations and few options for raising new capital, European private equity managers have targeted family companies undergoing generational change and corporate consolidations across the continent to secure new deals. But some managers are struggling to keep existing portfolios afloat, and have asked investors to ‘recycle’ commitments into old investments.
Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) may allocate substantially more to equities if they consider
correlations between natural resources and financial assets in portfolio optimisation, according to State Street’s Vision Report, which also suggests SWFs consider becoming more active share owners as a consequence of the financial crisis.