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NEST’s PE challenge to the industry
The UK defined contribution fund, NEST has added a number of new asset classes to its portfolio over the past year – including infrastructure with a focus on renewables – but the fund is still missing an allocation to private equity. CIO Mark Fawcett spoke to Amanda White about the fund’s challenge to the industry on private equity fees, its focus on climate-aware portfolios and innovative approaches to portfolio management.
Venture hangs on to long-term pole position
Venture capital has been through probably its worst decade ever as an institutional investor asset class, as private equity – as dominated by buyouts – recovered over the past few quarters from some of the ground lost during the global financial crisis.
GFC fallout hits funds as AP2 reports losses
Andra AP-fonden, Sweden’s Second Swedish National Pension Fund (AP2) has taken a big hit from the turmoil in global markets, its capital value falling by SEK55.1 billion ($US6.6 billion) in 2008.
Why your portfolio should be 50% emerging markets
Most fiduciary investors underweight emerging markets. This is because when they talk about an “investable” universe, they really mean whatever’s “easy to invest in”, argues Jerome Booth, head of research at Ashmore Investment Management. The recipient of China’s first post-Communist asset sale to a foreign investor, Booth recommends investors take the radical step of investing
Kotkin: China bears may have been right about Western resilience
ESG-focussed investors are having a hard time justifying their China exposure to boards. They will need to develop new narratives if they want to stay in the China game, argues historian Stephen Kotkin.
Asset managers can’t have it both ways on sustainability
Asset managers have recently been trying to show that they could cater to all sides, from asset owners that have spent years integrating sustainability into their investment strategies to anti-ESG elected officials in states like Texas. But Hugues Létourneau writes that they can’t have it all.
South African investors embrace ESG
A group of South African investors, led by the country’s largest pension fund, the R711.15 billion (US$89 billion) Government Employees Pension Fund, have launched an investor network as part of their commitment to the United Nations Principles of Responsible Investment (UNPRI). Amanda White examines the ambitions of the network in changing the investment landscape in
Danish fund cuts managers for better ESG
The €9.5 billion DanishPædagogernes Pension, PBU, is in the process of consolidating the number of managers in its listed equity portfolio. The decision at the fund – which has around 10 large, focused equity mandates – is linked to an ambition to reduce the number of companies in the portfolio in the belief that fewer companies in the 42 per cent actively-managed equity allocation allows greater ESG oversight.
PMT’s new index shakes up its equities
The €72 billion Dutch metal industry pension fund has developed its own benchmark that combines ESG, long-term returns and current beneficiaries’ sensibilities with its previous passive strategy. The index’s various criteria have screened out many companies PMT previously held and reduced its allocation to US equities.
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