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Real estate drags for Swiss fund MPK but climate proofing gathers momentum
Migros-Pensionskasse (MPK) the CHF28.2 billion ($30 billion) pension fund for Switzerland’s largest retailer, Migros, has done much to reduce emissions in its real estate allocation. But balancing adding value with the cost of integrating sustainability is a challenge.
The new AA: funds hedging for “tail whippings”
The shock of asset class correlations going to one during the global crisis has prompted new ways to look at asset allocation among institutional investors and managers, which have started to drill down into the risk factors driving markets.
Factor investing: it works for credits too
Pension funds, insurance companies and sovereign wealth funds increasingly apply factor investing to equities in their portfolios. And now institutional investors would also like to apply this concept to credits. A research study ( ‘Factor investing in the corporate bond market’) shows that factor strategies can be attractive in credit markets. How does this work
Harvard endowment in hiring mode
The Harvard Management Company (HMC), which manages the assets of the Harvard Endowment, is hiring again after cutting up to a quarter of jobs earlier this year, with 18 investment, accounting and technology support jobs currently on offer, and chief executive, Jane Mendillo, citing a plan to add key investment professionals in coming months.
Happy workers make investors happy too
Good companies to work for are also good companies to invest in, according to new research by Alex Edman of the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. In a recent paper, Edmans says there is a direct positive correlation over the long term between employee satisfaction and stock market returns for the companies they work for.
Opportunities vast in credit, but public markets less risky: Wurts
Investment grade corporate debt, non-agency residential and commercial mortgages, high yield corporate debt, and private equity distressed debt all constitute recommended potential mandates in the credit markets, according to director of research at US-based Wurts and Associates, Eric Petroff.
Threats to equity bond correlation
A full-blown trade war, and changes in monetary policy triggered by a loss of credibility in the Federal Reserve and other global policy institutions, could result in a return of the positive correlation between bonds and stocks, and investors need to be aware of the risk, warned Luis Viceira, George E. Bates Professor in the Finance Unit and Senior Associate Dean for Executive Education at Harvard Business School, at the Fiduciary Investors’ Symposium at Harvard University.
Pension funds and FoFs continue to wade into cleantech funds
Cleantech investments is one area in the private equity and venture capital space which is continuing to show strong growth, according to a report by London-based alternatives research house Prequin.
Nordhaus and ‘No Regrets’
Nobel Prize winner Professor William Nordhaus, Sterling Professor of Economics and Professor of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University, explains his theory of ‘No Regrets’ whereby companies can integrate ESG at a level that brings real benefits for society but has limited impact on the corporate.
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