Two of America’s largest pension funds, CalSTRS and CalPERS have warily offered support to the interjection of California Governor Edmund G Brown Jr into the debate on how to finance the state’s ballooning pension liabilities.
CalPERS is undertaking sweeping changes to the way its board operates as part of a package of governance reforms to be rolled out in the coming year.
Investors in News Corp have clearly signalled that they oppose Rupert Murdoch’s plans to pass control of the media giant to his children, voicing strong opposition to the re-election of sons Lachlan and James Murdoch to the board at the company’s annual general meeting last week.
Despite two of America’s largest pension funds, CalPERS and CalSTRS, calling for changes to the board of News Corp at the upcoming annual general meeting on Friday, Rupert Murdoch’s iron grip on the company means their efforts will likely amount to little more than a protest vote.
CalPERS’ absolute return strategies program is over-reliant on quantitative tools, inadequately staffed and may be overweight in certain strategies and risks, according to Wilshire’s annual review of the portfolio.
A rigorous debate between staff, consultant and investment committee has resulted in the $224-billion CalPERS deciding to fund an allocation to hedge funds from its global equities allocation, using futures to neutralise the policy allocation, rather than have a separate strategic asset class. But the strategy is on watch, and will be reviewed mid-next year.
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