Investor Strategy – Page 179
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BA in €1.4bn pension deficit bailout
UK – British Airways has agreed to pay up to £950m (€1.4bn) to tackle the £2.1bn deficit in its New Airways Pension Scheme in a 10-year funding deal with trustees.
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ITV may end final salary pension scheme
UK – UK commercial broadcaster ITV, facing a £5bn takeover bid from NTL, is planning to close its €1.758bn (£1.12bn) final salary pension scheme also to existing members, in favour of a career-average scheme.
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S&P says pensions a risk for European banks
EUROPE – Standard & Poor’s says pension obligations still pose significant risk for some western European banks.
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Clwyd scheme tenders commodities, portable alpha
UK – Due to a revamp, the £793m (€1.2bn) Clwyd pension fund, run by Flintshire County Council, is tendering a £15m commodities mandate and is looking for a portable alpha solution, possibly hedge funds.
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Deutsche Bahn considering pension trust
GERMANY – Deutsche Bahn, the operator of Germany’s national railway, is considering creating an external fund – known as a contractual trust arrangement – to finance new managers’ pension liabilities.
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80% of UK funds to alter asset mix – Greenwich
UK – Greenwich Associates says 80% of UK pension funds plan to significantly alter their asset mixes in the next three years.
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Ist-Investmentstiftung cuts domestic bonds
SWITZERLAND – Ist-Investmentstiftung, a major Swiss pension fund with CHF8.3bn (€5.2bn) in assets, has slightly increased exposure to equities and foreign real estate while cutting exposure to domestic bonds.
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Norges chief slams “disguised beta” hedge funds
NORWAY – Knut Kjaer, executive director of Norges Bank Investment Management, which runs the NOK1.5trn (€182bn) Norwegian Pension Fund – Global, says many hedge funds are overpriced beta suppliers.
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Paternoster CEO outlines “keys to success”
UK – Mark Wood, chief executive of Paternoster, has outlined what he terms the keys to the success of the new breed of pension buyout firms.
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Royal Mail scheme chairman joins Synesis
UK – Jane Newell, chairman of the £21bn (€31.3bn) Royal Mail Pension Plan, is to join the board of new pensions annuity firm Synesis Life as a non-executive director.
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More details about ABP’s new Hong Kong office
NETHERLANDS – Dutch pension giant ABP, at €201bn Europe’s largest pension fund, has announced a launch date and the key executives for its new Hong Kong office.
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€30bn London fund merger proposed
UK – A new report will suggest merging London pension schemes into one or two funds with a combined value of approximately £20bn (€30bn), according to a newswire report.
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German institutions ‘asset allocations unchanged’
GERMANY – Insurers and pension funds plan virtually no change to their asset allocation during 2006, meaning that they will remain mostly invested in fixed income, according to a new study unveiled by private equity fund provider CAM.
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SPF offers assistance to small schemes
THE NETHERLANDS - SPF Beheer has offered ‘collegial’ assistance to small pension funds, which want to remain independent, it announced.
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Hampshire appoints seven new managers, looks into hedge funds
UK – The £2.5bn (€3.7bn) Hampshire County Council Pension Fund has completely overhauled its management structure. In a move from multi-asset to specialist managers it has re-appointed three of the old managers and awarded mandates to seven new managers.
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Watsons advises on €1.3bn of mandates in Germany
GERMANY – Watson Wyatt’s investment consulting arm in Frankfurt says it has advised institutional clients on €1.3bn worth of allocations to asset managers since opening its doors about a year ago.
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ABP to increase hedge fund exposure
NETHERLANDS – The €200bn ABP pension fund of the Dutch civil servants will further raise its exposure to hedge funds in the future, Edwina Neal, CIO of equities at ABP, said at the Hedge 2006 conference in London. No details were disclosed but the exposure “will rise” she confirmed to ...
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Fund managers now using cash - Merrill survey
GLOBAL - Investors are putting their cash back to work, following the 25% fall in the oil price, said Merrill Lynch’s David Bowers when presenting the findings of the firm’s October fund manager survey.
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New Danish construction pension set up
DENMARK – PensionDanmark and the Danish construction industry association Dansk Byggeri have teamed up to offer a new pension product.
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Wiltshire fund tenders following review
UK – The £1bn (€1.48bn) Wiltshire County Council Pension Fund is tendering for pension investment services representing a total of up to £525m in active currency, unconstrained global equity and long-short equity.
