All articles by Julie Henderson – Page 24
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Features
Returns: looking bleak
Evidence is now emerging of just how tough a year 2008 was for pension funds. Individual schemes have begun to report their investment results and the division between those who favour equities over bonds and liability-driven investment strategies is becoming all too apparent.
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News
APG set to unveil its corporate strategy
[17:15 CET 27-02] NETHERLANDS – APG Group, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the Dutch pension fund for healthcare workers ABP, is now developing the next stage of its international expansion plans following its recent merger with rival firm Cordares.
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News
German investor pursues corporate bonds
[17:00 CET 27-02] GERMANY – A German corporate investor is looking for an asset manager to look after up to €200m in investment grade corporate bonds, using IPE-Quest.
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News
Pension funds urge new direction in pharmaceuticals
[16:00 CET 26-02] GLOBAL – Pharmaceutical firms operating in emerging markets regions offer huge investment potential for the future, but business models need to be adapted to the local environment and could in turn require new longer-term financing structures, suggests a study conducted by two major European pension funds.
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News
EC advised to replace CEIOPS and CESR
[15:00 CET 26-02] EUROPE – A report assessing the shortcoming of European financial services regulation has advised the European Commission to replace the existing regulatory supervision system and improve monitoring by splitting the regulatory regime into banking, insurance and securities sectors.
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News
Hedge funds and private equity win in diversity push
[16:30 CET 24-02] UK – Pensions funds chose to further diversify their asset allocation strategies last year by investing more of their assets in direct hedge funds and direct private equity while reducing the search for real estate managers, suggests a review of Watson Wyatt’s manager selections.
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News
Study to reveal impact of market turmoil on SRI
[13:00 CET 24-02] GLOBAL - Global institutional asset owners and fund managers will be able to indicate what impact the credit crisis has had on their responsible and sustainable investment strategies with the launch today of the RI landscape 2009 survey.
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News
Local government pensions consider investing in schools
[15:45 CET 23-02] UK – UK local authority pension funds officials have been in discussions with a quasi-government body about the prospect of investing in the building of UK schools through private finance initiatives (PFIs).
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News
Research supports call for flexible payout phase
[16:30 CET 19-02] EUROPE – Academic research suggests European pensions policy could give pensioners increased potential retirement income and flexibility in the long-term by allowing pension pots to be diversified beyond mandatory annuities across the life of the payout phase.
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News
Mercer buys Callan to create consulting giant
[16:55 CET 17-02] UNITED STATES – Callan Associates, the San Francisco-headquartered consultant to major investors such as US pension funds, is being bought by rival firm Mercer to create one of the largest investment consulting businesses in the US.
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NewsBT sees March surplus reverse into deficit
[16:55 CET 13-02] UK – The UK’s largest pension fund has seen its assets shift under IAS19 accounting rules from a technical surplus of over £2bn (€2.16bn) in March 2008 into a deficit of £1.7bn by the end of last year because of the swing corporate bond pricing, according to ...
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NewsRolls-Royce may inject cash despite pensions surplus
[16:40 CET 12-02] UK – Rolls-Royce, the engine manufacturer, has today revealed it may need to contribute even more to its defined benefits (DB) pensions arrangements over the coming year even though pension fund was technically in surplus under IAS19 accounting.
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NewsNPRF contributions to fund €7bn banking rescue (amended)
[13:30 CET 12-02] IRELAND – The Irish government has confirmed rescue of the banking sector will be financed through both existing National Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF) assets and contributions which would have been paid to the State pension fund over the next two years.
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News
IPE winner delivers positive return
[12:00 CET 10-02] NETHERLANDS - De Eendragt Pensioenfond, the pension fund-turned insurance company and winner of the highest accolade at last year’s IPE Awards, has bucked the current trend in Dutch pensions investment by delivering a 4.4% positive return in 2008.
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News
Half of PensPlan’s lines make gains
[16:30 CET 09-02] ITALY – Thirteen of the 22 investment lines offered as pensions investments by PensPlan achieved positive returns in what officials describe as conditions which were “difficult to register positive results”.
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News
Danish Engineers sell €65m portfolio to Aberdeen
[16:30 CET 05-02] DENMARK – DIP, the DKK24bn (€3.22bn) pension fund for Danish engineers, has sold a €65m commercial property portfolio to Aberdeen Property Investors and taken a stake in its Danish fund as part of a shift in its investment strategy.
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News
Auditors force repricing of IAS19 discount rate
[15:30 CET 05-02] UK – Corporate executives are being put under pressure by auditors to reprice their apparent pension liabilities to more realistic levels, in light of the huge shift in recent months in corporate bond yields.
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News
Measure to show the shape of corporate pensions
[17:20 CET 04-02] UK – Consulting firm Hymans Robertson has unveiled what it hopes will become a recognised ‘safe’ method for assessing pensions risk to a company’s financial status.
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News
Marsden goes back to his roots at Mercer
[16:00 CET 03-02] EUROPE – Robert Marsden has made an internal shift from Mercer’s multi-manager operation and has moved back into the investment research department he left less than two years ago.
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Features
Sovereign funds under pressure
Sovereign pension funds (SPFs) have emerged in recent years as part of governments’ moves to ensure they had enough financing to cover state pension obligations without relying on pay-as-you-go tax schemes. In recent months, however, two of Europe’s largest government schemes - Norway’s Government Pension Fund - Global and the ...
