Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 273
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Features
Credit where it’s due
Of the 22 investors polled for this month’s Focus Group, seven feel that credit has become more important in their fund’s portfolio over the past five years, and a further 10 believe it has become slightly more important. Only two rate credit as less important.
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Features
Outward bound
We seem to get out of the office so rarely these days. All of us spend more time dealing with electronic communications that simple, face-to-face contact takes place less often than it used to.
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Features
Exploding the asset allocation myth
The old dictum of ‘fix asset allocation and the numbers will follow’ no longer works, says Amin Rajan, and a world-class strategy is now worthless without world-class execution
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Special Report
Near the cliff edge
Elisabeth Jeffries asks whether investors will be discouraged by an end to specific renewables targets for EU member states
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Special Report
Credit: Don’t bank on it
The disintermediation of Europe’s credit markets is getting everyone excited. But Martin Steward asks how easy it will be for asset owners and managers to reproduce the banking business models
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Special Report
Credit: A third way
Liam Kennedy outlines how Natixis, in partnership with insurers Ageas and CNP Assurance, has created an alternative to direct infrastructure lending and investment through funds
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Special Report
Credit: Preparing the ground
A latecomer to credit asset classes, the UK’s East Riding Pension Fund has nonetheless built a rich and varied foundation for its longer-term portfolio strategy, finds Martin Steward
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Special Report
Credit: A comeback for asset-backed?
While US ABS markets have roared back to life, Europe lags. Charlotte Moore finds that most banks have cheaper ways to get financing at the moment, but that regulation may ultimately play into the hands of pension fund investors
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Special Report
Credit: The waiting game
The big rush of distressed assets anticipated from the financial crisis never materialised. Jennifer Bollen asks if the delayed opportunity is about to come good, and what kind of opportunity it might be
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Special Report
Credit: Doing what it says on the tin?
A multi-asset approach to credit makes a lot of sense. But, as Emma Cusworth finds, it is easier said than done and the choices are complex and diverse
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Features
Focus Group: Credit where it’s due
Of the 22 investors polled for this month’s Focus Group, seven feel that credit has become more important in their fund’s portfolio over the past five years, and a further 10 believe it has become slightly more important. Only two rate credit as less important.
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Special Report
Credit: Bridge loans
Debt offers a different set of cash-flow risks for pension fund investors in infrastructure. Lynn Strongin Dodds looks at the variety of assets available and the regulatory background to investment decisions
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Asset Class Reports
US Equities: How deep is your value?
Martin Steward looks at three US quality-value strategies, two of which exemplify the difference between ‘deep’ and ‘relative’ value and one whose profile belies any stylistic categorisation
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Interviews
Cautious, Swiss and international
As an institutional manager and provider of institutional-type investment management services to private banks, including within its own group, Pictet Asset Management (PAM) clearly stands apart from the private banking fraternity.
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Asset Class Reports
US Equities: Catching the technology wave
Joseph Mariathasan discusses where US technology companies sit in relation to a once-in-a-generation paradigm shift: the move from desktop to mobile and the cloud
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Features
Beyond the glib view
Credit rating agencies did not cover them- selves in glory in the financial crisis, particularly when it came to the rating of sub-prime credit instruments. While the main ones have taken steps to put their house in order, the EU has targeted the perceived mechanistic over-reliance of institutions on external ratings.
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Features
Three is a magic number
Ever since US 10-year yields bounced off of a low of 1.4% in July 2012, the investing commentariat has been predicting the end of the bond bull market and sky-high levels for benchmark rates.
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Features
Engaging with the engine of Europe
Of the nearly 270 signatories of the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment - which includes a pledge to be active, engaged shareholders - there are only six German pension funds. While the picture in neighbouring Austria, where only one fund has pledged allegiance, and Switzerland – with just three pension supporters – is comparably low, in terms of engagement, it is a matter of comparing apples with oranges.
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Features
Back to basics
The Herculean task of harmonising the funding rules for Europe’s defined benefit pension schemes has been officially decoupled from the planned IORP II Directive, to the relief of all those who would have to deal with the complex analytical framework needed to coordinate the rules. That framework would almost certainly have led to lower risk tolerance and a mass exodus from risk assets on the part of European pension funds.
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Features
Farmland, infrastructure and ESG
At this year’s National Association of Pension Funds Investment Conference, delegates gathered in Edinburgh looking to bridge ideas and investment strategies for the future. Sessions on smart beta, liability-driven investing (LDI) and multi-asset solutions were popular.
