Markets – Page 166
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FTSE pensions made conservative shift to bonds
[16:45 CEST 11-05] EUROPE – FTSE 100-listed companies have sought to reduce their pension liability risk within the last year by re-weighting assets by an average 7% to bonds, suggests a study published by Pension Capital Strategies.
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Swaps should be favoured over gilts – F&C
[16:55 CEST 08-05] UK – Pensions funds are being warned to tread carefully at present when deciding whether to hedge their liabilities against UK gilts, as the huge level of government borrowing is likely to mean yields will need to rise in the short-term to attract borrowers.
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Aberdeen AM sees fixed income outflows
[16:00 CEST 05-05] UK – Aberdeen Asset Management saw its asset under management fall in the first half of its financial year to the end of March by almost £8.5bn (€9.55bn) thanks largely to outflows from its fixed income.
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Economic crisis could lengthen deficit recoveries
[16:00 CESt 30-04] UK – Calculations made by Towers Perrin suggest the current levels of corporate bond yields alongside growing defined benefit pension scheme deficits could lengthen funds’ recovery times to as much as 20 years.
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Finnish pensions are helping recovery - Katainen
[15:45 CEST 27-04] FINLAND – The Finnish finance minister, Jyrki Katainen, has local praised pension funds for their investment in corporate loans as doing so is expected to contribute to the country’s economic recovery.
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Pension funds turn to specialists and alternatives
[14:30 CEST 23-04] EUROPE – Pension funds are increasingly moving into alternatives but the next growth area could be in the expansion of specialist fixed income mandates and single strategy hedge funds, according to Mercer’s review of pension fund asset allocation.
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PMA recovery to alter asset allocation
[16:40 CEST 20-04] NETHERLANDS - The €889m pension fund for pharmacies’ staff PMA expects to recover from its reserve shortfall within 15 years by adjusting its yearly indexation and changing its asset allocation strategy.
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Property and infra to see investment resurgence - study
[16:30 CEST 20-04] GLOBAL – A study of pension funds and institutional investors suggests funds will increase their listed and private equity holdings this year, but the asset classes of most interest for future years are likely to be property, infrastructure and hedge funds of funds.
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Asian equities eyed via external manager
[16:15 CEST 17-04] IPE-QUEST – A Swiss investor is conducting an initial manager screening for a potential $100m (€76m) large-caps Asia (ex Japan) equity mandate, using IPE-Quest.
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Industriens diversifies to tap high-yielding dividends
[16:00 CEST 17-04] DENMARK – Industriens Pension, the €8.3bn pension fund, has diversified its equity holdings a fraction to tap potential opportunities linked to dividend income.
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S&P warns 3 in 10 high-yield debts could default
[16:10 CEST 16-04] EUROPE – Standard & Poor’s has predicted as many as 29% of existing Western European speculative-grade companies could default on their debt agreements by the end of 2010.
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Bonds downgrading ‘artificially lowered’ deficits – Hymans
UK – A downgrading in the credit rating of some of General Electric’s corporate bonds has in turn artificially lowered the reported pension deficits at the UK’s top 350 listed firms in the first quarter of this year, according to Hymans Robertson.
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Investors eyes growth in biotechnology
[16:45 CEST 15-04] IPE-QUEST – A continental European investor is looking to hire a manager to look after a $20m (€15.2m) biotechnology equity mandate, using IPE-Quest.
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Quantitative easing has 'distorted' pension liabilities
[17:00 CEST 09-04] UK – The Bank of England’s policy of quantitative easing has indirectly increased the pension scheme deficits of FTSE 100 companies as the price of gilts “soared to their highest level in 20 years”, Deloitte has claimed.
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Horeca maintains strategy with small cap appointment
[16:00 CEST 09-04] NETHERLANDS – The €2.5bn Horeca & Catering pension fund is continuing with its asset allocation diversification plan despite a recent further fall in its cover ratio, and has awarded RCM a mandate to manage European small cap equities.
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Norway-Global rules out high-yield bonds
[17:00 CEST 06-04] NORWAY – The Government Pension Fund – Global has ruled out extending into high-yield and emerging market bonds, and has also warned it is unlikely to reach its 5% allocation to real estate for "several years".
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Swiss pension pursues European equity (amended)
[16:55 CEST 02-04] IPE-QUEST – A Swiss pension fund is looking to hire a manager for a $40m (€29.9m) global equity mandate, using IPE-Quest.
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Rhondda and Somerset start manager searches
[16:25 CEST 02-04] UK – Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council has initiated a search for at least two investment managers, while Somerset Council is seeking an active Japanese equity manager.
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Market losses lower FRR mandate wins
[16:00 CEST 02-04] FRANCE – FRR, the €27.7bn French national pension fund, is dividing two equities mandates between a total of seven investment managers, albeit the sum invested is now smaller than originally advertised thanks to the impact of recent market falls.
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Bank of England scheme pre-empted crisis
[17:00 CEST 31-03] UK – The Bank of England Pension Scheme appeared to almost pre-empt the financial crisis of last year as it returned 12% in the year to February 2008 and reduced equity holdings so it could invest in index-linked gilts.