All Alternatives articles – Page 103

  • Features

    Hedge funds - assets or asset strippers?

    November 2006 (Magazine)

    Are hedge funds really locusts stripping Dutch companies of their assets or are they a source of rich returns to the pension funds that invest in them. Leen Preesman reports on an increasingly acrimonious debate between Dutch unions and pension funds

  • Features

    Putting the case for alternatives

    November 2006 (Magazine)

    While bonds and cash may have more liquidity than alternatives, the latter can produce higher long-term yields. Joseph Mariathasan reports

  • Features

    Alternatives receive enthusiastic response

    November 2006 (Magazine)

    While Sweden is particularly experienced in hedge fund investments, Norway and Finland are renowned for their private equity acumen, as Gail Moss reports

  • Special Report

    Making a beeline for activist hedge funds

    November 2006 (Magazine)

    The activities of activist funds in targeting companies that have become national champions have caused political apoplexy throughout Europe, with ministers wagging their fingers at pension funds and warning them to have nothing to do with predatory private equity companies and hedge funds. But pension funds are encouraged to diversify into alternative investments and become active owners of the companies they invest in. So what should they do?

  • News

    Hampshire tenders advice on alternatives

    2006-10-30T15:58:52Z

    UK – The £2.5bn (€3.7bn) Hampshire County Council Pension Fund is seeking advice on alternative investments. The tender follows an overhaul of the fund’s management structure from multi-asset to specialist mandates.

  • News

    PGGM settling forex trades via CLS

    2006-10-30T15:56:17Z

    NETHERLANDS – PGGM, the €77bn Dutch health care pension fund, is now settling foreign exchange trades via Continuous Linked Settlement through its use of the Misys Treasury Plus automated third-party trade notification service, the provider says.

  • News

    Paternoster CEO outlines “keys to success”

    2006-10-27T16:07:05Z

    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.

  • News

    Smaller schemes chase ‘more liquid’ property

    2006-10-27T16:05:01Z

    REAL ESTATE - Robin Goodchild, head of European investment at property firm LaSalle, this week urged large pension funds to invest directly in real estate and claimed smaller ones were re-thinking their lack of exposure.

  • News

    Aviva’s annuity sales fall 6%

    2006-10-26T15:56:17Z

    UK – Insurance group Aviva has become the latest to warn about pricing pressure in the UK’s bulk annuities market after reporting a 6% decline in total annuity sales.

  • News

    UK’s PPF in “urgent” fund manager tender

    2006-10-26T15:51:04Z

    UK – The Pension Protection Fund has issued a tender seeking asset managers for a range of asset classes as a “matter of urgency”.

  • News

    Studies find private equity taking strong hold among Europe’s investors

    2006-10-24T16:15:30Z

    EUROPE – European institutional investors’ growing appetite for diversification and the “superior returns” of private equity is set to encourage rapid growths in the asset class, studies have revealed today.

  • News

    Former Hermes strategy head new CIO at US University fund

    2006-10-24T16:01:00Z

    UK – Hermes’ James Walsh has been nabbed by the $5bn (£2.35bn) Cornell University fund in the US as the endowment’s new chief investment officer.

  • News

    Three UK LAs tender mandates totalling €400m

    2006-10-23T15:51:01Z

    UK – Three local authority pension funds in the UK are tendering almost £400m (€550m) in Asia Pacific, global and UK unconstrained equity mandates.

  • News

    Royal Mail scheme chairman joins Synesis

    2006-10-20T15:57:12Z

    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.

  • News

    Prudential sees bulk annuities competition

    2006-10-19T16:16:24Z

    UK – Prudential says there’s more competition in the bulk annuities market – and that it won’t budge on price.

  • News

    Hampshire appoints seven new managers, looks into hedge funds

    2006-10-18T15:55:50Z

    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.

  • News

    ABP to increase hedge fund exposure

    2006-10-18T15:47:34Z

    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 ...

  • News

    Fund managers now using cash - Merrill survey

    2006-10-17T16:08:00Z

    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.

  • News

    Wiltshire fund tenders following review

    2006-10-16T16:01:49Z

    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.

  • News

    RREEF nabs Coca-Cola UK real estate brief

    2006-10-16T16:00:51Z

    REAL ESTATE - RREEF will run the real estate element of the Coca-Cola Enterprises Pension Scheme.