All Alternatives articles – Page 122

  • News

    ABP cuts pension premiums in unexpected move

    2005-12-01T06:44:00Z

    NETHERLANDS – ABP, the largest Dutch pension fund, says its pension costs for members will be lower than last year.

  • News

    Retired rich are huge untapped market -- McKinsey

    2005-12-01T03:54:00Z

    UK -- Retiring and retired individuals in Europe represent a huge opportunity for any player which really decides to focus on the market, according to management consultants McKinsey in a recent report.

  • Features

    Negative times here again

    December 2005 (Magazine)

    Against a backdrop of lacklustre performance in almost all markets (eg, stocks, bonds and commodities), and more generally, of a decline in the risk appetite of investors, all hedge fund strategies performed negatively in October, for the first time since April. Unsurprisingly, the strategies most harshly hit by the fall ...

  • Features

    Basque fund develops venturesome role

    December 2005 (Magazine)

    Geroa EPSV is a defined contribution pension fund which was set up to complement the Spanish state pension scheme. It covers employees in Gipuzkoa, one of the three provinces making up the Basque Country region. The fund has 100,000 contributing members and is currently worth about €500m. Geroa was started ...

  • Features

    Behind the curve

    December 2005 (Magazine)

    September was a good month for funds of funds all round, with the Eurekahedge indices returning upwards of 1% across almost all strategies and regions. The month saw a departure (positive) from August’s shallower returns, and a return to the more robust pre-August rising trend. The Eurekahedge Global Fund of ...

  • Features

    Spain catches PE fever

    December 2005 (Magazine)

    Compared with the rest of Europe, Spain’s involvement with private equity has soared over the past year or two. Last year, according to the European Venture Capital Association. private equity investment equalled 0.246% of the country’s gross domestic product, placing it fifth in the European rankings, ahead of countries such ...

  • Features

    Inaccessible class opens up

    December 2005 (Magazine)

    Commodities may be latecomers to the diversification game, but market commentators suggest they are winning an increasing share of institutional investors’ portfolios. Changes in the commodities market - driven largely by increasing demands from the booming Chinese and Indian manufacturing industries - have increased demand for commodities, and made them ...

  • Features

    Comfort from derivatives

    December 2005 (Magazine)

    IPE asked three pension funds in three countries – Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland – the same question: ‘Do derivatives perform a useful function in pension fund portfolios or are too costly, complicated and risky?’ Here are their answers: Hasser Jørgensen, chief investment officer at Denmark’s PFA Pension which ...

  • Features

    Coming to terms with derivatives

    December 2005 (Magazine)

    Remember 1995? Only 10 years ago or so, most investment managers still felt pretty uncomfortable with derivatives. Derivative traders were an exotic species using Greek symbols and a jargon nobody could understand. No surprise, pension funds hardly used these instruments, or even avoided them in principle. What is a derivative? ...

  • News

    20% of UK schemes invest in hedge funds - NAPF

    2005-11-30T11:57:00Z

    UK – Around one in five large UK pension funds have some exposure to hedge funds, the National Association of Pension Funds says.

  • News

    Sweden's AP2 names new chief executive

    2005-11-29T02:02:00Z

    SWEDEN – Andra AP-fonden, the SEK173bn (€18.2bn) Second Swedish National Pension Fund or AP2, has appointed Eva Halvarsson as chief executive.

  • News

    SEI sees 25% European growth

    2005-11-28T04:09:00Z

    EUROPE – SEI, the US-based multi-manager fund provider, expects to grow its business in Europe by 25% annually, with nearly all of that growth taking place in the UK, its managing director for Europe says.

  • News

    Horeca in €100m private equity move

    2005-11-24T03:54:00Z

    NETHERLANDS - The €2bn Dutch hotel and catering scheme, Pensioenfonds Horeca en Catering, has awarded two €50m private equity mandates to Goldman Sachs Private Equity Group and HarbourVest Partners.

  • News

    Demand for Germany’s Riester pensions surges

    2005-11-24T03:36:00Z

    GERMANY – Demand for the Riester-Rente, a government-subsidised private pension launched in 2002, has increased dramatically this year, the German finance ministry has reported.

  • News

    IPE-QUEST: North American equities tendered

    2005-11-18T03:51:00Z

    DENMARK - Kirstein Finans has tendered around $100m (€85.4m) in active North American small/mid-cap equities via IPE-Quest.

  • News

    CEIOPS rules out separate pensions committee

    2005-11-17T03:19:00Z

    EUROPE – CEIOPS chairman Henrik Bjerre-Nielsen has ruled out the need for a separate EU committee on pensions – despite the group’s current focus on the Solvency II project for the insurance industry.

  • News

    IPE-QUEST: Danish fund tenders EM debt

    2005-11-17T03:16:00Z

    DENMARK – Kirstein Finans has tendered around €70m in global emerging market debt for a Danish pension fund via IPE-Quest.

  • News

    IMA says pension pooling at stalemate

    2005-11-16T03:54:00Z

    UK – The Investment Management Association says pension pooling is stuck in “something of a stalemate”.

  • News

    Ireland’s NPRF starts private equity programme

    2005-11-16T03:10:00Z

    IRELAND – The €14.5bn National Pension Reserve Fund has initiated its new investment programme with a €75m private equity commitment with independent buy-out firm CVC Capital Partners.

  • News

    Institutions pull €1.8bn from Schroders

    2005-11-15T03:50:00Z

    UK – Schroders plc says it lost a net £1.2bn (€1.78bn) in institutional assets under management in the three months to the end of September – although asset management profit and revenue were both up.