All IPE articles in April 2002 (Online) – Page 6

  • News

    Corus announces pension surplus of £865m

    2002-04-05T04:57:00Z

    UK- Steelmaker Corus has bucked the trend of companies disclosing deficits on their pension funds by announcing an expected surplus of £865m on its £11.3bn (e18.4bn) scheme. The steelmaker says it has no plans to use the surplus, despite debts of £1.6bn. Instead, it will enable the company to ease ...

  • News

    iBoxx launches sterling non-gilt bond indices

    2002-04-05T04:11:00Z

    UK/GERMANY- iBoxx has launched a series of non-gilt bond indices for the Sterling market. The 644 indices cover sub-sovereigns, collateralised and corporate bonds and join the existing real-time Gilts indices.

  • News

    Dorset picks Cazenove for £38m cash mandate

    2002-04-05T03:41:00Z

    UK – West Dorset District Council has awarded a £38m (€62m) fixed income and cash mandate to Cazenove Fund Management. The appointment will take effect from May and the mandate represents a fund that is part of the council’s liquid assets.

  • News

    Scottish Life launches guaranteed growth fund

    2002-04-05T02:54:00Z

    UK – Isle of Man-based capital protected products specialist Scottish Life International (SLI) has launched a new guaranteed growth fund, the Protected Term Deposit (PTD) Series I, aimed at self-administered pension schemes.

  • News

    Fidelity extends coverage of Select pooled fund

    2002-04-04T04:55:00Z

    EUROPE- Fidelity Investments is extending the coverage of its Select Global Fund by registering it in France, Switzerland and the Netherlands. The Select fund, a sub fund of the international OEIC, was registered in the UK at the end of February as a pooled vehicle whereas previously it was ...

  • News

    S&P to publish 2,200 funds' asset allocation data

    2002-04-04T04:27:00Z

    GLOBAL- S&P Fund Services has announced it is to publish asset allocation data for more than 2,200 UK unit trusts, OEICs and offshore funds from the end of the month. The data, available on www.funds-sp.com, will show each fund’s top ten securities by name and percentage, portfolio allocations by industry, ...

  • News

    DC not necessarily cheaper than DB says Aon

    2002-04-04T04:22:00Z

    UK – Switching from defined benefit to defined contribution can be a costly exercise if companies don’t weigh up the pros and cons properly, warns Paul McGlone, a principal and actuary at Aon Consulting in London. The news comes at a time when many companies are closing their DB schemes ...

  • News

    Brennen to replace Bolsover as CEO at Baring AM

    2002-04-04T03:35:00Z

    UK – David Brennan has been appointed chairman and chief executive of London-based Baring Asset Management (BAM) with effect from July. He will replace John Bolsover who is retiring after 27 years with the firm.

  • News

    Powys seeks investment managers for £80m

    2002-04-04T03:34:00Z

    UK – The £160m (€260.7m) Powys County Council pension fund in Wales is looking for asset managers for a £48m active fixed income mandate and two £16m active equity mandates. John McNeil, head of finance at the fund, says the RFP has come about because the fund grew unhappy with ...

  • News

    Gissings loses investment consulting head to SBJ

    2002-04-04T03:25:00Z

    UK- Steve Barker has left his job as head of investment consulting at Gissings after just a year to take up the same role at SBJ Consultants in London. Barker, who has a background in investment consulting and fixed income management, will report to the chairman Peter Gray.

  • News

    Clemeur replaces Brasseur at Belgian association

    2002-04-04T03:17:00Z

    BELGIUM – The Belgian Association of Pension Funds in Brussels has appointed Hugo Clemeur as general secretary, replacing Leon Brasseur, who decided last week to leave the association to concentrate on developing his career directly within the pensions industry.

  • News

    VGZ picks GSAM for e1bn fiduciary role

    2002-04-03T03:55:00Z

    NETHERLANDS- Zorgverzekeraar VGZ, one of the largest specialised health insurers in the Netherlands, has appointed Goldman Sachs Asset Management as fiduciary manager for its entire investment portfolio worth almost e1bn. VGZ remains responsible for dictating the strategic investment policy but as fiduciary manager, Goldman Sachs will look after asset ...

  • News

    Hermes appoints new head of private equity

    2002-04-03T03:52:00Z

    UK – Hermes Pensions Management has appointed Rod Selkirk as head of private equity, replacing Robert Padgett who will take full retirement later this year. Selkirk, who has over 20 years experience in private equity, joins from Bridgepoint Capital, where he was managing director and member of the executive and ...

  • News

    Dutch industry-wide funds meet Z-score targets

    2002-04-03T03:50:00Z

    NETHERLANDS- Figures released today show the Netherlands’ 63 industry-wide pension funds have all passed their Z score performance target of –1.28 despite concerns last year that some were likely to fail. The news will come as a relief to many of the schemes as they faced the prospect of losing ...

  • News

    Germany needs further reform says ABA

    2002-04-03T03:49:00Z

    GERMANY – The German occupational pensions market needs further reform if it is to compete successfully with the private pensions industry, says Klaus Stiefermann, general manager of the Heidelberg-based Aba, the German occupational pension fund association.

  • News

    BP will retain DB scheme despite new 4% deficit

    2002-04-02T05:49:00Z

    UK – The slump in the equity markets means the $16.9bn (€19.2bn) BP Amoco UK pension scheme only has enough assets to cover 96% of its liabilities, opposed to 120% the previous year, according to its latest annual report. However, the company says it won’t close its defined benefit scheme, ...

  • News

    Spain proposes EU pensions solvency test

    2002-04-02T05:44:00Z

    EUROPE / UK – A proposal by the Spanish delegation to the EU pensions working group to introduce a solvency test for pension funds could lead to billions of euros having to be injected into occupational schemes overnight. But the idea has come under fire from the UK government which ...

  • News

    WM figures show PGGM down 6% in 2001

    2002-04-02T05:08:00Z

    NETHERLANDS- Official publication of WM Company’s performance figures for Dutch pension funds show an average return of –2.8% in 2001. Individually the funds reported yields ranging from –8.6% to 4.5% with many of the country’s larger schemes at the lower end of the spectrum.

  • News

    Polish pensions and insurance regulators merge

    2002-04-02T05:03:00Z

    POLAND- Poland has merged its pensions and insurance regulators to create a “one-stop” financial services supervisor.

  • News

    Lombard Odier names new international equity CIO

    2002-04-02T05:00:00Z

    LONDON- Lombard Odier is appointing Fabrizio Pierallini as chief investment officer for international equities. In his new role, Pierallini will head the international equity team and will be responsible for the link between London and the firm’s country and sector analysts and managers in Geneva, Zurich and Hong Kong.