Asset Allocation – Page 162
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Features
Finnish pension sector in united front
TyEL will soon make it easier to manage pensions earnings across the private sector. Jari-Pekka Törrönen reports
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Features
Time to take the commodities plunge?
With the bull market now at an end many fund managers are considering a move into commodities, but there are risks attached, as Lynn Strongin Dodds reports
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Features
Return of the absolute
Swedish managers are coming to terms with the new environment. Barbara Ottawa reports
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Special Report
Making a beeline for activist hedge funds
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?
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Features
Putting the case for alternatives
While bonds and cash may have more liquidity than alternatives, the latter can produce higher long-term yields. Joseph Mariathasan reports
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Features
Alternatives receive enthusiastic response
While Sweden is particularly experienced in hedge fund investments, Norway and Finland are renowned for their private equity acumen, as Gail Moss reports
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Features
Hedge funds - assets or asset strippers?
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
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Features
Back to school
It is residential that is closer to commercial posing as hospitality. No wonder student accommodation is attracting so much attention. But pension funds are reticent, as Shayla Walmsley reports
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Features
A big opportunity for small pension funds
With access to real estate improving for Europe’s smaller funds Kathleen Jung considers the best approaches for those with around €100m to spend
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Features
Bricks and mortar boards
The idea of a student accommodation REIT sounds appealing. But to assess its prospects, we have to consider the benefits for the universities and colleges themselves. Roger Blears and Brian Lee explain
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Special Report
SRI-boot now on bond foot?
The issue of applying SRI/ESG criteria to debt is surfacing, but there are questions as to how to go about about it. Rachel Fixsen investigates
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Features
Time to call in the professionals
The Bureau Bosch survey of Dutch investment managers reveals a dramatic move towards the external management of pension funds assets, largely as a result of the new financial assessment framework. Frits Bosch analyses the findings of the survey
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Special Report
Dedicated to SRI - profits or not
IPE asked three pension funds – in Belgium, Denmark and Austria – the same question: ‘Do you do SRI and if so how and does it give a good return?’ Here are their answers:
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Special Report
The perils of divestment
Pension funds in Europe have always sought to screen out irresponsible businesses, says Shayla Walmsley, but drawing the line has never easy and double standards abound
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Features
Flat period for FoFs
The Eurekahedge fund of funds index was virtually flat in September (+0.02% returns). But there was a major hedge-fund-industry-specific market event during the month: Amaranth Advisors, a $10bn (€7.9bn) Connecticut-based multi-strategy fund, lost 35% of its assets in natural gas positions (natural gas prices fell over 30% during the month) ...
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Features
Over the hill?
US real estate is riding the crest of the wave now – the question is, how long will that crest last? This was the question being discussed at PREA’s annual conference in Washington DC in October. Stephanie Schwartz-Driver reports
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Features
Looking for improvement
The circus came to Hong Kong in September. MIPIM, the real estate industry’s annual French Riviera jamboree, put down its first mark in Asia. How did the idea translate from Cannes to Wanchai? Richard Newell reports
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Features
The long and short of it
Are real estate securities a reflection of the real estate market or more representative of equities? John Glascock and Shaun Bond report
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Features
A question of priority
New private REITs are good for long-term investment, but there are also good reasons for investors take the public route, says Mark Lindeis
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News
Durham shakes up £1.3bn council pension fund portfolio
UK – The £1.3bn (€1.9bn) Durham County Council pension fund is set for a complete overhaul of the fund’s investments in an attempt to address the £321m fund deficit. The mandates tendered see a stronger emphasis on bond exposure.



