Investor Strategy – Page 177
-
News
Aegon to acquire group pension specialist Optas
NETHERLANDS - Aegon has reached agreement to acquire its fellow-life insurer and group pension specialist, Optas in a €1.3bn transaction.
-
News
PensionDanmark confirms alternatives allocation
DENMARK – PensionDanmark will boost its investment in infrastructure and utilities over the next few years, in a strategic bid to compensate for weak bond yields, the fund has confirmed in its annual report.
-
News
ABP doubles micro credit allocation
NETHERLANDS – The €209bn civil service pension fund ABP has announced that is has doubled its investment in emerging market micro credit. Its allocation now totals more than €15m.
-
News
Northern Trust’s pooling patent application set for publication
GLOBAL - Northern Trust’s application to patent its cross-border pooling solution is expected to be published in the next month. The patent pending is set to protect the solution developed by the company’s staff and allows for future innovation at a time of increasing demand for cross-border pooling by multinationals.
-
News
UK pension schemes shun local property
UK – British pension funds turned their back on domestic property in 2006, with property mandates in the UK halving, the consultancy firm Watson Wyatt has found.
-
News
UBS to exit Baer stake – reports
SWITZERLAND – Banking giant UBS is reportedly planning to divest its 20.7% stake in Swiss private bank Julius Baer nearly two years after acquiring it.
-
News
Home sweet home for Dutch schemes
NETHERLANDS – Dutch multinationals are unmoved by pan-European pension fund opportunities elsewhere and prefer a Dutch domicile, a study by KMPG has found.
-
News
FRR steps into emerging market equities
FRANCE - The €32bn Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites (FRR) has started a temporary and limited exposure to emerging market equities before tendering a full mandate in summer.
-
News
Experts urge funds to diversify, not protect portfolios
GLOBAL – Long-term investors such as pension funds should diversify rather than protect portfolios against short-term losses, according to a new study by ABN Amro and the London Business School.
-
News
Germany’s NAEV ups real estate exposure
REAL ESTATE – Germany’s NAEV, a €7.75bn medical pension fund, will expand investments in real estate investment trusts (REITs) and other real estate securities over the next three years, says Hermann Aukamp, NAEV’s director of real estate.
-
News
Dutch funds return to equities - DNB
NETHERLANDS – Dutch pension funds invest more in equities now than they did during the internet boom, according to a study by Dutch pensions regulator De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB).
-
News
Schroders under review at Berkshire fund
UK – The £1.4bn (€2.1bn) Berkshire county pension fund is looking for a specialist Asia-Pacific (including Japan) manager for a mandate in excess of £80m.
-
News
Dutch printing scheme contracts out equities
NETHERLANDS - The pension fund for the printing industry says it will contract out most of its equity portfolio to specialized external managers.
-
News
German accountants’ fund to go into alternatives
GERMANY – WPV, an €850m pension fund for chartered accountants, will make inaugural investments in alternative asset classes from 2007, targeting a quota of up to 5%, according to managing director Hans-Wilhelm Korfmacher.
-
News
European firms see pension risk – survey
GLOBAL – Nearly a quarter of continental European companies believe their pension plans represent a serious risk to the organisation, a survey by Mercer has found.
-
News
Northamptonshire in £50m hedge fund move
UK – The £1.1bn (€1.6bn) Northamptonshire County Council pension fund is looking for hedge fund managers to invest approximately 4.5% of its portfolio.
-
News
Nestlé launches pension advisory group
EUROPE – Nestlé, the Swiss food group, has confirmed the January 1 launch of a new pension advisory unit and a new asset management unit to serve its pension schemes worldwide.
-
News
Dutch institutions’ raw materials appetite grows
EUROPE – Dutch institutional investors such as pension funds have a growing appetite for raw materials, so far they have invested already around €20bn (£13.5bn) in the asset class reports show.
-
News
Newham fund diverts into infrastructure
REAL ESTATE - The London Borough of Newham pension fund is to invest £30m (€45m) in infrastructure. The investment, which follows a strategic review and is the fund’s first in infrastructure, reflects a desire to influence the beta aspects of the fund and the search for a guaranteed long-term return.
-
News
IPE AWARDS: Build stronger portfolios, schemes told
EUROPE - Pension funds should build stronger portfolios to brace themselves for worst-case scenarios rather than just researching them, the annual IPE Awards Seminar in Paris was told today.





