All IPE articles in July/August 2023 (Magazine)
View all stories from this issue.
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Country ReportItaly: Pension investors raise their sustainability game
Pension funds and other institutions are making greater use of engagement and voting as they pursue their ESG goals
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InterviewsFranklin Templeton’s Jenny Johnson: Finding the way through the noise
When Jenny Johnson arrives, the atmosphere changes. She is composed, smiling and friendly and her boundless energy fills the room.
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Country ReportItaly: Pension funds face SFDR test
A significant number of pension funds have classified their portfolios under the EU’s flagship sustainability disclosure regulation
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FeaturesDiscerning investor sentiment: this year’s proxy season
Every annual general meeting (AGM) season has traditionally brought with it a few symbolic moments – events that serve as broader indicators of the market’s mood when it comes to environmental and social issues.
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FeaturesDigital health revolution ramps up
The world is at the beginning of a digital health revolution. This has been accelerated by the COVID pandemic that forced radical shifts in doctor/patient interactions, and supercharged by the emergence of OpenAI’s ChatGPT that brought generative artificial intelligence (AI) to the forefront and pulled the potential of AI in healthcare into the limelight.
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InterviewsOn the record: Doubling down on debt
Pension funds are focusing on both listed fixed income and private credit
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Asset Class ReportsPortfolio strategy – Fixed income & credit
Factors including rising inflation and interest rates, the war in Ukraine, and the uncertainty surrounding the global economy might have significantly slowed down the growth of an alternative asset class like private debt. But this has not been the case, and while fundraising by private debt managers for 2022 and 2023 might be challenging, investors are making new long-term commitments.
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Opinion PiecesHarnessing the power of corporate governance
Pension funds and other institutional asset owners have significant influence when it comes to voting in companies’ annual general meetings (AGMs). The consequences of their voting decisions can have a profound impact on company share prices and long-term objectives, especially in the context of climate change.
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Country ReportItaly: Casse di Previdenza roll with the punches
Italian industry-wide pension funds fail to attract new members, with potentially serious long-term consequences
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Opinion PiecesCapital competition: where does it leave sustainability goals?
For pension funds and other similar large institutional pools of capital, there is significant pressure from politicians to invest in politically favoured domestic sectors – like renewables or high-growth sectors like venture capital.
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Country ReportItaly: Government plans to draw in capital for domestic investment
The right-wing government is moving forward with plans to create a €1bn fund, amid criticism and lukewarm investor support
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FeaturesUK venture capital: spinning out for success
Academic research produces excellent technology and medical firms, but the funding is not always available to take things further
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Country ReportItaly: Byblos consolidates private markets portfolio
The industry-wide fund has opted for a single external multi-asset mandate for private equity, private debt and infrastructure
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Asset Class ReportsFixed income & credit – Sustainability-linked bonds
Sovereigns and other issuers are yet to embrace sustainability-linked bonds but issuance is growing
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Asset Class ReportsFixed income & credit – Resilience bonds
Resilience bonds aim to encourage climate investment characterised by a more forward-thinking, preventative outlook
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Opinion PiecesGuest viewpoint: Green bonds require better coordination for real impact
Worth approximately $128.3trn (€117trn), the global bond market could add billions to the global effort to reach the United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDGs). Yet only a fraction of the market currently consists of green, social and sustainability (GSS) bonds, and of that very little is being issued in developing countries. In 2022, annual GSS bond issuances stood at under 10% of overall bonds and only 13% of them came from entities in developing countries, a number that dwindles to around 5% when excluding issuers from China.
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Opinion PiecesLessons learned from Berlusconi’s pension reforms
To some, the death of Silvio Berlusconi on 12 June this year, is the end of an era for Italian politics. Berlusconi was the longest-serving prime minister in the history of the republic and a highly controversial figure, at home and abroad. He can be described as the first modern European populist leader.
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FeaturesFixed income, rates & currency: US debt crisis averted – what next?
The US debt ceiling crisis was resolved in June, avoiding potentially major fireworks, with a suspension of the limit until early 2025. This ensures that the next time the politicians have to fight about it will be after the November 2024 presidential election. Although markets were relieved at the temporary resolution, the process of rebuilding the very depleted Treasury cash balances – with some huge bill auctions planned – will drain significant liquidity from the system, which could put pressure on the rates market.
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FeaturesAustria’s politicians are too timid to make decisions, says VBV’s Schiendl
Austrian institutional investors believe that both national and European Union politics are impeding the evolution of the occupational pensions market.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: Retail funds lured by private markets
Australia’s retail funds are trying to navigate the unfamiliar terrain of private markets as they seek to lift their performance.
