Markets – Page 244
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MLIM appoints Anne Swift and warns on equity overconfidence
Merrill Lynch Investment Managers has appointed Anne Swift as its relationship manager and investment officer in the defined contribution pension team but has also warned that institutional fund managers were more overweight in equities than at any time since 1999.
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IPE-QUEST: Four new searches on system
EUROPE – There are four new searches on the IPE-Quest system worth a combined $600m (€450m), from UK and Dutch pension funds.
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FRR seeks SRI, private equity consultants
FRANCE – The French reserve fund, the Fonds de Reserve pour les Retraites, is looking to select consultants to help it select asset managers for socially responsible investment and private equity mandates.
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Dutch schemes invest €51bn abroad
NETHERLANDS - Dutch pension funds invested €51bn in foreign bonds and equities last year, says Statistics Netherlands CBS in a provisional report.
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Danish bank scheme awards brief to State Street
DENMARK – State Street Global Advisors says it has been awarded a $160m (€118.9m) global enhanced equities mandate by Danish bank scheme Bank//Pension.
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IPE-QUEST: Four new searches on system
EUROPE – There are four new searches on the IPE-Quest system worth up to $210m on behalf of Swiss investors.
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Horeca taps T. Rowe, Acadian for equities
NETHERLANDS - The €1.8bn Pensioenfonds Horeca & Catering has selected T. Rowe Price Global Investment Services and Acadian Asset Management for its €400m global equity portfolio that is currently solely managed by F&C Netherlands B.V.
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German regulator misses out in EU directive
GERMANY - European pension funds looking to do business in Germany in the future will not be regulated by BaFin, the German financial services regulator, according to excerpts of a government draft law that transposes the EU pension funds directive.
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Julius Baer says it’s not a takeover candidate
SWITZERLAND – Julius Baer Group says its new share structure does not mean it’s a takeover candidate - and that it could be on the lookout for acquisitions.
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Germany plans boost to Pensionsfonds system
GERMANY - The German government intends to radically boost the competitiveness of Pensionsfonds, the equity-oriented corporate pensions vehicle created in 2001, according to a senior official in the social affairs ministry.
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Head of underperforming AP4 gets pay cut
SWEDEN – The president of the SEK151.4bn (€16.7bn) Swedish buffer fund AP4 – which underperformed its benchmark by three points in 2004 – has had his pay cut by almost five percent.
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‘Convexity’ key as Dutch schemes buy long bonds
NETHERLANDS – Convexity, or the sensitivity of bonds to interest rates, is an important factor as Dutch pension schemes move into longer dated bonds amid the new FTK regulations – according to a market analysis firm.
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Ousted Babcock CEO ‘misrepresented assets’
GERMANY - The surprise dismissal of Günter Schulze as chief executive of Babcock Pensionskasse followed his misrepresentation of the pension fund’s investments, sources say.
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UBS could lose €915m AP1 emerging market assets
SWEDEN – AP1 may pull up to SEK8.3bn (€915m) in emerging market assets from a UBS structured product and award them to new managers.
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Germany’s Babcock Pensionskasse removes CEO
GERMANY - Babcock Pensionskasse, the €460m pension fund of failed engineering firm Babcock, has stripped chief executive Günter Schulze of his responsibilities, sources say.
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Nordea loses €1.3bn in institutional assets
SWEDEN – Nordea says it lost a total of €1.3bn of institutional assets under management in the fourth quarter of 2004 – hit by industry consolidation.
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Deutsche hires firm for DeAM sale - report
GERMANY/UK - Deutsche Asset Management in the UK has declined comment on a newspaper report indicating that the investment bank Hawkpoint has been hired to explore its possible sale.
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Study slams companies' 'insider-trustees'
UK – A new academic study has found evidence that company-nominated trustees at UK defined benefit pension schemes act in the interest of shareholders, not the pension fund.
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Finland’s Varma earns 8% return in 2004
FINLAND – Varma, Finland’s largest private sector pension insurer, made an eight percent return on investments in 2004 - but said it would continue to “rationalise” its operations.
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German dentists hire Alpha as consultant
GERMANY - VZB, a Berlin-based pension fund for dentists, says it has hired Alpha Portfolio Advisors as its new investment consultant for its €700m portfolio.
