NETHERLANDS - Stichting Pensioenfonds Hoogovens, the €5.19bn scheme of Corus Netherlands, is set to implement a new socially responsible investment (SRI) policy for its investments.

The pension fund says in its annual report for 2007 that its management council has reviewed the current SRI policy, with the aim of making the criteria more explicit.

The fund says SRI is already one of the criteria in the selection and evaluation of external investment managers.

The investment return on the fund's entire invested assets, which are split into a return and a matching portfolio, was 2.5% in 2007.

The return portfolio booked a 10.9% return, with fixed income performing best at 19.7%.

The fund put the return down to its investments in US the mortgage market, where it profited from "decreasing prices (increasing credit spreads)".

The portfolio returned 7.9% on equity investments, 9.8% on real estate and infrastructure, and 10.2% on alternatives.

The nominal cover ratio at the end of 2007 was 135.8%.

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