Priamo, the second-pillar pension fund for the Italian public transport industry, has awarded Payden & Rygel Investment Management with a €200m global bond mandate.
The US-based asset management company, which specialises in active management of global fixed income portfolios, has so far won a total of 14 mandates for Italian clients, said Nicolò Piotti, head of business development for continental Europe at Payden & Rygel.
Joan Payden, president and CEO of Payden & Rygel, added: “[Our] expertise in managing global fixed income portfolios, and our ability to offer tailored investment solutions that meet the specific needs of institutional entities, including broad diversification, liquidity, and ESG factors made an important contribution to our selection [by Priamo]”.
Fondapi welcomes alternative investment proposals
The board of directors of the pension fund for small and medium-sized companies, Fondapi, has issued a notice asking to submit an expression of interest to manage indirect alternative investments for its crescita and prudente investment options. Interested parties can apply by 30 April.
Fondapi stressed that the notice does not constitute the start of a procedures to tender a mandate. However, the fund can decide to proceed to select a manager after receiving expressions of interests.
The scheme would ultimately award a mandate to handle alternative investments through Gefia – companies authorised to manage Alternative Investments Funds (AIFs) in Italy, in an European Union country or in a country that is not a member of the EU, or “institutional initiatives” with at least 50% of their assets invested in Italian private equity, private debt, infrastructure or real estate.
According to the notice, the manager would invest up to 5% of the fund’s total assets worth €874m. The fund would welcome applications taking into account the integration of ESG factors in the investment process.
Pension fund trio invests in real economy
Arco Fondo Pensione, the pension fund for the employees in the wood, forestry and furniture manufacturing sector, the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol regional pension fund Laborfonds and the contractual pension fund for employees in the utilities sector, Fondo Pensione Complementare Pegaso, have committed €68m to the Real Economy Project.
Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), the state-owned investment bank, the pension fund association Assofondipensione and asset management company Fondo Italiano d’Investimento launched the Real Economy Project in December 2019.
The pension funds have deployed capital to invest in companies through fund-of-funds vehicles for private equity and private debt investments.
Arco has committed €24.4m, split equally between the two asset classes.
Laborfonds has deployed €30m in total, including €20m in private debt and €10m in private equity, while Pegaso contributed with €14.3m – €10m in private debt and €4.3m in private equity.
The asset management company Fondo Italiano d’Investimento, in which Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) Equity holds a majority stake, manages both fund-of-funds – Private Equity Italia and Private Debt Italia.
The Private Equity Italia fund-of-funds has a target size of €600m for investments in Italian small and middle-sized (SMEs) firms through holdings in other close-ended investment funds.
The Private Debt Italia fund-of-funds, with a target size of €500m, has the primary goal to support SMEs by investing in funds or other vehicles focused on debt financial instruments issued by SMEs.
CDP has so far invested €550m – €300m in the private equity fund-of-funds and €250m in the private debt fund-of-funds.
Alifond tenders garantito mandate
The second-pillar scheme for employees of the Italian food industry, Alifond, has tendered a mandate to manage its garantito investment option.
The mandate will be for a period of five to 10 years and the selected manager is required to achieve returns in line with the revaluation rate of the severance pay Trattamento di Fine Rapporto (TFR). The deadline for applications is 30 April.
The garantito option – which is worth €219m out of the fund’s €1.65bn in total assets – will receive severance pay (TFR) funds in addition to money the fund allocates for pension pay-outs for early retirement under the Rendita Integrativa Temporanea Anticipata (RITA) scheme.
The investment option is currently managed through a convention expiring on 31 July under the code of private insurance. Alifond caters to 9,745 members.
Veneto’s scheme delivers negative performance
Solidarietà Veneto, the pension fund for the workers in the Veneto region, has posted a negative performance in February for its dinamico, reddito, prudente and its garantito TFR investment funds in February.
The dinamico fund has posted -0.17% in February and -0.90% from the start of the year against a 0.33% benchmark.
The reddito fund recorded -0.20% in February, hit by a weak bond market especially in the US, partially offset its diversified portfolio, it said.
The prudente posted -10% in February, -18% from the beginning of the year, above its benchmark of -0.37%.
The garantito TFR recorded -0.50% in February, and a year-to-date result of -0.80% against a 0.07% benchmark and 2.17% for 2020.
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