All IPE articles in November 2005 (Magazine) – Page 2
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Features
PGGM sees long life in Levensloop
PGGM’s new pension fund subsidiary Careon Levensloop has finalised a seven-year outsourcing contract with KAS Bank and Ordina. The agreement - effective from 1 January 2006 - will see Ordina in charge of administrative tasks, while KAS facilitates the associated banking process. “We will offer products to our clients to ...
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Features
When less can be more
If interest rates rise what should pension funds do? The answer for the majority of pension funds is likely to be the same - nothing. For the minority - those for whom substantial bond portfolios are actively managed by internal pension fund investment staff - the answer is slightly different: ...
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Features
Italy's longer-term optimism
Italy does not have as consistent a private equity culture as other large European economies. Last year, private equity investment as a whole made up just 0.110% of its gross domestic product. This placed Italy twelfth in the European rankings, behind not only the traditional leaders in private equity in ...
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Special Report
Listening to the investors
Corporate governance has been described as the “architecture of accountability”. How satisfied are primary investors with the accountability of real estate managers and their funds? IPE asked several major investors for their views on the subject. Our questions – which were supplied by Jonathan Fenton at law firm DLA ...
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Features
Pensions in a state of insecurity
Norbert Blüm, a former Conservative labour minister, once committed one of Germany’s best-known political gaffes by claiming that the state pension was “secure”. While Blüm had good intentions – meaning to say that payment of some pension was guaranteed – he probably should have realised that his remark would be ...
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Features
Inflation on the prowel
The financial setbacks of recent years have left many pension funds in a difficult position. With their concentration in equities, portfolios were damaged by the collapse of the technology bubble, while the simultaneous fall in bond yields raised pension liabilities. Additionally, government reviews and legislative changes have all placed pension ...
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Features
How secure is your lending?
IPE asked three pension funds in three countries – Ireland, Denmark and the Netherlands – the same question: ‘Does securities lending represent free revenue for pension funds or does it carry underestimated risks?’ Here are their answers: Michael Nellemann Perdersen, CIO at PKA, which groups eight pension funds in ...
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Features
Where the grass is greener?
There seem to be two Irelands when it comes to pensions. The first is the dynamic financial centre that is looking to become a pensions hub for Europe once the occupational pension fund directive kicks in. The second by contrast is a country that is wrestling with its very own ...
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Features
Investing with the grain
Oil is today’s news. Gold is always news. But what about wheat? Wheat is one of the agricultural commodities, the Cinderella sector of commodities. While energy and metals have attracted the attention of investors, agriculture - a so-called ‘soft’ commodity - has often been overlooked. Yet agricultural commodities have their ...
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Features
Hedge funds under scrutiny
Until recently, hedge funds were considered as a ‘black box’ which aimed to deliver absolute returns and stipulated cash as a benchmark. Current research conducted at the London Business School’s hedge fund research centre focuses on two issues. The first pertains to the systematic risks of hedge fund strategies while ...
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Features
Uni-directional world of funds
In Germany, institutional investors are increasingly turning away from Spezialfonds in favour of mutual funds. Experts say this is largely because of the onerous reporting requirements they have to adhere to when invested in Spezialfonds, but there are other factors at play too. “Three or four years ago, there were ...
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Features
Funds in profile
DSM Pension Services Ewout Gillissen, senior investment manager The stock market success of speciality chemicals company DSM, the former petrochemical giant, is being mirrored by the financial success of its pension funds. After the divestment of the petrochemical segment to Saudi Arabia’s SABIC, the in-house pension management supplier DSM Pensions ...
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Features
A fork in the road
Some have argued that compulsion is the only way to close the so-called ‘savings gap’ the shortfall between the amount people will need in their retirement and the amount that the state will provide. They say the introduction of compulsory pension contributions is the only way forward, since encouragement to ...
