All IPE articles in October 2014 (Magazine) – Page 2

  • Spain
    Country Report

    Spain: Home is best

    October 2014 (Magazine)

    Gail Moss assesses investment trends for Spanish pension entities, which have recorded their second successive year of high returns 

  • Features

    Risk – beyond the numbers

    October 2014 (Magazine)

    Risk can always be reduced to a set of numbers. But trustees play an important role both in setting the right risk objectives and in interpreting the signals, writes Gail Moss

  • Features

    The big picture

    October 2014 (Magazine)

    ECB president Draghi is certainly making a name for himself with his market-jolting, memorable speeches. In 2012, his strident call that the euro would be saved “whatever it takes” marked, or arguably triggered, Europe’s move out of its crisis. In August, Draghi made a speech in Jackson Hole that surprised many with the nature some of its statements, in particular his opining on Europe’s fiscal policy.

  • Asset Class Reports

    High-yield Bonds & Loans: Covenants and calls

    October 2014 (Magazine)

    Joseph Mariathasan and Martin Steward ask whether investors’ traditional protections are getting squeezed out in the convergence of high yield bond and loan markets

  • Asset Class Reports

    High-yield Bonds & Loans: Lien and healthy?

    October 2014 (Magazine)

    Jennifer Bollen finds booming leverage markets bringing second-lien debt back into vogue in private equity deals – and in Europe, that can mean mezzanine-like risk 

  • Asset Class Reports

    High-yield Bonds & Loans: Slow but steady progress

    October 2014 (Magazine)

    While some European countries are making progress with respect to non-bank funding for mid-market businesses, others still have some way to go. Yet there is a growing appetite for the standardisation and transparency required to develop this market, write Alexandra Krief and Taron Wade

  • Opinion Pieces

    Crony capitalism

    October 2014 (Magazine)

    The public gets it. Academics and financial analysts get it. In fact, many experts say it is the most important governance and democracy issue of our time. So why do investors have so little to say about political donations and the corporate capture of politics?

  • Country Report

    Portugal: Confidence returns

    October 2014 (Magazine)

    Portugal’s supplementary pension funds have increased their equity weightings but are still cautious on fixed-income, writes Gail Moss

  • Features

    Focus Group: Contending with the ‘do-gooders’

    October 2014 (Magazine)

    Just over half of respondents polled for this month’s Focus Group said their fund has an overall ESG policy. Around the same number have an active engagement policy for corporate governance issues – and 21 have decided to exclude specific investment areas due to ESG considerations.

  • Features

    The ‘what’ and ‘why’ of costs

    October 2014 (Magazine)

    Controversies around pension funds’ asset management costs in various countries tell us something about the mood of the times, but they also suggest that changes are needed in the way pension boards select and justify their strategy choices to members and the wider world.

  • Features

    DC plans in search of credibility

    October 2014 (Magazine)

    Worldwide, diversity increasingly characterises defined contribution (DC) schemes. There are employee-managed plans in Hong Kong, Japan, the UK and the US. There are trustee-led plans in Australia, Brazil, Chile, continental Europe and South Africa. There are state-supervised DC plans in China, India, Malaysia and Singapore.  

  • Asset Class Reports

    Dangerous liquidity

    October 2014 (Magazine)

    Following another summer of high-yield bond market volatility, Emma Cusworth asks whether ETFs are to blame for credit markets getting riskier

  • Features

    Divergence trades, depression trades

    October 2014 (Magazine)

    “It’s one of our big themes,” said Kathleen Hughes, head of European institutional sales at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, talking about central bank policy divergence over meet-the-press drinks in early September, four hours after European Central Bank president Mario Draghi had taken the deposit rate further into negative territory and announced plans to purchase covered bonds and asset-backed securities. The euro had a terrible day; Goldman Sachs had a pretty good one.

  • Features

    Diary of an Investor: A happy median

    October 2014 (Magazine)

    A couple of weeks ago, my old friend Pim came over to the Wasserdicht offices in Utrecht to tell me about his new proposition. I’ve known Pim for many years and he has pitched to me many times, although each pitch has been from a different company.

  • Features

    How we run our money - Prudent and dynamic

    October 2014 (Magazine)

    Miguel Branco, deputy director of Banco de Portugal pension fund, tells Carlo Svaluto Moreolo about his fund’s investment and risk strategy

  • Features

    Evergreen mandate takes root

    October 2014 (Magazine)

    Mark Mansley and Faith Ward of the UK’s Environment Agency Pension Fund tell Jonathan Williams about the scheme’s plans for an ‘evergreen’ sustainable equity mandate and discuss how investment management agreements of indefinite length will spread

  • Interviews

    Experience, leveraged

    October 2014 (Magazine)

    Babson Capital immediately springs to mind for institutional investors around the world seeking global fixed-income managers, but that is a key goal for CEO Tom Finke. Having raised $5bn (€3.9bn) from European investors alone in 2013 it certainly looks well-positioned to one day be ranked among the market leaders. 

  • Features

    Keeping it in the family

    October 2014 (Magazine)

    Jennifer Bollen asks why buyers of private equity secondaries tend to be owners of primary interests already, and finds the current hot market conditions explain some of the advantages

  • Opinion Pieces

    “Governance can serve as a stimulus to improve and nurture pension organisations”

    October 2014 (Magazine)

    Once a year, the US professional basketball league organises its all-star competition. Players from teams across the country are selected as the best in their respective positions. Could we have an all-star pension industry, uniting the best standards and practices under one roof?

  • Features

    The high stakes of stakeholder group reform

    October 2014 (Magazine)

    Changes to the governance and funding structure of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) now seem inevitable, after it was adopted as one of the core policies for new European commissioner Jonathan Hill.