epn: European Pensions & Investment News articles from April 2007

epn: European Pensions & Investment News archives from April 2007

News: ITP tender winners lash out at Alecta favouritism.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Caroline Liinanki The winners of the Swedish ITP tendering process are angry at the apparent favouritism being shown towards Alecta, default fund manager of the newly launched white-collar employee scheme, and fear members are...

News: Barclays could keep two separate asset management divisions after ABN Amro merger.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Barclays would be likely to retain BGI and ABN Amro Asset Management as separate units with merged back offices if the companies' talks on a merger come off. This is the view of Guy de Blonay, who runs a...

News: Locals top latest French alpha generating tables.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Independent local players have dominated Edhec's ranking of the top long-only alpha generators in France. The Nice-based business school's specialist asset management centre is seeking to pioneer a new fund...

News: Dutch pension funds post outperformance.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Dutch pension funds realised an average of 7.4 per cent in 2006, according to a study by WM Performance Services, equating to an inflation-adjusted return of 5.9 per cent. This represents a healthy outperformance...

News: LPFA looks at alternative investment tweaking.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Caroline Liinanki The GBP3.6bn (5.3bn) London Pensions Fund Authority (LPFA), which is currently searching for a property manager to run a GBP150m global fund of funds mandate, is reviewing its alternative investment holdings with...

News: Ebica secures Philips expatriate savings vehicle.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Philips has selected a company partially owned by ABN Amro to run a pan-European pension fund for its mobile employees to be domiciled in Luxembourg. The fund, which is designed for expatriates working for the...

News in Brief: LCP takes on six partners.
April 9, 2007... Lane Clark & Peacock (LCP) has appointed six new partners and one principal to its actuarial consulting teams in London and Winchester. Mark Alexander, Marc Baustista, Jerome Melcer and Robert Murray have been appointed partners and are based...

News in Brief: FRR looks for quality control.
April 9, 2007... The French pensions reserve fund FRR is seeking a contractor to examine the quality of the transaction executions carried out by the asset managers it has appointed. The call for bids comes in advance of the expiry of the original three-year...

News in Brief: BNP Paribas set to acquire RBS.
April 9, 2007... BNP Paribas Securities Services is to acquire RBS International Securities Services, which is partly owned by the Bank of New York. The firm said the acquisition will help strengthen its services for UK offshore funds. RBS International...

News: Bisgaard-Frantzen leaves ATP after strategy split.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Differences over strategy have led Jens Bisgaard-Frantzen to leave ATP Private Equity Partners, which he has headed since its founding six years ago. The company, which is incorporated as a partnership wholly...

News: Green joins Deloitte as consulting business expands.
April 9, 2007... Deloitte has appointed a specialist in European investment consulting to its expanding pensions investment consulting business. The appointment of Andy Green, who was previously director of European investment consulting, signals Deloitte's...

News: People on the Move - Thompson to bolster Mercer's research team.
April 9, 2007... Mercer Investment Consulting has appointed Alex Thompson to its European manager research team. Mr Thompson joins from Aon Consulting, where he worked as an investment research consultant specialising in fixed income. Prior to that, he worked...

News: People on the Move - Terada takes on advisory role at index provider MSC.
April 9, 2007... MSCI Barra, the provider of benchmark indices and risk management analytics products, has hired Noburu Terada as a senior adviser. He will be based in Tokyo and report to Philippe Ballet, head of MSCI Barra in Japan and Australia. Mr Terada was...

News: People on the Move - Sacker and Partners taps Phillips' pensions expertise.
April 9, 2007... The UK pension law firm Sacker and Partners has poached solicitor Sarah Phillips from Clifford Chance, where she has worked in the pensions team since 2001. Ms Phillips has experience in pensions litigation, trustee and employer advisory work....

News: People on the Move - Du Haney to target fixed income alpha at Henderson.
April 9, 2007... Henderson Global Investors has appointed Emma du Haney as investment director to its fixed income team. Ms du Haney will have investment responsibility for Henderson's existing clients and will develop its higher alpha fixed income business in...

News: People on the Move - Buzare prepares to head up equity management at Dexia.
April 9, 2007... Dexia Asset Management has named Frederic Buzare head of fundamental equity management, making him responsible for financial analyses and for the management of European, American and emerging market equity funds. Mr Buzare will head a team of...

News: Industry warns of Personal Account levelling down.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Kalpana Fitzpatrick The UK government is facing yet another major challenge over pensions as it moves forward with the introduction of Personal Accounts, which are due to come into force in 2012. Introduced as a part of UK...

News: Aberdeen lowers the threshold to offer German property fund to smaller players.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Aberdeen Property Investors is to launch two funds investing in real estate in German-speaking countries. Bernd Essler, managing director of the Stockholm-based real estate specialist's German branch, said the...

News: Equities prepare for 2.2trn MSCI switch.
April 9, 2007... MSCI's relaunch of its equity index series is set to cause a substantial shift on equity markets this year as $3trn (2.24trn) in assets that track them are moved to follow the reweightings. From November, the index provider will construct...

News Analysis: Germans take baby steps to Reits.
April 9, 2007... With the final passage last week of legislation introducing real estate investment trusts (Reits) in Germany, pension funds in the country are moving cautiously to boost their exposure to the asset class. Thomas Jasper, an investment...

EPN Investment Outlook Survey: Global equity slump fails to dent investor enthusiasm.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Chris Newlands A quarter of European pension fund investors intend to cut into their bond holdings over the next six months while 35 per cent of funds plan to increase their exposure to equities over the same period, according to...

Comment: World View - Divided opinions on market prospects.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Klaudius Sobczyk There is little doubt that over the long term financial markets are driven by fundamentals. However, it may be more difficult to establish exactly which fundamentals are doing the driving at the moment. ...

Comment: Industry Voice - Are clones better than the real thing?
April 9, 2007... Byline: Stephen Oxley Hedge funds have always lacked decent benchmarks. There is no single market or systematic return for hedge funds and finding a passive equivalent has proved difficult. Not surprising for an investment category that...

Comment: Time for others to get on their bike.
April 9, 2007... Mephisto's hands are red raw. Why? Because he has only just finished applauding F&C's commitment to offset its own carbon emissions. Following its decision to invest in renewable energy for its London offices, the self-appointed champion...

Long-short Investment: Short selling gaining more credibility.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Roel Thijssen In a long-only portfolio, the ability to fully implement investment insights is hampered as it is not possible for the asset manager to take meaningful underweight positions in stocks that they do not like. This...

Fund Profile: LPFA - London fund banks on bricks and mortar.
April 9, 2007... Six months ago, Mike Taylor took over as chief executive of the GBP3.6bn (5.3bn) London Pensions Fund Authority (LPFA). The LPFA, the former Greater London Council, is a part of the local government pension scheme and manages pensions and...

Pensions Snapshot: Spain.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt While immigration only offers a short-term solution to Spain's soaring dependency ratio, the government is adopting measures that will only drag down the country's already low savings rate. After many years of no...

News: ABN Amro pair go it alone with SilverStreet and secure initial investment of $500m.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Two former alternatives specialists from ABN Amro Asset Management have set out on their own to launch a fund of hedge fund operation targeting European institutional investors. SilverStreet Capital, headed up by...

News: Gold firm blue after 'unfair' green dismissal.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Spencer Anderson South African mining firm DRD Gold has denounced the Norwegian Government Pension Fund's decision to drop it from its global investment fund as unfair. The fund recently sold its shares in DRD Gold over...

News: Alrington unleashes specialist property series.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Arlington, the specialist property investor, is to launch a series of highly focused European indirect property funds. Karin van der Sluijs, director for indirect property at the company, said the funds would...

News in Brief: Principal reveals plans for global property Reits fund.
April 23, 2007... Principal Global Investors is to launch a global real esate investment trust (Reit). The product will be similar to the global property securities fund, which has been on offer in Australia for almost four years and will invest in the US,...

News in Brief: Private equity and property buoy PensionDanmark performance.
April 23, 2007... PensionDanmark, the 8.3bn Danish pension fund, posted returns of 1.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2007. The fund has almost 40 per cent of its assets invested in equities, which returned 2.5 per cent. The best returns were from private...

News in Brief: Dutch healthcare fund sees steady growth over 2006.
April 23, 2007... PGGM, the Dutch healthcare sector fund, achieved investment returns of 11 per cent in 2006, taking its invested assets to 80.9bn at the end of last year, up from 71.8bn the year before. The fund's real estate portfolio was the big winner,...

News: Inflexible investors fail to fulfil fixed income potential.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Institutional investors fail to make full use of the possibilities offered by their fixed-income portfolios, says Edith Siermann, Robeco's chief investment officer for fixed income. She said: "A lot of the...

News: Invesco unveils 130/30 products aimed at sponsors.
April 23, 2007... Invesco has launched three directional 130/30 products with which it is targeting pension plan sponsors. The three strategies, which have been funded with some $515m (379.1m) in seed capital, are benchmarked to the MSCI US, the S&P 600 and...

People on the Move: Kassin makes the leap to ABN Amro fixed income team.
April 23, 2007... Credit Suisse has poached Raphael Kassin from ABN Amro Asset Management to head its emerging markets fixed income team. The team manages portfolios for institutional and retail clients. At ABN, Mr Kassin was a fund manager and head of its...

People on the Move: Hall takes Mercer actuary post.
April 23, 2007... Simon Hall has joined Mercer Human Resource Consulting from Watson Wyatt. He has been appointed as an associate within its retirement business and will be working as an actuary in the Belfast consulting team.

People on the Move: Voetsch to develop client relations at Principal.
April 23, 2007... Principal Global Investors has appointed Sven Voetsch as head of client relationship management. Mr Voetsch will be based in London and work with clients across Europe. He previously worked as director of European client service and business...

People on the Move: Morley property team moving places with four new staff.
April 23, 2007... Morley has made four additions to its European property team and also promoted its head of European property, Ben Stirling, to property executive in the senior management team. Robert Wood joins as fund manager from Norwich Property Trust...

People on the Move: Miazzi to tackle emerging markets at Nomura.
April 23, 2007... Nomura Asset Management has appointed Alberto Miazzi as product executive to its global emerging market strategy team. He will report to David da Silva, global emerging markets product specialist. Mr Miazzi joins from Watson Wyatt, where he...

People on the Move: Pimco poaches Baz from Goldman for global team.
April 23, 2007... Pimco has poached Jamil Baz from Goldman Sachs to join its global portfolio management team. Mr Baz will assist in portfolio management, as well as strategic product, market and client development initiatives and will join in May 2007. Prior to...

People on the Move: Nepgen joins Threadneedle global equities team.
April 23, 2007... Threadneedle Investments has added to its global equities team with the appointment of Pauline Nepgen. Ms Nepgen will be responsible for covering the technology and telecoms sectors, with a regional responsibility for Asia. She will report to...

People on the Move: Adding Witt to Pimco's German operations.
April 23, 2007... Pimco has appointed Frank Witt as head of business development for Germany and Austria. Mr Witt replaces Dr Dirk Klee, who became head of distribution channels for Pimco's sister company Allianz Global Investors.

News: People on the Move - Sheridan takes charge of New Star fund launch.
April 23, 2007... New Star Investment Funds has poached Nicholas Sheridan, director of European equities at Tilney, to launch a new fund at New Star. The fund will have a bias towards European ex-UK large-cap stocks. Mr Sheridan has more than 20 years...

News: Ermitage looks to acquire cream of hedge fund crop.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Kalpana Fitzpatrick Hedge fund manager Ermitage is looking to make a number of acquisitions to help secure limited talent in the sector. Ian Cadby, CEO of Ermitage, told epn: "We are looking to secure talent in North America...

News: UK and Ireland leading the pack in equity exposure as Euro allocations on the up.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt UK and Irish pension funds tend to have the highest levels of equity exposure in Europe, while funds in Germany and France average the lowest, a report by Mercer Investment Consulting has found. The company...

News Analysis: Bringing expertise back in-house.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Mariska van der Westen The plan was hatched in London, developed in Switzerland, and launched in Holland. Now Altis Asset Management is ready to take its concept - fiduciary 'insourcing' - to the rest of Europe. Never heard of...

Focus: Hedge Funds - Melting the hedge fund freeze.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Dermot Keegan Institutional investors across Europe are warming to the idea of investing in hedge funds. Industry experts, consultants and fund managers report a growing appetite for alternative products that can deliver attractive...

Defined Contribution: Taking strides towards DC dominance in Europe.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Gary Smith Defined contribution (DC) pension provision seems to be emerging around the world as the future form of retirement savings. Whilst many cite the US, Australia and the UK as the main countries of DC growth, the trend away...

Fund Profile: Pensioenfonds Citigroup - Small fish label does not hold water with Citigroup.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Mariska van der Westen With invested assets of just 50m, the pension fund of the world's largest bank's Dutch subsidiary is one of the smaller fund pools. But small is a relative term, according to Sikko van Katwijk, chairman of...

Pensions Snapshot: Austria.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Caroline Liinanki Only 12 per cent of Austrian firms provide company pensions to their employees but expected changes to the country's taxation system look set to address this problem. "There is definitely a trend for more...

Comment: World View - The perfect storm turns into a shower.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Klaudius Sobczyk As usual, the trigger for a meltdown was unexpected, and did not come from an asset class which would normally be associated with such a market shift. The correction in the Chinese equity market was the excuse for...

Comment: Industry Voice - Tooling up for a perfect portfolio.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Paul Trickett Having established the importance of consciously choosing an investment strategy to match a pension fund's governance arrangements and appreciating that governance is elastic and can be expanded through delegation,...

Comment: London starts to blow its own horn.
April 23, 2007... There is a spring in our step as we send you this excited dispatch from London. No proud citizen of the UK's capital can have failed to notice stories in the British press - but not anywhere else - over the past few months, claiming...

Focus: Hedge Funds - Getting welcomed into the institutional world.(Company overview)
April 23, 2007... This year has seen a slew of reports testifying to pension funds' new-found enthusiasm for hedge fund investments. State Street, which has an interest, having acquired the hedge fund servicer International Fund Services in 2002, led the way...

Nordic Fund Performance: Big names deal with lower performance.
April 23, 2007... Nine out of the 10 largest pension funds in the Nordic region have all reported lower returns for 2006 than in 2005. On average total returns showed a decline of 5.4 per cent. This decline was most noticeable in Denmark. At ATP, the...