epn: European Pensions & Investment News articles from December 2008

epn: European Pensions & Investment News archives from December 2008

News: Norwegian fund to filter out tobacco investments.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Spencer Anderson Norway Norway's largest pension fund will cut all of its investments in tobacco related companies next year, in adherence to its new ethical guidelines. The E234bn Norwegian Pension Fund - Global's...

News: Ilmarinen to ditch underperforming managers.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Caroline Liinanki Finland Ilmarinen's new deputy chief executive officer and head of investments Timo Ritakallio is making his first changes to the firm's investment strategy. The E23.4bn Finnish pension company will...

News: Belgian KBC fund eyes east European real estate market.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Spencer Anderson Belgium KBC Pensioenfonds, the E788m Belgian pension fund, is to expand its real estate investments into eastern Europe. Edwin Meysmans, managing director and pension fund secretary at KBC, said that there...

News: KPA reduces management charges by close to 70%.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Caroline Liinanki Sweden KPA Pension, the Swedish pensions company for local government employees, has slashed its management fees by almost 70 per cent. The move will increase the pressure on other firms and put the issue...

News: PFZW trade union mergers postponed.
December 1, 2008... Netherlands Two of the E88bn Dutch PFZW fund's proposed mergers are on hold. Earlier this year, the fund announced it would be merging with the E325m trade union federation FNV and the E50m National Federation of Christian Trade...

News in brief.
December 1, 2008... A survey by EDHEC found that finance professionals remain unconvinced about hedge fund replication. While the study said asset managers recognised the benefits of the high liquidity and lower costs that replication usually offers, there was...

News: KLP sheds equities by 20% to protect assets and post Q3 gain.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Spencer Anderson Norway Norwegian pension and insurance company KLP has slashed its equities from 26 per cent to 6 per cent, in a defensive move to protect capital. The firm's equity holdings began the year at 26 per cent...

News: PE ratios threatening value of US stocks.
December 1, 2008... Favourable price-to-earnings (PE) ratios are creating a floor in US equity values, fund managers believe. BlackRock estimates that more than 60 per cent of stocks in the S&P 500 have a PE ratio of less than 10, a situation not seen since...

News: Dutch court clears way for US-style class actions in UK.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Tom Willetts United Kingdom A groundbreaking court case is expected to prompt a flurry of interest in US-style class action law suits in the UK. A $352m (E275m) settlement between energy giant Shell and a clutch of...

People News: AGI Europe plans Nordic expansion and local office.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Spencer Anderson Allianz Global Investors (AGI) Europe will open an office in Scandinavia. Elizabeth Corley, chief executive officer for AGI Europe, told epn that the Nordic region was an increasingly important market for the...

People News: EPRA hunts for preacher of real estate 'gospel'.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Hjalmar Tjan The European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA) plans to appoint a member of staff responsible for spreading "the gospel of listed real estate to a broader audience", by the end of the year. EPRA research...

People News: People News in brief.
December 1, 2008... Viveka Ekberg will take over as chief executive officer of PP Pension, the Swedish pension fund for journalists and media employees, in February 2009. She will replace Tomas Lindstrand, who is set to retire. Ms Ekberg joins from Morgan Stanley...

News Analysis: German asset management empire to strike back in 2009.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Chris Newlands Germany It is not often that you get to compare the European asset management market to George Lucas's 1977 classic Star Wars, but now feels appropriate. One particular scene sticks out from episode four:...

Comment: Leader - As the death toll rises, further disasters loom.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Spencer Anderson - Editor So it has all come to this. Earlier this year, there were whispers about how bad things could get, but nobody believed that when the dust of 2008 had settled we would be a world without Bear Stearns or...

Comment: Industry voice - Winning the long war.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Paul Niven As the world's developed economies are hovering on the brink of a recession as deep as any in the last few decades, it is difficult for investors to take a detached approach and assess whether there are attractive...

Comment: Mephisto - Pirates of the Square Mile: Curse of the CDOs.
December 1, 2008... Ahoy! Pirates are back, and all signs point to the winds blowing them to a stock market near you. It seems no fortress is impregnable. The Jolly Roger is riding rampant again with no sign of letting up. They will plunder, they will raid,...

Fund Profile: Sweden - Swedish AMF reconsiders negative view of equities.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Caroline Liinanki Swedish institutional investors have long had some of the highest equity allocations in the Nordic region. Exposure of around 60 per cent to the asset class has not been unusual, but recent events have forced even...

Country Profile: Norway.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Spencer Anderson Norwegian regulation has always been a minefield, particularly for foreign asset managers. Its largest fund, the Norwegian Pension Fund - Global, is run by a strict set of ethical guidelines - widely considered to...

Features: Crisis 2008 - Recovery predictions - The prospects of fiscal stimulation.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Martin Fagan With hindsight, perhaps the only thing in 2008 that was predicted with any degree of accuracy was that the weather over the summer would be lousy. No one claimed any degree of clairvoyance to alert the world to the...

Netherlands: DUFAS principles - A more principled approach to fiduciary management.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Hjalmar Tjan The Dutch Fund and Asset Management Association (DUFAS), in association with the Dutch association of company pension funds (OPF), has introduced the DUFAS principles for fiduciary management. A copy of the principles...

The Specialist: Fraud loss litigation - A close look at fraud-busting legal weaponry.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Anthony Riem The multi-jurisdictional nature of many hedge funds, their investors and the companies they invest in, can make litigation a daunting prospect. In the current financial climate, parties involved with hedge funds are...

The Interview: Elizabeth Corley - Allianz Global Investors - Europe.
December 1, 2008... Byline: Spencer Anderson What is your strategy for 2009 and which markets will you be targeting? Pension funds are hugely important for us. They are our largest client across Europe. And this isn't a pan-European market. You've got...