epn: European Pensions & Investment News articles from July 2007

epn: European Pensions & Investment News archives from July 2007

News: Ilmarinen to up equity exposure.
July 1, 2007... Ilmarinen, the 23bn Finnish mutual pension insurance company, plans to raise its equity exposure by 2 percentage points each year until 2012, according to Jussi Laitinen, chief investment officer. A host of funds have taken the same path...

News: FTSE slams MSCI global equity index single series.
July 1, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt MSCI, the world's largest index provider, made a mistake when it consolidated its global equity index offerings into a single series, its smaller rival FTSE has claimed. Lillian Goldthwaite, head of equities at...

News: Mercer set to hire 25 more as pan-European one-stop shop takes off.
July 1, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Mercer Human Resource consulting has set up a pan-European one-stop shop for companies anxious to avoid locking up money in over-financed pension funds. The company's new European Financial Strategy Group, which...

News: Private equity catches on in Nordic region.
July 1, 2007... Byline: Kalpana Fitzpatrick More than 60 per cent of Nordic pension funds plan to raise their exposure to private equity in the next six months and 50 per cent expect to allocate more to infrastructure. When epn asked funds whether...

News in Brief: 130/30 funds see surge in assets under management.
July 1, 2007... Global assets under management in 130/30-style investment strategies amount to around $65bn (48.9bn), according to Herold Rohweder, global chief investment officer with Allianz Global Investors' RCM Systematic, and 80 per cent of that money...

News in Brief: McAndrew moves up at BIAM to take UK MD post.
July 1, 2007... Bank of Ireland Asset Management (BIAM) has appointed Carl McAndrew as managing director of its UK operations. Mr McAndrew was previously head of business for BIAM UK. "We've had an established presence in the UK market for close to 20 years...

News in Brief: Grodzki and Vogel bolster L&G fixed income team.
July 1, 2007... Legal & General Investment Management has made two senior appointments to its active fixed income team. Georg Grodzki will join as head of credit research and Patrick Vogel as head of European credit portfolio management. Mr Grodzki was...

News: Company pensions getting pushed to top of Italian agenda.
July 1, 2007... Byline: Kalpana Fitzpatrick Eight out of 10 Italian firms now believe company pension provision is central to their employee benefit and total reward policy, a survey by Watson Wyatt has found. Livio Mocenigo, benefits practice leader...

News: Credit Suisse attempts to fill staff gaps with hires.
July 1, 2007... Credit Suisse has embarked on a hiring spree in an attempt to draw a line under a tough period during which it lost numerous senior staff and shut down much of its New York-based asset management operation. The new recruits are all joining...

People on the Move: Verhoeven signs up to Unigestion as director.
July 1, 2007... Unigestion has opened a new office in Munich and appointed Paul Verhoeven as its director. Mr Verhoeven joins from DBV-Winterthur Versicherungen, where he was investment director and member of the board. "Thanks to our local presence in Germany...

People on the Move: Kapur poached for SEI DC role.
July 1, 2007... SEI has poached Mercer Investment Consulting's Ashish Kapur as DC product specialist. Mr Kapur will be responsible for managing and developing its DC solution in the UK. Prior to Mercer, he worked at Hewitt Bacon and Woodrow setting up and...

People on the Move: Duo defect from Watson Wyatt.
July 1, 2007... Abbey Financial Markets has poached two new members of staff from Watson Wyatt to its Life and Pension Solutions team. Hemat Popat was previously a senior investment consultant and Martin Collins worked as a scheme actuary and corporate...

People on the Move: Barings takes on Cunningham for international business.
July 1, 2007... Baring Asset Management has appointed Jonathan Cunningham as head of international institutional business, based in London. Mr Cunningham joins from Gartmore Investment Management, where he spent 11 years, latterly as business development...

People on the Move: Frith appointed to sales role within Aspect Capital.
July 1, 2007... Ted Frith has joined Aspect Capital from GFT Global Markets to develop the firm's institutional sales efforts in the UK, Ireland and Europe. Reporting to John Wareham, Aspect's chief commercial officer, Mr Frith takes on the position of...

People on the Move: Stevenson to check out hedge funds for Watson Wyatt.
July 1, 2007... Watson Wyatt has hired Craig Stevenson from bfinance to focus on researching hedge fund managers within its global manager research team. Based in London, Mr Stevenson will report to Craig Baker, the global head of manager research.

People on the Move: Kaveh moves up to marketing position at Henderson.
July 1, 2007... Henderson Global Investors has promoted Patricia Kaveh to director of business development for France, Monaco and Geneva. Ms Kaveh, previously a sales manager for Henderson in France, will be responsible for marketing Henderson's offshore...

People on the Move: Hymans' partners near 40 after six new appointments.
July 1, 2007... Hymans Robertson has appointed six new partners taking the total number to 39 across its three UK offices. The firm said the new appointments would enable it to expand further and provide clients with additional expertise and in-depth market...

People on the Move: Haymes takes on risk at BDO Stoy Hayward.
July 1, 2007... BDO Stoy Hayward Investment Management has hired Rebekah Haymes as risk benefits director based in London. Ms Haymes joins from Hymans Robertson, where she headed up the risk and healthcare team. At BDO Stoy Hayward Investment...

News: Dutch funds leading the way in implementing LDI strategies.
July 1, 2007... Byline: Kalpana Fitzpatrick More than twice as many pension funds in the Netherlands are implementing liability-driven investment (LDI) than in the UK, according to new research from SEI. Liability Driven Investing: The Global Truth on...

News: Swiss, Austria and Nordics top green tables.
July 1, 2007... Byline: Kalpana Fitzpatrick Switzerland is the top ranked country when it comes to environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors while China, Pakistan and Qatar make up the tail end, according to Ethical Investment Research Services...

News: Aon enters war for accounting talent to bolster FRC team.
July 1, 2007... Aon has revealed plans to bring accountants on board its Financial Risk Consulting (FRC) team in response to increased trustee demand for assistance when assessing the employer covenant. Iain Brown, head of the FRC team, said Aon was...

News Analysis: Risk failures spurred UK crisis.
July 1, 2007... The funding crisis confronting UK pension schemes is the result of a failure of risk management, not of asset allocation, according to UBS Global Asset Management. The 2007 edition of the bank's regular Pension Fund Indicators survey...

Comment: World View - Sentiment suggests a correction is imminent.
July 1, 2007... Byline: Klaudius Sobczyk Sentiment is very important for the markets. As a consequence, there are various tools for measuring market sentiment to show if excessive investor optimism may lead to sustained and profound market corrections....

Comment: Industry Voice - Diversifying into riskier asset classes.
July 1, 2007... Byline: Mike O'Brien In early June, AON reported that UK pension fund deficits have improved by around GBP100bn (148bn) in just over four years, and that nearly half of the largest 200 UK pension funds are now in surplus. After the perfect...

Comment: Shorn hair, but with an activist ethos.
July 1, 2007... Mephisto was an activist once. All through the 1960s and 1970s, Mephisto marched to end the Vietnam War, for Women's Lib, for animal rights and to end apartheid. Back in those days, there was nothing better than to gather with a crowd of...

Focus: Germany - Taming the beast in wake of global interest.
July 1, 2007... Byline: Clemens Schuerhoff The Master KAG (Kapitalanlagegesellschaft or capital investment company) is growing into its role as a specialised form of investment company. Since the trend towards Master KAGs began at the end of 2001, the...

Focus: Germany - Competing with the global custodians.
July 1, 2007... Interview with Bernd Franke, chair of the board of directors at International Capital Investment Company (Inka) How do you see competition on the Master KAG landscape? Three years ago people were still forecasting a multitude of Master...

Quant Management: Quant completes its long road to maturity.
July 1, 2007... Byline: Iain Morse Until a few years ago, quantitative asset management was regarded as a minority interest, sandwiched somewhere between passive and fundamental styles. For many it was synonymous with the notion of 'enhanced index'; a...

Quant Management: What 130/30 funds do for quant managers.
July 1, 2007... 130/30 funds promise quant managers a decisive advantage over long-only fundamental managers and most now have one or more as part of their fund range. The case for shorting is strong and consistent with portfolio theory. By adding this...

DC in Germany: Tempted by DC carrot.
July 1, 2007... Byline: Marc Oliver Heine Defined contribution (DC) schemes are becoming increasingly popular in Europe. One reason is multi-national employers' growing interest in implementing DC pension schemes for all their employees worldwide....

Fund Profile: Dutch Preachers' Fund - Dutch pastors emerge from confusion to see the light.
July 1, 2007... Byline: Anke Claasen Stichting Pensioenfonds voor de Predikanten stands out in the world of pensions. Pastors in the Netherlands are not legally in service in their parish and are not formally considered employees. This has interesting...

Fixed Income: Mixed messages for bonds.
July 1, 2007... Byline: Andy Howse Fixed income markets are sending mixed signals to investors, although those that can rely on robust and wide-ranging research can certainly mine rich seams of ideas. In Europe we are seeing rising interest rates and...

Pensions Snapshot: Romania.
July 1, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Banks in Romania are braced for a flood of applications to join the country's new pension system when pre-registrations open in August. The country is set to introduce a three-pillar pension system on 1 January...

News: First CEE hedge fund set to be launched.
July 2, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt A group of Hungarian fund managers is set to launch the first hedge fund in Central and Eastern Europe this November. Karoly Hercegh, currently head of the capital markets department at the Hungarian Development...

News: Threadneedle unveils 130/30 plans.
July 2, 2007... The UK asset manager Threadneedle is preparing to join the 130/30 rush with the launch of at least one fund, planned for the fourth quarter of this year. The company is looking to create a 130/30 version of one of its existing range of...

News: PKA goes green with first private equity venture.
July 2, 2007... Byline: Caroline Liinanki PKA has made its first direct private equity investment, putting money into the environmentally friendly sector. The eight PKA funds have allocated more than 120m to an unlisted Danish company which recycles old...

News: PPD joins battle for Romanian top spot.
July 2, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Slovenia's PPD pension insurance company became the latest company jostling for position in the Romanian pension market last week. In May, Romania began the process of restructuring the pension system around a...

News: JPMorgan 130/30 funds to make journey from state side.
July 2, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt JPMorgan Asset Management is bringing the range of 130/30 funds it pioneered in the US to Europe, with the launch of four long-short Luxembourg Sicavs. The first of these, two 130/30 European equity funds,...

News in Brief: EPN's Escritt picks up accolade.
July 2, 2007... epn's Thomas Escritt won the award as best newcomer to pension and investment journalism at Aon Consulting's annual pension and investment awards held in London last week. The prize, which Aon said was given to Mr Escritt for his...

News in Brief: Mellon wins Finnish FIM high yield mandate.
July 2, 2007... Finland's FIM Asset Management has appointed Mellon Global Investments to manage its 60m high yield fund. "We look forward to pooling our combined strengths in order to provide Finnish investors with a robust fixed income solution," said FIM's...

News in Brief: FRR dishes out three passive management mandates.
July 2, 2007... The 32bn French reserve fund, Fonds de Reserve pour Les Retraites (FRR), has awarded three passive management mandates to Vanguard Investments, Barclays Global Investors and UBS Global Asset Management. Each mandate will last three years,...

News: 500m to infrastructure shows Irish NPRF's new taste for risk.
July 2, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Ireland's National Pensions Reserve Fund (NPRF) hopes to allocate some 500m to infrastructure funds. The decision comes as the fund, which grew to 18.9bn at the end of 2006, seeks to move its portfolio away from...

News: Rathke shakes things up at Vital with series of management cuts.
July 2, 2007... Tom Rathke, the new managing director at Vital, has taken over responsibility for DnB NOR Asset Management. He has also reorganised the senior management group and made two additions to the team. The senior management team now has eight...

News: People on the Move - All change at BGI board as Sednaoui takes presidency.
July 2, 2007... Barclays Global Investors Switzerland has appointed a new president of the board and elected two new board members. Philippe Sednaoui, CEO of Barclays Wealth Switzerland, has replaced Mike O'Brien as president. Mark Eberle, CEO of Barclays...

News: People on the Move - Landman covers new ground with Eastern Europe Trust board.
July 2, 2007... Rory Landman has joined the board of The Eastern European Trust, the UK investment trust managed by Pictet Asset Management. Mr Landman was previously senior director and head of global emerging market equities at Baring Asset Management. Prior...

News: People on the Move - Wagstaff takes on global distribution at Gartmore.
July 2, 2007... Gartmore Investment Management has appointed Phil Wagstaff as global head of distribution. He will be responsible for the distribution of all retail, institutional and alternative products in the UK, Europe, Japan and the US. Mr Wagstaff will...

News: Bauer ascends to president post at EFAMA.
July 2, 2007... The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) has elected former vice-president Dr Mathias Bauer as president of the organisation. Dr Bauer is CEO of Raiffeisen Capital Management in Vienna and was previously president for the...

News: People on the Move - Reed to lay foundations for BlueBay convertible bonds.
July 2, 2007... BlueBay Asset Management has hired Mike Reed to build a convertible bond business. He joins from Pendragon, where he was a partner and ran its convertible arbitrage strategies. Prior to that, Mr Reed worked as a managing director at Salomon...

News: People on the Move - Littler tackles liquidity sales at Mellon Global Investments.
July 2, 2007... Mellon Global Investments has appointed Marcus Littler as director of institutional liquidity sales. He joins from Morgan Stanley Investment Management, where he held responsibility for distribution of short duration fixed income and cash...

News: People on the Move - Frazer heads up consultant relationships at Northern Trust.
July 2, 2007... Robert Frazer has joined Northern Trust as head of global consultant relationships within the asset servicing business. Mr Frazer joins from Thomas Murray, where he spent the last two years as a senior consultant and was responsible for client...

News: Global equity takes top spot as managers warm to alternatives.
July 2, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Alternative asset classes are slowly conquering the institutional investment world, with Mercer recording growing interest in assets like property, commodities and infrastructure. The company's investment...

News: EFR: pan-European pensions currently out of bounds.
July 2, 2007... Different tax regimes need not be an obstacle to the proper functioning of pan-European pension funds, the European Financial Services Roundtable (EFR) has found. But the Brussels-based industry association said in a new report on European...

News: Working hard to maintain hedge fund highs.
July 2, 2007... Byline: Caroline Liinanki Pension funds may have difficulties pulling in sufficient returns from alternatives as competition to hire the best managers intensifies, says Watson Wyatt. "As assets flow into these strategies at an ever...

Comment: Leader - Asset managers need to get in touch with clients.
July 2, 2007... Byline: Chris Newlands, editor So how well do asset managers know their clients? Very well you would expect. But according to research from Investit, the UK-based investment management consultant, asset managers do not seem to know their...

Comment: World View - When private equity starts to go public.
July 2, 2007... Byline: Klaudius Sobczyk Long-term investors are by their very nature sceptical. This might explain why despite a continuing positive outlook for equity markets, trouble is brewing that may warrant investors' attention. Recent gains...

Comment: Industry Voice - Bringing around sceptical Europeans.
July 2, 2007... Byline: Leonardo Sforza Fifty two per cent of Europeans are not confident about the future of their pension, according to a pan-European public opinion poll carried out on behalf of the European Commission. Retired people show the greatest...

Comment: Avoiding the maverick tag.
July 2, 2007... It sounds astonishing, but it would appear that investment consultants do not always agree with asset managers about the quality of their funds. It would seem that asset managers are torn between labelling 130/30 funds, their latest cash...

Focus: Nordic Region.
July 2, 2007... The Questions Last year was a bad year for Danish returns - how will you improve that? How are you coping with low bond returns? Danish funds seem slow to take up hedge funds - what is the problem with hedge funds? Are you...

Focus: Nordic Region: Strong economy means Nordics hold on.
July 2, 2007... Unlike many countries, whose governments are seeking to shift the financing for public infrastructure from their balance sheets, privatisation in the Nordics has been almost non-existent. Anecdotal evidence suggests both the Swedish and...

Focus: Nordic Region: ATP taking its time with 1.5bn allocation.
July 2, 2007... The DKr431bn (58bn) pension fund ATP has taken a pragmatic approach to infrastructure investment since making its foray into the asset class last year. The fund has earmarked 3 per cent, or approximately 1.5bn, of its total assets to an...

Focus: Nordic Region: Finland eager for equities.
July 2, 2007... Byline: Caroline Liinanki Six months after the new Finnish pension investment regulations came into force, Finnish pension fund companies have seized the opportunity to expand their allocations to equities and alternatives. "The...

DC in Belgium: A shifting landscape.
July 2, 2007... An ageing population in Belgium has put pensions in the spotlight. The problem has hastened a government review of occupational pension plans with the introduction of new social legislation aiming to defer retirement age, encourage the take-up...

Fund Profile: Prva Pokojninska Druzba - Slovenia fund unveils its global ambitions.
July 2, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Though barely a speck on the map, Slovenia, with a population of just 2m, has worked its way up to become a major economic player in South-Eastern and Central Europe over the past 10 years. Of all its neighbours,...

Pensions Snapshot: Czech Republic.
July 2, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt As most of Central and Eastern Europe rushes to implement an internationally approved three-pillar pension system, the Czech Republic has remained a lone stand-out. Despite early reforms back in 1993, the...

News: PKA to spread its wings into foreign real estate.
July 16, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt PKA, the 16.1bn Danish occupational fund administrator, is pushing on with its diversification drive with plans to allocate to foreign real estate. Already a domestic real estate player, the fund hopes to add...

News: FRR diversification drive to see three big tenders.
July 16, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Fonds de reserve pour les retraites, the 31bn French pensions reserve fund, is on a diversification drive, with three major tenders slated for the coming three months. Once issued, the three mandates should...

News: Danish property venture attracts interest.
July 16, 2007... Byline: Caroline Liinanki Danish consultant Invensure's property and infrastructure tie-up with Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) has already sparked interest among major pension funds. "We have so far had very positive responses. The major...

News: JPMorgan slashes 12 funds from PPM after new fees.
July 16, 2007... Byline: Caroline Liinanki JPMorgan has slashed 12 of the funds it offers on the Swedish national premium pension system (PPM) in response to the platform's new fee structure. The US investment house is the first and only firm to cut its...

News: Fidelity eyes staff in run up to property push.
July 16, 2007... Byline: Chris Newlands Fidelity International is to launch its first institutional European real estate fund in December and plans to increase its property team to 12 with the appointment of three senior personnel. The fund, which will...

News in Brief: Lothian looks for emerging markets manager.
July 16, 2007... The GBP2.9bn (4.2bn) Lothian pension fund, administered by Edinburgh City Council, has put out to tender for an emerging markets mandate. The GBP157m mandate is currently managed by Lloyd George Management. The appointed manager will be...

News in Brief: PPF kicks off 7800 index.
July 16, 2007... The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has gone live with its first funding list of 7,800 UK schemes. The PPF 7800 index showed that there was some improvement in the aggregate funding of UK schemes, rising to a surplus of GBP99bn (146bn) in June...

News in Brief: PGGM plants $200m into forestry.
July 16, 2007... Dutch pension fund giant PGGM has moved into forestry with a $200m (145m) investment. US fund manager GMO has been selected to manage the fund; the scheme will invest in the GMO Long Horizons Forestry fund. The GMO fund invests in forestry...

News: Resolution poaches Fidelity crew for fourth joint venture outing.
July 16, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Resolution has tempted three multi-manager specialists away from Fidelity with the offer of capital to set up a boutique investment operation. The move is the fourth outing for Resolution's joint venture model,...

News: Costales joins SWIP to head up new Spanish institutional sales office.
July 16, 2007... Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) has recruited Carlos Costales to head up its new institutional sales office in Spain. Mr Costales will be based in Madrid and report to Corrado Amari, head of Southern Europe. He was most recently...

News: People on the Move - Hayes seals Hewitt consulting role.
July 16, 2007... Hewitt has appointed Antony Hayes to its UK Corporate Pensions Consulting team. Mr Hayes has 10 years' pension consulting experience and will join from Lane Clark and Peacock. Prior to that, he was head of the actuarial division at Alexander...

News: People on the Move - Credit Suisse taps Dryer from Insight for fixed income post.
July 16, 2007... Credit Suisse has poached Richard Dryer from Insight Investment Management to become director and head of its UK fixed income business. Mr Dryer spent four years at Insight, most recently as head of UK institutional credit.

News: People on the Move - Stampe to make his mark on Danish Real Estate Club.
July 16, 2007... Nikolaj Stampe, head of PKA's property investments, has become the new chairman of the Danish Real Estate Club. Former chairman Michael Weischer recently left his position to set up a property and infrastructure practice at the consultancy...

News: People on the Move - Watson Wyatt makes two new appointments to TAG.
July 16, 2007... Watson Wyatt Investment Consulting has made two new appointments to its Thinking Ahead Group (TAG), which identifies and develops new investment thinking for pension funds. Chris Sutton joins from Barclays Global Investors, where he held a...

News: People on the Move - Douglas defects to BlackRock for DC sales position.
July 16, 2007... BlackRock has poached Emma Douglas from Threadneedle to head its defined contribution sales. Ms Douglas has worked in DC pensions for 10 years and has been head of DC at Threadneedle since 2002. She will join in September and report to Steve...

News: People on the Move - Duo join the order at Bedlam.
July 16, 2007... Bedlam has made two appointments to its investment and management team. Felicity Smith, previously an equity investment director at Morgan Stanley, has joined as senior fund manager with responsibility for the European Fund. Ms Smith will also...

News: People on the Move - Valensise moves up to CIO job at Baring.
July 16, 2007... Baring Asset Management has appointed Marino Valensise, currently head of the fixed income and currency team, as chief investment officer. He will take over when CIO Michael Hughes retires at the end of the year. Mr Valensise joined Baring in...

News: People on the Move - Morresi to tackle iShares Europe at BGI.
July 16, 2007... Barclays Global Investors has appointed Andrea Morresi as managing director into the newly created role of head of sales for iShares Europe. Mr Morresi joins from JPMorgan, where he has spent the last 14 years, most recently as head of equity...

News: People on the Move - Shirose takes on sales and marketing at Nikko.
July 16, 2007... Nikko Asset Management has appointed Kikou Shirose as head of its investment advisory sales and marketing division. Mr Shirose will be responsible for its domestic advisory business. He joins from UBS Global Asset Management, where he was most...

News: Teaming up to push shareholder activism into the mainstream.
July 16, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt and Caroline Liinanki Shareholder engagement has broken through to the mainstream, according to the Principles for Responsible Investment initiative, although broad engagement does not come cheap. PRI, an...