epn: European Pensions & Investment News articles from November 2008

epn: European Pensions & Investment News archives from November 2008

News: PFZW rolls out shorting ban to all securities.
November 3, 2008... Byline: Spencer Anderson Netherlands PFZW has expanded its ban on short selling to cover all of its securities. Last month, the 81.9bn fund announced that it would halt all lending on financial stocks, but it only recently made...

News: Dutch solvency king eyes emerging market debt.
November 3, 2008... Byline: Hjalmar Tjan The 1bn Dutch pension insurance company De Eendragt Pensioen has awarded a new emerging market debt mandate to Ashmore Investment Management. As previously reported in epn, the mandate is made up of both hard and...

News: RC2 makes Serbian debut with EPH buy.
November 3, 2008... Byline: Hjalmar Tjan Private equity firm Reconstruction Capital II (RC2), has made its first investment in Serbia with the acquisition of a 21.3 per cent shareholding in the Cyprus-based East Point Holdings Limited (EPH). Though...

News: Slovakia moves towards cash and government bonds.
November 3, 2008... Byline: Spencer Anderson Slovakia Slovakia's second-pillar pensions will move even more of their assets into cash and government bonds. The country's funds are under fire from both weak third-quarter returns and a recent...

News: Czech Republic preps third-pillar reform.
November 3, 2008... Byline: Caroline Liinanki Czech Republic The Czech pensions system is up for some significant changes as the government is preparing to reform its third pillar. The country's system has no second pillar, but rather a voluntary...

News in brief.
November 3, 2008... A group of 52 large international investors, representing a combined investment of 3.5trn, have taken the initiative to encourage large listed companies to support the UN Global Compact. The group, spearheaded by APG, PGGM, CalPERS and NZSF -...

News: Aegon hesitates on Ukraine push after Dutch government bail-out.
November 3, 2008... Byline: Spencer Anderson Aegon's plans to expand in Ukraine could be put on hold after the firm's recent decision to accept a 3bn bail-out from the Dutch government. Last quarter, the firm announced that it would be expanding its...

News: Cypriot hoteliers' fund eyes equity injection.
November 3, 2008... Byline: Spencer Anderson Cyprus The 260m Cypriot Hotel Employees' Pension Fund has said that it could increase its equity allocation after its general manager described current markets as "cheap". Marinos Gialeli said: "It's a...

News: Swedish KPA comes from behind to beat domestic competitors.
November 3, 2008... Byline: Caroline Liinanki Sweden Swedish KPA Pension has managed to turn its fortunes around in the middle of the financial crisis and pull in a remarkable 3.3 per cent return for the third quarter. The SKr47bn (4.7bn) pensions...

People News: Standard Life plans EU absolute return expansion.
November 3, 2008... Byline: Spencer Anderson Standard Life Investments (SLI) will expand its absolute return business into Europe. The firm, which is active in 15 European countries, currently only offers its absolute return products to the UK and...

People News: F&C mulls Spanish office following distribution deal.
November 3, 2008... Byline: Spencer Anderson F&C Investments is considering opening an office in Spain. According to its head of global consulting Julian Lyne and communications manager Paula Garrido, an office in Madrid is something that could...

People News: People on the move.
November 3, 2008... Lex Hoogduin will become executive director of De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) from January 1 2009. Mr Hoogduin has a history with DNB that goes back 25 years, most recently serving as division director of research. Since December 2005, he has been...

News Analysis: Business as usual for hard hit Dutch pension funds.
November 3, 2008... Byline: Hjalmar Tjan Netherlands It was a busy October for Dutch pensions as a flurry of press releases from the regulator, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), confirmed what most already suspected: the ongoing financial downturn has hit...

Comment: Industry voice - Streamlining out of the quagmire.
November 3, 2008... Byline: Julian Lyne - Head of global consultants at F&C Over the last few weeks, the unprecedented levels of volatility that have whipped billions off investors' portfolios have left many pension fund trustees confused as to how to protect...

Comment: Mephisto - Rock, stocks and two holy train-wrecks.
November 3, 2008... Of course the story of recent weeks has been all about the loss of faith, and Mephisto must confess that he's lost his too. People all around the world are wondering how we can possibly go on when the things that once seemed so trusted, so...

Fund Profile: Netherlands - Heineken fund looks hard at equity managers.
November 3, 2008... Byline: Spencer Anderson You should have come in the afternoon," exclaims Frank de Waardt, director of the 2bn Heineken pension fund. The reason is simple. Heineken has beer dispensers located around the offices, and there is a time lock...

Country Profile: Spain.
November 3, 2008... Byline: Spencer Anderson Like most southern European nations, Spain's second-pillar pension market is small and strictly regulated. Formed in 1998 through a law that enabled companies to set up their own funds and policies, the country's...

Features: Cross-border - The pan-European dream - The pan-European utopia that never was.
November 3, 2008... Byline: Chris Newlands All talk and no action was the recent charge levelled against the pan- European pension fund and its progress - and not without good cause. After Unilever seeded its fully tax transparent cross-border pensions...

Features: Private equity - Distressed debt - The silver lining in a distressing situation.
November 3, 2008... Byline: Gill Wadsworth The opening two quarters of 2008 marked the first consecutive period of negative performance for private equity since the last market crash eight years ago. The State Street Private Equity Index, which covers $200bn...

The Specialist: Cross-border benefits - Getting the right mixture with IORPs.
November 3, 2008... Byline: Paul Kelly While the EU's Pension Funds Directive of 2003 has not resulted in a one- size-fits-all pan-European pension plan, it will enable pension sponsors to realise certain business advantages. The prospect of cross-border...

Economics: Hedge fund beta - Trekking several paths without a compass.
November 3, 2008... Byline: Adam Berger - CFA, portfolio solutions group, AQR Capital Management Many investors consider their hedge funds to be 'pure alpha' strategies. In other words, the returns are not associated with the direction of any risk factor...

News: Nordic funds prepare to cull poor-performing managers.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Caroline Liinanki Several Nordic pension funds are preparing to sack their underperforming managers with immediate effect. Pension funds are also set to reassess their investment strategies and put less focus on the...

News: Publica moves to stabilise funding ratio.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Hjalmar Tjan Switzerland The 20bn Swiss pension fund Publica has adjusted its actuarial criteria to 3.5 per cent in an effort to bring its funding ratio back into equilibrium, its head of asset management has said. Susanne...

News in brief.
November 17, 2008... The Dutch Central Bank (DNB) has extended the deadline for pension funds to submit recovery plans until April 1 2009. The decision is in line with the DNB's earlier advice to pension funds, in which it asked them to refrain from taking any...

News: Irish pension industry sheds over a third of asset value.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Hjalmar Tjan Ireland Irish pension funds lost one-third (33.4 per cent) of their value over the past year, suffering particularly heavy losses during the month of October. Hewitt Associates and Rubicon Investment...

News: Swedish KPA comes from behind to beat domestic competitors.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Caroline Liinanki Sweden Swedish KPA Pension has managed to turn its fortunes around in the middle of the financial crisis and pull in a remarkable 3.3 per cent return for the third quarter. The SKr47bn (4.7bn) pensions...

News: LV 1871 fund to expand into other German-speaking markets.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Spencer Anderson Liechtenstein The Liechtenstein-based LV 1871 Pensionsfonds has said it would like to expand its client base to other German-speaking countries and eventually diversify its asset allocation. The fund,...

People News: APG hunts for innovative staff in alternatives drive.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Spencer Anderson APG, the investment arm for the ABP pension fund, is recruiting staff for its 'innovations' team. Tom Steenkamp, chief investment officer for asset allocation and research, said that the fund was looking for...

People News: State Street's Nedergaard joins rival JPMorgan.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Caroline Liinanki Allan Nedergaard has left State Street Investor Services after only a few months to join rival firm JPMorgan. A few weeks ago, Mr Nedergaard took on the role of general manager for JPMorgan's investor services...

People News: People News in brief.
November 17, 2008... IShares has appointed Nizam Hamid as managing director and head of sales strategy for the firm's European operations with immediate effect. In his role, Mr Hamid will be responsible for driving thought leadership on investment solutions for...

News Analysis: Icelandic corporate bond move freezes economic damage.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Spencer Anderson Iceland Icelandic pension funds have decided to restructure and postpone domestic corporate bond payments, in an effort to prevent further damage to the country's fragile economy. The decision was made at...

Comment: Leader - The audacity of hoping economic change will come.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Spencer Anderson - Editor Hail Obama. Or at least that's what asset managers around Europe were proclaiming after the senator's recent triumph. As soon as the results were in, my inbox was flooded with comments from various...

Comment: Industry voice.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Joanna Terrett Everyone has just experienced the worst couple of months' performance ever witnessed in emerging markets, as events unfolded in the US and rapidly spilled over to other markets. Stocks globally, with any degree of...

Comment: Mephisto - Pink bubbly first to go for in-the-red financial firms.
November 17, 2008... Will 2009 be the year the champagne goes flat? Mephisto is invited to thousands of parties by asset managers every year. Each one proclaims to celebrate the "soaring success" and "high quality" of newly launched funds, offices, products and...

Fund Profile: Czech Republic - Penzijni fond Komerani banky - Conservative Czech fund's low-risk investing pays off.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Caroline Liinanki While pension funds all over Europe have spent recent months reducing risk in their portfolios, some have been saved by having a low-risk investment strategy to begin with. The 1bn Penzijni fond Komerani banky,...

Country Profile: Switzerland.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Hjalmar Tjan When asked what the big issues for the coming year will be, many Swiss pensions professionals find themselves hard-pressed to look beyond the current downturn. Pension funds will report at the end of December and many...

Features: Japan - Specialist equities - Land of the falling stocks.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Gill Wadsworth The Japanese economy has been having something of a turbulent time of late and continued steep falls on the country's stock markets are likely to be enough to discourage all but the hardiest of investors. In the days...

Features: Oil dependency - Hedging strategies - No substitute for catastrophe hedging.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Martin Fagan Oil - dependency on it has caused wars and wrecked governments. Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990 because the Kuwaiti government said it would increase production, lowering the price of crude to below $20 (15.50) a...

The Specialist: Subprime class actions - Funds turn to US courts to recover subprime losses.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Marc Gross and Joshua Silverman Pension funds around the globe have lost hundreds of billions of dollars in the recent mortgage and credit market meltdown. Increasingly, they are turning to US courts to seek recovery of these...

The Interview: PFZW - Peter Borgdorff.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Spencer Anderson It has been another tough quarter for PFZW. Is it time to start thinking about some defensive moves? No. When I see the third-quarter figures, I'm rather satisfied. Of course we had big losses, but what we see...

News: Major Czech fund drops all direct equities.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Caroline Liinanki Czech Republic The Czech Penzijni fond Komerani banky has avoided any third-quarter losses by selling all of its direct equities. The 1bn fund, which is one of 10 third-pillar pension funds in the Czech...

News: Tapiola monitors hedge fund activity for 2009 strategy.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Hjalmar Tjan Finland The 7.9bn Finnish pension insurance company Tapiola has said that it plans to keep a close eye on hedge funds. The firm is currently composing its investment strategy for next year in anticipation of...