epn: European Pensions & Investment News articles from October 2006

epn: European Pensions & Investment News archives from October 2006

News: Nordic investors to cut bonds and equities for alternatives.
October 9, 2006... Nordic investors are set to push more of their assets into private equity, hedge funds and real estate at the expense of their domestic bond and equity holdings, according to a far-reaching study of 112 institutional investors by consultancy...

News: Forca opens doors to other Danish funds.
October 9, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands Forca, the administration service recently launched by PKA, Laerernes Pension (LP), and the Early Childhood Teachers (PBU) fund is making plans to offer its services to other Danish pension funds. At the moment,...

News: Hedge funds rise while other alternatives lag.
October 9, 2006... The proportion of continental European institutions that call themselves hedge fund investors has risen from 26 per cent in 2005 to 35 per cent this year, and a further 10 per cent say they plan to buy into hedge funds in coming months, US...

News: UK managers make pledge to help reduce emissions.
October 9, 2006... Byline: Thomas Escritt A group of UK fund managers and pension funds pledged last week to lobby companies and governments to act to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. The Investor Statement on Climate Change initiative is...

News: MLIM and BlackRock merger will see move to Amsterdam.
October 9, 2006... Byline: Thomas Escritt Merrill Lynch Asset Management's (MLIM) merger with BlackRock, which was concluded on 2 October, will see the company's management of BlackRock's existing Dutch clients moving from Edinburgh to Amsterdam. The firm is...

News in Brief: NPSS could include those who should not be members.
October 9, 2006... The UK's National Pensions Saving Scheme (NPSS) may end up sweeping in people who should not be members of the scheme, Legal & General's Adrian Boulding has warned. Speaking at a pensions seminar last week, the company's pensions strategy...

News in Brief: Watson Wyatt products show policy to liability match.
October 9, 2006... Watson Wyatt is making available a suite of products to help pension fund managers evaluate how their investment policy matches their liabilities. The suite, which is targeted at the Dutch market, has three components: LiabilityWatch, which...

News in Brief: Big German players to disclose carbon footprint.
October 9, 2006... More than half of Germany's largest 200 listed companies claim to be directly affected by climate change, the German asset management association (BVI) has found. The industry association is the German affiliate to the global Carbon Disclosure...

News: Liontrust prepares for Euro venture with new range.
October 9, 2006... Byline: Thomas Escritt The UK equities boutique Liontrust is set to launch a pan-European process in November, targeting the European institutional market. The quantitative specialist was previously a UK-only boutique, with a range of...

News: Dexia employs panel of five to advise on future green policy.
October 9, 2006... Dexia Asset Management has appointed a five-member panel to advise it on its socially responsible investment strategy. Composed of civil servants and academics, the board will have the dual role of providing long-term strategic advice to...

People on the Move: Gerbig moves on from dbi after 11 years.
October 9, 2006... Dresdnerbank Investment Management (dbi) has announced that Reinhold Gerbig will step down from the company's board on 31 January 2007. Mr Gerbig has worked in the asset management industry for 29 years, of which 11 years were spent in the...

People on the Move: Schellenberg switches to ING for Germany head post.
October 9, 2006... Matthias Schellenberg has moved from Pioneer, Unicredit's asset management division, to ING Investment Management Europe, where he will serve as head of Germany in a new German office. Mr Schellenberg's task will be to launch ING IM's...

People on the Move: Paasi new MD at East Capital as Hirn ventures out.
October 9, 2006... The Swedish asset manager East Capital has promoted Martin Paasi from deputy to full managing director of East Capital Asset Management AB, the group entity that focuses on public equity funds. He is replacing Karine Hirn, who has been...

People on the Move: Aleppo takes consulting role at Watson Wyatt.
October 9, 2006... David Aleppo has joined Watson Wyatt's investment consulting business, where he will work on the company's client consulting team. Based in Reigate, Mr Aleppo will serve as a senior investment consultant. His appointment comes after a two-year...

People on the Move: Nowell to head UK sales at Janus Capital.
October 9, 2006... Howard Nowell has joined Janus Capital International, where he will act as head of the firm's UK institutional sales. Mr Nowell will be overseeing Janus's sales to UK corporate and local authority pension funds. This represents a continuation...

People on the Move: Van der Helm takes the helm at VBDO.
October 9, 2006... The Dutch Union of Investors for Sustainable Development (VBDO) has appointed Giuseppe van der Helm to follow Piet Sprengers as director. A lecturer at Baken Stad College in Almere and a trained theologian, Mr van der Helm has worked in senior...

News: Funds loosen credit standards in face of narrowing spreads.
October 9, 2006... Byline: Thomas Escritt Narrowing spreads across all kinds of fixed income are forcing pension funds to look towards ever lower-rated debt for appropriate yield, HSBC Halbis believes. Dutch and Swiss funds are leading the way. Charles...

News: SGAM to switch to regional filters.
October 9, 2006... Byline: Thomas Escritt Societe Generale Asset Management (SGAM) is considering adopting a more geographically focused approach to the choice between growth and value stocks in its global equity process. SGAM's global equity process...

News: T. Rowe Price delves further into Baltic region.
October 9, 2006... T. Rowe Price is dipping its toe further into Baltic waters with plans to register its range of Luxembourg Sicavs in Estonia. Although the funds are already available in the Baltic region via Hansabank, the region's largest financial...

News Analysis: FRR to keep an extra eye on SRI principles.
October 9, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands FRR, the E28.1bn French Pensions Reserve Fund, is to appoint two extra- financial reporting firms to ensure that its European and global equities investments comply with the fund's socially responsible investment...

Comment: Leader - Time to make a case for grey power in Europe.
October 9, 2006... Byline: Liam Kennedy, editor-in-chief Europe could be a very different place in 2050, when the number of over-65s is predicted to equal, or nearly equal, the working age population in many countries. For one, the power of the grey euro may...

Comment: World View - Knock on effect of commodities struggle.
October 9, 2006... Byline: Klaudius Sobczyk It is an old wisdom that the trend is your friend. Unfortunately, it is only true as long as it lasts and when it ends there are often more than just dark clouds on the horizon. Recent commodity trends, and...

Comment: Industry Voice - Faster and smoother info for employees.
October 9, 2006... Byline: Peter Borgdorff The Dutch public shows little awareness of its future pension provision. In order to be able to plan their financial future, people need to increase their knowledge on their income after retirement. The Dutch...

Comment: Raise the stakes don't cash the chips.
October 9, 2006... It scaled such heights in so short a time, but PartyGaming looks set to crash out of the FTSE 100 in December, deflating all those pension funds that took a flutter on the Icarus-like stock in the process. FTSE index mandates aside,...

Long-term Long-only Investment: A new long-term outlook.
October 9, 2006... The Marathon Club was formed as a result of a consensus among a group of investment organisations that there is a critical lack of practical guidance for trustees on long-term investment management and, more importantly, guidance on how it...

Focus: Investing in Asia - The rise of the Asian consumer.
October 9, 2006... Byline: Hugo Greenhalgh All eyes are on the rise of the Asian consumer. What does domestic consumption mean in terms not only of its impact on GDP growth but the opportunities it offers for investors? And, ultimately, can a rise of the...

Fund Profile: Bank Pension - Last year's returns cushion blow of 2006.
October 9, 2006... The investments of Bank Pension, the Dkr11.4bn (E1.52bn) fund that covers Danish employees in the finance sector, yielded an impressive 18.9 per cent return last year - a vast improvement on the -1.1 per cent it pulled in during 2001 and the...

Pensions Snapshot: Norway.
October 9, 2006... Byline: Reeta Cevik In 2006, the Norwegian pensions market has been mainly preoccupied with the adoption of mandatory occupational pension (OTP) legislation. The legislation, which became effective on 1 January 2006, requires all...

News: MGI plans second stage of multi-management rollout.
October 23, 2006... Mercer has finally launched its multi-management operation in Europe, but already plans to expand its product range. The manager of managers unit, Mercer Global Investments (MGI), is now constructing a European property multi-manager...

News: BlackRock unveils pan-European property fund of funds.
October 23, 2006... BlackRock, which completed its merger with Merrill Lynch Investment Managers at the beginning of the month, has launched a euro-denominated pan-European property fund of funds. The vehicle, an open-ended Luxemburg FCP, is at the initial...

Survey News: Tackling the new hot topic.
October 23, 2006... Most European pension funds believe that climate change will influence investment returns, but do not get specialist advice from their consultants and only a third say their investment managers engage companies specifically on climate change...

Investors feeling low.
October 23, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands A high level of pessimism has swept across European pension fund investors - according to the results of epn's latest quarterly investor survey, which polled 24 pension and insurance funds with more than E100bn of...

News: Dutch pensions take FTK preparations in their stride.
October 23, 2006... Byline: Thomas Escritt A survey of 25 mainly small and mid-sized Dutch pension funds has found that a quarter have fully immunised their fixed income portfolios and a futher 40 per cent are working on a strategy, according to a survey...

News: PME pours e250m into sustainable forestry sector.
October 23, 2006... Byline: Thomas Escritt PME, the pension fund for the Dutch metal and electrical industries, is pioneering forestry investment in the Dutch pensions sector. The fund has invested in a forest of several hundred square kilometres in...

News in Brief: FRR notches up a further e1.5bn in AUM.
October 23, 2006... FRR, the French Pensions Reserve Fund, has increased its assets under management by E1.5bn to E29.1bn over the three months to the end of September, improving its returns from 1.9 per cent in the first six months of the year to 6.8 per cent....

News in Brief: BlueBay to list on LSE.
October 23, 2006... BlueBay Asset Management, the UK-based credit specialist, has announced its intention to list on the London Stock Exchange. Speaking to epn, BlueBay's chief executive Hugh Willis said the listing was part of the firm's strategic plan to allow...

News in Brief: PME returns to positive territory.
October 23, 2006... PME, the Dutch metal and electrical industry fund, has returned 4 per cent over the third quarter, maintaining a funding ratio of 127 per cent. This is the fund's first positive quarterly return this year, bringing overall returns year-to-date...

News: Dexia's German move to act as spring board for Euro growth.
October 23, 2006... Byline: Thomas Escritt Dexia, the Belgian-French asset manager, is setting up shop in Germany, with further moves into emerging Europe slated for 2007. The company's Frankfurt office currently consists of a staff of three headed up by...

News: Joint venture signals Fortis push to Russian revolution.
October 23, 2006... Byline: Thomas Escritt Fortis Investments hopes to ride an expected wave of pensions growth in Russia with the launch of a new asset management joint venture. The asset manager is setting up a joint venture with the Russian investment...

News: Europe leads institutional push to absolute returns.
October 23, 2006... Byline: Kalpana Fitzpatrick Institutional hedge fund demand is to triple to $1,000bn (e797.3bn) by 2010, with European investors making up the majority. A white paper by the Bank of New York (BNY) and consultants Casey, Quirk &...

News: People on the Move - Bostrom appointment beefs up Schroders fixed income team.
October 23, 2006... Schroders is beefing up its fixed income team with the appointment of Brigitta Bostrom as head of fixed income product mangement. Ms Bostrom, who was income product manager at Wellington Management before joining Schroders, has managed...

News: People on the Move - Houghton and Lu join Synesis Life top tier.
October 23, 2006... Synesis Life, a provider of bespoke solutions to the pensions and annuity liabilities marketplace, has appointed Robin Houghton and Joseph Lu to its senior management team. Mr Houghton was previously a mergers and acquisitions specialist at...

News: People on the Move - Barbour appointed to push Morley's derivatives.
October 23, 2006... Morley is on a drive to build up its derivatives capabilities with the appointment of David Barbour, a sell-side derivatives specialist. Mr Barbour, who starts in October, will have the tasks of devising a legal framework to manage and control...

News: People on the Move - Frost goes cold on Merrill Lynch and moves to Investec.
October 23, 2006... Ian Frost has joined Investec, where he will be a global fixed income portfolio manager, reporting to John Stopford, head of fixed income. The Investec fixed income team now numbers 31 managing assets of $13.4bn globally. Mr Frost was...

News: People on the Move - Rake to bring Fortis into line as he takes COO post.
October 23, 2006... Keith Rake is joining Fortis Investments as chief operating officer on 2 November. Based in Brussels, Mr Rake will be in charge of 300 staff in 16 countries dealing with middle and back office, IT, client reporting, performance measurement and...

News: People on the Move - Warwick-Thompson comes back to Hewitt Associates.
October 23, 2006... Andrew Warwick-Thompson has returned to the human resources services company Hewitt Associates as principal consultant. His new role at Hewitt will be to develop the company's retirement consulting activities. Mr Warwick-Thompson was formerly a...

News: People on the Move - Four appointments bolster Principal's London base.
October 23, 2006... Principal Global Investors has added three analysts and a client services manager to its investment management operation in London. Ivan Petej joins as currency portfolio construction and risk analyst from ABN Asset Management; Tammy Belshaw...

Comment: Leader - Consultants can evolve into outsourcing world.
October 23, 2006... Byline: Liam Kennedy, editor-in-chief In the end, clients will decide whether the investment consulting can safely offer multi-management products and can manage the obvious conflicts of interest that arise between investment advice...

Comment: World View - Scepticism will discourage complacency.
October 23, 2006... Byline: Klaudius Sobczyk Many worries beset markets at the moment. It is now clear that getting through these troubles may be more problematic than first thought. September would have been an eye-opener for many. Statistics show that...

Comment: Industry Voice - Time to chow down on the free lunch.
October 23, 2006... Byline: Alan Brown They say there is no such thing as a free lunch. Yet in the world of investments we know that we should only get paid for risks that we can't diversify away. Put another way, if we don't take advantage of diversification...

Comment: Green issues could leave you queasy.
October 23, 2006... If pension fund fiduciaries experience a large package thudding through their letterbox in coming weeks then, please, no cause for alarm. It is unlikely to be a parcel bomb, although it might be a gift from a friendly consultant wishing to put...

News Analysis: Mercer goes live with Euro multi-manager.
October 23, 2006... Byline: Liam Kennedy Mercer's long-awaited multi-manager debut in Europe has placed the firm on a footing with its now competitor Russell, which once upon a time started life in consultancy. Elliot Spitzer aside, Mercer has gone where some...

Swisscanto Study: Looking at the bigger picture.
October 23, 2006... Byline: Thomas Escritt Regulatory burdens are forcing Swiss pension funds to concentrate on the risk levels of individual investments at the expense of a weighted assessment of overall portfolio risk. This is the view of Peter...

EPN Investment Outlook Survey: Why so grim? Pessimism reigns in latest survey.
October 23, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands An unprecedented level of pessimism has emerged among European pension fund investors - according to the results of epn's latest quarterly investor survey, which polled 24 pension and insurance funds with more than...

Swisscanto Study: Working towards new levels of alpha.
October 23, 2006... Byline: Michael Lennert epn: Based on the results of the current Swisscanto study you complain that in Switzerland too much attention is paid to the risk level of an individual investment and too little to the risk profile of the overall...

Emerging Market Local Currency: Price hikes see investors turn to local currency.
October 23, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands The title of a recently published S&P emerging market bond research paper, Cause For Pause (see box on p22), drops a large hint to European pension fund investors as to what they should be doing with their emerging...

Fund Profile: Pirmais Slegtais Pensiju Fonds - Big fish dominates in small pond.
October 23, 2006... Latvia's small private pensions sector numbers only one closed corporate pension fund, the E28m Pirmais Slegtais Pensiju Fonds or First Closed Pension fund. The scheme covers some 12,000 employees and 450 retirees of two companies,...

Pensions Snapshot: Hungary.
October 23, 2006... Byline: Thomas Escritt Hungary's state pension system will be bankrupt by 2012 if no changes are made to the system. These are the words of Ferenc Gyurcsany, Hungary's prime minister, in the infamous leaked speech to his party's MPs...