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Is the Great Rotation passing pension funds by?

The prospect of a seismic shift from bond to equity investments looks set to pass most of the world’s pension funds by, argue experts. The concept of a ‘Great Rotation’ rose to prominence following its use by Bank of America Merrill Lynch in October. It argued in a note that “the era of bond outperformance […]
Dan BillinghamApril 24, 2013
Investor Profile

CERN fund: the collision of investment ideas?

Its core business involves expanding the realm of science by beaming particles close to the speed of light and it invented the web – as we know it – as a nice little side project. You would perhaps then expect the CHF 3.6-billion ($3.9-billion) pension fund of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, CERN, to […]
Dan BillinghamApril 19, 2013
Investor Profile

Autumnal Danish fund shows spring growth

Innovation is associated more with bold new businesses than gently declining ones, but Denmark’s Lønmodtagernes Dyrtidsfond (LD) is embracing change as it enters its final years. The pension fund’s inevitable disappearance has nothing to do with any lack of competitiveness or poor investment returns – the 9.9-per-cent net return it generated in 2012 is testament […]
Dan BillinghamApril 10, 2013
Investor Profile

KLM funds ride out de-risking turbulence

Pension funds can face a lot of turbulence in the course of their investing journey and many funds thrown into shortfalls have found the need to de-risk their portfolios. There might be a few investment officers at those funds casting an enviable eye upwards to the pension fund of Dutch flag-carrying airline KLM. Toine van […]
Dan BillinghamApril 5, 2013
Asset Classes

Learning from Danish funds’ stable alternative

Despite upturns in equity and bond prices sending 2012 returns into double digits at many large Danish funds, it appears that successfully implementing infrastructure initiatives remains the holy grail of Danish institutional investing. Instead of merely basking in 12.9-per-cent annual returns, Industriens Pension, for instance, used its 2012 results announcement to make a commitment to […]
Dan BillinghamMarch 27, 2013
Investor Profile

Belgium’s KBC fund
thrives on LDI

Edwin Meysmans, chief executive of the KBC Pension Fund, sounds extremely relaxed for a man who rises early to avoid Brussels’ clogged roads on the way to the office. Then again, that Meysmans shies away from the madness of commuting crowds should perhaps be no real surprise given that his fund focuses on avoiding being […]
Dan BillinghamMarch 20, 2013
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