CalPERS plans to send a written request to up to 58 of its largest domestic company investments to adopt a majority voting standard in uncontested director elections, following an increase in the number of shareowner proposals that staff have been delegated to submit at CalPERS portfolio companies.
This hot-off-the-press revised version (March 30) of The ABCs of Hedge Funds, which decomposes returns into three components – systematic market exposure (beta), value-added by hedge funds (alpha), and hedge fund fees (costs) – includes data up to the end of December 2009. Among other things it finds the universe of hedge funds produced a positive alpha from every year of the last decade, even through the recent financial crisis.
This research examines the extent to which decision-making by pension fund trustees is affected by behavioural biases, by using a vignette-method field experiment among Dutch trustees. It finds that trustees display choices that accord with the phenomenon of loss aversion and allow their choices to be affected by the forces of social comparison: the reserve position of their fund compared to the position of others has siginificant influence in choosing a pension fund policy mix.
The $16.3 billion Yale endowment has increased its long-term allocation to private equity from 21 to 26 per cent, and increased the real assets exposure from 29 to 37 per cent.
The Yale endowment has a substantial and growing exposure to green investments with allocations in timberland, emerging markets and venture capital including more than $100 million in cleantech.
Bringing externally managed funds under the guidance of the internal investment team is a key component of OMERS’ growth plans, with the fund moving to having more direct control over its investments, according to new chief investment officer, Michael Latimer.