Taking over from Peter Moon, chief investment officer of the £27 billion ($44 billion) Universities Superannuation Scheme, Roger Gray is the first new CIO at the fund in 17 years. He speaks with Amanda White about viewing the fund through fresh eyes and his ideas for staffing and investment developments.
The world’s largest buyout firm, Blackstone Group, has set up its first regional renminbi-denominated private equity fund in China.
Hermes, the investment management arm of the £28 billion ($45 billion) BT Pension Scheme in the UK, is building a ’boutique of boutiques’ via an aggressive expansion plan that includes lifting funds management teams from the private sector, with the aim of selling its alpha expertise to other pension funds globally from January 1, 2010.
The GMO chief argues why honouring Ben Bernanke is similar to saluting the captain of the Titanic, and why making banks that are ‘too big too fail’ even bigger is sheer lunacy, while identifying other instances in which many of the people enjoying financial incentives, rewards and public praise in the US are unworthy recipients.
Gareth Thomas, Minister of State with the Department for International Development in the United Kingdom, has urged pension funds to help boost private funding for low carbon investments in the developing world, calling on the group of investors at the P8 Summit to consider potential public financing mechanisms emerging from the private sector, including advanced market commitments, cornerstone funds and challenge funds.
The REIT market will not consistently outperform the broader equity and fixed income markets has it has done for thepast 20 years, according to this research by Mercer Real Estate Boutique’s David Nix and Michelle Reuter, but there will be pockets of opportunity ripe for stock pickers.