Investment staff and four selected consultants expect CalPERS’ returns will be less than the fund’s current 7.75 per cent – a finding on the agenda of a special investment workshop next week, alongside static versus dynamic asset allocation and the use of leveraged bonds.
Callan boosts manager research with minorities focus
Minorities are set to benefit from Callan Associates’ launching of its Callan Connects program to assess emerging managers and minority-, women- and disabled-owned companies (MWDO).
Eastern promise: GE Pension Plan shifts into emerging markets
Capturing the growth of emerging markets in investment portfolios isn’t easy, says Jay Ireland, who oversees the GE Pension Plan’s $43 billion in assets, as he outlines long-term investment opportunities following the end of the decades-long bull market in developed world equities. Simon Mumme reports.
Sovereign Wealth Funds look to risk
The International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds held its second annual meeting in Sydney last week. conexust1f.flywheelstaging.com reports on the meeting’s outtakes – including asset allocation and risk management implications.
Serious investment implications from CalPERS lawsuit
The decision by California Attorney General, Edmund Brown, to charge former CalPERS board member and placement agent, Alfred Villalobos, his company ARVCO Capital, and former CalPERS chief executive, Federico Buenrostro, with fraud could have serious consequences for the future investment direction of the fund.
Pension fund performance and costs: small is beautiful
This new paper by Rob Bauer, Martijn Cremers, and Rik Frehen uses the CEM pension fund data set to document the cost structure and performance of a large sample of US pension funds. It finds that small-cap mandates of defined-benefit funds have outperformed their benchmarks by about 3 per cent per year. Concluding that while large scale brings cost advantages, liquidity limitations seem to allow only smaller funds, and especially small-cap mandates, to outperform their benchmarks.
