The French economy will be the target of future co-investments by the nation’s $US28 billion sovereign wealth fund, the Fonds Strategique d’ Investissement (FSI), and the $US10 billion Mubadala Development of Abu Dhabi, after the two investors forged a strategic partnership this week.
One constructive consequence of the global financial crisis, according to the director of the Rotman International Centre for Pension Management, Keith Ambachtsheer, is the exposure of defined benefit and defined contribution scheme designs as inadequate. Amanda White spoke to him about alternative pension models and the most cost-effective delivery mechanism.
Engineering firm, Babcock International, is the first UK firm to use a longevity swap to hedge against life expectancy risk in its pension scheme. Amanda White looks at the use of longevity swaps as a risk management tool.
In this latest piece of research the US-based independent investment consulting firm, NEPC, examines whether the assumptions about hedge funds, hedge fund of funds and portable alpha, are broken or merely damaged, and whether there is still a case for including these strategies in institutional investment programs.
CalPERS has led the charge in the adoption of fundamental indexing, but the concept has a long way to go before it challenges the conventional cap-weighted strategy. Michael Bailey spoke to chairman of Research Affiliates, and one of the originators of fundamental indexing, Rob Arnott.
The strategic investment arm of the Abu Dhabi government, Mubadala Development, has built its stake in joint-venture partner General Electric (GE), bringing it closer to reaching its stated aim of being a top 10 shareholder in the US conglomerate, while the Abu Dhabi Investment Company (ADIC) and UBS Global Asset Management (UBS GAM) reached a first close of $US250 million for an infrastructure fund targeting the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.