As Harvard Management Company (HMC) begins shedding 25 per cent of its workforce after incurring a 22 per cent loss since the beginning of the financial year, its investment consult, US firm Cambridge Associates, says the “endowment model” is not impaired.
ABP, the world’s third largest pension fund, faces serious underfunding as a result of the financial crisis and will have to submit a recovery plan to De Nederlandsche Bank by March 31.
The A$60 billion Australian Future Fund has joined other global investors, taking a stake in one of the world’s largest private equity firms.
Andra AP-fonden, Sweden’s Second Swedish National Pension Fund (AP2) has taken a big hit from the turmoil in global markets, its capital value falling by SEK55.1 billion ($US6.6 billion) in 2008.
Defined benefit (“DB”) plans in the U.S. account for $2.3 trillion in assets and cover nearly 42 million plan participants, of whom over 20 million are active employees, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.1 Though shrinking in number, these traditional employee benefit plans remain an important part of the investment and retirement security landscape.
The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is looking closely at taking stakes in banks across the US, Europe and Asia but its chief executive, prime minister, Sheik Hamad Al-Thani, warns banks to be open if they want to have meaningful relationships with sovereign wealth funds.