The 10.6 billion ($15 billion) Shell Pension Fund’s recovery plan has been approved by De Nederlandsche Bank and includes a provision to increase employer contributions to 32 per cent, up from 5 per cent last year, on the back of a whopping -43.3 per cent return for 2008.
TRS invests in PE, eyes opportunistic real estate
The $30 billion Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois (TRS) will commit up to $1.2 billion to private equity, and will focus on opportunistic investments in real estate including emerging manager initiatives, as it aims to reach its new long-term allocations in those sectors by year end.
Canadian funds delve into performance drivers
Four of Canada’s pension funds have established a professorship in pension management at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto with initial research to focus on a better understanding of the drivers of pension fund performance using the global databases of CEM Benchmarking.
MSCI update on emerging markets
MSCI Barra takes a close look at the stock performance in various emerging markets, examining the differences to developed market stocks in the performance of particular sectors and styles.
Counterparty risk prompts changes in sec lending
More than two thirds of the institutions that made changes to their securities lending programmes on the back of the global financial crisis cited less confidence in counterparty stability as the driver, research has revealed, however less than 20 per cent suspended participation following the market volatility.
HOOPP survives the crisis through ALM
The experience of the C$26.7 billion ($25 billion) Hospitals of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) is testament to the success of asset-liability driven investing. Amanda White spoke with chief executive, John Crocker, about how matching assets with liabilities led to an underweighting in equities and a subsequent (relative) survival of the global economic crisis.
