A battle has broken out between investors and suppliers over the regulation of hedge fund and private equity managers, with opposing testimony given to the US Senate by the country’s largest pension fund, the $180.9 billion CalPERS, and a US-based venture capital firm. In this “Have Your Say” column we ask you whether you agree with CalPERS that all hedge fund managers raising capital in the US should be forced to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), or whether you think the current regulations are sufficient.
Aabar Investments, an investment company backed by an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, has become the first external investor in commercial space carrier Virgin Galactic, buying a 32 per cent stake for $280 million.
The alpha from active funds management was a massive -1.2 per cent before fees for US funds in 2008, a figure eight times below the average of 15 bps over 18 years, according to research by CEM Benchmarking.
Institutional investors should be looking to garner alpha from income-generating investments, rather than growth, as the “new normal” dictates that return expectations will be equal to about nominal GDP, according to managing director, Pimco, Paul McCulley.
The inherent breadth and ambiguity of environmental, social and governance issues has resulted in the integration of ESG considerations into portfolio design remaining largely a philosophical push, without clarity on the direct and indirect impacts on shareholder value. In this working paper, AQR Capital Management’s Jeff Dunn, outlines a simple framework for considering the impact of ESG issues with respect to their role in investment decisions, with the aim of providing a clearer path for further investigation of the impact of ESG policies on shareholder value and how they can be appropriately included in the investment decisions of both investors and fiduciaries.
For the first time since 2006, Watson Wyatt has written a report that revisits the macro-economic factors that may affect global returns over the next decade. It highlights the increasing influence of public policy and emerging wealth on the investment agenda, and draws some tentative conclusions regarding the implications for investment portfolios.