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Private Equity
Oregon’s private equity future
Oregon State Treasury is one of the longest-standing investors in private equity but as allocations pushed beyond the outer policy limit and a maturing asset class puts pressure on returns, a recalibration was necessary. Amanda White spoke to Oregon State Treasurer, Elizabeth Steiner, about the future of private equity.
Featured Story
Meaningful increases in value: BCI talks ESG uplift in private equity
ESG integration in BCI's $25 billion private equity portfolio produces meaningful, double-digit percentage increases in value through focusing on strengthening operational resilience, unlocking growth, and building more valuable businesses. A paper by BCI and Stanford University’s Long-Term Investing Initiative showcases the findings through case studies.
Technology
CalPERS board warned of risks in AI investments including China innovation
An investment banking expert has warned the CalPERS board of the risks inherent in AI, emphasising the importance of investors understanding how their exposure to AI is at risk because of Chinese competitors.
Opinion
Risk 2.0 is better – let’s count the ways
In the final part of a column series exploring a new risk management framework, 'risk 2.0', WTW global head of portfolio strategy Jeff Chee outlines what investment professionals of the future need to understand about the commonalities of risk events and the resulting benefits of an interconnected risk mindset.
Featured Story
Dutch pension funds face tech reckoning, warns central bank
The Netherlands' Central Bank has warned the country's pension funds that their €150 billion ($177 billion) investments in tech companies, representing almost 43 per cent of their listed equities portfolios and 8 per cent of their total balance sheet, is at risk from a potential AI bubble.
Editorial
Strong governance and new ideas central to Kevin Warsh ideology
Kevin Warsh’s strong views on economic governance, and his precocious nature, will hold him in good stead as he takes the reins of the US Federal Reserve. For investors, his views on the conflating of monetary and fiscal policy are key considerations to watch.
Investor Profile
Cost, efficiency and less directs: AIMCo’s CIO spells out new strategy
AIMCo's new CIO Justin Lord explains why he is upbeat about investment opportunities and the fund manager's new governance after a tumultuous few years. Prioritising costs, efficiency and cutting back on direct investments in private equity, he articulates the opportunities ahead including in infrastructure and private credit.
Featured Story
Where foreign capital fits in China’s parallel tech system
A firsthand look by Top1000funds.com at Apollo Go’s Wuhan robotaxi hub reveals how China is building a parallel tech ecosystem. The opportunity set across AI adjacent industries is expanding exponentially, but governance and geopolitical constraints could make it hard for foreign asset owners to participate in the upside.
Investor Profile
Railpen ups infra allocation; commodities investments get the green light
Railpen will ramp up its infrastructure allocation and take on more core-plus and value-add assets to complement its existing core exposures. It also received the nod to a commodities allocation which director of total portfolio investments John Greaves believes is a hedge to inflation and uncertain central bank policies.
Featured Story
Europe rearms, defence returns surge, asset owners rethink exposure
Years of hard-line exclusions of the defence industry kept many asset owners out of one of the strongest-performing sectors. Now, as Europe rearms, investors are reworking defence policies – cautiously and under intense scrutiny.
Sustainability
USS paper urges governments to do more to support climate policy
A new report from USS and the University of Exeter, argues that investors who focus on decarbonising their portfolios won't change real-world decarbonisation and would have more impact on climate change by buying transition investments.
Sustainability
PRI slashes reporting burden to preserve code relevance among signatories
The Principles for Responsible Investment will reduce signatories’ responsibilities in their annual mandatory reporting from 240 questions to just 40 next year. The outgoing PRI chief David Atkin explains the move and why asset owners have a big role in stabilising the discussion around responsible investment.
Sustainability
Climate politics: BlackRock hits back at NYC Comptroller
The skirmish between the New York City Comptroller and BlackRock over climate alignment of the city’s public pension funds – a fight worth a $42 billion mandate to BlackRock – highlights the complexity and impracticality of aligning climate expectations, reporting requirements and business imperatives.
Infrastructure
APG’s answer to aligning government and investment goals in infrastructure
An increasing push to invest in home markets means asset owners need better frameworks for aligning government expectations with investment goals. APG’s three-pronged approach for public infrastructure investments could act as a guide for other investors looking to balance fiduciary duty with political demands.
Fixed Income
CalPERS touts fixed income wins, gears up for TPA
At the annual review of its fixed income portfolio, CalPERS staff explain how active management, value-add strategies and the hunt for alpha are paying off, with ESG integration giving it a valuable edge and informing it to invest in companies under pressure like Boeing at the right time.
FIS Stanford 2025
Real asset opportunities ‘are coming from everywhere’: Macquarie
While the US remains the most entrepreneurial economy, China might now be challenging its technology leadership, while demographics, deglobalisation, decarbonisation, and digitalisation are creating “massive opportunities” in almost every market, according to Macquarie Asset Management.
FIS Stanford 2025
Public-private partnerships key to fixing US infrastructure
The size of the current infrastructure investment gap and the speed at which it is widening mean there is both a desire and a need for more public-private partnerships to unlock funding. Investors say that collaboration with local governments and raising public awareness of private investment benefits are crucial.
FIS Stanford 2018
FIS Stanford Photo Gallery
View photos from the 2018 Fiduciary Investors Symposium, held at Stanford University, United States.
FIS Stanford 2018
China’s enticing, challenging market
Inefficient markets and an explosion of technological innovation fuelled by Millennial consumers make China a tantalising prospect but accessing strong returns there isn’t as simple as it looks.
FIS Stanford 2018
Protecting human capital helps everyone
Investors have plenty to gain from helping to protect human rights in supply chains and managing the human costs during technological disruption and the transition to a low-carbon economy.
FIS Stanford 2018
How to follow megatrends to success
The big themes that will fuel growth in coming decades are interconnected and subject to change. An expert panel gave advice on riding societal change to outperformance.
FIS Stanford 2018
How the active complements the passive
Investors discuss the various ways that two styles often presented as if they are enemies in fact work hand in hand across portfolios to produce returns.
Asset Allocation
TRS strikes gold: Tiny allocation crushes its benchmark
This year, TRS doubled its tiny allocation to gold via a special fund that buys gold ETFs and mining companies. The strategy returned nearly 60 per cent, thanks to market conditions including inflation, geopolitics, government debt levels and de-dollarisation pushing gold higher.
News
Limited alternatives keep global capital anchored to the US
Singapore’s Temasek said while US exceptionalism may be “fraying”, there aren’t many alternative markets that can handle the same volume of global capital. Meanwhile, fellow sovereign fund GIC believes the greenback’s reserve currency status remains solid even though currency swings could spell trouble for foreign investors.
FIS Oxford 2025
LP demands for bespoke solutions define new era for private managers
Private asset managers can expect to work harder for LP capital as allocators increasingly look for more bespoke, flexible structures that meet their changing needs around liquidity, fee and types of exposures. Investors at FIS Oxford unpack how they approach manager relationships in the new era of private investments.
Asset Allocation
Fordham University dials up growth equity, cools on private credit
Fordham University CIO Geeta Kapadia is cutting back on private credit, calling it an asset class “less able to financially engineer returns” in a higher-rate world. She’s instead redirecting the $1.1 billion endowment to venture and growth equity and entrusting larger mandates to a smaller roster of high-conviction managers.
News
KIC eyes pivot to total portfolio approach in latest review
The $206.5 billion Korea Investment Corporation has become the latest asset owner weighing a shift into the total portfolio approach in an attempt to boost investment returns. After putting out an RFP for a consulting partner in May, it will conduct a review into early next year about TPA's feasibility.
InFocus
TAA critical to adding value over the next six to 18 months
After several painful years, geographical diversification is finally working and will continue to work, at least in the short term, with increasing signs of a valuation advantage for non-US stocks and bonds, according to T. Rowe Price’s Sébastien Page. He says it's time to make use of tactical asset allocation.
Investor Profile
USS swings into surplus but flags re-think after Thames losses
USS says losses in Thames Water have led to deep reflection on how it will invest in regulated assets in the future, flagging the need for consistent regulation to support pension fund investment. As the fund celebrates its 50th year it records a surplus for the first time since 2008.
Strategy
UK’s transition-focused SWF gets green light
UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves didn’t waste any time approving the UK’s new SWF aimed at funding the energy transition. As it begins to lay down structure and governance frameworks critics point to the challenges of bringing projects to a level where they are investable.