July 2024
22Jul

Blackstone joins KKR and BlackRock in Mexico private equity fundraising

Blackstone Group has raised $695 million (523.62 million pounds) from Mexican pension funds for its first two local private equity funds, filings showed, joining Black Rock and KKR & Co in expanding in Mexico following regulatory changes. Several of the world's top private equity managers have quietly raised billions of dollars from Mexican pension funds, known as afores, since new rules were enacted early last year, filings to the Mexican Stock Exchange and a non-public document reviewed by Reuters showed....

July 22, 2024
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22Jul

How U.S. pension funds help Putin’s gas gambit

Russia needs to ramp up liquefied natural gas exports to replenish Kremlin coffers and fund its war in Ukraine. Western pension funds may inadvertently be lending a hand. Data compiled by investigative consultancy Data Desk and the Anti-Corruption Data Collective show that public retirement funds, including those managed by the states of Washington, New York and California, have indirectly invested in the specialized ice-class carriers serving Russia’s Yamal LNG — the country’s largest active gas export terminal and a vital...

July 22, 2024
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19Jul

Dirty Air and Green Investments: The Impact of Pollution Information on Portfolio Allocations

By Raymond Fisman, Pulak Ghosh, Arkodipta Sarkar & Jian Zhang We study exposure to pollution information and investment portfolio allocations, exploiting the rollout of air quality monitoring stations in India. Using a triple-differences framework, we show that retail investors' investments in "brown" stocks are negatively related to local air pollution after a monitoring station appears nearby, with particularly pronounced effects on ``alert'' dates when air quality is listed as harmful to the general population. The effect of pollution information on...

July 19, 2024
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19Jul

King Charles III’s speech highlights U.K. retirement plans under new Labour government

King Charles III unveiled a “surprise” focus on the U.K.’s retirement market in his first King’s Speech — and the first under the new Labour government — on July 17, with the aim of strengthening investment by the country’s plans. In the speech, which outlines the government’s legislative agenda for the upcoming parliamentary year and sets out rules it aims to implement, the king said that “stability will be the cornerstone of my government’s economic policy and every decision will...

July 19, 2024
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19Jul

At world’s biggest asset managers, ESG fund launches quietly stalling

At some of the world’s biggest asset managers, ESG fund launches are quietly stalling. BlackRock, Deutsche Bank's DWS Group, Invesco and the asset management arm of UBS Group are among firms that have cut the number of new funds with environmental, social and governance mandates, according to data provided by Morningstar Direct. This year through the end of May, just over 100 ESG funds were launched globally, putting the industry on track to fall well short of levels seen in recent years, the...

July 19, 2024
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18Jul

What The U.S.’s Largest Pension Fund Can Teach About Investing Right Now

Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. CalPERS, the California Public Employees' Retirement System, is the nation’s largest pension fund and one of the largest private equity investors in the world. With over two million members relying on its every move, the organization takes its investing very seriously. Its most recent report gives us a window on what is and isn’t paying off for it right now and what investors...

July 18, 2024
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18Jul

Ghana. Editorial: Further engagement required to resolve outstanding issues on pensions

Following SSNIT’s decision to halt the sale of 60 percent of its shares in four hotels, a move leading to the suspension of a planned nationwide strike on Monday, July 15, 2024, Organised Labour has issued a one-month ultimatum for the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to address unresolved issues. Dr. Yaw Baah, Secretary General-Trades Union Congress, speaking on behalf of Organised Labour, called-off the strike action after an emergency meeting of labour union leaders on Monday. Since 2018,...

July 18, 2024
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17Jul

US. Rallying Stock Market May Help Public Pensions Reduce Shortfall This Year, Study Finds

KEY TAKEAWAYS State and local government-sponsored employer pension funds are projected to earn a 7.4% market return this year. However, these pension funds still face a long-run funding shortfall of more than $1 trillion, according to a new study by a nonprofit think tank working with the public retirement system. Public pension funds have increased their investments in hedge funds, private capital, and real estate to boost returns. It’s been a good year for pension funds. While public pension funds...

July 17, 2024
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17Jul

Malaysia’s pension fund strengthens sustainable investment with new stewardship policy

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF), Malaysia’s pension fund, has published the EPF Sustainable Investment Stewardship Policy, becoming the first institutional investor in Malaysia to publish a standalone stewardship policy for sustainable investment. EPF said in a statement on Wednesday that the policy outlines the processes and guidelines the EPF follows to promote good sustainability practices among its investee companies and external fund managers. It said the stewardship undertaking has strengthened the EPF’s commitment to help build a better retirement future for Malaysians...

July 17, 2024
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16Jul

How ‘Alternative Investments’ Are Dragging Down Pension Performance

A prominent and well-regarded researcher, himself a founder of a pension consulting firm, recently released a bombshell Social Science Network report that reveals the underperformance of public pensions’ so-called alternative investments in high-fee vehicles such as private equity, private credit, real estate and hedge funds. Using 15 years of data from respected sources, the analysis by Richard Ennis shows a clear trend toward increased allocations to nontraditional investment products and fund-level underperformance relative to common actuarial benchmarks caused by these products’...

July 16, 2024
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