BlackRock Inc. is shaking up the private equity industry with a new longer-term approach to the asset class. In April, the firm announced it was ready to start investing its long-term private capital vehicle, which had $2.75 billion in capital committed from cornerstone investors at the time. According to BlackRock, the permanent capital vehicle will […]
With many Asian countries in need of private infrastructure investors, one way to make it more attractive to investors is by sharing some of the additional tax revenue created by these projects, says Naoyuki Yoshino, dean and chief executive officer of the Asian Development Bank Institute. In the past, infrastructure returns were generated from user […]
Private capital funds are increasingly turning to subscription credit facilities, which can have their advantages but also come along with risks, according to new research by Preqin Ltd. Subscription credit facilities provide short-term loans to cover transactional costs for private capital funds, so they don’t have to make capital calls to investors. While their use […]
Current economic factors like low bond yields, which make it quite difficult for pension plans to meet their long-term return requirements, are driving institutional investors to allocate more to alternatives, according to Jason Campbell, a principal at Eckler Ltd. “Growth in alternatives has been steady and quite significant,” he said during a Canadian Investment Review webinar on May 2. […]
When it comes to defined contribution pension plans, some “big rock” decisions for plan sponsors have the most impact on member outcomes, while other decisions are just not as significant, says Jafer Naqvi, vice-president and director of fixed income and multi-asset at TD Greystone Asset Management. The four big rocks for DC plans are contribution […]
Following an asset-liability matching study in early 2018, the Toronto Transit Commission Pension Fund Society is expanding its allocation to less liquid investments. The jointly sponsored pension plan, which has about $6.5 billion in assets under management, is comprised of 37 per cent fixed income, 44 per cent equities and 19 per cent real assets, […]
Real estate remains a popular asset class for institutional investors seeking to diversify their sources of real returns. As the economic cycle reaches its late stages, where can investors find the best real estate opportunities? Has core real estate in the U.S. run its course? At least half of a sample of 144 institutional investors […]
Private capital allocations to emerging markets hit unprecedented levels in 2018, totalling US$90 billion raised in private capital vehicles during the year and $US70 billion in disclosed capital invested according to the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association’s latest data. The capital raised represents a 39 per cent increase and the disclosed invested capital represents a […]
Although factor investing and smart beta have gained in popularity, the emergence of alternative risk premia points to a critical focus for plan sponsors today: risk diversification. This is happening at a time when plans are shifting increasingly away from bonds and equities and into alternative investments. “Alternative risk premia provide a different route to […]
When pension funds share key players, like asset managers, actuaries and trustees, do they flock to the same asset allocation regardless of differences in liabilities? In a new working paper Pension funds interconnections and herd behaviour, Rob Bauer, Matteo Bonetti and Dirk Broeders from Maastricht University set out to see how much influence sharing key […]