U.S. public pension funds can expect to see hurdles from the coronavirus crisis similar to those experienced in past recessions, according to a new report by Cerulli Associates. In the past two recessions, public plans saw a decrease in their funded statuses. “According to survey data gathered form the National Association of State Retirement Administrators, […]
As part of the federal government’s debt management strategy, it’s increasing long-term debt issuance. In particular, the government will be increasing issuance of the 10-year and 30-year bonds for 2020-2021 to an unprecedented combined amount of $106 billion, according to the federal economic and fiscal snapshot from July 8. The issuance is roughly five times […]
Institutional investors are grappling with the long-term implications of how the coronavirus pandemic will affect demand for various real estate sectors. Many real estate assets will remain under pressure even as establishments across sectors are once again able to welcome customers, says Jeff Olin, president and chief executive officer at Vision Capital Corp., noting that […]
As private equity investments become more commonplace in pension fund portfolios, is the asset class really worth it? According to a paper by Ludovic Phalippou, professor of financial economics at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, private equity funds have failed to outperform equities over a 10-year period. But the real catch is the […]
For years, institutional investors have used absolute return or cash-plus benchmarks to measure infrastructure performance, but it’s time to put these in the past and adopt market-relevant benchmarks based on fair value and representative data, according a new paper by the EDHEC Infrastructure Institute. “From the viewpoint of the state of the art in financial […]
While technological change is accelerating at a rapid rate, the financial system isn’t keeping pace, says Campbell Harvey, professor of finance at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Traditional systems make it difficult for those trying to raise capital or invest. Yet new technology is coming to market that can resolve many barriers and dramatically […]
While real assets have traditionally served institutional investors well during times of economic stress, the ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic are starting to take their toll in some places. In commercial real estate, investors will likely re-evaluate their capital spending for 2020 in pockets like Edmonton and Calgary with the areas hit hard by the […]
In times of crisis, many pension plan sponsors pull back on investing in private equity, including the secondary market, because they’re trying to assess their liquidity needs, says Joseph Marks, global head of secondaries at Capital Dynamics. But this pulling back often happens at a time when they should be putting their foot on the […]
Changes to Quebec’s pension legislation, including a move away from solvency funding requirements and the introduction of a cost-sharing model, against the backdrop of a low interest rate environment has had a major influence on the City of Montreal’s pension investment strategy. The City manages six plans under one pooled portfolio. The assets from all […]
Despite the key differences between sovereign wealth funds and public pension plans, the two institutional investors are quite similar in that they’re large, state-owned, sophisticated pools of capital. However, on average, the two types of organizations approach their real estate investments differently, according to a new paper by McKay Price, Collins-Goodman chair in real estate […]