The Public Sector Pension Investment Board is taking on a majority stake in B.F.B. Pty Ltd., an Australia-based agricultural business. Currently, BFB has taken on more than 441 square kilometres of arable land and operates businesses in grain storage, fertilizer, agronomy, livestock, farming and logistics. “We’re impressed with BFB’s team, performance and integrated business model, and we’re excited to […]
With concerns the business cycle is about to turn, more than half of institutional investors are reporting the intention to reduce their allocations to equities, according to a new BlackRock survey. Fifty-one per cent of BlackRock institutional clients surveyed stated they plan to decrease their allocations to public equity markets this year, up from 35 per cent in […]
The solvency positions of Canadian defined benefit pension plans declined in the fourth quarter of 2018 after experiencing gains in the first nine months of the year, according to Mercer’s latest pension health index. The median solvency ratio dropped to 95 per cent at the end of 2018 from 102 per cent at the end of […]
The largest corporate pension plans in the United States experienced a slight drop in their funded status at the end of 2018 due to the sharp decline in equities, according to an analysis by Willis Towers Watson. The study, which looked at the defined benefit pension plans of 389 Fortune 1000 companies, found their pension assets […]
The drama in recent weeks surrounding the outcome of Brexit has proved Shakespearian, but on this side of the pond, should institutional investors be bracing themselves? “We’ve been thinking about this ever since the referendum and we keep updating our probabilities in different ways,” says Peter Westaway, chief European economist at the Vanguard Group. “I think we’ve boiled […]
For pension plan sponsors interested in equities, the top two issues on the radar for 2019 are China-U.S. trade tensions and interest rate movements, says Scott Berg, vice-president and portfolio manager at T. Rowe Price Group Inc. China On China, it’s likely presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping will reach a trade accommodation, he says. […]
The vast majority (91 per cent) of Canadian institutional investors have adjusted their voting and engagement policies to focus more on environmental, social and governance risks, according to a report by marketing agency Edelman. The report, which surveyed 500 Canadian institutional investors, found 65 per cent have made policy adjustments within the past year. As well, […]
Many institutional investors include value-oriented equity strategies in their portfolio to provide protection during declining equity markets. But not all value strategies are created equal, as many found out during the global financial crisis 10 years ago. As well, many investors expected their portfolios to perform better than the broader market, to preserve cash, but this […]
The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System’s real estate arm is investing $3.3 billion to acquire a portfolio of 19 office buildings across Australia. Oxford Properties Group and Investa Property Group, the Australian company that currently owns the properties, will jointly manage the office portfolio. “Oxford invests for the long term in global gateway cities with a […]
At the first Risk Management Conference, 20 years ago, there were many things plan sponsors probably weren’t thinking about. Currency, for example, says Marlene Puffer, president and CEO, CN Investment Division. Before the elimination of the Foreign Property Rule, plans were mostly invested in Canadian bonds and equities. Instead, the chief concern would have been […]