While infrastructure as an asset class has been embraced by pension funds in Europe and Australia alike, in the US it is still a nascent concept. The difference is largely down to a lack of privatisation in the US, where infrastructure historically has been provided by local and state government. In North America, funds such as the C$87.4 billion Ontario Teachers Pension Plan (OTPP) and Canada Pension Plan have looked abroad for investment opportunities in infrastructure, with the OTPP recently acquiring an additional 35.5 per cent stake in UK-based Bristol International Airport in a deal with Macquarie Airports. The fund had acquired a 14.5 per cent stake in 2002, the September purchase lifting its holding in BIA to 50 per cent.
The case for hedge fund betas: lessons learned about correlations
US-based quant shop AQR Capital has helped pioneer the notion of hedge fund beta as an investable product. With first-year performance numbers now in, GREG BRIGHT spoke with the firm’s managing and founding principal, Cliff Asness. Cliff Asness has been talking about hedge fund beta for some years. He wrote a paper about it, with others, in 2001 in which he had the audacity to suggest that most hedge funds were more correlated with the markets than they had let on, or thought. The paper made him rather unpopular, he says, with his hedge fund colleagues.
The case for hedge fund betas: lessons learned about correlations
US-based quant shop AQR Capital has helped pioneer the notion of hedge fund beta as an investable product. With first-year performance numbers now in, GREG BRIGHT spoke with the firm’s managing and founding principal, Cliff Asness. Cliff Asness has been talking about hedge fund beta for some years. He wrote a paper about it, with others, in 2001 in which he had the audacity to suggest that most hedge funds were more correlated with the markets than they had let on, or thought. The paper made him rather unpopular, he says, with his hedge fund colleagues.
The rise of Capital Guaranteed: more than a knee-jerk reaction
Since compulsory superannuation was introduced in the early 1990s, the focus of financial planners has been on strategies to maximise contributions and accumulation; and the focus of product manufacturers has been on products to cater to those strategies. But as an increasing number of super fund members move from the accumulation phase of their financial lifecycle into the post-retirement phase, the focus of planners and manufacturers has likewise begin to shift. SIMON HOYLE reports.
The rise of Capital Guaranteed: more than a knee-jerk reaction
Since compulsory superannuation was introduced in the early 1990s, the focus of financial planners has been on strategies to maximise contributions and accumulation; and the focus of product manufacturers has been on products to cater to those strategies. But as an increasing number of super fund members move from the accumulation phase of their financial lifecycle into the post-retirement phase, the focus of planners and manufacturers has likewise begin to shift. SIMON HOYLE reports.
Residential housing: the $4 trillion super funds haven’t touched
Last month, the Federal Minister for Housing, Tanya Plibersek, stood up in the Sydney boardroom of JPMorgan and attempted to do something which has been tried, unsuccessfully, many times before. She was appealing to institutional investors to consider residential property. Specifically, Plibersek was asking them to get behind the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS), which is offering Government subsidies to developers of housing deemed ‘affordable’ – that is, rented out at 20 per cent below market rates. There are special allowances for major institutions (Plibersek has singled out super funds) willing to back major developments of 1000 or more sustainable dwellings. Veteran property consultant Ken Atchison has seen such attempts to sway institutions before, and he doesn’t think the NRAS has solved fundamental problems which have kept them away to date. “The biggest problem is how you assemble a portfolio.
Residential housing: the $4 trillion super funds haven’t touched
Last month, the Federal Minister for Housing, Tanya Plibersek, stood up in the Sydney boardroom of JPMorgan and attempted to do something which has been tried, unsuccessfully, many times before. She was appealing to institutional investors to consider residential property. Specifically, Plibersek was asking them to get behind the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS), which is offering Government subsidies to developers of housing deemed ‘affordable’ – that is, rented out at 20 per cent below market rates. There are special allowances for major institutions (Plibersek has singled out super funds) willing to back major developments of 1000 or more sustainable dwellings. Veteran property consultant Ken Atchison has seen such attempts to sway institutions before, and he doesn’t think the NRAS has solved fundamental problems which have kept them away to date. “The biggest problem is how you assemble a portfolio.
Fee the difference: where fees stop and true super costs begin
Superannuation funds are feeling the pressure – from the government, from members – to keep published fees low or to cut them further. But however low they go, upfront fees do not capture the true costs that members pay. Without an overhaul of the current rules governing fee disclosure, funds’ efforts to meet the demand for low-cost super become futile. SIMON MUMME reports.
Fee the difference: where fees stop and true super costs begin
Superannuation funds are feeling the pressure – from the government, from members – to keep published fees low or to cut them further. But however low they go, upfront fees do not capture the true costs that members pay. Without an overhaul of the current rules governing fee disclosure, funds’ efforts to meet the demand for low-cost super become futile. SIMON MUMME reports.
Why does it feel so strange? Lasting changes in fiduciary investors’ strategies
In 1996, Peter Ryan-Kane wrote a paper called ‘The Living Room Effect’ in which he mused about the impact of a shrinking world on institutional investing. The Berlin wall had come down, CNN was making its presence felt and the internet was gaining traction – all visible from living rooms around the world, even in poor countries. The upshot has been, at least in part, that countries and markets have lost some of their idiosyncratic nature. They have become much more generic, adopting a global business model. The implications for diversification through global portfolios are obvious.
Why does it feel so strange? Lasting changes in fiduciary investors’ strategies
In 1996, Peter Ryan-Kane wrote a paper called ‘The Living Room Effect’ in which he mused about the impact of a shrinking world on institutional investing. The Berlin wall had come down, CNN was making its presence felt and the internet was gaining traction – all visible from living rooms around the world, even in poor countries. The upshot has been, at least in part, that countries and markets have lost some of their idiosyncratic nature. They have become much more generic, adopting a global business model. The implications for diversification through global portfolios are obvious.
Why does it feel so strange? Lasting changes in fiduciary investors’ strategies
In 1996, Peter Ryan-Kane wrote a paper called ‘The Living Room Effect’ in which he mused about the impact of a shrinking world on institutional investing. The Berlin wall had come down, CNN was making its presence felt and the internet was gaining traction – all visible from living rooms around the world, even in poor countries. The upshot has been, at least in part, that countries and markets have lost some of their idiosyncratic nature. They have become much more generic, adopting a global business model. The implications for diversification through global portfolios are obvious.
