Alternatives ahoy! Is treasure the next big investment opportunity?
A Swiss start-up is planning to use AI and robotics to target shipwrecks which are known to contain substantial amounts of precious metals, and is working with an investment platform to offer this opportunity up to investors
European asset owners dial up VC investments as UK market edges ahead
In the five years since the pandemic there have been 30 expressions of interest in venture capital amounting to around $11bn - mainly driven by a huge $8.8bn investment from the British Business Bank last summer
Railpen investment boss on plans to double infrastructure exposure
Mads Gosvig, the chief officer of pensions investment management at Railpen wants to see the $46bn fund’s investment in infrastructure to go up from $1.3bn to $2.7bn over the next five years
US asset owners are ‘greenhushing’ following Trump action on ESG
US president Donald Trump has taken action to crack down on ESG investing, which has led to asset owners enaging in ‘greenhushing’ as they continue to invest in these assets
Aon CIO: ‘No guarantee bigger pension funds perform better’
Aon’s defined contribution chief investment officer Jo Sharples tells AOX why government policy to encourgage larger pension funds may have negative side effects
What does the PIF’s withdrawal from LIV Golf say about its investment strategy?
Saudi Arabia’s $925bn Public Investment Fund has spent $5bn over five years on LIV Golf but now is pulling back. What does that say about the sovereign wealth fund’s investment strategy?
Hermes hits back at pension fund in $136mn legal claim
The asset manager has said the legal claim by the North East Scotland Pension Fund - which centres on investments in wind farms which lost 83 per cent - is based “entirely on hindsight”
Gulf sovereign wealth funds show no signs of retreat since Iran conflict
The takeover of Warner Bros Discovery by Paramount, which is backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, the Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi’s newest fund L’Imad, is a sign that Gulf sovereign wealth funds are not retreating
UK’s DB buy-out boom set to continue with record year predicted
Consultants predict that excess insurer capacity, alongside fresh capital from three ownership changes in the first half of the year, will sustain intense competition and ensure buy-out record activity in 2026
How to diversify your portfolio as bonds fail investors
The correlation between stocks and bonds has been positive since 2022 after decades of being negative. How should asset owners react to the seeming break-down of the traditional portfolio?
How do European endowments compare to their US peers?
Oxford University has the largest endowment in Europe and it also bears the most resemblence to Ivy League funds, but what about the other large European endowment funds?
How New Mexico doubled the size of its sovereign wealth fund in five years
The state has benefitted from oil and gas production but New Mexico's fund - which is now the second-largest in the US - has also pivoted to the sectors which it hopes will drive its economy once fossil fuels dry up, and its growth changing the way the fund is run.
Have insurers distorted the private credit market?
By some estimates, the amount of money insurers have pumped into private credit has more than doubled from $490bn in 2021 to $960bn in 2023. This, according to a recent paper, has had a “profound” impact on the asset class’s risk-return profile
WTW’s head of manager research says scrutiny of culture and compensation is on the rise
Chris Redmond, global head of manager research at WTW, says consultants are taking a granular approach to understanding manager behaviours through a close evaluation of products, going under the hood to understand managers' particular strengths and their investment philosophies
Why the Bank of England thinks private credit is like lemons and sausages
Bank of England deputy governor Sarah Breeden, speaking at the FT’s Private Credit Connect conference, compared the problems within private credit to “lemons” and “sausages”
Why the UK and the Dutch have taken two very different approaches to collective pensions
The UK has become one of the few countries where collective defined contribution pensions exist. How does the way it is approaching CDC compare to the approach taken in the Netherlands, where these funds have been common?
Active multi-asset credit mandates come out on top as bond market uncertainty lingers
Uncertainty around the fixed income outlook has unsettled some asset owners. But those who have embraced active management have been able to weather market risks more effectively
Irish pension funds latch onto consolidation craze
The Irish pension system is entering a phase of consolidation, which is currently taking place organically. But experts predict this will not last long and the republic’s government will soon intervene to speed things up
$54bn UK master trust catches American cold over ESG policy
The People’s Pension, which manages $54bn in assets, has recently made its policy on responsible investing less ambitious following an ‘in-depth review’