CANADA - Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec has completed a US$5bn debt offering in what it called the largest non-government guaranteed offering by a Canadian issuer in US dollars.

CHINA - Anthony Bolton will return to funds management and has committed to at least two years running Fidelity's new China fund.

US - Alternatives manager Apollo Global Management announced it received US$750m from a US public pension fund to create a separately managed account (SMA), and said it expects institutional interest in SMAs to continue to grow.

AUSTRALIA - Superannuation fund QSuper has allocated US$100m to a global fixed income fund run by Australian money manager QIC.

US - The median corporate and public pension funds posted positive returns in the third quarter, with results of 12.1% and 11.7%, respectively, according to data compiled by Mercer.

EUROPE - Pension funds are seeking out agricultural and commodity-related assets that offer diversification from traditional asset classes and superior returns to listed equities.

JAPAN - Japan Airlines Corp. President Haruka Nishimatsu proposed cutting retiree pensions by 30% to help return the carrier to profit, Bloomberg News reported.

GLOBAL - The number of institutional investors using exchange traded funds increased 12% in 2008 with nearly 3,000 investors worldwide holding ETFs, a new report from Barclays Global Investors (BGI) showed.

NETHERLANDS - ING Investment Management (ING IM) has appointed Michel van Elk as chief executive of ING IM Europe.

US - Five Ohio pension funds have filed a lawsuit against the three ratings agencies for allegedly providing strong ratings to mortgage backed securities in exchange for kickbacks from the issuing firms.