Regions

EUROPE - Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) has appointed Joseph McDonnell as head of global portfolio solutions (GPS) for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

GLOBAL - Institutional investors' appetite for hedge funds has increased, with pension funds favouring large, well-established outfits.

AUSTRALASIA - Russell Investment Group has made two senior appointments to its Asia Pacific investment team.

GLOBAL - Knight Vinke Asset Management and its institutional shareholder supporters have renewed calls for HSBC to dispose of its Household International (HFC) business, responsible for some of its $17.2bn losses over 2007.

US/CANADA - Pension plans have begun to extend shareholder action beyond the US by using Canadian courts in their bid to protect the rights of beneficiaries.

GLOBAL - Managers' fees in the alternatives sector have been condemned as unacceptable, with one pension fund accusing asset managers of creating a "cartel".

MIDDLE EAST - SEI has opened an office in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) to provide investment solutions to clients in the Middle East.

GLOBAL - The real estate market is offering great rewards to those who get the timing right, but pension funds tempted to make large allocations to the sector have been warned the market may not yet have bottomed out.

INCLUDING: US - Pioneer appoints US head of portfolio management; US - CalPERS appoints board member; US - CalPERS appoints board member

GLOBAL - Aviva has revealed plans to combine its asset management businesses to create a globally integrated group to be known as Aviva Investors.