Regions

US - The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) has paid £106m (US$155m) to acquire a 12.7% stake in London Gatwick Airport from Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP).

US - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration has reached a tentative agreement with state employee unions over pension reforms.

US - The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed new rules around the marketing and advertising of target date funds meant to prevent investors from being ‘misled' when deciding to invest.

EUROPE - A European Commission Green Paper - due for release next week - is set to reopen the issue of solvency standards in pension schemes.

UK/GLOBAL - BP directors will face "testing questions" from schemes in the wake of the firm's decision to suspend dividends for the remainder of the year, the National Association of Pension Funds said.

GLOBAL - BP will not pay dividends for the remainder of the year as it has to put us$20bn in a compensation fund for victims of the Gulf oil spill.

US/UK - Financial legislation pending in the US threatens to overwhelm, emasculate, and undermine independence of the Securities & Exchange Commission, according to the watchdog's former chairman.

GLOBAL - The hedge fund industry's assets should surpass US$1.9trn, the record reached in mid-2008, as early as this year as US pension funds add money to the pools, investment consultant Casey Quirk & Associates LLC said.

GLOBAL/UK - Institutional fund of hedge funds Fauchier Partners has won investor backing for a novel lock-in on one of its flagship products.

GLOBAL - The European Central Bank will have to "engage in de facto fiscal policy" if the region's authorities wish to avoid a sovereign bankruptcy, according to Paul McCulley, a managing director at Pacific Investment Management Co.