Regions

GLOBAL - Pension funds have been returning to the UK property market in the wake of improving returns after the asset class lost almost half of its value in two years, industry figures said.

GLOBAL - Private equity and real estate fundraising last year reached the lowest level since 2004, a survey by Preqin has revealed.

GLOBAL - The volume of securities lending activity fell in 2009, but the fees raked in for the securities being lent increased over the past year as borrowers focused on hard-to-borrow securities, Data Explorers Consulting found.

US - The US Department of Labor (DOL) and the Treasury are requesting feedback on the implications of integrating a lifetime annuity arrangement into defined contribution plans.

EUROPE - The current draft of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers European directive could give rise to significant legal uncertainty and "systemic failure", a committee of the Bank of England said.

US - Major US pension funds have invested in the second infrastructure fund raised by Alinda Capital Partners, which recently closed at US$4bn.

US/EUROPE - A group of investors led by the Retirement System for the General Employees of the City of Miami Beach have won a class action trial against Vivendi and will be entitled to recover an estimated US$9.3bn.

GLOBAL - Hewitt Associates has reported a doubling in the number of hedge fund manager searches during 2009 in comparison with the previous year.

GLOBAL - Institutional pension fund assets in the 13 major markets increased by 15% during 2009, from US$20trn to over US$23trn, latest Towers Watson research has revealed.

US - President Barack Obama called for the discontinuation of tax cuts for investment fund managers in his first State of the Union address yesterday.