News

GLOBAL - Sovereign and Public Pension Reserve Funds (SPFs) have proven an increasingly important and popular method of investing, with global SPF assets worth in excess of $4.1trn in the 2006 fiscal year.

THE SVM Global Opportunities Fund has gathered more than £50m assets under management following strong investment performance over the last 18 months.

QIC, the fund manager for the A$20bn QSuper superannuation fund, has carved itself a reputation as an investment pioneer. Rachel Alembakis speaks to some of its top investment personnel

US - The Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) has reached a settlement with Qwest Communications International, a telecommunications company that lost shareholders over US$1.6bn by artificially inflating its stock price in 2001.

GLOBAL - At a time when private equity is causing controversy, a clear majority of pension funds has voted it the most interesting asset class for 2008, according to the results of this month's Global Pensions 100 Panel.

STANDARD LIFE has celebrated the third anniversary of its Self Invested Personal Pension, which has attracted 41,700 customers with £7.1bn funds under management.

Two of the government's key pension reforms are little more than "distractions" from the real problems at the heart of the UK system, a consultant claims.

UK - The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) is urging its members to launch a joint legal challenge against the HMRC stance that VAT should be charged on investment managers' services to occupational pension schemes.

OVERLAY Asset Management has launched a specialist emerging markets currency fund

US - An internal Wilshire memo sent to all its senior consultants has warned them of potential legal pitfalls for clients when advising on the suitability of liability driven investment (LDI) products in the US.