Almost half of the United Kingdom's largest pension funds have invested in hedge funds or are considering doing so, according to a new survey.
The survey, commissioned by global fund-management group Pioneer Investments, a unit of Unicredito Italiano, reveals that 16% of the pensions polled have already placed assets into hedge funds, while one-third are actively studying the possibility.
The majority of the pension funds, 73%, were hoping to improve performance through participation in hedge funds, while the remainder did so for defensive reasons, according to the survey.
"Pension funds are actually being very conservative with their hedge-fund investments, which are aimed at diversifying away from the long-only market," stated Nigel Meir, Pioneer's head of alternative investment sales in the U.K. and Scandinavia.
"They are enhancing performance in the sense that hedge funds outperform during a bear market," he added.
Funds of funds were found to be the most popular type of hedge fund vehicle with UK pension funds according to the survey, with 86% have invested in funds of hedge funds, rather than single-strategy funds.
Of the pension funds that have avoided hedge funds the poll found the 35% cited a high level of undefined risk as the main reason, while 26% blamed high fees and 12% believed hedge fund growth was a short term ‘fad’. Meanwhile, 38% of pension funds saw a perceived lack of transparency as the greatest obstacle to hedge fund investing.
The survey is based on responses from 94 of the biggest 500 pension funds in the UK, with combined assets of £77 billion ($140.73 billion, €114.75 billion).
http://www.pioneeraltinvest.com/misc/headline.jhtml?fundid=&ElementId=/repositories/news/pension_managers_turn_to_hedge_funds.html&referrer=pai
Network Tweets
Network BlogsContent
provided by
|
Archive | Resources | Partners | Site Map | Links | Newsletter Archive | Contact | RSS Feeds | About | Syndication | Advertising & Marketing | Recruitment | Terms & Conditions | Privacy & Cookies
Copyright © 2012 - All Rights Reserved - Tax-News.com
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Tax-News.com has taken reasonable care in sourcing and presenting the information contained on this site, but accepts no responsibility for any financial or other loss or damage that may result from its use. In particular, users of the site are advised to take appropriate professional advice before committing themselves to involvement in offshore jurisdictions, offshore trusts or offshore investments.
Write a comment