How this planned investment exercise proceeded depended entirely on the investment opportunities that arose, he said.He said it was impossible to say exactly how much new investment money ATP would put into real estate, adding: “It very much depends on price, quality and location. We are primarily interested in high-quality real estate with strong tenants on long leases.”ATP’s search is mainly geared towards direct investments in Denmark and Northern Europe, according to Gade Jepsen.ATP reportedly sold a DKK90bn portfolio of index-linked bonds back in 2012.“We will buy index-linked bonds again when we find them attractive on an absolute basis and relative to other inflation investments,” Gade Jepsen said.Across asset classes, investors are now facing a period of low prospective returns, he said. “But there are real estate investment opportunities that are quite attractive, especially compared with index-linked bonds,” he said. ATP expects its real estate investments to yield quite attractive real returns but without adding too much risk to the investment portfolio.“Investments like our recent €400m Galaxy transaction in Brussels matches ATP’s wish for long and stable cash flows from well-located properties with low risk,” Gade Jepsen said.Earlier this month, a partnership in which ATP has a 90% share paid €475m for the North Galaxy office property in Brussels, which is let on a long-term lease to the Belgian Ministry of Finance.“As a pension company, we like these inflation-adjusted cash-flows from prime real estate because they maintain the purchasing power of the pension savings,” he said.ATP has increased its allocation to real estate to 5.1% of total assets from 4% at the end of 2012, with the pace of this expansion rising in recent months.Between the end of 2012 and the end of 2013, the pension fund’s real estate assets rose in absolute terms to DKK27bn from DKK23bn, and as a proportion of total assets to 4.3% from 4%.From January to May 2014, however, the relative allocation has grown by 0.8 percentage points. Danish pensions giant ATP is on the hunt for new high-quality real estate investments in Denmark and Northern Europe and aims to increase its current property allocation of DKK30bn (€4bn). The DKK600bn statutory pension fund is steering clear of new investments in index-linked bonds for the time being due to market pricing and sees real estate as good investment class for maintaining the buying power of its pension savings. Henrik Gade Jepsen, ATP’s CIO, told IPE: “We are interested in high-quality real estate, but we have not allocated a certain amount to real estate investments.”He said this investment expansion would increase ATP’s current allocation to property of approximately DKK30bn, but added that there was no specific target. read more
The Ethical Investment Advisory Group (EIAG), which advises the Church of England on ethical investment, has tightened its recommended investment restrictions.From July, the revenue threshold on investment exclusions – i.e. the maximum percentage of revenue a company can earn from a certain activity before it is removed from the stock lists of the Church’s investment funds – is to be no more than 10%, a reduction on the previous 25% threshold.Activities covered by the restriction include tobacco, gambling, high-interest-rate lending and human embryonic cloning.While this limit represents a default across all investments, some activities have lower thresholds. There is a 3% threshold for pornography, while there is zero tolerance for indiscriminate weapons, such as nuclear arms and land mines.Edward Mason, secretary at the EIAG, said: “The 25% threshold is historic and has been used for many years. But screening has become much more sophisticated, [allowing] us to do this.”The Church invests through three bodies: the Church Commissioners, whose endowment fund is worth £6.1bn (€10.2bn); the Church of England Pensions Board (CEPB); and the CBF Church of England Funds, investing on behalf of churches and dioceses.Most of the Church’s investments are directly held, with MSCI ESG Research providing screening.The threshold reduction follows a review requested by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Church’s spiritual leader, after the Church Commissioners were found last year to have invested indirectly in payday loan company Wonga.Mason said the new restrictions would not have prevented the exposure to Wonga, which was in a pooled fund and thus could not have been screened in the same way as direct holdings.He said: “Exposure to restricted investments, like Wonga, can occur in pooled funds, and the EIAG accepts this.”However, the EIAG will publish a policy on pooled funds this autumn.It will not bar their use but give recommendations on how to manage the risk of exposure to restricted investments.In its annual review, the EIAG also announced that during 2013 it instructed votes for the Church Commissioners and CEPB on more than 30,000 resolutions at around 3,000 company meetings.In relation to resolutions on executive remuneration packages, the EIAG withheld support – i.e. voted against or abstained – in more than 70% of cases, including WPP and Barclays.In terms of corporate engagement, the EIAG’s successes during 2013 included all three major UK-listed supermarkets – Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons – for the first time publishing alcohol policies acknowledging the potential for alcohol to cause harm.And a major telecommunications company, following engagement with EIAG, stopped promoting pornography on its mobile handsets in the UK. read more
Absolute Return Partners — Alison Major Lépine is joining Absolute Return Partners (ARP) on 9 March, having spent nearly 10 years as an investment manager at Railpen Investments, the asset manager of the UK’s Railways Pension Scheme. In the role of investment manager, she will report to Nick Rees, managing partner, and will work at the firm’s offices in London. Dalriada Trustees — Mike Crowe has been appointed as trustee representative by Dalriada Trustees in the UK. He comes to the firm from Aegon UK where he was a senior manager in the legal team. He will be based in Glasgow.Franklin Templeton Investments — Stephanie Ouwendijk has been hired by Franklin Templeton Investments as a vice president and portfolio manager. She will be part of the manager’s emerging markets debt opportunities team, which is part of the fixed income group. Based in London, she reports to the leader of the emerging markets debt opportunities team William Ledward, senior vice president and portfolio manager at the firm. Ouwendijk joins Franklin Templeton from Ashmore Group, where she had beem fund manager since June 2010. Union Investment — Benjardin Gärtner is to become the new head of equity fund management at Union Investment, and is due to take up the new role by the middle of this year. He was most recently at Deutsche Bank, where he was head of the German equities team and a member of the corporate banking & securities management committee (Germany). At Union Investment, will report to Björn Jesch, the overall head of portfolio management. Gärtner succeeds Michael Schmidt, who left Union Investment at the end of last year for personal reasons. Kirstein — Henrik Hoffmann-Fischer, investment consultant and Kirstein in Denmark, as been appointed to the position of principal at the consultancy. Hoffmann-Fischer has worked at Kirstein Financial Market Research since 2009. The title principal is new within Kirstein, and is given to staff who have made extraordinary efforts over a number of years, the firm said. PineBridge Investments — Anik Sen has been appointed as global head of equities at PineBridge Investments, and will be based in New York. He will report to David Jiang, the firm’s chief executive. Sen joined PineBridge is 2008, and moved from the London Office to New York in June 2014 as interim global head of equities. Before working at the firm, he was a portfolio manager at Brevan Howard. Syntrus Achmea, BNP Paribas Investment Partners, Russell Investments, Absolute Return Partners, Dalriada Trustees, Franklin Templeton Investments, Union Investment, Kirstein, PineBridge InvestmentsSyntrus Achmea Pensioenbeheer – Michel Tanis has been appointed as chief executive at pensions provider Syntrus Achmea Pensioenbeheer with immediate effect. He succeeds Margreet Oostenbrink, who has stepped down for personal reasons after two years in the job. Tanis, 44, has been working at Syntrus Achmea for four years, most recently as director of the staff department Information Management & IT. He has previously worked at consultancy McKinsey and General Electric. BNP Paribas Investment Partners — Simon Roberts has been hired by BNP Paribas Investment Partners (BNPP IP) to lead a new team of global equity managers. Roberts is based in London and will report to Guy Davies, director, equities. Jonathan Barnett has also been appointed to the team, having previously held positions at Moore Capital and Caxton Associates. James Mann and Stewart Lambert have also been hired. Mann has worked at NewSmith and BlueCrest Capital and Lambert has worked at Balyasny Asset Management and Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Roberts has previously worked at Fidelity, Lazard Asset Management and other firms. Russell Investments — Alexandre Martin is joining Russell Investments as portfolio manager in its transition management division. He will be based in London and report to Richard Webb, senior portfolio manager implementation services. Martin comes from Société Générale in Luxembourg, where he was most recently assistant portfolio manager. read more
It believes, however, it has a fiduciary responsibility towards its members and that socially responsible investment (SRI) goes hand in hand with safeguarding investments over the longer term.“Our involvement is a labour of conviction, of co-construction with the insurers,” said Carrega.“The insurers are receptive to our thinking and already active themselves.”Carrega, speaking to IPE after Préfon published the scheme’s performance in relation to pre-selected environmental, social and governance indicators, sketched out how the scheme intends to respond to requirements under France’s new energy transition law.Asked to elaborate on those plans, he told IPE Préfon had three main projects for 2016 in an SRI context.The first is to define shareholder voting guidelines, which it will submit to the insurers running the scheme, as they are the ones that vote.The second is to work with the insurers to build a consolidated overview of the Préfon-Retraite regime’s Green bond investments.“Each insurer has, to a more or less substantial degree, already invested in Green bonds, but we want to have a consolidated vision,” said Carrega. “This will help us to go further.”In its announcement last week, the association referred to putting in place Green bond reporting.It also wants to explore a low-carbon investment strategy.Third, Préfon is targeting a common methodology for measuring and publishing the carbon emissions associated with the retirement regime’s investments.This means coming to an agreement with the insurers about what is the best approach, with a first meeting due to be held this week, said Carrega. Préfon, the association behind a voluntary additional pension scheme for French civil servants, wants to have a clearer overview of the Green bonds in its portfolio and has made this one of three projects for 2016.Préfon-Retraite is an optional retirement regime for French civil servants that was created in 1967 by Préfon, a non-profit association itself established a few years before then.It is an insurance-based scheme, with CNP Assurances, AXA, Groupama and Allianz contracted to deliver a guaranteed retirement income and the ones running the scheme’s €16bn in assets.Christian Carrega, chief executive at Préfon, said the association could not impose an investment strategy on the insurers – “each one is the master of its investment choices” – and that it could only be involved as a collaborator. read more
“We estimate Asian green bonds penetration is below 10% of current potential,” they said.The region had made strong commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as part of the Paris Agreement, and in the analysts’ view capital expenditure directed at mitigating climate change would need to increase from $275bn in 2018 to $500bn by 2030.Last year renewable energy investments from Asia comprised 59% of global spending, with China accounting for the bulk of the expenditure.In addition to strong demand for financing, there was also increasing investor appetite for “climate aware” investments and increasing acceptance of green bonds methodology, the analysts said.Dutch asset manager Robeco and its sustainable investing arm yesterday announced the launch of a credit strategy investing in green bonds and traditional corporate bonds in a bid to help achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.The strategy is one of many new products and services that asset managers have been launching to meet demand for investments that make a positive contribution to meeting global environmental and social challenges. This can be separate, or in addition to, integrating environmental, social and corporate governance considerations in the analysis of issuers from a financial risk perspective. Major European pension funds were among the backers of a $1.42bn emerging market green bond fund recently launched by Amundi and the International Finance Corporation. Luxembourg’s reserve fund is one of the asset owners to have recently created a mandate dedicated to green bonds. Some $600bn (€512bn) of green bonds from Asian issuers could be coming investors’ way over the next five years, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch.Analysts at the investment bank estimated that, by 2020, China will have issued $55bn of green bonds per year, Japan and India $15bn each, and Australia and South Korea $10bn each.China was expected to provide nearly half of the forecasted $600bn of supply over five years.The analysts considered there to be good grounds to expect the Asian green bond market to grow at this rate, although they said their forecast could be conservative. read more
According to an EDF Group spokesperson, the utility planned to switch some of its passive investments into indexed funds using the new MSCI indices as soon as these were launched, although they did not say how much of the fund’s €28bn assets under management would be affected. French utility company EDF has adopted new MSCI climate change indices for its €28.1bn nuclear plant decommissioning fund.The indices aim to increase exposure to companies providing solutions to address climate change, with twice the exposure to clean technology companies compared with the underlying benchmark.According to MSCI, they also help to reduce exposure to “stranded assets”, in that they have 50% lower exposure to thermal coal and four times less exposure to companies with carbon intensive products, compared to the underlying index.Bernard Descreux, director of the asset management division at EDF, said: “As a responsible asset manager, we firmly believe that enabling the transition to a low carbon economy is crucial to the development of a sustainable financial system.” EDF technicians at work“We are already in discussion with our partner asset managers to shift progressively towards the new indices, liquidity permitting,” the spokesperson said. “We wish that a liquid and deep derivatives market will surge quickly with many market participants to ensure efficient trading conditions.”According to the spokesperson, around €10bn of the nuclear decommissioning fund was held in international equities benchmarked to the MSCI All Countries World Index, with a majority of this equity portfolio invested in passive funds.Remy Briand, head of ESG at the index provider, said: “The devastating impacts of climate change will be felt beyond the traditional horizons of most sectors and it is critical that the investment industry collaborates to enable the transition to a low carbon economy, before climate change becomes a defining issue for financial stability.“While there are transition risks associated with taking early action, there is a growing body of evidence to show that earlier action will ultimately mean a less costly adjustment.”The MSCI Climate Change indices are MSCI’s third category of climate index series after MSCI Global Environmental indices, launched in 2010, and MSCI Low Carbon indices, launched in 2014. The latter includes indices launched in collaboration with major asset owners FRR in France and AP4 in Sweden, as well as asset manager Amundi.In France, all nuclear operators have to set aside assets dedicated to financing the decommissioning of nuclear power plants and the long-term management of radioactive waste. read more
The head office of Dutch central bank DNB, which was the first central bank to sign up to the PRIMore than 150 entities have joined the PRI since the end of its reporting period on 31 March 2019, according to the organisation’s directory. These included Hessen, the first German federal state to sign up to the principles, and PensionDanmark and Industriens Pension, who rejoined after leaving the organisation in 2013 over governance concerns.PRI signatories must report on their responsible investment activities annually after a one-year grace period. In 2018-19 the PRI delisted 10 signatories for failing to participate in the reporting and assessment process.The 2019-20 reporting cycle is the first occasion that signatories can be delisted for failing to meet new standards beyond reporting. A spokesperson for the PRI told IPE that 50 were on the watchlist as of June.The PRI included updates on a wide range of indicators in its annual report. For example, it showed that in the 2018-19 period fewer signatories set objectives for the majority of activities than in the previous two reporting cycles.In 2016 and 2018 the proportions stood at 81% and 76%, respectively, for collaborative engagements, versus 72% in the most recent period. For individual engagement activities the change was smaller: from 74% in 2016 and 73% in 2018, down to 70% in 2019.Another indicator tracked by the PRI was the proportion of signatories engaging with policymakers. This grew from 46% in 2014 to 61% in 2019 for asset owners, and from 39% to 44% for investment managers.Later this year asset owner signatories will have the opportunity to vote for two PRI board positions, and service providers for one position. Nominations close next week and candidates will be announced next month, with voting to open on 30 September. Net new PRI signatory growth – including asset managers and service providers – was strongest in China, which reached 22 signatories, but there were double-digit increases in Europe, too:Southern Europe: +27% (112 total signatories)UK and Ireland: +22% (394)Benelux: +19% (170)Germany, Austria and Switzerland: +17% (188)Nordics: +16% (204)France: +12% (203)Central and eastern Europe and Eurasia: no change (14) The Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) welcomed more than 500 new signatories in 2018-19, of which 69 were asset owners, according to the organisation’s latest annual report.Most of the new asset owner signatories came from the UK (12), followed by the US (11), the Netherlands (eight) and across southern Europe (eight).Among the new joiners were National Grid’s pension scheme in the UK, AG2R in France, PenSam in Denmark, and the Novartis pension fund in Switzerland.LGPS Central, one of the new asset pooling entities for the UK’s local government pension scheme, also became a signatory, although at least some of its partner funds were already signatories. DNB in the Netherlands also became the first central bank to sign up to the PRI. read more
“It is crucial that investee companies are required to disclose all key data needed to evaluate the investment against the EU taxonomy”Tanguy van de Werve, director general of Efama“Robust and publicly available ESG disclosures on investee companies are a prerequisite to make EU taxonomy work in practice, especially in view of the scope of the disclosure requirements being enlarged to include all financial products,” said Van de Werve.“It is therefore crucial that investee companies are required to disclose all key data needed to evaluate the investment against the EU taxonomy.”Some others argue that investors can get the data they need without non-financial corporate reporting being made mandatory.According to Giegold, however, corporates will also face reporting duties in the context of the taxonomy regulation.“The obligation to disclose the share of sustainable activities applies not only to sustainable financial products but also to very large companies,” he wrote in comments yesterday evening.‘Generational shift’ Dombrovskis said: “I am delighted that we were able to reach this compromise… Today’s common understanding is fully in line with the increased ambition of the new Commission on financing the green transition.”The taxonomy is also backed as a tool to prevent “greenwashing”.Reporting demandsThe deal at trialogue level follows months of discussions and disagreements on various aspects of the taxonomy. One of the points of debate has been with regard to investor disclosure requirements.According to Sven Giegold, financial and economic policy spokesperson of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament, under yesterday’s agreement “all financial products are obliged to apply the classification or clearly state that they do not”.Sébastien Godinot, economist with WWF European policy office, said the negotiators had found “balanced compromises on sticky issues like disclosure” and that there would be mandatory and separate disclosure for the share of three types of activities in financial products: “sustainable”, “transition”, and “enabling”.Transition activities refer to current best practice in sectors with no zero carbon alternative yet, like steel, and enabling activities support zero-carbon sectors, with wind turbine manufacturing as an example.Tanguy van de Werve, director general of Efama, the trade association for the European asset management industry, expressed a recurring investor plea for policymakers to act on corporate reporting to allow investors to meet reporting requirements being imposed on them. EU negotiators yesterday reached a provisional deal on a framework for a taxonomy of environmentally sustainable activities, which is set to form the basis on which investors marketing financial products will have to back up any environmental sustainability claims.The agreement was reached between national envoys and a team from the European Parliament, and is subject to approval by the European Parliament and EU Council. Representatives of EU member state governments in the Coreper body are due to meet soon to examine the compromise. The taxonomy is a major part of the European Commission’s sustainable finance action plan, and the regulation for it is the last of the Commission’s three legislative proposals from May 2018 that needs to be finalised.The taxonomy, or a “green list”, as Commission executive vice president Valdis Dombrovskis has now described it, is a system to determine whether an economic activity contributes to certain environmental objectives and “does no harm” to others. Dombrovskis says it will help pave the way for massive investment supporting the move to a climate neutral EU economy by 2050. “It is an absolute measure and therefore represents a generational shift for responsible investment” Fiona Reynolds, CEO of the Principles for Responsible Investment Fiona Reynolds, CEO of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), said the organisation “strongly welcomes” the provisional agreement on the taxonomy.Underpinned by disclosure requirements, the taxonomy was a system “to bridge the gap between sustainability goals, like the Paris climate agreement, and investment practice,” she said.“It is an absolute measure (the economic activity is consistent with sustainability goals), rather than a comparison (the economic activity is a relative improvement on the status quo), and therefore represents a generational shift for responsible investment,” she added.Nuclear out?The status of nuclear energy has been a contentious point in the discussions about the taxonomy. France was reportedly in favour of it making the cut in the taxonomy, with the European Parliament and Austria, Germany and Luxembourg pushing back.“The question of the sustainability of nuclear power was a hurdle in the negotiations until the end,” said the Greens’ Giegold.He portrayed nuclear energy as being “de facto” prevented from counting as a environmentally sustainable activity because of the “do no harm” principles.The baseline logic of the taxonomy has been described as involving two questions. The first, according to Andreas Hoepner, professor at University College Dublin and an independent member of the technical expert group advising the Commission on sustainble finance, is whether an activity can be executed “in a green manner”. The second is about thresholds, such as CO2 emission limits for electricity generation, that such as an activity has to meet to count as green.These thresholds are still to be decided and, according to a statement from the Greens/EFA, they will be prepared by “a balanced platform of experts”. read more
The property at 15 Ivy St, Indooroopilly, sold for $3.475m.A RIVERFRONT Indooroopilly home sold for an eye-watering $3,475,000 in the first day of inspections. The living room flows outside.Mr Johnston said the bottom of the market will continue to be pushed up as interstate buyers continue to flock to the region due to more affordable prices.“Once the buyers from Sydney and Melbourne really start arriving en masse that will drive our market,” he said. “They’re cashed up and ready to go.”According to CoreLogic, the median house sale price for Indooroopilly is $1,005,000. The million dollar view from the balcony at 15 Ivy St, Indooroopilly.Johnston Dixon agent John Johnston said they received an enormous amount of interest in the 15 Ivy St home after sending out a memo to clients on their database.“People were practically climbing over the counter,” Mr Johnston said. More from newsDigital inspection tool proves a property boon for REA website3 Apr 2020The Camira homestead where kids roamed free28 May 2019“The first person that saw it bought it and no one else got the chance.” There are even views of the Brisbane river from the master bedroom.Mr Johnston said a shortage of homes on the riverfront that didn’t flood contributed to the swift sale.“That price is absolute entry-level for something like that on the river that doesn’t flood,” he said.“There is nothing on the market and we could probably sell that home 20 times over.” read more
More from newsCrowd expected as mega estate goes under the hammer7 Aug 2020Hard work, resourcefulness and $17k bring old Ipswich home back to life20 Apr 2020There is an open fire and polished Jarrah floorboards.Mr Howard had been searching for a property in the area for some time and fell in love with the home the moment he stepped in the door.“It was one of those experiences where you walk in and you think ‘I’ve got to have this’,” he said. The bedroom at 361 Cavendish Rd, Coorparoo.The owner struck gold after ripping up the carpet in the home and finding solid Jarrah timber floorboards beneath it.“The floors have been polished and we have maintained all the existing character,” he said.“It’s a beautiful in architectural style and the quality of the build was fantastic.”Mr Howard said they did, however, update the kitchen and bathroom, as well as installing airconditioning.A sunroom at the front of the home is Mr Howard’s favourite to kick back and relax in.“It is warm in the winter, cool in the summer and the light is beautiful.“Old architects knew how to build a house to take advantage of the weather.“It’s nice to sit there, having a drink with a nice cool breeze blowing through the louvres.” The home at 361 Cavendish Rd, Coorparoo, is for sale.A RARE opportunity to own a home designed by a famed 20th century architect has arisen as its owners move on.Michael Howard has enjoyed the 1931 Spanish revival home at 361 Cavendish Rd for the past four years and is hoping its next owner will love it as much as he has. The home has french doors.“It’s a gorgeous feeling house,” Mr Howard said.“It’s like a little fairy cottage.”The home was designed by architect Eric Trewern, renowned for a number of homes he designed around the city, including 4 Welwyn Cres, Coorparoo, which recently sold for a suburb record of more than $5 million. The leadlight windows have great detail.While Mr Howard has not made any structural changes to the home, he set out to restore it to its former glory. read more
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