IPE Real Assets (October Issue)
With the uncertainty of Brexit, “REITs have been trading at discounts to net asset value (NAV) of around 15% to 25%.” Faced with scant opportunities, some are electing to return money to unitholders through buybacks or special dividends. But there is clearly a “disconnect between sentiment in the public markets and private markets.” As REITs encounter “limited opportunities in the office space, institutional investors, particularly global investors, have made many high-profile acquisitions.” This includes “the UK’s largest-ever office deal…in July when Hong Kong’s Infinitus Property Investment bought the iconic ‘Walkie Talkie’ building at 20 Fenchurch Street for £1.28bn.”
Tags: Acquisitions, Brexit, Buybacks, Disconnect, Discounts, Dividends, Hong Kong, Infinitus, Institutional investors, NAV, REITs, Sentiment, UK, Uncertainty, Unitholders
Institutional Investor (October 21)
“Negative interest rates are nothing new in Europe, where some central banks have effectively been charging depositors since 2014. But if rates stay below zero much longer, the region’s banks and institutional investors may have to rethink their portfolios to keep afloat.”
Tags: Banks, Central banks, Depositors, Europe, Institutional investors, Negative interest, Portfolios, Rates
Financial Times (December 8)
“Greater shareholder engagement with quoted companies has been one of the key themes in corporate governance to emerge since the financial crisis” and underpins the UK’s stewardship code for institutional investors. In the U.S. as well, there has been a “recent upsurge in activist investing,” along with “growing demands by long-term institutions for greater input.” This creates potential for progress. “It can only be good that shareholders take an active interest in the businesses in which they invest.”
Tags: Activists, Corporate governance, Engagement, Financial Crisis, Institutional investors, Shareholders, Stewardship code, U.S., UK
Investments & Pensions Europe (November Issue)
Awareness has grown “that institutional investors who define their job as beating the peer group benchmark are being irresponsible.” With that realization, responsible investment has reached the first stage. Today, “the challenge for ESG 2.0 is to learn to manage the modern risks that are linked to long-horizon stewardship investing.”
Tags: Awareness, Benchmark, Challenge, ESG 2.0, Institutional investors, Irresponsible, Long-horizon, Peer group, Responsible investment, Risks, Stewardship investing
Institutional Investor (October)
“China is making it easier for more foreign institutions to buy domestic securities in a fresh attempt to deepen institutional presence in the country’s lackluster stock markets.” The Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) program is being nearly tripled to $80 billion from $30 billion. In addition, the minimum requirement for international investors to directly purchase locally listed securities has been lowered to managed assets of $500 million from $5 billion.
Tags: China, Institutional investors, QFII, Requirements, Stock market
Financial Times (May 23)
Bonds are in. Stocks are out. “Institutional investors, from pension funds to mutual funds sold directly to the public, have slashed holdings in the past decade. Stocks have not been so far out of favour for half a century.” The penchant for bonds could reverse. Or “the end of a six-decade passion for equities could lead to a less flexible, more conservative model of corporate financing.”
