Sponsor Workshops
Workshop A: Investec Asset Management
Thursday 1st March: 12:00-12:55
Opportunities in Emerging Markets
Emerging markets play an undisputed role in the global economy as a main engine of growth – a fact that may have been difficult to fully predict as recently as fifteen or twenty years ago. Led by the growth of Brazil, Russia, India and China, emerging markets contribute over 60% of global growth and are a significant source of demand for consumer goods, and commodities. The rise of emerging economies is a structural shift in the global economy, brought about by technological dispersion, demographic trends and the resulting unprecedented pace of economic convergence.
How are UK Institutional investors accessing these opportunities?
In our presentation John Stopford Co-head of Fixed Income, Investec Asset Management will examine and discuss a wide range of emerging market investments including emerging market equities, sovereign debt, currencies and emerging market multi-asset strategies (Emma’s).
Workshop B: Wellington Management
Thursday 1st March: 12:00-12:55
Using Your Fixed Income Allocation for Absolute Return: avoiding beta and finding alpha
We live in uncertain times which makes choosing the best benchmark for the immediate future not an easy task. We will explore the world of Absolute Return from a fixed income perspective. We will look at how it is constructed to provide consistent return with low volatility and look at three case studies of how different LGPS are using Absolute Return to create solutions in their Funds.
Fixed Income allocations have done very well in the last few years and many Funds have benefited from the falls in interest rates and a benign environment for credit assets including High Yield and Emerging Debt. However, rates will eventually rise and the returns on credit will become more moderate. We believe it is time to provide the manager with a wide remit in order to deploy their skill and demand absolute return through all market environments.
Workshop C: BNY Mellon
Thursday 1st March: 12:00-12:55
Private Equity in the New World Economy
Developed markets are suffering a business dislocation as the credit crunch limits company borrowing, IPO's, buyouts and M&A activity. Conversely, Emerging Market economies and especially the BRIC's, are growing rapidly and experiencing unprecedented domestic demand for goods and services. This demand is primarily being serviced by domestic firms, as global suppliers play catch-up to get a foothold in these growing major markets. The opportunities available for experienced Private Equity investors in these situations have rarely been better.
Siguler Guff will share their insight into the risks, due diligence and rewards for these markets from many years of experience and also their views on where to find the best future investment opportunities. Siguler Guff is the Global Private Equity partner for BNY Mellon and has over 30 years of experience in the Private Equity market.
Workshop D: UBS
Thursday 1st March: 15:30-16:25
Fundamental indexation
During this workshop, Ian Ashment, Head of Structured Beta and Indexing, will provide an overview of what fundamental indexation is and why it is starting to grow in popularity with investors, particularly pension schemes. He will also discuss other forms of non market capitalisation weighted indexing and the differences between them and the traditional market capitalisation approach to passive management and why investors are considering them. Ian will outline the key benefits of each index and where they might fit into UK pension schemes' portfolios, complementing existing investments.
Workshop E: M&G Investments
Thursday 1st March: 15:30-16:25
Three reasons to be scared: inflation, regulation and the banks. How to survive and prosper.
If every threat is an opportunity then there are a lot of opportunities around right now. It is getting difficult to meet inflation liabilities with negative real yields on index-linked gilts. Regulators are desperate to show that they are the meanest around and pension funds look like a good target after their attack on insurance companies through Solvency II. Finally, bank restructuring has a long long way to go. And this may fundamentally change the structure of markets and assets available for pension funds.
In this session, M&G will talk about their approach to inflation-linked assets, their experiences with increasing regulation and how the changing markets really do provide some interesting opportunities.
Workshop F: PAAMCO
Thursday 1st March: 15:30-16:25
Hedge Funds – Risk or Opportunity?
As more local authority pension funds are contemplating hedge fund allocations, our workshop aims to highlight critical considerations facing investors in the asset class. The discussion is going to be focused on the following areas:
- Role of hedge funds in institutional investor portfolios
- Is there enough transparency to make informed decisions?
- Risk measurement and management
- Fees and governance
- Operational due diligence and monitoring
- Local authority case study: direct allocation or a fund of funds approach?
Workshop G: Knight Frank Investors
Friday 2 March: 10:35-11:30
Property – finding the right way in
During the last 10 years commercial property has re-discovered its place as a key component in a multi asset pension fund investment portfolio. The bull run of the late 1990s to mid-2000s led to a proliferation of property investment vehicles and instruments to enable investors to access the market, many of which have been used by local authority pension funds. In addition to direct investment, pension funds can now use unlisted pooled funds, multi manager strategies, derivatives and real estate investment trusts to get exposure to property.
However, as a result of the credit boom, over-promotion of the asset class to retail investors and the subsequent banking crisis, the property market has been through one of the most volatile periods in its history.
How have investors in the variety of strategies available been affected? Have indirect investment strategies proved to be a valuable addition to a balanced portfolio and given our expectations for returns going forward, what are the most appropriate routes into property for local authority pension fund investors?
Kevin Aitchison, Head of Knight Frank Investors, John Styles, Partner and James Roberts, Head of Commercial Research will examine these key issues and invite your questions and comments.
www.knightfrankinvestors.com
Workshop H: Longview Partners
Friday 2nd March: 10:35-11:30
Stock ideas for 2012 – Stability at a reasonable price
Equity markets face an unusually high level of uncertainty as we start 2012. Markets are swinging from discounting some sort of crisis and recession, to assuming a more optimistic growth backdrop. Nigel Masding, Longview Partners’ senior Research Analyst, will seek to solve the conundrum faced by bottom-up global equity investors; if expectations for deep cyclicals are too high and defensive companies are too expensive, where should investors be focusing their attention?
Nigel will explore a number of global equity market themes and companies, to determine the best equity investment opportunities available in the current market environment. He will focus on companies that have demonstrated good capital allocation, as well as companies that have modest cyclicality, company specific growth potential and recurring revenue streams. Nigel will also look at companies based in the developed world, exposed to superior emerging market growth.
Workshop I: Invesco Perpetual
Friday, 2nd March: 10:35-11:30
From ‘D-Day’ to ‘E-Day’: US downgrade to European crisis
The current prolonged economic uncertainly has created an abnormal distressed investment cycle. The volatility experienced in recent months has been something the world has not been prepared for. ‘D-Day’ occurred in August 2011 when S&P downgraded the US from AAA to AA+. In contrast, ‘E-Day’ is a reflection of the current uncertainty on the problems facing Europe. Following the financial crisis of 2008 the market has not been trading on fundamentals, but rather on headlines, risk appetite and yield chasing. ‘Amend and extend’ and ‘kicking the can down the road,’ have been popular descriptions for the refinancing in the high-yield and leverage loans markets, as lenders avoid short-term restructurings and hope a better economic climate will solve balance sheet problems and minimize losses.
The credit markets are still flush with liquidity as Central Governments continue to print money and ease bank reporting requirements regarding collateral, loan and reserve values. Despite this, Moody’s and S&P forecast defaults to nearly double by the end of 2012 to a range of 3-4%, however this level hardly reflects the severity of the world’s economic ills. Where are we today? Where are the distressed opportunities and how do we navigate through the clouds, especially as clear skies are not on the horizon?
