The $97bn pension, which has seen the value of its assets plunge by about $30bn since last summer, increased its upper limit allocation ceiling to the asset class to 7 percent from 5 percent in December to alleviate over-weighting.
2008 was the worst year in the history of the Government Pension Fund. Norway’s ministry of finance said the results were not ‘satisfactory’. Last year, the fund was given the go-ahead to increase its real estate allocation to 5% and has since been building up its expertise in the field.
Investor sentiment is on the decline as the region suffers from a decline in petro dollar surpluses coupled with the wider global economic turmoil.
Fresh from raising nearly €1bn for its eighth mid-cap fund, the French private equity firm is aligning itself to take advantage of market dislocation. It is also raising its third small-cap fund.
It’s yet another sign that the balance of power has shifted to LPs from GPs – at least one new US fund is being structured whereby the capital commitment of the GP is subordinated to that of the LP.
The Bridgeport, Connecticut-based People's United Bank has agreed a $35 million, three-year refinancing with opportunistic investor Talcott Realty. The loan is backed by the office property One Financial Plaza in Hartford.
An undisclosed shareholder at Indian real estate fund Trikona Trinity Capital has asked the fund to sell its assets “in the best interests of the company and the shareholders”, according to a filing on the UK’s AIM stock market.
Bill Hughes, the newly-installed chairman of the UK’s Association of Real Estate Funds and head of property at British insurer Legal & General, tells PERE this month that one of his focal points is examining the structure of open-ended vehicles following mass redemptions across Europe.
The New York State Common Retirement Fund committed $300m to a fund managed by Franklin Templeton Real Estate. It came as the state’s comptroller called for more flexibility in potentially increasing alternative investments.
Despite posting a loss of $5.46 billion for 2008, the Finnish pension fund sees real estate outperform its other investment sectors.