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☆ California pension fund looks to boost venture capital investments despite startup market turmoil
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

California's giant public pension fund is looking to increase its venture capital exposure in the coming months, despite a swoon in the startup market and lackluster performance of late by the fund's VC portfolio. Between 2000 and 2020, CalPERS underperformed the venture market, according to a PitchBook report, notching annual returns of 0.49%. In the last year, while CalPERS' PE portfolio returned −4.7%, CalPERS' venture investment performance came in at −24.8%. The pension fund's investments have skewed to the public market and to so-called "real assets," such as property. WATCH: Pension funds venture investments

Persons: Anton Orlich, Orlich, CalPERS Organizations: California Public Employees, National Venture Capital Association, Venture Locations: −

Companies Prudential Financial Inc FollowJune 13 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday partly revived a shareholder lawsuit against Prudential Financial Inc (PRU.N) alleging the insurer concealed a shortfall with its individual life insurance policy reserves in 2019. A spokesperson for Prudential did not immediately respond to a request for comment. While it revived investors' allegations over the mortality statements, the Philadelphia-based appeals court agreed that the adequate level of reserves was a matter of opinion, affirming dismissal of those claims. V. Prudential Financial Inc et al., No. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Persons: Jody Godoy, Bill Berkrot Organizations: Prudential Financial, Prudential Financial Inc, U.S, Circuit, Prudential, Warren Police, Appeals, Thomson Locations: Michigan, Newark , New Jersey, Jersey, Philadelphia, New York

TOKYO, June 13 (Reuters) - Toyota (7203.T) faces an unprecedented challenge at its annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday, with some pension funds voting against Chairman Akio Toyoda on governance issues, while seeking more disclosures on the Japanese automaker's climate lobbying. Two prominent U.S. proxy advisers have flagged concern about Toyota's board independence. The step comes as companies across Japan face more pressure from investors, especially on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. The strong financial performance has meant concerns about board independence have largely been shrugged off, said Kazunori Suzuki of Waseda Business School. He enjoys strong support from individual investors and the many suppliers and Toyota group companies among its shareholders.

Persons: Akio Toyoda, Toyoda, Kentaro Shibata, Kazunori Suzuki, Anders Schelde, Denmark's, AkademikerPension, AkademikerPension's Schelde, Nicholas Benes, Benes, that's, Makiko Yamazaki, Maki Shiraki, Daniel Leussink, David Dolan, William Mallard, Clarence Fernandez Organizations: Toyota, Nikkei, Waseda Business School, Tokyo, Exchange, Services, International Paralympic Committee, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Training, of Japan, Nissan, Honda, Reuters, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, New York, Japan, Toyota

An internal Union Investment document seen by Reuters shows that the firm received just 30 responses to its outreach. Although consumer goods manufacturers are particularly exposed, other sectors that import goods associated with deforestation, including commodities houses and industrials companies, will also face scrutiny. Consumer goods makers are counting on technology such as satellites and artificial intelligence to help eradicate deforestation from their supply chains. Several large consumer goods companies say they are close to meeting their ambitious zero-deforestation goals. "The EU rules make deforestation a financial risk as well as an environmental risk."

Persons: Ueslei Marcelino, Henrik Pontzen, Pontzen, Janus Henderson, Jonathan Toub, haven't, Snorre Gjerde, Christophe Hansen, Magdi Batato, Kit Kat, Nestlé, David Croft, Reckitt's, Arild Skedsmo, Richa Naidu, Kate Abnett, Matt Scuffham, David Evans Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, EU, Germany's, Investment, Unilever, ESG, Union Investment, Nestle, Pepsico, Danone, L'Oreal, KLP, Aviva, Fidelity International, Reckitt, UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Consumer, Thomson Locations: Uruara, Para State, Brazil, NBIM, Nescafe, London, Brussels

☆ Pension funds pushing into venture capital as big investors eye a return to tech
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailPension funds pushing into venture capital as big investors eye a return to techCNBC's Deirdre Bosa sits down with Christopher Ailman, Calstrs CIO, join 'Power Lunch' to discuss pension funds being pushed into venture capitalists.

Persons: Deirdre Bosa, Christopher Ailman Organizations: Calstrs CIO

☆ Investors in biggest climate pressure group don't like to pressure
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Tommy Wilkes | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Climate Action 100+ (CA100+), set up in 2017, comprises more than 700 investment firms representing $68 trillion in assets. At stake is whether CA100+ members use all the tools at their disposal to pressure climate laggards. FLAGGING CLIMATE LAGGARDSCA100+ posts on its website upcoming shareholder resolutions and board re-election votes but it doesn't recommend voting against directors at climate laggards. Wespath's sustainability director, Jake Barnett, said that challenging board directors over their climate policies was not being used widely enough "as a method of accountability". In at least one area there is compulsion; CA100+ members not responding to a survey asking for their engagement interests within a year could be delisted.

Persons: laggards, Xander Urbach, CA100, Francois Humbert, bodes, Eli Kasargod, Staub, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, Jake Barnett, MN's Urbach, Shell, Wael Sawan, Vincent Kaufmann, Tommy Reggiori Wilkes, Greg Roumeliotis, Susan Fenton Organizations: Reuters, MN, Generali Investments, Exxon Mobil Corp, Chevron, Valero Energy, Warren, Investments, The United Methodist Church, Shell, Ethos Foundation, Thomson Locations: Paris, Swiss

☆ Climate change: The world's biggest companies have made almost no progress on limiting greenhouse gas emissions since 2018
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

London CNN —The vast majority of the world’s biggest companies have done almost nothing in the past five years to cut their planet-heating pollution enough to avoid catastrophic climate change. Large companies are either more likely to contribute to extreme levels of warming or are not disclosing their greenhouse gas emissions at all, according to a new report from ESG Book, seen by CNN. Slow progressIn its analysis, ESG Book assigned “temperature scores” to companies based on publicly reported emission data and factors such as emission reduction targets to determine firms’ contribution to global climate goals. It accounted for direct emissions from operations as well as indirect emissions from use of the companies’ products. Still, slightly more than $1 trillion is expected to flow toward oil, gas and coal this year, significantly above the level consistent with the world reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, the IEA said.

Persons: ”, Daniel Klier, we’re, ” Klier, Fatih Birol Organizations: London CNN, CNN, Shell, BP, European Union, EU, International Energy Agency, World Meteorological Organization Locations: Paris, United States, United Kingdom, China, India

☆ Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund just reshaped professional golf with the PGA Tour-LIV merger. That's just the start
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The Saudi Public Investment Fund is a government-controlled fund that has $650 billion in assets under management, according to its most recent filing. A state-owned investment fund like the PIF is not unique. Critics of LIV Golf accused the Saudis of backing the new tour as a form of “sportswashing” its reputation. For example it’s not clear exactly how much it invested to start up LIV Golf. CNN has not been able to confirm that report, but what is known is that LIV Golf tournaments have been held on Trump Organization properties.

Persons: petro, LIV Golf, LIV, Yasir Al, Rumayyan, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, ”, Elon Musk, Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s, Kushner, Mohammed bin Salman, Bin Salman, Jamal Khashoggi, – CNN’s Coy Wire, Jack Bantock, Steve Almasy Organizations: New, New York CNN, Saudi, Saudi Public Investment Fund, Sovereign Wealth Fund, PGA, Soccer, Saudi Aramco, Newcastle United, Saudi Pro League, CNBC, Electronic Arts, EA, Activision Blizzard, Ticketmaster, Carnival Corp, Twitter, Washington Post, CNN, Trump Organization, US State Department, Congress Locations: New York, Europe, Saudi, English, Al, Saudi Arabia, al Qaeda

SYDNEY, June 7 (Reuters) - HESTA, one of Australia's largest pension funds, on Wednesday froze work with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Australia, the latest fund to blacklist the firm amid a national scandal over its misuse of confidential government tax plans. The A$72 billion ($48 billion) fund is "very concerned" and will "restrict consideration of PwC for any new or additional service provision", according to a statement on Wednesday. The fund is audited by PwC. The move comes days after Australia's largest and second-largest pension funds froze work with the firm and raises the risk PwC may lose private sector clients just as a growing list of government agencies pause or review work with the firm. PwC on Monday named at least 67 current and former staff associated with the breach in an unpublished letter to lawmakers.

Persons: PwC, Lewis Jackson, Sonali Paul Organizations: SYDNEY, PricewaterhouseCoopers, PwC, Thomson Locations: Australia

Musk was the biggest shareholder in both companies at the time of the deal and Tesla shareholders alleged he pushed the carmaker's board into the deal to bail out the billionaire's investment in the struggling rooftop solar company. The state's highest court said that while a judge on the Delaware Court of Chancery erred in some portions of his analysis, his overall premise still supported his determination that Tesla paid a fair price for SolarCity. They also argued that Slights determined after a 10-day trial in 2021 that Musk meddled in the deal but failed to hold him liable. Shareholders wanted to force Musk to return the Tesla stock he received in the takeover, which at one point was worth $13 billion. The Delaware Supreme Court said that the Slights' ruling was not "pitch perfect" but did not have to be and noted the "total collapse" of the shareholders' theory that SolarCity was insolvent.

Persons: Elon Musk, Musk, Tesla, Randall Baron, Joseph Slights, SolarCity, Slights, Tom Hals, Mark Porter Organizations: Tesla, Delaware Supreme, Shareholders, Thomson Locations: SolarCity, Delaware, Wilmington , Delaware

ACCRA/LONDON, June 6 (Reuters) - Ghana has sent a debt restructuring proposal to its official creditors, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, as the West African country battles to escape its worst economic crisis in a generation. Ghana intends to finish restructuring its domestic debt before turning to negotiations with its official, bilateral creditors and international bondholders, a government official said. The total external debt stock was about $30 billion. Ghana completed a domestic debt exchange with 65% of holders of local bonds in February and is also seeking relief on the bulk of the remainder of its domestic debt, including deals with pension funds, labour unions and independent power producers. It is restructuring its debt under the Common Framework process, set up by the G20 in 2020 to bring China and other newer creditor nations into joint sovereign debt restructuring negotiations, for its external debt rework.

Persons: Maxwell Akalaare Adombila, Rachel Savage, Karin Strohecker, Nick Macfie Organizations: International Monetary Fund, Paris Club, Thomson Locations: ACCRA, LONDON, Ghana, West, China, Rosario

☆ Top asset manager says pension fund clients are turning skittish on China - 'There is a very real geopolitical risk'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Filip De Mott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

APG's pension fund clients are more worried about investing in China, the Financial Times reported. That's as geopolitical risk has grown, with China increasingly at odds with the West. "There is a very real geopolitical risk that has been added to the proposition." There is a very real geopolitical risk that has been added to the proposition," he said. The hesitation felt by pension funds towards Chinese assets comes as foreign investors overall have begun moving out of the country at a faster rate.

Persons: —, Thijs Knaap, Knapp, we've, Micron's microchips, Minxin Pei Organizations: Financial Times, Service, APG Asset Management, APG Locations: China, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Europe, That's, Taiwan, Russia

☆ Toyota gets activism, without the activists
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SINGAPORE, June 5 (Reuters Breakingviews) - It’s one thing to be targeted by pushy activists looking for a quick return. It’s perhaps more embarrassing to receive the wholesale disapproval of American pension funds who are long-term stewards of capital. That’s the position the board of $200 billion carmaker Toyota (7203.T) finds itself in. The pair also favoured a resolution brought by Danish and Dutch pension funds urging Toyota to improve disclosure of its lobbying on climate change. Toyota insists its board adheres to the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s independence standards.

Persons: Akio Toyoda, Katrina Hamlin, Pete Sweeney, Pranav Kiran Organizations: Reuters, Toyota, New York, California Public Employees, Danish, Tokyo Stock, Twitter, Thomson Locations: SINGAPORE, New York City, Una, Saudi, East

☆ Lord Mayor of London discusses using pension funds to invest in growth companies
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailLord Mayor of London discusses using pension funds to invest in growth companiesLord Mayor of London Nicholas Lyons says the "accelerator financing" of technology startups is "nearly always provided by international investors," which is a "terrible missed opportunity" for the U.K.

Persons: London Nicholas Lyons Locations: London

Toyota shares closed up 3.4%, outperforming the 1.2% gain in the Nikkei index (.N225). BOARD INDEPENDENCENew York City Comptroller Brad Lander said in a statement the Toyota board was not adequately independent. The New York comptroller's office oversees a pension system with $243 billion in assets under management. Those funds held 6.7 million shares in Toyota Group companies, including Toyota Boshoku (3116.T) and Toyota Tsusho (8015.T) as of end March. The New York pension system has also urged both Ford (F.N) and General Motors (GM.N) to move rapidly toward electrification and to disclose more about their lobbying on vehicle standards.

Persons: Akio Toyoda, Glass Lewis, Toyoda, CalPERS, Brad Lander, Daniel Leussink, David Dolan, Maki Shiraki, Kevin Krolicki, Jamie Freed, Christopher Cushing, Leslie Adler Organizations: Toyota Motor Corp, California Public Employees, New York, Toyota, Tokyo Stock Exchange, Nikkei, The, Toyota Group, Ford, General Motors, Lexus, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, New York City, York, Tokyo

One of them, Glass Lewis, recommended shareholders vote against re-electing Toyoda, citing what it said was his responsibility for the lack of a sufficiently independent board. Toyota on Friday did not immediately comment on the votes against the re-election of Toyoda. The New York comptroller's office oversees a pension system with $243 billion in assets under management. BOARD INDEPENDENCENew York City Comptroller Brad Lander said the Toyota board was not adequately independent, in a statement explaining the vote by the funds it oversees. The New York pension system has also urged both Ford (F.N) and General Motors (GM.N) to move rapidly toward electrification and to disclose more about their lobbying on vehicle standards.

Persons: Akio Toyoda, Glass Lewis, Toyoda, CalPERS, Brad Lander, Elon, Daniel Leussink, David Dolan, Maki Shiraki, Kevin Krolicki, Jamie Freed Organizations: Toyota Motor Corp, California Public Employees, New York, Toyota, Tokyo Stock Exchange, The, New, Ford, General Motors, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, New York City, York, New York, Tokyo

SYDNEY, June 2 (Reuters) - Australia's largest pension fund will pause use of the domestic unit of auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as the "big four" firm reels from a national scandal over its use of confidential government tax plans to drum up work with global clients. The roughly A$290 billion ($196.71 billion) fund, AustralianSuper, has frozen new contracts with PwC and expressed concerns about the scandal "at the highest level", according to a spokesperson. An audit contract worth A$1.6 million in 2022, will be reviewed this year, the spokesperson added. The Reserve Bank of Australia on Wednesday froze future work while Treasury and the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority have hinted that the firm is blacklisted. The A$150 billion AwareSuper said the fund was working with PwC to determine whether tax advisers who had worked with the fund were implicated in the leak.

Persons: PwC, Lewis Jackson, Gerry Doyle Organizations: SYDNEY, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Reserve Bank of Australia, Wednesday, Treasury, Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority, Thomson Locations: Australia

☆ The war for hedge-fund talent has traders getting paid like star athletes
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Matt Turner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Money is pouring into the hedge fund business, adding to a war for talent. Maybe a bunch of NBA or NFL players end up on a trading floor for charity. The war for talent is partly a reflection of hedge-fund performance. My colleague Alex Morrell wrote recently:After years of relative quiet, macro strategies at hedge funds surged back to life in 2022 amid rising interest rates, inflation, and geopolitical convulsions. Writing for Insider recently, hedge-fund recruiter John Pierson said that "the competition for investment talent is escalating, and finding top portfolio managers is no longer a contact sport — it's an all-out war."

Persons: Bloomberg's Nishant Kumar, Maureen Farrell, Rob Copeland, Tom Brady, Steph Curry, Lamar Jackson's, Alex Morrell, Brevan Howard, Rokos, John Pierson Organizations: Millennium, Citadel, Morning, NBA, New York Times, Times, Golden State Warriors, ESPN, NFL, Baltimore Ravens, Premier League

One of them, Glass Lewis, recommended shareholders vote against re-electing Toyoda, citing what it said was his responsibility for the lack of a sufficiently independent board. CalPERS, which declined to comment, is the largest U.S. public pension fund with some $450 billion in assets under management. The New York City pension funds held 6.7 million shares in Toyota Group companies, including Toyota Boshoku (3116.T) and Toyota Tsusho (8015.T) as of end March. BOARD INDEPENDENCENew York City Comptroller Brad Lander said the Toyota board was not adequately independent, in a statement explaining the vote by the funds it oversees. The New York pension system has also urged both Ford (F.N) and General Motors (GM.N) to move rapidly toward electrification and to disclose more about their lobbying on vehicle standards.

Persons: Akio Toyoda, Glass Lewis, Toyoda, CalPERS, Brad Lander, Daniel Leussink, David Dolan, Maki Shiraki, Kevin Krolicki, Jamie Freed, Christopher Cushing Organizations: Toyota Motor Corp, California Public Employees, New York, Toyota, Tokyo Stock Exchange, The, New, Toyota Group, Nikkei, Ford, General Motors, Lexus, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, New York City, York, Tokyo

ACCRA, June 1 (Reuters) - Ghanaian labour unions have asked the government for time to assess a proposal presented on Thursday to restructure pension funds worth around 30 billion Ghanaian cedis ($2.7 billion). The majority of eligible holders of Ghana's local bonds participated in a domestic debt exchange in February. The pension funds were exempted after unions threatened to strike, but have now been offered their own deal. Thomas Kwesi Esso, executive secretary of the lobby group for the pension funds, told Reuters that the offer was an improvement and addresses liquidity concerns with the old bonds. Editing by Alessandra Prentice, Rachel Savage and Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Abraham Koomson, ”, Thomas Kwesi, ” Anthony Yaw Baah, Alessandra Prentice, Rachel Savage, Leslie Adler Organizations: International Monetary Fund, Finance Ministry, Reuters, International Monetary, Thomson Locations: ACCRA

☆ Exxon and Chevron investors shoot down climate proposals after a year a record profits
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Investors shot down proposals urging Exxon and Chevron to set more ambitious climate targets. Climate-minded investors blame Big Oil's soaring profits and Republicans' criticism of ESG. "It's incomprehensible why investors are accepting this when they have more to worry about than the profits of Big Oil. Exxon in December said more than 70% of its capital investments in the coming years would flow to fossil-fuel development. "To be fair, we have seen change at Exxon in the last two years.

Persons: Big, Mark van Baal, Critics, Andrew Logan Organizations: Exxon, Chevron, Service, ExxonMobil, BlackRock, Vanguard, Big, Big Oil Locations: Ukraine

☆ US clamps down on sensitive export requests to China
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nearly 700 Chinese parties are subject to the government's export controls on what is known as the "Entity List," Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Enforcement Matthew Axelrod said in written testimony. The goal is to counter China's "military modernization, human rights abuses, and other activities contrary to our national security and foreign policy interests," he said. The hearing is titled "Countering China: Advancing U.S. National Security, Economic Security, and Foreign Policy". The administration's plans to restrict certain U.S. outbound investments in specific sensitive technologies are still under discussion, said testimony from Treasury Department official Paul Rosen. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in March the Biden administration was considering a pilot program to address risks about investment in China.

Persons: Beijing's, Thea Rozman Kendler, Export Enforcement Matthew Axelrod, Biden, Paul Rosen, Gina Raimondo, Raimondo, David Shepardson, Karen Freifeld, Chris Reese, Sonali Paul Organizations: U.S, Commerce, Export Enforcement, . National Security, Economic Security, Treasury Department, Thomson Locations: China

☆ Explainer: What is the U.S. debt ceiling?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Jason Lange | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

WHEN WAS THE DEBT CEILING REACHED? IS THE DEBT CEILING GOOD FOR ANYTHING? Few counties in the world have debt ceiling laws and Washington's periodic lifting of the borrowing limit merely allows it to pay for spending Congress has already authorized. Others argue the debt ceiling itself violates the U.S. Constitution. In a 2011 showdown, House Republicans successfully used the debt ceiling to extract sharp limits on discretionary spending from Democratic President Barack Obama.

TOKYO, May 28 (Reuters) - Proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) has recommended that shareholders of Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) vote in favour of a resolution urging the automaker to improve disclosure of its lobbying related to climate change. ISS in a report also said it regarded three of Toyota's four outside board director nominees as not truly independent. Toyota's board said the fluidity of such disclosure made the proposal unsuitable for enshrining in the articles of incorporation. A spokesperson previously said few firms globally have made climate policy engagement-related disclosure to the extent of Toyota. "Toyota does not provide shareholders with enough information to evaluate its lobbying activities," ISS said.

To be sure, the April inflation data hit the UK debt market like a thunderbolt. While the headline consumer price inflation rate dropped to 8.7% from 10.1% in March, as energy prices ebbed, that was still far higher than forecast and core inflation rates hit their highest in 31 years at just under 7%. And a chief concern for many households is ongoing annual food price inflation still near 20%. Sterling and real yield spreadsNew UK gilt shock? Using 5-year real yields from the index-linked bond market, that premium jumped almost 40bp this week to its highest since last October.

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