low investment returns

Canada Pension Buys Big Stake in San Francisco Office Tower

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is buying a major stake in a popular San Francisco office tower, the fund announced on Thursday.

The rest of the property is owned by Hudson Pacific Properties, Inc.

From Bloomberg:

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board agreed to pay about $219.2 million for part of a San Francisco office building where ride-sharing company Uber Technologies Inc. and mobile-payment provider Square Inc. have their headquarters.

The pension fund plans to buy the 45 percent stake in 1455 Market St. from Hudson Pacific Properties Inc., the companies said today in a statement. Los Angeles-based Hudson Pacific has owned the 22-story tower since December 2010 and will continue to oversee management and leasing.

The purchase is the Canadian pension’s first direct investment in San Francisco, where office rents have soared 88 percent in almost five years, according to Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. (JLL) Demand for office space has been buoyed by annual job growth of 3.6 percent in the city, outpacing the U.S. by one percentage point, the brokerage said in a report this week.

San Francisco is “one of the best-performing U.S. office markets and a key strategic market for CPPIB in that country,” Peter Ballon, head of real estate investments in the Americas for the pension, said in today’s statement.

The 1.03 million-square-foot (95,300-square-meter) property, formerly a Bank of America Corp. data center, was built in 1976 and has ground-floor retail.

Read the press release here.

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Research Firm: Institutional Investors Still Hungry for Hedge Funds

Research from eVestment indicates institutional investors are still hungry for hedge funds even after a year that saw low returns for the investment vehicles. The research estimates that investors will put at least $90 billion in hedge funds in 2015.

From Money News:

Wealthy investors are poised to put at least $90 billion into hedge funds next year, even after returns have largely been lackluster this year, research firm eVestment said.

Fresh demand from pension funds, endowments, and insurers looking for alternatives to traditional stock and bond holdings will fuel next year’s flows, the researchers wrote in a report.

“Will institutional investors maintain their investments and continue to allocate more to hedge funds in 2015 … The short answer is yes,” they wrote, adding “We expect asset flows into hedge funds of at least between $90 billion and $110 billion in 2015.” Hedge funds manage roughly $3 trillion in assets.

The appetite for hedge funds remains strong even after the $300 billion California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the largest U.S. pension fund, said in September it was pulling out of hedge funds because they are too costly and complicated.

Hedge funds took in roughly $112 billion in new money this year even though returns have been paltry, with the average fund returning roughly 4 percent this year through November. As hedge funds posted low single digit returns, the stock market raced to a series of fresh highs and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 12.8 percent since January. Last year, investors added $62 billion in new money to hedge funds.

The research suggested that investments in stock-oriented hedge funds could slow down, but investments in multi-strategy hedge funds will likely rise in 2015.

Photo by 401kcalculator.org

Alabama Supreme Court Blocks Lawsuit Against State Pension Investments

The Alabama Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit brought by public employees who said the Retirement Systems of Alabama has made unwise investment decisions leading to lower returns.

From the Associated Press:

The Alabama Supreme Court has blocked a lawsuit that challenged the state pension fund’s investment in hotels, golf courses and other properties in Alabama.

The court ruled 6-2 Wednesday that the suit filed by two public employees should be dismissed.

The employees contended the Retirement Systems of Alabama had invested up to 15 percent of its assets in Alabama properties that were yielding lower returns than other investments would have. It wanted the courts to block future Alabama investments that would yield lower returns.

The Supreme Court said the pension fund is immune from such suits. The justices also said the courts shouldn’t oversee the investment policies of another branch of government.

Retirement Systems CEO David Bronner called the ruling “good news.” The employees’ attorney said they are disappointed.

The Retirement Systems of Alabama manage $28 billion in assets.

Photo by Joe Gratz via Flickr CC License