COMMUNIQUE

Communiqué is a newsletter for our occupational pension fund clients. Please find below a list of our recent editions to view.

November 2009 - TIME FOR A FRESH LOOK AT COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

By Pete Gladwell, Business Development Manager
Legal & General Property (LGP) delivered an award-winning performance in 2008/09 despite economic decline and the fallout from the credit crisis. With the income yield from Property above its long term average and the economic backdrop improving, we firmly believe the property market as a whole offers an excellent investment opportunity. Furthermore, Legal & General Investment Management’s (LGIM) innovative new LPI Distribution Property Fund will offer pension investors a higher yielding alternative to long-dated index linked gilts.
 
November 2009 - Time for a fresh look at Commercial Property

 

October 2009 - BROADEN YOUR HORIZONS

By Malcolm White, Head of Institutional Fixed Income Sales
After reaching extraordinary depths, credit markets have recorded stellar gains during the past six months. As credit spreads have narrowed, though, investors may be wondering whether they have now missed the boat. In the following article LGIM’s Head of Institutional Fixed Income Sales, Malcolm White, explains why we believe this asset class still offers very interesting investment opportunities, which can be enhanced through a global approach.
 
October 2009 - Broaden your horizons

September 2009 - BROADEN YOUR HORIZONS

By Malcolm White, Head of Institutional Fixed Income Sales
After reaching extraordinary depths, credit markets have recorded stellar gains during the past six months. As credit spreads have narrowed, though, investors may be wondering whether they have now missed the boat. In the following article LGIM’s Head of Institutional Fixed Income Sales, Malcolm White, explains why we believe this asset class still offers very interesting investment opportunities, which can be enhanced through a global approach.
 
September 2009 - Broaden your horizons

 

AUGUST 2009 - FINANCIALS ARE THE NEW CYCLICALS: FROM POISON TO OPPORTUNITY

By Ben Bennett, Credit Strategist
The turmoil of the past year has had a well-publicised impact on corporate bond yields, but it has also changed the way that fund managers assess sector-specific drivers. One particular trend that we believe will develop going forward is that financials should become increasingly sensitive to short term macro economic fluctuations, making financials the new cyclical sector.

August 2009 - Financials are the new cyclicals: From poison to opportunity

JUNE 2009 - CREDIT MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

LGIM's active fixed interest funds delivered an award winning performance in 2008/09. Here we explain the current investment opportunity available in credit markets, and how this opportunity extends beyound the sterling market into the much larger US dollar and Euro markets.

June 2009 - Credit Market Opportunities

 

OCTOBER 2008 - IMPACT OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS FOR PENSION INVESTORS

Traditionally September is bad month for financial markets, this year it was appalling. A year on from the US sub-prime housing fall-out, the credit crisis has now claimed a number of large, high profile casualties.

October 2008 - Impact of recent developments for Pension Investors

 

AUGUST 2007 - SWAPS FOR PENSION SCHEMES: THE DETAILS

By Kerrigan Procter, Head of Derivative Structuring
Following on from our Communiqué article ‘Introduction to Swaps for Pension Schemes’ we now provide details of the ins and outs of swaps contracts and the risks associated with their use. We look at the contract details of inflation swaps first, followed by interest rate swaps. Finally we touch on some of the risks associated with swaps and how these risks can be mitigated.

August 2007 - Swaps for Pension Schemes: The Details
 

AUGUST 2007 - GLOSSARY

By Kerrigan Procter, Head of Derivative Structuring
This Glossary for Liability Driven Investments accompanies the 'Swaps for Pension Schemes: The Details' article.

Glossary

JUNE 2007 - INTRODUCTION TO SWAPS FOR PENSION SCHEMES

By Kerrigan Procter, Head of Quantitative Products
UK pension schemes have traditionally invested most of their portfolios in equities and bonds and this approach served them well in the bull markets of the last years of the 21st Century. However, in recent years pension fund trustees and their consultants have been considering how to meet the challenge of 'deficit repair' following on from the bear market at the start of the 21st Century. An emerging solution is a combination of revised pension benefits, increased scheme contribution levels and a more structured risk framework for managing the pension scheme’s assets.

Introduction to Swaps for Pension Schemes

APRIL 2007 - INVESTMENT DIVERSITY THROUGH EQUITY INDEX AND PASSIVE FUNDS

By Julian Harding, Associate Director Index Funds
In this article we show how index / passive funds investing in listed Infrastructure, Private Equity and Real Estate companies can be used to introduce investement diversity into the growth assets of pension schemes.

Investment Diversity through Equity Index and Passive Funds

JUNE 2007 - BONDS, GETTING BETTER ALL THE TIME

By Neil Higgins, Director Index Funds
For film goers the debate at the end of 2006 was “who was the best Bond?” For pension fund trustees the debate was more likely to have been was any bond any good given their relative performance compared to that of equity markets.

Bonds getting better all the time