Japan's Teachers Mutual Aid Co-operative Society, which manages $8.4 billion on behalf of its
members, plans to start investing in real estate investment
trusts and hedge funds for the first time to diversify risk.The organization may allocate as much as 60 billion yen
($719 million) in J-REITs and hedge funds as early as September,
said Toru Higuchi, a general manager of the organization’s asset
management department. Teachers’ Mutual Aid will also invest in
open-ended real estate funds and stocks that provide stable
dividends, such utility companies. he said.
The suspension last month of AIJ Investment Advisors Co. by the nation’s regulator for possibly losing clients’ money hasn’t deterred the Teachers’ fund from seeking alternatives to stocks and bonds. This may be from a sense of desperation, as declines in "conventional" investments at the fund resulted in the first ever loss for the year ended March 2009. In the year ended March 2011,
the Teachers' fund had 53% in JGBs and corporate bonds, only 6% in Japanese stocks, 5% in foreign bonds and 4% in overseas stocks. The rest were in cash and general account of life insurers.
In aggregate Japanese pension funds have a total of 37% in equity and 56% in bonds, with only 4% percent in alternative assets such as real estate, compared with 24% in alternatives for the U.S. and 25% in Australia.
Bloomberg
The suspension last month of AIJ Investment Advisors Co. by the nation’s regulator for possibly losing clients’ money hasn’t deterred the Teachers’ fund from seeking alternatives to stocks and bonds. This may be from a sense of desperation, as declines in "conventional" investments at the fund resulted in the first ever loss for the year ended March 2009. In the year ended March 2011,
the Teachers' fund had 53% in JGBs and corporate bonds, only 6% in Japanese stocks, 5% in foreign bonds and 4% in overseas stocks. The rest were in cash and general account of life insurers.
In aggregate Japanese pension funds have a total of 37% in equity and 56% in bonds, with only 4% percent in alternative assets such as real estate, compared with 24% in alternatives for the U.S. and 25% in Australia.
Bloomberg