Published by Asia Asset Management – 4th Apr 2019
Japan’s Pension Fund Association for Local Government Officials, known locally as Chikyoren, has appointed fund managers for two alternative investments, including its first ever foreign private equity mandate.
Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management will manage the private equity investment, and UBS Asset Management Japan will oversee the fund’s fifth foreign infrastructure mandate, Chikyoren says in a statement on March 29.
The pension fund did not, as usual, disclose any other details, including the amount of funding the managers will be given.
These are Chikyoren’s first outsourced mandates of 2019.
Japanese pension funds have been looking to raise their exposure to non-mainstream assets in recent years in search of better returns amid low yields in the domestic capital market.
Chikyoren ventured into alternative investments three years ago, but had until now confined itself to foreign infrastructure assets.
The fund appointed JP Morgan Asset Management Japan for its first infrastructure mandate in 2016, and hired Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation for the second, also the same year.
Tokio Marine Asset Management and Mizuho Global Alternative Investments were appointed for similar mandates, in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
Chikyoren, Japan’s second largest pension fund, had approximately 10.6 trillion yen (US$96.8 billion) of total assets at the end of 2018.
