Published by Asia Asset Management – 23rd May 2019
Japan’s Pension Fund Association for Local Government Officials has hired two fund managers for its latest domestic and foreign private equity mandates.
BlueBay Asset Management Japan, a unit of London-based BlueBay Asset Management, will manage the fund’s second foreign private equity mandate. Tokyo-based private equity and infrastructure manager Alternative Investment Capital will oversee the fund’s fourth domestic private equity mandate.
The pension fund, known locally as Chikyoren, announced the names of the managers in a statement on May 18 and, as usual, did not disclose any other details, including the amount of investments.
Japanese institutional investors are increasingly looking to raise allocations to alternative or non-mainstream assets in a bid to bolster returns. Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund, the world’s largest pension fund, began inviting proposals from external managers for its alternatives portfolio in April 2017.
Chikyoren itself ventured into alternative investments three years ago when it outsourced its domestic real estate mandate to Resona Bank in January 2016.
It moved into domestic private equity the following year, with the first mandate given to Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation.
Last year, Chikyoren hired Sumitomo Trust Bank and Alternative Investment Capital for the second and third mandates.
The pension fund ventured into foreign private equity earlier this year, entrusting Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management with its first mandate in March.
Chikyoren, one of Japan’s largest pension funds, had approximately 10.6 trillion yen (US$96.8 billion) of total assets at the end of 2018.
