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Bloomberg – American International Group Inc., the insurer bailed out by the U.S., benefited from hedge funds for the first time in a year as the company returned to profitability in the second quarter.
AIG earned $121 million from hedge funds in the period after the holdings cost the New York-based insurer $2 billion in the nine months ended March 31, the company said last week. Hedge fund at MetLife Inc., the biggest U.S. life insurer, also improved, beating the company’s forecast.
Bloomberg – Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co., with 23 trillion yen ($244 billion) in assets, said it will cut its investments in hedge funds this year as it switches to investments with steadier returns.
Japan’s third-largest life insurer will reduce its allocation to the industry by “several tens of billions of yen,” from 64.6 billion yen at the end of last fiscal year through March 31, said Shinji Makino, manager of the insurer’s investment planning division. The Tokyo-based insurer last year slashed its hedge-fund holdings by more than 40 billion yen.
Interactive Investor – Japan’s Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co said on Monday it planned to cut its unhedged foreign bond holdings while increasing its hedged foreign bond holdings this business year to offset currency risks.
The nation’s third-largest life insurer by assets also said it has been experimenting with trades in yen swap rates since March to seek higher yields, and said it would boost its yen bond holdings mostly in super-long Japanese government bonds.
Meiji Yasuda said it planned to reduce its unhedged foreign bond holdings by about 100 billion yen ($997 million), and raise its currency-hedged foreign bond holdings by 200 billion yen in the year to March 2010.
Bloomberg – MetLife Inc., the largest U.S. life insurer, said fourth-quarter profit declined 12 percent on losses from hedge funds and real estate ventures. Shares gained in extended trading as the company beat analysts’ estimates.
Net income slipped to $985 million, or $1.20 a share, from $1.12 billion, or $1.44, in the year-earlier period, the New York-based insurer said today in a statement. Excluding some investment results, the company made 19 cents a share, six cents better than the average estimate of 17 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Reuters Singapore – U.S.-based Russell Investments, which manages over $211 billion (110 billion pounds) in assets, wants to boost its exposure to Asian real estate as it sees growing markets in China and India withstanding a global downturn.
The company, which raises money from institutions such as pension funds and invests it with other fund managers, said it expects to more than double its investments in Asia properties over the next three years, from about $300 million currently.
"Our clients tell us they want to be in Asia property, and we go where our clients want to go," said Martin Lamb, newly appointed Asia Pacific head of property for Russell, the funds and indices unit of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance.
Bloomberg – Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Co., with more than 30 trillion yen ($274 billion) in assets, will invest more money with hedge funds to safeguard returns as financial markets falter.
Tokyo-based Dai-ichi Mutual, Japan’s second-largest life insurer, currently invests in more than 100 hedge funds as well as funds of hedge funds, Yuji Hirai, manager of the firm’s structured and alternative investment department, said in an interview in Tokyo yesterday. He declined to provide specific targets for hedge fund allocations.
“Our goal is to increase our allocation to hedge funds,” said Hirai, 40. “We’re in a difficult market, no doubt, but for hedge funds chasing absolute returns, this is the time to prove their outperformance.”
