WEST PALM BEACH, FL (HEDGECO.NET) – BW Versich-erungsverein des Bank-gewerbes, Germany�s largest industry pension fund has announced its plans to invest in hedge funds. According to the news release,the pension fund will allocate an unspecified sum into five hedge fund strategies.
According to Rainer Jakubowski, board member of BW, with almost Euro 16 billion of assets, this is the first foray into the asset class on diversification and risk reduction grounds. He said, �We deliberately don�t want to invest in only one strategy,� according to him, �the traditionally conservative Pensionskasse�s allocation to equities is far below the current 35% limit�.
Another leading German pension fund, Pensionskasse der Wacker-Chemie, the fund for the chemical group�s employees, with more than Euro 1 billion under management is also said to be considering investing with hedge fund managers as well. This information is according to statements contributed by Markus Taubert, head of investments for the pension fund manager.
The German Financial markets regulator, BaFin recently granted its approval to Germany�s first two hedge funds, to be marketed to German investors. A unit of Deutsche Bank, DWS was given the approval to begin issuing an umbrella of hedge fund of funds.
BaFin also said it is still reviewing another four German hedge fund applications, as well as two other hedge funds classified as foreign hedge funds. The new regulations were announced earlier in January this year, which granted hedge fund operators the permission to set up and market hedge fund portfolios in Germany.
The German regulator approved single hedge funds in February; the hedge fund asset management business in Germany is still in its infancy stages, according to published reports, only 1% of the German hedge fund management portfolios are dedicated to hedge funds. In the United States, hedge fund portfolios account for about 5% of the total of US managed assets.
Paul Oranika
Editor-in-Chief
HedgeCo.Net
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