Alternative Market Briefing

Japan’s Teachers to allocate to hedge funds, REITs

Monday, September 24, 2012

From Precy Dumlao, Opalesque Asia – The 529,800-member strong Japan's Teachers Mutual Aid Co-operative Society, which manages an estimated $8.4bn in assets said it would allocate as much as 60bn yen ($719m) to hedge funds as early as this month, various media reported.

Toru Higuchi, general manager of the mutual fund’s asset management department, said that it would be the first time in the fund’s 47-year history that it would invest in real estate and hedge funds with the aim of diversifying risks, reported JapanInvestor.net.

A separate report by Investing Japan's Institutional Capital said that the move was in line with the society’s new investment strategy to counteract the falling value of stocks and bonds. Higuchi was quoted as saying, "We have drastically changed our way of managing assets. We aim to expand our choice of investment to diversify risks."

JapanInvestor.net added that even with the suspension of AIJ Investment Advisors Co., on accusations that it lost billions of dollars in investors’ money, the Teacher’s fund still wants to pursue an investment in alternative stocks instead of bonds. The move is also influenced by the declining returns from the pension fund’s traditional investments.

In the year ended March 201......................

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