Europe increasing equities

strong pension performance of 2003 continues this year despite markets moving sideways

The outperformance by some European pension funds heavily weighted in equities seen over 2003 has continued in the first six months of 2004, despite most major equity markets having moved sideways. However, in the UK, the need to divest from equities for reasons outside of asset allocation, such as matching liabilities, has led to an increase in bonds and a slight underperformance of their European counterparts. At the same time, appetite from both European and UK funds for alternative assets and property is on the rise. Institutional European pension fund managers with substantial e...