Japanese corporate pension funds boost alternatives exposure – J.P. Morgan

The survey, which focuses purely on Japanese corporate pension entities, reveals that planned allocations to alternative assets jumped 1.9 percentage points year-on-year to 10.6% in March. 

The survey also provides a breakdown, by instrument type, of the percentage of pension fund portfolios containing non-traditional assets. The percentage of funds investing in private equity over the 12 months to March 2013 increased from 20.7% to 28.1%.

Japanese appetite for the asset class, especially with regard to overseas funds, has recently been buoyed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's sweeping economic reforms - dubbed Abenomics. One of the more immediate effects of his policy package has been for the to yen sink around 19% against the dollar over the last six months.

Even before Abe's policies came into effect, the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), which has around JPY108.2 trillion ($1.31trillion) in assets under managment, launched an alternatives asets feasibility study. Some in the industry say GPIF's eventual decision to invest in private equity funds could cause more of Japan's conservative pension funds to follow suit.

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Fundraising
• LPs
• Japan
• Government Pension Investment Fund (Japan)
• Fundraising
• LPs