ABP is the pension fund for employers and employees in service of the Dutch government and the educational sector. With an invested capital of €180 billion, ABP is the second largest pension fund in the world. Their 2.4 million customers have the assurance of income security against disability, death and pension. The fund is based on solidarity and non-profit. ABP’s main office is in Heerlen (southern part of the Netherlands) with branches in Amsterdam and New York.
AGF Asset Management (AGF AM) is the Asset Management company of the AGF Group, itself a subsidiary of Allianz AG. With €64 bn of assets under management and 210 employees (including 60 analysts and portfolio managers), AGF AM is one of the leading players on the French market.
AXA Investment Managers is a multi-expert asset management company within the AXA Group, a global leader in financial protection and wealth management. AXA IM is one of the largest European-based asset managers with approximately €480 billion in assets under management as of the end of November 2006. AXA IM employs over 2,600* people around the world and serves customers in 18 countries. *Source: AXA IM as at 30 November 2006
BNP Paribas Asset Management is a leader in the European asset management industry, with €298 billion of assets under management * and 1,600 staff servicing clients in 66 countries. It offers a range of management capabilities with a shared focus on excellence, robustness and consistency of investment processes as well as accuracy of risk control, through a multi-specialist approach. Responsible Investment is one of BNP Paribas Asset Management’s key investment themes, and the company is a globally recognised player in this field. * Figures as at 30 September 2006, assets under advisory included
Created in 1997, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board invests the funds not needed by the Canada Pension Plan to pay current benefits. With assets in the CPP fund totaling C$98.6 billion (as at June 30, 2006), the CPP Investment Boards long-term goal is to contribute to the financial strength of the CPP by maximizing returns without undue risk of loss. With a mandate from the federal and provincial governments, the CPP Investment Board is accountable to Parliament, to the federal and provincial finance ministers who serve as the stewards of the CPP and reports to 16 million contributors and beneficiaries. Based in Toronto, the CPP Investment Board is governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and at arms length from governments.
Generation Investment Management is an independent, employee owned investment management firm focusing initially on long only global equities. Generation integrates rigorous traditional fundamental equity analysis with sustainability research to create a new approach to long-term investing. David Blood, ex Chief Executive of Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Managing Partner of Generation is currently serving as the Chairman of EAI.
Governance for Owners (GO) was established in November 2004 and has operations in Europe and the USA. The group is an independent partnership between major financial institutions, share owners and executives dedicated to adding long-term shareholder value for clients by exercising owners’ rights. The GO European Focus Fund invests in European public companies where value can be added through making use of ownership rights. Total funds now available for GO to invest exceed £411m (€610m).
Hermes is a leading pension fund investment manager, independent of any broader financial services organisation. Hermes' market-leading investment strategy has for many years been based on the index/specialist approach and is increasingly being adopted by other large pension funds. Hermes currently invests approximately £52bn (as at 31/03/05) on behalf of over 200 clients including pension funds, insurance companies, government entities and financial institutions, as well as charities and endowments.
Investec Asset Management
Investec Asset Management is an international, alpha-specialist investment manager, serving both institutional and individual investors from the UK , Europe , Africa , Taiwan , Hong Kong and Latin America . Investec Asset Management manages £30 billion on behalf of pension funds, insurance companies, charities, governments, corporations and individual investors. The firm employs approximately 80 investment professionals, who work in small specialist teams, each with a particular investment focus, of which the core propositions are: Global equities, UK equities, African equities, UK and global and local currency emerging market fixed income.
Set up in 1988, La Banque Postale Asset Management is owned by La Banque Postale. The firm manages various saving schemes and mutual funds marketed by La Banque Postale predominantly, although not exclusively, for private and institutional clients. Patrick Werner is Chairman of the Supervisory Board, and Jean-Luc Enguéhard is Chairman of the Management Board.
With a total pension capital of around € 57 billion, PGGM provides former and current employees in the healthcare and social work sector with a comprehensive and broad-ranging pension package at as low a price as possible. The fund spreads its investments – both in the Netherlands and in the rest of the world – over equities, fixed-interest securities, real estate, private equity and commodities. Its investment policies focus specifically on sustainability and careful application of Asset Liability Management.
As a company of Allianz Global Investors, RCM offers a distinctive investment philosophy and culture, while benefiting from the scale and substantial resources of our parent; including business support, industry best-practices and financial investment. This enhances our ability to attract and retain talent, and provide superior insight and investment performance. RCM is a company with many distinctive features, including: an emphasis on innovative proprietary research, with over 220 investment professionals worldwide including a platform of over 65 dedicated sector research analysts (at the end of September 2008), a boutique culture, and a truly global structure. Allianz Global Investors has €754 billion third party assets under management and RCM manages in excess of €70 billion, as at end of September 2008.
Robeco provides discretionary asset management products and services, as well as a complete range of mutual funds to a large number of institutional and retail clients worldwide. Robeco's product range encompasses fixed income and equity investments, balanced accounts, money-market funds and alternative investments. Robeco distributes its funds for the retail market directly and through other financial institutions. Several of its mutual funds, including the flagship Robeco N.V., are listed on major European stock exchanges such as Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt and London.
SNS REAAL Groep is an innovative retail bancassurance group with total assets of € 55 billion and almost 6,000 employees. SNS Bank and REAAL Verzekeringen (insurances) are the main brands. SNS REAAL Groep values the principle of social responsible - or ethical - business practices highly. Two of its subsidiaries, ASN Bank and SNS Asset Management are market leaders in social responsible investing (SRI) in The Netherlands.
USS Ltd, have increased to over 200,000 members and assets of approximately EUR 28.5 billion, is one of the largest pension funds in the UK and Europe . USS's Directors believe that companies which manage corporate responsibility well, and which have good standards of corporate governance, will - all else being equal - prove to be better long-term investments. The fund also believes that it is in the fund's interests to encourage companies that perform poorly on these issues to improve their performance, as this too is likely to add value to the fund over the long term.
Batirente inc. is a non-profit organization appointed by the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CNTU/CSN); a 300,000 member Québec labour organization, to set up and promote workplace retirement plans and investment funds for affiliated members. Established in 1987, and now with more than 25,000 participants and $656 million in assets, Bâtirente is the dominant pension plan with CNTU private sector unions. Bâtirente offers an integrated retirement system of defined contribution and retirement income plans. Its eight investment funds enable participants to invest their pension savings according to their personal risk/return profile.
The BT Pension Scheme, now closed to new entrants, is one of the largest funds in the UK, with assets of around £29 billion. The scheme has about 80,000 contributing members, about 178,000 pensioners and around 100,000 deferred beneficiaries. The BT Pension Scheme is a defined benefit scheme, with the pension benefits linked to the members' final salary in BT (rather than to the performance of the pension fund). The normal retirement age is 60.
The California State Teachers’ Retirement System is the second largest public pension plan and the largest teachers’ retirement fund in the United States. CalSTRS had a total membership of approximately 775,917 and assets of $156 billion as of November 2006. CalSTRS’ primary responsibility is to provide retirement related benefits and services to teachers in public schools from kindergarten through community college.
Calvert is one of the US’s largest socially responsible mutual fund firms with over $11 billion in assets under management. Calvert offers thirty-two funds that allow individual and institutional investors to pursue a broad range of investment objectives within a single fund family. Calvert has an extensive line up of tax-free and taxable fixed-income investments.
HESTA
HESTA is a national industry fund for health and community services, with $12 billion in assets, 580,000 members and 50,000 employers. The Fund has a Platinum Rating from SuperRatings and a AAA Selecting Super Quality Rating.
The London Pensions Fund Authority is one of the UK's largest administering authorities of the Local Government Pension Scheme with a Fund membership of 73,000, including over 220 employing authorities and assets of over £3 billion (at March 2005). LPFA also operates agency administration contracts covering over 120,000 scheme members.
MetallRente
MetallRente is the pension fund for employees in Germany 's metalworking and engineering industries, with assets of €556m. Launched in 2002, MetallRente offers three forms of pension administration: the equity-oriented Pensionsfonds, a Direktversicherung (direct insurance) and a Pensionskasse (traditional German pension fund). MetallRente provides defined contribution and defined benefit plans . Allianz holds a majority 55% stake in MetallRente.
Mistra is a foundation that supports research of strategic importance for a good living environment, solving major environmental problems and contribute to the development of a sustainable society. It distributes about SEK 250 million a year to environmental research. At the beginning of 2004, the foundation's capital amounted to SEK 3.3 billion.
The New York City Employees’ Retirement System (NYCERS) is one of the largest municipal employee retirement systems in the United States with approximately 175,000 active members and 125,000 retirees with assets totalling $46 billion. NYCERS is a cost sharing, multiple employer public employee retirement system whose membership includes civilian employees, such as clerical workers, accountants, and social workers, and uniformed employees such as Correction Officers and Sanitation workers. NYCERS is governed by a Board of Trustees comprised of public officials and public employee unions.
The TUC Superannuation Society is the final salary pension scheme for TUC employees. It has assets of approximately £33m and a total scheme membership of just over 500. The TUC Superannuation Society takes its responsibilities as an investor seriously and has been disclosing its shareholder voting record publicly since 2003.
UniSuper is the national superannuation (pension) fund dedicated to employees in Australia's higher education and research sector. The Fund has more than 360,000 members and A$19.3 billion in assets (at 30 June 2006), making it one of Australia's largest superannuation funds. The Fund provides a comprehensive range of retirement savings products including both defined benefit and defined contribution schemes for contributing members, retained benefit facilities for former higher education sector employees, and a range of pension products for retired members and their spouses.
VicSuper Fund is one of Australia’s fastest-growing superannuation funds,. Most employers in Australia can become a VicSuper Fund participating employer and any person in Australia eligible to make super contributions can join the Fund. VicSuper is regarded as the industry leader in sustainability and is the recipient of a Banksia Environmental Award, a United Nations Association of Australia World Environment Day Award and an honorable mention from the Premier’s Business Sustainability Awards. VicSuper was also the first company to sign a sustainability covenant with EPA Victoria; the first superannuation fund to release a sustainability report and was one of the first Australian signatories to the Carbon Disclosure Project. In addition, VicSuper is a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), a signatory to the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and a founding member of the Investor Group on Climate Change Australia/New Zealand. On 17 April 2007, VicSuper’s commitment to sustainability was again acknowledged, this time winning Best 2006 Sustainability Report at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Australian & New Zealand Awards for Sustainability Reporting.
