Weekend Giant Reading, June 27 — 29, 2014

Here’s what been happening down on the Avenue of Giants.

A Tesco Supermarket As The Group Announces Their First Profit Decline In Almost Two Decades

A cyclist passes a Tesco Plc store in London, U.K., on Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2012. Tesco Plc, the U.K.'s largest retailer, reported the first profit drop in almost two decades after increasing investment to halt declining supermarket sales. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

Here now, the news:

- Super Returns: Alberta’s Heritage Fund (i.e., AIMCo) had a much better year than anticipated. Good work, team.

- Outposts: Temasek’s new NYC office is its 10th overseas office and outpost.

- In-Sourcing: Tesco continues to in-source pension assets and wants bigger, concentrated bets that truly impact returns.

- New SWFs: Meanwhile in Zimbabwe, a Bill for the establishment of a new SWF is under consideration. (Because when you think of Zimbabwe, you immediately think “wealth.”)

- Extreme Makeover: India is working to make itself more attractive to SWFs globally.

- Seeding: The interesting thing in this story on CPPIB doing Indian infra is this new CPPIB Singapore Holding I; it would appear that CPPIB is seeding funds in its own name around the world. I assume this is to allow for competitive compensation arrangements (i.e., carry).

- Ethics: According to the NZSF, "...issues such as inequality should now be front-and-centre with all financial decision-making.” That’s long-term thinking.

- AuM: North Dakota’s Legacy Fund hit $2 billion in April and is projected to hit $3 billion by July 1, 2015.

- Here-say: A UK newspaper reported that UK bankers say that the UK is the best place for SWFs to invest. Obviously this is true...

- Nigeria: The new NSIA has had a few good quarters in a row, which may mean more assets from the government for the new SWF to manage.

- Hiring: CalPERS has released a profile of what it wants from its next CIO.

- Endowments: Yale and Stanford both significantly underperformed the S&P over past three years. It’s too bad, but at least they didn’t pay outrageously high fees in the proce... Oh really? They did? Never mind. Sigh.

- Diversified: Norway’s SWF recognizes there are costs to over-diversification; will double the companies it owns large stakes in. (About time!)

- The Juice: Public pensions are adding a bit of leverage to juice returns. While interesting, it’s not a new strategy. Ontario Teachers (and others) have been doing this for ages.

Have a great weekend!

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