As part of my ongoing series on big funds you’ve never heard of, I think I’ve found another big fund you’ve never heard of. Ready? Here we go:
- This fund has assets under management of roughly $18 billion, which means you’ll be a little bit embarrassed when you realize you’ve never heard of it.
- You can trace the fund’s origins all the way back to 1943, but it was really in 1995 that the pre-funded portion of this fund launched and the assets began to accumulate.
Any ideas yet? No? Onward:
- The fund exists to cover the pensions of 620 thousand civil servants, education workers and military personnel.
- The current staff count at the fund is 86 people. And, interestingly, two thirds of the staff is female (which is all too rare for an investment organization).
- 41 percent of the assets of the fund are in fixed income securities, while the rest of the fund’s capital base is invested in “capital gains” driven assets.
Any ideas? Here are a few final clues:
- 54 percent of the assets are run by in-house investment professionals.
- 56 percent of the fund’s assets are invested in the domestic economy.
- The fund’s headquarters are in Taipei, Taiwan.
Got it? If you don’t know it by now, you never will. So without further ado, the ‘big fund that I’m betting you’ve never heard of’ is...
The Public Service Pension Fund in Taiwan. This $18 billion fund is one of the rising investment powers in Asia, so you should check it out.
Anyway, that’s all for this edition of BFYNHO. Until next time...
