Japan’s biggest life insurer, Nippon Life Insurance Co, which holds around USD640billion of assets, plans to invest more in privat
Japan’s biggest life insurer, Nippon Life Insurance Co, which holds around USD640billion of assets, plans to invest more in private equity funds whilst maintaining its weighting in hedge funds reported Bloomberg News this week. Even though less than 1 per cent of the insurer’s assets are invested in alternatives, private equity accounts for twice the investments in hedge funds according to Hiroo Sakuma, deputy general manager of the firm’s credit and alternative investment department. He confirmed that Nippon Life was still planning to “gradually increase” its allocations to private equity, “seeking opportunities that make sense”. The firm’s asset management division – Nissay Asset Management Co – invests in more than 100 private equity funds and 30 to 40 hedge funds globally confirmed Sakuma. Hideya Sadanaga, head of Nissay AM’s external fund investment and cash management department, commented that there might be opportunities for distressed investments in Europe as banks sell off assets to strengthen their balance sheets. Nippon Life targets annualised returns of 3 per cent for hedge funds and will maintain the same investment level in these offshore products as of March this year. Sakuma said that any new investments would “depend on the situation with Europe”. “Things are rapidly changing and it’s difficult to bet on any one specific strategy per se.”
