UK Institutional Investors, Investing Attitudes And Plans

Ipsos interviewed investment decision makers for 114 major UK institutional investors (mainly Pension Funds, and all with a portfolio of 163350m+) by telephone between 15th December 2005 and 27th January 2006 on behalf of Nikko Asset Management, one of Japan's largest asset management companies.

Major findings include the following.

1. International equities are well established among the majority (87%) of institutions and international investors are more optimistic about international equities that they are about equities overall. Only 8% are planning a decrease, 46% to maintain the same level and 36% to increase their holdings.
2. Investors planning to maintain or increase their international equity levels are most interested in future investment in a global portfolio (35%). Otherwise interest is greatest in emerging markets (18%) and Asia (14%) rather than Europe (9%) or the US (7%).
3. However, institutions are clearly pessimistic about domestic equities since when considering both domestic and international equities they are leaning towards decreasing the equity level in their portfolio -- 47% plan on keeping the same allocation but 33% plan a moderate decrease and 7% a substantial decrease in their equity holdings over the next 2 years.

Pension Funds To Increase Hedge Fund Investments

For a full report of the survey's findings please contact:Yu IwataNikko Asset Management Europe Ltdt: +44 (0)20 7796 9866w: www.nikkoam.com/english/