German conference & awards
Best fixed income investor Johannesstift Diakonie, a non-profit healthcare pro- vider backed by the evangelical church, is this year’s winning fixed income investor. While the endowment only manages €70m (£59m) in assets, it does so across a broad range of fixed income strategies, from emerging market debt to corporate and collateralised bonds. The award was received by Jens Güldner, Johannesstift’s head of investment management. Decisive factors for winning the award were Johannesstift’s professional investment integra- tion given its scale, and the outstanding integration of ESG.
Best charity Oberfrankenstiftung, a foundation which acts as a backer of other charities funding arts, culture, conser- vation and science projects, was recognised by the jurors as an outstanding charity and praised for the resilience of its invest- ment strategy.
Over the past seven years, it booked an average annual invest- ment return of 7.35%, largely driven by its equity strategy, which, according to the jury, followed a “no pain, no gain” approach.
Best bank
The award for the best bank went to Sparkasse Pforz- heim, a €16.2bn (£13.6bn) regional savings bank, one
of 376 across Germany. Sparkasse Pforzheim was praised by the jury for its innovative risk management, ESG integration and open-minded but critical assessment of new investment opportunities such as crypto assets.
Best insurance investor Württembergische Lebensversicherung, a €34.5bn (£29.1bn) Stuttgart-based life insurer, has been recog-
nised as an outstanding insurance investor with solid returns and risk management. The jurors praised the insurer’s portfo- lio diversification, which includes private debt and infrastruc- ture as well as its use of independent ESG analysis.
Best portfolio management process VANR (Versorgungswerk der Apothekerkammer Nor- drhein), the €2.5bn (£2.1bn) occupational pension scheme for pharmacists was recognised as best-in-class in terms of portfolio management. VANR was praised for its anticyclical asset allocation and explicit differentiation of risk and return-based performance metrics. The jury also praised the targeted inclusion of illiquid assets as part of its investment strategy.
Best risk management VANR, an occupational pension scheme for pharma- cists, also stood out for its risk management processes. Under the helm of its managing director Jens Hennes, it has completely re-organised its risk management processes over the past decade. Hennes, who has been teaching at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, told the audience: “I am convinced that a value at risk approach does not offer the best solution. “Instead, we have implemented a maximum drawdown method which has stood us in good stead during the 2020 cri- sis and is also working very well in the current market environ- ment,” he added.
Best equity strategy VANR was one of the big winners at this year’s awards, also receiving recognition for its equity strategy. The occupational pension scheme invests in a combination of Spe- zialfonds (a targeted institutional fund structure unique to the German market) and ETFs.
The latter are being deployed for tactical reorientation strate- gies with an anticyclical outlook. While the selection of individ- ual stocks is exclusively outsourced to external managers, VANR takes charge of overall portfolio diversification, bench- mark selection and ESG integration. Jurors praised the scheme’s outstanding investment performance, in part driven by an increased allocation towards growth-oriented small and micro caps.
56 | portfolio institutional | September 2022 | issue 116
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