Railpen, the giant pension scheme that looks after the retirement savings of 380,000 railway workers, will move at least £540 million into hedge funds this year.
In his first interview as chairman of the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF), Chris Hitchen, the chief executive of Railpen, said that the £18 billion fund would have about £1.4 billion invested in hedge funds by December, after increasing its exposure from 5 per cent to 8 per cent.
“We have been divesting our equity portfolio to buy other asset classes, such as private equity, property, hedge funds and infrastructure,†Mr Hitchen said. “We went into infrastructure assets last year, but they’re somewhat overheated, so we’re trying to make sure we don’t put all our money in at the same time.â€Â
