News & Knowledge

2022, 05 July

Credit quarterly newsletter

Kempen’s Credit team immerses itself in the credit markets on a daily basis. As these markets can change rapidly, it’s vital for the team to be on top of all the latest developments, understand what’s going on and adjust its portfolios accordingly if necessary. The team receives regular enquiries from our clients about its views on the credit markets and where the best opportunities currently lie, so we publish a quarterly credit newsletter providing the team’s views on a topic of interest. In this edition, we talk about three scenarios for credit investors to consider.

2022, 08 June

Asset Allocation Outlook June

After no fewer than seven consecutive weeks of losses, the US S&P500 equity index only reverted to noting a gain in the last full week of May. That gain was so substantial that the result over the month just managed to creep into positive figures at 0.6%

2022, 02 June

Global Impact Pool Quarterly

We are pleased to report on the first quarter of 2022 for Kempen’s Global Impact Pool, in which we continued to deploy capital towards the Global Impact Pool’s mission, which is to make investments that positively contribute to solving global problems around the food, water and climate nexus and five Sustainable Development Goals.

2022, 19 May

The Dividend Letter

Companies often do not fit in the box we put them in. Grouping companies based on geography or industry classifications is common and useful. It helps to keep an overview of a portfolio and allows for comparing similar companies. While it is valuable, it is also a simplification.

2022, 11 May

Asset Allocation Outlook May

April was a bleak month for investors. The only place to hide from the negative sentiment was commodities, for which the Bloomberg index noted a positive return of 4.1% .

2022, 11 April

Asset Allocation Outlook April

The war in Ukraine continues to rage but investors are looking to the future. The US S&P500 equity index is now higher than in the run-up to Russia’s invasion. Although the European STOXX index has not yet returned to its former level, it has rallied sharply. Equities from industrialised nations earned a plus of 2.5% in March. In local currency, US equities climbed by 3.6%, while Europe was still slightly negative at -0.4%. Yet this was still better than emerging markets, which lost 2.5%. This was primarily due to a downturn in the Chinese MSCI index of 6.1%, but a drop of 3.7% in Taiwan also stood out. Higher bond yields caused government bonds to note extremely negative returns: -2.8% in the US and -3.9% in the Eurozone.

2022, 09 March

Asset Allocation Outlook March

Last month we said there was still hope for equity investors for 2022. We still think that, although investors will need to exercise patience. The reason is of course the Russian invasion of Ukraine which, aside from unimaginable human suffering and damage to infrastructure, is generating enormous uncertainty. Equity markets fell in February, globally by 2.7%, with Europe (-5.2%) hit harder than the US (-3.1%). That was nothing compared to the Russian market, however, which dived over 30% in a single day and was subsequently closed. The rouble has also plummeted. Investors sought safety in government bonds, causing US 10-year bond yields to fall to 1.7% and German yields to drop back below zero. The big winners were commodities, especially oil, the price of which climbed to 114 US dollars a barrel at the start of March, its highest level since February 2013. European gas prices shot up again.

2022, 03 March

Global Impact Pool Quarterly

We are pleased to report on the fourth quarter of 2021 for Kempen’s Global Impact Pool, in which we continued to deploy capital towards the Global Impact Pool’s mission, which is to make investments that positively contribute to solving global problems around the food, water and climate nexus and five Sustainable Development Goals.

2022, 02 March

The Dividend Letter

High inflation and increasing interest rates are a problem for equities, especially for those companies where valuations are sky-high and cash flows are far away in the future. The situation is different for dividend stocks. By selecting companies with strong cash flow generation, solid capital allocation and attractive valuations, the Kempen dividend strategies seek to pick stocks that tend to perform well in this environment.

2022, 08 February

Asset Allocation Outlook February

“As goes January, so goes the year” is an old market wisdom. And superficially that appears to apply to the S&P500 from 1964 and the AEX from 1984. On both stock exchanges, in about two-thirds of the years a positive January is followed by a positive year or a negative January is followed by a negative year. Yet this is mostly true of the positive years. Both January and the year are positive in over fifty percent of cases. After all, stock exchanges rise more often than they fall. Even if January is negative, there is a slightly higher chance of a positive year than of a negative year. In short, there’s still hope for 2022.

2022, 20 January

Tracking & Engaging: Our approach to getting Real Estate Paris-Proof

Man-made climate change produces the largest challenge for our generation. The quest to align the economy in all its complexity with a new, carbon-neutral reality is cumbersome and has many an obstacle. We, as investors are at the precipice of a new age, where the goal is no longer merely about short-term financial returns, but using our power as asset allocators to guide our society to a more sustainable future. At the Kempen Real Assets team, we aspire to meet this challenge head-on, by actively engaging with companies and funds in the Real Assets sector to better participate in the energy transition. This piece discusses some of the initial findings from our sector-wide engagement, in the Real Estate sector specifically.

2022, 18 January

Global Impact Pool Quarterly

We are pleased to report on the third quarter of 2021 for Kempen’s Global Impact Pool, in which we continued to deploy capital towards the Global Impact Pool’s mission, which is to make investments that positively contribute to solving global problems around the food, water and climate nexus and five Sustainable Development Goals.

2022, 13 January

Asset Allocation Outlook January

Although the rapid spread of the Omicron variant briefly gave investors the jitters, equity markets closed December higher. The MSCI global equity index noted a plus of nearly 4% . At a return of 1.6% emerging markets again lagged behind industrialised countries, which climbed by 4.2%. That brought another wonderful year for equities to a close, with gains of 16.8% for the global index. There are sizeable differences between regions though. While European equities, which earned a return of 20.4%, were more or less able to keep up with their US counterparts (+26.9%), equities from the Pacific region marked time and emerging market equities were down by 4.6%. The AEX posted an excellent performance of 27.7%, while UK equities lagged behind the global index somewhat at a return of 14.4%.

2022, 04 July

Van Lanschot Kempen is aiming to further expand its Investment Management activities in Germany

Kempen Capital Management, the investment management arm of Van Lanschot Kempen, today appointed Michael Schlieper as Director Business Development Germany & Austria for its institutional Investment Management activities. Michael Schlieper will focus specifically on servicing banks, wealth managers and institutional investors in Germany and Austria.

2022, 30 June

Kempen Capital Management disapproves recent Board decisions at Fujitec

Kempen Capital Management N.V. (Kempen) disapproves recent Board decisions at Fujitec Co., Ltd. (Fujitec). This was expressed today in an open letter to Fujitec’s Board of Directors. Funds managed and accounts advised by Kempen currently own approximately 4.0% of the outstanding shares of Fujitec.

2022, 29 June

From Coal to Koalas

Kempen’s SDG Farmland Strategy has a new investment in farmland in Australia. The area had been purchased by a Chinese mining giant for mining coal, but protests highlighting the dangers of soil pollution and the threat to the local Koala population eventually led to the permit being withdrawn. Today, the area is being dedicated to long-term, sustainable agriculture, in a joint venture supported by the Kempen.

2022, 27 June

KLM cabin crew pension fund selects Van Lanschot Kempen as fiduciary advisor

Today we announce that the KLM cabin crew pension fund has selected Kempen Capital Management, the asset management arm of Van Lanschot Kempen, as strategic investment advisor for its investment policy and the sustainability enhancement of the pension fund’s portfolio.