Insurers consider alternative route

European insurance companies have been slow to allocate assets to hedge fund managers. Few, if any, have done so in any kind of size. As Rachel Wolcott reports, they are at least beginning to reconsider this approach

Alternative investments are slowly creeping into Europe’s largest insurers’ investment portfolios. Since the late 1990s, European insurers have expanded the universe of instruments they invest in to include property, credit, structured products and, in some cases, private equity.

Now, an increasing number of investment officers are adding small amounts of hedge funds to their portfolios, mainly investing through funds of hedge funds. So far, allocations to hedge funds have been minimal. European