There's been a lot of talk over the past year or so about how institutional investors were poised to aggressively increase their allocations to hedge funds. Most of that talk has been about public pensions.

But MarketWatch notes that corporate pensions are also bent on boosting returns by allocating more to hedge funds. The cringing expected liabilities of public pensions have been big news for years. But corporate pensions have not fared much better, thanks mainly to the financial crisis from which these institutions are just now recovering. The financial crisis lopped hundreds of billions off of the value of these institutions.

By the end of February 2009, these plans were only 74 percent funded. That has since risen to 87.2 percent. But the need for more funding is not going away. The Pension Protection Act has required that corporate pensions address funding issues more proactively, and many are hiking their contributions. They would like some help from souped-up returns, which has them considering more alternative investments. Equity hedge funds may be poised for the biggest allocations, as many corporate pensions are remain under weighted in that asset class.

For more:
- here's the article

Related Articles:
How much will pensions invest in hedge funds?   
SAC Capital secures new investments, performance remains strong  
Demand for returns creates small hedge fund opportunities