Financial Times Mandate articles from June 2007

Financial Times Mandate archives from June 2007

From the Editor: Hot air follows fledgling strategies.(Editorial)
June 1, 2007... Byline: Henry Smith Despite the hype surrounding liability-driven investing, it seems all the talk is translating into little action. A recent report by SEI revealed that only 20 per cent of 226 pension funds polled in Canada, the...

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products & Mandates - Global Cool product will fund research on climate change.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Martin Steward The worlds of international entertainment events and environmentally- sustainable investing come together in a new product from Global Cool, the UK charity dedicated to a 10-year campaign to reverse global warming....

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products & Mandates - Most Limited Partners see 'wall of money' as a threat.
June 1, 2007... The huge volume of cash that has hit large buyout funds in recent years is the biggest risk to their performance, according to 88 per cent of the Limited Partners (LPs) surveyed for Coller Capital's latest biannual Global Private Equity...

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products & Mandates - DDQ offers easy way into commodities.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Martin Steward Dawnay Day Quantum has launched two structured products offering exposure across hard and soft commodities with 90 per cent capital protection, designed for institutional investors making their first investment in...

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products & Mandates - Corporate governance boosts share value.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Martin Steward There is strong evidence that good corporate governance positively affects share value, according to a paper presented at the recent Citi Investment Research Quantitative Conference 2007 by Luc Renneboorg, professor...

Asset Allocation: The Consulting Room - Untangling the private equity net.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Jane Welsh The unique characteristics of private equity make it a more complicated asset class than traditional quoted equity or bonds. The illiquid nature of the investments, the depth of the due diligence required and the time it...

Comment: The Bender Agenda - 'Fletch' set to compete in institutional space.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Yuri Bender When the asset management division of US bank Goldman Sachs transferred its long-term head of UK institutional business, Oliver Bolitho, to Hong Kong, to a new role running GSAM's Asian operation, it was Alex Fletcher,...

Special Report: Global Equity - Sceptics begin to see global equity benefits.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Gerry O'Kane As institutional investors continue their search for alpha, the industry has shifted its view to global equity mandates. The take-up of the style differs across geographies and institutions but the benefits are...

Sponsored Report: Global Equities - 130/30 funds: the long and the short of it.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Lee Spelman Investors are casting the net wider in the quest for higher alpha. But with a higher alpha target comes higher risk. All too often, investors are not proportionally rewarded for the incremental risk they take on. The...

Sponsored Report: Global Equity - Enhancing the trend in global equity investing.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Griff Williams The case for investing in global equities continues to gain ground, supported by, among other factors, the underlying trends of corporate globalisation. One of the key drivers for taking a "global" approach (as...

Sponsored Report: Global Equity - Making 130/30 more than a numbers game.
June 1, 2007... FT Mandate: First Quadrant's new "Extended Equity" programme is its contribution to the increasingly popular "130/30" genre. How does FQ think about 130/30, and what strategies does it offer at the moment? Rick Roberts: Extended Equity, or...

Special Report: Portable Alpha - Spreading your bets in the hunt for alpha.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Christine Senior Portable alpha is one of those buzz phrases that has come to the fore recently - like liability-driven investing (LDI), and target return funds. And, in fact, all three are closely linked. But portable alpha is...

Strategy Selection: Exchange Traded Commodities - Reducing the risk of investing in commodities.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Martin Steward It's not difficult to get people to disagree about the commodities 'super cycle'. Some are sure that this one will be much longer than previous examples, while others advise that the term 'super cycle' is a misnomer,...

Strategy Selection: Central and Eastern Europe - Getting active in Eastern Europe.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Martin Steward "The idea that emerging markets are somehow an alternative part of the investment universe is pure prejudice," insists Jerome Booth, head of research with Ashmore Investment Management - a long-only emerging-markets...

Support Services: Prime Services - Primed for competition in a rapidly- changing market.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Martin Steward "Prime brokerage is in a state of flux," says Philippe Teilhard, head of alternative investment solutions at Fimat, the prime services division of Societe Generale Group. "The services hedge funds need and the way...

Support Services - Fund Processing - Ignoring automation could prove costly.
June 1, 2007... Processing costs and operational efficiencies remain pivotal in Europe's flourishing investment fund industry. A good part of the 7500bn of assets currently under management in the in-house fund industry is managed in a fully automated way....

Asset Allocation: The Chief - Model manager plays by the rules.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Nat Mankelow Pierre Sequier, global chief investment officer at Sinopia, the quantitative asset management business of the HSBC group, is 'quants' through and through. Like a number of senior investment executives resident...

Asset Allocation: Interview - Fortis identifies long-term targets in Asian markets.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Henry Smith People can be such spoilsports with the press. When I caught up with Richard Wohanka, CEO of Fortis Investments at a recent asset management conference in Hong Kong, he was in no mood to play ball on that most...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - Europe - Building a solid property portfolio.
June 1, 2007... Over recent years there has been significant growth in the indirect property investment market. The largest European funds own upwards of 5bn of assets, with minimum investment levels from 100,000. These funds offer a range of investment...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - North America - Do not write off the sleeping giant.
June 1, 2007... Why should investors continue to back US equities when they have delivered only lacklustre performance in global terms in the last few years? One good reason is that sub-par returns have left many high quality companies looking cheap. A key...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - South America - Taking steps to stem hot money flows.
June 1, 2007... Latin American stocks have resumed their ascent in a four-year rally that has yet to run out of steam. Benchmarks in Brazil and Mexico jumped to record levels in mid-May, making them among the world's best-performing markets so far this year....

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - Asia Pacific - India braces for another stellar year.
June 1, 2007... As in recent years, the Indian economy ended Q1 2007 on a strong positive note, with the key macro factors of globalisation, favourable demographics and economic reform leading to buoyant economic data and strong corporate earnings. The economy...

Special Report: Fixed Income - Managers making bonds work harder.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Elizabeth Cripps UK institutions, driven by tougher regulation and tight yield spreads, are both increasing their allocations to fixed income, and diversifying within those allocations. It is all about bonds - but not necessarily...

Sponsored Report: Fixed Income - Global diversification in fixed income.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Loomis, Sayles and Company L.P. Financial advisers and other industry observers commonly refer to diversification as an investor's safest path. Nevertheless, investors may unknowingly be deviating from this route. Most investors...

Strategy Selection: Central and Eastern Europe - Rising Polish prices pushing developing business to Ukraine.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Yuri Bender With returns from developed markets no longer looking so impressive, those managers who have established fortresses in Western Europe, are now increasingly building bridges to the East. Poland, a recent entrant to...

Performance Overview: Sticking to the mainstream.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Gerry O'Kane Edinburgh Partners' European Opportunities Fund has been rated as a top performer over the last three years, having launched in April 2004 and offering an absolute returns strategy. Essentially the strategy is a...

Technology: Tradetech Summit - Keeping up with evolving market.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Nat Mankelow The buy-side and sell-side of the investment industry came together last month for TradeTech, the equity trading and technology summit held in Paris. Stavros Siokos, managing director, head of alternative...

Sponsored Article: Support Services - Letter from Europe - An inimitable Cloning technique.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Pierre Oger Since 2004, Caceis has been running what was the first true cross-border globalisation structure, using the company's patented Cloning technique. This globalisation scheme is set up between a Luxembourg-based fund and a...

Introduction: Special Supplement - A positive perspective.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Gerry O'Kane As Europe's only serious contender in the securities servicing business, BNP Paribas Securities Services (BNPPSS) has to remain optimistic. Frederic Perard, head of Global Fund Services at BNPPSS does, in spite of...

Special Supplement: Hedge Fund Services - davids struggle in goliath world.(Company overview)
June 1, 2007... Byline: Ceri Jones Hedge fund administration is a tough industry - competition for everything is fierce, from attractive mandates to skilled staff. So perhaps it is no surprise that after several years of growth in the number of players...

Special Supplement: Interview - The land of the giants.
June 1, 2007... FT Mandate: What are the biggest challenges facing fund administrators today? Alan Dundon: There is clearly the challenge which all fund administrators are facing today around over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives servicing. Ucits III and the...

Special Supplement: Introduction - Weeding out independents in race for one- upmanship.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Gerry O'Kane It is not uncommon for the usual suspects to stand in a row and parrot, "what a good year it's been". Likewise, 2006 was no different for those in the fund administration business. With the exception of F&C announcing...

Special Supplement: Roundtable - Tooling up for the move to globalisation.(Discussion)(Company overview)
June 1, 2007... Henry Smith: Does Citi's recent takeover of Bisys Group, in order to gain an edge in the hedge fund and private equity sectors, confirm a growing trend towards acquisitions rather than organic growth to stay competitive, at least for those...

Special Supplement: Interview - How to cope with a shifting landscape.(Company overview)
June 1, 2007... FT Mandate: What does Citi see as being the key issues for the global asset management industry? Jervis Smith: There are a multitude of developments taking place in the industry but a primary consideration for everyone is the onset of EU...

Special Supplement: Outsourcing - Keeping pace in an ever changing environment.(Company overview)
June 1, 2007... Byline: Ceri Jones If, as investment managers often argue, their core business is about delivering superior performance, then why expend effort in administrative functions that may divert their attention? Outsourcing is the way the...

Sponsored Report: Portable Alpha - Atomised approach can create explosive returns.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Gianluca Oderda and Stephen Barber The idea that everything ultimately consists of small units that cannot be sub-divided further, was first proposed by the natural philosopher, Lucretius, in Roman times. An atomistic approach...