Fund Strategy articles from January 2009

Fund Strategy archives from January 2009

COMMENT: Flawed model masks nub of economic woe.
January 12, 2009... Daniel Ben-Ami, Editor There is no doubting the theme of last week's economics discussions: how can economies be boosted to offset the effects of the downturn? Such a limited outlook overlooks practical and more fundamental problems....

Double vision in turnaround portfolio.
January 12, 2009... River & Mercantile has launched a UK Equity Long Term Recovery fund to invest in turnaround companies that may at least double their share price in the next five years. Hugh Sergeant, the firm's head of UK equities, runs the fund with an...

LVAM to widen range with UK equity income fund.
January 12, 2009... LV= Asset Management (LVAM) plans to launch a UK equity income fund in the second quarter of this year. The firm, which has been marking its presence in the retail market with strong inflows over 2008, is preparing to add to its range as...

Crisis prompts Close to shelve trading on fund.
January 12, 2009... Close Wealth Management has suspended trading in its Guernsey-domiciled All Weather multi-manager fund, pointing to lack of liquidity in several core holdings. The #80m multi-strategy fund is equally weighted to bonds, equities,...

IN BRIEF: Manager change on income fund.(Brief article)
January 12, 2009... Dominic Byrne at Standard Life Investments has passed the management of the UK Equity Income Unconstrained fund to Thomas Moore after moving to the global equities team. The fund is Moore's first retail mandate, although he has been at...

IN BRIEF: Bank cuts interest rate by half point.(Brief article)
January 12, 2009... The Bank of England has cut interest rates by half a point, a move widely expected by the fund industry. This is the fourth reduction since the global co-ordinated emergency cut on October 8, and brings British interest rates to 1.5%, the...

IN BRIEF: Marlborough to add American fund.(Brief article)
January 12, 2009... Marlborough Fund Managers plans to add a North American fund following a rebrand of Apollo Fund Managers, the Guernsey-based group in which it holds a controlling stake. Marlborough has built up more than a 90% share of Apollo and plans to...

IN BRIEF: Manager wins vote of confidence.(Brief article)
January 12, 2009... Shareholders in the #147m Jupiter Dividend & Growth investment trust have voted to extend the life of the fund. The vote took place at an extraordinary general meeting last week. The fund was scheduled to wind up next year but its life has...

IN BRIEF: China's GDP 'could fall to 5%'.(Brief article)
January 12, 2009... GDP growth in China could fall as low as 5% this year, predicts Capital Economics, a consultancy, in its China Chartbook for January 2009. China's growth rate has halved in the past 18 months, according to the consultancy, which estimates...

IN BRIEF: Unemployment rising in America.(Brief article)
January 12, 2009... A total of 524,000 people lost their jobs in December in America, according to the American Bureau of Labor Statistics. The rate of unemployment rose over the month to 7.2% from 6.8%, bringing the total number out of work to 11.1m. Long-term...

Aberdeen "shocked" by India fraud.
January 12, 2009... Aberdeen Asset Management says it is "shocked and disappointed" by the Satyam Computer Services scandal, which has dragged on funds' performance. The Indian software maker's share price tumbled as much as 84% on Wednesday after Ramalinga...

Gartmore poised to revive European fund launch.
January 12, 2009... Gartmore is set to revive the launch of Roger Guy's European Absolute Return fund. A decision will be made this week, with the fund highly likely to be launched at the end of this month. The group has started to talk to clients again...

Hopes of imminent end to Europe's gas crisis.
January 12, 2009... Hopes of a deal in the dispute between Ukraine and Gazprom, Russia's state-owned gas company, have given some relief to commodity-starved European countries. The high-profile dispute over unpaid bills has led to a complete shutdown of...

ANALYSIS: Can printing money help banks to start lending again?
January 12, 2009... The London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) for three-month sterling loans finished last year at its lowest point for at least 30 years. This, however, does not suggest that a return to the volume of loans seen between banks, businesses and...

STRATEGY: Patient must keep taking the tablets.
January 12, 2009... Signs are that the global economy, though still in intensive care, is on the mend and will avoid a 1930s-style depression. But investors should not be in a rush to capitalise on the recovery. What is it with investment professionals? We...

TRENDS: Small scheme will shine on big day.
January 12, 2009... Venture capital trusts eclipsed the modest but steady performance of enterprise investment schemes - but tax incentives and growth businesses are a compelling combination for advisers. Ask most advisers what their first tax efficient...

REVIEW: Crude economic model is child's play.
January 12, 2009... Paul Krugman The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 Penguin 2008 Paul Krugman's analysis of the global downturn is a newer version of a book that predicted some of the trends of 2008. But the author's approach...

COVER: Hot on the trail.
January 12, 2009... Investors choose funds either because of the manager's reputation or market trends, but the road to success is fraught with uncertainty. Paul Farrow tracks the top-selling funds from 2003 to see where they are now. The events of 2008...

How do advisers deal with fallen funds?
January 12, 2009... Darius McDermott, managing director, Chelsea Financial Services "Our general rule when a top-performing manager leaves is to put it on hold, unless we previously held a belief that the fund was being run on a team basis; in this case the...

ANALYSIS: How Swip whipped the competition.
January 12, 2009... Guy Skinner, the manager of Scottish Widows Fixed Interest fund, is modest about its 43% growth in 2008. It was just in the right place at the right time, he says. But that is not the whole story... It's a small fund, just #42m in size,...

INVESTMENT TRUSTS: Blue chips win vote of confidence.
January 12, 2009... Nearly one-third of investment trust fund managers say they expect FTSE 100 companies to be the best performers this year, while nearly two- thirds expect markets generally to rise. Investment trust fund managers tip blue-chip companies to...

AFI: Portfolios ripe with eastern promise.
January 12, 2009... The two most popular funds chosen by Adviser Fund Index panellists in the latest rebalancing were Asian offerings, indicating that advisers are looking east for investment opportunities. Advisers are once again looking east for investment...

FoFs: LV= puts faith in American recovery.
January 12, 2009... Tom Caddick at LVAM says the LV= Balanced Managed fund has been overweight American equities in expectation of America's resurgence, but has also increased fixed income exposure. LV= launched its multi-manager range at the end of 2007 into...

FOCUS: Crisis fails to knock jupiter off orbit.
January 12, 2009... Edward Bonham Carter, Jupiter's chief executive, is bullish despite tougher market conditions - and says the group is still developing a retail absolute return fund. Will Jackson reports. The performance table for Jupiter's retail fund...

Fund Manager's Diary: 15-20 December 2008.
January 12, 2009... Monday Pop into the office to check on the morning's company news stories and market movements, then off to Salisbury to see a defence company called Chemring. It is the world leader in the manufacture of countermeasures to defend military...

COMMENT: Obama's green deal will not save economy.
January 19, 2009... Daniel Ben-Ami, Editor The pilot who landed his damaged aeroplane on New York's Hudson river without suffering any casualties performed a remarkable feat. It is unlikely that Barack Obama will prove so lucky or so skillful in his...

Cazenove shuffles managers and unveils two portfolios.
January 19, 2009... Tim Russell has stepped down from his day-to-day management duties on the Cazenove UK Growth & Income fund and UK Equity funds. Russell remains involved on both funds as co-manager, but adopts more of a strategic role. This allows him...

L&G fixed income manager replaced in shake-up.
January 19, 2009... L&G Investment Management is to change the manager on its #1 billion Fixed Interest Trust on February 2. Malcolm White will be replaced by Richard Hodges, the manager of the #56m Dynamic Bond Trust. White is moving away from the retail...

IN BRIEF: Soft launch for Neptune fund.(Brief article)
January 19, 2009... Neptune has soft-launched an international corporate bond fund which invests predominantly in government and supranational debt. The lead manager of the International Bond fund, which was launched on December 15, is Ted Alexander. He is...

IN BRIEF: SVM absolute alpha launch.(Brief article)
January 19, 2009... SVM Asset Management is to launch an absolute return fund. The SVM UK Absolute Alpha fund will use a long/short strategy, similar to the institutional SVM Saltire fund. The latter returned 19.7% in 2008, against a fall of 29.9% in the FTSE...

Skandia rebalances Blend portfolios.
January 19, 2009... Skandia has made several changes to its line-up within its European and US Equity Blend multi-manager funds. In European Equity Blend, which has #49m under management, New Star and Artemis offerings have been reduced to make way for the...

Gartmore confirms date for European portfolio.
January 19, 2009... Gartmore has confirmed that its European Absolute Return fund will be launched next Monday. Fund Strategy reported online last week that the group was set to revive the fund after its October 2008 launch was postponed because of market...

New Star cuts Indian equity holdings.
January 19, 2009... New Star has reduced the number of holdings in its Indian Equity fund and concentrated its sector weightings as the manager looks for growing companies in the difficult economic environment. Bhupinder Sethi, lead manager of the fund -...

BlackRock plans to add fixed-income product.
January 19, 2009... BlackRock plans to launch a fixed- income product after the completion of a revamp of its multi-asset and fixed-income ranges in the second quarter of this year. Following a review process that started in the first quarter of 2007 the...

IN BRIEF: Gap in equity fund flows narrows.(Brief article)
January 19, 2009... The Lipper FMI monthly Fund Flash report released last week revealed that redemptions slowed and equity funds posted inflows in November 2008, indicating that investor confidence is improving. Money market funds took the largest slice of...

IN BRIEF: Jupiter to launch China growth fund.(Brief article)
January 19, 2009... Jupiter plans to launch the China Sustainable Growth fund, an offshore- domiciled closed-ended fund, in March, subject to regulatory approval. The fund will be managed by Philip Ehrmann, who joined Jupiter from Gartmore in July 2006 to...

IN BRIEF: New Barings Oeic available to IFAs.(Brief article)
January 19, 2009... Barings has launched the Global Agriculture fund that it initially scheduled to go live in the autumn. The fund is structured as an Oeic and is managed by Jonathan Blake, who also runs the group's Global Resources fund. Global Agriculture is...

IN BRIEF: Bank of Thailand cuts interests rates.(Brief article)
January 19, 2009... The Bank of Thailand cut interest rates by three-quarters of a point to 2% last week. The move, which was larger than expected, came in response to weaker exports, softening domestic demand and falling commodity prices. Copyright:...

Bernanke outlines plan to ease credit.
January 19, 2009... The chairman of America's Federal Reserve has outlined how central banks can ease monetary policy when official interest rates are close to zero. Ben Bernanke proposed what he called credit easing in a speech last week at the London...

New Oeic to mirror Franklin Templeton US Sicav.
January 19, 2009... Franklin Templeton is to launch an Oeic version of its Franklin US Opportunities Sicav. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has approved plans for the fund, which will be available to investors in Britain from next week. The new vehicle...

World growth 'at risk' from emerging markets.
January 19, 2009... The biggest threat to the global economy may stem from the geopolitical risks of a global recession on emerging markets, a report from Societe Generale (SocGen) suggests. The story of recent years has focused on a global rebalancing, with...

'Star' resignations put Liontrust's future in the balance.
January 19, 2009... The fund management industry was stunned last week by the resignation of Jeremy Lang and William Pattisson as investment directors at Liontrust. The long-serving pair have been key to the development of Liontrust's house investment...

STATESIDE: The human focus of financial frenzy.
January 19, 2009... Bernard Madoff stokes fascination and schadenfreude around the dinner table. But the victims of his fraud were not confined to the wealthy - so charities are reminded to read the small print. Fraud incarnate Almost every Manhattan...

STRATEGY: Reasons to be cheerful in long term.
January 19, 2009... Global economic activity will continue to contract but there are reasons for optimism about a recovery, including a fall in energy prices and attempts by governments to improve liquidity. Global economic activity contracted at an...

TRENDS: Consistent returns fuel lust for life.
January 19, 2009... Traded life policies promise healthy returns - even in the midst of global volatility - and the market is set to grow despite the confusion and controversy surrounding performance fees. More investors are appreciating the attractions of...

Q&A: Barings set to benefit from flow of new blood.(Interview)
January 19, 2009... Rodney Aldridge, the head of UK retail distribution at Barings Asset Management, talks to Natalie Kenway. Q: How did your career develop before joining Barings Asset Management? A: I have been in the funds business for 20 years. My...

TAKING CREDIT: Big attraction.
January 19, 2009... Corporate bonds may not be a free lunch but they could be the bargain of 2009 with spreads at all-time highs and interest rates plunging. But caution and patience are essential, despite the attractions, writes Will Jackson. Market...

TAKING CREDIT: The view from fund buyers.
January 19, 2009... Shauna Bevan, an investment manager at Charles Stanley, rates corporate bond valuations as "extremely attractive." As a result, Charles Stanley, a City-based stockbroker, is in the process of changing the allocation of its model balanced...

ANALYSIS: Watching brief on Obama's '100 days'.
January 19, 2009... As Barack Obama prepares to deliver on a "First Hundred Days" promise to revive America's economy, Jupiter's Sebastian Radcliffe explains why his American fund will be playing safe. It would be difficult not to be enthusiastic about this...

INVESTMENT TRUSTS: Never mind the size, feel the quality.
January 19, 2009... Small-cap companies in Asia have had a tough year, but Aberdeen's Asian Smaller Companies fund has performed better than most, say advisers, because it researches companies so carefully. Aberdeen's Asian Smaller Companies investment trust...

AFI: Advisers will ride ripples in Europe.
January 19, 2009... Europe has yet to feel the full effects of the credit crisis, but AFI panellists, though exercising more caution, are prepared for funds to suffer as they remain firmly committed to the region. Advisers are still interested in European...

Fund of funds performance data.
January 19, 2009... The fund topped the sector over both time-frames the last time Fund Strategy reviewed performance in the sector (October 6, 2008), although its one-year numbers have fallen back since the last performance review. In October the Arch cru...

FOCUS: Aviva equity funds rise on ifa radar.
January 19, 2009... Property and fixed income have been seen as the strengths of the former Norwich Union's asset management arm, but the success of its UK equity products is drawing attention. Tomas Hirst reports. Aviva Investors, the newly rebranded asset...

Fund Manager's Diary: 15-21 December 2008.
January 19, 2009... Monday An annoying tone on the BlackBerry wakes me at 6am and I fly through the offending device's Bloomberg monitors. I am still in bed but I am already planning our morning meeting - sad really. At work by 8am so trades in China can be...

COMMENT: Managers who live in hope but act in fear.
January 26, 2009... Adam Lewis, deputy editor Despite the plethora of gloomy economic data that has flooded in since the start of the year, fund managers are feeling more positive. Britain is officially in a recession, the global economy is shrinking...

Redemption forces DSP fund closure.
January 26, 2009... Dalton Strategic Partnership (DSP) is closing its Pan Asian Advantage fund following a large institutional redemption. The move has also resulted in the departure of Sally MacDonald, the fund manager, who only joined the group in 2007. ...

Architas triple bill offers choice to investors.
January 26, 2009... Architas, the multi-manager arm of the Axa group, has added a trio of passively-managed funds to its product range. The multi-asset funds have three separate risk profiles and are managed by Richard Philbin, chief investment officer at...

New Star announces plans to de-list as it moves to restructure.
January 26, 2009... New Star's difficult start to the year continued as the group announced plans to de-list as part of its restructuring process, with takeover talks still continuing. The de-listing proposal will be put to shareholders at the next general...

IN BRIEF: M&G set to unveil emerging fund.(Brief article)
January 26, 2009... M&G is to launch a Global Emerging Markets fund focused on value-driven returns. Matthew Vaight and Michael Godfrey, co-managers of the fund to be launched next week, will hold between 50 and 70 stocks and it will sit in the Global...

IN BRIEF: Jupiter announces plan to merge fund.(Brief article)
January 26, 2009... Jupiter Asset Management plans to merge Elena Shaftan's Emerging Europe Select fund into the Jupiter New Europe fund, subject to shareholder approval. Both funds are Luxembourg Sicavs. The merger would create a fund with assets under...

IN BRIEF: Harewood plans structured product.(Brief article)
January 26, 2009... Harewood Solutions, part of BNP Paribas, plans to launch an income- focused structured product. The Enhanced Income fund aims to provide a gross yield of 8% of net asset value a year, paid quarterly. The fund will be quoted on the London Stock...

IN BRIEF: Blue Sky thinking offers 6.5% growth.(Brief article)
January 26, 2009... Blue Sky Asset Management is opening up a defensive plan for investors. The plan pays out 6.5% annual growth as long as the FTSE 100 index is at or above 85% of its starting level on its anniversary. The plan is 100% capital protected at...

IN BRIEF: Capital protected in new L&G fund.(Brief article)
January 26, 2009... Legal & General (L&G) has launched the latest in a series of structured products. The L&G Growth Investment Plan Plus 18 (Gipp 18) offers 100% capital protection at maturity and 100% of the growth of the FTSE 100 index over the plan's...

IN BRIEF: Gartmore appoints alternatives chief.(Brief article)
January 26, 2009... Paul Graham, the former head of alternatives sales at Barings, is to join Gartmore in a similar role. He will report to Phil Wagstaff, the global head of distribution at Gartmore, when he joins in the newly created position of head of global...

Guinness sees glass half full of oil.
January 26, 2009... Tim Guinness, the founder and chief investment officer of Guinness Asset Management, does not anticipate the oil price will hit the highs of 2008 for another six years. He also predicts key economic data could pick up as early as March, leading...

Norwich Union defers property fund redemptions.
January 26, 2009... Norwich Union has deferred redemptions on its unit-linked Property fund for up to six months. The group says that although the vehicle will continue to accept new business, requests for switches, surrenders, transfers and partial...

Recession official as UK's GDP falls by 1.5%.
January 26, 2009... Britain's GDP shrank by 1.5% in the fourth quarter of 2008, confirming that the economy is officially in recession. This follows a contraction of 0.6% in the previous quarter, meeting the widely recognised definition of a recession as two...

Albion Ventures takes over seven Close funds.
January 26, 2009... Albion Ventures has acquired the business of Close Ventures, giving it control of seven venture capital trusts (VCTs) with #200m in assets under management. Albion Ventures, which was created by nine former executive directors of Close...

IN BRIEF: Liontrust plans absolute return.(Brief article)
January 26, 2009... Liontrust has announced plans for a European absolute return fund for Gary West and James Inglis-Jones, who run the #38m Liontrust Continental Europe fund. The long/short vehicle, likely to be launched in the autumn, will be aimed at retail...

Optimism rises among global managers, survey reveals.
January 26, 2009... The proportion of global fund managers who expect the global economy to weaken in the next year has more than halved in the past three months, according to the latest monthly survey from Merrill Lynch. In October last year, the net...

Numis raises alarm over fall in value of property trusts.
January 26, 2009... Numis Securities has warned investors that British commercial property investment trusts will see further declines in net asset values (NAVs) when they release their fourth quarter updates this month. Charles Cade, the head of research...

IN BRIEF: Midas directors in crisis talks.(Brief article)
January 26, 2009... Midas Capital's board of directors is in talks after the company's share price fell by more than 60%. Midas has #29.8m of debt from the merger with iimia Miton Optimal in 2008. Although the company says it is meeting its interest and...

ANALYSIS: Groups scent opportunities as China's growth falls.
January 26, 2009... The pace and depth of the global economic downturn has cast doubt over the prospects for China's export industry, but some groups are sensing an opportunity. According to figures released last week by the National Bureau of Statistics of...

STRATEGY: Stocks fall but bullish outlook rises.
January 26, 2009... The global crisis hit emerging markets as the MSCI Emerging Markets index nosedived last year. But the fundamentals are sound and the asset class offers myriad opportunities for investment. The global financial crisis may have originated in...

TRENDS: Game has changed but aim is same.
January 26, 2009... The Cautious Managed sector mushroomed as groups sought to offer greater protection. But the game has changed and new strategies are tested - although caution and research remain key. The time to set up an approach to cope with bear market...

Q&A: A slicing and dicing recipe for growth.(Interview)
January 26, 2009... Richard Philbin, the chief investment officer at Architas, talks to Will Jackson about funds of funds. Q: You joined Architas as chief investment officer [CIO] last September. What have been your priorities? A: Lots of pieces of the...

BEAR MARKET: Captive market.
January 26, 2009... Performance plunges and confidence evaporates, but strategists say there are still opportunities to find sectors and stocks that defy the downturn and perform well in a bear market. Jack Mulchand investigates. The onset of a bear market...

BEAR MARKET: Bear market portfolio strategy.
January 26, 2009... The stockmarket collapse last year has led some investors to wonder whether equities offer a buying opportunity, be it tactical or longer term. David Cumming, the head of UK equities at Standard Life Investments, says that there are...

BEAR MARKET: Climate change.
January 26, 2009... The possibility of poor global economic performance for several years, following one of the worst financial crises in history, has triggered the search for the few investment themes that might still do well in such an environment. ...

ANALYSIS: New act strong on words and music.
January 26, 2009... Stepping into the shoes of an investment "legend", Sanjeev Shah at Fidelity Special Situations has risen to the challenge with holdings in a prominent publishing group and a music retailer. One year ago Fidelity's Sanjeev Shah took over...

INVESTMENT TRUSTS: JP Morgan tightens Overseas ship.
January 26, 2009... JP Morgan Overseas investment trust has been reshaped since Jeroen Huysinga jumped aboard, but more radical changes are on the horizon as he invests in Intercell, an Austrian healthcare firm. Jeroen Huysinga has wasted little time in...

AFI: Risk-averse turn to income funds.
January 26, 2009... The Adviser Fund Index panellists favour income funds for their Balanced and Cautious portfolios - especially those that invest in Europe, such as offerings from M&G and Newton. Income funds have made their mark on Adviser Fund Index (AFI)...

FoFs: Group takes multi-asset approach.
January 26, 2009... Michael Clarkson, the manager of Brown Shipley's Multimanager Solus International fund, puts his faith in the ex-UK nature of funds and plans to create a style-neutral blend of vehicles. Brown Shipley, a private bank, has three...

FOUCS: Memo to IFAs: safe is the new sexy.
January 26, 2009... LVAM's philosophy, "boring is beautiful", has been vindicated since its launch on to the retail market 18 months ago. But more advisers need to know about its products, writes Tomas Hirst. While many groups were struggling to navigate...