Fund Strategy articles from March 2006

Fund Strategy archives from March 2006

COMMENT: Demystifying the myths about Japan.
March 6, 2006... There are many myths about Japan that need demystifying. It is often seen as an exotic nation, fundamentally different from the developed countries of the West. In reality the differences between Japan and its peers are overestimated. To the...

Nordea to sell offshore funds in UK.
March 6, 2006... Nordea Investment Funds is to start marketing its offshore funds to UK retail investors for the first time this summer. The asset manager expects its Luxembourg-based Nordea 1 Sicav range of funds to gain distributor status by the end of July....

Ruffer halts discount as top fund doubles in size.
March 6, 2006... Ruffer has soft-closed its Total Return fund, by removing discounts on the initial charge. The fee was previously reduced on a sliding scale, depending on the amount invested but all new investments will be charged at the full 5%. Initial and...

Aberdeen unveils plan to change unit trusts.
March 6, 2006... Aberdeen Asset Management is proposing the conversion of its remaining unit trusts to single-priced Oeics. The move, scheduled to take place next month, will see several fund mergers and name changes. One fund, Asian Growth, will also...

IN BRIEF: Axa chief dons fixed income hat.
March 6, 2006... Paul Griffiths, chief executive officer and chief investment officer of Axa Investment Managers UK, has taken on the additional role of global head of fixed income for Axa IM. The position was held by Robert Kyprianou, who will focus on the...

IN BRIEF: Insight slashes fee until April 28.
March 6, 2006... The initial charge on the Insight Diversified Target Return fund has been reduced from 5.25% to 3% for all investments into the fund. The offer is available until April 28, 2006 and includes investments via the Cofunds and FundsNetwork...

IN BRIEF: Credit Suisse adds new theme to fund.
March 6, 2006... Credit Suisse Asset Management has added a new investment theme to its Multi Manager Ethical fund. Since taking over the fund from Artemis in May last year, managers Robert Burdett and Gary Potter have restructured the portfolio and...

IN BRIEF: First State's Fox fills Jones's shoes.
March 6, 2006... First State Investments has appointed Graham Fox as its head of UK and European wholesale. Fox fills the role left by Richard Jones, who left the group in January to join Dalton Strategic Partnership. Fox joined First State from Williams de...

IN BRIEF: Special offer for JPM trust Isas.
March 6, 2006... Lump sum investments into JPMorgan Asset Management's investment trust Isa will benefit from having the 1% transaction charge waived up to May 31, 2006. The special offer applies to 19 JPM investment trusts with a total of #6.3bn in assets...

IN BRIEF: Martin Currie Peps join platform.
March 6, 2006... FundsNetwork has transferred 2,200 Martin Currie Pep and Isa accounts, worth #20m, onto its funds platform, taking its total amount of block transfers to some #243m. Martin Currie chose FundsNetwork as its recommended investment platform in...

L&G launches UK Property trust.
March 6, 2006... Legal & General has launched the UK Property unit trust. The fund, available since February 28, held 37 commercial properties at launch. "This product will appeal to established investors and new investors looking to get into the asset...

Net fund sales in January up 340% on last year.
March 6, 2006... Statistics from the Investment Management Association (IMA) show that January's net retail fund sales were significantly higher than in the same period a year ago. Sales, measured to the end of the month, more than quadrupled from #225m to...

Two new managers for Jupiter and Schroders small-cap offerings.
March 6, 2006... Jupiter and Schroders have appointed two new managers to their respective UK and European smaller companies funds. Jupiter has brought in former Deutsche fund manager Richard Curling to take over the running of its #80m UK Smaller Companies...

IN BRIEF: Britannic cuts fee for Isa investments.
March 6, 2006... Britannic Asset Management has reduced the initial charges on its equity and fixed interest ranges, from March 1 to April 30, for Isa investments. The 5.25% and 4.25% charges on its equity and bond funds will be discounted to 3% for purchases...

IN BRIEF: Neptune unveils discount on fees.
March 6, 2006... Neptune Investment Management has announced a 2% discount on the 5% initial charge of its Global Equity fund, until April 7. According to data from Lipper Hindsight, the fund achieved first place in the IMA Global Growth sector for the year...

IN BRIEF: Allchurches offers 1% cut on Isa fee.
March 6, 2006... Investors in the Allchurches Isa can benefit from a cut in the initial charge (from 5% to 4%) for investments up to April 30. The offer applies to all five funds in the Allchurches Investment Management Services Oeic, namely the Amity, Higher...

Returns signal rise in thirst for risk.
March 6, 2006... Investors around the world have increased their risk appetite as stockmarkets generated their third consecutive year of positive returns in 2005, according to Lipper's Global Themes in the Mutual Fund Industry survey. Lipper said there...

Garland to launch Sipp-friendly property fund.
March 6, 2006... Garland Asset Management is to launch a fund investing in British residential property, which from April 6 will be able to be held in self-invested personal pensions. Structured as a Jersey-domiciled Oeic open only to expert investors,...

New Dimensional fund set to increase open-ended range to six.
March 6, 2006... Dimensional Fund Advisors will add a sixth fund to its open-ended range, UK Core Equity, within the next two months. Details are being finalised but the fund will give a broad exposure to the FTSE All-Share index. "We're creating a fund...

IN BRIEF: ECB raises interest rates.
March 6, 2006... The European Central Bank last week took the decision to raise eurozone interest rates by 25 basis points to 2.5%. According to the ECB this adjustment will contribute to ensuring that medium to long-term inflation expectations in the euro...

IN BRIEF: Morley trumpets 136% profit hike.
March 6, 2006... Morley Fund Management has announced a profit increase of 136% in its 2005 annual results. The independent London-based asset management business of Aviva says its profits rose from #22m in 2004 to #52m in 2005. Its funds under management...

IN BRIEF: Barclays unveils four new funds.
March 6, 2006... Barclays Wealth Management has announced the launch of several products. Four plans are on offer: Three-year Protected FTSE, Five-year protected FTSE, Six-year Minimum Return and Five-year FTSE Super Tracker. The minimum investment is #4,000,...

Analyst predicts end of sector boom.
March 6, 2006... Factors driving the rise in emerging market equities over the past two years will reverse this year, causing the end of the boom in the sector. This is the view of Andy Xie, head of the Asia/ Pacific economics team at Morgan Stanley. ...

Hike in issue 'no threat to yields', says financier.
March 6, 2006... Increased government issuance of long-dated gilts will have only a marginal impact on yields, according to bond fund managers. Currently, 30-year gilts have a yield of 3.9% while 50-year gilts are at 3.75%. Jim Leaviss, head of retail...

Havoc in Middle East fails to affect growth in G7, study reveals.
March 6, 2006... There is no evidence that wars and political events in the Middle East, which have caused oil supply shocks in the past, have had any substantial impact on real growth in any G7 country. So says Lutz Kilian, a research fellow in international...

NEWS ANAYSIS: Optimists have edge on outlook for UK's capital spend.
March 6, 2006... Many economists are sanguine about the fall in capital spending by British businesses to its lowest level for 40 years. This is surprising given that such a decline in business investment might cause concern about prospects for corporate growth...

TRENDS: Europe stands out in bigger picture.
March 6, 2006... European markets benefited from merger and acquisition activity so European invested funds top the table. Elsewhere, emerging markets boosted patchy results from Global Growth funds. European-invested funds top the IMA tables for February,...

STRATEGY: Real estate gains are safe as houses.
March 6, 2006... Going global with listed real estate carries all sorts of benefits for the investor, including reduced volatility and enhanced diversification - experts agree this market offers legion opportunities. Real estate allocations continue to...

Q&A: Inverted yield curve is no cause for alarm.(Interview)(Panel Discussion)
March 6, 2006... Mark Pearce, fixed income product manager at Fidelity International, talks to Simon Hildrey. Q: What is the yield curve? A: The yield curve illustrates the relationship between the maturity and yield of fixed income assets. It...

FEATURE: Time honoured.
March 6, 2006... Japan has languished in a time warp since the devastating high noon of 1990. But the age-old signs of economic regeneration are reappearing, with structural improvements and a stockmarket renaissance. Sarah Godfrey reports.Japan has...

FEATURE: Prospects for the Nikkei 225.
March 6, 2006... While most of the bottom-up fund managers are expecting good gains from the Japanese portfolios, the weight of speculative money - not least from individual Japanese day traders - is contributing to volatility at the market level. Here,...

FEATURE: Highs and lows of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
March 6, 2006... One of the major causes for concern in Japan in recent months has been the apparent inability of the Tokyo Stock Exchange's systems to deal with technical hitches or unexpected volumes of trade. In January, when the authorities raided...

REVIEW: Big cheese's clear, biased message.
March 6, 2006... A top-flight financier with an impeccable performance record should know his onions when it comes to investment advice. And he does. The trouble is, this book reads like a self-promotion. There are more than 2,000 unit trusts and Oeics...

ANALYSIS: Jupiter blasts off into growth orbit.
March 6, 2006... A civil satellite programme has made Jupiter UK Growth fund manager Ian McVeigh excited about Inmarsat, but mostly he is keeping his feet firmly on - or even under - the ground. The company may be called Jupiter, but you don't really...

FOCUS: Get ready for the sixth dimension.(Company Profile)
March 6, 2006... Dimensional has just a fraction of its near-#50bn global assets in its British Oeic range. And while it is about to launch a new fund, it doesn't want just anyone buying it, says Will Jackson. The British subsidiary of Dimensional Fund...

FoFs: Ucits III status will change the focus.
March 6, 2006... GHC High Income gets most of its equity exposure via investment trusts. Although it is not a fund of funds, manager Neil Vernon says this will change when it wins Ucits III status this year. GHC High Income, managed by Neil Vernon at Goy...

AFI: Cautious way delivers solid results.
March 6, 2006... The Adviser Fund Index Cautious portfolio may not have delivered the high returns of riskier counterparts, but with an emphasis on bonds and UK equity income, it has performed strongly. As the most defensively positioned of the three...

Fund Manager's Diary: 23 February to 1 March 2006.
March 6, 2006... Thursday It is the usual lottery getting into work on the Hammersmith and City line - but at least I always get a seat, unlike my colleagues who use the Waterloo and City line, and I do get the chance to read the FT. Reach the office at...

COMMENT: Pessimism threatens world energy supply.
March 13, 2006... The debate about the future of energy resources is not simply a question of optimists versus pessimists. Although the optimists are right on the essentials, the pervasiveness of pessimism in society could make shortages a self-fulfilling...

Witan multi-managers fail to hit performance targets.
March 13, 2006... None of the active managers in the Witan investment trust multi-manager structure performed well enough to earn their performance fees in 2005. Last week the trust released its first full-year results since adopting the new structure in...

JP Morgan soft-closes UK Dynamic fund at #507m.
March 13, 2006... JP Morgan Asset Management has soft-closed its UK Dynamic fund, with assets under management of #507m. The fund, managed by Ajay Gambhir, reached its capacity of 610 million units on March 3. Permission to limit the number of units was...

IN BRIEF: Barclays launches agricultural commodities fund.
March 13, 2006... Owing to high demand from British intermediaries, Barclays is to launch a six-year Agricultural Commodities Plan, which offers 110% of any percentage growth in the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index Agricultural Return index over the time period....

IN BRIEF: Gartmore offers discount fees.
March 13, 2006... Gartmore is offering 4% initial commission and a 1% discount on the initial charge for lump sum investments into its Focus funds, until June 30. The offer coincides with the fifth anniversary of the funds' launch. The funds, which hold...

IN BRIEF: Fund manager joins Old Mutual.
March 13, 2006... Old Mutual Asset Managers has added Michael Leonard as a fund manager and credit analyst to its fixed interest team. Leonard joins Omam from Deutsche Bank, where he was a senior trader working with investment- grade sterling corporate bonds....

IN BRIEF: Invesco Perpetual slashes initial fee.
March 13, 2006... Invesco Perpetual is offering a 2% discount on its initial charge for all new Isa investments and Pep and Isa transfers. The firm will also discount initial charges outside of an Isa by 1.75% into the Corporate Bond, Distribution, Global...

JO Hambro unveils fund's small print.
March 13, 2006... JO Hambro Capital Management has announced further details of its Continental Select Values fund, to be launched on March 31. The fund will be managed by Willem Vinke, who runs the firm's European Select Values portfolio. Vinke will be...

'Excellent' Lanning quits Allianz after 22 years.
March 13, 2006... Nigel Lanning, manager of the Merchants investment trust, is to leave Allianz Global Investors. Lanning, who has managed the trust for 22 years, will retire at the end of May. Simon Gergel, who left HSBC Investments last month, will take over...

FTSE group abandons plan to eject trusts from All-Share index.
March 13, 2006... The FTSE group has decided not to go ahead with plans to expel investment trusts from the All-Share index. On February 10 the group closed initial talks on to whether to adopt the FTSE All-Share ex Investment Trusts as its official...

Francis repositions CS income funds.
March 13, 2006... Errol Francis, manager of the Credit Suisse Alpha Income, Income and Monthly Income funds, has taken a more aggressive stance in his portfolios since taking on the funds in October. Francis took over as manager when Leigh Harrison left to...

JPMorgan's move aims to tighten control and seduce retail investors.
March 13, 2006... The #427m JPMorgan Fleming Overseas investment trust has become the latest trust to bring in a discount control mechanism, after announcing proposals for a tender offer for up to half of its share capital. The board has also stated it will...

IN BRIEF: Marlborough fund launches at #25m.
March 13, 2006... The new Marlborough UK Large Cap Growth fund raised #25m for its launch last week. The fund, managed by Greg Bennett and Daniel Rowland, has invested more than 90% of the money in 43 holdings. Described as having an "unconstrained, actively...

IN BRIEF: Abbey Wrap adds to its platform.
March 13, 2006... Abbey Wrap has added three new features to its platform. IFAs will be able to view historical investment transactions online and hold venture capital trusts on the platform, and the maximum trail commission payable has risen from 1% to 7%....

IN BRIEF: Trustnet Adviser enhances website.
March 13, 2006... Trustnet Adviser, a fund analysis website, has enhanced its multi- manager section with the addition of one-to-one fund manager interviews. Other new features include team biographies, analysis of the fund selection process and a review of...

Bank action signals end of deflation.
March 13, 2006... Last week the Bank of Japan signalled an end to its policy of "quantitative easing", whereby plentiful money supply is used to stimulate the economy. While there is no suggestion as yet that the Bank will raise interest rates above zero, the...

Emerging markets will overtake G7, study finds.
March 13, 2006... The economies of the seven largest emerging economies will be significantly larger than the current G7 industrialised nations by 2050, according to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers*. John Hawksworth, the head of macroeconomics at PwC,...

Morley launches global real estate trust fund.
March 13, 2006... Morley Asset Management has become the latest group to a launch a global real estate investment trusts fund. The Aviva Funds Global Reit will be managed by Morley in conjunction with CB Richard Ellis Global Real Estate Securities (CBRE), a...

Bricks and mortar remains a solid investment strategy.
March 13, 2006... Last year British commercial property delivered its strongest return since 1993, according to the Investment Property Databank. Following good returns in 2003 and 2004, the IPD All Property index grew 19.1% in 2005, making the annualised...

TRENDS: Relationships are key to platforms.
March 13, 2006... Although still in their infancy in Britain, fund platforms are an increasingly important method of product distribution. And asset managers can play a key role in shaping how they develop. Frequently asked questions from asset managers...

STRATEGY: Emerging markets have further to go.
March 13, 2006... After three outstanding years, emerging markets continue to offer better value than developed economies - none more so than Russia, where yet more investment opportunities are opening up. Investors in emerging markets who have, for the past...

Q&A: Aim sector still offers value for stockpickers.
March 13, 2006... Giles Hargreave, chief executive of Hargreave Hale, answers this week's questions from Adam Lewis. Q: How important is it for the Keydata Aim VCT you manage that the government does not change the current 40% venture capital trust income...

FEATURE: Flat earth.
March 13, 2006... For some analysts, the hikes in oil prices in recent years have confirmed fears that the world is rapidly coming to the end of its energy reserves. But others disagree. Sunil Jagtiani reports. So long, and thanks for all the energy. Will...

CHANNELS: Small firm of planners offers holistic service.
March 13, 2006... David Burren, joint managing director of Warwick Butchart Associates, is questioned by Sarah Godfrey. Q: Is Warwick Butchart a local IFA for local people? A: No, it's not; we are for people wherever they come from. We are long...

ANALYSIS: Luck of the Irish still at a premium.
March 13, 2006... Record housebuilding figures and rocketing consumer spending look good for Ireland's economy. But Gervais Williams, manager of Gartmore's Irish Growth trust, has some catching up to do. Britain built 750,000 houses last year, consumer...

FOCUS: Class act revives a poor performer.
March 13, 2006... Head of equities ark Burgess says Legal & General's prestigious image pens doors at the highest level and will help rejuvenate the actively managed fund range. Will Jackson reports. Legal & General Investment Management is attempting to...

FoFs: Gartmore targets growth over value.
March 13, 2006... Gartmore's multi-manager team favour a growth rather than a value focus. Manager Marcus Brookes explains how the flexibility afforded by investing in large-caps helps with this objective. After hiring Bambos Hambi and Marcus Brookes in...

AFI: Comparison shows risk and reward.
March 13, 2006... Differences between the Cautious and Aggressive AFIs not only highlight the type of funds the panellists see as risky, but also reveal those that are likely to deliver the best long-term returns. The Adviser Fund Index panellists'...

Fund Manager's Diary: 1-7 March 2006.
March 13, 2006... Wednesday It is a busy week, with the UK banking sector reporting season in full flow. I am at my desk before 8am and it is straight down to dissecting the results from HBoS. The market is a little reticent after the strong performance of late...

COMMENT: Brics must be given a chance to develop.
March 20, 2006... There can be little doubt that the large emerging economies will suffer interruptions to their rapid growth in the years ahead. The problem is identifying what these difficulties are likely to be. As Daniel Ben-Ami argues in this week's...

Martin Currie set to launch 'unconstrained' global fund.
March 20, 2006... Martin Currie is to launch an unconstrained, best ideas version of its existing #57m Global fund, at the end of May this year. The fund follows the success of the Japan Alpha fund it launched in January, which attracted more than #100m from...

Board appoints Merrill Lynch to run F&C trust.
March 20, 2006... The board of the #248m F&C Latin American investment trust has appointed Merrill Lynch Investment Managers to run the mandate from March 31. In addition, the board has announced details of a tender offer for about a quarter (24.99%) of its...

IN BRIEF: Credit Suisse set to adopt Coll.
March 20, 2006... Credit Suisse's asset management business plans to adopt the collective investment scheme sourcebook (Coll) from April 8, 2006. The group's multi-manager range of funds will convert to a non-Ucits retail scheme structure, while its Oeic fund...

IN BRIEF: FundsNetwork sets up Isa centres.
March 20, 2006... FundsNetwork will operate 17 last-minute Isa collection points around the country on April 5. The platform has arranged for the venues, and four Fidelity offices, to open from 8am to 6pm. Locations include Belfast, Cardiff, Coventry, Exeter,...

IN BRIEF: FRC backs AITC governance guide.
March 20, 2006... The Association of Investment Trust Companies' code of corporate governance and new corporate governance guide for investment companies has received endorsement from the Financial Reporting Council. The FRC is the independent regulator for...

IN BRIEF: HgCapital trust NAV rises 28.2%.
March 20, 2006... The net asset value per share of the HgCapital private equity investment trust rose 28.2% in the 12 months to December 31, 2005, according to the trust's preliminary results. The trust invested #35m in six new and five follow-on investments...

Probe exposes global inflation fears.
March 20, 2006... Global fund managers are becoming increasingly concerned about inflation, according to the latest monthly survey from Merrill Lynch. Most fund managers say the world economy is operating "above trend" for the first time since Merrill...

GAM announces equity fund for Star Ucits range.
March 20, 2006... GAM has launched a global equity fund for its Dublin-domiciled GAM Star Ucits range. The GAM Star Worldwide Equity fund will exactly mirror the existing GAM Worldwide fund, which is registered in the British Virgin Islands, but will be...

Fidelity unveils choice of 'decent' holdings for its portfolios.
March 20, 2006... Fidelity International has announced the first set of holdings in its Multi Manager Special Situations and Equity Income portfolios, which it launched in January. Both funds have just six underlying holdings and only Artemis and Schroders...

IN BRIEF: M&G UK retail chief steps down.
March 20, 2006... Gary Shaughnessy has stepped down from his position as chief executive of M&G Investments' UK retail business. Shaughnessy is joining the Prudential UK executive committee under recently appointed chief executive Nick Prettejohn. His...

IN BRIEF: Finsbury biotech fund seeks capital.
March 20, 2006... The board of the Finsbury Emerging Biotechnology investment trust is considering raising new share capital. Formerly Finsbury Life Sciences, the fund went through major changes in May 2005 including a change in mandate, investment adviser...

IN BRIEF: Insight Diversified wins A rating.
March 20, 2006... The Insight Diversified Target Return fund has been awarded an A rating by Forsyth-OBSR. The #61m multi-manager fund, managed by Patrick Armstrong and Ana Cukic-Munro, was launched in February 2005 and invests in a mixture of equities,...

Cazenove unveils Strategic Bond fund.
March 20, 2006... Cazenove Capital Management has announced the launch of its Strategic Bond fund. The fund, to be managed by Peter Harvey, head of credit, will be unveiled on April 4, subject to FSA approval. "It is a pan-European corporate bond fund with...

Close launches six multi-manager portfolios.
March 20, 2006... Close Investment Services has launched six multi-manager, multi-asset funds, to be run using two separate investment strategies. The Progressive and Dynamic strategies were launched on March 16 and each has subfunds to cater for dollar,...

Threadneedle opens Global Emerging Market equity vehicle.
March 20, 2006... Threadneedle Investments has launched its Global Emerging Market equity fund. The new fund, available since March 15, is managed by Julian Thompson, head of emerging market equities, who joined the firm in 2003. There are few...

IN BRIEF: FTSE 100 index tests 6000 mark.
March 20, 2006... The FTSE 100 index breached the 6000 mark for the first time in more than five years last week. The index rose to 6044 points during trading on March 17, 2006, and ended the day at 5999.4. The last time the FTSE 100 index closed above 6000...