Fund Strategy articles from May 2009

Fund Strategy archives from May 2009

Schroders to launch currency fund.
May 4, 2009... Schroders will launch the Global Managed Currency fund on June 2, a long-only actively managed vehicle to be managed by Clive Dennis, who joined the firm from Morgan Stanley. The Luxembourg-domiciled fund will be benchmarked against a...

Sale of non-Ucits schemes to be allowed in EU.
May 4, 2009... Fund groups will be allowed to distribute non-Ucits retail schemes (Nurs) to investors in the European Union under proposals set out by the European Commission. At present fund managers may only market funds that fall under the Ucits...

Europe cracks down on credit rating agencies.
May 4, 2009... The European Parliament is to implement stricter rules for credit rating agencies (CRAs) after their failings in the collapse of the global financial system. Under legislation passed on April 23 and due to take effect in mid- summer, CRAs...

IN BRIEF: From New Star to Hargreave Hale.(Brief article)
May 4, 2009... Patrick Evershed, the former British smaller companies fund manager at Framlington (now Axa Framlington), Rathbones and New Star, has joined Hargreave Hale. Evershed, who started at the firm last week, manages the investment funds of his own...

IN BRIEF: Access to M&G bond fund widens.(Brief article)
May 4, 2009... Old Broad Street Research (OBSR) has withdrawn the AA rating from the CF Miton Cautious Income fund. The rating was suspended in June 2008 when Midas Capital, Miton's parent company, announced it would hand the #29m fund to Alan Borrows and...

IN BRIEF: Manager leaves Threadneedle.(Brief article)
May 4, 2009... Katy Dobson, the manager of the Threadneedle Latin American fund, has left the group after a restructuring of research responsibilities on the emerging markets and Asian equity desks. She became lead manager in September 2007. Julian...

IN BRIEF: BNP launches tracker fund.(Brief article)
May 4, 2009... BNP Paribas Privalto UK last week launched a fund that tracks its own Millenium Index. The Privalto Millenium Tracker fund, a Ucits III Oeic, is linked to the performance of the BNP Paribas Millenium 10 Europe Series 3 (sterling hedged)...

IN BRIEF: Witan ups gearing.(Brief article)
May 4, 2009... The #983m Witan investment trust has increased its gearing level from 0% to 6% to add to its exposure to British equities and fixed income. The global growth trust added to its UK exposure through a #20m investment into two existing mandates...

Brough: 'tracker funds beat me'.
May 4, 2009... Andy Brough told investors last week that they would have fared better in a tracker fund than investing in the Schroders UK Mid 250 fund he runs. In a conference call he conceded that the reduction in the number of holdings in the fund...

#52m M&G global bond fund converts to Oeic.
May 4, 2009... M&G has changed the structure of its Global Macro Bond fund to make it more easily accessible to fund of funds managers. The #52m vehicle converted from a Nurs (non-Ucits retail scheme) to a Ucits III Oeic last week after a shareholder...

IN BRIEF: Reduced Japan growth forecast.(Brief article)
May 4, 2009... The Bank of Japan last week issued a downbeat report on the country's economy and reduced its forecast for growth. In January, policy board members forecast a contraction of 2% in the economy in the fiscal year 2009, but this has since been...

IN BRIEF: Ignis bond fund loses A rating.(Brief article)
May 4, 2009... OBSR Fund Ratings has reviewed a series of bond funds, resulting in the withdrawal of the A rating from the Ignis Corporate Bond fund. Joe McKenna, the former manager, left Ignis in December when 36 people at the group were made redundant. At...

IN BRIEF: Credit Suisse deal complete.(Brief article)
May 4, 2009... Aberdeen has completed the acquisition of Credit Suisse's Asia Pacific ex Japan business. The deal is the first stage in Aberdeen's acquisition of certain fund management assets and businesses from Credit Suisse. Copyright: Centaur...

Shock as American GDP falls by 6%.
May 4, 2009... America's real GDP fell by an annual rate of 6.1% in the first quarter of 2009 according to provisional figures, confounding expectations that the pace of decline would have slowed. The drop follows a 6.3% decline in the final quarter of...

Cofunds bucks trend and reports first profit.(Company overview)
May 4, 2009... Cofunds had its first profitable year in 2008, when many companies in the financial sector reported huge losses. A directors' report says that despite "very difficult trading conditions" the platform's profit before tax for 2008 was #4m,...

'Isa season' sales up by 74% on last year.
May 4, 2009... Net sales for the 2008-09 Isa season were considerably higher than last year, according to Investment Management Association (IMA) statistics. Between March 1 and April 6, 2009, the so-called Isa season, the IMA records net inflows into...

Burgeoning state debt raises anxiety on UK solvency.
May 4, 2009... Alistair Darling's growth forecasts prompted angry heckling when he read them from the Red Book during this year's budget report. The chancellor's forecast that the British economy would grow by 3.5% a year from 2011 is worlds away from...

STRATEGY: Are we pulling out of the nosedive?
May 4, 2009... Commentators have been panned for talk of green shoots, but there are encouraging signs that the rate of decline could bottom out in the third quarter and turn the corner by the year end. Is global economic activity pulling out of its...

TRENDS: Commercial property worth a look.
May 4, 2009... Many people have lost substantial sums in property funds but the commercial property sector does now appear to be offering some value for the canny investor. Just do not bet the farm. It was not so long ago that property funds were...

Q&A: A brave new start for former suspended fund.(Interview)
May 4, 2009... John Fearon, business development director at Oceanic Asset Management, talks to Stefanie Eschenbacher about the Australian Natural Resources fund. Q: How do you explain the recent outperformance of the fund after it fell by more than...

FEATURE: A great time to buy?
May 4, 2009... Commercial property prices have crashed as badly as the residential market - but does that make it a good time to buy into the commercial sector?The answer is a cautious 'yes', according tomany experts. Abigail Montrose reports. After a...

FEATURE: Look for income rather than short-term gains, urge advisers.
May 4, 2009... Commercial Property can provide a good source of income and has the added attraction of being a real asset with a low correlation to equities and bonds. This makes it a good diversifier which can lower volatility in a portfolio. But the...

ANALYSIS: Japan: land of the rising economy.
May 4, 2009... Anyone who believed the talk in the City would not go near Japanese stocks. But many Japanese companies performed well, and some see the market as seriously undervalued. Britain is in just the third year of a 20-year clean-out of its...

INVESTMENT TRUSTS: Tax change may herald fund launches.
May 4, 2009... A new tax regime was announced in the budget that will allow trusts to opt out of paying tax on bond yields if they pass on the savings to shareholders. It could see the launch of new bond funds. A new wave of fixed income investment is...

AFI: Has US finally turned the corner?
May 4, 2009... Many advisers are taking an increasingly optimistic view that the American economy has bottomed out and argue that it is on the verge of leading the world out of the current crisis. Hopeful investors are starting to look for signs of "green...

FoFs: Searching for signs of recovery.
May 4, 2009... Bill McQuaker has a positive view of the future. He expects not just that recovery will come, but come soon, and looks for fund managers who share his optimism on the economic outlook. When selecting holdings for the Henderson...

FOCUS: Chip's dozen has strength in variety.
May 4, 2009... If a company is good enough to buy, why change it? That is the philosophy of Raymond "Chip" Mason - an approach that should give Legg Mason resilience in hard times, writes James Smith. The British operation that is Legg Mason UK started...

COMMENT: Treasury cannot face new global reality.
May 11, 2009... Daniel Ben-Ami, Editor The Treasury's report on the future of British-based international financial services contains a strong dose of wishful thinking (see page 10). Its authors seem to find it hard to grapple with the significance of...

New US equity fund for Legg Mason.
May 11, 2009... Legg Mason is planning to create an American equity income fund for Clearbridge, one of its subsidiary companies. Andy McNulty, the head of retail sales, says the fund would be a modified version of the Clearbridge US Appreciation fund,...

Budget makes zeros look attractive.
May 11, 2009... Zero dividend preference shares (ZDPs) have become a more attractive investment proposition following the recent budget according to Wins Investment Trusts (Wins). Once the darling of the investment trust industry, the popularity of...

IN BRIEF: Emerging talent at BlackRock.(Brief article)
May 11, 2009... Alain Bourrier has left his fund manager role at BlackRock, causing a reshuffle on the emerging markets desk. Previously, Bourrier, Will Landers and Plamen Monovski ran the group's Emerging Markets fund and its offshore version, BGF Emerging...

IN BRIEF: Gartmore appoints head of high yield.(Brief article)
May 11, 2009... Kam Tugnait is joining Gartmore as head of high yield with responsibility for the High Yield Corporate Bond fund. He will run the #130.7m fund with Simon Surtees. The group has not yet decided who will be named lead manager. Surtees previously...

IN BRIEF: New income plan from Keydata.(Brief article)
May 11, 2009... Keydata has launched the latest version of its Extra Income Plan, offering 7.8% annual income over the five-year term. Capital is protected unless the FTSE 100 falls by 50% or more at the end of the plan, in which case capital will be lost by...

IN BRIEF: MPC raises asset purchase facility.(Brief article)
May 11, 2009... The Bank of England's monetary policy committee (MPC) last week announced it will increase the size of its asset purchase facility by #50 billion to #125 billion after it voted to maintain the 0.5% interest rate. According to the MPC...

Managers move to take on more risk.
May 11, 2009... Fund managers have been moving down the market capitalisation scale as they search to take on more risk in their portfolios in what could be the first step of a recovery. After backing defensive stocks, which traditionally fall into the...

Overweight resources boost Waverton fund.
May 11, 2009... Russell Wallis says sticking with an overweight resources position over the past two years has helped the fund generate a positive return. The manager of the Waverton UK fund, alongside Simon Wilson, says he has stuck with positions in...

IN BRIEF: ECB in E60bn liquidity boost.(Brief article)
May 11, 2009... The European Central Bank (ECB) has cut interest rates by a quarter point and is to pump E60 billion (#53 billion) into the eurozone economy. Interest rates are now 1% and the marginal lending facility was cut by half a point to 1.75%. The ECB...

Big players in major new launches.
May 11, 2009... Old Mutual Asset Managers (Omam), Smith & Williamson (S&W) and Threadneedle all announced launches or planned fund launches last week. Omam is to launch two equity funds, Old Mutual Dynamic Equity and Global Equity Absolute Return. The...

Henderson New Star realigns technology fund.
May 11, 2009... Ian Warmerdam and Stuart O'Gorman have sold about half the positions in the #154m New Star Technology fund they took over in April following the merger of Henderson and New Star. Warmerdam, co-head of technology with O'Gorman, says the...

Shake-up at F&C as Scott returns.
May 11, 2009... Ted Scott is returning to F&C after a leave of absence but will no longer manage money for the group. Meanwhile, several funds will get new lead managers as F&C reorganises its UK equities desk. Scott took sick leave last year following a...

Britain 'should lead global regulation'.
May 11, 2009... Regulation needs improvement but the financial services industry is crucial to Britain's future, according to a Treasury-commissioned report released last week by a group of industry leaders. The group also says Britain should take a lead...

Balance of inflows moves from passive to active.
May 11, 2009... Sales of passive funds fell in the first quarter of 2009 while active vehicles staged a recovery, figures released last week by the Investment Management Association (IMA) and Lipper reveal. After a surge of investment in the fourth...

Can art and films be music to an investor's ears?
May 11, 2009... Equities have taken a spectacular nosedive over the past year, along with most other asset classes. The FTSE 100 fell more than 40% over the year to March 2009 and since then has only managed to claw back some of its lost ground. The...

STRATEGY: On the mend but could do better.
May 11, 2009... All the signs suggest that the world economy has turned the corner after the ravages of the recession but there is still a long way to go - and who will provide the engine for growth? There is sufficient evidence to suggest that the...

TRENDS: Bleak outlook in brave new world.
May 11, 2009... The past year has been a sobering experience for anyone wishing to secure a reasonable income. With the outlook remaining uncertain, investors will need to broaden their portfolio. Boring, reliable, dull. Two years ago, it would have been...

Q&A: US heading for positive growth levels this year.(Interview)
May 11, 2009... BlackRock's Bob Doll talks to James Smith about the outlook for the American market. Q: What is your stance on the current market rally - a bear bounce or the start of a sustainable recovery? A: Whether or not this marks the start of...

No end to Japan's nightmare?
May 11, 2009... Japan still seems stuck in a 20-year mire of sluggish growth and poor market performance despite several bouts of optimism about recovery, writes Jack Mulchand. The collapse in global trade following the worst financial crisis since the...

Japan and deflation.
May 11, 2009... The slowdown in America, Europe and China in the wake of the global financial crisis has delivered a "stunning" blow to the Japanese economy, raising the risk of a deflationary spiral, according to Fukao Mitsuhiro, the president of the Japan...

Lessons from Japan's lot decade.
May 11, 2009... The severe American recession following the global financial crisis has raised the fear that the world's biggest economy could suffer the type of deflation and economic torpor Japan endured in the 1990s after its stock and housing markets...

ANALYSIS: Don't be green about ethical issues.
May 11, 2009... Tim Dieppe's value-based equity stockpicking background is an advantage to him as manager of an ethical fund. It helps him to avoid the biggest trap in environmentally aware investing. There is an assumption by many in the adviser...

INVESTMENT TRUSTS: Business as usual for thriving VCTs.
May 11, 2009... Alistair Darling is planning to change the structure of venture capital trusts - but despite the tinkering, trusts continue to prosper, investing in small companies and helping them grow. Alistair Darling became the latest chancellor to...

AFI: Bullish view leaves IFAs unmoved.
May 11, 2009... In spite of optimistic comments by a much respected fund manager and gains by the three AFI benchmarks, advisers still regard the recent stockmarket surge as merely a bear market rally. He may have stepped back from front-line fund...

FoFs: Credit funds to blame for 12.5% hit.
May 11, 2009... Natalie Kenway Senior staff writer, Fund Strategy Aidan Kearney admits to making the mistake of moving towards credit funds too early - but says they are now performing well, and together with gold profits, things are turning round. Credit...

FOCUS: The untold goodies in S&W's kitbag.
May 11, 2009... A year ago Smith & Williamson said it was committed to embracing the intermediary market. Key hirings have shown it means business, but the firm still faces a big task, writes Neal Underwood. Smith & Williamson Investment Management has...

FUND MANAGER'S DIARY: 20-26 April 2009.
May 11, 2009... Monday: My five-month-old daughter Alyssa must know it is peak corporate earnings season as she kicks off my week at 4.30am. At the office, I spend the morning reviewing economic news and prepping for a busy week. At the weekly team meeting we...

COMMENT: Crisis has laid bare economic weakness.
May 18, 2009... Daniel Ben-Ami, Editor A fundamental problem with economic discussion is its naturalism. It wrongly assumes that the human world works in a similar way to the natural one. This error is apparent in the discussion of pending economic...

Jupiter team to increase small caps.
May 18, 2009... Jupiter's multi-manager team has reduced its cash position to less than 5% across all four onshore portfolios and is preparing to move into small caps. John Chatfeild-Roberts and Algy Smith-Maxwell, the lead managers, say they are on...

Barings winds up multi-manager range.
May 18, 2009... Baring Asset Management has wound up its multi-manager range to focus on the development of its multi-asset strategy. The group confirmed it made James Calder, the head of the multi-manager team, redundant at the end of last year, while...

Aberdeen to acquire CSAM multi-manager.
May 18, 2009... Aberdeen Asset Management is to acquire further assets from Credit Suisse in the form of the multi-manager business. Aidan Kearney and Graham Duce, co-heads, and the rest of the multi- manager team, including Scott Spencer and Rob Bowie,...

IN BRIEF: Barclays confirms interest in BGI.(Brief article)
May 18, 2009... Barclays has confirmed receiving enquiries from parties interested in buying the Barclays Global Investors (BGI) asset management business. In a statement it says expressions of interest in buying its iShares trackers business included...

IN BRIEF: Economies in Europe shrink 2.5%.(Brief article)
May 18, 2009... Europe's economies shrank by 2.5% in the first quarter of 2009, according to Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities. The average figure masks considerable variations. Baltic countries were hit hardest. Latvia's economy...

IN BRIEF: Artemis added to wealth 150.(Brief article)
May 18, 2009... Hargreaves Lansdown has added Artemis's new Strategic Assets fund, managed by William Littlewood, to its Wealth 150 list of preferred funds. Stuart Goodwin, an analyst at Hargreaves, said in a statement that the fund was selected because of...

IN BRIEF: L&G announces business results.(Financial report)(Brief article)
May 18, 2009... Legal & General (L&G) announced its worldwide new business had increased by 3% against the same quarter last year and its British unit trusts business also showed growth. It added funds under management had declined because of market falls....

IN BRIEF: Japanese export declines slow.(Brief article)
May 18, 2009... Japanese exports fell further in April, albeit at a slower rate.Statistics released by the ministry of finance show that Japan's exports fell by 42.6% against the same month last year. Imports fell by 35.7%. In March, Japanese exports had...

IN BRIEF: OBSR goes international.(Brief article)
May 18, 2009... Old Broad Street Research (OBSR) has launched an international fund ratings service to assist wealth managers and professional advisers with research. It will focus on funds regardless of their location. Copyright: Centaur Communications...

Odey raises #25m in first retail launch.
May 18, 2009... Odey Asset Management has raised #25m from investors for its first retail fund launch, UK Absolute Return. The Ucits III fund was brought to market on May 12 allowing retail investors to access the hedge fund strategy used by Crispin Odey....

Sarasin funds allow a hedge back to sterling.
May 18, 2009... Sarasin has launched mirror versions of two of its funds, giving investors the choice to hedge their foreign currency exposure back to sterling. As of April 19 the regulator approved the launch of hedged sterling versions of Sarasin...

New Star bond pair trim exposure to financials.
May 18, 2009... The new managers of the New Star Sterling Bond have started to reduce the fund's exposure to financials, a sector that pulled it to the bottom of the performance tables under Phil Roantree, the previous manager. However, Stephen...

IN BRIEF: European funds positive again.(Brief article)
May 18, 2009... Strong flows into money market funds allowed European funds to return to positive territory in March, according to Lipper FMI's Fund Flash Report. The liquidity funds saw an injection of E9 billion (#8 billion) so that total European net...

Appetite for absolute return grows.
May 18, 2009... The first rebalancing of the Adviser Fund Index (AFI) this year has revealed growing investor appetite for absolute return funds. These vehicles make up several of the new entrants into the index, which will undergo a second review in...

Sterling bond market needs reform, says IMA.
May 18, 2009... The Investment Management Association (IMA) has called for reform in the sterling corporate bond market because it says it is too difficult for retail investors to directly participate. It says the large number of bond issues and "the...

Mott repositions PSigma Income for 'anaemic' recovery.
May 18, 2009... Bill Mott is once again going against consensus by reducing exposure to cyclicals in favour of defensives in the PSigma Income fund. Having backed domestically sensitive stocks for much of last year, Mott is taking profits after the...

IN BRIEF: Number of jobless rises to 2.2m.(Brief article)
May 18, 2009... The number of unemployed people in Britain has hit 2.2m, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). In the first three months of the year the British unemployment rate climbed to 7.1%, up 0.8 percentage points from the fourth...

Emerging markets: offering stability as well as growth?
May 18, 2009... Bryan Collings, the manager of the Ignis Hexam Global Emerging Markets fund, this week said it was a "myth" that emerging markets were riskier than developed markets. Looking at data for the last 10 years, he says he found the MSCI Emerging...

STATESIDE: Goliath and the chequebook.
May 18, 2009... The American economy needs private investors, perhaps now more than ever. Yet, the Obama administration has been tinkering with the rules midstream. This could deter future investors. Leapfrog Nobody likes to end up in litigation, even...

STRATEGY: Taking a more pragmatic approach.
May 18, 2009... Desperate times, but not necessarily cause for desperate measures. Tom Walker suggests following America and China's lead by having an open mind to do whatever works. Desperate times, it is held, call for desperate measures. Maybe they...

TRENDS: Emerging markets - changes ahead?
May 18, 2009... Emerging market funds have been riding high of late and historically they have performed well. But what of the future? Much will depend on the effect of fiscal stimuli on global demand. No market moves in a straight line, and we are...

Q&A: Standing by small caps has proved rewarding.(Interview)
May 18, 2009... Richard Penny of the Legal & General Alpha Trust talks to Adam Lewis about sticking by his small caps. Q: In recent weeks some managers have come out and said they are seeing opportunities down the capitalisation scale and are adjusting...

FEATURE: Winds of change.
May 18, 2009... Does the investment management industry need to have a major overhaul? Over the years the industry has enjoyed an improving market, making it relatively easy to perform well. However, with the current downturn, investors are looking more...

ANALYSIS: Mobile calls ring up yield from asia.
May 18, 2009... Mike Kerley's investment trust, Henderson Far East Income, challenges the view that Asian-invested funds offer poor dividends. And leading his "stalwart yield payers" are telecom stocks. What sort of income yield can you earn on an...

INVESTMENT TRUSTS: Keystone trust remains conservative.
May 18, 2009... The Keystone Investment Trust is avoiding the risks by refusing to chase the current equity rally into cyclical stocks. The manager keeps the focus on long-term growth in good quality companies. Mark Barnett, the manager of the Keystone...

AFI: Positive outlook for absolute returns.
May 18, 2009... The spring AFI rebalancing brings some unexpected changes, with several high profile funds ejected from the index. Absolute return funds are looking promising, but property is suffering. This month saw the spring rebalancing of the...

FoFs: Complementary way is just the ticket.
May 18, 2009... As Brian White considers increasing the holdings in the CF GHC MultiManager Fixed Interest portfolio he is looking at funds that will complement the others. But the hard data matters too. Brian White, the manager of the CF GHC MultiManager...

FOCUS: M&G growing by leaps and bonds.
May 18, 2009... While its competitors continue to suffer, M&G appears relatively undamaged by the financial crisis as it capitalises on investors' continuing appetite for corporate bonds, writes Will Jackson. "Crisis, what crisis?" That question,...