Investment Adviser articles from August 2006

Investment Adviser archives from August 2006

Aberdeen seeks permission to give fund facelift.
August 7, 2006... Aberdeen is seeking unit holders' consent for a change to the name and objectives of its AGBP122.6m Balanced Managed fund. Under its proposal, Aberdeen would rename the fund the Aberdeen Multi-Asset fund, and the investment remit would be...

Fidelity, M&G get AA despite rocky market.
August 7, 2006... M&G and Fidelity are the big winners in Standard & Poor's latest review of the IMA Global Growth sector. Two funds from each of the investment houses received a rating upgrade at the end of July, despite media reports of investor...

New funds offer slice of world.
August 7, 2006... The offshore property market has been given a boost with the launch of two new products from Barclays Investors Solutions and Prestbury. Specialist property company Prestbury has set up a AGBP475m property investment fund to target...

HSBC enlists Fairhead for new position.
August 7, 2006... HSBC Investments has poached Adam Fairhead, JPMorgan's long-standing head of public policy. Mr Fairhead, who worked for JPMorgan for 21 years, has been hired to the newly created role of global head of product development. He will be work...

Relive the golden racing era.
August 7, 2006... F&C Investments is offering IFAs the chance to win a top day out at Goodwood. F&C is one of the main sponsors of the Goodwood Revival, which is the only event of its kind to be staged in what F&C calls "the romantic time capsule of the 50s...

Bond market performance shows rate rise is unlikely.
August 7, 2006... The bond market is telling the US Federal Reserve that enough is enough, according to Mike Lenhoff, chief strategist for Brewin Dolphin. Mr Lenhoff said: "Yields in the US Treasury market are not only below the Fed Funds target, but they...

Institutional plays it safe as retail gets risky.
August 7, 2006... IMA fund sales figures show first half of 2006 saw a change in investment appetites

Fidelity to expand its multi-manager range.
August 7, 2006... Fidelity has laid plans to expand its multi-manager range, following the appointment of a new business development director. Phil Morse, former head of multi-manager distribution at Gartmore, joined Fidelity last week amid plans for...

7IM retreats from risky commodities.
August 7, 2006... Seven Investment Management has been taking risk off the table across its four-strong fund of funds range. According to recent fact sheets, both the AGBP24.6m Adventurous and AGBP100.8m Moderately Cautious portfolios have reduced their more...

Returns a priority over climate woes.
August 7, 2006... The UK's largest companies take climate change seriously, but few believe investors would forgive them for sacrificing returns for better environmental practice. In a recent Investec survey, a large proportion of the companies in the...

With profits look set to lose out to multi-manager funds.
August 7, 2006... Multi-manager funds will be the long-term winners from the decline in with profits, according to Skandia. The company surveyed IFAs and found 93 per cent will advise clients to move from with profits bonds to unit-linked funds in the next...

Lincoln starts widespread overhaul of retail range.
August 7, 2006... Lincoln Financial Group is embarking on a raft of changes to its retail range. It is taking its AGBP28.9m Global and AGBP5.7m Managed funds from Goldman Sachs Asset Management and handing them to multi-manager specialist IMS. The...

Investors seek out packaged diversity.
August 7, 2006... HSBC Private Bank's Republic hedge fund division has reported significant interest in multi-strategy products. Its Uni-Folio range includes a variety of hedge fund mandates based on specific strategies and geographic regions, which can be...

Retail fund growth driven by alternative investment.
August 7, 2006... Total UK retail funds under management grew by 5 per cent in 2005, according to research organisation International Financial Services London. Mostly invested in alternative funds, their value reached AGBP530bn. IFSL's report found UK...

Chartwell trio set for release.
August 7, 2006... Chartwell Asset Management is launching a trio of Oeics under its parent company's Cavendish Grant banner. Cavendish Grant Balanced Income, Cautious Growth and Strategic Growth will hit the market on 15 September, subject to Financial...

Provider future rests on wraps.
August 7, 2006... IFA support services provider Threesixty has claimed wraps will become the sole means of mainstream fund distribution. According to its first annual report on the financial services industry, authored by partner David Ingram, it...

appointments.
August 7, 2006... ALegal & General has appointed Roger Bartley (pictured) as global head of fixed income, taking on the position formerly held by John Monckton, who was murdered in his home last year. Mr Bartley joins L&G from Gartmore, where he was chief fixed...

Commercial property near peak, but not over hill yet.
August 7, 2006... The commercial property market may be nearing its peak, but managers still expect strong returns for 2006. Sandy Thomson, manager of Resolution Asset Management's AGBP508.4m UK Property fund, said: "For the year to date, property is ahead...

ABN Amro adds Japan hedge fund to offerings.
August 7, 2006... ABN Amro has launched a Japan hedge fund. The single strategy fund will be run by Hong Kong-based portfolio manager Jack Chang, and seek to generate returns from under and over valued stocks across all market capitalisations. The...

News L&G jettisons flagging European equity team.
August 7, 2006... Legal & General has parted ways with its active European equity team, spurring calls from leading IFAs for fund groups to get tough with consistent underperformers. Last week, the four-strong active European equity team left Legal &...

Baillie bets on BAA sale success.
August 7, 2006... Corporate activity surrounding the UK's largest airports authority has forced Baillie Gifford to switch holdings into longer-dated bonds. Ken Barker, manager of the AGBP118.5m Corporate Bond fund, said he had begun buying BAA paper...

Axa, Aberdeen claim Asia rolls with punch.
August 7, 2006... Asian equity experts at Axa and Aberdeen have welcomed the region's recent market correction. According to Nigel Richardson, Axa IM's chief investment officer for Asia, the region has been hit disproportionately hard by a sell-off in...

Investors hold on in East's volatility.
August 7, 2006... Emerging Asian markets are yet to see significant cash outflows despite recent market volatility, according to ratings agency Standard & Poor's. In its latest sector update for the first five months of the year, S&P said while information...

Pensions bamboozle their target market, says Defaqto.
August 7, 2006... The changing financial services landscape is leaving its target market confused about pensions saving. According to a report from research agency Defaqto, 31 per cent of adults do not understand pensions, posing a challenge to the industry...

Foreign & Colonial's new tricks founder.
August 7, 2006... The first full year since the AGBP2.5bn Foreign & Colonial investment trust's restructuring has been difficult. Since introducing discount controls and hiving out its Japanese and North American holdings to external managers, the trust has...

Baillie Gifford trust slips up on oil plays.
August 7, 2006... The AGBP431.43m Baillie Gifford-managed Scottish American investment trust has had a tough time with both its UK and overseas equity portfolios. The trust, which has been managed by Baillie's Patrick Edwardson since 2004, underperformed...

ABN Amro Clicks for savers with real goals.
August 7, 2006... ABN Amro is launching a series of lifecycle funds for long-term financial planning, including retirement and post-retirement. The new series of capital guaranteed funds, branded Target Click, are available for Sipp and personal pension...

Tax cut applauded by Standard Life.
August 7, 2006... Standard Life has welcomed the removal of penal tax charges on pension transfers. Under existing regulation, an individual taking benefits after turning 50, and paying installments after 2010 while being under 55, has those payments...

Japan equity funds bounce back after inflow drought.
August 7, 2006... Japan equity funds experienced their first week of inflows in 11 weeks in the seven days to 26 July. The latest weekly fund flow survey from US-based Emerging Portfolio Fund Research found Japanese equity funds drew in AGBP75m in funds...

JPMF spreads into income.
August 7, 2006... The AGBP598m JPMF European investment trust has launched an income share class to complement the existing growth share class. JPMorgan claims the offering will become the first pan-European equity income share class. The two share classes...

Stagflation warning as interest rates rise.
August 7, 2006... Last week's 0.25 per cent interest rate rise invoked the spectre of stagflation, the UK asset management industry has claimed. Jim Wood Smith, head of research for Christows, described the Monetary Policy Committee's move as "most...

Bond managers deny financial debt threat.
August 7, 2006... Bond fund managers from Artemis and Scottish Widows have dismissed talk of a threat to financial companies' debt. According to a report from Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays Bank, now is the time to be taking...

Hexam's first offering comes to market.
August 7, 2006... Resolution Asset Management has announced the first launch from its emerging markets joint venture boutique. The new long/short hedge fund, under the Hexam brand name, will invest in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Marina...

It's time to be picky.
August 7, 2006... Like a child at Christmas who is more impressed with the cardboard box than the shiny toy within, investors are increasingly becoming interested in product wrappers. As a way of bringing finances together under one umbrella, wraps are...

Wrapping things up.
August 7, 2006... Ask an IFA what a wrap was 10 years ago and they would probably have described something from KFC that involves tortillas and seasoned chicken. Indeed, a survey by JP Morgan found that even in 2002, 77 per cent of UK advisers had never heard of...

There is no escape -" the wrap is coming so get used to it now.
August 7, 2006... Why have wraps been so successful? And more to the point, have they? A perfectly good point, considering the amount of capital that has been expended on this new area over the past five years. Estimates of the precise amount vary considerably,...

Normality returns to markets.
August 7, 2006... The early part of June saw a continuation of the sell-off of equities that characterised the second half of May, but the markets calmed down somewhat toward the end of the month. Rather than presaging a complete meltdown in capital markets, it...

Insight's insight Are wraps really a gift to advisers?
August 7, 2006... How do you see wraps? In essence they are aggregation for the end investor. But they differ from platforms in that they allow all underlying investments to be held within a tax efficient wrapper. Wraps are similar to days gone by when...

Commodity stocks undervalued.
August 7, 2006... Commodities might be carried along by high oil prices, but the stocks are still undervalued. Leading emerging markets expert Dr Mark Mobius, who runs the AGBP1.6bn Franklin Templeton Emerging Markets Investment trust and the AGBP26m...

Fundwatch Funds save planet but not investors.
August 7, 2006... Save the planet! That was the message of a press lunch organised by the Association of Investment Trust Companies for two of its members who specialise in alternative energy, namely Impax Environmental Markets and Merill Lynch New Energy. ...

Listen to metal.
August 7, 2006... Is it time to pile back into commodities again? Commodities had a fantastic run up until the time markets did the crash test dummy act when they hit a wall in mid-May, and have been limping along ever since. Mining stocks were the hardest hit...

Business falls foul of CEO celebrity status.
August 7, 2006... If recent newsflow is anything to go by, the cult of personality is alive and well in UK business. BP's Lord Browne appears to have fallen victim to an arbitrary retirement-at-60 staffing policy (more evidence of trends in demographics...

New giants steal the oldies' spotlight.
August 7, 2006... Perhaps one of the nicest fund managers ever to walk the planet was Michael Hart. Every six months, he used to give a presentation of Foreign & Colonial's results, replete with some aged cartoons and long-term graphs showing how patient...

To me risk is losing money on investing in a company. My style is buying shares I think are really attractive and sticking with them.
August 7, 2006... Investment Adviser: You joined the UK fund manager Mercury in 1987 which was then subsequently taken over by the US giant Merrill Lynch in 1997. Five years later you left to found Majedie Asset Management. What is your role at Majedie Asset...

That's just downright peachy.
August 7, 2006... Old Mutual's Leslie Jones recently went yachting around a Greek island with family and friends. Every night the younger members of the clan sought out their own fun on the celebrity-studded island, meeting among others Sir Bob Geldof and...

James becomes underwear icon.
August 7, 2006... Back on dry land, Diary bumped into New Star's senior marketing manager James Senior. When the eighth separate person told us that they didn't recognise James with his clothes on, questions had to be asked. The reason, which eventually came to...

Clowns to the left of me, jokers...
August 7, 2006... IFAs should be on their toes when going to the F&C roadshow this year. With a Reservoir Dogs theme and the promise of "tough guys", a "crack team" and "big guns" it should certainly prove to be original take on the usual roadshow format. It...

Interest rises with alcohol content.
August 7, 2006... It came as quite a surprise when a recent investor presentation had people queuing to get in. That was until we heard that it was for the UK launch of Kalashnikov vodka, which is seeking AGBP1m for further growth. If reports on fund managers'...

JPMorgan to augment total return fund stable.
August 7, 2006... JPMorgan Asset Management is set to unveil a series of total return funds during the second half of this year. The company, which launched its AGBP97.4m Cautious TotalReturn fund on 1 July 2005, is also road-testing several ideas with...

The technological side of life.
August 7, 2006... In January, most analysts were convinced that 2006 would be a bumper year for mergers and acquisitions. There is no doubt that in many markets M&A activity -" either real or speculative -" did contribute to the strong performance in the first...

Digesting the dog's dinner.
August 7, 2006... The UK Equity & Bond Income sector is like a bag of liquorice allsorts: its funds are as different as they come. One would think that being able to pick from a variety of funds would be everybody's cup of tea, but sadly this is far from the...

Sector Comment.
August 7, 2006... The UK Equity & Bond Income sector has hardly been granted a license to thrill, but it was never meant to. The sector is not designed to be a high-octane, white-knuckle experience of a sector. Anything with the word "Income" in its title is...

Is it best to opt for equities or to opt for bonds -" that is the question.
August 7, 2006... This week we are looking at the bottom half of the sector in terms of fund return. What stands out along with the usual poor stock picking suspects are, first, a higher exposure to bonds against equities and second, low exposure to ex-UK...

Going against the grain to keep ahead of the pack.
August 7, 2006... The UK Equity & Bond Income sector is home to a mixed bag of funds. This is mainly because the funds in the sector are allowed to invest between 20 per cent and 80 per cent of their fund in UK equities or UK bonds, leading to a diverse set of...

Neptune prepares for US dip.
August 7, 2006... Rob Burnett is moving his AGBP36.7m Neptune European Opportunities fund into a defensive position in expectation of a US slowdown. He said: "We have reduced our exposure to global growth plays, where the fund made some of its largest...

ABN Amro rolls out new Japan hedge.
August 7, 2006... ABN Amro has launched an absolute return-style Japan hedge fund. The long/short fund, which started trading on 1 August, is managed by Jack Chang, a Hong Kong-based manager with 10 years' experience investing in the Asia Pacific region. ...

Fund groups celebrate embarrassment of riches.
August 7, 2006... Several leading fund groups have reported significant increases in business over the first half of 2006. Barclays Global Investors, Standard Life Investments, Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, Axa Investment Managers and Societe...

Raft of launches imminent.
August 7, 2006... Product Innovations has unveiled plans for a raft of new products to be launched in the second half of the year. David Barclay-Miller, head of structured products for the company, said the timing was meant to give IFAs time over the summer...

Markets are singing the mid-cycle blues.
August 7, 2006... There is no doubt about it -" the Federal Reserve's attempts to manage the pace of US activity have certainly put the wind up investors recently. In particular, markets have been up and down with concern about new Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's...

Outside Edge Be prepared for a very bumpy ride.
August 7, 2006... Last week, I took a first look at the IMA UK Equity & Bond Income sector, highlighting our favourite offerings in the group. This week I will take a look at funds in the sector that may be harbouring hidden risks. As always, it is worth noting...

Spend a penny to earn a fortune.
August 7, 2006... Is property investment something you would turn your nose up at? In Ireland, property-hungry investors are set to snap up a dilapidated, out-of-order loo for AGBP200,000 because of its great location -" a surfing beach on the rugged Atlantic...

Threadneedle Euro team uninspired by recovery.
August 14, 2006... Rising dividends from the Continent will become crucial to boosting returns, as Threadneedle's European team believes Europe's recovery is uninspiring. Chris White, manager of the newly-launched AGBP10m Threadneedle Pan-European Equity...

Investors still wary of Japan.
August 14, 2006... The scale of the Japanese sell-off in May, exceeding that seen globally, suggests investors are still suspicious of the market, according to fund managers. SocGen Asset Management said it was important for investors to avoid recent noise...

Dresdner Kleinwort launches alpha funds.
August 14, 2006... Volatility indices are being used as an asset class for two new Ucits III funds from investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort and its stablemate Kleinwort Benson. The company claims its new funds will be the first UK Oeic products to use...

Royal London grows again.
August 14, 2006... Royal London Asset Management increased total gross new business to AGBP455.5m in the six months to 30 June. The figure represented a 46 per cent increase on the same period last year, when total gross new business reached AGBP312.1m. ...

Isa sales skyrocket as economy finds its feet.
August 14, 2006... Isa sales surged by 33 per cent to almost AGBP200bn in 2005, showing renewed interest in the savings vehicle, according to Datamonitor. Lauren McAughtry, the author of the independent market analyst's latest report, said: "Last year saw...

Manager movement opens up a minefield.
August 14, 2006... Avoiding the merry-go-round of fund manager turnover should be a key goal of funds of funds managers, two leading players have argued. According to Garry Potter, co-head of Credit Suisse Multi-manager, 61 per cent of the original managers...

GLG Partners makes use of Matrix-Data's AM software.
August 14, 2006... Alternative investment house GLG Partners has added Matrix-Data's asset management software to its fund of funds operation. The Matrix-IMS package includes quant analysis, due diligence, portfolio management, fund accounting, trade...

Berengea's investors to get big VCT dividends.
August 14, 2006... Investors in Berengea's Proven venture capital trusts are likely to receive a tax-free dividend of between 15 per cent to 20 per cent in November. IFAs such as Chelsea Financial Services who brokered deals for clients to access the Proven...

Assetz makes use of Sipp policy changes.
August 14, 2006... Specialist property fund house Assetz has reacted to confirmation that indirect residential property can be held in a Sipp with a new fund launch. According to the company, the Finance Act of 20 July this year confirmed that indirect...

Proposed pension reforms not likely to help UK aged.
August 14, 2006... Government pensions proposals may benefit advisers but Scottish Life is concerned the proposals will confuse and could endanger those it is designed to help. Steve Bee, head of pensions strategy for Scottish Life, argued that those who...

Suffolk Life proves mettle with profits.
August 14, 2006... Sipp provider Suffolk Life has reported a 66 per cent increase in sales during the first half of 2006. The sale of 1250 Sipps contributed to a pre-tax profit of AGBP1.3m, including AGBP686,000 net profit from the sale of its Ssas business....

Tech fall conceals growth.
August 14, 2006... The technology sector has had a tough year, but Iimia's Nick Greenwood believes it will soon show plenty of growth. Iimia's chief investment officer and the manager of the AGBP45m Iimia Investment trust said the 13 per cent sterling...

Witan to revamp mandate and add risk to its arsenal.
August 14, 2006... The AGBP1.4bn Witan investment trust is considering revamping its asset allocation and adopting more active currency management to make better use of risk . James Budden, marketing director for Witan, said the trust's multi-manager...

Mid Wynd tips Europe, UK and Japan for more growth.
August 14, 2006... The AGBP44m Mid Wynd International investment trust's manager is confident continental Europe, the UK and Japan will continue to outperform. The trust, which aims for capital and income growth by investing on a worldwide basis, gained...

Fees raze property returns.
August 14, 2006... Hefty termination charges can seriously affect the performance of listed property funds, Morgan Stanley Research has warned. Last week, the investment bank's analysts expressed concern the industry was not applying an appropriate discount...

Withdrawals make Fidelity more attractive to retirees.
August 14, 2006... Fidelity has unveiled a withdrawal facility for its investment funds. By allowing withdrawals, Fidelity is hoping to capture a wider market post-retirement by providing a way of generating regular income. Investors through its...

$100 barrel of oil spells chaos.
August 14, 2006... Managers and analysts have warned investors of the threat to global macro-economic stability from ever-increasing oil prices. Jim Wood Smith, head of research for stockbroker and asset manager Christows, said high interest rates and the...

Europe shaking off grip of US and using space to grow.
August 14, 2006... European markets are decoupling from the US, giving the continent more space to grow, Merrill Lynch has claimed. Ewen Cameron Watt, head of global investment strategy research at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, said the recent...

AGBP51m profit shows F&C on even keel.
August 14, 2006... Corporate bond, UK Opportunities, Stewardship and multi-manager fund sales have helped buoy F&C Asset Management through a difficult six months. The company's latest report and accounts shows that year on year, the company has been on an...

L&C fund bites into Germany with Berliner retail park.
August 14, 2006... Investment boutique London & Capital's German Real Estate fund has made its first acquisition in the form of a retail park near Berlin. The fund, which aims to capitalise on consumer demand, good yields and low euro borrowing rates, spent...

Technology phoenix escapes the ashes.
August 14, 2006... L ast year it seemed to me that it was time to turn bullish on technology. "At last -" a major change of opinion on my part" I wrote in September for the Analyst section of this magazine. First, my view was based on the belief that five...

Bedlam slams UK bank lenders.
August 14, 2006... Bedlam Asset Management has lashed out against the UK's high street banking industry for pushing consumers into debt. Jonathan Compton, manager of the AGBP34.5m Bedlam UK fund, which holds no banking stocks, expressed his anger at the...

Steer blames mid caps.
August 14, 2006... New Star's AGBP300m UK Alpha fund manager has defended recent underperformance by stating that hedge fund activity helped drive down his mid cap stocks. The fund, managed by Tim Steer, underperformed its peer group during the correction...