Investment Adviser articles from February 2004

Investment Adviser archives from February 2004

SocGen gets set for 59 new funds.
February 2, 2004... SocGen Asset Management could catapult up to 60 funds into the UK retail market by the summer. As reported in Investment Adviser on 1 September, SGAM is opening its institutional bond range to retail investors, including the Standard &...

Luckraft up for hedge fund.
February 2, 2004... Framlington star manager George Luckraft has expressed a desire to run a long/short hedge fund. The manager of the GBP128m Equity Income, GBP48.3m Monthly Income and GBP66.3m High Income funds said: "If Framlington were to offer me a...

Gartmore outsources cash funds.
February 2, 2004... On Monday, Gartmore outsourced the management of four money market funds to Morgan Stanley Investment Management in London. The move coincides with the departure of David Hynes, head of cash management at Gartmore and the manager of the...

Fund to invest in retail properties.
February 2, 2004... Property specialist Urban Exposure has launched into the UK with a fund capitalising on plans for real estate investment trusts. Although the Investment Management Association is planning to close its property fund sector, Randeesh Sandhu,...

Investment firms head for property.
February 2, 2004... Property investment is still strong judging by two new entrants to the market in 2004. M&G Investments and specialist property consultant Colliers CRE have each been taking plans for commercial property funds to IFAs and fund management...

Killik still has faith in Tim Russell.
February 2, 2004... Brokers are confident in Tim Russell's ability to outperform despite "taking his foot off the accelerator too soon last year". This was the view of analysts at London-based broker Killik, who claimed after the Cazenove GBP535.4m UK Growth...

Legg Mason onshore Asia fund rolled out.
February 2, 2004... Legg Mason Investments has launched its Asia-Pacific fund. As predicted by Investment Adviser in October, LMI has created an onshore version of its GBP7m Dublin-based Pacific Equity fund. David Lazenby, lead fund manager of the emerging...

Hedge funds blamed for investment grade selling.
February 2, 2004... HEDGE funds have been blamed for the sharp sell-off of investment grade bonds. James Foster, manager of the Isis Strategic Bond and Extra Income Bond funds, believed that a fortnight of selling had been caused by hedge funds. Mr...

Emergent to launch hedge fund.
February 2, 2004... Emergent is launching a hedge fund for high net-worth investors. It has established two feeder funds for launch this week, the Emergent Global and Emergent Diversified Emerging Markets Macro. Both are Oeics listed on the Irish stock...

Iimia plans 'sister' for Accelarated fund.
February 2, 2004... Nick Greenwood, fund manager at Iimia Asset Management, plans to run a concentrated portfolio in his fund of investment trusts. The proposed closed-ended fund is aimed at specialist private investors and seeks pure capital growth by...

Sutherland likes fags and booze.
February 2, 2004... Neil Sutherland plans to go overweight in financial, tobacco and pub securities in his Axa UK Corporate Bond fund. The fund, which launched last week, will focus on sterling investment grade bonds across the yield curve. Mr Sutherland...

SLI stays with corporate bonds rather than gilts.
February 2, 2004... Standard Life Investments will stay heavily weighted in high yield bonds over gilts during 2004. In its global outlook published last week, SLI said it would be remaining underweight on government bonds on the back of improving credit...

Gartmore lifts the lid on Balanced Strategy.
February 2, 2004... Gartmore has renamed its fund of funds business Gartmore Portfolio. The first fund within Gartmore Portfolio is the GBP360m Balanced Strategy portfolio. It is being marketed as a core holding. Further strategies will be launched later...

Economic growth to be driven by China.
February 2, 2004... PIMCO's senior strategist has identified China as an engine of economic growth in 2004, at the cost of Japan. William Powers, senior member of the US-based bond expert's portfolio management and investment strategy group, outlined his...

ABI stresses SRI benefits for firms.
February 2, 2004... UK BUSINESSES must understand better the financial benefits of socially responsible investment, according to the Association of British Insurers. Mary Francis, director general of the ABI, claimed socially responsible investment had made a...

Rose replaces Clough for Schroder Tokyo.
February 2, 2004... by Tamsin Waghorn Denis Clough will permanently step down from managing the AAA-rated Schroder Tokyo fund when he takes a sabbatical in May. Andrew Rose, head of Japanese Equities for Schroder, will takeover the reins of the GBP655m...

JPMF goes large on asset allocation.
February 2, 2004... Market correlation should feature more highly in asset allocation and portfolio construction by IFAs, says JPMF. According to JPMorgan Fleming Asset Management, market correlation is becoming more important in determining levels of risk and...

Neutral global weights dampen performance.
February 2, 2004... Investors would have been better off investing in UK smaller caps than diversifying globally over the past five years. According to Bates Investment Services, the close correlation between Western markets over the past five years means that...

Hichens uses IFAs to target wealthy clients.
February 2, 2004... Hichens Investment Management has launched a wealth management service, targeting high net-worth clients through IFAs. The move follows the launch of the Io Growth & Income fund, run by Perth-based Tim Gregory, in the last quarter of 2003....

LaSalle looks ahead and advises a shift to growth.
February 2, 2004... Property yields, market transparency and leveraging are all set to shift in 2004, according to LaSalle Investment Management. The global property investment manager claimed investors should change their risk exposure from income to growth...

Analyst pushes share trading portfolio.
February 2, 2004... Analyst Investment Management has launched a share trading portfolio into the IFA-led retail market. The company, which was launched in 2001, has launched tranches of shares in FTSE All-Share companies for subscribed clients, but is...

Private client brokers are forced to rethink strategy.
February 2, 2004... Asset managers are likely to branch out with private client groups this year to capture the growing high net-worth market. According to research and consultancy firm Cerulli Associates, asset management firms that have been launching and...

Small firms drive the Japanese bounce-back.
February 2, 2004... Domestic low and mid-cap companies were the drivers behind surges in Japanese fund performance in the third quarter of 2003. The latest Standard & Poor's sector update for Japan funds run by companies such as Legg Mason Investments,...

Investors expect UK to offer best potential.
February 2, 2004... NEARLY 60 per cent of investors believe the UK shows the best investment potential, according to Chelsea Financial Services. A survey of 1000 investors, conducted by the London-based IFA, revealed confidence in the UK was high, with more...

Fund groups protest over tax rule confusion.
February 2, 2004... ASset managers have called for government action as confusion reigned among investors over Isa tax changes. On 5 April, the tax credit on dividends for Isa investors will be abolished. For example, from this date, the GBP11.11 tax credit...

Isa limit cut is criticised on all sides.
February 2, 2004... Jupiter's Gordon Davidson has joined MPs in criticising government plans to cut the Isa limit. In the pre-Budget report, the government announced it intended to cut Isa limits from GBP7000 a year to GBP5000 from 2006. Mr Davidson,...

L&G pushes Distribution trust.
February 2, 2004... Legal & General is plugging its Distribution trust this Isa season, as well as running a selective free management-fee offer. The Legal & General Distribution trust was launched in November and is lead managed by David North, associate...

Consumers urged to take a long-term view.
February 2, 2004... THE chief executive of the FSA has urged consumers to take a longer-term view towards investments. In the FSA Risk Outlook 2004 John Tiner highlighted a worrying trend showing consumers were moving away from investment products. He...

Corporate investment set to rise in Europe.
February 2, 2004... Industrial and technology stocks across Europe look well placed to benefit from upgraded company earning estimates. Fund managers at JO Hambro Capital Management have predicted that sectors relying heavily on corporate investment will gain...

SLI boasts strong figures for its pension fund range.
February 2, 2004... Standard Life Investment's pension fund range performance figures signalled a strong start to the year, according to the fund manager. In a Combined Actuarial Performance Services' survey, the UK Select fund was ranked second out of 90...

Barings eyes up move to the east.
February 2, 2004... Baring's strategists have announced their intention to shift allocations aggressively to Asia and emerging markets. The move comes from Baring's strategic policy group and is a response to the fall of the dollar and predictions for a...