NEWS ROUND-UP
news round-up
New face at L&G
Legal & General Investment
Management has taken
on Paul Murray as head
of investment risk. He
will be responsible for
independent measuring,
monitoring and
development of risk for
L&G’s active fund
management business.
Murray was previously at
F&C Asset Management
where he was head of
risk management –
alternative investments.
AVD in the UK
Austrian-based provider of
capital protected and tax
efficient investments, AVD,
has launched in the UK
with a major distribution
initiative in partnership with
a host of intermediaries.
Heading up the operation
will be joint managing
directors, Richard Cook
and Richard Simmonds.
Armstrong IM continues expansion with
two new funds and two new partners
Recently-formed boutique
Armstrong Investment
Management has rolled out
two new multi-asset funds.
Diversified Dynamic
Solutions (DDS), which is
sold to HNWIs, institutions
and pension funds, targets
a return of inflation plus
7% a year over a sevenyear
market cycle.
It has a Dublin Qualified
Investor structure with an
unconstrained asset allocation
strategy and will invest
in traditional and alternative
assets.
Diversified Real Return
(DRR) has a £100,000
minimum investment and
invests in equities, bonds,
commodities, property,
currencies and various
alternative, hedge fund-
Gideon Nell: a new partner at
Armstrong Investment Mgt
type strategies. On launch
at the end of 2009 the fund
held around 15% in fixed
income, 25% long and 5%
short equities, 26% in commodities,
2% in property,
18% in absolute return and
the remainder in cash.
Patrick Armstrong said:
“There are incredible
investment opportunities
in the current market environment,
and with the flexible
unconstrained nature
of DDS, combined with the
strength of our investment
team and tested multi-asset
process, we believe we
can deliver an investment
solution for clients looking
for strong risk adjusted
inflation beating returns.”
Elsewhere, the firm has
recruited Eugen Fostiak and
Gideon Nell as partners,
both having worked with
founders Ana Armstrong
and Patrick Armstrong at
Insight Investment. Nell will
lead the business development
drive on a direct
and indirect basis through
consultants and third-party
capital introductions.
Providers unite to
form Structured
Products Association
Morgan Stanley, Citi and
Credit Suisse are some of
the names behind a new
Structured Products Association
formed to inform
and educate about these
“misunderstood” and “misrepresented”
investments.
The Association will
offer independent commentary
on the role of
structured products, without
promoting individual
firms or products.
It will also publish
research to support the
educational objective of the
association and highlight
the benefits and suitability
of structured products.
The Association is also
creating a committee for
independent plan managers
and distributors to advise
on matters concerning these
specific parts of the structured
products industry.
For more analysis, see
Views Round-up (page 12).
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