ANALYSIS ROUND-UP
web: news analysis
Pictet long/short
Lux offering
Pictet Funds is launching
a Luxembourg-domiciled
long/short European equity
fund for managers Nils
Francke, Philippe Sarreau
and David Dufour. The
Ucits III-compliant fund,
PTF-Corto Europe, will
aim to provide longterm
capital appreciation
combined with a degree
of downside protection.
Euro fund sales
hit 2007 highs
European fund sales
topped €28bn (£25bn) in
February, according to the
latest data from Lipper.
Despite a 19% drop on
January’s sales, the inflows
bring the cumulative sales
for this year up to €64bn
– the highest it has been
since 2007. The popularity
of money market funds is
beginning to wane, with
the sector experiencing
outflows of nearly €2bn.
Bond funds once again
attracted the greatest
interest taking a total of
€11.8bn in February alone.
Neptune nears
£6bn AUM
Neptune’s Global Equity
Fund is the company’s
latest offering to reach
£1bn under management
as the fund house’s assets
under management push
towards the £6bn mark.
The company overall
passed the £5bn level
at the end of last year,
doubling its assets from
March 2009 onwards.
Launched in December
2001 and managed by
Neptune’s founder and
managing director, Robin
Geffen, the Global Equity
Fund stands just short of
£100,000 over the £1bn
mark. This is a similar
level to the European
Opportunities Fund, run by
Rob Burnett, and Geffen’s
Income fund.
Morningstar purchase of OBSR raises integration question
Morningstar has bought Old Broad Street Research (OBSR)
for £12m, bringing together two of the most influential fund
analysis organisations servicing the UK fund management
industry. OBSR will be run as a subsidiary of Morningstar –
the 30 OBSR staff will continue to offer its fund rating and
consultancy services, with the benefit of access to
Morningstar’s 290 researchers and analysts worldwide.
PA analysis
There is a question over
how the two firms will be
integrated. Morningstar
already has a qualitative
ratings team, headed by
Chris Traulsen, so there is
an overlap between his
team and Richard Romer-
Lee’s OBSR analysts.
The solution to the
overlap is this: by June
2010, the two firms will
iron out any disagreements
in ratings.
Funds rated AAA by
OBSR will equate to
Morningstar ‘Elite’ ratings;
funds rated OBSR A and
AA will be rated ‘Superior’
by the Morningstar team.
Unlike Morningstar, OBSR
does not give neutral or
negative ratings.
By the end of the year,
Product launches
GAM Star Keynes
targets absolute return
GAM has unveiled the
Star Keynes Quantitative
Strategies fund, a global
systematic quant fund that
will use directional fixed
income and equity models
to produce returns that
are expected to be lowly
correlated to traditional
markets. The Dublindomiciled
Ucits III fund
has a net absolute return
objective of 12% to 15%
pa. It will be managed
by Sushil Wadhwani,
founder and CEO of
London-based Wadhwani
Asset Management.
www.gam.com
R&M unveils new
global income fund
River & Mercantile has
launched its Global High
Income Fund. Managed
by Alex O’Reilly and Alex
Stanic, the fund will target
a 50% yield premium on
the FTSE All World Index.
Run as a model portfolio,
the yield is currently 4.3%.
At launch, the fund will
have the majority of
its allocation in the US
(23.8%), Brazil (13.7%)
and Japan (11.2%). UK
exposure is 6.5%.
www.riverandmercantile.
com
Threadneedle launches
emerging market bond
Threadneedle has
launched a new emerging
market corporate
bond strategy via its
Luxembourg-domiciled
Emerging Market
Corporate Bonds Fund
Sicav. It will aim for a
total return from income
and capital preservation
investing principally in
debt issued by emerging
market companies and
companies conducting
a significant part of their
business in emerging
markets. The fund will
be a joint venture
between the company’s
emerging market,
investment grade and
high yield credit teams,
as well as other fixed
income specialists.
www.threadneedle.co.uk
there are plans to convert
the ratings will into one
unified system, with Romer-
Lee heading up the UK
fund universe and Traulsen
heading up those of Europe
and Asia. However, Romer-
Lee is keen to stress that
this is not set in stone –
they will be led by the
needs of the users of the
two systems.
There is no plan to
make any redundancies –
this is an attempt to expand
not only the fund ratings
capability but more generally
the investment consul-
HSBC Global EM Alpha
aims for 15% return
HSBC Global Asset
Management has launched
a Ucits III absolute
return global emerging
markets fund. The GIF
GEM Equity Alpha will
seek annual returns of
10% to 15% based on
about 10% volatility with
limited market correlation.
It is jointly managed by
Omar Negyal and Nick
Timberlake, who between
them have three decades
of investment experience
in global emerging
market equities.
www.assetmanagement.
hsbc.com/uk
Reed and Michael to
run Aberdeen offerings
Aberdeen Asset Mgt
is to launch two new
fixed income funds, with
Paul Reed running a
pan-European fund and
Anthony Michael taking on
the Asian Bond Fund.
Reed, head of Aberdeen’s
five-strong European high
yield team and manager
www.portfolio-adviser.com
of the Aberdeen Global
European High Yield
Bond fund, will run a
high yield bond fund
that invests in euro and
sterling-denominated high
yield bonds. The Asian
Bond Fund will be run
by Michael, head of Asian
fixed income, and his
team in Singapore.
www.aberdeen-asset.com
Ashmore adds eight
sub-funds to Sicav
Ashmore has announced
the launch of eight new
daily-trading Sicav subfunds
as part of its strategy
to develop its fund range,
and broaden its investor
base via wholesale
distributors. The launch
increases the range of
Sicav sub-funds to 12.
The new products are
Sovereign Debt; Sovereign
Investment Grade Debt;
Local Currency Bond;
Local Currency Money
Market; Equity; Corporate
Debt; Investment Grade
Corporate Debt; and Multi
Strategy Fund.
www.ashmoregroup.com
8 PORTFOLIO ADVISER [www.portfolio-adviser.com] MAY 2010
8
tancy aspects to the newlyexpanded
business, not
only for open-ended funds,
but also to include closedended
funds, ETFs and
alternative funds.
OBSR will be renamed
‘OBSR: A Morningstar company’,
although it is not yet
clear if that branding will
remain for the long term.
The current equity owners
of OBSR (mostly the senior
management) will now
have equity exposure to
Morningstar Inc, the global
mother company.
Dylan Emery
For daily analysis visit
www.portfolio-adviser.com
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