CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrMarc Bolland . Marc Bolland to Become Head of European Portfolio Operations at Blackstone
Blackstone, one of the largest asset managers in the world has appointed Marc Bolland as Head of European Portfolio Operations of its private equity businesses. Bolland was formerly Chief Executive of Marks and Spencer and previously Chief Executive of Morrisons and Chief Operating Officer of Heineken. He will start on September, 19th, 2016.
Joseph Baratta, global Head of Private Equity at Blackstone, said: “We are delighted that Marc is joining us. He has had an outstanding career leading and developing major international businesses, and I am sure he will add great value to our current and future portfolio businesses.”
Marc Bolland said: “I am very pleased to be joining a firm of the quality and scale of Blackstone. I look forward to working with its extraordinary team and the businesses owned by Blackstone funds to drive growth and to add value for investors.”
Bolland was named The Times “Businessman of the year” in 2008.
Foto cedida. Investment Placement Group realiza una contratación clave para su expansión en Miami: Rocio Harb se une a la firma
Investment Placement Group (IPG), an Independent Broker Dealer, announced today that Ms. Rocio Harb has been appointed Director and will become Branch Manager in the newly formed Miami office. This follows IPG’s recent opening of their Houston Texas office just six months ago. Ms. Harb will be based in Miami and report directly to Mr. Gilbert Addeo, Chief Operating Officer and Head of Business Development of IPG.
“As we continue to expand our business we recognize the need for talented leaders who can help our firm transform and rise to the next level” said Addeo. “Rocio is well respected in the industry and has a proven track record of building and managing U.S. domestic as well as international private banking teams. We view her appointment as Branch Manager of our newly formed Miami office as a sign of our commitment to servicing global investors as well as attracting highly talented advisors to our firm.”
Harb has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry. She joins IPG from Wunderlich Securities, Inc. most recently serving as a Managing Director and Branch Manager in their Miami office. Prior to this, she worked for Dominick and Dominick as a Branch Manager. Earlier in her career, she held various compliance, operations and client management positions as Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.
“I am very happy to be joining the IPG team” said Harb. “IPG has outlined a very clear vision for their growth and are truly committed to international wealth management and private banking. In addition, they have the technology, lending, trading and custodial platforms that support the needs of advisors with a global client base. I look forward to applying my expertise to this new opportunity with IPG”.
Headquartered in San Diego California, IPG is comprised of a group of affiliated financial service companies specializing in providing various wealth management and private banking services.
BNY Mellon Wealth Management nombra a Esteban Colon II Wealth Director - Foto cedida. BNY Mellon Wealth Management nombra wealth director a Esteban Colon II
BNY Mellon has appointed Esteban Colon II to the new role of wealth director with BNY Mellon Wealth Management’s New York and Northern New Jersey team. He reports to Managing Director Katia Friend and serves domestic and international clients.
Colon joins BNY Mellon Wealth Management from PNC Private Bank, where he was a senior relationship manager in the firm’s Ridgewood, N.J., office. Earlier in his 16-year financial services career, he was employed by Bank of America Merrill Lynch as a global international financial advisor in New York and, before that, as business financer officer and head of financial planning and analysis for Latin America.
Colon earned a B.A. in biology with a minor in finance from Baruch College. Fluent in Spanish and conversational in Portuguese, Colon is active with the Newark, N.J., and New York chapters of After-School All-Stars. He resides in Westwood, N.J.
BNY Mellon Wealth Management is a leading wealth manager, and was named in 2016 by Family Wealth Report as the top U.S. Private Bank. It has $191.2 billion in total private client assets, as of March 31, 2016.
Foto: Marko Mikkonen
. Schroders lanza el primer UCITS long/short de renta variable asiática en la plataforma GAIA
Schroders has announced the launch of Schroder GAIA Indus PacifiChoice in partnership with Indus Capital Partners. The fund will invest in equities and equity-related securities in the Asia Pacific region within a UCITS framework.
The fund will be managed by the investment team at Indus Capital, led by Sheldon Kasowitz, CFA, Managing Partner and co-founder of Indus Capital. The fund will look across the entire Asia Pacific region including Japan, Greater China, India and Australia, combining primarily bottom-up stock picking with a macro reasearch overlay. The fund is based on an existing UCITS fund managed by Indus, which has delivered a positive annualised net return since inception in January 2011.
Established in 2000, Indus Capital is an investment firm specialising in equity strategies investing primarily in the Asia Pacific region including Japan and in emerging markets. The firm manages approximately US$ 5.3bn for foundations and university endowments, corporate and public pensions, high net worth individuals, family offices, sovereign wealth funds, and financial institutions.
The fund manager, Sheldon Kasowitz, has over 25 years of experience in the investment industry and has been involved in long/short equity strategies for more than 20 years.
Sheldon Kasowitz, Managing Partner and co-founder of Indus Capital, said:
“ Global macro concerns have taken their toll on Asian markets recently. While external pressures remain, and China’s structural issues will continue to create volatility, the policy framework within the region is broadly attractive, and valuations are at the low to moderate end of the range. Our deeply fundamental, bottom-up stock picking approach is well suited to exploit the mispricings, both long and short, being presented across Asia.”
Eric Bertrand, Director of Schroder GAIA, said:
“We continue to see very strong demand for liquid alternative investment strategies, as clients seek to diversify their portfolios. We’re delighted to partner with Indus who have an exceptional proven track record in this strategy and investing in Asia Pacific.”
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Laura Lewis
. The Consultant Relations Function Is a Priority in Institutional Marketing and Sales
According to new research from Cerulli Associates, the U.S. asset management industry, for the first time, is making the consultant relations function a priority in the marketing and sales of institutional products and strategies, thus underscoring the continuing gatekeeper role of investment consultants in the institutional distribution process. The majority of asset managers indicate the importance of having a consultant relations function has increased significantly over the past five years.
“Five years ago, less than half of asset managers viewed consultant relations teams as very important, and that number climbed to nearly 80% this year,” states Chris Mason, research analyst. “And that view of consultant relations is expected to solidify over time with 90% expected to take that view within the next three years.”
“Institutional asset managers have increasingly looked to investment consultants as a major source of new business opportunities in recent years,” Mason explains. “In 2015, asset managers reported that 58% of their net flows were consultant-intermediated, and that number is expected to surpass 60% by the end of this year.”
“Consultant relations has evolved from a ‘nice to have’ resource to an absolute necessity,” Mason adds. “As a result, almost all managers have at least some form of a consultant relations function within their organization.”
While a quality consultant relations function is becoming key to asset managers, Cerulli maintains that industry acceptance of the function is just the first step. Field consultants and the manager research staffs that support them are increasingly focusing their efforts on narrowing their manager coverage and requiring more in-depth information and data from those they analyze, according to the report.
The firm´s latest report, U.S. Investment Consultants 2016: Collaborating with Consultants to Improve Investor Outcomes,explores the institutional investment consulting landscape and the evolving consultant business model. Research examines the growing needs across institutional client segments and how asset managers can collaborate with gatekeepers to meet institutions’ changing needs.
Fotos cedidas
. Michael Mazzola y Julie Nemirovsky se unen a la práctica de servicios financieros de EisnerAmper
EisnerAmper has announced that Michael Mazzola and Julie Nemirovsky have joined the firm’s Financial Services practice and will serve clients from its Miami office. Michael Mazzola joins firm partnership, and Julie Nemirovsky has been named Director in Asset Management Group.
Mike Mazzola has more than 20 years of experience providing audit, tax planning and compliance services to a diverse set of alternative investment clients. He has worked closely with domestic and offshore funds, hedge funds, master-feeder structures, broker-dealers, general partnerships, and management companies. He also has experience in domestic and foreign securities, derivatives, and other exotic instruments. Prior to joining EisnerAmper, Mike was a Partner at a New York public accounting firm serving financial service clients.
Julie Nemirovsky has more than 15 years of experience providing audit and tax services to clients in the financial services industry. Her expertise is in serving domestic and offshore funds, master-feeders, funds of funds, investment advisors and general partner entities. Julie also works with domestic and foreign securities, various types of derivatives, foreign currencies, life settlement contracts and private investments. Previously, Julie was a Director at a New York public accounting firm.
In making the announcement, Peter Cogan, co-leader of the Financial Services practice, said that there were a number of market-related factors that made the additions of Mazzola and Nemirovsky particularly timely. “The South Florida region continues to attract high net worth individuals, many from overseas. This, together with an increase in the number and scope of services offered by money managers as well as by real estate-focused private equity funds, makes it clear that the marketplace is an excellent fit for our firm’s core practice groups and for the types of services Mike and Julie offer.”
“The addition of Mike and Julie is part of our strategy of expanding EisnerAmper’s services in high growth markets like South Florida, while building upon the already significant strengths of our national practices including financial services, real estate and personal wealth,” said Charly Weinstein, EisnerAmper Chief Executive Officer.
UBS Financial Services and NextShares Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of Eaton Vance, announced on Wednesday that UBS Financial Services plans to offer NextSharesTM exchange-traded managed funds as part of its solutions set for clients. As a result, UBS will become the first full-service wealth manager to offer NextShares through its financial advisor network. In addition, UBS Asset Management (Americas) plans to enter into an agreement with NextShares Solutions to support the development and launch of UBS-sponsored NextShares funds in 2017. The first NextShares funds began trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market earlier this year.
“At UBS our foremost commitment is to provide our clients with the advice and solutions they need to meet their investment objectives,” said Tom Naratil, President of UBS Americas and WMA. “By leading the introduction of NextShares, we enable UBS’s financial advisors to take advantage of the latest advances in fund design, with lower expenses and more tax efficiency.”
“We are pleased to support UBS in its plans to launch NextShares,” said Thomas E. Faust Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Eaton Vance. “UBS’s commitment to doing what’s best for clients makes them an ideal partner for NextShares Solutions and Eaton Vance. Today’s announcement is a major milestone in the development of NextShares.”
According to a statement, UBS believes NextShares is an innovative way to invest in actively managed strategies, that offers the potential for benchmark-beating returns by applying their manager’s proprietary investment research. Along with UBS Asset Management, NextShares are expected to be offered by a range of well-known asset managers and across fund asset classes.
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Hubert Figuiere. Three Reasons Not to Boot Your Bonds After Brexit
As the dust settles, and the house of Commons schedules a hearing on September 5th, to discuss the possibility of a second Referendum, AB’s Paul DeNoon, Director—Emerging-Market Debt, Scott DiMaggio, Director—Global Fixed Income and Canada Fixed Income, and Gershon Distenfeld, Director—High Yield and Investment-Grade Credit, offer three reasons you shouldn’t “exit” your bond portfolios.
1.- Calm and Orderly Markets. A crisis? The AB specialists believe they are far from it. Political turmoil in the UK aside, most people are keeping their heads. The markets have in fact been remarkably well behaved. And the further from the center of the storm, the less the disruption. US municipal markets, for example, remained completely unruffled as events unfolded, they explain.
The UK and countries most proximate to it came under the most stress. “Riskier assets, including European high yield, were briefly down in price owing to correlations with equities. Interestingly, however, we saw no forced selling when prices dipped.”
What did they see instead? Buyers. As a result, higher-yielding bonds outside of Europe have held up nicely. Even emerging-market debt weathered the situation well; that’s partly because although oil is down 4.5% in response to Brexit, other commodities such as copper are on the rise.
Already, the capital markets appear to have stabilized, they state.
The three od them believe there are critical reasons why in spite of uncertainty and political drama, the impact has been limited, rather than fueling a contagion or meltdown effect, as in 2008. “The global banking system is in far better condition now than then, thanks to increased regulation, and the derivatives market has been cleaned up as well. Together with central bank policy responses, these give investors confidence in the financial system.”
2.- Credit Loves “Lower, Longer.” How long might this go on? The UK must trigger Article 50 to start the clock on exiting the EU. From then, the exit process will take another two years, though that could be extended. Prime Minister Cameron says he will leave triggering Article 50 to the next prime minister.
“To the extent that Brexit creates economic and financial market uncertainty for an extended period, the Federal Reserve and other central banks distant from the epicenter are likely to remain accommodative for longer. And make no mistake: there will be a central bank policy response around the globe—one that we believe will be enough to offset the growth shock in the UK. But that’s not bad news for investors.” the AB directors state.
“Over the longer run, slower growth and interest rates that remain lower for longer may prove helpful to credit markets outside Europe. While recession is bad for credit markets, so too is rapid growth, which leads to rapid tightening. The sweet spot? Slow growth, which keeps central banks in low-rate territory.”
3.- You Kept Some Powder Dry. DeNoon, DiMaggio y Distenfeld recall that during times of market stress, investors who have kept cash on the sidelines can snap up attractively priced securities before they’re bid higher again.
Over the last few days, opportunities sprang up in commercial mortgage-backed securities and the financials sector. In their opinion, investors who either felt too risk averse to take on new positions during that time, or would have had to sell positions at low prices in order to buy new ones, missed out.
“Savvy global core investors—those who invest in global bonds as a strategic offset to risk assets—also came into Brexit currency-hedged, and will stay that way.” During the flight to safety, currencies close to the center of the storm fared poorly, but the US dollar, yen and Swiss franc did well. As a result, even a UK bond position performed well in portfolios that were hedged into US dollars they point out.
“There’s no question that the global bond markets saw exaggerated price movements following the Brexit referendum, particularly in the UK and the rest of Europe. And we’re continuing to closely monitor the situation. But we’ve not observed stress in the short-term funding markets, forced selling by risk-parity strategies or panicked investor outflows. On the contrary, investors hold core bond or high-income portfolios for specific investment reasons—reasons that still hold true today. As long as bond portfolios maintain adequate liquidity in the face of volatile markets, the Brexit experience shows that it pays to keep bonds on board.” They conclude.
French boutique Tikehau Capital has announced the completion of two share capital increases amounting to €510 million along with the introduction of two new institutional investor shareholders to Tikehau’s holding company.
These transactions provide the group with additional resources to pursue its organic and external growth, to develop its global strategy and to accelerate its international expansion. Through a €94 million capital increase, Tikehau Capital Advisors (TCA) welcomes as new shareholders Singaporean investment company Temasek, and French investment company FFP (the listed Peugeot family office), along with long-standing partner French insurance group MACSF.
They are joining existing institutional shareholders Credit Mutuel Arkea and Amundi. These institutional shareholders now each hold over 5% of TCA. Alongside these investors, the rights issue by TCA has €17 million in subscriptions from founders, partners and senior management of Tikehau Capital in order to maintain their current ownership and remain the controlling shareholders of the group.
In parallel to the TCA rights issue, Tikehau Capital Partners successfully completed a €416 million capital increase as the result of an early conversion of the €176 million of convertible bonds issued in 2015, as well as a rights issue raising an additional €240 million in cash.
With the completion of these transactions and the establishment of new relationships, Tikehau Capital will continue to focus on its global strategy, increase its pipeline of investment opportunities and continue its international expansion.
Antoine Flamarion and Mathieu Chabran, co-founders of Tikehau Capital commented: “These two capital increases mark a major milestone in the development of Tikehau Capital, as they provide us with additional capacity to grow regardless of the current market turbulence and to compete with leading players in the asset management field.”
As of 1 July 2016, the group had assets under management of over €8 billion.
According to Mike Amey, MD & Head of Sterling Portfolios at PIMCO, now that we have had some time to digest the UK’s collective decision to leave the European Union, their expectation is that growth in the UK will fall to around 0% or slightly above over the next 12 months, based upon a material slowdown in business investment, some easing in consumer spending and little change in either fiscal policy or the contribution from net trade.
Amey, that recognizes there is a lot of uncertainty to any outlook amid this politically charged atmosphere, expects CPI to rise to 2% by mid-2017, as the impact of weaker sterling is reflected in import prices. But while there are risks around this forecast, not all of those risks are to the downside. “Certainly there is scope for a more material fall in business investment or consumer spending than we are expecting, but there is also scope for some form of fiscal stimulus.”
“Business investment had already shown some weakness ahead of the EU referendum on 23 June, and we would expect a further slowing to a -5% to -10% annual rate over the next 12 months, in line with some of the weaker periods in the decade prior to the financial crisis. At around 10% of GDP, this will take around 0.5% to 1% off growth. Arguably harder to gauge will be the hit to consumer spending, and given that it generates around two-thirds of GDP, this will be an important determinant of the magnitude of the slowdown. Our expectation is that household consumption will slow by around 1%, which would be materially weaker than the pre-crisis period; however, we would be the first to acknowledge the risks around this forecast.”
UK inflation potential Meanwhile, thinking about the path of inflation, the PIMCO strategist believes that the 11% fall in the trade-weighted sterling index should add around 0.75% to core inflation in the next 12 months. Core inflation is currently 1.2%. The headline CPI rate will converge to the core rate as the effect of the drop in energy prices falls out of the annual number, and this should mean that headline CPI rises from its current rate of 0.3% to the 2% target by mid-2017. “Again, there is substantial uncertainty about how much of the fall in sterling gets passed into the CPI, but we have used prior relationships which indicate that a 10% fall in sterling typically adds 0.5% to 0.75% to headline CPI in 12 months’ time. Crucially, this will only take CPI back to the target rate, and as such will not prove an impediment to monetary stimulus in the months ahead.”
Given the weak growth profile, we expect the Bank of England to cut official rates toward (but not below) zero, and thereafter consider quantitative easing if further stimulus is deemed necessary. This should support gilts and keep sterling on the back foot.
