Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group has raised $2.5 billion for its first international energy fund, the largest first-time fund in the firm’s history. Carlyle International Energy Partners (CIEP) began raising capital in mid-2013 and has attracted 160 investors. Carlyle now has over $10 billion of capital ready to deploy across its global energy platform.
Carlyle Chairman Daniel A. D’Aniello said, “This has been a remarkable fund raise, the largest first-time fund in our 28-year history. We are grateful for the support of our investors who share our excitement at the current investment opportunities across the international oil and gas sector. The vision and experience of Marcel van Poecke, who leads our international energy team, made this possible. Marcel, alongside Ken Hersh, David Albert, Rahul Culas, Bob Mancini and Matt O’Connor, who led our other energy strategies, form what we believe is the most talented and experienced energy investing platform in the world.”
Mr. van Poecke said, “This fundraising effort reflects the market’s confidence in Carlyle and our ability to create value in the international energy sector. This is one of the best energy investing environments I’ve seen in more than 30 years in the industry. Carlyle’s broad energy platform plus a significant amount of dry powder enables us to leverage current opportunities and market volatility across the global energy markets.”
CIEP seeks investment opportunities in oil and gas outside North America, notably in Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia. The primary investment focus is on oil and gas exploration and production (E&P), mid- & downstream, refining and marketing (R&M) and oil field services (OFS).
CIEP’s current investments include: Varo Energy, a Swiss-based refining, storage and distribution business operating in Germany and Switzerland; Discover Exploration, an oil and gas exploration company based in the UK that focuses on Africa, Latin America and Asia; and HES International, a European liquids, dry-bulk storage and handling business located in The Netherlands.
The final close of CIEP further expands Carlyle’s global energy offering and brings more than $10 billion of capital to invest across the sector through CIEP (led by Marcel van Poecke), NGP Energy Capital Management (led by Ken Hersh), Carlyle Power Partners (co-headed by Robert Mancini & Matt O’Connor) and Carlyle Energy Mezzanine Opportunities Fund (co-headed by David Albert and Rahul Culas).
The CIEP team consists of 14 investment professionals, all with extensive international oil and gas industry investment and operational expertise. In addition to Marcel van Poecke, it includes Managing Directors Bob Maguire and Joost Dröge, both industry veterans with 55 years’ combined successful energy investing experience, as well as Paddy Spink, Senior Advisor to CIEP, with 35 years’ upstream experience in Africa, Latin America & Europe. The advisory team for CIEP has offices in London and they will continue to benefit from the support of the firm’s global network of 40 offices.
Photo: Droid Gingerbread. Man Group Expands Quant Range with Launch of Man Numeric UCITS Funds
Man Group has expanded its range of quantitative investment vehicles with the launch of two UCITS-compliant equity funds managed by Man Numeric, the Boston-based quantitative manager acquired by Man Group in September 2014.
Domiciled in Dublin, the Man Numeric Market Neutral Alternative fund and the Man Numeric Emerging Markets Equity fund are the first UCITS vehicles to be offered to the European market by the US fund manager, which has $16.7bn of assets under management (as of 31 December 2014).
The Man Numeric Market Neutral Alternative fund offers investors exposure to one of Man Numeric’s core strategies, the Numeric Alternative Market Neutral Strategy , which launched in 2001. The highly liquid strategy aims to provide consistent, low volatility performance uncorrelated to market indices and other quantitative vehicles.
Overseen by Man Numeric’s co-heads of hedge fund strategies Greg Bond and Daniel Taylor, the strategy uses a variety of models to deliver returns, broadly combining its value driven bottom-up stock selection process with a fundamental statistical arbitrage model. Using long and short strategies to express their views, the investment team seeks unique sources of alpha from a universe of more than 9,000 stocks globally, with holding periods ranging from around four weeks to a year.
Portfolio risk is carefully monitored and spread across the range of different investment strategies, with the strategy having delivered consistent performance over the long term with low volatility.
The Man Numeric Emerging Markets Equity fund is based on the Numeric Emerging Markets Core Strategy, which launched in June 2013. Aiming to outperform the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, the strategy is managed with a focus on quantitative, bottom-up stock selection via a systematic and disciplined process.
Attractive stocks are identified using two primary selection criteria – valuation and information flow – with a range of models within these groups identifying pockets of market inefficiency. Portfolio construction and risk management attempt to maximise alpha while minimising exposure to economic risk.
Portfolio managers Ori Ben-Akiva, Greg Bunimovich and Mickael Nouvellon provide oversight by evaluating all trades for data accuracy, as well as news flow and special circumstances.
The Man Numeric Emerging Markets Equity fund has been passported across Europe, while the Man Numeric Market Neutral Alternative fund is currently pending approval in nine countries including Switzerland, Austria and Germany.
Michael Even, President and CEO of Man Numeric said: “We are delighted to launch these UCITS-compliant funds, offering investors in the European market access to two of our core alpha-generating strategies for the first time. These launches have been made possible by becoming part of Man Group, enabling us to leverage the firm’s resources and expertise to reach an investor base we would not otherwise have been able to.”
Man Group acquired Numeric in September 2014, and together with Man AHL this created a diversified, global quantitative investment platform which offers clients a broad product range across alternative and long-only, trend following, technical and fundamental strategies.
Foto: Laurent Ducoin, new head of European equities at Amundi. Amundi Hires Laurent Ducoin as Head of European Equities
French asset management group Amundi has appointed Laurent Ducoin as head of European equities.
Formerly, Ducoin was head of European Equity team and fund manager at Carmignac from 2011 where he was responsible for rebuilding the investment process of the team.
Prior to that, he worked at BlackRock in London from 2004, where he became fund manager and participated to the management of several pan-European and Swiss only-products.
Ducoin began his career in 2000 at Oddo Pinatton Equities where he worked as a sell side financial analyst before holding the same position from 2002 to 2004 at CM-CIC Securities.
Amundi manages over €850bn of assets worldwide as at 31 December 2014 and is located in more than 30 countries.
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrFoto: Camelia at Wu, Flickr, Creative Commons. La UE y Suiza cierran un acuerdo de transparencia fiscal a partir de 2018
The European Commission has concluded negotiations on an ambitious new tax transparency agreement with Switzerland, marking a major step forward in the fight against tax evasion. Under this new agreement, Member States and Switzerland will automatically exchange information on the full range of financial account information from 2018.
This means that EU residents will no longer be able to hide undeclared income in Swiss accounts to evade paying tax.
Pierre Moscovici, Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, said: “We are taking a decisive step towards total tax transparency between Switzerland and the EU. I am confident that our other neighbours will soon follow suit. This transparency is vital to ensure that each country can collect the tax revenues it is due.”
Member States will receive, on an annual basis, the names, addresses, tax identification numbers and dates of birth of their residents with accounts in Switzerland, as well as a broad set of other financial and account balance information. This is fully in line with the new OECD/G20 global standard for the automatic exchange of information.
The new EU-Swiss agreement was initialled by Commission and Swiss negotiators. It will be signed following authorisation by the Council on one side and the Swiss Government on the other, both of which are expected to be before the summer.
Foto: Maus. La generación del milenio quiere conservar a los asesores familiares, según FOX
New research from Family Office Exchange (FOX), a global membership organization of private family enterprises and their key advisors, shows that Millennial wealth owners value and aim to retain their family’s advisors—if the advisors can adapt to meet Millennials’ expectations.
The FOX Family Client of the Future research, highlighted in new white paper “Engaging the Client of the Future,” finds that Millennial family clients are eager to work with experienced advisors who already know their family, and who can help them address their needs—just so long as the advisors are ready, willing and able to adjust to their Millennial clients’ expectations on engagement and value delivery.
“While Millennials’ needs are similar to those of their parents and grandparents, their expectations for how wealth advisors should meet those needs are notably different than those of earlier generations,” says Amy Hart Clyne, executive director of the knowledge center at FOX.
Foto: Simon MacKinnon, asesor de estrategia para Asia en Old Mutual Global Investors. Old Mutual Global Investors contrata a Simon MacKinnon como consultor estratégico para Asia
Old Mutual Global Investors has announced that Simon MacKinnon has been appointed to the newly created consultancy role of Asia Strategy Adviser, with effect from February 2015.
Reporting to Julian Ide, CEO at Old Mutual Global Investors, MacKinnon will provide strategic advice and support to Old Mutual Global Investors and Old Mutual International, part of Old Mutual Wealth, in respect of their ambitious Asia Pacific expansion plans.
This role will include working closely with Ide and Carol Wong, managing director, head of Distribution Asia, on the operating model needed in the region as well as identifying and supporting the recruitment of future key appointments. He will also assist Old Mutual International in the development of their footprint in the Asia Pacific region.
Old Mutual Global Investors is actively expanding into selected key international markets in order to support its global client base. Over the last two years, the business has significantly enhanced its capabilities in the Asia Pacific region. The appointment of Simon follows the creation of a new Asian Equities Team in October 2014 which will be based in Hong Kong during Q2 2015.
This team is headed by Josh Crabb, and also includes specialist China Equities portfolio manager Diamond Lee, who joined the business in November 2014. In addition, Old Mutual Global Investors recently completed the build-out of the Hong Kong based Asian Distribution Team, under the leadership of Carol, and has a strong relationship with Capital Gateway, a Master Agent in Taiwan.
MacKinnon has experience across a variety of businesses in Asia and the UK including leadership and investor roles today in financial services, healthcare, clean-tech and education. Among other roles, he is currently Chairman of Sinophi Healthcare, Non-Executive Director of London Bridge Capital and Non-Executive Chairman China of Modern Water PLC and Xeros PLC.
Morningstar reported this week estimated U.S. mutual fund and exchange-traded fund (ETF) asset flows for February 2015. Positive economic indicators and a six percent gain for the S&P 500 during the month renewed investor confidence in stocks, but once again, it was passively managed international- and U.S.-equity funds that reaped the rewards.
Morningstar estimates net flow for mutual funds by computing the change in assets not explained by the performance of the fund and net flow for ETFs by computing the change in shares outstanding.
Additional highlights from Morningstar’s report about U.S. asset flows in February:
Taxable-bond funds collected approximately $28.5 billion in February, their largest monthly inflows since January 2013. The fixed-income category with the greatest inflows was high-yield bond, which tends to do well in a rising interest-rate environment. Utilities funds had the largest February outflows.
Vanguard continued to dominate inflows among passive providers and took the lead among active providers in February. Also on the active side, J.P. Morgan remained the top provider in terms of one-year inflows.
Another month of redemptions brought PIMCO’s total losses to $174.9 billion since January 2014, a decrease in assets of 33 percent. In the six months since PIMCO co-founder Bill Gross’ departure, PIMCO Total Return, which has a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Bronze, has shed $99.4 billion.
Outflows from PIMCO continued to benefit other intermediate-term bond funds. TCW and Dodge & Cox have enjoyed consistent inflows to Metropolitan West Total Return Bond and Dodge & Cox Income, respectively, which both have Gold Analyst Ratings.
Photo: BTC Keychain. Bitcoin Users To Approach Five Million by 2019
A new report from Juniper Research has found that the number of active Bitcoin users worldwide will reach 4.7 million by the end of 2019, up from just over 1.3 million last year.
However, the report, ‘The Future of Cryptocurrency: Bitcoin & Altcoin Impact & Opportunities 2015-2019’ argues that usage will be continue to be dominated by exchange trading, with retail adoption largely restricted to relatively niche demographics.
Retail Activity “Extremely Low”
According to the report, while a number of high profile retailers are enabling Bitcoin payment, activity levels from both online and offline deployments are extremely low. As report author Dr Windsor Holden observed, “While average daily transaction volumes have increased by around 50% since March 2014, the indications are that much of this growth results from higher transaction levels by established users rather from any substantial uplift in consumer adoption.”
The report cited a number of factors which it claimed would continue to inhibit growth, most notably the difficulty in communicating the concept of cryptocurrency payments to end users. It also argued that Bitcoin’s historical association with – and continued use by – criminals for illegal purchases and money laundering was likely to act as a further deterrent to mass adoption.
Supply Side Challenge
Meanwhile, the report observed that with many Bitcoins being hoarded by early speculators, currency supply could be further restricted with Bitcoin mining profitability threatened by a combination of the cryptocurrency’s volatility, lower Bitcoin yields and rising electricity costs.
Other findings from the report include:
The introduction of licensed, regulated exchanges could lead to a stabilisation in currency values and with it an increase in retail transaction adoption
The protocols behind cryptocurrency could be deployed in areas such as real-time transactional settlement
The altcoin market continues to be plagued by “pump and dump” currencies created solely as short-term investment vehicles
Deutsche Bank’s Global Social Finance Group announced the closing of the Essential Capital Consortium (ECC), a five-year USD 50 million social enterprise fund, which is part of its family of social impact funds first launched in 2005.
With a list of investors including Church Pension Fund, MetLife, Agence Française de Développement, Deutsche Bank, Calvert Foundation, Prudential Financial, the Multilateral Investment Fund, member of the Inter-American Development Bank Group, Left Hand Foundation, IBM International Foundation, Tikehau Capital, Salvepar, Cisco Foundation and the Posner-Wallace Foundation, the ECC will provide debt financing to social enterprises in the energy, health and Base of the Pyramid financial services sectors. The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency is also providing ECC with crucial credit enhancement support.
The ECC, which will finance 25 social enterprises including microfinance institutions expanding their offerings of financial products, has made its first round of loans to three organizations: Sproxil, a developer of a patented text message-based drug authentication system; Tiaxa, a provider of “nanocredits” to poor consumers in developing countries via mobile phones using big data analytics; and Arvand, a Tajikistan-based MFI providing innovative “green loans” to finance solar panels, clean cookstoves and other energy efficient products.
“The Essential Capital Consortium is a pioneering fund that aims to finance the growth of social enterprises as vehicles to achieve measureable benefits in improving the lives of the poor, bringing together well-respected and similarly motivated investors to fill an existing capital gap,” said Gary Hattem, Head of the Global Social Finance Group at Deutsche Bank. “As part of Deutsche Bank’s ongoing commitment to microfinance and the impact industry, the ECC provides responsive debt capital to support the next generation of social entrepreneurs globally who are redefining a market approach to addressing fundamental humanitarian challenges.”
Deutsche Bank was the first global bank to establish a socially motivated microfinance fund in 1997, managed by its Global Social Finance Group. Since then, the Bank has partnered with more than 130 MFIs in more than 50 countries, benefiting as many as 3.8 million low-income entrepreneurs through USD 1.67 billion in financing.
Global investors have significantly pared back U.S. equity allocations as belief grows that the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise rates in the second quarter, according to the BofA Merrill Lynch Fund Manager Survey for March.
A net 19% of global asset allocators are now underweight U.S. equities – the biggest underweight since January 2008 and a big swing from a net 6% overweight in February. The proportion of investors saying U.S. equities are overvalued has reached its highest since May 2000 at a net 23%.
Allocations to eurozone and Japanese equities have both increased, but investors have indicated that the shift to Europe has only just begun. A net 63% of respondents say that Europe is the region they would most like to overweight in the coming 12 months – a record since the question was first asked in 2001. The reading has spiked from a net 18% preferring Europe in January.
The move out of U.S. equities is also set to continue. A net 35% says that the U.S. is the region they would like to underweight the most, the most bearish reading in nearly 10 years. The spread between Europe and the U.S. has soared to 98 net percentage points – also a record.
The March survey indicates that investors have started to bring forward the date of the Fed’s first rate hike, rather than continue to push it back. The proportion of investors expecting the Fed to raise rates in the second quarter has risen to 34%, from 28%. The number expecting a rate rise in the third quarter has fallen. Accordingly, a net 2% of the panel has taken the view that the U.S. dollar is overvalued – the first overvalued reading since 2009.
“Investor consensus suggests that the strong dollar will act as positive rather than a negative for the global economy and markets,” said Michael Hartnett, chief investment strategist at BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research. “Bullishness towards European stocks has reached uncharted territory. Demand for financials highlights confidence in domestic growth, while belief in European exporters is building on gains seen last month,” said Manish Kabra, European equity and quantitative strategist.
Inflation and rate expectations up sharply
Investors’ expectations of higher inflation and higher interest rates have risen sharply, according to the Global Fund Manger Survey. A net 52% of the panel expects high global consumer price inflation this month, up from a net 29% in February and a net 14% in January. Furthermore, increasing numbers take the view that global monetary policy could tighten. A net 34% say that policy is currently too stimulative, up from a net 26% a month ago.
More investors are forecasting increases in both long- and short-term interest rates. A net 66% of respondents believe short-term (three-month) rates will be higher in 12 months’ time, up from a net 53% in February. A net 63% expect long-term (10-year) rates in 12 months, up from a net 57%.
European bulls rush into banks
Investors inside Europe have echoed their global colleagues’ bullishness towards the region and made big allocations towards financial services. The proportion of European investors overweight banks has surged to a net 22% from a net 26% underweight last month. The proportion of investors overweight insurance has risen to a net 31% from a net 3% underweight in February
Belief in a rebound in profits is strong. A net 38% of respondents to the regional survey say that they expect double-digit earnings growth in Europe in the next 12 months, up from just a net 3% in February and negative net 43% in January. A net 88% of the regional panel says that Europe’s economy will be stronger in a year’s time, up from 81%.
Investors mindful of China default threat
With questions hanging over China’s debt levels, concern of default has moved to the forefront of more investors’ minds. China debt defaults is now seen the second-largest tail risk in world markets – 19% of investors rank it as their greatest risk, compared with 14% a month ago. “Geopolitical crisis” remains the most voted for tail risk.
Furthermore, the proportion of asset allocators underweight global emerging markets has risen to a net 11% from a net 1% in the past month. A net 57% of the global panel say that global emerging markets is the regional asset class they most want to underweight in the coming 12 months – down from a net 63% but remaining close to historic survey highs.
