Bricapital Invests in Colombia’s first Hyatt Regency Hotel, in Cartagena

  |   For  |  0 Comentarios

Bricapital Invests in Colombia’s first Hyatt Regency Hotel, in Cartagena
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrFoto: Igvir Ramirez. Bricapital invierte en el primer hotel Hyatt Regency de Colombia, en Cartagena

Bricapital has acquired interest in the first Hyatt Regency branded hotel in Colombia, in the coastal city of Cartagena. Bricapital is a subsidiary of Brilla Capital, the Miami-based real estate private equity firm with operations throughout the region. This transaction is part of a strategic partnership between the firm and Ospinas & Cia., a leading regional developer with more than 80 years of history in Colombia. 

“This transaction represents a milestone for the growth of the hospitality sector in the country, and a solid anchor for our local Bricapital Private Equity Fund,” said David Brillembourg, President & CEO of Brilla Capital. “The Fund will continue to invest in hospitality assets in Colombia as part of our plans for regional growth in Latin America.”

The hotel, which will be managed by Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, will be part of a new mixed-use development project in Cartagena’s seaside Bocagrande district, one of the most high-end retail areas of the city and close to the Convention Center. The Hyatt Regency Cartagena will offer 261 rooms, including 28 suites, four floors for the Regency Club Lounge and 74 Hyatt Regency branded residential condominiums. It will feature two upscale restaurants, a cocktail lounge and bar, a 600 square meter ballroom, spa and fitness center, multi-level swimming pool, and a modern business center. In addition, the development also includes the Plaza Bocagrande shopping mall; a five-level structure with 13,000 square meters of high-end retail space, anchored by five VIP movie theaters as well as many national and international brands among its 91 stores.

“Having Bricapital join us as strategic partner for the first Hyatt Regency Hotel in Colombia confirms the will and fundamental purpose of Ospinas & Cia., which is to build long term relationships with investors, landowners and clients through iconic and profitable projects like the Plaza Bocagrande complex, which will include a hotel, residences and commercial areas, and will position us as leaders in the development of mixed-use projects in Colombia, always meeting the highest international standards,” said Andrés Arango, President of Ospinas & Cia. 

The Hyatt Regency Cartagena, expected to open in the second half of 2015, will be the first Hyatt Regency-branded hotel in Colombia and will seek to attract business and leisure travelers, as well as featuring retail, cultural and entertainment venues for both tourists and locals alike to complement Cartagena’s vibrant and historical scene.

“We are delighted that Bricapital, SAS has decided to invest in the Hyatt Regency Cartagena and we are hopeful to work with them on other hotel projects in Colombia and throughout the region,” said Pat McCudden, Senior Vice President Real Estate And Development – Latin America and Caribbean for Hyatt. “Colombia is an important market for Hyatt and we continue to work aggressively to expand our presence here.  We look forward to providing both leisure and business travelers a great new hotel option when Hyatt Regency Cartagena opens.” 

Specialist Fund Launches Add to Investec Asset Management Range

  |   For  |  0 Comentarios

Specialist Fund Launches Add to Investec Asset Management Range
Foto: Kai Schreiber. Investec Asset Management lanza tres nuevas estrategias UCITS

Investec Asset Management announced the launch of a series of new strategies as part of the expanding range of options within its specialist fund suite to further support Investec Asset Management’s global footprint in both the institutional and advisor channel.

The Luxembourg-domiciled funds will add to the growing Global Strategy Fund range, Investec Asset Management’s internationally distributed fund range, registered in Luxembourg and 22 further countries. They will be aimed at international investors, discretionary buyers, fund of funds and institutional buyers on a global basis and will be distributed via selected networks. The three strategies are:

Investec GSF Emerging Market Debt Total Return Strategy

The Investec GSF Emerging Market Debt Total Return Strategy is a total-return, benchmark-agnostic strategy which further extends Investec Asset Management’s range of EM fixed income strategies. The strategy is managed by Antoon de Klerk and Andre Roux, backed by Investec Asset Management’s experienced team of investment specialists led by co-heads Peter Eerdmans and Werner Gey van Pittius. The strategy aims to provide benchmark-unconstrained exposure to a wide opportunity set within emerging market fixed income. It will focus on opportunities in local EMD, but also make allocations to hard and corporate EMD at times. The strategy aims to offer a lower volatility than the typical universe, taking an investment approach, which combines strong fundamental bottom-up analysis with top-down positioning.

Investec GSF Asia Local Currency Bond Strategy

Managed by Wilfred Wee and Peter Eerdmans, the Investec GSF AsiaLocal Currency Bond Strategy invests in a regionally diversified portfolio of Asia local currency sovereign and corporate bonds. Asia is home to the world’s largest developing bond markets, underpinned by robust regional economic growth and strong credit quality. This Strategy aims to capture a significant yield premium over developed market bonds with a typically shorter interest rate duration risk, and uses an investment process specifically designed for local currency emerging market debt.

Investec GSF Global Diversified Growth Fund

According to the asset manager, whilst investors need real returns in order to grow their wealth over the long term, current markets are making this search increasingly difficult given interest rates at historic lows, elevated inflation and short-term volatility in markets. The Investec GSF Global Diversified Growth Strategy aims to provide investors with attractive real returns, seeking to achieve US CPI +5% per annum over a long-term horizon with half the volatility of equities over a rolling five-year period. The Strategy launches following demand for a US-dollar centric version of the existing UK domiciled Investec Diversified Growth strategy and will also be managed by Philip Saunders and Michael Spinks, co-Heads of Investec Asset Management’s Multi-Asset team, backed by Investec’s expert in-house investment capabilities. The Strategy makes dynamic allocations across a globally diverse range of asset classes grouped together into three baskets: Growth, Defensive and Uncorrelated.

KKR Announces the Close of REPA, its First Real Estate Fund

  |   For  |  0 Comentarios

KKR cierra REPA, su primer fondo de bienes raíces
Photo: MagnusL3D. KKR Announces the Close of REPA, its First Real Estate Fund

KKR announced last week the completion of fundraising for KKR Real Estate Partners Americas LP (REPA), a $1.2 billion real estate fund that invests in North America and western Europe. Together with commitments from KKR personnel and KKR Financial Holdings, KKR’s real estate platform has over $1.5 billion of committed capital for its strategy.

Ralph Rosenberg, Global Head of Real Estate, said: “We believe the current market opportunity has the potential to create strong value-driven investment opportunities where we at KKR can leverage our sourcing channels, insights through our industry groups and portfolio companies and operating capabilities to create differentiated investment opportunities for our limited partners.”

KKR began soliciting third party capital for REPA, its first dedicated real estate fund, in the second quarter of 2013.

Commenting on the Fund, Suzanne Donohoe, Head of KKR’s Client and Partner Group, stated: “We believe the strong support from the market for the fundraise was due to the compelling nature of the opportunity and the power of the team. We are very excited that we were able to attract new and existing KKR investors from leading public and private pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies and family offices.”

Formed in 2011 and led by Ralph Rosenberg, KKR’s Global Real Estate team has 15 people in New York, London and Hong Kong. Starting with the first investment in April of 2012, KKR has been actively investing and had warehoused a sizable portfolio of transactions on its balance sheet prior to forming REPA. Since launching the dedicated real estate platform in 2011, KKR has committed over $850 million of equity to 14 real estate transactionsin the U.S. and Europe.

The Fund will continue to target real estate opportunities—including property-level equity, debt, special situations transactions and businesses with significant real estate holdings—that can benefit from KKR’s deep, longstanding global relationships, access to information, financial structuring and capital markets capabilities and real estate operational expertise.

Equities in 2014: The Lights are Still Green

  |   For  |  0 Comentarios

Equity markets have been enjoying a strong year so far. Performance was primarily driven by valuations as investors were anticipating a rebound in earnings. In 2014, earnings will have to deliver and take over as key market driver. INg IM expects this to happen and foresee returns in line with earnings growth.

The biggest risk resides in emerging markets (EM). Since the taper-talk some adverse dynamics have started to develop in EM.

Earnings growth estimates and index targets

Strong year for equities

Barring a nasty unexpected event, 2013 will be a banner year for developed market equities. Year-to-date developed market equities rose by almost 20%. Despite many event risks (Cyprus, Syria, debt ceiling, US government shutdown, political scandals, German elections…) we had only one meaningful correction this year, caused by the ‘taper-talk’ of Fed Chairman Bernanke in May. However, the reversal was swift and all other hurdles represented merely wrinkles in market performance. In fact, the hurdles represented an excellent buying opportunity.

An interesting observation is that the performance was primarily driven by higher valuations. Global earnings rose a mere 2.5%. This pattern is not strange in turning points of the business cycle as investors anticipate a rebound in earnings even when trailing earnings still decline.

As the equity cycle progresses, earnings will have to deliver and eventually take over as the main driver of market performance. We have good hopes this will happen in 2014.

You can read the full report on the attached document.

Multi-asset views: Five Income Investment Themes for 2014

  |   For  |  0 Comentarios

Perspectivas Multi-Activos: cinco temas de inversión en renta para 2014
Foto: Dori. Multi-asset views: Five Income Investment Themes for 2014

John Stopford, portfolio manager of the Investec Diversified Income Fund and across the Investec Managed Solutions Range, gives five themes on investing for income in 2014.

·       The consensus looks wrong on the pricing of US growth and Federal Reserve policy

To us, the consensus looks most wrong on the pricing of US growth and Federal Reserve policy. The FOMC are certainly dovish, but they are also data dependent. Markets do not currently appear to believe in the scope for a significant acceleration in US growth. Economists have forecast this before, but growth has disappointed, and so they are once bitten, twice shy. We think this ignores the impact of fiscal policy which has been substantial. In some ways growth in 2013 of between 1.5-2% is quite impressive given the severe impact of sequestration on government spending.

In 2014 the swing away from fiscal tightening will be bigger than the tightening seen in 2013. This alongside improving capital expenditure and consumer spending helped by lower gasoline prices should allow the US economy to grow much more strongly than for a number of years. This should cause markets to rethink the speed of policy normalisation pursued by the Fed. It will still be very gradual, but perhaps not quite as gradual as suggested by forward market pricing. The dollar, which has been held back by QE, should receive a strong shot in the arm as a result.

We also expect JGB yields to rise sharply at some point, with yields increasingly out of line with rising inflation expectations and aggressive reflation by the BoJ. Clearly, the BoJ buying is suppressing yields, but ultimately fair value is much higher.

·       Developed market government bond yields are still too low

Yields on 10 year government bonds in the US and the UK rose to almost 3% and in Germany rose to nearly 2% but have since backed off. Real yields are close to zero, assuming that inflation remains low. This remains unattractive; as economic growth picks up, we expect real yields to rise at the longer end of the yield curve, even if inflation remains subdued. The time to return to a full weighting in government bonds will be when central banks are tightening monetary policy, which is unlikely anywhere before the end of 2014. Bond yields in Japan remain well below 1%, suggesting that domestic investors do not expect the government’s strategyof raising inflation to a sustained 2% to succeed.

With the yen likely to remain weak, we are avoiding this market also. For investors, we would look at this as a time to avoid strategic positions in government bonds in developed markets, but consider buying into weakness.

·       Steady commodity prices and rising employment could lead to some inflation disappointment

Consensus opinion about commodity prices has been a lot more volatile than actual prices. With demand for energy and metals growing steadily but supply also, we expect them to continue to trade sideways. This means that commodity prices will cease to put downward pressure on inflation.

Employment growth continues to be strong in developed and most emerging markets; before long, this will feed through into higher earnings. This should sustain economic growth but limit the potential for higher profit margins and may result in moderately negative inflation surprises.

The suggested implication for bond investors is not to take current low inflation rates for granted.

·       The dollar is cheap

Last year, our view was that the dollar bull market would continue to be postponed. Although growth in the US economy is picking up, the Federal Reserve is determined that it should not be threatened by tighter monetary policy. Very loose monetary policy means a weak dollar, which has provided support to emerging economies and their markets. However, dollar pessimism is extreme, the currency is cheap and growth is likely to surprise on the upside. This means that the surprise is likely to be in the direction of tighter monetary policy. The dollar may not be ready to rally yet but further weakness looks unlikely and it is likely to strengthen in the year overall. The suggested investment implication for investors is to position with a moderate overweight in dollars initially with the probability of raising exposure during the year.

·       Opportunities in credit and emerging market debt

While yields on government bonds remain unattractive, those on investment grade corporate bonds offer a modest pick-up in yield and those on high yield a more significant one. However, the additional yield offered by credit is unlikely to be sufficient to compensate for a rise in government bond yields.

Issuance of both investment grade and high yield bonds has been significant, implying no shortage of supply. The opportunity for credit upgrades is diminishing as companies with the potential to improve balance sheets have mostly done so.

Credit may be a disappointing investment until government bonds have adjusted. The opportunity in EMD looks better, with many currencies having weakened significantly, yield spreads over developed market bonds reasonable and opportunities for adding value more extensive, though emerging market currencies may need to weaken further in the short term.

In our view, 2014 looks like being a difficult year for corporate credit and a modest one for emerging market debt, but there may be an attractive long term buying opportunity later in the year

Riding the Waves: From Long-Term Trends to Investment Decisions

  |   For  |  0 Comentarios

Surcando las olas: de las tendencias a largo plazo a las decisiones de inversión
Foto cedida. Riding the Waves: From Long-Term Trends to Investment Decisions

What can we learn from long-term trends when planning for the future? The next Robeco World Investment Forum focuses on the role played by long-term trends and their effects on investing.

Historically, the main drivers of long-term trends are threefold: demographics, globalization and technology. Take, for example, the growing middle classes in emerging markets. People there are increasingly buying smart phones, driving new cars and wanting IKEA furniture in their homes. Or take the example of a Polish doctor commuting to the UK as a result of cheap flight tickets now available worldwide. And finally, technology can create new industries and destroy others.

These drivers also have problems attached, however: managing demographic expansion, globalization and technological innovation requires a more sustainable approach to production, consumption and waste management. What are the main trends? Where in the economic cycle are we currently? What will be the next fluctuation or wave oscillation? And how will this affect our long-term growth path? These are key questions that demand an answer. And more importantly, how do these trends and cycles influence your asset-allocation questions? We will explore how these long-term trends relate to the shorter term business cycles and to decisions on your investment portfolio.

The Robeco World Investment Forum will bring together the world’s leading thinkers, who will speak on the most pressing economic issues of our times.

 

 

Aberdeen Asset Management Names New Head of Americas

  |   For  |  0 Comentarios

Aberdeen AM nombra nuevo responsable para las Américas
Photo: Guisepitt. Aberdeen Asset Management Names New Head of Americas

Aberdeen Asset Management announced that, after four successful years of running and developing Aberdeen’s business in the Americas, Gary Marshall will return to the United Kingdom, where he will continue to play a key role in the development of the business of the Group. David Steyn will join Aberdeen in January as Head of Americas to lead the business on to the next level. 

David has more than 30 years of experience in the investment industry, based in both the UK and U.S. He served as Global Head of Distribution at AllianceBernstein Holding L.P., which he joined in 1999, from April 2007, and served as its Chief Operating Officer from July 31, 2009 to 2012.  He ran both fixed income and equity investment teams in the UK and the U.S. with organizations like Quaestor (from 1989 to 1999), Lazard (from 1986 to 1989) and Montagu (from 1979 to 1986). He spent his formative years as a Fixed Income Portfolio Manager at Montagu.  David is the author of “Market Neutral: Engineering Return and Risk,” which was published in 1998 by the C.F.A. Institute and has been part of the C.F.A. syllabus ever since. He earned a law degree from the University of Aberdeen in 1979.

Over the next few months, Gary will transfer his current responsibilities to David to ensure a smooth transition.

ING IM Adds to its EMD Franchise with the Launch of a Frontier Markets Debt Fund

  |   For  |  0 Comentarios

ING IM Adds to its EMD Franchise with the Launch of a Frontier Markets Debt Fund
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrMarco Ruijer, portfolio manager líder de portafolios de deuda de mercados frontera hard currency, ING IM. ING IM lanza un fondo de deuda de mercados frontera que completa su gama de deuda emergente

ING Investment Management launched the Frontier Markets Debt Hard Currency fund on December 9. This fund will invest in the Frontier Markets universe and will target outperformance of the JP Morgan Next Generation Markets (NEXGEM) Index by active management.

The firm highlights that “the fund is an attractive addition to the current offering from the Emerging Markets Debt (EMD) boutique enabling clients to receive broader EMD strategy selection and experienced EMD investors to implement their EMD views more specifically. This fund further strengthens ING Investment Management’s reputation as a pioneer EMD manager”.

The fund was launched with a USD 100 million contribution in kind from the Emerging Markets Debt Hard Currency fund, partially replacing its direct existing frontier markets debt exposure.

ING is a pioneer in the EMD strategies with one of the longest track records in the industry dating back to 1993 (for EMD Hard Currency) and 1998 (for EMD Local Currency). The firm has been investing in Frontier Markets since 1993. Jeremy Brewin, head of the team, has relevant investment experience since 1974. Jeremy has also been named as a ‘’Top Performing EMD Manager’’ by Citiwire. Both Marco Ruijer and Daniel Eustaquio; Portfolio Managers have 15 years’ experience respectively. Furthermore, many of the team members have deep roots in emerging/frontier countries, providing valuable perspective and understanding of the dynamics of these economies.

ING IM has a historically strong commitment to emerging markets. Its key strength in Frontier Markets is ING IM’s global multi-site team, organized to correspond with the three core time zones that span Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas. EMEA region is covered from The Hague, Latin America is covered from Atlanta and Asia is covered from Singapore. According to the firm, the multi-site approach is also instrumental to trade the portfolios around the clock maximizing regional information access and better liquidity conditions found in major markets such as Hong Kong and Singapore, London and New York during local peak hours.

Olivier Livenais Appointed CEO of Crédit Agricole Private Banking in Miami

  |   For  |  0 Comentarios

Olivier Livenais, nuevo CEO de Crédit Agricole Private Banking Miami
Photo: Averette. Olivier Livenais Appointed CEO of Crédit Agricole Private Banking in Miami

Olivier Livenais replaces Mathieu Ferragut, who has been appointed Head of Americas Region, Crédit Agricole Private Banking.

Olivier Livenais began his career with Société Générale in 1998 as Organizational Project Manager. He joined the Crédit Agricole Group in 2000 at the General Inspectorate, where he held the positions of Inspector then Head of Mission. In 2007, he moved to Crédit Agricole Private Banking as Finance, Risk and Strategy Manager. Since the holding company was set up in November 2011, he has been Finance and Supervision Director.

Olivier Livenais is a graduate of Ecole Supérieure de Commerce business school, Grenoble (1998).

Last July, Mathieu Ferragut was appointed new Head of the Americas Region at Crédit Agricole Private Banking, based in Miami. Mathieu Ferragut is in charge of managing and coordinating the Crédit Agricole Private Banking business in South America and developing customer and service synergies across the countries in the region.

Mathieu Ferragut began his career with Crédit Lyonnais Singapore in 1996 as Information Systems Project Leader. In 1998, he was appointed Chief Operating Officer of Crédit Lyonnais Private Banking Asia. In 2000, he joined the Miami branch of Crédit Lyonnais, where he held the positions of Chief Operating Officer and Chief Compliance Officer for seven years. He was appointed Deputy CEO of Crédit Agricole Miami Private Banking in 2007, then CEO in 2008.

Mathieu Ferragut graduated from Institut Supérieur de Commerce business school in 1993. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Finance (1994) and a Master’s degree in Finance (1995).

Fed’s Dovish Policy Set to Continue

  |   For  |  0 Comentarios

Más de lo mismo en la FED para el 2014
Kommer van Trigt, head of the Robeco Rates team. Fed’s Dovish Policy Set to Continue

The US Federal Reserve (Fed) is likely to continue signaling its ‘dovish’ policy after finally beginning its tapering program, Robeco’s Rates team believes.

The central bank on 18 December decided the US economy was strong enough to justify cutting USD 10 billion from its USD 85 billion of monthly asset purchases. It was the last Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting of outgoing Chairman Ben Bernanke.

The Fed will now only adjust its tapering message “very gradually”, says Kommer van Trigt, head of the Robeco Rates team.

Positive for risk markets

“This should be positive news for risk markets. But as time progresses and the economic recovery continues as expected, it will be more difficult for the Fed to keep market expectations in check,” he says.

For now, Van Trigt is positive: “The Fed has managed to jump over the hurdle of announcing tapering without inflicting much damage to risk appetite.”

The initial market reaction to the announcement was positive. Government bond prices remained more or less stable on the news, while equities and credits rallied.

Two reasons for market thumbs-up

“This reaction is explained by two reasons,” says Van Trigt. “First and foremost, the start of the reduction was communicated well in advance of the actual event. Markets have been anticipating the start of tapering since the possibility was first mentioned in May and expectations and prices have been adjusted accordingly.”

The second reason why yesterday’s initial reaction was positive is the way in which tapering was announced. The Fed successfully communicated that the start of tapering should be seen separately from any intentions to lift official interest rates. This can be seen from its comments and expectations.

The 10-year Treasury bond yield had risen from 1.6% in May to 2.9% this month, as tapering essentially means the end of easy money, and the beginning of rising rates. This raises bond yields and lowers their values.

‘It will take until the end of 2014 to bring purchases down to zero’

A previous attempt to announce potential tapering in the summer took markets by surprise, causing money market interest rates to rise sharply and bond prices to fall.

Gradual pace of tapering

“The gradual pace at which they intend to reduce asset purchases is a signal by itself. If USD 10bn of bond purchases is cut every time the FOMC meets, it will take until the end of 2014 to bring purchases down to zero,” says Van Trigt.

He also welcomed the Fed’s announcement that official rates would remain unchanged “well past the time that the US unemployment rate declines below 6.5%”. It is currently 7.0%.

And emphasis that the central bank placed on using its 2% inflation target when making a future decision on interest rates also shows dovish intentions, he said. US inflation is currently well below that at 1.2%, giving plenty of room for maneuver.

Stronger economic figures

In their adjusted forecasts, the FOMC members expect the 6.5% unemployment level to be reached around mid-2014, while they expect inflation to remain at or below 2% up until the end of 2016. The first rate hikes are expected for mid-2015 and this view has not changed in spite of the decision to start reducing asset purchases.

“All in all, the Fed’s comments and its latest forecasts signal its intention to keep monetary policy very accommodative well into 2015. This explains the positive reaction in markets ranging from credits to equities,” says Van Trigt.