Photo: Dominicus Johannes Bergsma. Grupo SURA Closes a Positive Quarter With a 28% Annual Growth in Revenues
Grupo SURA published its 3Q13 results, a period that highlights operating revenues amounting to COP 304,919 million (USD 160 million). The above represents, so far this year, a total sum of COP 702,313 million (USD 368 million) with a 28% annual growth.
Likewise, the accumulated net profit was COP 593,647 million (USD 311 million), with a 29.3% annual increase. Net contribution in the quarter was COP 244,217 million (USD 128 million), which represents a 293% increase compared to 2Q13, and 89% higher than the same period in 2012.
The sound performance in 3Q13 is based on the good operating results of subsidiaries Suramericana and SURA Asset Management, and on the recovery of global markets reflected on investment yields as well as the dividends registered on the income statement of Grupo SURA.
Figures backing the sound financial position
On the other hand, the Company’s assets reached COP 22.3 billion (USD 11.7 billion), a figure that displays an 8.2% increase compared with June, 2013, and a 3.15% increase at the end of 2012. With regards to Total Liabilities, a 15.8% decrease was achieved in the quarter, with closes at September with a historically low financial indebtedness coefficient of 2.2%. In addition, the result of the rating revision made by Standard & Poor’s is worth highlighting, which climbed from BBB- to BBB with stable outlook. This improved rating sheds light on the Company’s strengths in terms of the consolidation of its operations in Latin America, the performance of its businesses in different countries, the financial soundness of its investments. Indeed, S&P acknowledges, among others, the Company’s flexibility to access capital, sound investments portfolio, and stable flow of dividends.
Moreover, the financial results are supported by the Company’s inclusion, for the third year in a row, in the Dow Jones Sustainability Global Index, which assesses the social, economic and environmental performance of organizations. Grupo SURA obtained an important valuation in the economic setting, displaying one of the best scores.
It is also worth highlighting that the Company in Q3 successfully completed the merger process after acquiring 50% of AFP Horizonte in Peru, a process made by SURA Asset Management, subsidiary of Grupo SURA. The merger was completed within the terms set forth when the purchase was announced. The pension funds of subsidiaries rising from AFP Horizonte, assigned to AFP Integra, are already being managed by this pension fund manager of SURA, turning Integra into a largest pension fund of Peru.
“We are extremely satisfied with the Company’s results of the end of the quarter. Operations in different countries still display a good performance, our growth plans are still underway in accordance with the estimates made, and the market performance was favorable as well. Likewise, today we have a historically low debt indicator thanks to a rigorous plan implemented for this purpose since early 2012, which confirms the Company’s sound financial standing,” said David Bojanini, President of Grupo SURA.
Foto: Jenix89. Morgan Stanley to Invest $1 Billion in its Newly Created Institute for Sustainable Investing
Morgan Stanley Chairman and CEO James Gorman announced the establishment of the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing. The Institute will build on Morgan Stanley’s ongoing work to advance market-based solutions to economic, social and environmental challenges, operating from the foundational principle that sustainable investment can only achieve significant scale by attracting a broad range of private sector capital. Through product innovation, thought leadership and scholarship aimed at expanding opportunities for sustainable investing, the Institute will seek to drive capital toward investments promoting sustainable economic growth.
The Institute for Sustainable Investing will pursue three focus areas: financial products and solutions that enable clients to invest in sustainability-focused strategies seeking risk-adjusted financial returns; groundbreaking thought leadership that will help mobilize capital toward sustainable investing opportunities; and strategic partnerships with the public, private and nonprofit sectors designed to build capacity and best practices within the field of scalable sustainable investing.
The Institute’s first major commitments include:
Setting a goal of $10 billion in total client assets through Morgan Stanley’s Investing with Impact Platformin the next five years. By developing new products, innovative thematic portfolios and sustainable investing thought leadership, this platform will meet rapidly increasing client demand for opportunities to invest for positive environmental and social impact in addition to the goal of achieving risk-adjusted financial returns.
Creating new products − in coordination with Morgan Stanley Investment Management’s Long-Only and Alternative Investment Partners businesses − in which positive social and/or environmental impact is a core part of the underlying investment strategy.
Establishing an annual Sustainable Investing Fellowship program at Columbia Business School that will enable a select group of graduate students to pursue thought leadership in sustainable investing, coupled with an internship at Morgan Stanley to gain hands-on experience in product innovation, thought leadership and investment strategy.
Investing $1 billion in a sustainable communities initiativeto provide rapid access to capital for the preservation and enhancement of quality affordable housing units that are at risk of deteriorating into uninhabitable conditions or becoming unaffordable to low- and moderate-income households. The initiative will also seek to drive the integration of affordable housing with access to health care, healthy foods and other vital services. Morgan Stanley is partnering with leading community groups, including the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and NCB Capital Impact, on the sustainable communities initiative. “This program takes our long partnership with Morgan Stanley to a new level,” said Michael Rubinger, LISC President and CEO. “It doesn’t just finance buildings; it fuels opportunity and focuses on quality of life. Together, we will be able to help low-income families live better and make their communities stronger and healthier.” Terry Simonette, President and CEO of NCB Capital Impact, said, “The sustainable communities initiative is the type of transformative investment that will help ensure the financing so desperately needed to provide access to healthy foods and other critical resources in our poorest communities. We are proud to partner with Morgan Stanley on this effort.”
Through these and future initiatives, the Institute for Sustainable Investing will further Morgan Stanley’s commitment to providing individual and institutional investors with products and strategies that address sustainability challenges at scale.
Morgan Stanley Chairman and CEO James Gorman launched the Institute in a speech at Columbia Business School today. Mr. Gorman said: “Morgan Stanley is in a unique position to harness the capital markets to help address the most pressing challenges facing society today, connecting governments, investors and businesses with the capital to execute at scale. Our philosophy is clear – the most effective solutions to sustainability challenges are those that can be brought to scale. Our clients are increasingly turning their attention to what it takes to secure the lasting and safe supplies of food, energy, water and shelter necessary for sustainable prosperity.”
Mr. Gorman will chair the Institute’s Advisory Board, which will include individuals from the private and nonprofit sectors with expertise in various aspects of sustainable investing including finance, policy and management (for a list of members, see the note to editors below).
Audrey Choi, who leads Morgan Stanley’s Global Sustainable Finance group, will be CEO of the Institute for Sustainable Investing. “As the world’s population grows toward 9 billion and beyond, meeting the exponentially growing needs for quality education, healthcare, housing and security will far outstrip current models of business, government or philanthropy,” said Ms. Choi. “The Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing is committed to playing a catalytic role in forging innovative cross-sector partnerships that develop solutions to mobilize capital efficiently and effectively to meet these challenges at scale.”
William Stormont, ex co-manager at Henderson Global Investors in London, has joined Absolute Strategy Research in a sales consulting capacity, based in Vancouver, with the mission of introducing ASR’s research to fund managers in Canada and the US.
“I was formerly a client of ASR’s so was already familiar with the product and a supporter of their work. I have based myself in Vancouver, my native city, and am actively seeking to introduce ASR’s research to fund managers in Canada and the US. Though the firm is well represented in the New York and Boston areas there is considerable scope to grow in the rest of the US and Canada”, states Stormont to Funds Society.
William Stormont previously co-managed de Horizon Pan-European Equity Fund, at Henderson Global Investors in London, where he worked for nearly 6 years. Previously, he held several positions during 7 years at ABN Amro, including Head of International Hedge Fund Sales.
Gibraltar Private Bank & Trust announced that Douglas B. Sawyer has been hired as Senior Vice President, Market Executive in the bank’s Miami downtown office.
In his new role, Sawyer will be responsible for administration and growth of the market’s client portfolio as well as development of the Bank’s Fiduciary Account area. He has more than 30 years of experience in the financial industry. He was most recently president at Nason Consulting, a bank consulting company that provides strategic, operational, regulatory, management, staff and market guidance to community banks. Prior, he was an Executive Vice President at BankUnited for 8 years over which time he served as head of Bank Services, Wealth Management and Retail. Douglas also worked for 21 years at SunTrust Bank in various capacities, the most recent being executive vice president of retail overseeing the bank’s 25 retail branches in Miami-Dade County.
Sawyer is a Certified Financial Planner, holder of Series 7, 4, 24, 53, 63, 65 Securities License and holder of Florida Life Insurance and Variable Annuity License.
Douglas B. Sawyer earned a Bachelor of Science from Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. His community involvement includes St. Thomas University Advisory Board, Christopher Columbus High School Board, Florida Bankers Association Government Relations Committee, Florida Banker Association / PAC Committee Chairman and American Heart Association, Past President, West Dade Division.
Wikimedia CommonsMap of the United States. Wealth-X Reveals America’s Wealthiest Individuals By State
Wealth-X has revealed a list of the 50 wealthiest American individuals by state (based on their business address) in 2013. These individuals are collectively worth US$540 billion, a 19 percent increase on last year.
The average net worth of the individuals on the list is US$10.8 billion – a US$1.7 billion increase on last year’s average of US$9.1 billion.
The top 10 individuals on the list – who all held the exact same spots on last year’s list – are collectively worth US$362 billion, 67 percent of the total wealth of the top 50.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates remains the wealthiest individual in America with an estimated net worth of US$70.8 billion, followed by Warren “Oracle of Omaha” Buffett, whose personal fortune is estimated at nearly US$60 billion.
Nine new individuals made the list this year: Micky Meir Arison (Florida); Brad Maurice Kelley (Kentucky); Kenneth B. Dart (Michigan); Whitney MacMillan (Minnesota); James Love Barksdale (Mississippi); John L. Morris (Missouri); Richard B. Cohen (New Hampshire); John A Yates (New Mexico) and Blake Roney (Utah). Collectively, their net worth is US$34 billion – 50 percent more than the combined net worth of the individuals who represented these same states on the list last year.
Below is the list of the 50 wealthiest individuals:
EFG International is well known in the Americas as a leader in international private wealth management, with its Miami office as flagship and over 60 CROs (client relationship officers) in the region, dedicated to Latin American clients. Now, the EFG Group has taken the initiative to put its asset management division, EFG Asset Management (EFGAM), on the map. EFGAM’s reorganization started almost five years ago, and is now ready to compete with international management groups as a specialist asset management company catering for private banking professionals through strategies distributed under its New Capital brand.
“EFG’s fund management capabilities were historically highly decentralized,” says Mozamil Afzal, Global CIO for EFGAM, in an interview with Funds Society, “but after the 2009 crisis we reconstructed into a group which is much more integrated, and which has seen the closure of some businesses, the restructuring of others and a significant investment in technology and compliance, as well as the creation of a totally independent board of directors.”
EFGAM is headquartered in London with additional management centers in Miami, New York, Zurich, Geneva, Hong Kong and Singapore.
The management company has just over $9 billion in assets under management; of these, $5 billion are assets of EFG International’s HNW clients; $2 billion are from institutional accounts with management mandates, and $2.2 billion are under the strategies managed by EFG’s New Capital funds, established in 2003 and whose assets are spread approximately equally between customers from EFG’s internal channel and other external channels.
“The New Capital funds wereinitially aimed at the private banking client, but in 2009 we decided we wanted to establish the company in its own right, by building a first-class asset management company which could compete on an open architecture platform with any international asset manager,” says Afzal , who, at the same time admits to value highly EFG International’s internal channel because “it provides us with seed funds for our new ideas which are also highly inspired by what the private banking customer wants. “
As a strategy, New Capital is built based on three objectives, which are a product of its history as an asset management company specializing in private banking. “We know what we want,” says Afzal, “first, good returns; secondly, unique positioning of our products; and finally, an absolute return bias which defines exactly what the private banking client is looking for.”
In order to meet these objectives New Capital is launching products that “we, as clients of an asset manager, would like to buy.” When planning the launch of a strategy “we steer away from the most popular asset classes, because we would probably be late in the market,” seeking those asset classes, which will generate better than market returns in the coming years, with a focus on the much longer term.
The strategies launched by New Capital in recent years have focused on ideas like global wealth creation, through its “Wealthy Nations” fixed income strategy; or the belief that the future of economic growth lies in Asia, an idea that was implemented by launching the Asia Pacific Equity Income and China Equity strategies. In total, New Capital has seven UCITS strategies registered in Ireland with which it positions itself as an asset manager specializing in private banking, and with which it has managed to increase its assets under management from $150 million in 2009 to $2.2 billion today. “We’re not an asset manager for the retail client,” says Afzal, “but for the investment professional.”
Wikimedia CommonsFoto: US Navy. The Swiss Group SYZ & CO Moves into the Latin American Institutional Markets
The Swiss banking group SYZ & CO is moving into the Latin American institutional markets with the registration in Chile of the OYSTER European Opportunities fund. The clientele being targeted is mainly local pension funds, a fast- developing category of investors in the Andean region.
The assets of these pension funds are experiencing strong growth and should reach $800 billion by the end of 2013, of which an estimated $250 billion is potentially earmarked for international investments. The estimated growth for these pension funds exceeds 50% expected by 2016 with contributions running at nearly $2 billion per month. In Chile, for example, the assets in pension funds already amount to $170 billion, or 63% of GDP.
In order for the OYSTER funds to be distributed to pension fund administrators, SYZ & CO has entered into an agreement with HMC, a Chilean specialist in institutional distribution in the Andean markets.
Fast-developing pension funds
Apart from their swift growth, these pension funds also stand out in terms of their great openness to international investments. Chilean funds are, for example, allowed to invest up to 80% of their assets abroad. The total volume of investments that are possible abroad for the whole of Latin America therefore amounts to a potential nearly USD 250 billion, or more than 30% of the total. After having invested locally or in the North American markets, the region’s pension fund institutions are now showing an increased appetite for Europe, which offers some attractive prospects thanks to its lower share valuation levels and the diversification it allows, notably in terms of currencies.
A first OYSTER fund registered in Chile
SYZ & CO’s first fund to be registered in Chile is its flagship European equities fund, OYSTER European Opportunities. A second European corporate bonds fund should follow shortly, in order to satisfy Chilean pension funds’ appetite for fixed-income investments in euros.
A specialized local partner
In order for the OYSTER funds to be distributed to pension fund managers (PFMs), SYZ & CO has joined forces with HMC Partners, a local specialist in institutional distribution in the Andean markets. Established in Santiago (Chile) in 2009, HMC is also present in Colombia and Peru, two markets that are also very promising for institutional management. In Brazil, HMC has linked up with Itajubá, a company that distributes funds to a Sao Paulo-based institutional clientele. The cooperation with SYZ & CO is managed by Ricardo Morales, Managing Partner and co-founder of HMC.
Foto: Poco a poco. Crédit Agricole nombra a Jérôme Perrier director de su brazo financiero institucional en las Américas
Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank announced the appointment of Jérôme Perrier as Head of its Financial Institutions Group (FIG) for the Americas. At the same time, the bank named Jorge Fries as a Senior Banker for FIG, heading up the Insurance sector for the Americas.
Mr. Perrier was most recently Global Head of Strategy and Chief of Staff in Paris. He will make his headquarters in New York City, reporting to Jean-François Deroche, Senior Regional Officer for the Americas, and globally to Eric Chevre, Global Head of the Financial Institutions Group for Credit Agricole CIB.
Mr. Fries previously had been Managing Director and Co-Head of Special Situations and Current Assets with the Bank’s Securitisation team in New York, where he will continue to be headquartered. He will report to Mr. Perrier.
“Jerome brings important experience to a sector that we at Credit Agricole CIB regard highly to our strategic mission,” said Mr. Deroche. “With Mr. Fries for Insurance companies, and Gina Harth-Cryde and Rodrigo Rivera, our Senior Bankers in charge of the leading Banks and Financial Institutions in the US and in Latin America respectively, we have a very solid team that will enable us to further expand our services and involvement with the broad financial industry across the Americas.”
Mr. Perrier, who has been with the bank since 2007, has previously been in corporate strategy and development positions at Crédit Agricole S.A., Bank of America, PWC Consulting and Societe Generale, in New York, Boston and Paris. He has a BA from Middlesex University in London and a Masters from the Reims Management Business School in Reims, France.
Philippe Peirs has joined La Française to head-up International Real Estate Development. Philippe comes with a wealth of experience in the real estate industry and specifically in fundraising having worked for Société Générale for twenty years. His last position held was Managing Director and Head of Private Equity Fundraising Group. Philippe was instrumental in developing private fundraising advisory services at Société Générale CIB for third party investors that focused on European real estate, infrastructure and renewable energy. Philippe graduated from ESCP and has a Master of Science in Finance from London Business School.
Philippe Peirs is operating out of London. As Head of International Real Estate Development, Philippe will pursue Pan European, Middle Eastern and Asian development opportunities and work hand in hand with La Française partner Forum Partners, a global real estate investment management firm. “La Française is truly going in new directions and innovating in real estate asset management. The group has ambitious international development plans, and my arrival, which coincides with the capital stake taken in Forum Partners, clearly reflects the group’s commitment ,” comments Philippe.
Philippe Lecomte, CEO of La Française AM International and Head of Institutional Development (France and International) said, “Philippe is a valuable addition to our international development team. Having lived in London, the international real estate hub, for the past fifteen years, he has a full grasp of what motivates real estate investors. His extensive network should also contribute solidly to the funding of real estate transactions and future product launches. He’s a perfect match for the job.”
Citi Private Banking appointed Phillip Edwards as Director and Ultra High Net Worth Private Banker and Adam Gillam as VP and Ultra High Net Worth Private Banker to its team in Palm Beach, Florida.
According to the information, published by Reuters, prior to joining Citi, Edwards worked for JP Morgan Private Bank and Genspring Family Offices in Palm Beach Gardens. Gillam joins Citi from Wells Fargo in Palm Beach, where he was most recently a Vice President and Senior Private Banker.
Also in Florida, Raymond James recently recruited a team of advisors operating as Provenance Wealth Advisors (PWA). Headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, the firm is led by owners Eric Zeitlin, Todd Moll, Lee Hediger and Scott Montgomery.
According to Financial Advisor, the advisors at PWA joined Raymond James from Walnut Street Securities Inc., where they managed more than $1 billion in client assets and had annual fees and commissions of more than $5.4 million.
Co-owners Moll, Zeitlin and Hediger founded PWA in 2000 and affiliated with Berkowitz Pollack Brant, a large regional CPA and consulting firm in South Florida. Montgomery joined as a director/owner a few years later.
