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Andbank Opens its New Head Office in Bahamas and Builds up its Local Team

Andbank estrena nueva sede en Bahamas y refuerza su equipo local — Photos: Andbank. Andbank Opens its New Head Office in Bahamas and Builds up its Local Team

Although Andbank has been operating in Bahamas since the year 2000, it just opened its new headquarters a few days ago. The opening of the new office in Nassau comes hand in hand with a new team headed by Juan Iglesias as CEO of Andbank Bahamas.

As well as Iglesias, formerly from Julius Baer, Daniel-Marc Brunner, formerly from Credit Suisse, has also joined the company as head of private banking, and Werner Gruner, also formerly from Julius Baer, will be Andbank’s director of private banking. Other additions to the team are Wendell Gardiner as director of compliance, and Amanda Smith, formerly from Banco Santander Bahamas.

With its new team of fifteen people, Andbank Bahamas has doubled its staff within the last twelve months and has set its target for 2014 at boosting the local private banking business. The relaunch of its head office in the country marks a very special milestone which consolidates a process of internalization that started over 13 years ago.

The inauguration of the new headquarters was presided by Andbank’s president, Manel Cerqueda Donadeu, who pointed out that in the year 2000, the bank began operating in the country through a subsidiary, and that shortly afterwards, in 2001, the Central Bank of The Bahamas gave them a banking license.

“Our Bahamas business has grown steadily since it was first established in this country, and today, we wish to increase our presence even further,” said Cerqueda. He added that the Bahamas offers great opportunities thanks “to its ideal location, good connecting flights, a stable legal and financial system and a community of trained financial professionals.”

In statements to the local press, Cerqueda stressed that since they established themselves in the country, the business has grown steadily, therefore Andbank is looking at increasing its presence further, promoting it and making it grow, which is why they have hired a “team of highly qualified professionals.”

As for the competition which the Andorran bank faces in the Bahamas, where large institutions with many years of experience in private banking have been established for years now, Cerqueda said the business model which they are offering “sets us apart, as it allows us to offer a wide range of solutions for the client, regardless of the jurisdiction in question, the depositary or the bank through which they wish to operate. We move faster, adapting to change and seizing opportunities that arise,” he said.

Andbank’s general manager, Ricard Tubau Roca, its deputy general manager, José Luis Muñoz Lasuen, Jean Claude Roche, director of Andbank Panama, and Javier Rodriguez Amblés, managing director of the company in Miami, were all present at the relaunch of the bank in the Bahamas.

Starlight Global’s “Night of Inspiration”

Coinciding with the inauguration of its new headquarters in Nassau, the bank sponsored the annual “Night of Inspiration” of the nonprofit organization Global Starlight. Over 200 people attended the event which was held at the Old Fort Bay Club.

Mathu Joyini, the High Commissioner of the Republic of South Africa to the Caribbean, as well as members of the Bahamian government such as Ryan Pinder, Minister of Financial Services Bahamas, and renowned personalities of the country, along with Canadian singer Shania Twain, attended the gala, which this year was dedicated to honor the life of former South African President Nelson Mandela.

Entertainment for the evening included performances by the National Youth Choir of the Bahamas, winners of a double gold medal at the World Choir Games in 2012, the National Symphony Orchestra of the Bahamas, the Nassau City Opera Company, the Bel Canto Singers, the Bahamas All Stars Band, and other international artists.

Demystifying the Oracle’s Value-Added

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Desmitificando el valor añadido del Oráculo — Warren Buffett. Photo: trackrecord, Flickr, Creative Commons.. Demystifying the Oracle’s Value-Added

This month we participated in The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania’s first Private Wealth Management course held in Miami. One of BigSur’s cornerstones is education: educating our clients on themes most relative to them, and also continually educating ourselves. One of our objectives in attending Wharton’s PWM course was to learn about the latest advancements in financial analysis and try to be at the cutting edge of investment techniques and manager performance evaluation.

From a strictly practical standpoint, one of the most interesting and extremely relevant parts of the course was the discussion on the performance of one of our core equity investments: Berkshire Hathaway. Finance Professors from the Wharton School of Business, Chris Geczy and Craig MacKinlay, discussed a new and very in-depth working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research (by Andrea Frazzini, David Kabiller and Lasse H. Pedersen), which dissects the great historic performance attribution of the Maestro, Warren Buffett.

First Look: Typical Risk Measures

Buffett’s track record is clearly outstanding. A dollar invested in Berkshire Hathaway in November 1976 would have been worth more than $1500 at the end of 2011. Over this time period, Berkshire realized an average annual return of 19.0% in excess of the T-Bill rate, significantly outperforming the general stock market’s average excess return of 6.1%.

Berkshire stock entailed more risk, realized a volatility of 24.9% (higher than the market volatility of 15.8%). However, Berkshire’s excess return was high even relative to its risk, earning a Sharpe Ratio of 0.76 (19.0%/24.9%), nearly twice the market’s Sharpe Ratio of 0.39. Berkshire realized a market beta of only 0.7, an important point that we will discuss in more detail when we analyze the types of stocks that Buffett buys. Adjusting Berkshire’s performance for market exposure, we compute its Information Ratio to be 0.66.

Chart 1: Value Generated by BRK from 1976-2013

While this Sharpe Ratio is very good but not super-human (like for example Bridgewater’s Dalio above 1), then how did Buffett become among the richest in the world?

Looking Beyond: Leverage, Selection and Succession

The answer is that Buffett has boosted his returns by using leverage, and that he has stuck to a good strategy for a very long time period, surviving rough periodsmwhere others might have been forced into a fire sale or a career shift. The authors of the National Bureau of Economics paper estimate that Buffett applies a leverage of about 1.6-to-1, boosting both his risk and excess return in that proportion.

This leaves the key question: How does Buffett pick stocks to achieve this attractive return stream that can be leveraged? They identify several features of his portfolio: He buys stocks that are “safe” (with low beta and low volatility), “cheap” (i.e., value stocks with low price-to-book ratios), and “high- quality” (meaning stocks that profitable, stable, growing, and with high payout ratios). Thus, Buffett’s returns appear to be neither luck nor magic, but, rather, reward for the use of leverage combined with a focus on cheap, safe, quality stocks.

The performance of the publicly traded companies is a measure of Buffett’s stock selection ability whereas the performance of the privately held companies additionally captures his success as a manager. Buffett relies heavily on private companies as well, including insurance and reinsurance businesses. Why? One reason the academics demonstrate might be that this structure provides a steady source of financing, allowing him to leverage his stock selection ability. Indeed, we find that 36% of Buffett’s liabilities consist of insurance float with an average cost below the T-Bill rate.

One of the largest risk factors affecting BRK/a is succession risk, as Mr. Buffett is 83 years old. However, newly published information confirms that the pupils are beating the master at Berkshire Hathaway. The two managers seen as potential successors to Warren Buffett have netted better returns than the renowne investor.

Both Todd Combs and Ted Weschler outdid both Mr. Buffet and the S&P500 in the last 2 years (since they’ve took over the management of $14B of the total $100B in public equityportfolio). With Berkshire’s market value approaching $300B and around $200B being tied to operating businesses, it has gotten harder for the company to get a big percentage gain in net worth expressed in book value per class A share, Mr. Buffett’s preferred yardstick.

Extract of January’s 2014 edition of “The Thinking Man’s Approach”, by Ignacio Pakciarz, CEO of BigSur Partners

You may access the full report through this link.

Kinetic Partners Enhances its Corporate Recovery Offering with Senior Hire in New York

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Kinetic Partners, a global adviser to the financial services industry, has announced that Kent McParland has joined its New York office as a director within the corporate recovery practice. Brought on to facilitate and execute liquidations and restructurings on behalf of distressed investments, Kent will focus on building the New York practice as well as supporting the corporate recovery team globally.

This new addition is part of an ever-expanding initiative to meet both the global and local needs of Kinetic Partners’ client base. In addition to augmenting the practice’s restructuring engagements and traditional approach to the market via financial institutions and smaller institutional investors, Kent will also service the growing need of investors seeking to wind down their positions in distressed 2008 assets and zombie funds.

Kent joins Kinetic Partners from Grant Thornton in the British Virgin Islands where, among other engagements, he was a senior member of the liquidation team for Stanford International Bank Limited and its related companies. He has focused primarily on corporate recovery/bankruptcy engagements for the past seven years after qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in Canada. Kent’s experience covers a range of industries including financial services, real estate, gaming, wineries and manufacturing.

Kent has extensive expertise in managing various stakeholders across multiple jurisdictions often in contentious situations. In addition to leading the engagement teams for liquidations, receiverships and various due diligence engagements, he has also held appointments as a Receiver/Receiver Manager for international financial institutions. Each of these engagements has required keen project management skills to address the many dynamic components ranging from recreating financial records through to international litigation.

Geoff Varga, Kinetic Partners’ Global Head of Corporate Recovery and Restructuring, said of Kent’s arrival: “Kent’s hire represents continued forward progress in the development of our corporate recovery service offerings. With his background in bankruptcy and insolvency, both domestically and offshore, we are proud to enhance the collective capabilities of our New York (and global) team to deliver optimized value preservation and recovery in distressed situations.”

Carmignac Gestion Group Appoints Michael Hulme as Commodity Equities Fund Manager

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Michael Hulme joins Carmignac Gestion Group as commodity equities fund manager and will now assume management of the €670m Carmignac Commodities fund. Michael takes over from David Field who has chosen to take a sabbatical after 10 years running the commodity team and will take up his new role on February 14.

Investing in the commodity sector has always been an area of expertise at Carmignac Gestion.

Carmignac Gestion Group will benefit from Michael’s 17 years’ experience including 14 years in resource-focused equities. Before joining Carmignac Gestion, Michael, 38, managed the Lombard Odier Global Energy Fund. He launched the fund in 2010. He previously worked at MFS International, successfully launching its Global Energy Fund in 2009. He also managed the energy component of the MFS European Equity Fund, and MFS Research International Fund, making a positive contribution to the relative performance of these funds over a seven year period. Prior to this, he was a fund manager at Société Générale Asset Management.

Michael holds a First class degree in History from the University of Cambridge.

Carmignac Gestion Group’s Founder and Chairman, Edouard Carmignac said: “We are pleased to welcome Michael Hulme on board. His extensive knowledge in commodities right across the value chain and outstanding track record will be a strong asset to the investment team.”

After having been reinforced by the recruitment of analyst Simon Lovat in March 2011, the commodity equity team, led by Michael Hulme, will be based in London. “They will both make a decisive contribution to one of our key investment themes by originating investment ideas that may be implemented across the Carmignac Gestion range”, according to the company.

Investec Asset Management Expands Global Distribution Footprint with Italian Hire

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Investec crece en Europa nombrando un nuevo jefe de distribución en Italia — CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: gualtiero. Investec Asset Management Expands Global Distribution Footprint with Italian Hire

Investec Asset Management has announced the further expansion of its European Client Group with the appointment of Marco Orsi as Italian Sales Director.

This further supports Investec Asset Management’s expansion across Europe in both the institutional and advisor channel. With both core and specialist asset classes provided to clients through strategies such as Global Equity, Multi-Asset, Emerging Market Debt and Equity, the firm is well positioned to capture client demand for investment opportunities.

Orsi brings with him a wealth of insight from the fund management industry. Marco joins Investec from Allianz Global Investors, where he was Head of Retail Distribution for Italy. Prior to this, he was Head of Retail Business Development for Italy, Greece, Turkey, Malta and Cyprus at BNP Paribas Asset Management.

Orsi joins Sarah Pastore, Italian Sales Manager in focusing on the Italian market.

“We are pleased to add Marco’s experience and insight to our Italian team, supporting our growing European distribution footprint. In Italy, we are committed to growing and strengthening our relationships with private banks, retail networks and institutional clients. We believe there are great opportunities in Italy for our specialist, core and flexible investment propositions”, says Stef Bogaars, Managing Director, European Client Group.

T. Rowe Price’s Headquarters in Baltimore Extend Lease Until 2027

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Columbia Property Trust, Inc. has announced that it has finalized a renewal and extension of T. Rowe Price Associates’ lease that will keep the global investment manager at 100 East Pratt Street in Baltimore through 2027.

T. Rowe Price, which serves as the anchor tenant for the iconic Baltimore property and has approximately 1,300 employees on-site at its worldwide headquarters, will continue to occupy a ground floor Investor Center and 12 floors totaling 424,877 square feet. Terms of the lease were not disclosed.

Columbia Property Trust has owned the 652,988-square-foot Class A+ building since 2005. Long a fixture of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor with T. Rowe Price as one of its original tenants, 100 East Pratt Street includes a 10-story office building completed in 1978 and a 28-story tower finished in 1991. The office property is 96% leased.

“Retaining T. Rowe Price was one of our top priorities for 2013, and we have worked closely with them for a number of months to ensure that our mutual long-term goals for this property, our shareholders and the community could be achieved,” noted Nelson Mills, President, CEO and Director of Columbia Property Trust. “We are pleased they have made such a strong commitment to downtown Baltimore and to 100 East Pratt.”

Starwood Capital Group Acquires Portfolio of 10 UK Properties

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Starwood Capital Group compra una cartera de 10 inmuebles en Reino Unido — CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: NASA. Starwood Capital Group Acquires Portfolio of 10 UK Properties

Starwood Capital Group, a global private investment firm, announced that it had acquired, through an affiliate, a portfolio of UK properties from the Premier Property Group alongside Catalyst Capital, a European investment and asset management company. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The portfolio of 10 properties comprises: Princes Mall in Edinburgh (located adjacent to Waverly Station); three multi-let office buildings — including Kingsgate in Redhill and 26 Cross Street in Manchester; a multi-let industrial estate in Edinburgh; two single fully let industrial units; a retail parade in Lands Lane, Leeds; and two development sites.

The transaction adds to Starwood Capital Group‘s growing portfolio in the UK and Ireland. In August 2013, the firm acquired a pool of 18 non-performing loans secured by 39 Irish commercial properties, which were heavily concentrated in Dublin, but also included sites in Killarney, Limerick and Waterford.

“This new transaction presents an opportunity to acquire assets in UK markets with strong demand generators at significantly below replacement cost,” said Adam Shah, Vice President of Starwood Capital Group. “These markets are recovering rapidly, and we believe that through this uptrend as well as active asset management, value can be added.”

“We are delighted to have completed this portfolio purchase from Premier Property Group with our long-term partner, Starwood Capital Group,” said Guy Wilson, a Partner of Catalyst Capital. “The portfolio provides an opportunity for the whole UK team to deploy its asset management skills across a range of properties.”

Eight Years of Global Economic Expansion for the U.S. Economy

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A long expansion in the global and U.S. economy is expected to last for a total of eight years (2009 to 2017) according to BNY Mellon Chief Economist Richard Hoey in his most recent Economic Update entitled, “Eight-Year Economic Expansion.” Global GDP growth should accelerate by one-half to three-quarters of one percent faster than in 2012 and 2013.

“Because the global and U.S. economy grew at only a slow pace since the recession low in mid-2009, the upsurge of inflation that one would normally expect to occur after many years of economic expansion has not occurred,” Hoey says. “As a result, developed world monetary policy is not poised to become aggressively restrictive in order to stifle inflation any time soon, but rather can remain stimulative for an extended period of time. It is true that the central banks of the U.S., Japan and the Eurozone are worried about inflation, but they are worried that inflation is too low.”

While Hoey believes that inflation will rise eventually, he thinks it will drift higher only gradually over the coming years and that governments and central banks will be tolerant of that gradual upward drift in inflation.

“We expect that a gradual upward drift in wage inflation, core inflation and reported inflation over the next several years is likely to be well-tolerated by (1) public opinion, (2) governments and (3) central banks,” says Hoey. “In the U.S., it has been three and a half decades since the double-digit inflation peak in 1980. The share of labor compensation in GDP is near the lowest level in half a century. In that context, a gradual upward drift in domestic wage inflation over the next several years should be well-tolerated by most and welcomed by many.”

Hoey believes that the U.S. economy expansion will go through three phases: (1) four years of growth averaging about 2%, which ended in mid-2013, (2) a minimum of three years of growth averaging about 3% and (3) a slower pace of growth in the final quarters of the eight-year expansion.

Sustainable economic expansion in the Eurozone

While Hoey cites long-term Eurozone challenges, including an aging demographic, high energy prices, excess debt, an elevated currency due to its current account surplus and a fragile financial system in peripheral Europe, he expects a sustainable economic expansion in the Eurozone, with the pace of real GDP growth in 2014 in the 1% to 1.5% range.

Japan: uncertainties over the long term

The country faces a “very choppy year in 2014” due to the increase in the value-added tax scheduled for April 1. Consequently, Hoey expects sharply declining economic activity for three or four months, followed by renewed expansion. Hoey is more uncertain about the long-term outlook, given challenging demographics and debt ratios.

China: the most complex issue

Hoey believes that the most complex issue in the global outlook for 2014 is the Chinese economic and financial outlook. Stating that the Chinese government has a choice whether to rebalance the economy and financial system gradually or rapidly, Hoey expects Chinese 2014 economic growth can persist gradually at about the same pace as in 2013, roughly 7.5%.

“Overall, we believe that global economic growth should accelerate in 2014, 2015 and 2016 to a growth rate one-half to three-quarters of 1% faster than in 2012 and 2013,” Hoey concludes. “We expect an ‘eight-year economic expansion’ in the global economy and the U.S. economy.”

Ignis Registers Absolute Return Emerging Market Debt Fund in Spain

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Ignis Asset Management has registered the Ignis Absolute Return Emerging Market Debt Fund for sale in Spain. The fund, which was launched in Luxembourg in November 2013 is now €75.6 million in size, and is based on the same strategy that has been run in for a UK institutional client for two years, since January 2012.

The Absolute Return Emerging Market Debt Fund is managed by Dan Beharall, Head of Emerging Markets Fixed Income, who joined Ignis in December 2010 having previously worked for Henderson Global Investors. Dan is supported by Sailesh Lad, Deputy Portfolio Manager, and Mikhail Volodchenko, Market Analyst.

The fund aims to deliver a positive total return in excess of cash on a rolling twelve month basis, independent of bond market conditions, by taking long or short net exposures to emerging market fixed interest securities and to foreign exchange and financial derivative instruments. The fund will appeal to investors who are seeking an absolute return from exposure to emerging market bonds through a proven, low volatility investment strategy.

Earnings Quality and Technical Momentum Support US Equities, But What About Valuation?

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La calidad de los resultados y el momentum apoyan a la renta variable de EE.UU. pero, ¿y su valoración? — CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrMark Breedon, co-Head of 4Factor Equities at Investec. Earnings Quality and Technical Momentum Support US Equities, But What About Valuation?

Mark Breedon, co-Head of 4Factor Equities, highlights the team’s most important themes and market sectors for 2014.

What are the most important themes that could drive returns in 2014?

a. Valuation – We think global equity market valuations are justified relative to fixed income, but in absolute terms it is more difficult to evaluate. However absolute value is not a prerequisite for markets to go higher and there is no doubt that we are seeing decent strength in some momentum measures as we are seeing the feed-through of money coming out of fixed interest and cash into equities. Our proprietary 4Factor screen has been highlighting the US as the most attractive region for some time on the basis of quality and earnings and technical momentum. However the valuation case is now difficult to make in a broad sense relative to other regions around the world.

Emerging markets are ranked as the least attractive area by our screen at present. Earnings revisions have been generally poor due to the higher weighting of commodity stocks, and also rising costs (especially labor). However an interesting positive factor has been the improvement in quality which we put down to improved corporate governance. It is also evident that there is now a clear value case for EM relative to other regions.

b. Utilization of cash balances/CAPEX – Levels of operating profitability, measured by cash flow return on investment (CFROI), have remained relatively high since the global financial crisis but this has been achieved primarily due to cost cutting. As a result, companies have been beating expectations in terms of bottom-line profits but top-line sales growth has been disappointing for some time. Although companies have remained relatively profitable, they have not been using cash to invest in new plant and equipment, as expectations for demand have remained subdued. Merger and acquisition activity has also been limited. As a result, balance sheets currently contain a lot of cash and this is putting downward pressure on returns on equity. Like many investors we are hoping for more in the way of topline growth coming through because that should drive up the confidence levels needed to invest for the future.

Where is the consensus perhaps wrong?

Consumer staples look expensive relative to history and relative to the market. The only support you get for this sector is high quality but there is little value, negative earnings revisions and poor technical momentum.

Which sectors look attractive?

a. Insurance – We like insurance, primarily in US and Europe. Momentum in the form of business volumes in the sector have picked up at the same time as yield curves steepen; insurance companies should make more money. Annuity books are increasing in value as they will be investing at a higher rate and they become more profitable. Capacity seems to have come out of that side of the business, so pricing has remained firm. Capital issues have been resolved over the years partly from selling businesses and partly from becoming more profitable. As capital is building they’re giving that money back to shareholders in terms of stock buy- backs and dividends.

b. Materials – Materials have underperformed considerably and many people are potentially looking to invest based on the value case. However we feel that the sharp deterioration in earnings expectations has hindered optical value for profit driven metrics. The two areas where we’ve been a bit more interested in within materials have been US alternative energy and US refining. Both of which are scoring relatively well in a poor sector. The reasons for this are fracking and horizontal drilling. The big US refineries will start moving towards exporting product as they become more competitive as a result of cheaper feedstock. There are clearly infrastructure bottlenecks but they are being cleared. So we have quite a strong exposure to US refiners, and to drillers.

c. Technology – Technology has continued to be a relatively strong steer from our screen. But performance has been disparate within different sectors. We like semconductor manufacturers where things have not been as bad as many feared. In semi-conductors part of the issue has been the concern that people aren’t going to buy more PCs. That is true but actually there has been a pick-up in demand for chip content in other areas such as mobile internet and cars where demand has been rising around 10% a year. Also valuations here are very low but technicals are weak, so the market hasn’t latched on to this idea as yet.

d. Services – One area where we’ve been seeing the better side of revisions has been the services sector. There is quite good value, reasonable quality, earnings revisions have been at the high end and technical trends have been better. It is a very broad disparate group; so therefore a good area for finding attractive companies.