Photo: Narch, Flickr, Creative Commons. Luxembourg Approves an Alternative Fund Structure
The law introducing a new Luxembourg alternative fund structure, the Reserved Alternative Investment Fund (RAIF), has been approved by the Luxembourg Parliament and will come into force three days after publication in Luxembourg’s Official Gazette Mémorial.
Welcoming the new law, Denise Voss, Chairman of the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry, says: “The Luxembourg RAIF Law provides an additional – complementary – alternative investment fund vehicle which is similar to the Luxembourg SIF regime. Unlike the SIF, the RAIF does not require approval of the Luxembourg regulator, the CSSF, but is supervised via its alternative investment fund manager (AIFM), which must submit regular reports to the regulator. Luxembourg managers will therefore have a choice, depending on investor preference. They can set up their alternative investment funds as Part II UCIs, SIFs or SICARs if they prefer direct supervision of the fund by the CSSF. Alternatively they can set up their alternative investment fund as a RAIF, thereby reducing time-to-market.”
Freddy Brausch, Vice-Chairman of ALFI with responsibility for national affairs, adds: “In order to ensure sufficient protection and regulation via its manager, a RAIF must be managed by an authorised external AIFM. The latter can be domiciled in Luxembourg or in any other Member State of the EU. If it is authorised and fully in line with the requirements of the AIFMD, the AIFM can make use of the marketing passport to market shares or units of RAIFs on a cross-border basis. As is the case for Luxembourg SIFs and SICARs, shares or units of RAIFs can only be sold to well-informed investors.
Denise Voss concludes: “The new structure complements Luxembourg’s attractive range of investment fund products and we believe this demonstrates the understanding the Luxembourg legislator has of the needs of the fund industry in order to best serve the interests of investors.“
You can click here to access the legislative history in French.
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrMarc Bolland . Marc Bolland to Become Head of European Portfolio Operations at Blackstone
Blackstone, one of the largest asset managers in the world has appointed Marc Bolland as Head of European Portfolio Operations of its private equity businesses. Bolland was formerly Chief Executive of Marks and Spencer and previously Chief Executive of Morrisons and Chief Operating Officer of Heineken. He will start on September, 19th, 2016.
Joseph Baratta, global Head of Private Equity at Blackstone, said: “We are delighted that Marc is joining us. He has had an outstanding career leading and developing major international businesses, and I am sure he will add great value to our current and future portfolio businesses.”
Marc Bolland said: “I am very pleased to be joining a firm of the quality and scale of Blackstone. I look forward to working with its extraordinary team and the businesses owned by Blackstone funds to drive growth and to add value for investors.”
Bolland was named The Times “Businessman of the year” in 2008.
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Paramita. It's Getting Late In The Business Cycle
While the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union (Brexit) has temporarily undermined market confidence, my confidence in equities was on the decline in advance of the vote. So let’s take a break from Brexit for a few minutes and look at some longer-term fundamentals.
I remain disenchanted with stocks and I need to see improvement in five key metrics before changing my view:
Improved pricing power for US based multi-national companies
Better consumer spend on goods and services
A weaker dollar relative to other currencies
Rising capital expenditures, especially in information technology
Moderating labor and health care costs
I’m focused on the behaviour of the private sector and its ability to generate free cash flows. During this business cycle, which began in July 2009, the US and many developed markets experienced record high profit margins, best-ever free cash flows relative to the size of the overall economy and high returns on equity. This surprised many cautious investors given that both the global and US growth rates had fallen below trend. The reasons for the high profit generation, which were complex, included gains in manufacturing sector efficiency, productive use of technology, rapid asset turnover, capital-light strategies, employment of global labor, use of operating leverage instead of financial leverage and low energy costs.
During the last three quarters most of these tailwinds for risk markets began to falter. Margins narrowed not just in the materials and mining sectors, but throughout much of the S & P 500, countering well-established trends that dated back to 2009. Now, selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses have been rising as a percentage of revenues. Financial leverage is replacing operating leverage, and both return on equity and margins continue to weaken into midyear.
All of these measures feed into a very important metric for me—the share of US gross domestic product going to the owners of capital. When the share of the economy going to the owners as profits begins to subside, a direct casualty is capital expenditure and durable goods spending.
Both are now weakening. Big ticket expenditures like purchases of machine tools by manufacturing firms and information technology spending by most firms, are a key to future growth of both jobs and profits and tend to perpetuate the cycle. These large expenditures by businesses have been weakening and the trend is downward.
The US consumer is doing better. Spending is increasing, but consumers have not spent the extra income afforded by the earlier oil price decline. And now, worryingly, energy prices are rebounding. The US dollar had been weak during much of this cycle, but now because of interest rate differentials and a flight to safety, the dollar has been heading back up. The strong company fundamentals that were the signature of this longer-than-usual cycle, have weakened in almost all categories.
Overall I am biased toward being underweight equities. Within equities I would favor US shares relative those of the UK, Eurozone and Japan. Some emerging markets look attractive, particularly Latin America and Eastern Europe, but selectivity is very important, as always. In fixed income I prefer high yield because fundamentals in the US remain solid with odds favoring the US avoiding recession near-term, in my view.
History tells us a weakening of the profit cycle can herald recession. Usually a profits recession comes as rising interest rates hijack consumer and business spending. US recession risks are rising, but the risk of rates rising seems remote now. Rather than a recession unfolding soon, I see a continuing plague of profit disappointments but no economic collapse. A kind of investor’s limbo, if you will. I hope the five points above reverse, but unless they do, late cycle flags should be a caution to investors.
James Swanson, CFA, MFS Chief Investment Strategist.
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Laura Lewis
. The Consultant Relations Function Is a Priority in Institutional Marketing and Sales
According to new research from Cerulli Associates, the U.S. asset management industry, for the first time, is making the consultant relations function a priority in the marketing and sales of institutional products and strategies, thus underscoring the continuing gatekeeper role of investment consultants in the institutional distribution process. The majority of asset managers indicate the importance of having a consultant relations function has increased significantly over the past five years.
“Five years ago, less than half of asset managers viewed consultant relations teams as very important, and that number climbed to nearly 80% this year,” states Chris Mason, research analyst. “And that view of consultant relations is expected to solidify over time with 90% expected to take that view within the next three years.”
“Institutional asset managers have increasingly looked to investment consultants as a major source of new business opportunities in recent years,” Mason explains. “In 2015, asset managers reported that 58% of their net flows were consultant-intermediated, and that number is expected to surpass 60% by the end of this year.”
“Consultant relations has evolved from a ‘nice to have’ resource to an absolute necessity,” Mason adds. “As a result, almost all managers have at least some form of a consultant relations function within their organization.”
While a quality consultant relations function is becoming key to asset managers, Cerulli maintains that industry acceptance of the function is just the first step. Field consultants and the manager research staffs that support them are increasingly focusing their efforts on narrowing their manager coverage and requiring more in-depth information and data from those they analyze, according to the report.
The firm´s latest report, U.S. Investment Consultants 2016: Collaborating with Consultants to Improve Investor Outcomes,explores the institutional investment consulting landscape and the evolving consultant business model. Research examines the growing needs across institutional client segments and how asset managers can collaborate with gatekeepers to meet institutions’ changing needs.
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Moyan Brenn. The Implications Of Brexit For The Emerging World
In the end, the implications of Brexit are larger for the UK and Europe than for the emerging world. But this does not mean that Brexit does not impact EM.
Firstly, if there is a prolonged risk aversion in global markets, eventually it should affect the weakest links most. Large parts of the emerging world are still suffering from weak growth, the excessive leverage built up in the past years that limits the room for a domestic demand recovery, a high reliance on foreign capital and increased political risk.
Secondly, Brexit has increased the likelihood of an extended period of US dollar strength. This is never good for emerging markets: EM currencies are likely to depreciate and capital outflows should increase. Also, a stronger USD index normally means that the price of oil and other commodities declines. This affects the commodity‐ exporting countries, which in general are the fundamentally weaker economies.
Thirdly, the uncertainty caused by Brexit should lead to an adjustment in growth expectations for the UK and Europe. This hurts central Europe and Asia, for which Europe is the main trading partner. And global trade was already weak. It has recovered a bit in recent months, from ‐3% in January to +2% in April, but we should question the sustainability of this pick‐up now. Also relevant in this context is the weakening of the euro. This does certainly not help the Asian exporters.
And fourthly, with the globalisation trend already struggling in the past few years, Brexit could turn out to be a new negative factor. Trade between the UK and Europe is likely to be affected in the first years after Brexit and more headwinds for global trade could emerge after the US elections. The emerging economies have poor domestic demand growth prospects mainly due to the large debt overhang after many years of excessive credit growth. As a consequence, global trade has become even more important for a possible recovery. Globalisation in reverse would justify an adjustment in longer‐term growth expectations for the emerging world as a whole.
Willem Verhagen is Senior Economist and Maarten-Jan Bakkum is Strategist, Emerging Markets Equity at NN Investment Partners.
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Hubert Figuiere. Three Reasons Not to Boot Your Bonds After Brexit
As the dust settles, and the house of Commons schedules a hearing on September 5th, to discuss the possibility of a second Referendum, AB’s Paul DeNoon, Director—Emerging-Market Debt, Scott DiMaggio, Director—Global Fixed Income and Canada Fixed Income, and Gershon Distenfeld, Director—High Yield and Investment-Grade Credit, offer three reasons you shouldn’t “exit” your bond portfolios.
1.- Calm and Orderly Markets. A crisis? The AB specialists believe they are far from it. Political turmoil in the UK aside, most people are keeping their heads. The markets have in fact been remarkably well behaved. And the further from the center of the storm, the less the disruption. US municipal markets, for example, remained completely unruffled as events unfolded, they explain.
The UK and countries most proximate to it came under the most stress. “Riskier assets, including European high yield, were briefly down in price owing to correlations with equities. Interestingly, however, we saw no forced selling when prices dipped.”
What did they see instead? Buyers. As a result, higher-yielding bonds outside of Europe have held up nicely. Even emerging-market debt weathered the situation well; that’s partly because although oil is down 4.5% in response to Brexit, other commodities such as copper are on the rise.
Already, the capital markets appear to have stabilized, they state.
The three od them believe there are critical reasons why in spite of uncertainty and political drama, the impact has been limited, rather than fueling a contagion or meltdown effect, as in 2008. “The global banking system is in far better condition now than then, thanks to increased regulation, and the derivatives market has been cleaned up as well. Together with central bank policy responses, these give investors confidence in the financial system.”
2.- Credit Loves “Lower, Longer.” How long might this go on? The UK must trigger Article 50 to start the clock on exiting the EU. From then, the exit process will take another two years, though that could be extended. Prime Minister Cameron says he will leave triggering Article 50 to the next prime minister.
“To the extent that Brexit creates economic and financial market uncertainty for an extended period, the Federal Reserve and other central banks distant from the epicenter are likely to remain accommodative for longer. And make no mistake: there will be a central bank policy response around the globe—one that we believe will be enough to offset the growth shock in the UK. But that’s not bad news for investors.” the AB directors state.
“Over the longer run, slower growth and interest rates that remain lower for longer may prove helpful to credit markets outside Europe. While recession is bad for credit markets, so too is rapid growth, which leads to rapid tightening. The sweet spot? Slow growth, which keeps central banks in low-rate territory.”
3.- You Kept Some Powder Dry. DeNoon, DiMaggio y Distenfeld recall that during times of market stress, investors who have kept cash on the sidelines can snap up attractively priced securities before they’re bid higher again.
Over the last few days, opportunities sprang up in commercial mortgage-backed securities and the financials sector. In their opinion, investors who either felt too risk averse to take on new positions during that time, or would have had to sell positions at low prices in order to buy new ones, missed out.
“Savvy global core investors—those who invest in global bonds as a strategic offset to risk assets—also came into Brexit currency-hedged, and will stay that way.” During the flight to safety, currencies close to the center of the storm fared poorly, but the US dollar, yen and Swiss franc did well. As a result, even a UK bond position performed well in portfolios that were hedged into US dollars they point out.
“There’s no question that the global bond markets saw exaggerated price movements following the Brexit referendum, particularly in the UK and the rest of Europe. And we’re continuing to closely monitor the situation. But we’ve not observed stress in the short-term funding markets, forced selling by risk-parity strategies or panicked investor outflows. On the contrary, investors hold core bond or high-income portfolios for specific investment reasons—reasons that still hold true today. As long as bond portfolios maintain adequate liquidity in the face of volatile markets, the Brexit experience shows that it pays to keep bonds on board.” They conclude.
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Juan FernandezG. Ignacio Pedrosa Joins BTG Pactual in Chile
BTG Pactual Chile hired Ignacio Pedrosa, as Executive Director of its Internatonal Funds division.
Pedrosa has had a successful career in Asset Management and Private Banking with over 20 years experience. Prior to joining BTG Pactual he was in charge of the Spanish operations of French Tikehau Investment Management. Before that he served in Spain’s most renowned independent asset managers, Bestinver and EDM and was a member of the Board of the United Investors Sicav Luxembourg. Between 1999 and 2005 he held various positions at Banco Urquijo (Sabadell) including Regional Private Banking Director.
He holds and Economics and Business BA from the San Pablo CEU University in Madrid.
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrRoger Ibbotson set up Zebra Capital in 2001.. Kepler Launches New UCITS Platform with A Global Equity Beta Neutral Fund Advised by Zebra Capital
Kepler Partners LLP has raised $81m via its new UCITS platform, Kepler Liquid Strategies (KLS), for a global equity beta neutral fund. This is the first sub-fund of the KLS ICAV, which is a Dublin domiciled UCITS structure designed to give investors access to high quality managers selected by the team at Kepler Partners.
The fund, KLS Zebra Global Equity Beta Neutral, began trading on June 30th and saw significant interest from investors across Europe, despite the chaos in financial markets around the Brexit referendum.
Kepler has appointed Connecticut based Zebra Capital Management LLC as investment advisor on the fund, who will manage the portfolio based on their established investment process and philosophy. The KLS Zebra Global Equity Beta Neutral fund mirrors a strategy run by Zebra Capital in an existing offshore hedge fund. As a beta neutral strategy, it is designed to avoid the kind of volatility which markets have been experiencing in recent weeks. The new fund targets a net return of 7-8% per annum over a market cycle with a volatility of 5-6% per annum.
The underlying strategy is typically made up of 650 long and 450 short equity positions and uses a unique ‘popularity factor’ developed by the Zebra team which includes former Yale Professor Roger Ibbotson, who set up Zebra Capital in 2001. The core theory revolves around the idea that fundamentally strong but unpopular stocks tend to outperform fundamentally weak but popular companies. Ibbotson was described by the FT this year as the ‘pioneering analyst of the equity risk premium’ and the ‘godfather of smart beta’.
Georg Reutter, head of research at Kepler Partners, said: “Given the current uncertainty in global markets, we feel it is a good moment to be bringing a beta neutral strategy to the market. We are very pleased that our research based approach has led us to partnering with Zebra Capital as the first fund on the KLS platform.”
Laurie Robathan, head of sales, added: “Kepler has raised $1.3bn for UCITS fund clients since 2010 and, after biding our time for some years, it is exciting to have now made the logical step into this space by launching our own dedicated UCITS platform”. “We are very pleased to be working with a group of Zebra’s calibre and their total commitment as a firm to this project has been clear from the outset. Given the turmoil of recent weeks, the success of this launch is a clear signal from the market that this is the right fund at the right time.”
KLS Zebra Global Equity Beta Neutral Fund has an annual fee of 1% and a performance fee of 10%.
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Intv Gene. GAM announces acquisition of Cantab Capital Partners and launches GAM Systematic investment platform
GAM announced the acquisition of Cantab Capital Partners (Cantab), an industry-leading, multi-strategy systematic manager based in Cambridge, UK. Cantab manages USD 4.0 billion in assets for institutional clients worldwide.
Purchase price consists of an upfront cash payment of USD 217 million, funded from GAM’s existing cash resources, and deferred consideration based on future management fee revenues. GAM is the industry’s third-biggest provider of liquid alternative UCITS funds.
At the same time, GAM launches GAM Systematic, a new investment platform dedicated to systematic products and solutions across liquid alternatives and long-only traditional asset classes including equities, debt and multi asset. Cantab will form the cornerstone of GAM Systematic.
By moving into the growing segment of scalable systematic investing, GAM takes an important step to deliver on its long-term objective to expand and diversify its active asset management business. Leading systematic strategies are attracting substantial allocations from investors globally due to their compelling returns and their rigorous, disciplined investment processes.
GAM Systematic will complement GAM’s successful active discretionary investment offering. It will also serve as the Group’s innovation hub for the development of new technologies, investment ideas and approaches for systematic strategies and products.
Alexander S. Friedman, Group Chief Executive Officer of GAM, said: “We have been evaluating how best to enter the systematic space for the past 18 months because we believe it represents an important capability for an active investment firm in the current environment and in the decades to come. GAM Systematic will offer our clients a compelling range of unique products complementary to our strong discretionary product range at a time when the investment industry is challenged to provide cost-efficient, liquid and diversified sources of returns.”
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Michael Baldinger. Michael Baldinger To Leave RobecoSAM, Reto Schwager To Be Appointed CEO Ad Interim
RobecoSAM, the investment specialist focused exclusively on Sustainability Investing (SI), today announced that Michael Baldinger, RobecoSAM CEO since 2011 and Member of the Executive Committee (ExCo) since 2009, has decided to leave the firm. He will join the asset management division of an international bank as Global Head of Sustainable & Impact Investing, and will be based in New York.
Reto Schwager, Head of Private Equity at RobecoSAM and Member of the Company’s ExCo since January 2015, will be appointed CEO ad interim per August 15, 2016, subject to FINMA approval. Michael Baldinger will leave the Company once a smooth handover to the CEO ad interim has been completed. A search process for a permanent replacement of Michael Baldinger has already begun. Both internal and external candidates will be considered.
Michael Baldinger joined RobecoSAM in July 2009 as Global Head of Distribution & Marketing and ExCo Member. In January 2011, he was appointed CEO.
Albert Gnägi, PhD, Chairman of the RobecoSAM Board of Directors: “The Board of Directors regrets Michael Baldinger’s decision and thanks him for his contributions over the last years. Michael Baldinger, his ExCo colleagues, and all the dedicated specialists at RobecoSAM have built the world’s foremost platform for SI, upon which the firm will continue to build and grow. We wish Michael all the best for his personal and professional future.”
Michael Baldinger, departing CEO of RobecoSAM: “I am proud of having built, together with my colleagues, the world’s leading platform for SI. After more than seven years with the firm, it is the right time for me to take the next step in my career. I want to thank everyone at RobecoSAM for their dedication and passion to SI and for having given me the opportunity to lead such a wonderful firm.”
