In Depth – Page 43

  • Interviews

    Across the Gulf… and into the world

    June 2011 (Magazine)

    Limestone Asset Management launched its first fund, the New Europe Socially Responsible fund, in July 2008. Great timing: it was down 47% by December. But, that was 2.6 percentage points better than its benchmark, the Stoxx EU Enlarged Total Market index. And it made quite a comeback: when it ended 2009 up 83.1%, it left the index trailing by 42 percentage points – outperformance which it has built on since.

  • Features

    Arab Spring premium

    May 2011 (Magazine)

    Matthew Craig finds political upheaval in the MENA region generating volatility, opportunity and a new appreciation of risk

  • Interviews

    Accent on EM capability

    May 2011 (Magazine)

    Rudolf Apenbrink, HSBC Global Asset Management’s new EMEA CEO, outlined his firm’s strategy to Liam Kennedy following the integration of its Halbis and Sinopia brands

  • Interviews

    ‘Risk is everything to us’

    May 2011 (Magazine)

    Asset managers’ products rarely surprise anyone. You’re an equities specialist? You’ll have US, European, UK, emerging markets funds, maybe Japan. Fixed income? I’ll choose from your treasuries, gilts and Eurozone products, investment grade and high yield, maybe local currency emerging markets. There might even be some convertibles tucked away somewhere.

  • Features

    X marks the spot

    April 2011 (Magazine)

    The hinterland between investment grade and high yield delivers an intriguing risk profile. But Martin Steward also finds that profile changing

  • Interviews

    Five years on

    April 2011 (Magazine)

    When Peter Wilby begins our conversation by remarking on Stone Harbor Investment Partners’ imminent fifth birthday, it is as if, stepping back, he suddenly realises what a thrill ride it has been.

  • Features

    Call off the funeral

    March 2011 (Magazine)

    Since the dotcom bust investors have endured a long period of headlines announcing the ‘Death of Venture Capital’. So why are practitioners telling Martin Steward to expect a new lease of life?

  • Interviews

    Breaking the bonds

    March 2011 (Magazine)

    Last month’s Strategically Speaking looked at how the dynamics of ageing, pension fund decumulation and tighter capital adequacy had influenced Schroders’ transformation from UK equities investor to global multi-asset manager.

  • Features

    Still at the station

    February 2011 (Magazine)

    Investors cursing themselves for missing the private equity secondaries train in 2009 can still get onboard, finds Martin Steward

  • Interviews

    Consolidating and concentrating

    February 2011 (Magazine)

    There has been a lot of change at Finasta Asset Management over the last two years. In 2009 parent company Finasta Group was sold by Lithuanian heavyweight Invalda to Bank Snoras, which had its own asset management outfit. This division was merged with Finasta Asset Management at the beginning of 2010, creating a rather odd-looking entity that was ripe for ‘synergies’.

  • Interviews

    Positioned for the new era in pensions

    February 2011 (Magazine)

    There are some clear long-term trends in pension asset management in Europe. Collective is giving way to individual provision. Defined benefit (DB) schemes are closing, crystalising liabilities and deficits, and implementing LDI programmes. This, together with accounting and capital adequacy standards and the decumulation phase of an ageing demographic, is pushing funds into fixed income. Where growth assets are still required, investors look beyond domestic markets because growth is expected to come from emerging economies.

  • Features

    Russian bank roulette

    January 2011 (Magazine)

    Shares in the bigger Russian banks are spiking on the belief of further consolidation and privatisation in the sector, writes Richard Hemming

  • Interviews

    Latin translation

    January 2011 (Magazine)

    “We have a saying in Spain,” says BBVA’s head of global asset management Luisa Gómez Bravo. “‘No vendas la piel del oso antes de haberlo cazado’.” Don’t sell the bearskin until you’ve hunted the bear. The proverb comes in response to the question of how the €140bn asset management unit of one of the biggest global banking brands remains so little-known among Europe’s institutional investors.

  • Interviews

    Winton’s global equity strategy

    December 2010 (Magazine)

    The West London offices of Winton Capital Management, best known for the diversified managed futures programme that has helped it grow into one of Europe’s biggest hedge funds, feel more like a university campus than an HQ of an asset management firm.

  • Features

    Get converted

    December 2010 (Magazine)

    The convex payoff of convertible bonds is well-suited to these uncertain times. But Martin Steward asks how easy – or desirable – it is to maintain optimal convexity

  • Interviews

    Bridges to somewhere

    November 2010 (Magazine)

    Mark Weisdorf knows a thing or two about how and why pension funds invest in infrastructure assets. Before joining JP Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM) to set up its infrastructure investments group in 2006 he developed the real estate, private equity and infrastructure strategies for the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s CA$130bn (€92bn) portfolio, experience that led to his founding Mark Weisdorf Associates, a consultancy dedicated to advising institutional investors on their allocations to these asset classes.

  • Interviews

    The lion that’s finding its courage

    November 2010 (Magazine)

    The nightmare for any fund management firm is losing key managers whose clients follow them out of the door. It can tear apart a firm’s credibility, leading to further fund outflows and a further loss of credibility – a ‘death spiral’ that can demolish once mighty firms.

  • Features

    Cashflow kings

    November 2010 (Magazine)

    Any long-term investor should be a dividend investor, notes Lynn Strongin Dodds. But the rules of the game are changing

  • Interviews

    Facing forward, facing outward

    October 2010 (Magazine)

    Janus was the Roman god of doorways, and by extension of beginnings and endings. Double-faced, he looked both forward and backward, which is why he lent his name to the month of January. Janus Capital Group also takes its name from this god, but rather than facing forward and backward, ...

  • Features

    Barbarians at the gate

    October 2010 (Magazine)

    Gold may be a good hedge against an investment portfolio’s fiat currency exposures. But, Martin Steward asks, does it matter that some investors may be holding it for very different reasons?