Wikimedia Commons. HMC Capital firma un acuerdo de distribución con DoubleLine
HMC Capital, a recognized financial advisory and investment firm, has signed a distribution agreement with DoubleLine Capital, a leading Los Angeles-headquartered investment management firm founded by Jeffrey Gundlach.
Following this agreement, HMC will distribute DoubleLine’s strategies, including the Shiller Enhanced CAPE investment strategy for institutional investors in Chile and Peru. The investment strategy is classified by research firm Morningstar as Large Cap Blend equity.
The DoubleLine Shiller Enhanced CAPE strategy seeks to outperform the S&P 500 index. The primary source of return is the portfolio’s exposure to the Shiller Barclays CAPE U.S. Core Sector Net ER USD Index NoC (CAPE Index), obtained through derivatives. A secondary source of return is achieved by actively investing the net assets in fixed income securities, which also collateralize the derivatives. Under the investment strategy’s “double-value proposition” net of costs, one dollar invested in the portfolio obtains one dollar exposure in the fixed income portfolio and one dollar of exposure to large-cap U.S. stocks via the CAPE index.
DoubleLine Capital and its related companies (“DoubleLine”) is an investment adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. DoubleLine and its related entities manage over 150 billion dollars in assets across all vehicles, including open-end mutual funds, collective investment trusts, closed-end funds, exchange-traded funds, hedge funds, variable annuities, UCITS and separate accounts.
The agreement with DoubleLine strengthens HMC Capital’s goal of representing leading fund managers in equities and fixed income globally, offering specialized investment opportunities to its clients.
“The DoubleLine Shiller Enhanced CAPE investment strategy has consistently outperformed the S&P 500 with its double-value enhancement proposition,” said Nicolás Fonseca, Head of Institutional Sales from HMC Capital. “DoubleLine is one of the top asset managers globally. We look forward to working with DoubleLine and are proud to represent and help expand the firm’s presence in Latin America.”
“It is important for us to have strong local representation in order to better serve our clients,” said Joel Peña, Head of Institutional and Intermediary Relations for DoubleLine in Latin America and the Caribbean. “We are therefore delighted to now have a strategic partnership with a firm like HMC Capital, a group of highly regarded professionals that have demonstrated a strong commitment to investors”.
PIMCO has chosen Nomi Network, Women for Women International and Girls Who Invest as its key gender equality partners for 2020. According to a press release, “the enhanced partnerships reflect PIMCO’s continued commitment to gender equality – within the investment management industry and throughout communities worldwide.”
PIMCO has worked with each of these gender equality focused organizations in various capacities over the years, alongside many others, but will expand its partnerships with all three organizations to increase impact and reach in 2020. The enhanced partnerships with Nomi Network and Women for Women International will support the economic empowerment of vulnerable women and girls. PIMCO’s partnership with Girls Who Invest will continue to help further build a talent pipeline of women investors in the asset management industry.
“Our focus on gender equality reflects our belief that everybody, regardless of gender, deserves equal access to opportunities, prospects and economic security,” said Emmanuel Roman, CEO of PIMCO. “We champion gender equality and diversity right here at PIMCO, throughout the investment management industry and in communities worldwide, not only because we believe it is right, but because we believe diversity in any industry and any community, makes us all stronger.”
The partnerships are part of PIMCO’s broader gender equality initiatives, driven in part by PIMCO’s Women & Investing platform which consists of three main focus areas – Women in Investing, Women as Investors and Investing in Women. These expanded partnerships reinforce PIMCO’s commitment to these focus areas.
Pixabay CC0 Public Domain. Aviva Investors llega a un acuerdo de distribución con Capital Strategies Partners para España, Portugal, Brasil y Uruguay
Aviva Investors, the asset manager of insurer Aviva, has struck a distribution deal with Madrid based Capital Strategies Partners, that will allow them to sell investment capabilities into Spain, Portugal, Brazil and Urugruay.
CSP will focus on distributing Aviva Investors’ credit, equity, liquidity, multi-asset and real assets capabilities through its wholesale and intstitutional channels.
According to a press release, the deal completes the manager’s geographical coverage of Iberia and Latin America, and complements an existing partnership with Exel Capital, which represents Aviva for the institutional markets in Chile, Peru and Columbia.
Charlie Jewkes, Head of Global Financial Institutions at Aviva Investors, will work with CSP in Brazil and Uruguay, while Paolo Sarno, head of Southern Europe at Aviva Investors, will work with CSP on distribution in Spain and Portugal. Cristina Rubio, Pedro Costa Felix, Jorge Benguria and Agustin Mariatti will lead the sales efforts in these markets for CSP.
Jewkes said: “We are delighted to enter into a partnership with CSP, which has a 20-year track record of raising assets in these markets for international asset managers. I believe this arrangement will be transformational in providing Aviva Investors with a footprint to promote our investment capabilities in some of the most exciting markets in the world.”
“As global macro, socioeconomic and regulatory changes continue to accelerate opportunities for international asset managers in the Latin American and Iberian regions, we look forward to bringing our full suite of capabilities to clients in those markets. The combination of growing personal wealth and some of the most forward-looking long-term savings reforms make the region extremely attractive. Our broader credentials as a leader in responsible investment provide us with an excellent platform to partner with early adopters of this philosophy, which we are already beginning to see.”
Daniel Rubio, CEO, Capital Strategies Partners, said: “We are delighted to kick off this project and work with Aviva Investors in some of our markets, which we are confident will be a success. Aviva Investors’ strong investment offering, asset management and insurance heritage and leadership in responsible investing will be very attractive to clients in these markets.”
The invitation for Franklin Templeton Mexico‘s 15th Anniversary party read: “2005; The first elections in Iraq; YouTube is born; Prince Carlos and Camila de Cornwall get married; Vicente Fox is president of Mexico; The Patriots win the Super Bowl XXXIX; Pope John Paul II dies, Mexico City Metrobus is launched; Evo Morales is elected president in Bolivia; Angela Merkel is elected Germany’s first female chancellor; George W. Bush is president of the United States again, “Million Dollar Baby” wins the Oscar for best film and Franklin Templeton opens his office in Mexico.” In charge of that office was, and continues to be, Hugo Petricioli, one of the main drivers of the country’s fund industry. In an interview with Funds Society, the manager talks about what the market was like then, how it is now and how he thinks it will evolve…
Petricioli, whose team today has over 30 people covering not only Mexico but also Central America from an office overlooking the famous “Independence Angel” on Reforma avenue, in Mexico City, remembers that when he established the firm, he worked from home for a year and had friends who “thought I was unemployed.”
At that time, they were the first firm in Mexico without its own distribution network, “that model is the model of a pure asset manager, we had to look for and expect many regulatory changes because the Mexican regulatory system came from the idea that operators were just an appendix of brokerage firms, that has changed a lot.” During 2006, several global asset managers tried to establish themselves in the region, but “by 2009 the majority had closed or radically changed their plans for the country, due to the lack of fiscal transparency and the issue with funds of funds, which in retrospect I think it was a very bad thing for the funds supply in Mexico and it greatly limited Mexican investors.”
Today, in his opinion, the sector has changed little at first sight, “the fund distributors did not multiply although their model can be very beneficial for investors, independent investment advisors practically do not participate in the sector because they don’t have the right platforms to maintain competitive prices and the players remain practically the same and in the same order as when we opened the office.”
However, he also considers that “there are important changes that are not noticed so easily: the corporate figure change , the specialization also changed, we see how the big banks are now looking for international managers to advise them on products where they do not have the experience and this is improving the quality of products in Mexico as well as the offer. As an industry we are much more united and we are weighing more and more, not only as a percentage of GDP but also as market participants,” he says.
About the future, Petricioli is positive: “I tend to be optimistic, otherwise I would never have started this adventure in an industry where all platforms were closed. The sector in Mexico is going to have to consolidate, the small players don’t have viability, the “groups” paradigm has to be broken, specialization is the way to grow and grow better.” As they say in Mexico “zapatero a tus zapatos” which means do what you are good at and what you are supposed to do. “I think that small and large players have to analyze in what business they are, are they distributors or managers? If they want to be both they need to make a real analysis of their own economies of scale. Do they really have them? Or not? And if they don’t have them they should have to rethink their model and decide. If we do things right, this sector could double in size in 5 years,” he comments.
To achieve this, the manager would like to see, among other things, a more competitive vehicle, a much more agile regulation and an improvement in the quality and quantity of information. “The Mexican vehicle is not competitive outside of Mexico because of the regulatory and fiscal framework, my industry colleagues are [competitive] and it is a pity that they cannot export their skills and be even more successful. With more and better standards everything would be clearer for everyone.” He mentions.
In his opinion, “the main challenge is that everything is complicated, nothing is agile. It is confusing. If we want to be inclusive and give all Mexicans the opportunity to generate wealth, we have to do something with absolutely all the materials, prospects, key documents, etc. Have you read a prospectus recently? Try to make a comparison in Mexico of funds, we don’t even have a standard in the Mexican series.”
Meanwhile, Petricioli and his team will continue to work to strengthen a market of which Jenny Johnson, president and CEO, of Franklin Resources said during the anniversary party: “As far back as the 1980s we saw the tremendous potential of Mexico and began making investments here with our emerging markets team…We look forward to strengthening these partnerships and deepening our relationships with you for the next 15 years…and beyond.”
In general, the success obtained so far “has been due to two factors: a large company with a great ethical standard and the possibility of building a great team. Without the team, we would not have been able to do anything. Success belongs to each and every one in it, and now we are presented with a great opportunity to offer products to all Mexicans that can generate wealth from their flow,” concludes Petricioli.
Foto cedida. Investors Trust and Aiva Join Forces to Better Serve the LatAm Market
Investors Trust and Aiva have joined forces to provide one of the most robust and complete range of products, services and support to financial advisors and clients in Latin America. This union aims to deliver a one of kind approach to clients needing comprehensive solutions in their financial planning goals.
According to a press release, “by joining efforts, the two companies can use their years of knowledge and expertise to collaborate and better service advisors in the region by providing a valued perspective and set of skills that might not otherwise be shared outside of this alliance… Both companies are excited for this opportunity to work together to further promote value driven business and excellence in the industry throughout the region. It is the great success and long-standing presence that have characterized them as leaders for more than 25 years.”
“This is an important milestone in our efforts to use our combined professional experiences to collectively grow and reach new heights in terms of service and distribution.” Said Ariel Amigo, Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Global Distribution at Investors Trust.
Elizabeth Rey, CEO of Aiva, added: “This partnership is sure to leverage the complementary strengths between two very successful companies, which will enhance significantly the value proposition to our advisors and clients.”
About Aiva
Aiva is a company specialized in wealth management solutions for affluent and high net worth clients in Latin America and the Caribbean. With over 25 years of experience, Aiva operates through a highly profes- sional network of independent financial advisors and world class financial institutions for Latin American clients.
About Investors Trust
Investors Trust is the global brand representing the ITA Group. ITA Group is an international group of insurance companies and subsidiaries, located in multiple jurisdictions around the world whose goal is to provide access to the global markets through an array of unit-linked insurance products.
Erika H. James, courtesy photo. Erika H. James Named Dean of Penn’s Wharton School
Erika H. James has been named the next dean of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, effective July 1. James will succeed Geoff Garrett, who is to become dean of the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. She will become the first woman and African-American to head the prestigious business school in its 139-year history.
“Erika is an award-winning scholar and teacher and a strong, proven leader who serves as dean of the Goizueta Business School at Emory University,” said Penn President, Amy Gutmann. “A passionate and visible champion of the power of business and business education to positively transform communities locally, nationally, and globally, she is exceptionally well prepared to lead Wharton into the next exciting chapter of its storied history.”
According to Wharton, James’ career has been notable for her commitment to meaningful cross-disciplinary collaboration, superb scholarship, passionate teaching, and excellence through diversity and inclusion. Since becoming dean of the Goizueta Business School in 2014, she has introduced and led an effort to build an innovation and entrepreneurship lab open to all students on campus. She grew the Goizueta faculty by 25 percent by the end of her first term, building a critical mass of junior faculty and seasoned scholars in key academic areas such as behavioral and decision-based research, business analytics, and health care innovation. With strong faculty input and support, she also expanded corporate engagement with the creation of a research-based corporate think tank.
“Erika has consistently and constructively drawn upon her own scholarship in the areas of leadership development, organizational behavior, gender and racial diversity, and crisis leadership,” Provost Wendell Pritchett said, “applying her own insights into human behavior to foster a work culture that allows people to thrive personally and professionally. She has led faculty and student workshops on such topics as unconscious bias and building trust across divides and has been engaged as a consultant by some of the nation’s largest and most prestigious firms.”
“This is an exciting time to be in business education,” James said. “The scope and platform of the Wharton School provides an opportunity to create far reaching impact for students, scholars, and the business community.”
At Emory, James undertook a significant redesign of the undergraduate business curriculum, integrating immersive learning, technology, and partnerships with Emory College’s liberal arts curriculum.
Prior to her deanship, she served as the senior associate dean for executive education at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, working closely with faculty to reimagine executive education and lifelong learning opportunities.
James is an active member of the SurveyMonkey Board and the Graduate Management Admissions Council, and previously served on the board of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the foremost accrediting body in business education. She was awarded the Earl Hill Jr. Faculty Achievement and Diversity Award from The Consortium, an organization committed to increasing diversity in business, starting with graduate school admissions. She has also been named one of the Top 10 Women of Power in Education by Black Enterprise and as one of the Power 100 by Ebony Magazine.
She holds a Ph.D. and master’s degree in organizational psychology from the University of Michigan and received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Pomona College of the Claremont Colleges, in California. In addition to her roles at Emory and UVA, she has served as an assistant professor at Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business and a visiting professor at Harvard Business School.
“Wharton has risen to even greater heights throughout Geoff’s enormously successful six-year tenure, reinforcing all of its traditional strengths while also building its global force in data analytics, entrepreneurship, fintech, behavioral economics, and other fields that are defining the future of business,” Gutmann said.
Barbara Novick, achive photo. vicepresidenta y cofundadora de BlackRock
Barbara Novick, BlackRock’s Vice Chairman and Co-Founder will step down from her day-to-day duties at the asset manager, according to an internal memo cited by various news outlets.
Novick, 59, will continue in her current role until her successor is chosen, a process she will help with and after which, she will serve as a senior adviser to the company.
“Much of the post-financial crisis policy work that Barbara led is largely implemented, and she has greatly enhanced our stewardship practices, including our commitment to transparency”, Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink said in the memo.
Barbara G. Novick, Vice Chairman, is a member of BlackRock’s Global Executive Committee, Corporate Risk Committee and Global Operating Committee. From the inception of the firm in 1988 to 2008, Novick headed the Global Client Group and oversaw global business development, marketing and client service across equity, fixed income, liquidity, alternative investment and real estate products for institutional and individual investors and their intermediaries worldwide.
In her current role, she oversees the firm’s efforts globally for public policy and for investment stewardship. In addition, she is a member of the Executive Committee of the Investment Company Institute.
Prior to founding BlackRock in 1988, Novick was a Vice President in the Mortgage Products Group at The First Boston Corporation. She joined First Boston in 1985 where she became head of the Portfolio Products Team. From 1982 to 1985, Novick was with Morgan Stanley.
Novick has authored numerous articles on asset management and public policy issues.
Alesandro Agnore has joined Unicorn Strategic Partners‘ sales team in Miami.
As Funds Society found out, Agnone joined the team last Monday and has more than 15 years of experience in companies such as Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo and Jefferies.
David Ayastuy, Managing Partner and Founder of Unicorn SP said: “Our goal is to continue investing in talent and to grow as much as the industry allows. We have strategies from the two managers that we represent for US offshore (BNY Mellon and Vontobel) that perfectly complement the different needs of customers and market situations. If the results continue to accompany us, the idea is to continue growing the team, and by the end of 2020 have a person based in Houston that covers Texas and West Coast, as well as an Internal Wholesaler in New York, where Mike Kearns, Head of US Offshore, is based.”
Unicorn SP currently has a team of 10 people, 6 of them based in the United States (in New York and Miami), and the rest in Latin America. In addition to BNY Mellon and Vontobel, the firm also represents Muzinich and as of a month ago, French boutique La Financiere de L’Echiquier.
Marysol Novo-Capello, courtesy photo. Marysol Novo-Capello se une a AXA Investment Managers
In an effort to strengthen its growing Americas Client Group, AXA Investment Managers has hired Marysol Novo-Capello as Key Account Manager.
Marysol will be based in Greenwich, CT and will report to Marcello Arona, Head of AXA IM Inc. and CEO of AXA IM in the Americas.
Marysol will focus on onboarding new investors and distributors, including wirehouses, independent broker-dealers, RIAs and regional private banks. Working with AXA IM’s sales & client services and operations team, she will also develop operational infrastructure and procedures to support expanding partnerships with offshore clients.
She was most recently with Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, where she successfully supported the development of the firm’s offshore fund business.
Latin American wealth and institutional investors are increasingly looking for alternative exposure according to Roque Calleja, Head of BlackRock Alternative Specialists (BAS) for Latin America.
In an interview with Funds Society, the specialist mentioned that BlackRock, as a local player across LatAm, has been able to identify this increase in demand from public to private exposure, and that along with his team, they are “uniquely positioned to deliver.”
The alternative space is one of BlackRock’s three focus growth areas, along with the iShares platform and technology. They currently manage aprox $200bn dollars across their global alternative solutions. Over the past few years, BlackRock has been building their alternatives investment platform as well as augmenting their existing credentials with additional capabilities
With the acquisition of eFront from private-equity firm Bridgepoint for $1.3 billion in cash last year, Roque expects that towards the end of 2020, the company will be able to integrate this amazing private market tool with their very much-established Aladdin, setting a new standard in investment and risk management technology, vastly expanding Aladdin’s alternatives capabilities and providing a whole-portfolio technology solution to clients. Their goal is “to be able to look through the entire portfolio, across public and private exposures.” Which will aid them in their endeavor of providing outcome-oriented solutions to clients.
“Our view is that today we are the only investment manager that can provide access to best in class capabilities across both the liquid and illiquid spectrum. Furthermore, we are the only manager that can fully model the total portfolio view to ensure we have clarity about the risks you are taking. We are uniquely positionedto build “Tomorrow’s Alternatives Platform” and be the alternatives provider of choice for our clients.”
In Calleja’s opinion the tilt towards private investments follows investor’s search for “returns and diversifications and specially in LatAm they are looking for income.”
Very diversified across asset classes
Calleja mentions that they have “a very diversified platform across all the different asset classes in alternatives, with the full spectrum of solutions for clients.” In Latin America, he mentions that when clients invest in alternatives, there has been historically a strong bias in private equity “since they are looking for the highest returns. Now however, across wealth and instructional portfolios alternatives are becoming a larger part of the portfolios and clients are looking into more diversified exposures. And with that, there is a huge demand for alternatives in the region, in both liquid and illiquid solutions… We see a lot of demand for private equity, real assets but also for private debt and others. Now you see it across the board, clients looking more holistically to have exposure to alternatives.”
Because of this, BlackRock is looking to democratize the asset class to give better access to clients. “We need to be more creative about how to bring illiquid solutions across the region and we are looking on new strategies for the wealth space, for distributors, family offices etc…”
In his opinion, one of their main differentiators is that, with three people in NYC and one in Peru, they have a dedicated team to cover the asset class in the region and that is “not about pushing product but helping clients in the transition of having a diversified exposure across public and private exposures’
“We give investors new choices and better value as they build alternatives allocations that match their specific needs...” He mentions
“As we are entering a ‘New Era of Alternatives’ deal sourcing is more important than ever – years ago you could have probably worked with any alts provider, but in this era, you want to have access to the widest and deepest global sourcing network that makes alts work for you, and BlackRock is truly different from any other alternatives player.” He concludes.
