The Dreyfus Corporation, the mutual fund arm of BNY Mellon Investment Management, and CenterSquare Investment Management have launched the Dreyfus Global Infrastructure Fund which provides individual investors with the opportunity to invest in the growth potential of infrastructure assets that connect people, resources, trade, goods and services and information around the world.
With developed nations looking to improve or replace aging infrastructure assets, and many emerging markets countries building out their infrastructure to grow their economies, the World Economic Forum estimates that $100 trillion will be invested in global infrastructure between 2010 and 2031. Traditionally, most infrastructure projects have been financed by the public sector. However, with public debt historically high versus GDP, more private capital will be required to fund future investment, giving investors increasing opportunities to benefit from an infrastructure allocation in their portfolios.
CenterSquare Investment Management, the sub-adviser for the fund, is a BNY Mellon Investment Management boutique specializing in real asset investing. CenterSquare cites a number of factors driving the need for infrastructure investment globally, including new sources of renewable energy, the discovery and utilization of new oil and gas deposits, and technological advances in communications, among others. Underpinning the demand for these assets is a growing and increasingly urban population and an expanding middle class, adding more consumers and increasing world trade.
Todd Briddell, chief executive officer and chief investment officer for CenterSquare, said, “We expect that there will be tremendous global demand for infrastructure assets over the next few decades. Companies that build and operate infrastructure assets are likely to see a significant benefit from the economic and secular trends to rehabilitate aging infrastructure and create new infrastructure to meet growing demand. As a result, listed infrastructure companies will increasingly take on a more significant role in the development and ownership of these assets.”
Briddell added, “Our investment focus will be on companies managing real assets with strong cash flow visibility, low direct commodity exposure, long duration contracts, and a steady long-term demand outlook. The Dreyfus Global Infrastructure Fund will give investors exposure to this dynamic and expanding sector, while seeking to provide a growth alternative which may complement other equity asset classes.”
Managing an infrastructure strategy is a natural extension of CenterSquare’s expertise in listed real estate and real assets, said Briddell, who added, “As in listed real estate, the return and risk characteristics of global infrastructure securities are based on the underlying real assets.”
The launch of the Dreyfus Global Infrastructure Fund follows the December 2014 launch of CenterSquare’s infrastructure strategy for institutional investors.
The primary portfolio managers for the fund are Maneesh Chhabria, who was instrumental in the development of CenterSquare’s global real estate investment trust (REIT) platform in 2006, and Joshua B. Kohn, a real assets investment specialist with more than 13 years of investment experience.
Photo: Ricardo Mogrovejo. Ricardo Mogrovejo Is the New Head of Alternative Investments at HMC ITAJUBA
Following his departure from AFP Capital, the pension fund management firm from Grupo SURA in Chile a few months ago, economist and MBA Ricardo Mogrovejo has now joined HMC ITAJUBA, a Latin America financial services and advisory firm born in a partnership between HMC and Itajuba.
Mogrovejo, as CIO of AFP Capital, led the team responsible for the pension funds with 37 Billion USD of assets under management.
Partner Ricardo Morales told that the choice of Mogrovejo has to do with his knowledge and experience on fund management and portfolio construction. “The key to success is selecting the best managers but also those that are willing to commit time and resources to the region. We have a regional approach and we have learn that to have a leadership position we need to attract the best talent, we need to understand that each country is constantly developing new trends and developments and that each client segment requires different type of information. HMC ITAJUBA has developed long term relations with the institutional market on the region, and we reinforce this commitment by the recruitment of Mogrovejo, who will help us to bring the best alternative products to our clients and to develop a business strategy for them adapted to each country.”
Partner Leonardo Camozzato adds “Mogrovejo will add significant experience to our platform and we are proud to attract the second former CIO of a large Pension Fund in the region in the last 24 months. The first one was Daniel Dancourt, previously CIO of Integra in Peru. Together, they managed approximately USD 50 bn of AUM, roughly 50% in Latam assets and 50% in international instruments, including alternative investments”.
Ricardo Mogrovejo will start in April, 2015 and be based at HMC ITAJUBA office in Santiago, Chile.
Foto: daliphoto
. Mercado inmobiliario español: explosión, suelo y futuro
Under the title Spanish Real Estate: Burst, Bottom and Future, a session on Spanish Real Estate has been organized by Arcano USA at Columbia University (NY) on April 14th, 2015 at 7 p.m.
The panelist include: Sonny Kalsi, Founder and Partner at GreenOak Real Estate; José María de Arcas, Managing Partner at Alpha Moonlight; Ignacio Iturriaga, Founding Partner at IREA and Guillermo Fernández, Real Estate Director at AXIARE. Mónica Vidal, Managing Director at Arcano Group will moderate the round table.
If there has been one market that has captured real estate investors’ imagination more than any other in 2014 it has been Spain. As big capital continues to pour into the country, the session wants to help investors to find the value opportunities in 2015.
The Master of Science in Real Estate Development at Columbia University in the City of New York will hold this monographic session on Spanish Real Estate Investment. The event will go into how Spain got to a real estate collapse like the one lived in 2008, why it bottomed and where it is now. The panelists will discuss about their experiences investing and advising on recent transactions with the new institutional stakeholders: SAREB, SOCIMIs and foreign private equity funds.
The year 2015 could be a mirror image of the year 1981, when highly restrictive policies by the U.S. Federal Reserve ended a prolonged uptrend in inflation, according to BNY Mellon Chief Economist Richard Hoey. Hoey made the comments in his March 25 commentary, State of the Debate.
Yields peaked in 1981 when anti-inflationary policy under Paul Volcker, then the chairman of the Federal Reserve, was aggressive enough to halt the uptrend in inflation. Hoey believes that today’s anti-deflationary policies by central banks will prove aggressive enough to overcome today’s risks of deflation, disinflation and lowflation. He believes that this means that the year 2015 is likely to mark both a bottom in inflation and the end of the long secular decline in bond yields. This may result in a transition from the “coupon plus” bond market of current yield plus capital gains on bonds over much of the last three decades to a “coupon minus” bond market.
This is an echo of his Forbes magazine column in 1981 titled Last Chance This Century, in which he stated, “I personally believe that the peak in long-term interest rates reached during 1981 is likely to stand for at least the next century.” Hoey describes a likely mirror image opposite pattern in 2015 as bottoming inflation and bond yields as a “reverse Last Chance This Century.”
“The central banks have placed such a priority on fighting deflation risks that they are accepting the risk of asset bubbles in order to generate an upward shift in current spending,” Hoey said. “Given the intensity of the banks’ anti-deflationary policies, higher inflation should return, although not for a while.” Overall, Hoey said he expects a gradual normalization of inflation rather than upsurge to excessive inflation.
The legacy of excess capacity in many countries that resulted from the Great Recession is a key reason for the low inflation today, despite the low interest rates and quantitative easing, the report said. The report notes that it has taken time to work off this capacity. In addition increased financial regulations that were motivated by the recession have slowed the response to monetary policy, the report said.
Hoey is optimistic about the prospects for a long expansion in the world economy, although he said that he expects gross domestic product growth to be on a lower path than before the recession. “This expectation results from a one-time downshift in growth from the effect of the Great Recession plus deteriorating demographics that reflect a decelerating growth rate for the working-age population in many countries,” he said. “Also, we’re seeing suboptimal economic policies in many countries.”
Foto: Michael Dorausch. Sotheby's International Realty entra en el mercado brasileño
Sotheby’s International Realty announced that Brezilian Imobiliaria Bossa Nova has joined the brand and will now do business as Bossa Nova Sotheby’s International Realty. The firm, led by owners Luciano Amado as president and Marcello Romero as vice president, is located at Alameda Gabriel Monteiro da Silva 2027, Pinheiros, Sao Paulo.
“Sao Paulo andRio de Janeiro are exciting markets that encompass extraordinary properties in a broadly diverse destination, and provide a highly influential source of avid real estate buyers,” said Philip White, president and chief executive officer, Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates. “We are pleased to welcome Luciano, Marcello and their team to our global network.”
According to Romero, the new affiliation with the brand represents the opportunity for them to expand and grow. “The support of this brand will allow us to supply our team with new technologies, training and market intelligence, combined with an extraordinary inventory in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and top beach and countryside locations,” said Amado. “Thanks to this affiliation, we now have direct access to a global market through the brand’s 760 offices worldwide.”
The brand´s network has currently more than 16,500 sales associates located in approximately 760 offices in 60 countries and territories worldwide. Bossa Nova Sotheby’s International Realty listings are marketed on the global website. In addition to the referral opportunities and widened exposure generated from this source, the firm’s brokers and their clients will benefit from an association with the Sotheby’s auction house and worldwide marketing programs of the Real Estate Business. Each office is independently owned and operated.
Pixabay CC0 Public Domain. Los gestores de fondos latinoamericanos mejoran de forma significativa sus perspectivas sobre la renta variable mexicana
According to Family Wealth, UBS Wealth Management has a new leader for the Latin America and Caribbean regions, effective March 30. Alexander G van Tienhoven, a former manager at Citi, will join the company, based in Zurich.
As Latin American and Caribbean Managing Director, van Tienhoven will be responsible for Brazil, Mexico, Bahamas, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Guyana, Central America and the Caribbean. He will report to Paul Raphael, who leads the global emerging markets business, and takes over from Gabriel Castello, who is now responsible for WM Europe International.
Alexander G van Tienhoven is one of the most senior and experienced wealth management executives in the Latin American market. He had a 27-year career at Citi, where he joins from. In his latest position was CEO for Citi Wealth and Investment Management in Mexico and Latin America. In his role, he was responsible for the Citi Private Bank, Citigold Private Client, Banamex Banca Privada & Patrimonial, Citigold International and International Personal Banking the businesses in the region. He was also responsible for the Asset Management, Brokerage, Retirement, Insurance and Trust businesses.
Mr. van Tienhoven received a B.S.E. from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, in 1987 and attended the Stanford University Business School Executive Program in 1999.
Foto: Geraint Rowland. Toronto, Nueva York, Islas Vírgenes Británicas y Sao Paulo: los mayores centros financieros de Las Américas
According to the Global Financial Centers Index (GFCI) published this week by Z/Yen Group,New York, London, Hong Kong, and Singapore are the four leading global financial centers in the world. All four centers gained points and retain their relative ranks. New York remains the top centre and Tokyo is in fifth place.
Four of the top five North American centers were up in the ratings. San Francisco is slightly down, losing some of the ‘fintech’ gains made in the previous edition. Chicago, Boston, and Toronto all showed small improvements in the ratings.
Caribbean islands are well ahead of Latin American mainlands. The top ‘island’ centers all rose but the Latin American centers of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Mexico City fell.
Western European centers are a mixed bunch. The top five European centers are in the same rank order as in the last report London, Zurich, Geneva, Luxembourg, and Frankfurt. Dublin sees the largest increase in ratings. The Channel Islands regain ground lost and Rome, Madrid, Lisbon, and Reykjavik languish as the Eurozone crisis continues.
Eastern European and Central Asian centers decline. Istanbul, Almaty, Prague and Warsaw all saw their ratings decline. Uncertainty in Ukraine has undoubtedly cast a shadow over this region.
Eleven of the top twelve Asia/Pacific centers see a rise in their ratings and rankings. Busan had the largest rise, followed by Shenzhen and Taipei. The Chinese centers all rose. Dalian, a new addition to the index, entered in 51st place.
Middle East and Africa centers fluctuate. Riyadh, Doha, and Bahrain rose in the ratings while Dubai and Abu Dhabi saw modest declines. Africa is ‘hot’ to perhaps ‘overheated’. Johannesburg moved up six places to 32nd. Casablanca moved up nine places to 42nd.
The index rates 82 financial centers and is sponsored by the Qatar Financial Centre Authority.
Foto: Martin Abegglen. UBS Wealth Americas promociona a Todd Locicero y Ron Meraz a directores regionales
Todd Locicero and Ron Meraz have been promoted to regional directors at UBS Wealth Management Americas, where they previously were complex directors, publishes reuters.
Locicero, who joined UBS from Morgan Stanley in 2010 to run its private wealth business for wealthy individuals in Los Angeles, is relocating to New York City to become Metro regional director. While director of a “complex” in Los Angeles, he increased in a 100% the size of the business. Locicero reported directly to Chandler, eastern U.S. wealth management head, when he first joined UBS.
Meraz, who has been named southwestern regional director, was complex director of Orange County since 2008. He joined UBS from Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management, where he ran Merrill’s office of diversity and also worked as a broker and complex director.
Foto: Youtube.com. Paulo Maia designado CEO de HSBC para América Latina
Paulo Maia has been appointed CEO, HSBC Latin America effective July 1, 2015.
An international executive, Mr. Maia joined HSBC in 1993 and has held executive positions in each of the bank’s main business lines: Commercial Banking; Global Banking and Markets; and Retail Banking and Wealth Management. Mr. Maia has worked in Brazil, Great Britain, the United States and Australia. He was appointed Executive Director of HSBC Bank Brazil in 2000 and Deputy Chief Executive Officer in Brazil in 2008. He was most recently Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Bank Australia before his appointment on January 7, 2013 as President and Chief Executive Officer for HSBC Bank Canada based in Vancouver. On August 12, 2013 Mr. Maia was appointed Group General Manager of HSBC Holdings plc. For 11 years prior to joining HSBC, he held positions in corporate finance and corporate banking in New York, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
Sandra Stuart, who joined HSBC in 1980, has been appointed President and Chief Executive Officer, HSBC Bank Canada, succeding Maia.
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Mark B Schlemmer. Bank Loans Are the Tortoise, Not the Hare
The global financial crisis did not change the nature of bank loans.
Bank loans were specifically designed by bankers to resist the forces that drive volatility in most other asset classes. Bankers designed bank loans to reduce the volatility that comes along with changes in interest rates and company values, so they insisted that loans have floating coupons and that they be senior and secured.
History shows they did a very good job. 2008 was the only year since loan indices began when loans had a negative return. The 2008’s performance was not driven by credit quality but by a global leverage unwind that created many forced sellers and far fewer buyers in a very short period.
When the selling and rebound were finished, loans resumed their historically typical role: to be the tortoise rather than the hare.
Cheryl Stober is a vice president and a product manager for the bank loan team at Loomis, Sayles & Company, a subsidiary of Natixis Global AM
