CC-BY-SA-2.0, Flickr. Ignis registra en España su fondo de retorno absoluto con deuda emergente
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.
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.
Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH) has announced that Michael McGovern has joined the firm as Managing Director, Chief Information Officer and Head of Systems. In this capacity, McGovern is responsible for the management and leadership of the firm’s technology strategy, application development, and systems infrastructure across all business lines. McGovern is based in New York and reports to BBH Partner and Global Head of Technology, Taylor Bodman.
McGovern joins BBH from Citi Transaction Services where he spent the last decade serving as Managing Director and Global Technology Head of Securities & Fund Services. McGovern’s 26 year career in information technology includes posts at Chase Manhattan Bank and Chemical Bank.
“For many years, clients have selected BBH’s financial services because of the depth and specialization of the technology behind them,” said Taylor Bodman. “Since the establishment of our Infomediary business a dozen years ago, BBH has offered technology services independently of financial services. With over 150 leading asset gatherers now serving their clients using BBH technology as their own, we have two synergistic businesses. Mike has joined BBH to lead these mission critical activities as we expand the geographic and functional scope of our technology.”
“Through the flexibility to export our technology to help large enterprises scale their businesses, BBH is supporting an underserved growth segment of the market. Meanwhile, BBH continues to invest heavily in the ongoing evolution of technology required across its key business lines. That’s very exciting for the industry and our clients”, said Michael McGovern.
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrFoto: @Doug88888, Flickr, Creative Commons.. Diane Sobin, nueva responsable de Renta Variable estadounidense en Threadneedle tras la marcha de Cormac Weldon
Cormac Weldon, Head of US Equities at Threadneedle Investments, has resigned and will leave the firm in April following full transition of his responsibilities, announced the asset management firm. Portfolio Manager Stephen Moore will also leave Threadneedle.
Diane Sobin becomes Head of US Equities reporting to Leigh Harrison, Head of Equities at Threadneedle. In addition to investing in the London based team, Threadneedle announced that it would increase its collaboration with Columbia Management’s substantial US Equities team. Columbia Management is the US-based asset management subsidiary of Threadneedle’s parent company, Ameriprise Financial. Threadneedle and Columbia manage a combined $117bn AUM in US Equities, with 56 Portfolio Managers and 58 analysts located in London, Boston, New York, Minneapolis, Portland, Hartford and Stamford, managing a full range of strategies.
According to Citywire, Cormac Weldon and Stephen Moore will be joining Artemis, a London-based asset management boutique, in April.
Mark Burgess, Chief Investment Officer at Threadneedle said: “Cormac has decided to leave Threadneedle after 17 years and we wish him well and thank him for his valuable contribution to the firm. Following his departure, we will continue to invest in our London team under Diane’s leadership, while also better and more fully utilizing the research resources of Columbia Management.”
Campbell Fleming, Chief Executive Officer at Threadneedle said: “Threadneedle has a well-established team-based investment process that has produced a strong and consistent track record of results for clients and this will not change. The extensive additional resources and expertise available to our US Equities team will provide added depth to our overall offering.”
Diane Sobin joined Threadneedle in September 2011 from Columbia Management, where she was a New-York based US Equities Portfolio Manager. Diane has 30 years’ experience in the industry, 28 years managing US Equities. She joined Columbia Management in 2001, and co- managed large and mid-cap value mutual funds and institutional portfolios. Diane will assume lead manager responsibilities for the Threadneedle American Select Fund. Diane currently co- manages the Threadneedle American Smaller Companies Fund along with Cormac and she will assume responsibility for this fund.
Nadia Grant, whose appointment was announced on 20 January and who starts at Threadneedle on February 3, 2014, will join Diane. Nadia joins from JP Morgan Asset Management where she was a portfolio manager focusing on US equities within the global multi-asset group, managing over $5bn in multi-asset solutions.
Nadia Grant will become lead manager of the Threadneedle American Fund. Ashish Kochar and Neil Robson will become co-managers of the Threadneedle American Extended Alpha Fund and the Threadneedle American Absolute Alpha Fund. Ashish and Neil currently manage the Threadneedle Global Extended Alpha Fund, which has achieved first quartile performance over 1, 3 and 5 years. Ashish joined Threadneedle in 2008 and has nine years’ experience in asset management. He previously worked as an analyst in the US Equities team. Neil Robson joined Threadneedle in 2011 and has 25 years’ experience as a fund manager covering global equities.
Photo: Guanajuato city. Fibra Inn Announces the Acquisition of Hotel Mexico Plaza Leon Centro Max, to Be Converted to Wyndham Garden
Fibra Inn, a Mexican real estate investment trust specializing in the hotel industry serving the business traveler, announced the acquisition of Mexico Plaza Leon Centro Max Hotel, located in the state of Guanajuato. This hotel will be converted to the Wyndham Garden brand.
This is the third hotel acquired from Grupo Mexico Plaza, which is a regional hotel chain primarily present in central Mexico. The acquisition price was Ps. 150 million, excluding Ps. 6.9 million in expenses for brand name change. Fibra Inn’s internal committees approved the purchase of this property at a stabilized cap rate of 10.1%. The acquisition was paid in cash with the proceeds from the initial public offering that took place on March 13, 2013.
The conversion of this property to the Wyndham Garden brand will be completed by April of 2014. This property has 126 rooms, will operate under the limited service segment and its operation will be conducted by the Fibra Inn´s Hotel Operator, subcontracting the current Hotel Operator.
Fibra Inn opted to purchase this hotel for the following reasons: Bajio is an area with high economic growth, driven by the automotive industry, with an increase in direct foreign investment that has led to occupancy growth rates and increased demand for groups and extended stay. Leon is a market with a strong hotel demand, as it is the Bajio’s most important city in terms of highest hotel occupancy as reported by the Ministry of Tourism and the largest in the state for its economic activity. Leon in one of the most benefited cities due to the Bajio’s economic growth, capturing the majority of the hotel demand compared with other cities of the area; it is the most complete in services and installations, which makes it a more attractive option compared to other less important cities of the state of Guanajuato. The hotel has experienced a solid performance with the regional Mexico Plaza brand, which is expected to improve even more upon conversion to the international Wyndham Garden brand. It is a hotel focused on suites, which is a segment with longer duration of stay and less competition.
With this acquisition, Fibra Inn has 20 hotels in its portfolio, plus two under development, with a total of 3,976 rooms, of which 3,312 are currently in operation.
German and Australian stocks are among the more attractive equities singled out in the Mellon Capital Management Corporation Investment Perspective for Winter 2014. Equities across the regions appear poised to benefit from positive earnings forecasts and attractive valuations, the report said.
“We see moderate overall growth for the global economy, with positive momentum in the U.S. and Europe, which is similar to the projections we made in the third quarter of 2013,” said Jeff Zhang, executive vice president and chief investment officer for Mellon Capital. “We did see slight easing in leading economic indicators for both Japan and the UK.”
Among developed markets, Mellon Capital believes German equities are positioned to benefit from their exposure to the improving global economy, particularly as demand for autos increases in the U.S. and emerging markets. In addition to attractive valuations, Australian stocks also appear to offer higher dividends and lower volatility than in many other markets, Mellon Capital said.
In Asia, Mellon Capital said it is positive on Korean equities as they are supported by strong earnings forecasts and a potential pickup in exports if the developed market economies recover in 2014 as the consensus is expecting.
Mellon Capital said it is negative on Latin America. In Brazil, government policies could create market volatility prior to the October election; and Mexico appears hampered by a slow recovery and high valuations, the report said.
In the U.S., Mellon Capital said it expects a moderate-growth environment that could create investment opportunities in information technology and energy.
Mellon Capital said it continues to favor stocks over bonds due to a combination of reduced macro uncertainty, a benign backdrop for earnings growth, and a potential increase in term premia as the Federal Reserve tapers its bond purchase plan.
Wikimedia CommonsPhoto: Gates Fundation. Bill and Melinda Gates Letter Argues Against 3 Poverty Myths that Block Progress for the Poor
Philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates pitched an optimistic future for the world’s poor in their annual letter of 2014, arguing against three myths that, according to them, hurt efforts to bring people out of poverty, save lives and improve living conditions. The co-chairs of the world’s largest charitable foundation sought to dispel false notions that poor countries are doomed to stay poor, that foreign aid is wasteful and that saving lives will cause overpopulation.
“All three reflect a dim view of the future, one that says the world isn’t improving but staying poor and sick, and getting overcrowded,” Bill Gates writes. But, “by almost any measure, the world is better than it has ever been. People are living longer, healthier lives. Many nations that were aid recipients are now self-sufficient. You might think that such striking progress would be widely celebrated, but in fact, Melinda and I are struck by how many people think the world is getting worse. The belief that the world can’t solve extreme poverty and disease isn’t just mistaken. It is harmful”.
Myth One: Poor countries are doomed to stay poor
“I’ve heard this myth stated about lots of places, but most often about Africa. A quick Web search will turn up dozens of headlines and book titles such as ‘How Rich Countries Got Rich and Why Poor Countries Stay Poor.’ Thankfully these books are not bestsellers, because the basic premise is false. The fact is, incomes and other measures of human welfare are rising almost everywhere, including in Africa”, says Bill Gates in the letter.
“I was born in 1955 and grew up learning that the so-called First World was well off or “developed.” Most everyone in the First World went to school, and we lived long lives. We weren’t sure what life was like behind the Iron Curtain, but it sounded like a scary place. Then there was the so-called Third World—basically everyone else. As far as we knew, it was filled with people who were poor, didn’t go to school much, and died young. Worse, they were trapped in poverty, with no hope of moving up. The statistics bear out these impressions. In 1960, almost all of the global economy was in the West. Per capita income in the United States was about $15,000 a year (that’s income per person, so $60,000 a year for a family of four.) Across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, incomes per person were far lower. Brazil: $1,982. China: $928. Botswana: $383. And so on”, he continues.
But the change is posible, and Gates uses Mexico as an example: “Years later, I would see this disparity myself when I traveled. Melinda and I visited Mexico City in 1987 and were surprised by the poverty we witnessed. There was no running water in most homes, so we saw people trekking long distances by bike or on foot to fill up water jugs. It reminded us of scenes we had seen in rural Africa. The guy who ran Microsoft’s Mexico City office would send his kids back to the United States for checkups to make sure the smog wasn’t making them sick.Today, the city is mind-blowingly different. Its air is as clean as Los Angeles’ (which isn’t great, but certainly an improvement from 1987). There are high-rise buildings, new roads, and modern bridges. There are still slums and pockets of poverty, but by and large when I visit there now I think, “Wow, most people who live here are middle-class. What a miracle.”
So the easiest way to respond to the myth that poor countries are doomed to stay poor is to point to one fact: They haven’t stayed poor. Many—though by no means all—of the countries we used to call poor now have thriving economies. And the percentage of very poor people has dropped by more than half since 1990, he argues.
Gates is optimistic enough about this that he is willing to make a prediction. “By 2035, there will be almost no poor countries left in the world. (I mean by our current definition of poor.) Almost all countries will be what we now call lower-middle income or richer. Countries will learn from their most productive neighbors and benefit from innovations like new vaccines, better seeds, and the digital revolution. Their labor forces, buoyed by expanded education, will attract new investments. A few countries will be held back by war, politics (North Korea, barring a big change there), or geography (landlocked nations in central Africa). And inequality will still be a problem: There will be poor people in every region.
But most of them will live in countries that are self-sufficient. Every nation in South America, Asia, and Central America (with the possible exception of Haiti), and most in coastal Africa, will have joined the ranks of today’s middle-income nations. More than 70 percent of countries will have a higher per-person income than China does today. Nearly 90 percent will have a higher income than India does today. It will be a remarkable achievement. When I was born, most countries in the world were poor. In the next two decades, desperately poor countries will become the exception rather than the rule. Billions of people will have been lifted out of extreme poverty. The idea that this will happen within my lifetime is simply amazing to me.”
Myth Two: Foreign aid is a big waste
“You may have read news articles about foreign aid that are filled with big generalizations based on small examples. They tend to cite anecdotes about waste in some program and suggest that foreign aid is a waste. If you hear enough of these stories, it’s easy to get the impression that aid just doesn’t work. It’s no wonder that one British newspaper claimed last year that more than half of voters want cuts in overseas aid. These articles give you a distorted picture of what is happening in countries that get aid”, says Gates. “I worry about the myth that aid doesn’t work. It gives political leaders an excuse to try to cut back on it—and that would mean fewer lives are saved, and more time before countries can become self-sufficient.
He argues that, although there is no perfect program, “broadly speaking, aid is a fantastic investment, and we should be doing more. It saves and improves lives very effectively, laying the groundwork for the kind of long-term economic progress I described in myth #1 (which in turn helps countries stop depending on aid). It is ironic that the foundation has a reputation for a hard-nosed focus on results, and yet many people are cynical about the government aid programs we partner with.”
Myth Three: Saving lives leads to overpopulation
“Going back at least to Thomas Malthus, who published his An Essay on the Principle of Populationin 1798, people have worried about doomsday scenarios in which food supply can’t keep up with population growth. As recently as the Cold War, American foreign policy experts theorized that famine would make poor countries susceptible to Communism. Controlling the population of the poor countries labeled the Third World became an official policy in the so-called First World. In the worst cases, this meant trying to force women not to get pregnant. Gradually, the global family planning community moved away from this single-minded focus on limiting reproduction and started thinking about how to help women seize control of their own lives. This was a welcome change. We make the future sustainable when we invest in the poor, not when we insist on their suffering”, writes Melinda Gates.
Foto: LendingMemo, Flickr, Creative Commons.. Brókers y custodios corren el riesgo de perder negocio por la elevada edad de los asesores con los que trabajan
43% of financial advisors are either at or are approaching retirement, according to new research from global analytics firm Cerulli Associates. “The average age of financial advisors is 50.9 and 43% are over the age of 55,” reports Kenton Shirk, associate director at Cerulli. “Nearly one-third of advisors fall into the 55 to 64 age range.”
And this creates challenges. “As the advisor population ages, broker/dealers and custodians are at risk of losing AUM as advisors exit the industry,” Shirk explains. “The independent channels are most at risk because they have the oldest advisors on average.” Broker/dealers continue to struggle to recruit new young advisors into the industry to offset those advisors who are nearing retirement, Shirk continues.
Cerulli suggests firms encourage advisor teams to bring in junior advisors and train them in a specific area of expertise in order to increase the success rate of these new recruits. To guard against asset attrition, broker/dealers and custodians need to provide support and resources to help advisors tackle succession planning, and development of internal succession candidates.
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrLéon Cornelissen, Robeco’s Chief Economist. Three Reasons Why Deflation Won’t Take Hold in the Eurozone
Inflation used to be the main focus for European central bankers’ interest rate policy as prices rose forever upward. Now their main fear as we begin 2014 is the reverse scenario – the risk of deflation. It is potentially a huge problem, as falling prices mean that consumers do not buy goods because they expect them to become cheaper in the future, stalling economic growth and triggering a recession.
However, there are three reasons why a Japanese-style era of falling prices that cost the country a ‘lost decade’ in the 1990s will not take hold in the Eurozone, says Robeco’s Chief Economist, Léon Cornelissen.
“The economic recovery, a strong will by policymakers and a wholly different culture combine to make deflation extremely unlikely in the Eurozone,” says Cornelissen in his January outlook for investors.
It’s thanks to the euro’s success! The risk has ironically been largely caused by the recent success of the euro. After years of underperformance as the Eurozone lurched from one crisis to another, the euro has appreciated by almost 13% against other major currencies since mid-2012. The Japanese experience was that a strong yen markedly contributed to the country’s slide into deflation in the 1990s.
The evidence for deflation is certainly getting stronger. Figures published on 7 January showed that headline inflation fell to 0.8% on an annualized basis in December 2013 from 0.9% in November. Core inflation – which strips out more volatile food and energy prices – fell to a record low of 0.7% in December. But this implies disinflation, where the rate at which prices rise is reducing, rather than the more dangerous deflation, where prices actually fall.
“We see three arguments for optimism that deflation will not take hold in the euro area,” says Cornelissen. “Firstly, the Eurozone is experiencing a recovery, and the southern periphery in particular is enjoying an upswing. So it is hard to see how an accelerating European economy can fall into a deflationary trap.”
“Of course, some argue that the European recovery isn’t self-sustaining, and due to ongoing austerity measures, a fall back into a recession is likely. Not so. It is more likely that budget deficit and debt targets will be postponed once again until Eurozone economies are fully back on track.”
Super Mario will act on instinct Then there is the political and regulatory will. “Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), has already said that he is well aware of the deflationary risks and is prepared to act against them,” Cornelissen says. Inflation is already well below the ECB’s 2% target, but Draghi has insisted it cannot be allowed to permanently fall below 1% “and thus into ‘the danger zone’.”
“As interest rates in the Eurozone head towards zero, this is a clear signal that the ECB is prepared to resort to unconventional monetary measures if the need arises, putting pressure on the euro exchange rate and limiting deflationary risks.”
Thirdly, there are also significant cultural differences between Europeans and the Japanese, Cornelissen says. “The prospect of a Japanese-style deflationary environment is politically unacceptable within the Eurozone,” he says. “The long stagnation period in Japan can be partly explained by the unusually consensus-driven and mono-ethnic nature of Japanese society, which was prepared to suffer for the national good. Such stoicism is unlikely within the Eurozone.”
Banking union is the real problem Cornelissen says the real potential threat to deflation getting a foothold is “the slow, insufficient, unsatisfying progress towards a true banking union within the Eurozone, which is a recipe for slow growth.”
“Such a scenario fails to break the link between weak banks and weak states, and reminds observers of the Japanese-style ‘convoy system’ which keeps afloat the zombie banks that keep alive zombie companies, preventing creative destruction and a reset. That is, of course, partly true for the Eurozone.”
“However, the general health of the European banking sector is better than that of the Japanese. As such, the unhealthy tolerance of weak banks and sovereigns within the Eurozone is in our opinion more of a long-term problem for the bloc. This issue will be obscured by the ongoing recovery and therefore is insufficient to push the zone into Japanese-style deflation.”
It is also important to remember that the Eurozone has been in this situation before in the period just after the 2008 financial meltdown, Cornelissen says.
The Eurozone survived a brief period of deflation in 2008/09
As the graph above shows, in 2008/2009 a dramatic drop in inflation ended in a five-month period of mild deflation. “Such a short-term period of mild deflation is not a disaster, so long as deflationary expectations do not become entrenched. We are still far from such a development in the Eurozone,” Cornelissen says.
Robeco’s forecast is for inflation to gradually rise to 1.2% in the Eurozone in 2014 as growth picks up, in line with the consensus of other investment managers.
Wikimedia CommonsMohamed El-Erian . El-Erian Will Leave PIMCO in Mid-March
PIMCO announced that Chief Executive Officer and Co-Chief Investment Officer Mohamed A. El-Erian has decided to step down from his role and leave the firm in mid-March. He will remain a member of the Allianz International Executive Committee and, as of mid-March, also advise the Board of Management of Allianz on global economic and policy issues.
PIMCO’s founder William H. Gross will continue to serve as the firm’s Chief Investment Officer. At the same time, the firm has appointed a new portfolio management and executive leadership team. They will immediately begin to transition into their new roles.
Among these appointments, Andrew Balls will be Deputy Chief Investment Officer; Daniel Ivascyn, Deputy Chief Investment Officer; Douglas Hodge, Chief Executive Officer; Jay Jacobs, President; and Craig Dawson, Head of Strategic Business Management.
“Mohamed has been a great leader, business builder and thought leader for PIMCO and our clients. Together we have guided the firm and served our clients during a period of significant change in the global economy and financial markets. We are pleased that he will remain a part of the Allianz Group”, says Gross.
And added: “PIMCO‘s focus remains on delivering value to our clients through superior investment performance and client service. The firm’s new leadership team embodies PIMCO’s culture and values, and it reflects the strength and depth of our talent in both portfolio management and business management. With this team to lead us forward, PIMCO is in great hands.”
“I have been extremely honored and fortunate to work alongside Bill Gross, who is one of the very best investors in the world. His talents are truly exceptional, as is his dedication. I have also been amazingly privileged to work with the most talented group of professionals in the investment management industry. Their commitment and tireless work on behalf of our clients have been a consistent inspiration for me since I first joined PIMCO back in 1999. I wish them continued great success”, said El-Erian.
“PIMCO has become one of the leading investment management firms in the world through a relentless focus on performance, innovation, and delivering value to our clients, and that will not change. The firm has made important progress over the past several years to become ‘Your Global Investment Authority’ by expanding the scope of our investment platform and business, and we will continue to execute on this vision”, said Hodge.
The appointments
Balls is a Managing Director in the London office, a member of the Investment Committee and Head of European Portfolio Management. He joined PIMCO in 2006. Ivascyn is a Managing Director in the Newport Beach office, Head of Mortgage Credit Portfolio Management, and a lead portfolio manager for PIMCO’s alternatives investment strategies. Morningstar named him 2013 Fixed-Income Fund Manager of the Year (US). He joined PIMCO in 1998.
Hodge is a Managing Director in the Newport Beach office and is currently PIMCO’s Chief Operating Officer. Previously he led the firm’s Asia Pacific region from the Tokyo office. He joined PIMCO in 1989. Jacobs is a Managing Director in the Newport Beach office and is currently the Head of Talent Management globally. Previously, he was the Head of PIMCO’s German business, based in Munich. He joined PIMCO in 1998. Finally, Dawson is a Managing Director and is currently Head of PIMCO Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy, based in the Munich office. He is also Head of Product Management for Europe. In his new role, he will relocate to the Newport Beach office. He joined PIMCO in 1999.
