Northern Trust has appointed Bruce Tang to the Northern Trust Alternatives Group hedge fund of funds team as a research analyst and vice president.
Mr. Tang joins 26 investment professionals on the Northern Trust Alternatives Group fund of funds team. The group develops and manages alternative investment products, including hedge and private equity funds of funds, for institutional and personal clients. The group’s hedge fund of funds products give investors exposure to multiple strategies and seek competitive returns while containing overall portfolio risk. The Northern Trust Alternatives Group has $3.6 billion in assets under management.
“Northern Trust continues to see a growing interest in alternative investments, and we are growing our business to meet that demand,” said Robert Morgan, Managing Director of the Northern Trust Alternatives Group. “Clients and industry observers recognize our group’s success and that has allowed us to attract and retain top talent.”
Tang has more than 14 years of experience and joins Northern Trust from Aurora Investment Management LLC, where he was a senior research analyst on the firm’s investment team. At Aurora, he was responsible for sourcing and monitoring hedge fund investments, providing qualitative and quantitative analysis to the firm’s investment committee. He also conducted due diligence on prospective and existing hedge fund investments across long/short equities, long/short credit, global macro, event-driven, multi-strategy, opportunistic and portfolio hedge strategies.
Additionally, Kristin Norton joins the hedge fund of funds team as a junior research analyst.
Ms. Norton is a recent graduate of Harvard College where she studied East Asian studies and economics. As an undergraduate, Norton interned in Tokyo in Morgan Stanley’s equity research division and Mizuho Venture Capital’s investment research division.
Auerbach Grayson & Company, a New York-based brokerage firm specializing in global trade execution and research for U.S. institutional investors, has announced a partnership with leading investment bank Corredores Asociados, to provide U.S. investors with greater access to Colombia’s capital markets.
Through its exclusive partnership with Corredores Asociados, Auerbach Grayson expects to have more access to Colombian companies than other U.S.-based brokers, while providing its institutional clients with on-the-ground research and increased coverage of investing opportunities throughout Colombia. The partnership also allows Corredores Asociados to expand its institutional equity business by servicing Auerbach Grayson’s clients, including more than 400 of the largest U.S. institutional investors.
“Our recent focus on Colombia is in response to the heightened level of interest and order flows we are seeing from investors looking for exposure to Latin American countries other than Brazil, which comprises the majority of the market capital for the entire continent,” said David Grayson, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder at Auerbach Grayson. “By partnering with Corredores Asociados, we will continue to provide our institutional clients with greater coverage and access to Colombia as we see a great deal of opportunity in this emerging Latin American market.”
Auerbach Grayson built its global coverage network by establishing partnerships with local and regional brokers and banks in over 125 markets worldwide with on-the-ground analysts in every region. The firm provides U.S. institutional investors with trade execution and in-depth local equity research from its local partners.
“Our relationship with Auerbach Grayson will enable Corredores Asociados to build stronger relationships with U.S. institutional investors looking for opportunities in the Colombian market, as well as build greater visibility for Colombian companies that are attractive for investments,” said Roberto Murcia Garcia, Managing Director of Equity Capital Markets at Corredores.
Corredores Asociados was recently acquired by Banco Davivienda, the 3rd largest bank in the country which has large banking operations in Central America. As a subsidiary of Davivienda and part of the Grupo Bolivar, the third largest financial group in Colombia, Corredores Asociados continues to strengthen its position in the market with a solid asset backing, technological and a clear strategic approach.
The mid cap segment offers a different type of company than investors find within the large and small cap “bookends” of the market. According to a White Paper by Robeco, the mid cap asset class is characterized by companies that are more successful and mature than those in the small cap arena, which makes mid caps generally less risky than small caps. At the same time, mid cap firms start from a lower baseline in terms of business volume and are generally more nimble than those in the large cap space, which creates more upside potential. U.S. mid caps also present investors with the opportunity to select companies that have “graduated” from small cap status, indicating that their businesses are moving in the right direction.
On a paper signed by Jeremy Zirin, David Lefkowitz and Matthew Baredes, strategists at UBS FS, US mid-caps are highlighted as “the sweet spot” in the equities market due to “accelerating US growth, greater cyclical exposure, upside margin potential and greater exposure to a recovering US housing market”. UBS thinks that the higher beta, greater cyclical exposure and lower dividend yield (which is a positive in a rising interest rate environment), of the mid-cap asset class are the reasons which are driving its outperformance versus large-caps, adding that “this drivers remain in place and would support further gains versus large caps”.
This asset class, which is often under-represented in investor portfolios, has actually had an outstanding performance during the US market recovery.
This graph by Lipper Insight shows that indeed small-and mid-cap funds did outperform large-cap funds. After the first 12 months of the market recovery, small- and mid-cap funds were starting to pull away from large-cap funds. The graph shows that the underperformance of large-caps versus small- and mid-caps was consistent during the last four-plus years.
Moreover, white paper published by Robeco signals that U.S. mid caps have delivered better returns than small and large caps over time, and they have done so without an inordinate amount of volatility. In fact, mid caps have experienced slightly higher volatility than large caps and less volatility than small caps. As a result, mid caps have not just outperformed, but they have done so with a lower level of risk than the rest of the market.
Another way to look at the relationship between risk and return is the Sharpe ratio, a measure of risk- adjusted performance. On this front, mid caps have displayed a superior risk-return profile than that of both small and large companies when measured over multiple time periods.
The small-cap funds universe is widely represented, with a lot of funds investing in this asset class, but finding funds in themid-cap universe is more complicated. Sometimes they are included in the AllCap rankings, mixed with large and small cap funds, in other lists mid-cap is mixed with small-cap funds, making investment decisions more complicated.
According to Morningstar’s non US domiciled category of mid-cap funds, there are two funds with outstanding performance over a 3 and 5 year period: Robecos’s Robeco US Select Opportunities US Equities, and BNP Paribas’ Parvest Equity USA Mid Cap C, (Robeco’s volatility is lower, though).
Other funds with very good 3 year performance are AllianceBernstein’s AB US Small an Mid-Cap, Franklin Templeton’s Franklin US Small-Mid Cap Growth Acc $, Schroder’s Schroder ISF US Small & Mid Cap Eq I USD Acc and Pioneer Investments’ Pioneer Funds – U.S. Mid Cap Value I USD ND.
You may access Robeco’s White Paper on Mid Cap investing through the attached pdf file, or through this link.
Wikimedia CommonsRaymundo Yu, presidente de Threadneedle Asia Pacifico. Threadneedle incorpora un reputado equipo de renta variable asiática a su franquicia en Singapur
Threadneedle Investments announces the appointment of Soo Nam Ng as Head of Asian Equities (Asia), along with four additional prominent hires adding significantly to the firm’s capabilities in the region. All five members of the new team have worked together during their careers. Bernard Lim joins as Senior Fund Manager, Asia Pacific ex Japan; Christine Seng as Fund Manager, Singapore and Australia; Weixiong Liang as Analyst and Wee Jia Low as Senior Associate. They will be based in Threadneedle’s Singapore office.
The new team will work closely with Threadneedle’s long-standing Asian Equities team of seven headed by Vanessa Donegan, which currently manages £3.6bn out of London and Singapore (as at 31 August 2013). The Singapore-based team will focus on further building the firm’s offering for Asian investors.
Soo Nam Ng reports to Leigh Harrison, Head of Equities at Threadneedle. Bernard Lim, Christine Seng, Weixiong Liang and Wee Jia Low report to Soo Nam.
Mr Mark Burgess, Threadneedle’s Chief Investment Officer commented: “We have a strong team-based approach at Threadneedle, with a culture of open discussion, debate and sharing of ideas to give us a global perspective advantage”.
Soo Nam Ng joins Threadneedle from Nikko Asset Management where he was Chief Investment Officer and he managed a team of more than 20 investment professionals including equity and fixed income specialists. Soo Nam is a veteran in the fund management industry, having spent more than 18 years focusing on Asia Pacific ex Japan equity markets and is an award-winning portfolio manager.
Bernard Lim joins Threadneedle from Fullerton Fund Management where he was Senior Vice President, Equities, with responsibility for the firm’s Asia Focus mandates. He was also country specialist for Hong Kong, and covered the technology and energy sectors. Bernard brings 20 years investment experience to Threadneedle.
Christine Seng joins Threadneedle from Nikko Asset Management where she was a Portfolio Manager and was responsible for an award winning dividend yield fund. Christine has been in the fund management industry for the last 14 years.
Weixiong Liang joins Threadneedle from Nikko Asset Management where he was a Portfolio Manager.
Wee Jia Low joins Threadneedle from Nikko Asset Management where he was an Equity Analyst.
Citi announced the launch of e for Education, a three-month initiative to raise funds for education-related nonprofits around the world. Beginning October 1st and through December 31, Citi will donate funds to several charities based on a percentage of institutional client FX transaction volumes executed through its electronic trading platform, Velocity.
Citi Velocity is an award-winning proprietary FX electronic trading platform for institutional clients. It provides real-time pricing with one-click trading for multiple foreign exchange products, including spot, forwards, swaps and options. Citi Velocity is used by a large number of Citi’s institutional clients globally not only for trading but also as their source for research, economics, FX market color and post-trade activity.
“We believe e for Education is the first and certainly the largest effort by a firm seeking to translate its electronic FX trading activity into philanthropic dollars,” said Jeff Feig, Citi’s Global Head of G-10 FX. “Citi believes that access to quality education is the key to unlocking a lifetime of opportunity and we are excited to launch an initiative that will benefit youth around the world.”
Six organizations, spanning a range of geographies and core focus areas, were selected to benefit from the e for Education initiative. Funds will be donated to each organization based on the geographic location of individual Citi Velocity clients, although users can also override the default and earmark their corresponding donation to any e for Education organization of their choosing. The e for Education beneficiaries include:
Civic Builders (North America) Civic Builders partners with the nation’s best educators to build state-of-the-art, low-cost charter schools for children and families in underserved neighborhoods.
EMpower (Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Africa) supports local organizations in emerging markets countries that provide at-risk youth with the tools and resources they need to lead healthy, productive lives.
No Greater Sacrifice (North America) is dedicated to the children of fallen and wounded U.S. military service members by delivering scholarships and resources to improve their quality of life through the pursuit of higher education.
Room to Read (Asia/Africa) seeks to transform the lives of millions of children in the developing world by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education.
Teach First (United Kingdom) works towards a day when no child’s educational success is limited by their socio-economic background.
Uncommon Schools (North America) starts and manages outstanding urban public charter schools that close the achievement gap and prepare low-income students to graduate from college.
Citi, one of the largest FX providers in the world, is not setting specific fundraising goals, but has also not imposed a cap on the maximum amount that may be donated. Total donations will be driven purely by client FX transaction volumes.
“Citi has a long history of supporting educational ambitions, whether it’s through our businesses or through the work of the Citi Foundation,” said Bapi Maitra, Citi’s Global Head of Institutional e-Commerce Sales. “The e for Education initiative builds on Citi’s track record of connecting students around the world to educational opportunities and support services that empower them to improve their lives.”
Photo: Taxiarchos228. Google, EY and Goldman Sachs, the World's Most Attractive Employers 2013
Universum Global reveals the list of organizations that have a competitive edge in employer reputation. Close to 200,000 business and engineering students from top universities weighed in on what companies and employer characteristics they find most attractive. As in the last four years, the 2013 rankings are compiled from student surveys in the world’s 12 largest economies: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, UK and USA.
The 2013 business ranking shows fierce competition between the professional services, investment banking and fast moving consumer goods industries. KPMG, last year’s second place contender, has dropped six places to be replaced by EY (Ernst & Young), which climbed four slots.
“The reason why these employers are seen as being attractive is due to their strong association to attributes that students consider important, such as market success, professional training and development and providing secure employment. This might come as a surprise as there is a view of Gen Y valuing more corporate social responsibility, a friendly work environment and flexible working conditions,” said Petter Nylander, Universum’s CEO.
The organizations in the top ten on the engineering list have remained fairly stable compared to last year. Employers in the computer & software space are vying for the top spot, which has been Google’s home for five years, while Microsoft (no. 2) replaces IBM (no. 3) in second place. Employers in this sector are highly associated with innovation and exciting products and services – two attributes that are very important to engineers. Below is the top ten of the world’s fifty most attractive employers
¿Qué esperar tras la decisión de la SEC de levantar las trabas a la publicidad de los hedge funds?. ¿Qué esperar tras la decisión de la SEC de levantar las trabas a la publicidad de los hedge funds?
Hedge and private equity funds have traditionally been low-profile investment vehicles catering to sophisticated investors. The posture has not been out of choice, but attributable to an 80 year SEC rule prohibiting the general solicitation and general advertising of funds, particularly offerings conducted under Rule 506 of Regulation D. However, the SEC’s recent decision to lift the marketing ban as part of the 2012 Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act is reverberating throughout the industry as firms unaccustomed to promoting their products now face the prospect of competing for investment capital in a new, marketing driven frontier.
The SEC lifted that rule in an attempt to offer more consumers with more investment choices and better information. Hedge and private equity funds can now broadly solicit and promote their products in a manner similar to mutual funds, creating the need for sophisticated marketing and communication strategies.
But that isn’t as easy as it sounds.
Traditionally, funds have been conditioned to maintain a very low profile and more recently, a defensive and reactive posture in the face of negative publicity. Facing these restrictions, funds have limited marketing departments and are ill prepared to compete in a new promotion driven marketplace.
The change couldn’t come at a more challenging and promising time to reach out to the global US$25 Trillion UHNW market. High quality funds can gain a competitive advantage by leveraging their performance with effective financial marketing and promotion to build credibility, trust and relationships with highly targeted audiences. This opportunity is juxtaposed with the post-2008 credit crisis investor mindset that is increasingly reluctant to invest capital into “black box” vehicles that do not communicate their strategies, methodologies and track records in a transparent manner.
The best marketing and communication professionals expertly harness their clients’ expertise, philosophy and track record to develop compelling content that informs and educates their audiences using a mix of thought leadership, marketing collateral, media positioning and events to build awareness of the product, trust in the firm and credibility for its value proposition.
At the end of the day, the most important ingredients for a successful fund will remain a winning strategy and track record. However, what has changed is how funds will increasingly compete to attract investors in what will become a much noisier marketplace where the loudest voices may not necessarily be the best investments.
In this new marketing environment, hedge and private equity funds, even highly successful ones, will need to effectively communicate their value proposition to attract investment capital. Moving forward, the positioning and promotion of an investment product in the right way with the right audiences will become an increasingly important component of its success.
Opinion column by Ray Ruga, Co-Founder of CVOX Group
. Twitter, la siguiente OPV tecnológica, cambia las reglas del juego
Headlines over the past weeks have been buzzing with talk of Twitter- as it is set to be the largest tech IPO since Facebook. Twitter is shaping new ways for users, content providers and advertisers to interact. It’s became a “global town square” – a forum where Presidents, NBA superstars, economists, and journalists can be found sharing their thoughts, research or updates in real-time format. It provides a filter through the endless amounts of content, showing users only the main message. This pure social media play has established itself in our culture with its very own verb, “tweeting.” This is not an opinion on whether to participate in the IPO of Twitter or not- instead we aim to examine how Twitter has positioned itself to become a game changer in media.
A “global town square”
Throughout history there has been a town square where everyone from politicians, musicians, and story tellers went to share their views and talents. Lively discussions, sharing of information, trading of ideas- all of this happened in a live format. Twitter is trying to promote this same exchange by providing a digital platform for users to get real-time content on any topic they desire. Users can follow sports commentators, key thought leaders, and media outlets – and have a custom feed of information tailored to follow these content providers or also trends/topics they are interested in.
“Second screen”: providing a filter for endless content
In today’s digital information age, we are facing a constant barrage of information. Users are constantly scanning through lengthy articles just to find the bottom line- which is exactly what Twitter looks to provide. Tweets are limited to 140 characters- a purposefully chosen number, keeping messages brief and to the point. In a society where our attention span is short and time is limited, this strategy keeps users engaged. Think of Twitter as a filter, providing a “second screen” of longer form information.
“Pure” social media play
Twitter is the only company solely focused on social media and promotes the most interaction and engagement with its users, given the focus on it’s real-time format. This benefits Twitter in their potential to create powerful advertising relationships, as demonstrated in a recent partnership with Nielson TV ratings. Nielson will utilize Twitter to track real-time emotional reactions of users to TV content, giving advertisers and producers powerful information of what engages audiences.
Twitter has been able to brand “tweeting” as a verb
In the 1960s as Xerox made the first office copy makers, to make a copy become known as “xeroxing,” and in the early 2000s as Google become popular, performing a web search became known as “googling.” Twitter has branded “tweeting”- the verb for creating messages on Twitter. This is significant as it shows that the company is a pioneer; a new word is needed to describe its use. Secondly, it shows the company has been well established in our culture, as the verb is well recognized. Both of these factors indicate that the company is creating an important place in its industry, and from the success in Xerox’s early days and the continued success of Google, bodes well for Twitter’s potential future.
The Dreyfus Corporation, a BNY Mellon company, announced that it has introduced the Dreyfus Floating Rate Income Fund, an actively managed mutual fund designed to seek high current income by investing in floating rate loans and other floating rate securities. The fund is sub-advised by Alcentra NY, LLC, a BNY Mellon global investment firm specializing in sub-investment grade credit. Dreyfus is the fund’s investment advisor.
“Floating rate loans could be attractive to investors seeking an asset class with lower interest rate sensitivity, seniority in a company’s capital structure and diversification potential as floating rate loans generally exhibit low correlation to other asset classes,” said Dreyfus President Charles Cardona. “The loan market has traditionally catered to large, institutional investors. The new fund provides access to a broad range of investments not generally available to individual investors. We’re pleased to provide U.S. investors access to the investment expertise of Alcentra, one of the top global loan managers.”
William Lemberg and Chris Barris are the fund’s primary portfolio managers. Lemberg is the fund’s portfolio manager principally responsible for floating rate loans and other floating rate securities. He is a managing director, senior portfolio manager and head of Alcentra’s U.S. loan platform. Lemberg has been employed by Alcentra since 2008. Barris is also the fund’s portfolio manager principally responsible for high yield, fixed-rate securities. He is a managing director, senior portfolio manager and head of global high yield at Alcentra. Barris has also been a senior portfolio manager for the Dreyfus High Yield Fund since 2007.
Alcentra employs a value-oriented, bottom up research process that incorporates a macroeconomic overlay to analyze investment opportunities. This includes evaluating default trends, performance drivers and capital market liquidity. Alcentra’s fundamental credit analysis identifies favorable and unfavorable risk/reward opportunities across sectors, industries and structures while seeking to mitigate credit risk.
“We seek to reduce credit risk through a disciplined approach to the credit investment selection and evaluation process,” said David Forbes-Nixon, Alcentra’s Chairman and CEO. “Long term investors, who are looking for consistent returns and anticipating a rising rate environment, may want to consider the Dreyfus Floating Rate Income Fund. The fund seeks to deliver current income, enhanced principal protection and capital appreciation potential.”
To pursue its goal, the fund normally invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus any borrowings for investment purposes, in floating rate loans and other floating rate securities. These investments, may include: (1) senior secured loans, (2) second lien loans, senior unsecured loans and subordinated loans, (3) senior and subordinated corporate debt obligations (such as bonds, debentures, notes and commercial paper), (4) debt obligations issued by U.S and foreign governments, their agencies and instrumentalities, and debt obligations issued by central banks, and (5) fixed-rate loans or debt obligations with respect to which the fund has entered into derivative instruments to effectively convert the fixed-rate interest payments into floating rate interest payments. The fund may also invest up to 20% of its net assets in the securities of foreign issuers and up to 20% of its net assets in high yield instruments.
Manuel García-Durán, presidente y consejero delegado de Ezentis.. "An Investment is Like a Movie and Ezentis is a Great, Well-Told Story”
When talking with Manuel García-Durán, president and CEO of Ezentis, the pride of a manager who in just two years has managed to lead the company to become one of the most talked about turnaround stories in the Spanish market, is evident. Since taking over the firm’s reins on September 22 nd, 2011, the company’s figures have taken a 180 degree turn, and have revealed a story of courage coupled with experience. After bringing forth an Ezentis focused on the business of water, electricity, energy and telecommunications infrastructure, very oriented to Latin America, with a healthy balance sheet, a committed management team, and the ability to maintain a growth plan, both organic and inorganic, he is confident that investors around the world may find his story interesting.
“There are great opportunities for investors from all over the world, both Latin and North American or European, and both retail and institutional,” he explains. And with different risk profiles also: “For the first time, Ezentis may have a niche in portfolios with a varied risk profile, from the least to the mostconservative.” He specifically stresses the case of Premaat, one of his last institutional investors, a benefit society of surveyors and architects in Spain which has a very conservative profile and remembers their milestone of the capital increase undertaken in January this year, which netted them nearly 14 million Euros.
And all, despite the volatility which those securities have suffered in the past. For now, the president believes that this year will consolidate those securities and faces 2014 with confidence, with the ultimate goal of building a stable medium-term shareholder base. Something which he believes he will achieve to the extent that the company gains visibility: Ezentis ended the semester with a record portfolio of 288 million Euros, a level similar to that contracted throughout 2012, and has a year and a half of guaranteed returns, something which is valued highly by the more conservative investors.
With this conviction of their ability to deliver value, the company will start the last quarter with a roadshow to try to attract potential investors in Latin America, where he plans to meet with about 40 investors, from local family offices to venture capital funds and which work with mid-cap technology companies.
Duplicate their Price
García-Durán does not rule out that this turnaround story may double the price of their shares from their current levels, as indicated by some analyst reports: “It would be reasonable. We have been meeting the milestones and giving evidence which lays the foundations of trust, but perception is what will drive up the share price now. There is still a fragile market but the value will tend to grow based on the good results. There’s no hurry and we understand that investors have reservations about the past, but it is more difficult to change reality than perception and we have already achieved that first part,” he says. For Garcia-Duran, an investment is like a good movie: you need a good story but you also need good direction and actors, because a good story told wrong can be bad. “We are a well-told good story and that is what the investor is looking for: companies with credible stories, which are true, executable, easy to explain and which honor their commitments,” he adds.
A Commitment to Growth
Duran’s commitment is precisely to “strictly” comply with all the steps contemplated in his strategic plan ending in 2015, and which involves inorganic growth in markets such as Mexico, Colombia and in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo before the end of 2013. Ezentis, already present in Chile, Peru, Argentina, Panama and Jamaica, recently expanded its presence in Chile (after buying 45% of the Chilean company RDTC-of which it already owned 50% of the capital) and entered into the Brazilian marketby acquiring 60% of the Brazilian company SUL. And, the president does not rule out going into more markets in the future.
In terms of organic growth, the plan includes the renewal of their contracts in Chile (after doing the same in other markets such as Argentina) and growth in the electrical segment in Brazil, a country which he defines as “a continent within a continent”, and in which the development of infrastructure in the electricity and telecommunications sectors will be key for the future. “You can’t be a leading player in the region without being in Brazil. Its economy has uncertainties but the history of infrastructures is not negotiable. There are no politicians who do not question the failure to grow in basic infrastructure,” he says. This is a sector in which Ezentis seeks to position itself as a partner of the large telecommunications or energy companies in a highly fragmented market.
Firmly committed to Latin America
In fact, the company is firmly committed to Latin America: if in the first half of the year, 92% of its turnover came from that region, the company forecasts that over 90% of the estimated turnover in late 2015 (around 400 million Euros ) will also come from that region. “Latin America is in its best historical moment for growth and for generating wealth transversally,” says Garcia-Duran, noting that at the level of economic growth there is currently more uncertainty in Europe and pointing out the “unstoppable race to generate basic infrastructure,” a story which involves Ezentis.
The obverse and the reverse
But when Garcia-Duran took over the management of the company, it was not the only story in which he participated. His legacy was that of a company involved in shareholdings’ wars, in a complicated situation, and an amalgam of unrelated businesses which the president defines as a real “chaos”. Duran could see the “real value” of several companies which Ezentis had in Latin America, and which he considered “crown jewels”, and the possibility of good management of its assets and liabilities. Thus, after paying several debts and dealing with creditors, he conducted a process for the sale of non-core businesses to focus on their core business, which also helped to stabilize the company and reduce the ratio of debt to EBITDA, from 15 times, down to their current rate which stands at around 2.
A restructuring process which ended last August with the completion of the debt restructuring, and also with the total sale of Amper and after changing their participation in Vertex to non-strategic. Another milestone achieved was the creation of a team in which the first shareholders are company executives, which works in favor of consolidating their confidence in both their project and reputation.
