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Key Biscayne: Tennis, Bankers and “Drama”

Key Biscayne: tenis, banqueros y “drama” — Wikimedia CommonsCast for the Regional Premiere of Shrek The Musical, the first production sponsored by the KBMDC. Key Biscayne: Tennis, Bankers and “Drama”

The performing arts scene of Miami has regained one of its most established players: The Key Biscayne Music and Drama Club – KBMDC –, a non-profit organization founded in 1956 that has presented plenty of shows up until 1995 when its headquarters, the Calusa Playhouse Theatre, was destroyed by fire.

“KBMDC was a landmark for the performing arts in Miami. The club used to present musicals with actors and productions brought directly from Broadway, as well as concerts and plays of the highest level. They were an artistic reference of high quality in this city, and that is why we want to bring back to life this project in Key Biscayne; we want to present Miami with a second alternative in the community theatre arena”, explains Angelica Torres, vice president of the board of directors of KBMDC, in clear reference to the Actors Playhouse. “We have the support of the Key Biscayne Community Foundation and the Village of Key Biscayne”, she added. The new board of directors of KBMDC is comprised of Key Biscayne residents, among which Pat Weiman, former memeber of the village’s council, can be found.

Key Biscayne, where the Sony Ericsson Open tennis tournament was just held, is a small island located just 7 miles from Brickell Avenue.This is the financial center of Miami, where the headquarters of major international private banks from around the world are located one after another. These banks are the destination for much of the $250 billion coming from Latin America and that takes refuge in the United States. The proximity to Brickell, as well as the idyllic characteristics of the key, are the some of the reasons why so many investment professionals along with many of their clients, decide to establish their residence in this village, which is also one of the richest in the US due to the high collection of property taxes. Despite so much wealth, the sponsorship of the visual and performing arts has been pushed into the background for the last two decades. This situation has shifted significantly since the re-launch of KBMDC.

The Club’s first event will be a cocktail party presenting the project, which will take place in April 14^th. This party will introduce the first production presented by de KBMDC: the Regional Premiere of Shrek. This musical, which will premiere in Miami during the last quarter of this year, is in an advanced pre-production process and features a cast of remarkable professional and semi-professional singers and dancers (watch video). The producer is Broadway Musical Theatre – BMT – a theater group led by Angelica Torres, who since 2006 has staged 20 productions with children and young performers from South Florida.

“With the release of Shrek, we want to plant the first seed of a professional project and a visual and performing arts program in South Florida, channeled through the sponsorship of the Key Biscayne Music and Drama Club”, added Angelica. “Shrek is a very complex show of the highest level in which the set, the costumes, the music and of course, the actors, have to be very good”, emphasizes the director and choreographer of the musical.

The cocktail party presentation will take place on April 14 in Key Biscayne, for a select group of art lovers, patrons and supporters of the new Club. During this event there will be a preview performance of Shrek The Musical, by some of the members of the same cast which will premiere the musical in December 2013.

The event, which is co-sponsored by the Village of Key Biscayne and by the Key Biscayne Community Foundation, wants to lay the foundations for KBMDC to become the new center for the promotion of culture and performing arts, from a municipality that has one of the highest per-capita incomes in the U.S.

If you are interested in obtaining more information regarding the re-launch of the Key Biscayne Music and Drama Club, as well as to confirm your assistance to the presentation cocktail, you can contact the organization through this email: kbmdclub@gmail.com

MoraBanc Group Focuses on Latin America, Where it Expects to Double its Business by Year-End

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MoraBanc group se centra en América Latina, en donde espera duplicar su negocio antes de final de año — Gilles Serra, CEO of MoraBanc Group.. MoraBanc Group Focuses on Latin America, Where it Expects to Double its Business by Year-End

Mora Banc is convinced that its business needs to continue growing through Latin America after they have experienced regulatory changes that have forced the Andorran bank, which has always been sustained by the business of the residents in Andorra, Spaniards and to a lesser extent the French, to grow its business outside of the Spanish borders.

Gilles Serra, CEO of MoraBanc Group, showed this confidence in an interview with Funds Society. He reviewed the situation of the group in Andorra, analyzed the private bank’s situation and reviewed the growth forecast paying special attention to Latin America.

Develop the business outside of Spain

The head of the organization, which recognizes that Andorra is a small arena, pointed out that the bank has been committed to developing its business outside of the Spanish borders, “facing towards Latin America”. Regarding this, he explained that Latin America should not be viewed as a region, but instead it should be analyzed country by country, as any other analysis can lead to an ill-fated approach. “There are countries that are not doing very well, although each country presents different opportunities”.

They are planning on conducting new recruitments for Latin America, for the Mexican and Brazilian markets. They are also expecting to double their business by the end of the year, in a market in which “we are growing very rapidly”, he added. Although, he explained that any new movement made in the region will be very well measured.

The executive explained that the international strategy is being carefully assessed, and that they are not jumping fast into new openings and purchases.

Broker dealer in Miami

MoraBanc has decided to buy a small asset management company in Zurich and to make a larger investment in Miami, in order to be able to offer their services to Latin American clients. Last November, the company was setting its broker dealer in Miami. “We thought that it was the right time to offer a different kind of service;that is why we opted for a broker dealer and not for a traditional bank. The business has taken off very well”.

He recalled that in 2012 they opened a representative office in Uruguay, where the business keeps on growing in accordance with the macroeconomic situation in the Southern Cone.

Regarding the possibility of buying other companies, Serra seemed very determined. “The cost of a bank has nothing to do with the price. It is very complex to appraise a bank when you want to purchase it”. He believes that the purchase can turn out very badly, due to the fact that you can never completely appraise what you will find following the operation.

As for the possibility of opening new markets in Latin America, Serra pointed out that even though other local traders have opted for other countries of the region, MoraBanc still doesn’t have the need to follow those footsteps. For the moment they are confortable just the way they are, and in several years they may look into new openings.

“The model portfolio was trendy 20 years ago”

As far as his investment policy, he told us that better products are being released every day for small clients, however when it comes to big clients everything is tailored in accordance with their individual needs. “We are not very keen in model portfolios; we talk more in terms of personal risk profile. The model portfolio was trendy 20 years ago, when the transactions were very expensive”, whereas today the technology changes allow more suitable investments.

Security and legal structure versus product

Serra, who pointed out that they will adapt their offer to the needs of their clients, believes that currently clients do not demand products, since “people are more worried about security and legal structure”. Thus, he believes that if before the clients were searching for the perfect product, right now what prevails are the two aforementioned concepts due to the current conditions in the sector. “The shock that the clients in Cyprus have experienced has given even more importance to the concept of legal security”.

As far as Asia is concerned, Serra pointed out “when we decide to go, it will be with the purpose of making money. On that continent there is a small amount of banks that earn money, while there are none earning money with private banking. You will need a lot of leverage in order to be able to operate in Asia. It is an area of product and leverage”, and of a lot of risk, he emphasized.

Mora has opened an office in Dubai which targets the expatriates who work in that region, rather than local clients. They work from their Swiss office with Asian clients in asset management, and they are trying to successfully capture this share of the market.

Japan’s Debt Problem Visualized

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As Lukas Daalder, Senior Portfolio Manager at Robeco explains in last night’s Best Economic links of the Web issue, “Japanese bond yields hold the key of success of the Japanese plans: if they move higher, thinks could go wrong…” To explain in a short simple way why, you may want to watch this 6 minute video from youtube.

All Latin American Financial Centers Climb Positions According to Industry Survey

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The Global Financial Centers Index (GFCI) provides profiles, ratings and rankings for 79 financial centers, drawing on two separate sources of data – instrumental factors (external indices) and responses to an online survey.

The main headlines of GFCI 13 are:

London, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore remain the top four centers. London’s ratings seem to have been unaffected by the LIBOR scandal. Hong Kong and Singapore are now only two points apart.
The financial centers in Europe are still in turmoil as the Eurozone crisis continues. Zurich and Geneva confirm their position in the GFCI top ten. Frankfurt and Paris rise significantly and have closed the gap on London a little. Luxembourg, Vienna, Milan and Rome also show improvements and also move slightly closer to London. Lisbon, Reykjavik, Budapest and Athens however decline, and remain at the bottom of the GFCI rankings.
All Asia/Pacific financial centers except Beijing see their ratings improve in GFCI 13. This confirms the thinking that the decline in ratings in GFCI 12 was a temporary pause rather than the end of their long term improvements. Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Tokyo experience the strongest rises in the region. Beijing however is the largest faller in GFCI 13, down by 15 places.
All centers in the Americas see their ratings improve although Chicago, Toronto and San Francisco fall slightly in the ranks. Boston enters the GFCI top ten, climbing to 8th place. Boston was previously in 11th place and has now moved just above Seoul, Chicago and Toronto. All Latin American centers make significant progress in terms of both rankings and ratings. Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are now in the GFCI top 50 both having climbed four places. Buenos Aires makes a significant gain of 55 points and is now in 53rd place. Santiago has been added to the GFCI questionnaire recently but still needs to acquire sufficient assessments to be included in the index
Offshore centers continue to gain ground in GFCI 13 with good improvements in their ratings. Jersey and Guernsey remain the leading centers. These two are followed by Monaco which ranks 35th in GFCI 13, up by 25 ranks and 57 points since GFCI 12.

You may access the complete GFCI 13 assessment through this link.

Greece is Trading at Recovery Value

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According to a report released by Morgan Stanley this week, the brokerage firm is more constructive on Greece than consensus expectations. “A recovery hasn’t started yet, but soft data are becoming less bad, as the shocks that hit the Greek economy – including euro exit worries – are starting to dissipate, and bank deposit flows now look fully stabilized”.

Morgan Stanley points out that the competitiveness gap is closing. “With unit labor costs likely to fall further, the incentive for Greece to exit the Eurozone to boost competitiveness via a weaker exchange rate is no longer there,” points out the research. Morgan Stanley expects Greece to reach a primary budget surplus this year and maintain it thereafter.

“We expect the GGB strip to reach 52.5% by year-end. We also see valuations higher in most scenarios of second restructuring”

They also emphasize that contagion risks from Cyprus appear limited. “The main sources of uncertainty are domestic politics and the ongoing Troika review of the Greek program. While there’s some room for maneuver, the government’s ability to stay the course will continue to be widely watched by investors over time”.

Morgan Stanley finds the risk/reward particularly attractive in GGBs. “Current valuations are lower than in most of the medium-term scenarios we laid out. In fact, we expect the GGB strip to reach 52.5% by year-end. We also see valuations higher in most scenarios of second restructuring”.

Morgan Stanley’s economists, Daniele Antonucci and Samar Kazranian, see downside only in the case of a euro exit (a remote tail risk, in their view) or a potential second restructuring with the private and the official sectors taking a 60% principal reduction which they consider would be a quite a harsh scenario for the private sector.

Muzinich: Heinz’s LBO pricing does not reflect a return to excessive leverage

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Headlines have been awash in talk of the Heinz LBO. The bonds priced at month end at 4.25% ‐ the lowest yield ever for an LBO issue. In its latest Corporate Credit Market Snapshot Muzunich considers the Heinz deal to be a one‐off and in no way reflective of an uptick in LBOs or a return to excessive leverage. “Heinz was relatively unique since it is a highly recognizable brand name and benefitted from Warren Buffett’s participation. Buffett’s sizeable equity contribution helped drive down financing costs for the bond and loan portions of the deal,” highlights the snapshot, available in the asset manager’s website.

According to Muzinich, the deal also highlights the strength of the loan market ($10 billion of Heinz loans cleared the market) and the generally favorable borrowing rates currently available. Muzinich does not believe the deal reflects deteriorating corporate fundamentals. “On the contrary – corporate fundamentals remain strong as evidenced by the increase in rising stars (high yield companies that are upgraded to investment grade status),” points out the asset manager in the report. Last month in the U.S. high yield market, four companies with $12 billion of bonds outstanding, were upgraded to investment grade. “This is the highest number of monthly upgrades from high yield to investment grade in more than 7 years and underscores the strong corporate fundamentals that underpin the current high yield market”, they conclude.

Crafting the Crowd

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Markets provided remarkably healthy returns to investors in the first quarter of the year despite ongoing headlines over political brinkmanship in both Europe and the US. With global equities up close to 10% and also real estate and most fixed income assets printing firmly positive returns, ING IM points out that most multi- asset portfolios are already close to year-end targets. According to the latest HouseView report published by the firm, on a risk-adjusted basis (correcting for the volatility of the asset class) equities have clearly taken over the lead from credits as the star performer of the year.

Still, Valentijn van Nieuwenhuijzen, Head of Strategy in ING IM, remarks that both returns and investor flow dynamics clearly show that investor appetite has broadened across asset classes that provide some form of income rather than that it rotated from fixed income into equities. The main change in investor behavior is that not only yields are being searched for, but that all asset classes that provide a claim on future cash flows, generated either coupons, rents or dividends, have become more popular destinations for cash that had been piled up in recent “crisis” years.

Another important change in the behavior of investors, he emphasizes, is that they have not only become willing to broaden their horizon, but also have started to discriminate much more between markets. This is partially reflected in the unusually large gap between the performance of commodities (that do not earn any income and often have a negative cost of carry!) and other risky assets. Also it is shown by the less “top-down”-driven nature of the market. Not only has dispersion in the performance between asset classes become more visible, but also at regional, sectorial and security level have performances started to deviate much more and have observed correlations come down sharply.

As the strategist continues, this type of market dynamics create a wider set of investment opportunities that are not only concentrated at the highest allocation or asset class level. More than in previous years, it seems that the investor crowd is being crafted to look for market opportunities at a lower level that is relatively uncorrelated to the overall risk appetite of the broader market.

Within ING IM’s own asset allocation stance it is certainly visible that opportunities have shifted from asset classes towards regions and sectors. At the beginning of the year the asset management firm had much more pronounced asset class tilts, with overweights in equities (strong), real estate (medium) and credit (small) and an underweight in treasuries (medium). Throughout the first quarter however asset class tilt have been reduced and ING IM is currently left with only small overweights in equities and real estate and neutral stances in the rest.

Within regions and sectors, however, the firm gradually accentuated their preferences in recent months as underweights in emerging markets and Europe were built-up in both equity and fixed income space. Also, Japan was moved to a firm overweight within equities and US sensitive High Yield was upgraded to our best pick in fixed income.

Moreover, their stance within equities on global sectors and emerging market countries does no longer have a clear “high beta”-tilt and is very much driven by idiosyncratic drivers. ING IM is, for example, long in both industrials and healthcare, while being underweight in both materials and telecom. Also, the asset manager is underweight in both Indonesia (high beta) and Malaysia (low beta) for country specific reasons.

In the search for the best opportunities in markets and the best balance between risk and return, ING IM currently sees different opportunities than at the start of the year. Therefore, they have crafted an allocation stance that is less dependent on the risk-on/risk-off theme and concentrates on exposure at a different level in the allocation spectrum. Depending on the state of the global cycle, visibility on political risks and observed shifts in investor behavior the firm will assess over time whether future adaptation in their allocation stance will move back up to the asset class level or intensify the regional and sectorial tilts.

Private Equity Firms “Go Global” in the Face of Slowing Growth

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Private equity firms around the world are bracing for tough conditions for both fundraising and deal-making, according to Grant Thornton International Ltd’s Global Private Equity Report. Now in its second year, the report is the result of 143 in-depth interviews with senior private equity practitioners around the globe.

“The report highlights that the search for profitable growth remains fundamentally about strategy rather than pure geographical expansion. Growth remains the key, and is driving the globalization of the private equity industry, including Canada”

“A central role of the private equity community is to seek new growth opportunities and then act as a catalyst for that growth. Many of today’s investors are finding themselves at the centre of the evolution of a truly global economy and the continuing search for new corporate frontiers,” says Tim Oldfield, Partner, Corporate Finance, Grant Thornton LLP.

“The report highlights that the search for profitable growth remains fundamentally about strategy rather than pure geographical expansion. Growth remains the key, and is driving the globalization of the private equity industry, including Canada,” he adds. “At the same time, private equity is also acting as a driver of globalization. Canadian private equity firms need to grow outside the Canadian market”.

The report provides insight into the expectations of private equity general partners (GPs) for numerous aspects of the fundraising and investment cycle. It shows, among other things:

Indonesia, Peru, Colombia and Turkey top the list of new “high growth” markets where private equity is likely to see the most opportunities;
deal activity expected to slow in China and India;
foreign trade buyers seen as most likely exit route (particularly Japan, China and Korea);
a dramatic drop in fundraising confidence and economic outlook.

Fundraising fears
This year’s report sees a marked decline in fundraising expectations of GPs around the world, with nearly three-quarters (72 percent) describing the fundraising outlook as either “negative” or “very negative”. In 2011, the figure was just 46 percent. The most dramatic decline in optimism from 2011 is evident in the BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. This year, 78 percent of respondents in these markets described the fundraising outlook as “negative” or “very negative”. In 2011, the figure was 39 percent.

Private equity firms looking for new investors
Private equity firms are expecting to have to turn to a greater number of new investors – or limited partners (“LPs”) – and rely less on their existing LPs to make follow-on commitments to their next funds. This year, 40 percent of respondents said they expect their next fund to be majority funded by first time investors. In 2011’s report, this figure was only 24 percent.

Global exit routes
Private equity firms are looking across borders for exit routes, in particular to overseas trade buyers. More than half of respondents (52 percent) expect the majority of the trade buyers they transact with in the near term to be foreign, while a further 20 percent expect the split between foreign and domestic buyers to be 50-50. Only 28 percent expect to deal mostly with domestic trade buyers. Globally, China and Japan, Europe and North America are the regions from which most GPs expect non-domestic strategic buyers to originate.

Regions as expected sources of non-domestic acquirers

China, Japan, Korea		31%
Europe		24%
North America		22%
South East Asia		11%
India		10%
MENA		1%
Africa		<1%
Latin America		<1%
Russia		<1%

Top ten “high growth” markets
While growth in “high-growth” countries outstrips that seen in Western markets, the search for growth leaves local private equity firms to keep a watchful eye on where tomorrow’s deal-flow will originate. While a move to new unknown territories may be a risk too far for many Western funds, investors based in regions such as Canada typically have good visibility on the next frontier markets.

1		Indonesia
2		Peru
3		Colombia
4		Turkey
5 =		Myanmar
5 =		Egypt
5 =		Saudi Arabia
8 =		Mexico
8 =		Ghana
8 =		Malaysia

xpected investment activity by region

Region	Increase	Same	Decrease
Asia Pacific	50%	44%	6%
China	33%	11%	56%
India	33%	22%	45%
Latin America	78%	22%	0%
MENA (Middle East & North Africa)	60%	33%	7%
North America	59%	41%	0%
Western Europe	27%	64%	9%

There is an enormous expectation for growing new deal activity in Latin America with 78 percent reporting that they expect an increase. This represents only a slight dampening of last year’s sentiment, when 89 percent of respondents expected deal activity to increase in the region.

RobecoSAM kicks off its anual Corporate Sustainability Assessment

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Every year RobecoSAM invites the 2,500 largest companies in terms of free float market capitalization from all industries to participate in its annual Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA). In addition, 800 companies from the emerging markets are invited to participate and gain eligibility for inclusion in the recently launched DJSI Emerging Markets. The CSA is the research backbone for the constructions of all the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI). After the assessment, companies are included in the DJSI World if their sustainability performance ranks among the top 10% of their industry peers.

800 companies from the emerging markets are invited to participate and gain eligibility for inclusion in the recently launched DJSI Emerging Markets

The CSA focuses on a company’s long-term value creation with over 100 questions on financially material, economic, environmental, social and corporate governance practices. Over half of the questions are industry-specific as RobecoSAM is convinced that industry-specific sustainability risks and opportunities play a key role in a firm’s long term success. The other half includes questions on general sustainability issues such as corporate governance, product stewardship and talent attraction and retention.

The assessment process has continuously been refined over the years. This year, RobecoSAM has aligned several of its Climate Strategy questions with corresponding questions asked by CDP, the provider of Climate Disclosure abd Climate Performance Leadership Indexes. This will reduce the workload for 90% of DJSI participating companies which also respond to the request for climate change information through CDP.

Further, the 2013 CSA and DJSI family will be aligned with the Global Industry Classification System (GICS), thus meeting commonly accepted sector classification standards. The switch to GICS, which is a widely used standard in the financial industry, will therefore allow the DJSI to become more attractive for investors as it meets the need for one complete and consistent set of global sector and industry definitions. The changes will be implemented into all the indices. This means that the former 19 ICB super sectors will be replaced with 24 GICS industry groups, and the 58 RobecoSAM sectors will be replaced by 59 RobecoSAM industries.

Henderson: Identifying value in Europe

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Henderson: Identificando el valor en Europa — Foto cedidaRichard Pease is manager of the Henderson European Special Situations Fund, the Henderson European Growth Fund and the Henderson Horizon European Growth Fund. Henderson: Identifying value in Europe

As we are bottom-up stock pickers, macro views are not a key determinant of how we shape our portfolio. That said, a more positive macro backdrop will support our convictions. Although eurozone headwinds continue in the form of political deadlock in Italy, the Cypriot banking crisis and rising peripheral bond yields, a number of global equity markets remain close to five-year highs. Clearly, the recent Italian election result has provided a setback to Europe but this seems unlikely to cause an imminent return to euro fragmentation. On the contrary, there have been a number of recent positive signals for European equities; the return of Portugal to the debt market and signs that funding conditions continue to ease for European banks. Accelerating merger and acquisition (M&A) activity and a surge in buy-back announcements has also lent support to equities as corporates have put excess cash to work. Global M&A volumes in February surpassed that of last year’s while buy-back announcements in 2013 currently stand at a 20-month high.

Looking at the IMA monthly fund flow data, there has been a steady increase in the level of gross sales into the European ex UK equity sector – see chart. As Europe’s recovery gains traction and as gross domestic product growth forecasts increase, we would expect investor sentiment to improve and for fund flows to increase further, which should in turn drive up capital values.

Chart 1 – IMA: Gross sales to the Europe ex UK equity sector

Source: Investment Management Association (IMA), total gross sales by period (retail and institutional), in sterling, Jan 2012 to Jan 2013.

While we do not like to adopt a macro view, we do have a focus on buying good quality global players which originate from Europe but which are not entirely vulnerable to the region’s woes. Our portfolio is largely composed of companies with lots of free cash flow generation, on low valuations and with a good history of delivering strong results and value for shareholders. These companies should prosper even in tough times thanks to their exposure to faster growing economic areas and robust pricing power.

Currently, industrials are a particularly appealing sector and we are attracted to service companies due to their strong balance sheets and recurring revenue streams, such as Kone and Schindler. Kone, the Finnish lift company, has been able to tap fast-growing emerging markets as well as the developed world. The company’s servicing arm, which maintains and refurbishes lifts, accounts for more than half of Kone’s sales. At the other end of the spectrum, we have avoided financials. We remain underweight the sector and do not currently hold any banks. Banks have bounced sharply over the last six months but we continue to prefer service-related businesses with high levels of recurring revenue. However, we do own some high yielding insurance stocks such as Nordic-based general insurance provider Tryg, which is paying an attractive dividend yield, and non-life insurer Gjensidige.

European stock markets have recovered this year and are not as cheap as they once were. However, the Henderson European Special Situations Fund has a portfolio of companies with minimal balance sheet debt, strong underlying cash generation and most stocks have enjoyed excellent track records due to quality management who, in most cases, have significant exposure to their own shares. The underlying portfolio is yielding around 3.2%, and has an adjusted free cash flow yield in excess of 8% compared with other asset classes whose real value may be impaired by government initiatives to generate economic growth. Looking at the 1.9% yield currently earned on 10-year UK government bonds, European equities appear to be a much more sensible and attractive option.

Richard Pease is manager of the Henderson European Special Situations Fund, the Henderson European Growth Fund and the Henderson Horizon European Growth Fund