In ING IM’s last edition of the Emerging Equity Markets Monthly (EEMM) that was published in December the asset manager wrote about the improved environment for emerging equities. Until January, they saw accelerating Chinese growth, better global growth data and easy financial conditions throughout the emerging world producing a nice EM outperformance vis-à-vis developed markets.
But the new positive trend, that emerged after two years of underperformance, has not continued in the new year. Although ING IM still thinks that the current global environment for EM equities is rather good, they have to acknowledge that new risks to the asset class have emerged in recent months. It is the pressure on Asian growth prospects and currencies from the sharp yen depreciation that explains part of the recent headwinds. But the asset manager cannot stress enough that it has also seen increased vulnerability in flows to emerging debt markets because of rising balance-of-payments risks and rising US yields. The recent sell-off in the Turkish equity market can be seen as a warning sign in this respect.
In this EEMM, ING IM assess the key drivers of EM equity markets and explain how it sees EM relative to DM. In the short term, the asset manager does not expect much out or underperformance. The positives and negatives, on their view, seem balanced currently. However, its longer-term take on emerging markets remains cautious, mainly because of the structural growth decline in China and the growing macro imbalances throughout the emerging world.
You can access the full report in the pdf file attached.
. Funds Society launch party in Miami: view all the pictures
Fundssociety.comhosted a party in Miami last Thursday to celebrate the launch of its website. A large group of investment professionals assisted to the cocktailthat took place in Brickell Avenue, in the heart of Miami’s financial district.
The website, which was launched in January 2013, seeks to become the meeting point for the offshore investment product industry in Latin America and the United States, as well as to be the preferred website for asset and wealth management professionals regarding timely an accurate information about the industry – products, business, whitepapers, appointments, opinion columns-.
Funds Society offers the best specialized information on the region with local teams in Miami and Mexico City.
Photo: Roger McLassus. AXA IM launches AXA WF Equity Volatility
Equity volatility tends to be inversely correlated from traditional asset classes such as equities and therefore offers the twin benefits of diversification and extreme risk mitigation. AXA Investment Managers has launched the AXA WF Equity Volatility Fund offering institutional investors cost efficient, positive exposure to the implied volatility of major equity markets.
AXA WF Equity Volatilityseeks to capture significant increases in equity volatility in the European and/or US equity markets while partially mitigating the cost of carry of this exposure. The Fund achieves this by building a long position in implied volatility of the S&P 500 index and/or the Euro Stoxx 50 index through derivatives. In order to mitigate the cost of carry of this long position, the Fund has the flexibility to opportunistically take short positions on the near term implied volatility through the use of indices futures.
Laurent Ramsamy, lead fund manager of AXA WF Equity Volatility said: “Volatility, if managed dynamically, is not a mere measure of risk, it is also an attractive source of diversification and performance, especially for investors exposed to riskier assets. The challenge, however, is how to provide the long term long volatility exposure in a cost efficient manner. The strategy is designed to offer timely protection and strong gains when equity markets move into crisis mode.”
As noted in the press release, AXA IM has a proven track record in managing volatility instruments, including the use of derivatives: “Our extensive experience and robust risk management underpins this Fund and ensures compliance with European regulations. Our Multi Asset Client Solutions team has been trading derivatives within an asset liability matching framework for institutional investors since 1997, with €77 billion notional value in derivatives for major hedging programs”.
Laurent Seyer, Global Head of Multi Asset Client Solutions at AXA IM, commented: “AXA IM’s understanding of volatility trends and proven derivatives expertise enables us to react quickly to market movements, thereby dynamically managing exposure to equity volatility consistent with prevailing market conditions in a cost efficient manner. With short term equity volatility at near historical low levels we believe this is an opportune moment to launch this fund”.
AXA WF Equity Volatility, which launched on 12 February 2013, is a UCITS regulated fund with active risk monitoring and controls.
Foto: Orlovic. Principal Global Investors adquiere el 55% de Liongate Capital Management
Principal Global Investors, a leading global asset manager and a member of the Principal Financial Group, today announced an agreement to acquire a 55 percent stake in Liongate Capital Management (Liongate), a global alternative investment boutique based in London and New York focused on managing portfolios of hedge funds.
Founded in 2003, Liongate has approximately US $2.1 billion1 in assets under management across a range of commingled funds and dedicated client portfolios. Its client base includes many of the world’s leading pension funds, insurance companies and sovereign wealth funds. Liongate is recognized for its dynamic approach to asset allocation and managed hedge solutions, which have delivered strong, long-term risk-adjusted returns to its blue-chip investor base.
The transaction will strengthen The Principal’s alternative investment capabilities, deepen its pool of investment talent, and help extend its product offerings into customized multi-asset and hedge fund solutions.
“With its strong reputation and focused investment expertise, Liongate is a welcome addition to our multi-boutique investment management structure,” said Jim McCaughan, chief executive officer of Principal Global Investors. “The partnership will enhance our capabilities in alternative investments, which is an area where client demand continues to grow. Very few institutional investment firms have this level of expertise in hedge fund investing.”
Being affiliated with a global investment management leader, Liongate will benefit from access to The Principal’s global footprint and strong distribution networks, as well as its product development expertise and best-practice support infrastructure.
“Our clients increasingly want hedged solutions over their entire portfolios, and not just on an ‘alternatives’ side plate. The operational synergies and economies of scale will enhance our client resources globally, enabling Liongate to focus on consistent, risk-adjusted client performance. The Principal gets what we want to do, and our personal chemistry is strong, so that is why we decided to work together,” said Randall Dillard, chief investment officer and co-founder of Liongate.
The Liongate partners will retain a 45 percent share and will manage Liongate within their current roles. The partners are reinvesting a significant share of their consideration into existing Liongate investment strategies.
The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2013, pending regulatory approval. The Principal estimates the acquisition will be slightly accretive in the first year. Sandler O’Neill + Partners advised The Principal on the transaction and Fenchurch Advisory Partners advised Liongate.
. Kimpton Group cierra un fondo de inversión en hoteles de 203 millones de dólares
Kimpton Group Holding, the parent company of Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, the largest player in the boutique/lifestyle hotel segment, has announced it has closed its fourth institutional real estate fund and its third fund within the Kimpton Hospitality Partners series. KHP Fund III, L.P. (“KHP Fund III”), has $203 million in committed equity capital with the goal of acquiring more than $500 million worth of hotels over the next three years.
“The discretionary nature of our fund provides us a distinct advantage in acquiring properties because we are able to offer sellers and developers a quick and certain close, something that few others can match.”
Kimpton is the only branded hotel company with institutionally backed, fully discretionary, dedicated real estate investment funds for the acquisition and development of boutique hotels. The company’s first institutional fund, the $122 million Kimpton Development Opportunity Fund (“KDOF”), was established in 1997 and acquired/developed nine properties. Similar to KDOF, the three subsequent KHP Funds (the first of which closed in 2005) have been raised to acquire, develop and redevelop boutique/lifestyle hotel properties in select major metropolitan cities and resort areas across North America.
Today, Kimpton is a fully integrated hotel and restaurant company with its proprietary Kimpton brand, an experienced operations team, in-house development expertise and a national acquisitions team. In addition to its fund acquisitions, Kimpton provides management services to owners of boutique hotels throughout North America, with approximately three-quarters of its portfolio third-party owned.
“Raising capital for real estate investment has been more challenging than ever over the past few years, which is why we are especially proud to announce the close of this new fund,” said Kimpton CEO, Mike Depatie. “The discretionary nature of our fund provides us a distinct advantage in acquiring properties because we are able to offer sellers and developers a quick and certain close, something that few others can match.”
In line with the first two KHP funds, KHP Fund III will follow a multi-pronged strategy for making new investments:
Acquire non-hotel buildings that can be converted to Kimpton hotels, including “adaptive reuse” projects, such as KHP II’s new Hotel Monaco Philadelphia that opened in October 2012 in the city’s historic Lafayette building, which was previously an office building.
Acquire existing hotels that either fit the Kimpton model, such as the recently added Hotel Wilshire in Los Angeles (also a KHP II acquisition) or properties that are underutilized and where opportunities exist to reposition them as a Kimpton hotel, such as the Hotel Palomar in Washington, DC (formerly a Radisson).
Build new boutique hotels in targeted urban and resort areas in North America.
Kimpton Expanding Footprint via Acquisition and Management Contracts
KHP Fund III has already acquired a property in Savannah Georgia – The Mulberry Inn, a 145-room hotel in downtown Savannah, located in an historic site that once housed a livery stable, a cotton warehouse and later a Coca-Cola bottling plant. The property was converted into a hotel in 1982. The Mulberry Inn is owned in a joint venture between KHP Fund II and KHP Fund III, and will undergo a major renovation in the latter half of 2013 to convert into a Kimpton hotel.
Savannah’s Mulberry Inn is just one in a series of new hotels Kimpton has opened or announced in the past year. Since January 2012, the company has added seven hotels to its roster, including acquisitions of the River Place Inn in Portland, the Canary Hotel in Santa Barbara, the Hotel Monaco Philadelphia and the Hotel Wilshire in Los Angeles, along with management contracts for Washington, D.C.’s Donovan House, the La Jolla Hotel and the Hotel Palomar Phoenix.
Kimpton also recently announced it has won the management contract for two upcoming new hotels in San Antonio and Milwaukee, marking the third Kimpton hotel in Texas and the latest in the brand’s longstanding history of adaptive reuse projects, and the first-ever Kimpton hotel in Milwaukee.
Mexico International’s polo team made a huge tournament win against difficult odds. The Merida Real Estate Polo Team takes First Place Trophy in Sixth Yucatan Polo Open. The underdog team, featuring several young players whom had never played in a tournament, galloped the pants off Telcel to walk away with the tournament’s 1st place trophy by the team of captainJorge Moscoso, Ignacion Estrada, Colm Cooney, Andy Ristau and Connor Degraff.
The Yucatan Polo Club hosted the exciting weekend action and equestrian events:
The 6th Yucatan Polo Open. Featuring 4 teams playing in a 0-1 goal handicap tournament, sanctioned by the Federacion Mexicana de Polo, was played upon the new grass field.
The 2nd Komchen Jumping Classic, hosted by the Hipico Sureste, featured 47 jumpers from the Mexican states of Campeche, Tabasco, Veracruz, Quintana Roo and Yucatan.
Twenty polo players and referees from Mexico, the UK, Ireland, USA, Germany and Switzerland participated in the 6th Yucatan Polo Open. Attendance to the 2-day event was estimated at 1200-1300 people.
The Polo Club’s next event – The Hennessy Cup, will be on the 9th & 10th of March. A 1st class Food and Wine Festival – featuring Merida‘s finest restaurants – will be featured at the event.
Foto: Commons, Wikipedia Takes Manhattan . Morgan Stanley Investment Management Launches Global Mortgage Securities Fund
Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) has announced the launch of the Morgan Stanley Investment Funds (“MS INVF”) Global Mortgage Securities Fund. The fund seeks to provide an attractive rate of return through investment in a portfolio of mortgages and securitized debt instruments issued by government agencies and private institutions.
Commenting on the launch, Sheila Huang, Head of the MSIM Mortgage Team, said “The global mortgage market is a broad and dynamic landscape. Over time, investor preferences and convictions can change due to such factors as regulatory constraints, asset values and the availability of credit. These changes result in dislocations in relative value and solid opportunities for mortgage-related investments. In order to spot these opportunities as they just begin to take shape, the fund’s experienced and informed team takes a long-term perspective and leverages its disciplined investment process and commitment to research.”
The new fund applies a consistent, thematic, targeted bottom-up investment approach that combines global macro fundamental analysis, thorough research and analysis of industry trends to create a diversified portfolio of securitised instruments. MSIM’s Global Mortgage research teams seek to identify potential value opportunities in all areas of the securitised market, and portfolio construction takes place over three key stages – value identification, implementation and evaluation.
Arthur Lev, Head of MSIM’s Long-Only Business, added, “Our focus is our clients – in these difficult market conditions, our goal is to develop products that allow clients access to diverse asset classes. The Global Mortgage Securities fund leverages the extensive market experience of investment professionals within the Long-Only business to help clients achieve their investment goals.”
BBVA Compass won the Celent Model Bank award on Wednesday for its core banking transformation, lauded in the business press as a “game changer” when it debuted last fall, said the bank in a statement.
The bank’s technology upgrade marks one of the first successful core infrastructure replacements for a major U.S. bank in more than a decade. Celent honored the achievement with its award, which recognizes the use of technology that has a clear and sustainable impact on business, improves sales, reduces risk, improves processes and performance, or meets market demands. Previous award winners include Citibank, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, and Umpqua Bank.
“The implementation of our new core system was a huge milestone for us,” said Manolo Sanchez , BBVA Compass president and CEO. “By introducing this powerful and flexible technology, we’re able to increase our focus on the rapidly changing needs of our customers and provide them with more personalized and innovative services.”
The new system powers BBVA Compass’ checking and savings, consumer and business lending, and mortgage capabilities – and is fully integrated with its branch and ATM networks, call centers and online and mobile banking services. The $362 million project cut the time it takes to open a new deposit account to as little as five minutes from more than 40, and reduced time to market for new products by up to 75 percent.
The system also allows the bank to support its first wholly digital banking product: NBA Banking, which launched this month and is maintained entirely online. It allows BBVA Compass to expand beyond its Sunbelt footprint and capitalize on its role as the official bank of the NBA in the U.S.
The new core platform is now being used in the bank’s more than 700 branches in seven states. The system is based upon Alnova Financial Solutions, Accenture’s core banking software platform. Accenture also helped BBVA Compass implement the platform.
Foto cedida. IFC Names Jean Philippe Prosper VP for Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, announced the appointment of Jean Philippe Prosper to Vice President of Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean. He will be based in Johannesburg after a short transition.
In his new position, Prosper will oversee IFC’s Investment and Advisory Services operations in 79 countries, where IFC has a combined investment portfolio of $17 billion and Advisory Services programs worth $286 million across the two regions.
“Our focus in Latin America and the Caribbean is to promote inclusive economic growth, regional integration, innovation to improve competitiveness and climate change mitigation,”
Prosper said, “Our activities in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean are critical to IFC’s global business and we will build on our success in these regions to have a more significant impact on poverty elimination through private sector development.”
Prosper said: “In Africa IFC is a major regional investor. We will further grow our Investment and Advisory Services, especially in fragile and conflict affected states and through regional and national projects that have potential to positively transform development in Africa.” During its 2012 fiscal year, IFC’s investments grew 44 percent to $4 billion and saw major inroads in its priority sectors of infrastructure and agribusiness. Nearly all of IFC’s 123 Advisory Services programs worth $204 million in Sub-Saharan Africa were carried out in the region’s poorest countries and more than a quarter of it in fragile and conflict-affected states. IFC executes its business in Sub-Saharan Africa from 21 offices.
“Our focus in Latin America and the Caribbean is to promote inclusive economic growth, regional integration, innovation to improve competitiveness and climate change mitigation,” Prosper said. The LAC region accounts for the largest share of IFC global commitments—24 percent in fiscal year 2012, with $5 billion in financing for 134 new private sector projects. Through its Advisory Services IFC executed 79 projects worth $82 million at the end of the last fiscal year. IFC carries out its business in LAC from 16 offices.
PIMCO, a leading global investment management firm, has launched the PIMCO Emerging Markets Full Spectrum Bond Fund (PFSIX), designed to give investors a comprehensive, “one stop” fixed income strategy to capture the wide variety of investment opportunities in the developing world. The fund provides an asset allocation and risk management framework for relative value investing across fixed income and currency asset classes. It is managed by Michael Gomez, Managing Director and co-head of PIMCO’s global emerging markets portfolio management team.
Many investors are still under-allocated to developing economies, PIMCO believes, and should increase their exposure to tap into higher yields, with stronger economic conditions and improving underlying fundamentals. Investing in emerging markets may also provide greater portfolio diversification.
“Many fast-growing emerging markets offer investors a range of choices, such as undervalued currencies, attractive yields in local bond markets, the improving credit quality of sovereign debt or the higher yields of corporate bonds, but identifying and capturing the best opportunities requires a dynamic asset allocation framework and robust risk management,” said Mr Gomez.
Mr Gomez said the PIMCO Emerging Markets Full Spectrum Bond Fund not only draws on the firm’s expertise in asset allocation to navigate the best relative value opportunities in emerging markets sovereign bonds, local currency bonds, corporate bonds or currencies, but also draws on PIMCO’s global macroeconomic insights and extensive bottom-up research.
Institutional shares of the PIMCO Emerging Markets Full Spectrum Bond Fund trade under the ticker symbol PFSIX. Additional shares include “P” shares (PFSPX), “A” shares (PFSSX), “D” shares (PFSYX) and “C” shares (PFSCX).
