The Impact of Brexit on Hedge Funds: Year – End 2016 Update

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Sólo el 21% de los hedge funds sufren un impacto negativo por el Brexit
Pixabay CC0 Public Domain. The Impact of Brexit on Hedge Funds: Year - End 2016 Update

Preqin’s year-end update on attitudes to Brexit in the hedge fund industry has found that managers have become more upbeat about the result in the intervening five months. As the majority of fund managers believed the UK would vote to remain in the UK (71%), it is unsurprising that a large proportion were caught out by the immediate market turbulence. In July, 34% of firms thought Brexit had negatively impacted their performance in the aftermath of the vote, although 27% managed to capture this volatility and boost returns.

Since then, managers have been able to navigate the market more adeptly, despite the vote still considerably affecting performance. In November, just 21% of firms have seen a negative impact from Brexit over H2, while 32% have seen their performance affected positively. Going forwards, a quarter of hedge fund managers expect the impact of Brexit to be positive for their portfolios, and now the industry has an opportunity to prove its value in generating non-correlated returns. Investor confidence in the UK also seems to have returned since the referendum.

Immediately after the referendum, 31% of hedge fund investors expected to invest less in the UK over the next 12 months, and 24% expected to invest less in the longer term. As of November, those proportions have fallen to 21% and 18% respectively, while the proportion looking to invest more in the UK over the coming year has risen from 7% in July to 13% currently.

Other Key Facts on the Impact of Brexit on Hedge Funds:

  • Performance Recovery: UK-and Europe- focused hedge funds incurred steep losses in June 2016, immediately following the referendum result. However, both have more that recovered those losses in Q3, and as of the end of October are showing YTD gains of 1.91% and 0.99% respectively.
  • Business as Usual: The majority of investors do not think Brexit will alter their hedge fund commitments in either the EU or the UK. Three-quarters of investors plan to invest at the same level in the UK over the long term, while 81% of investors will maintain their current level of investment in EU-based hedge funds.
  • Fund Manager Location: Although the majority (70%) of UK-based hedge fund managers surveyed in November do not anticipate changing location, this proportion has shrunk since July (80%). Meanwhile, a greater proportion of firms (24%) are now uncertain of their position compared to five months ago (17%).
  • Firms and Investors: The UK is still home to the majority of hedge fund industry participants. Preqin tracks 944 EU-based hedge fund managers of which 590 (63%) are headquartered in the UK, and 757 EU-based investors of which 408 (54%) are located in the UK.
  • Size of EU Industry: As of 30th September 2016, the UK hedge fund industry dwarfs that of the rest of the EU market. The UK-based industry currently holds $478bn in assets, while the EU market (minus the UK) is worth $125bn. 

You can read the full report in the followig link.

Challenges in Frontier Markets: Kenya

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Desafíos en los mercados frontera: Kenia
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Anita Ritenour. Challenges in Frontier Markets: Kenya

Global Evolution’s, team visited Kenya in early Dec 16 in order to gauge the degree of likely policy slippage going into mid-2017 elections. The frontier markets experts met with various economic stakeholders including representatives from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and the Finance Ministry. The visit reiterated their extremely constructive longer-term outlook for the economy, but highlighted some potential short-term vulnerabilities:

Growth outlook

Kenya is at an interesting inflection point: the combination of the new SGR railway between Mombasa and Nairobi and improved energy production should enable the development of an industrial corridor along its route. A shift into light manufacturing will have a major
impact on the structure of the economy. Meanwhile, GDP growth was around 6.2% y/y in Q2:16 compared to 5.9% y/y in Q2:15

Political risk

Kenya has elections on 8 Aug 17 and it is likely that the government’s focus will increasingly look towards political gain rather than policy changes in the interim. It is likely that Kenyatta and his National Alliance will win the elections unless the so called National Super Alliance (NASA) which is being spearheaded by ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi is successful in getting agreement between Mudavadi and ODM leader Raila Odinga as to who will lead the party. They suspect an Odinga leadership is unlikely to unseat Kenyatta: a Mudavadi leadership just might.

As with the previous election, which saw limited security issues, the sense is that politicians will be more constrained in whipping up violent ethnic sentiment for political gain during the campaigning for next year’s elections.

The election is becoming more of a focus for policy decisions. In particular, the private members legislation on fixing interest rates, which was unanimously supported in parliament despite being opposed by the executive, is unlikely to be overturned or amended prior to the elections.

Monetary policy

The CBK has a problem. In late Aug 16 parliament unanimously passed a bill capping the spread on interest rates around the CBKs policy rate with a maximum spread of 700 bps. As with all such populist legislation, the rule has created some unwelcome influences. First, it has added to the liquidity pressure being faced by the lower tier banks following the collapse of 3 of them earlier in the year.

Second, it has reduced credit to the private sector as the government is presently financing above the cap intended for private lending. We met several private banks who suggested that once the administration and risk premium is added to private sector clients there was limited value in lending to them, rather than the government.

Third, in order to keep the lower tier banks solvent, the CBK is extending liquidity to them as the interbank market will not at present. This is pulling down the short end of the money market curve and placing upwards pressure on USDKES. Making it relatively cheap to short the KES into an election is always a very dangerous monetary policy move.

To some extent the CBK is between a rock and a hard place, as it balances the needs of banking sector and currency stability. The result has been a reduction in FX reserves to around USD7.33bn in late Nov 16 from USD7.78bn in late Oct 16. The upwards pressure on USDKES has also drawn the attention of a very maternal CBK who is attempting to micro-manage the FX trading of the major banks. Not surprisingly, most of the banks we spoke with believed that USDKES would grind higher into next year’s elections, although none saw an extended or aggressive sell-off.

Inflation appears to have found a bit of a bottom around 5.0% y/y in Q2:16 and has been drifted up again to 6.7% y/y in Nov 16. With a 3-6% inflation range target the move limits the room for the CBK to further cut rates, at least for now.
Interestingly, despite policy rates likely remaining on hold, the bid from commercial banks for government paper created by the new interest rate spread legislation will keep fixed income well bid in coming months.

Global Evolution, an asset management firm specialized in emerging and frontier markets sovereign debt, is represented by Capital Strategies in the Americas Region.

La Financière de l’Echiquier Foundation Sets a Course for Europe

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La Fundación Financière de l’Echiquier pone rumbo a Europa
Pixabay CC0 Public Domain. La Financière de l’Echiquier Foundation Sets a Course for Europe

After celebrating ten years of engagement in France, La Financière de l’Echiquier Foundation has expanded its reach to promote education and professional integration in Europe, and in that way, support the company’s development beyond its borders.

The Foundation has thus broadened its mission in assisting persons in difficulty to those countries where La Financière de l’Echiquier (LFDE) is already present by supporting non-profit projects promoting access to the world of work. The first three not-for-profits supported are Apprentis d’Auteuil in Switzerland, Rock your life! in Germany and Duo for a job in Belgium, with developments in Spain and Italy next in line.

Ten years of initiatives in France have made it possible to distribute €5 million and finance more than 150 solidarity-based projects. 75% of the Foundation’s budget is derived from fee sharing arrangements for two funds, Echiquier Excelsior and Echiquier Agressor Partage – a pioneer in such sharing mechanisms, for which LFDE was recognized in 2013 and 2014, the “Financial altruist of the year”. The remaining 25% is derived from private donations.

“This expanded European scope marks a new chapter in the history of our foundation,” commented Bénédicte Gueugnier, President of La Financière de l’Echiquier Foundation, adding that “in so doing, it seeks to promote the company’s values and their sustainability in those countries where it has established a presence, beyond its core business. As in France, LFDE employees will be engaged by participating in all these local initiatives.”

“We are happy and proud to deploy with even more energy our philanthropic initiatives wherever we are present. This excellent initiative quite naturally accompanies the latest advances of our project for growth and reinforces our local engagement. I consider myself profoundly European and am determined to replicate at this level the superb work we have carried out in France for more than ten years”, added Didier Le Menestrel, Chairman & CEO of La Financière de l’Echiquier.
 

US Reflation and Chinese Capital Flight Heighten Emerging Markets Outflows

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Se acentúan los flujos de salida de los mercados emergentes
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Nikolaj Potanin. US Reflation and Chinese Capital Flight Heighten Emerging Markets Outflows

According to Willem Verhagen, Senior Economist at NN Investment Partners, the most important development in EM recently has been the sharp deterioration in capital flows. After flows had improved in the period February‐June, mainly driven by the more urgent search for yield globally, they started to weaken again in the summer. The specialist notices that from the moment that US yields started to rise, EM outflows have increased. In October, when the pace of the US yield increase accelerated, also EM outflows accelerated. And when the Trump election caused a break‐out in US yields, EM flows reacted immediately: November became one of the worst outflow months on record, with an estimated outflow of USD 124 billion. This compares with USD 122 billion last January, USD 62 billion in June 2013 (Fed tapering fear) and USD 218 billion in October 2008. Large capital outflows lead to a tightening of financial conditions and a slowdown in economic growth.

In his opinion, one can distinguish two main factors that explain the increasing capital outflows. Firstly, the serious headwinds to the global search for yield due to the market excitement about US reflation. Given the huge inflows into EM debt markets in the past years (despite deteriorating EM fundamentals!), we should be worried that outflows can continue for a while and can get nastier.

And secondly, Chinese outflows have been accelerating in the past months, not so much because global money is leaving China. But it is Chinese households and corporates that are taking more capital offshore, despite tightened regulation by the authorities in Beijing. An important role plays the continuous depreciation of the renminbi versus the US dollar, that is making Chinese people with money more nervous. “The depreciation of the renminbi is likely to continue, due to the US reflation expectations and due to the dramatic rise in leverage and the sharp money supply growth with only a limited impact on Chinese growth. In the background remains the threat of US protectionism, that potentially can push the Chinese currency much weaker.” Verhagen concludes.
 

Spain Is Open for Business: Politics Aside, Spain Offers an Appetizing Opportunity for Investors

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España atrae a los inversores: las empresas de private equity identifican oportunidades tentadoras
Pixabay CC0 Public DomainPhoto: AnaGuzzo, Flickr, Creative Commons.. Spain Is Open for Business: Politics Aside, Spain Offers an Appetizing Opportunity for Investors

2016 has been a tough year for Spain. After two elections and 10 months without a government, the center-right People’s Party, led by Mariano Rajoy, was finally able to grab the reins of power, albeit without a majority of seats in parliament. Another election could be in the offing as early as May. Beneath the political tumult, however, the economy is quietly humming along. The IMF has lifted its estimate of Spain’s economic growth to 3.1 percent for 2016, making it the envy of the developed world.

The recovering economy, which is playing catch-up after a deep recession brought on by the 2008 financial crisis, has given a strong boost to Spain’s private equity market. The country saw a record 72 private equity deals in 2015, totaling $2 billion, according to research service Preqin.

But while the number of deals hit an all-time high, the dollar volume was the lowest in five years, reflecting a shift in private equity investment to small and medium-size enterprises. It’s those companies that now provide the most inviting growth opportunities.

Investors are starting to pay attention. A record 1.27 billion euros was raised in nine private equity fund closings in 2015, according to Preqin. Spain now has 25 private equity funds with a combined 3.6 billion euros of targeted capital.

Still, the market is small compared to its potential, with those 3.6 billion euros accounting for just 0.3 percent of Spain’s gross domestic product (GDP). That compares to $1.34 trillion in the US, or roughly 7 percent of GDP.

So where are the most promising private equity investments? The list starts with disruptive companies that are bringing new products and new ways of doing things, of which Spain has its fair share.

The companies that are most likely to be disruptive are the smaller and more agile firms. In addition to their growth prospects, smaller firms often offer more attractive valuations than their larger brethren and there is often less competition among investment funds to garner a stake in these companies.

The sectors of the Spanish economy with this kind of appeal include telecommunications, transportation, medical technology, biotechnology, education and real estate.

When it comes to telecommunications, I see opportunities in young companies providing services that complement traditional offerings from telecom, cable and satellite incumbents.

On the medical technology front, two overriding factors are driving innovation in the provision of healthcare services. First is the issue of rising costs for medical care. Second is a concern for patient safety. Technology plays a key role in both areas.

Recent examples of private equity investments in disruptive small- and medium-size Spanish enterprises include the following

·      GPF Capital acquired a majority share of telecommunications company Acuntia, which engages in the design, integration and maintenance of communication networks, including network architecture, video collaboration, security and mobility, and data centers;

·      Magnum Capital took an equity stake in Orliman, a manufacturer and distributor of non-invasive orthopedic devices for the limbs and torso, with its products being used in the prevention of injury, treatment of chronic conditions and for recovery after surgery or injury; and

·      Eneas Alternatives Investments, of which I am a partner, acquired control of Lug Healthcare Technology, a medical technology company that has developed a unique error-free process to manage the prescription, administration and inventory of single-dose drugs in hospitals.

Spain is full of similar disruptive companies in growing industries. Many of these companies are starved for capital after a prolonged recession.  And there is far less competition among private equity firms in Spain than in the US.

Combine that with the fact that its population of nearly 50 million is well-educated and larger than California’s, that its $1.4 trillion GDP is the fourth largest in Europe, that it’s home to some of the world’s top-ranked business schools, and you have an attractive playing field for private equity.

As my partners and I have discovered, Spain is most definitely open for business.

Opinion column by Ed Morata, partner and co-founder of  Eneas Alternative Investments.

AXA IM Launches Fixed Term High Yield Bond Portfolio: AXA IM Maturity 2022

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AXA IM lanza el fondo AXA IM Maturity 2022, una cartera que invierte en deuda high yield estadounidense
Pixabay CC0 Public DomainPhoto: Milivanilly. AXA IM Launches Fixed Term High Yield Bond Portfolio: AXA IM Maturity 2022

AXA Investment Managers(AXA IM) announces the launch of AXA IM Maturity 2022, a fixed term bond portfolio primarily invested in US high yield bonds, managed by Pepper Whitbeck, Head of US Fixed Income and Head of US High Yield at AXA IM.

“In this slow growth, low interest rate environment, we believe that active portfolio managers in the US high yield asset class may deliver mid-to-high single digit annualized returns by collecting coupons and avoiding defaults. US high yield offers a diverse, dynamic and liquid investment market. At almost two trillion dollars in size, the US high yield market is significantly larger than the European high yield market, with over 1,000 high yield companies across a wide variety of industries”, said Pepper Whitbeck.

“It is almost impossible to time the market, so this portfolio, which has a predetermined investment period, may help to alleviate investor concerns by mitigating market and interest rate risks. For example, by staying invested for the full five-year investment period, investors can pay less attention to the interim price movements. The portfolio is designed to be held through the predetermined investment period,” he added. 

“For investors looking for yield, this has been a challenging environment, however the US high yield market has been delivering so far. We seek to combine finding yield with a prudent approach towards credit selection. We aim to avoid speculative bonds in the portfolio in an attempt to take risks that we can analyze and manage. Our focus is firmly on avoiding defaults.”

The portfolio manager takes a “buy and monitor” approach, intending to hold the securities for five years, the predetermined investment period. The team will build a diversified portfolio of US high yield bonds at the beginning of the term, investing in names that in their view have solid business fundamentals. A strict sell discipline is applied to any position if an issuer’s credit fundamentals deteriorate.

This “buy and monitor” approach aims to maximize yield in a cost-effective manner by minimizing turnover and therefore transaction costs. At the end of the predetermined investment period, the portfolio will self-liquidate — all bonds will either be repaid or sold.

AXA IM is one of the largest managers of US high yield bond portfolios. The team, consisting of 13 US high yield specialists based in Greenwich, CT, currently manages over US$ 27 billion.

Japan Stands To Benefit From Trump Policies

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Los novedosos planes de Japón no atajan los problemas subyacentes
Pixabay CC0 Public Domain. Japan Stands To Benefit From Trump Policies

Watching the Japanese equity market on 8 November 2016, we had a sense of déjà vu from the Brexit vote that shocked the world in June. But as the poll results for the US Senate and House of Representatives became clearer, we were encouraged by the emergence of a new Republican president who will benefit from full Republican control of Congress.

Other than the US itself, we believe that the country which will benefit most from the policies to be implemented by the incoming Trump Administration would be Japan. The three pillars of Trump’s policies are: tax reform, deregulation and infrastructure spending. We think that these measures are highly likely to be implemented—in particular the tax reform—given that there will be an absence of political gridlock in Washington.

These policies are expected to boost US GDP growth over the next few years, and, given Japan’s dependence on the US, which is the largest economic partner for Japan (20% of total exports, valued at JPY 15 trillion in 2015, and outbound direct investment into the US totaling USD 419 billion as of end 2015), it stands to benefit a great deal from the policies’ implementation.

Changing policy mix in US to drive yen lower

Looking at US monetary policy, the Federal Reserve has been in a rate hike cycle since December 2015, implying that the US economy is recovering steadily. The job market is also tightening, as evidenced by the unemployment rate dropping to 4.6% in November 2016 – its lowest level since 2007 (before the Global Financial Crisis).

Fiscal stimulus under the leadership of the incoming US president in the current environment is likely to cause interest rates to rise, resulting in the US dollar strengthening against all other major currencies. If investors make decisions based on fundamentals (i.e. if the currency market is driven by interest rate differentials), we think that the currency likely to see its value drop the most is the Japanese yen.

This is because the differential between US and Japan interest rates will widen as the US rate rises and that of Japan remains anchored at a low level due to the Bank of Japan (BOJ)’s new policy framework. Under the framework, introduced in September 2016, the central bank commits itself to keeping the 10-year JGB yield around 0% through its “yield curve control” policy.

As an excessively strong US dollar may dampen US exporter earnings, “one-sided” strength in the greenback could trigger a political intervention. Having said that, the US already has a large trade deficit, and a stronger US dollar will result in lower import prices, boosting disposable income. This will likely have a positive impact on US GDP growth.

Outlook for Japan equities

Looking at the corporate earnings trend for Japan, revenues and profits fell year-on-year in the first half of the fiscal year (April through September 2016) for the first time in five years due to the yen’s strengthening from USD/JPY=112.57 to USD/JPY=101.35.

However, despite the stronger yen, net profit margin is on the rise and is poised to surpass market expectations by reaching an all-time high this fiscal year (ending March 2017) thanks to companies’ aggressive cost-cutting efforts. As major companies are still assuming a USD/JPY of around 100-105, if the yen remains weaker than what these firms expect (with the USD/JPY above 110), we expect EPS growth to accelerate, driving the equity market higher. We believe this is especially likely given that recent currency movements have been very rapid and have yet to be priced in by the equity market.

Valuation-wise, the price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple for the broad market TOPIX is attractive. In fact, multiples had been driven down by foreign investors through the end of September 2016 (see Chart 3), as a strengthening of the yen triggered skepticism of the government’s “Abenomics” economic policies. Foreign investors have sold a net JPY 6 trillion worth of Japanese equities year to date through the end of September, the largest amount of foreign investor selling since the Tokyo Stock Exchange started collecting such data in 1982.

However, with yields bottoming out globally and the yen now weakening against the US dollar, foreign investors have come back to buy a net JPY 2 trillion in October and November alone. The supply/demand conditions in the market are clearly improving. The BOJ’s program for purchasing ETFs was expanded to JPY 6 trillion per year last July and we are also expecting about JPY 6 trillion in corporate buybacks this fiscal year.
 

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Lastly, we believe that further improvement in corporate governance at Japanese companies will translate into higher stock prices. Among the significant successes of Abenomics has been the implementation of Japan’s Stewardship Code in 2014 and of Japan’s Corporate Governance Code in 2015. A few years following the introduction of the codes, we are seeing a significantly positive change in the way corporate managers are engaging with shareholders. We believe this trend will only accelerate from here on in. The Stewardship Code is expected to be revised in 2017 to enhance asset management firms’ monitoring of and engagement with portfolio companies in order to help enhance shareholder value.

In conclusion, we believe that in an increasingly uncertain world, Japan’s less uncertain market will provide a compelling opportunity for serious investors.

Hiroki TsujimuraChief Investment Officer, Japan at Nikko Asset Management.

APFI and DoorFunds Launch a Digital Platform to Streamline and Standardize Fund Due Diligence Processes

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Bancos y gestoras lanzan una nueva plataforma digital, llamada DOOR, para acelerar los procesos de due dilligence al invertir en fondos
Wikimedia Commons. APFI and DoorFunds Launch a Digital Platform to Streamline and Standardize Fund Due Diligence Processes

The processes used by fund investors to gather information from asset managers has always been a time consuming exercise. But their need for transparency, speed of analysis and the ability to compare across qualitative information sets has never been greater!

The industry is coming together to co-create a new solution. Supported by the Association of Professional Fund Investors to represent industry best practice, key Fund Investors from 10 leading Distributors, such as Mediolanum, Santander, EFG and Pictet Bank are collaborating with 12 major asset managers, such as Aberdeen, Columbia Threadneedle, Franklin Templeton, M&G, Nordea Asset Management, Pictet Asset Management and Schroders. They aim to solve a common problem.

The problem

Within Fund Investor teams, much time is being spent collecting and organising fund information. Asset managers have to resource large teams to be able to respond to information requests in a multitude of formats. APFI reviewed dozens of its member Fund Investor firms’ due diligence questionnaires and discovered around 90% of questions are common. Furthermore APFI found that:

  • Historic practice and increased regulation is creating additional effort for fund investors and asset managers in fund due diligence
  • Fund investors are pursuing ways to reduce the time it takes to collect and organise information
  • The speed at which changes to fund information is communicated to fund investors could be significantly improved
  • Lack of standardisation and best practice in due diligence questionnaires creates additional effort for asset managers – DDQ work volumes have doubled in 12 months for some asset managers

Both asset managers and fund investors recognise there should be a better way to collect and organize fund information and, by doing so, to enhance customer outcomes.

The solution

This collaboration aims to bring fund due diligence into the modern age. A new digital platform called DOOR will maintain up to date responses to The Standard Questionnaire, allowing fund investors to access a robust set of common information at any time and separately ask additional questions specific to their needs – thereby removing the need for each fund investor to send common data requests. DOOR will be free of charge for fund investors to use.

Other benefits include:

  • Maintaining and advancing industry best practice standards, overseen by APFI
  • Quick and automated uploads of fund information by asset managers, meaning
  • resources can be redeployed
  • Provide fund investors with information on all available fund ranges
  • Improve fund investors’ user experience in selecting or monitoring fund holdings
  • Speeding up and democratising communication of changes to fund information between asset managers and fund investors

“In today’s world of information overload, this unique initiative can add significant value to the manager selection process. DOOR’s platform and technology can make a big difference by freeing up time for data analysis and critical thinking, and less time on data collection. More productive collaboration between fund investors and asset managers is always to be welcomed in our view.” Brian O’ Rourke, Head of Multi-Manager, Mediolanum.

“The industry needs to collaborate more to drive faster and more efficient communication of information. At APFI, we want to maintain and advance industry best practice and ensure greater transparency and ease of fund selection for our members.” Jauri Hakka, APFI Director.

“Standardisation in due diligence information means I can access the majority of the information I need without waiting weeks for a response. It will save me time and allow me to focus on that information that it most important to me. ” José María Martínez-Sanjuán, Santander.

“Asset managers and fund investors have common issues with fund due diligence. So, collaborating with them to solve these issues is an innovative approach. Adopting industry best practice and standardising the process will allow us to refocus resource on delivering a wider range of fund information to our clients. By employing a digital solution, we can ensure information is secure, up-to-date and relevant.” James Cardew, Global Head of Marketing, Schroders.

PIMCO Hires Jeffrey Thompson as Executive Vice President and Portfolio Manager

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PIMCO refuerza su equipo de real estate con la incorporación de Jeffrey Thompson
. PIMCO Hires Jeffrey Thompson as Executive Vice President and Portfolio Manager

PIMCO has appointed Jeffrey Thompson, as Executive Vice President and Portfolio Manager, to join its commercial real estate team as the firm continues its expansion of its global alternatives investment platform.

In this new role, Thompson will be joining an established commercial real estate platform where he will focus on CRE lending opportunities which is an important area of growth. He will be based in the firm’s New York office and will report to PIMCO’s Co-heads of U.S Commercial Real Estate, John Murray, Managing Director and Portfolio Manager and Devin Chen, Executive Vice President and Portfolio Manager.

”Jeffrey brings more than 20 years of experience as an investment professional to our accomplished  commercial real estate team, which continues to find significant investment opportunities in this space globally, ” said Murray.

“We are excited to welcome Jeffrey to the team. As a tested portfolio manager in commercial real estate and private credit, Jeffrey’s hire further demonstrates the strength of talent and expertise we have at PIMCO,” said Chen.

Globally, PIMCO’s alternatives offerings span a range of strategies with more than 100 investment professionals overseeing hedge fund and opportunistic/distressed strategies, including global macro, credit relative value, multi-asset volatility, and distressed mortgage, real estate and corporate credit opportunities.

“PIMCO continues to look to attract the best investment talent globally and has hired more than 210 new employees this year including more than 40 investment professionals across alternatives, client analytics, emerging markets, mortgages, real estate and macroeconomics,” says Dan Ivascyn, Managing Director and PIMCO’s Group Chief Investment Officer.

 

Andrew Astley to Join T. Rowe Price Group as Global Head of Product

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Andrew Astley será responsable global de producto de T. Rowe Price Group
Pixabay CC0 Public DomainAndrew Astley, courtesy photo. Andrew Astley to Join T. Rowe Price Group as Global Head of Product

T. Rowe Price Group has hired Andrew Astley as global head of product, effective January 23, 2017. In leading the global product group, Astley will collaborate with the firm’s investment and distribution teams to develop product strategies for U.S. Equity, Global/International Equity, Fixed Income, and Asset Allocation. He will also focus on developing and implementing plans for launching new products, ensuring that the firm’s existing range of strategies continue to meet the needs of clients and prospects, and delivering high-quality investment and product content.

Astley will be based in Baltimore and report to Robert Higginbotham, a member of the firm’s Management Committee.

Higginbotham said: “As we invest further in broadening our investment capabilities and distribution reach, combining strong management of our current and future product range with our outstanding investment performance and client service will enable us to continue meeting evolving client needs across channels and geographies. Introducing new investment strategies and vehicles is a key strategic initiative designed to help grow and further diversify our business. As we continue this build out, Andrew’s strong product and global experience built over 25 years in the investment industry will be a powerful asset to our clients and to our firm. We look forward to welcoming him in January 2017 as he takes on this very important role.”

Astley, said: “I look forward to working with the experienced and talented global product team at T. Rowe Price, and helping strengthen the firm’s long-term competitive position as a leading global active investment manager.”

Astley previously served as head of global product and marketing at State Street Global Advisors for eight years and was formerly the firm’s chief operating officer for EMEA based in London. A member of their executive leadership team, he most recently served as head of integration and transition during State Street’s acquisition of GE Asset Management. Prior to joining SSGA in 1997, Astley worked in a variety of client-facing roles at PanAgora Asset Management. He graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in political science and has also earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.