AllianzGI to Acquire Sound Harbor Partners

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Allianz GI se hace con el gestor de crédito privado estadounidense Sound Harbor Partners
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: rachaelvoorhees . AllianzGI to Acquire Sound Harbor Partners

Allianz Global Investors will acquire Sound Harbor Partners, a US private credit manager led by Michael Zupon and Dean Criares, for an undisclosed sum.

As a result of the acquisition, the Sound Harbor team will join AllianzGI. Sound Harbor is a New York-based private credit manager focused on alternative investments in corporate loans, direct lending, distressed debt and opportunistic credit. The firm manages these investments on behalf of its clients in private limited partnerships, collateralized loan obligations and separately managed accounts. Zupon is a former Partner at The Carlyle Group where he founded and led the leveraged finance business. Criares is a former Partner of The Blackstone Group where he founded and led the loan management business. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017.

Andreas Utermann, CEO and Global CIO of AllianzGI, said: “Over the last five years, AllianzGI has invested steadily in the quality and breadth of its active investment offering. Within our fast-growing Alternatives segment, private debt stands out as a particularly exciting area, where we’ve clearly signalled our intent to expand our capabilities to address our clients’ evolving investment needs. The addition of the team from Sound Harbor is a significant step in that process, strengthening and complementing our existing capabilities in this important space.”

Deborah Zurkow, Head of Alternatives at AllianzGI, added: “We are very excited the Sound Harbor team are joining our expanding private debt platform. We continue to see strong demand from our clients for access to a diverse range of illiquid alternatives solutions. Sound Harbor’s expertise enhances AllianzGI’s existing global Alternatives capability, which includes infrastructure debt and a fast-growing corporate loans capability in Paris, underlining our desire to establish ourselves as one of the most prominent private debt managers globally.”

Commenting on behalf of Sound Harbor, Michael Zupon said: “Dean and I, along with the entire team, are looking forward to joining a leading and respected investment manager that shares Sound Harbor’s commitment to outstanding investment performance and dedication to its clients’ needs. Joining AllianzGI will enhance our ability to capitalize on trends favoring growth in alternative investment managers with scale, brand recognition and long-term capital.”

Fernando Manso Presents His New Collection of Photographs at Art Basel Miami Together With Andbank

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El fotógrafo Fernando Manso presenta su nueva colección en Art Basel Miami de la mano de Andbank
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrFron left to rigth: Carlos Moreno de Tejada, managing director, Andbank Latinamerica; Joaquín Francés, CEO, Andbank USA; Fernando Manso, photographer; And Cándido Creis, Consul General of Spain in Miami España - Courtesy photo. Fernando Manso Presents His New Collection of Photographs at Art Basel Miami Together With Andbank

During the week of Art Basel Miami, the most important modern and contemporary art fair in the world, Andbank organized a photographic exhibition for its clients in Latin America. In an event attended by over 100 guests, the work “The Alhambra, an Unpublished Vision“, of the award-winning Spanish photographer Fernando Manso, was presented for the first time in the United States.

The event took place at the East Hotel in Brickell. The author and the General Consul of Spain in Miami attended the ceremony in which 12 representative pictures of the collection were presented. The selection of pictures arrived in the US thanks to Andbank’s support.

Joaquin Francés, CEO of Andbank in the United States, welcomed the guest and highlighted Andbank’s commitment to Private Banking, which is the only business that the bank is carrying out. He also explained that in difficult times such as the ones experienced by bank in recent years, one of the critical differential values in this entity is the specialization that avoids conflicts of interest with customers. He also highlighted Andbank’s commitment to Latin America where he has been investing in the Bank’s internationalization strategy during 8 years.

In addition, he valued the way in which Fernando Manso did his work, where the knowledge of his environment, the commitment to what he represents and the transparent and methodical execution of his work has a big connection with the Private Banking that Andbank has been doing for more than 85 years.

Shenzhen—China’s Silicon Valley

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Shenzhen, el "Silicon Valley" de China
Wikimedia CommonsFoto: Zimbres. Shenzhen—China's Silicon Valley

Despite all the negatives we hear about the hollowing out of Shenzhen as a manufacturing base—either overseas or to inland urban areas, the city continues to move up the value chain into design, branding, marketing and more says Jeremy Sutch, Senior Research Analyst at Matthews Asia. Who points as an example, the development of drones, a newer and now-booming industry.

Back in the late 1990s, Shenzhen still had a reputation for making fake DVDs, cheap clothes and copycat toys. Eventually, it morphed into the tech hardware capital of the world. And in the past decade or so, Shenzhen has earned its status as the birthplace for certain popularly emerging consumer products. It churns out more than 90% of the world’s e-cigarettes and over 70% of the world’s consumer drones.

So what is it that has enabled Shenzhen—a sleepy fishing village just 30 years ago—to become the “Silicon Valley of China,” now with a population of roughly 12 million? About seven years ago, Shenzhen officials began designating sectors like information technology, the internet, biotechnology and renewables as “strategic industries.” These industries received financial support of up to about US$77 million (RMB500 million), and contributed 40% of the city’s GDP in 2015. (GDP growth in 2015 was a strong 8.9%).
 
Once a place for transients trying to turn a quick profit, Shenzhen has grown more welcoming. According to Matthews Asia, it is now easier to get work and residential permits, and Shenzhen is often said to be a more meritocratic society where political relationships are less critical—unlike cities where state-owned industries dominate.

Sutch believes China’s drone makers have credited supportive local government policies. In March of this year, the city earmarked billions to attract world-class talent, including national and foreign scientists and academics, to drive innovation. Some of the incentives include housing subsidies for job seekers who hold higher educational degrees. In 2015, R&D accounted for 4.05% of Shenzhen’s economy. This compares with an estimated 1.98% for the whole of China; 2.76% for the U.S. and 4.04% for South Korea, respectively, according a 2016 study by the Industrial Research Institute.

The two (interconnected) factors of funding and talent pool alone do not explain Shenzhen’s success says the specialist adding that “the balance of elements that create its unique ecosystem are its supply chain, manufacturing capability and transport infrastructure.” The city boasts easy and cheap access to every conceivable component—circuit boards, chips, LEDs, lithium batteries, sensors, screws—enabling significantly faster times for production and testing of prototypes, to mass production (and delivery). The latter is abetted by a large number of specialized factories. Shenzhen, being in close proximity to Dongguan where labor is both abundant and skilled, also benefits from efficient air and sea transport links.

However he points out that, like in any environment where the focus is on innovation and speed-to-market, hiccups do happen. And Shenzhen has not been immune. One need look no further than last year’s arrival on the global consumer scene of the “hover board.” These self-balancing scooters—a large proportion of which were churned out of factories in and around Shenzhen—quickly got attention for the wrong reason; namely explosions. “Whilst a setback for the city’s name, innovation and future successes will continue to flow from the city. We may well, for instance, be on the cusp of drones—aided by rising brand strength, and constantly improving product functionality and ease-of-use—moving from the niche hobbyist market to mainstream consumer (not to mention commercial) market. Christmas shoppers beware!” Sutch concludes.
 

Chinese Insurers Outsource the Most Assets

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China: cautela en el futuro a corto plazo
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrFoto: M M . China: cautela en el futuro a corto plazo

Taiwanese and Korean insurance companies are currently the most active in overseas investments among insurers in Asia ex-Japan, but it is Chinese insurers that outsource the most assets. Cerulli Associates, a global research and consulting firm, estimates that Chinese insurers outsourced US$228.1 billion in life insurance assets in 2015, up by 38.6% over 2014 and nearly double the amount in 2011.

This is one of the key findings in Cerulli’s newly released Asian Insurance Industry 2016 report. Though most of these outsourced assets are invested domestically, more assets are expected to flow overseas as Chinese insurers see a growing need for better returns outside their domestic market to help meet their liabilities. China’s life insurers have seen their liabilities rise as they tried to compete with providers of popular wealth management products by offering policies with attractive return rates, such as universal life. Total insurance liabilities in the country stood at US$1.7 trillion in 2015, up by 44.5% from 2013.

Chinese insurers also face a growing concern over the potential impact of lower interest rates, with the People’s Bank of China‘s base rate for one-year loans now at 4.35% and its benchmark rate at 1.5%. With more than 21% of total insurance assets invested in deposits alone at end-2015, insurers derive an important portion of their investment income from the interest earnings of these investments. A fall in interest rates will inevitably have an impact on their investment income and will push insurers to deploy assets more efficiently by diversifying their sources of returns, including overseas.

This is something Cerulli has already seen happening. Looking at the Chinese insurance industry’s total investment portfolio, the proportion of assets in bank deposits declined from 27.1% in 2014 to 18.8% in June 2016. On the other hand, investments in the “others” category–which includes listed and unlisted long-term equity investments, bank wealth management products, trusts, private equity, venture capital, loans, and real estate–rose from 23.7% in 2014 to 34.2% in June 2016.

With the general lack of overseas investment experience and expertise among Chinese insurers, Cerulli expects many of them to work with foreign managers on offshore allocation. “There will particularly be opportunity among small and mid-sized players as they follow the lead of large insurers and rely on third parties. Unlike their larger counterparts, most of these players don’t have asset management subsidiaries in China or Hong Kong to help them with their investments,” says Manuelita Contreras, associate director at Cerulli, who led the report.

Supporting this outlook is the increasing number of insurers with regulatory approval to invest overseas. “Nine life and non-life companies received the green light to invest overseas in 2015 through the external manager route, up from only four in 2014. As of July 2016, 15 insurers have the approval to invest overseas through this route,” says Rui Ming Tay, analyst at Cerulli, who co-led the report.

“Through the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) scheme, some of the private insurers are expected to use their overseas investment quotas to outsource assets, potentially for global fixed-income and multi-asset strategies,” says Kangting Ye, analyst at Cerulli, who covers the Chinese insurance market. There were 40 approved QDII insurers as of June 2016.

What Should Investors Make of a Trump Victory?

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¿Qué deben hacer los inversores tras la victoria de Trump?
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Gage Skidmore. What Should Investors Make of a Trump Victory?

After a turbulent, historic election, Republican Donald Trump was elected to the US presidency and will take office in January. Republicans also swept the Senate and House of Representatives. What does it all mean for investors?

One of Trump’s biggest campaign issues was protecting US industry, which raises the potential for import tariffs. The president, whether a Democrat or a Republican, has enormous powers regarding the regulation of international trade, including the power to unilaterally impose tariffs and duties. Given that there was downward pricing pressure in the global economy prior to the election, the addition of tariffs or countervailing duties is probably a negative for S&P 500 companies since roughly 40% of their revenues are generated outside the United States. Lower revenues and profits should be expected if deglobalization becomes a centerpiece of the Trump agenda, and I think it will.

Trump has proposed very large tax cuts, and he is likely to have the support of a Republican-led legislative branch in enacting those proposals. Lower taxes could mean many things, including larger fiscal deficits if revenues fall and government spending is not cut. At the moment, there appear to be no plans for massive spending cuts. If the deficit increases, the US Department of the Treasury will need to issue more bonds to finance it, and I believe there will be a bias toward higher interest rates in such an environment.

On the campaign trail and in the presidential debates, President-elect Trump voiced his opposition to the Federal Reserve’s low interest rate policy. While the Fed is an independent central bank, Trump may choose — when her term expires in 2018 — to replace Chair Janet Yellen with someone more hawkish, which could lead to higher short-term rates down the road. Expect the regulatory burden on banks to be less onerous under a Trump administration than it would have been under Clinton.

A few final thoughts. The risk of price controls on the pharmaceutical industry has fallen dramatically with Trump’s election. Businesses broadly will likely see a reduction in government red tape. The impact of large tax cuts remains an open question. Will they lead to a sustained boost in economic growth? History doesn’t offer much evidence of this since the biggest chunk of tax cuts falls to the top 10% of earners, who tend to be savers as opposed to spenders. A lot of the tax cuts could end up in the banks as savings rather than recirculated into the Main Street economy. It’s hard to say for sure, but the outlook from here suggests a more cautious approach is warranted for both bond and equity investors as they digest the potential for a combination of tariffs and somewhat higher interest rates in the future.

Column by MFS’ James Swanson

 

Russell Reynolds Associates Hires Mar Hernández

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Russell Reynolds anuncia la incorporación de Mar Hernández
Mar Hernández - Courtesy photo. Russell Reynolds Associates Hires Mar Hernández

Russell Reynolds Associates yesterday announced that Mar Hernández has joined the firm’s new Miami office as a consultant in the Financial Services practice. Mar advises and recruits C-suite level executives for clients in global private wealth management, asset management, private equity, insurance and fintech. She also works with clients across a range of industries to build and develop C-suite leadership at their regional headquarters based in Florida

“Mar brings industry and analytical expertise to conduct senior-level searches for a wide range of strategic and functional roles,” said Constantine Alexandrakis, leader of Russell Reynolds Associates’ operations in the United States. “We are excited to have Mar join our Miami office. Her deep connections in the region and her international work experience augment our ability to assist clients and continue our firm’s growth trajectory.”

Prior to joining the firm, Mar spent five years with a boutique search firm in Miami –Transearch– as a senior client partner. Earlier, she was Global Sales & Marketing Director, BPO at Amicorp Group. During her time there, she worked in Barcelona and Athens and supervised the opening of a new center in Pretoria, South Africa. Earlier in her career, Mar worked for EDS, TeleTech and advertising roles at companies such as McCann (in Barcelona and Miami) and Saatchi & Saatchi (in Barcelona).

Mar earned a B.A. in Communications Science from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and an M.A. in Business Administration from the Escuela Superior de Administracion de Empresas.

Changing Investor Preferences are Pressuring Hedge Funds

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¿Hacia dónde van las peticiones de los inversores a los hedge funds?
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrFoto: Randy Heinitz . Changing Investor Preferences are Pressuring Hedge Funds

Hedge fund managers are feeling the pressure from changing investor demands and the managers that adapt accordingly and timely will be the most successful in achieving growth, according to the EY 2016 Global Hedge Fund and Investor Survey: Will adapting to today’s evolving demands help you stand out tomorrow?

The 10th annual survey found that hedge fund growth has slowed for a variety of reasons – the abundance of low fee passive investment options, lackluster hedge fund performance and cost concerns. In 2016, the proportion of North American investors that said they were reducing allocations to hedge funds exceeded the proportion that were increasing for the first time since the financial crisis of 2008.

Investors have more options than ever within the alternatives marketplace and are allocating funds to those managers that have a unique offering that is satisfying a specific need. Therefore, hedge fund managers must be at the forefront of actively listening to their investors to keep pace, or else be left behind, the report finds.

Michael Serota, EY Global Leader, Hedge Fund Services, says: “Growth is the industry’s top priority, but managers are changing the strategies employed to achieve it. While we find the largest managers pursuing several growth strategies, the smaller managers are more narrowly focused, seeking to expand investor bases within their home markets. Amidst today’s challenging environment, it is imperative for managers of all sizes to identify the needs of their clients and align product offerings to their demands.”

Other key findings include:

  • Hedge fund managers focus on asset growth to counter reduced inflows
  • As fee pressures increase, managers need to innovate and optimize processes to cut costs
  • Prime brokerages are putting pressure on hedge funds to evolve their relationships
  • Managers are focused on developing their talent management programs, which investors see as increasingly important

The compete survey is available here.

Passive Funds, Funds of Funds, and Team-Managed Funds, the Ones With More Women Fund Managers

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Fondos pasivos, fondos de fondos y gestión en equipo: las áreas donde las mujeres tienen más oportunidades en la industria de fondos
Pixabay CC0 Public DomainPhoto: Mike Bird . Passive Funds, Funds of Funds, and Team-Managed Funds, the Ones With More Women Fund Managers

Morningstar, has published a research report finding that across 56 countries, one in five funds has a female portfolio manager, and in the study’s eight-year timeframe, that ratio has not improved. The company’s second research report about fund managers and gender considered more than 26,000 fund managers, comparing the man-to-woman ratio of fund managers to other professions that require similar education, including doctors and lawyers, by country. The report also identifies areas of the industry where women have been making relative gains.  

“Women are underrepresented in mutual funds’ leadership ranks globally, with larger markets farther behind smaller markets,” Laura Pavlenko Lutton, Morningstar’s director of manager research in North America, said. “We did find areas where women are finding more opportunity, specifically among passive funds, funds of funds, and team-managed funds. Larger equity firms are also more likely to promote women to fund-management roles than smaller firms.”

Key highlights of the research report include:

  • Countries with large financial centers have lower proportions of women fund managers than many smaller markets based on data from Morningstar’s global database. In France, Hong Kong, Israel, Singapore, and Spain, at least 20 percent of fund managers are women. Singapore is the global leader among 56 countries with women representing 30 percent of total fund managers and 29 percent of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholders. Large financial centers, such as Brazil, India, Germany, and the United States, are behind the global average of 12.9 percent women fund managers. In India, only 7 percent of fund managers are women.
  • In some asset classes, women fund managers are more credentialed than men. A woman fund manager is approximately 7 percent and 4 percent more likely than a male peer to have her CFA designation among equity and fixed-income funds, respectively.
  • Women have better odds of running funds in areas of industry growth such as passive, funds of funds, and team-managed funds; women are 19 percent more likely to manage on a team than men. In addition, it appears difficult for women to achieve management roles in more-established parts of the fund industry, including actively managed funds and solo-managed funds. In fact, women are 36 percent less likely to manage an active equity fund than men.
  • The industry’s largest equity firms are more likely to name women as fund managers than smaller firms. Among funds at one of the top 10 largest firms by global equity assets under management, there are 83 percent higher odds that a woman would be named a fund manager.

The research report is available here.

Investec: “We are Entering an Interesting, but also Potentially Dangerous, Moment in History”

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Investec: “Estamos entrando en un momento interesante, pero también potencialmente peligroso de la historia”
Photo: Richard Garland during his presentation at the Global Insights 2016 / Courtesy photo. Investec: “We are Entering an Interesting, but also Potentially Dangerous, Moment in History”

This month, for the ninth consecutive year, Investec held its annual conference which brought together 150 delegates from the Americas, Europe and Asia. The location chosen for this year’s event was the InterContinental Hotel in New York, where the attendees were able to listen to presentations of the company’s star managers (photos of the event).

Up to 14 portfolio managers gave their vision on different assets. Michael Power, the firm’s strategist, Philip Saunders, co-Head of Multi-Asset Growth, John Stopford, Head of Multi-Asset Income, or the award-winning Ken Hsia, European Equity Portfolio Manager and member of Investec’s Global 4Factor Equity team, were part of the speakers list.

“The reason why we organize this event every year is because we want to offer our clients in the buy-side a vision very close to the markets of what is happening around the world. They need answers, and the professionals who are part of the Investec team can help them find them,” said Richard Garland, Managing Director of Global Advisory.

“In this conference, we also create a network of advisors who can help each other globally,” he said referring to the delegates. He also stated that because market leadership has changed significantly over the past 12 months, it is important to take stock and consider where opportunities exist.

“At Investec, we are convinced that investment power is moving from institutions to individuals, and that is why we are refocusing our business to make sure we are a solid global advisory firm,” Garland explained.

Investec, which in October of this year had US$115bn in assets under management, has 44% of the total invested in equities, 21% in multi-assets, 31% in fixed income and 4% in alternative investments.

For Investec’s Managing Director, this year, multi-assets have been the star of the portfolios. “They are becoming increasingly important because they offer our clients solutions; it is all about ‘income’. And that’s the reason this product is booming and that it’s going to stay that way for a while,” he said.

“As investors, we face many challenges. We cannot follow the indexes, we are active managers. But fees are under pressure. We see this in Europe, in the UK and in other places. What are we going to do? At Investec we have strategies with a high ‘active share’ that can give the portfolios an added element to beat the market,” added Garland, mentioning one of the most debated points in the industry.

A Changing World

In this regard, John Stopford, recommended adjusting portfolios, managing actively but also “being prepared for things that can go wrong.” For Philip Saunders, the world of investment has changed, partly due to the fact that the economy has been dominated by politics for too long.

And we always think that the West is the safest place to keep money, but in the last 18 months we have seen the risks grow, and it doesn’t seem as if that trend is going to change. “The Western world has turned its back on globalization. We are entering an interesting, but also potentially dangerous, moment in history. And not just for political reasons, but also on the economic side,” Michel Power observed.

“The companies we invest in have moved their production capacity to the East, and I believe that in the coming years we will see a lot of money going in that direction,” the company’s strategist advised.

Ken Hsia’s was perhaps the most positive of the presentations. And that’s because European equity is starting to experience improvements in line with the data of the region. “I’m less worried now. We see evidence of recovery in Europe. The strength may not be currently very good, but there are indicators that point out that the region is heading in the right direction and is improving,” he said.

Luxembourg Secured Lending Funds: Attractive Alternative to Traditional Fixed Income for Wealth Managers

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Los fondos luxemburgueses de préstamos respaldados por bienes: ¿una alternativa a la renta fija tradicional?
Photo: JimmyReu, Flickr, Creative Commons. Luxembourg Secured Lending Funds: Attractive Alternative to Traditional Fixed Income for Wealth Managers

“It is remarkable…what a change of temper a fixed income will bring about”. Virginia Woolf, A Room of One´s Own.

Though few who practice our trade will admit it publically, the wealth management industry is immersed in an existential crisis. Quantitative easing by the world’s central banks has driven yields on high quality corporate bonds to near zero, and those of many sovereign nations to negative values. Traditional fixed income instruments are an essential tool of the wealth management industry and have been the mainstay of the classic “bonds/equities/hedge funds” asset allocation for decades. However, until yields rise from their current levels, government bonds and high quality corporate debt no longer add value to a portfolio. Rather, the fixed income allocation of a portfolio under current interest rate conditions adds credit and duration risk compensated by almost no return, or indeed a negative return. 

If questioned as to why they persist in recommending traditional fixed income to their clients, wealth managers and asset allocators typically will state that “there is no alternative” as a justification for continuing to invest in this grossly overpriced asset class. It does not require a guru to see that market price and intrinsic value are clearly out of equilibrium in the fixed income markets, due to massive bond purchases by central banks and the increasingly frenzied search for yield by pension funds and insurance companies desperate to cover their future obligations. Even high yield bonds (formally known as junk bonds) now offer scant returns, as the hunger for yield overrides caution. From my point of view after twenty-five years of practice in the wealth management industry, to invest in an asset class that adds risk to a portfolio without providing return is tantamount to professional malpractice. 

This being the case, where is a wealth manager to turn to secure attractive yields given the ongoing distortion of the traditional fixed income markets? Many wealth managers and family offices worldwide are turning to real estate as a substitute for fixed income, where rental yields replace bond yields. Investing in direct purchases of rent-generating properties as well as participations in real estate investment trusts and similar instruments is unarguably a reasonable move. However, I would suggest that many wealth managers are overlooking an alternative source of attractive yields that avoids the pitfalls of direct real estate purchase or participation in real estate funds, such as liquidity risk and exposure to real estate price cycles. This source is secured lendingfunds registered and regulated in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

There is an astounding width and depth of credit expertise to be found among the management teams of many of the secured lending funds registered as Luxembourg SICAV-SIFs. Luxembourg is second only to the United States in terms of mutual fund assets, totaling over 3,500 billion euros as of July 2016 according to the highly respected CSSF, the Luxembourg financial regulatory authority. Although the majority of Luxembourg-registered assets are daily liquidity retail funds under the UCITS umbrella, there are over 1,000 Luxembourg-registered SICAV-SIFs. These vehicles are by their very nature a wealth management rather than a retail product, as they are intended for well-informed investors and are subject to the Luxembourg Act of 13 February 2007 on specialized investment funds, as amended. For this reason, they are subject to a minimum investment requirement of 125 000 euros. Liquidity varies, but redemptions and NAV declarations are typically on a monthly basis.

Since there is no equivalent of Morningstar to collectively track the performance of the SICAV-SIFs, a great deal of outstanding investment and credit analysis talent in this segment has not received the attention it deserves. For example, among the SICAV-SIF managers, there are secured lending funds specializing in each of the various segments of the asset-backed lending spectrum, including financing account receivables, specialized small business lending, aviation and machinery leasing, trade finance and real estate bridge financing. Though the particulars are different in each case, the common element among these successful secured lending funds is that they lend their investor’s capital to finance selected short term opportunities in the real economy, with a sufficient guarantee to secure the loan and protect the fund’s NAV in case of a default. These funds normally operate in creditor-friendly jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom or Germany where assets pledged to secure a loan can be quickly transferred to the creditor if a default does occur. In short, these funds operate in a terrain that once belonged to traditional merchant banks, but is increasingly abandonded by the banks as they restructure in the face of Basel III capital requirements.

Given this track-record and the ease of investment in Luxembourg SICAF-SIFs for wealth management clients through their securities accounts, I would encourage private bankers, family offices and wealth managers in general to begin to think outside the box of traditional fixed income and real estate to give serious consideration to Luxembourg-registered secured lending funds as a source of attractive, stable, non-market correlated returns.

Opinion column by James Levy, Director of Clearwater Private Investment.