Indian equity featured heavily on this week’s menu of new fund launches, coinciding with proposals by the Indian market regulator to ease takeover rules in an attempt to lure investors following the recent slump in M&A activity across South Asia. Meanwhile, it was China that was in focus on the manager moves front, after Martin Currie sacked Chris Ruffle amid portfolio governance issues. What follows is a summary of this week’s fund industry news highlights.
Fund Launches and Changes
Dalton Plans India Absolute Return Fund
Dalton Strategic Partnership plans to launch a UCITS-compliant absolute return fund investing in Indian equities. MST Indian Absolute Return will be launched in September as a sub-fund of Melchior Selected Trust SICAV and will be monitored by new recruit Gaurav Pant, who joins the equity team from Goldman Sachs Principal Strategies. The fund will aim for an annual return of 12%-18% by investing in a portfolio or around 25 themes.
Eden Sets Date for Himsworth’s Fund Launch
Eden Financial confirmed this week that its UK Select Opportunities fund will be launched in September under the management of Leigh Himsworth, who joined from Gartmore in July alongside fellow Gartmore colleague Dan Roberts. Roberts is to manage a global equity income fund at Eden that is due to be launched in the final quarter of 2011.
Investec Launches Further FTSE-Based Structured Products
Investec Structured Products has launched four more products as part of its FTSE 100-plans range. The propositions will be available until August 26 and consist of the FTSE 100 Geared Returns Plan, FTSE 100 Bonus Income Plan, FTSE 100 Enhanced Kick-Out Plan and the Gilt Backed Growth Plan. The first four products in that list carry a collateralised option that allows wider diversification of counterparty risk across HSBC Bank, Nationwide Building Society, Santander UK, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB Bank, while the latter—the Gilt Backed Growth Plan—comes with a collateralised option provided by a portfolio of UK gilts.
JPM Shifts Multi-Asset Income Fund into Cautious Managed Sector
JPMorgan Asset Management has switched its Multi-Asset Income fund into the IMA Cautious Managed sector from the IMA Specialist sector, saying this better reflects the fund’s profile. Coinciding with this move, managers Neill Nuttall, Michael Schoenhaut and Talib Sheikh have introduced a covered call strategy in a move that aims to improve the fund’s income generation.
St James’s Place to Expand Global Equity Offering
St James’s Place announced alongside its interim results this week that it plans to launch a new global equity fund to coincide with the hire of three new fund managers. SJP reported total assets under management increased 8% in the first half of the year to just over £29 billion.
TIM to Launch India Small- and Mid-Cap Equity Fund
t1ps Investment Management is to launch the Elite t1ps India fund next month under the management of James Faulkner, Ross Jones, Robert Sutherland Smith and Tom Winnifrith, all of whom are small-mid cap specialists. An additional analyst will be added to the team, who will next year be based on the ground in Mumbai. The Fund will aim to deliver long-term capital growth by investing primarily in small- and mid-cap Indian equities, selected via bottom up fundamental analysis. Minimum initial investment in the fund is £500 and the fund is eligible to be held in an ISA wrapper.
Manager Moves
Aberdeen Poaches Henderson’s Pakenham
Aberdeen Asset Management has hired Ben Pakenham, formerly manager of Henderson Extra Monthly Income Bond fund and co-manager of the Henderson High Yield Monthly Income and Fixed Interest Monthly Income funds. Joining Aberdeen’s credit team, Pakenham will report to head of European high yield Paul Reed and will focus on credit research. Aberdeen High Yield Bond and Aberdeen Global - European High Yield Bond funds both carry an AA rating from OBSR, a Morningstar company, and Mornignstar’s Superior qualitative rating.
Ruffle’s China Career Comes to an End at Martin Currie
Martin Currie has put a halt to all China and Taiwan portfolio manager Chris Ruffle’s responsibilities, parting company with the manager following a board review into potential breaches of governance and conflict of interest. The firm will also end its Chinese joint venture with Heartland Capital later this year, from where Ruffle was first hired. Martin Currie CEO Willie Watt confirmed Ruffle’s departure from the firm is effective immediately; the news has been approved by the FSA and communicated to the SEC. The review into Ruffle’s activity was triggered following concern back in November 2010 of a potential conflict of interest relating to an unlisted convertible bond held within Ruffle’s China portfolio. Ruffle’s colleague Shifeng Ke will take on his responsibilities, working with James Chong, John Pickard and Brian Canavan to transition the management of the portfolios affected by the change.
Threadneedle to Launch fund for Head of Fixed Income
Threadneedle’s Jim Cielinski, head of fixed income, is set to manage his first fund for the asset manager later this quarter. The Threadneedle (Lux) Global Opportunities Bond fund, an absolute return portfolio, will be managed with a go-anywhere approach within fixed interest. The fund’s launch is subject to regulatory approval.
Separately, Threadneedle has added to its U.S. equities team with the appointment of Diane Sobin from Columbia Management, a fellow subsidiary of Ameriprise Financial, as fund manager, and Nafis Chowdhury, from Morgan Stanley’s Investment Banking Division, as analyst. The two will report to Cormac Weldon, head of U.S. equities, where they will join the existing tgwo fund managers and four analysts.
Western Builds Credit Team with Additions from Baillie Gifford, PIMCO
Western Asset Management, a subsidiary of LeggMason, has hired Gordon Brown from Baillie Gifford and Chia-Liang Lian from PIMCO. Brown, formerly senior investment manager specialising in emerging market rates and currencies at Baillie Gifford, will take on Western’s global mandates and assist with the firm’s Eastern European debt markets; Lian, formerly PIMCO’s head of emerging Asia portfolio management, will be responsible for the Singapore-based Asian debt team at Western.
Industry News
Fidelity Continues to Investigate Rebranding
Having abandoned the Fidelity Investment Managers name rolled out in Europe and Asia almost a year ago, Fidelity International is now toying with the idea of rebranding as Fidelity Worldwide Investment, as signalled by the filing of trademarks for that name and a new logo. Given the definition of the firm’s name—that of loyalty, dependability and conformity—and the fact that the brand is well recognised across the investment globe, the news has raised some eyebrows in the industry. However, the firm has indicated that registering the trademarks is a matter of routine and does not imply that a rebranding is set to take place.
The above article was corrected at 4.57pm on Friday July 29, 2011 to show that Eden Financial's new fund is to be managed by Leigh Himsworth, not Leigh Harrison as originally reported.
