Fund Times: 3 – 7 November

Fidelity Replace European Aggressive Manager Amid Severe Losses; Ted Scott Temporarily Steps Down from F&C Funds; Aviva Forced to Suspend Trading on European Property Fund; L&G and Investec Launch 100% Guaranteed Life Fund; SGAM add to MENA Team; and Jupiter Appointed Investment Manager for Landsbanki Lux Funds

Tom Whitelaw 7 November, 2008 | 2:35PM
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Fidelity Replace European Aggressive Manager Amid Severe Losses
Fidelity announced this week that they have replaced Mario Frontini with Firmino Morgado on the group's FF - European Aggressive offering. The fund has lost nearly 60% in the past six months and now ranks in the 99th percentile of its Morningstar Europe Large Cap Blend Equity category year to date. This is quite a turnaround from last year’s stellar outperformance which saw the fund in the first percentile with a return of 23.3%. That outperformance largely stemmed from Frontini’s big bet on the Industrial Materials sector. That very bet has hurt the fund badly this yea

r as materials prices have slumped sharply amid the global economic slowdown. At the end of August the fund held 57.5% in industrials compared to the Morningstar category average of 18.64%. Frontini had earlier relinquished management of Fidelity Italy, and we noted his apparent struggles on this much bigger offering.

Ted Scott Temporarily Steps Down from F&C Funds
F&C Investments announced this week that Ted Scott has been forced to step down from the management of the F&C UK Growth & Income as well as F&C Stewardship Income and F&C Stewardship Growth due to a recurring illness. Scott is expected to be absent for three months in which time Phil Doel and Hilary Aldridge will take charge of his funds. Doel will be responsible for the section of large cap stocks across the funds, while Aldridge will take care of the small and mid cap names.

Aviva Forced to Suspend Trading on European Property Fund
Aviva Investors this week announced that from November 4 trading would be suspended for 28 days on the group’s £271 million European Property fund. The decision was brought about after redemption levels increased to a level which threatened the funds liquidity position. The group have tried to sell properties but the market remains locked thanks to a general lack of liquidity and the increasing number of forced sellers. Although frustrating, the redemption delays are in the best interests of long term investors as forcing the sale of properties in this environment would result in poor value. However, we note again that this calls into question the advisability of investing in a vehicle that attempts to provide daily liquidity, but invests the bulk of its cash in illiquid assets.

L&G and Investec Launch 100% Guaranteed Life Fund
Legal & General and Investec have announced that they will team up to launch the Legal & General Money Builder (Investec) fund for sale in the L&G Portfolio Bond. The fund will initially invest 60% in Alistair Mundy’s Cautious Managed fund with the remaining 40% going into John Stopford’s Target Return bond vehicle. L&G will guarantee investors 100% return of capital after five years. However for the security of the guarantee investors will be charged a 2.4% annual management fee, a full 50 basis points more than the non-guaranteed offering.

SGAM add to MENA Team
In a bid to strengthen their presence in the Saudi Arabian market Société Générale Asset Management (SGAM) this week announced that it has added to its Middle East/North Africa (Mena) team. Akhilesh Baveja has joined as an analyst responsible for analysing local companies across the Saudi region. He will report to fund manager Mark Krombas.

Jupiter Appointed Investment Manager for Landsbanki Lux Funds
Jupiter Asset Management was this week appointed Investment Manager for the Landsbanki Luxembourg Investment Fund. The appointment comes after the Luxembourg regulator removed Landsbanki (Luxembourg) S.A and Landsvaki hf as investment managers following the Icelandic governments decision to place them into receivership on 7 October 2008.

The Landsbanki Luxembourg Investment Fund is a Luxembourg authorised SICAV with seven sub funds and €124m in assets under management. As a result of Jupiter’s appointment, Jonathan Carey, Jupiter’s Group Executive Deputy Chairman, and Garth Lorimer Turner, Managing Director of Jupiter Asset Management Bermuda, have joined the board of the Landsbanki Luxembourg Investment Fund.

The information contained within is for educational and informational purposes ONLY. It is not intended nor should it be considered an invitation or inducement to buy or sell a security or securities noted within nor should it be viewed as a communication intended to persuade or incite you to buy or sell security or securities noted within. Any commentary provided is the opinion of the author and should not be considered a personalised recommendation. The information contained within should not be a person's sole basis for making an investment decision. Please contact your financial professional before making an investment decision.

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Tom Whitelaw  

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