Asset Managers

“The United States remains the place to be for investors, despite the significant outperformance in recent years. Nowhere are you better served as an equity investor. For emerging markets, caution is especially necessary after the recent debacles in China.

It is better to reduce overweight positions to neutral and wait until the fog lifts. Especially in China,” investment strategist, consultant and author Jan Longeval of Kounselor Consulting BV told Investment Officer in a recent conversation.

As an investor or policy maker, you are constantly busy making decisions: which strategy do I follow, which risks do I want to accept or not, how do I position my portfolio, and so on. Since nobody can predict the future exactly, the circumstances under which decisions are made are always uncertain.

Decision-making therefore requires careful consideration of the pros and cons of each decision. Making such assessments is therefore a core task for policymakers. 

Fund managers consider it less and less likely that the economy will continue to grow in the coming period. Normally, this uncertainty about future growth is a reason for investors to reduce their equity exposure. 

“This can cause downward pressure on equity markets,” Jeroen Blokland, of independent investment research firm True Insight, concluded in his Daily Insight on Wednesday, based on the latest Bank of America’s Global Fund Manager Survey.

In April this year, Auréus launched the Equities Blue Chips fund. The fund is in Morningstar’s highest rated percentile for sustainable funds. “That is amazing. The fund is not labelled as sustainable, and just this one is in the top percentile,” said Auréus’s Chief Commercial Officer Han Dieperink in an interview with Fondsnieuws, Investment Officer Luxembourg’s sister publication (for whom Dieperink writes regular commentary articles).

The Mint Tower Arbitrage Fund aims for a positive absolute return under all market conditions, and has managed to do so since its inception. This makes the hedge fund an ideal shock absorber in investment portfolios. 

This is what partner Marcel Voogel (photo, left) and head of investor relations Bart Bijmolen (photo, right) of Mint Tower Capital Management said in conversation with Fondsnieuws, Investment Officer Luxembourg’s sister publication.

The bond market is in the doldrums. The value of the world’s negative yielding debt has risen to more than USD 16,000 billion, the highest level in six months. Yet not every bond investor is worried about negative yields.

Jai Jacob, managing director and fund manager in Lazard Asset Management’s multi-asset investment team, creates his own asset classes because traditional subdivisions no longer suffice. Most recently, he created sustainable agriculture. He also takes a different view of emerging markets because this universe has become predominantly China, just at a time when Chinese markets are reeling. 

In 1993 he made a serious plan to participate in the Olympic Games of ‘96. Emiel van den Heiligenberg (pictured above raising his hands) trained 14 times a week, hours a day. Until, among other things, a hernia threw a spanner in the works. The competition rowing of those days still plays a role in his function as head of the asset allocation team of LGIM.

Although Luxembourg decided not to “gold plate” the EU Cross-Border Distribution Directive for funds, other member states have moved to add their own local requirements when transposing the legislation. What should asset managers be looking for as these rules are rolled out?

The Chinese stock markets have been on fire for a few weeks now. The large price losses have also surprised local fund managers, and investors are wondering whether they can still invest in the country with peace of mind. Fund manager David Raper (photographed above) thinks these concerns are somewhat exaggerated.