Asset Managers

The story behind an investment fund or asset manager is taking an increasingly important place in the selection process. Performance and price will always matter, but there is more to it than that these days,’ said Chris Chancellor of Broadridge this week at the cross-border distribution conference of Financial Times, Deloitte and Elvinger Hoss.

Amy Zhang has been one of America’s best-performing fund managers for quite some years now. What’s the secret behind the success of the manager of the Alger Small Cap Focus Fund? ‘Most of my peers sell too early, which is the biggest single cause of underperformance. We let our winners run as long as we believe there is still a significant and long runway for growth,’ says Zhang.

Despite the looming EU deadline on ESG reporting, around a third of boards of UCITS funds and nearly half for alternative funds report had not reviewed the implications of the sustainable finance disclosure regulation (SFDR).

Substantial governance-reform targets have been set for banks and investment firms by the CSSF. Some quick changes are required, but otherwise the regulator’s circular letter 20/759 seeks to drive long-term culture change on boards of directors regarding risk, diversity, and sustainability.

Pictet-Human wants to invest in private services in the fields of education, leisure and healthcare. The new fund, which could be considered a ‘human counterpart’ of the asset manager’s flagship Robotics fund, invests in three themes with predictable future growth that should exceed 10% over the next three years.

Juan Nevado, manager of the M&G (Lux) Dynamic Allocation Fund, is convinced time has come for a major rotation towards value stocks. He has aligned his tactically managed portfolio as such, while almost completely avoided US tech.

The dividend yield is often the first thing a manager of a dividend fund looks at when analysing a stock. But not Ludwig Palm, manager of Flossbach von Storch – Dividend  fund. His main focus is whether a company is able to increase its dividend in the long term.

Despite there being a deal now, Brexit will never be done. Even if the end of the transition period can be navigated with minimal disruption, the lack of an institutional underpinning to the UK-EU relationship points towards decades of negotiation over dozens of policy areas, including financial services. Welcome to long Brexit.

In response to the SRI trend, State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) has been expanding its offering of ESG products. But these funds do not replace non-sustainable variants, says Carlo Funk, head of ESG investment strategy for EMEA at SSGA.

In 2002 Luca Pesarini (photo) and Arnoldo Valsangiacomo launched their first Ethna-AKTIV fund, at a time when multi-asset funds were not yet commonplace. In 2010 they founded ETHENEA Independent Investors, headquartered in Luxembourg. Upon its 10-year anniversary, Investment Officer had an exclusive interview with them.