Investment Officer

Equity markets are still overvalued despite the deep declines we have seen this year. That is the view of Andrew Balls, CIO of Pimco, world’s largest active bond investor. According to him, both a mild recession, and falling earnings expectations are not yet sufficiently priced in.

US-based Strive Asset Management knows how to address sentiment among a section of Americans. Strive launched two ETFs this week. One is called “God Bless America” with the ticker symbol YALL. The other ETF has the ticker DRLL and invests mainly in oil and gas (76 per cent). They have since been dubbed as anti-woke ETFs in the media.

BlackRock finds itself caught in a tug of war in US politics over its approach to sustainable investing.

On the one hand, there are Republican-led states that believe the world’s largest asset manager is hostile to the carbon-focused industry. On the other hand, there are Democrat-led governments that believe BlackRock is backtracking on its commitment to addressing climate issues. 

Belgian private bank Puilaetco, a unit of Luxembourg-headquartered Quintet, is integrating fintech Abbove’s technology solution into its wealth advice service offering.

The bank’s clients will now be able to use the Richer Life Plan service, giving them a broader view of their wealth planning, said Puilaetco’s Country CEO Ludivine Pilate (photo) and Abbove’s CEO Guillaume Desclée. 

Global investment solutions provider Russell Investments on Thursday announced the launch of a Luxembourg-domiciled global unlisted infrastructure fund. The open-ended private markets fund aims to invest in opportunities that address the need for new infrastructure solutions to meet evolving social and economic demands. 

Marguerite II, a pan-European infrastructure fund in Luxembourg, said it has acquired full ownership of Red de Calor de Cuenca (RCC), a project company which will build and run a a greenfield heating network in Cuenca, a Spanish city in the Castilla La Mancha region.

FundRock, a Luxembourg-based third-party management company part of the Apex Group, said on Monday that it has expanded its relationship with UK-based fund manager Fundsmith to now include distribution services in Europe, particularly Italy.

In addition to existing ManCo services, FundRock’s distribution unit will now provide distribution services, enabling Fundsmith to distribute its funds in Europe. FundRock will provide specific resources and support to Fundsmith in the Italian market, the firm said.

HSBC has chosen Clearstream, Deutsche Börse’s Luxembourg-based post-trading service provider, as its global partner for administering investment fund activities for fund order routing, safekeeping, settlement and distribution support services.

Investment funds that hold illiquid, hard-to-sell assets and that calculate their net asset value on a daily basis can trigger volatility and add to the impact of shocks in financial markets, especially in turbulent times, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a policy note addressed to the financial community. 

An extrapolation of Preqin’s global projection for private capital demand to Luxembourg suggests the grand duchy’s private and alternative investment market could add more than 1000 billion euro in private capital during the coming years.