Asset Servicing

Two Luxembourg brand names in the alternative investments business are disappearing. Fund administration firm Pandomus and independent management company Pancura have been renamed under the single new brand of Pandoo.

Apex Group plans to hire more than 500 new fund services experts in Johannesburg this year in order to better service its growing global client base. Asked if this hiring plan was related to the much-discussed industry challenge of attracting new staff in Luxembourg, an Apex spokesperson said South Africa was seen as an “onshore” hiring opportunity following the acquisitions of Sanne and Maitland in 2022.

Luxembourg’s international status as a hub for alternative investments and private equity this year was reinforced as institutional investors sought stability as global equity and bond markets were taking a beating by surging inflation and rising interest rates.

Apex Group in January will bring all its different management company sub-brands under a single brand. Now that the major takeovers of Sanne and Maitland are closed, country head Pierre Weimerskirch told Investment Officer more acquisitions can be expected, although not directly in Luxembourg. “There are some markets where we are still not at the level where we want to be.”

Apex Group said it has been appointed by Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management to service its Australian fund. Apex, a Bermuda-headquartered global firm with a strong presence in Luxembourg, has been appointed to provide fund administration and transfer agency services to the Kayne Anderson Rudnick Global Small Cap Fund.

Apex Group on Tuesday said it has been appointed by BrightEdge LLC, the impact investment and venture capital arm of the American Cancer Society, to support the ACS Impact Venture Fund with fund administration services.

Luxembourg has recently seen the launch of the Luxembourg Valuation Professionals Association, known as LVPA. Valuations are “extremely strategic for building trust with your investors,” said Hind El Gaidi, one of the LVPA’s co-founders. For this Luxembourg edition of the IO Talks podcast, El Gaidi spoke to Investment Officer together with three fellow co-founders: Christophe Vandendorpe, partner at EY; Rafaël Le Saux, director at PwC; and Antoine Boggini, co-founder at BHB & Partners, an independent advisory firm.

Developments in Luxembourg legislation have enabled the European Investment Bank, the EIB, to issue for the first time a digital bond under Luxembourg law. In a project codenamed Project Venus, the EIB this week raised 100 million euro by issuing a blockchain-based bond in cooperation with the central banks of France and Luxembourg and backed by a deal team working in five countries.

Markets for depositary and custodian banking services in Luxembourg are “heavily concentrated”, with the top ten banks holding more than three quarters of all assets, the first ever survey on depositary and custodian services in the grand duchy shows.

By successfully closing its acquisition of European Fund Administration, Universal Investment has pushed its assets under administration by more than a fifth to above 900 billion euro in more than 7000 funds, the firm has announced. Financial details were not disclosed.