In Fund Times 21-25 July we noted that Skandia would be launching three US funds into the UK. This number has now been upped to five with the addition of the Skandia US Large Cap Growth fund and the Skandia US Value fund. US Large Cap Growth will be run by Andrew Schilling at Wellington Management, while Sheldon Lieberman at Hotchkis and Wiley Capital Management will take charge of the US Value offering. The two new funds launch on 22 October and complement those previously announced - Skandia US All Cap Value, run by GAMCO Investors Mario Gabelli, Skandia US Capital Growth, manag
ed by Thomas Marsico at Marsico Capital Management and Skandia US Large Cap Value, controlled by William Priest and David Pearl at Epoch Investment Partners.
PIMCO's El-Erian on Credit Crisis: Where Now?
In last week’s Fund Times we provided a link to a video interview with PIMCO’s Bill Gross where he discussed elements of the credit crisis. This week PIMCO's Mohamed El Erian steps up to the plate to talk us through the policies needed to fix the financial system. Mohamed El Erian is co-CIO at PIMCO and one of the foremost fixed income minds in the market today. To see the interview please click here.
Gartmore Delays Absolute Return Fund Launch
Gartmore this week announced that the launch of its European Absolute Return fund had been put back thanks to the recent levels of market volatility and restrictions on short-selling. The fund was to be managed by Roger Guy and Guillaume Rambourg who currently lead the group’s European equity team. The absolute return fund was due to launch at the end of October but has now been put back indefinitely.
Iceland Stock Exchange Tumbles 76%
In last week’s Fund Times we reported that the Icelandic Government had closed the country’s stock exchange until Monday. The re-opening was put back one day more but this did little to stem the onslaught of sellers. On Tuesday the index closed 76% lower after a 2,326 point fall left it at just 678.4 – its lowest point since mid 1996. The country is suffering from severe problems after the collapse of its three largest banks left debts many times higher than the Iceland’s GDP. As a result the country faces legal challenges from the UK government over lost savers’ deposits and is currently looking to Russia and the IMF to bail them out.
Architas Multi-Manager Announce New Appointment
Newly created Architas Multi-Manager Limited (Architas) this week announced the appointment of Colin Taylor as Deputy Chief Investment Officer. Taylor had been the group’s acting CIO until the recent recruitment of Richard Philbin on 1 September. Taylor will continue his responsibilities on the Winterthur Elite fund of funds, as well as retaining his stewardship responsibilities for funds sold via the Winterthur platforms.