After a busy few weeks for funds industry players, fund launches and manager moves died down a touch this week. Below are the highlights of fund industry activity in the week May 9-13.
Fund Launches
Natixis Asset Management has launched a new fund investing in euro credit bonds with a high yield rating. Natixis says the Euro High Income Fund has been created in response to investor demand for euro high yield bonds in the UK and continental Europe.
The fund is jointly managed by Philippe Berthelot and Vincent Marioni, who each have over 15 years fixed income investment experience. The two managers are also backed up by a research team of 11 credit analysts who will aim to identify issuers with attractive risk/return ratios.
Since inception in November 2010, the Natixis Euro High Income Fund portfolio comprises between 60 and 80 securities, with assets under management of EUR 105 million as of end of March 2011.
Royal London Asset Management has launched its UK Ethical Equity fund this week. The UCITS-compliant fund invests in 40-60 listed UK companies and targets an annual return of 2%-3% above its FTSE All-Share benchmark. The product requires a minimum initial investment of £1,000 and carries an initial charge of 4% plus an annual management fee of 1.4%.
The manager of the fund is Bradley Mitchell, who already manages the Royal London UK Growth fund. There is no universal definition of what constitutes an ethical fund, but Royal London’s new offering will avoid investment in companies that make more than 10% of their revenue from alcohol, arms, gambling, pornography or tobacco. Read more on ethical investing here.
Managers Moves
Collins Stewart’s Martin Turner is joining MAM Funds to co-manage the Diverse Income Trust fund with Gervais Williams. Turner was Head of Small-Cap Equities at Collins Stewart and will now work alongside Williams on the new income trust unveiled in March of this year.
Octopus Investments has hired Simon Reynolds to its Multi Manager team. Reynolds will once again team up with fund managers Colin Lunnon and Bish Limbu, with whom he worked alongside in the Barclays multi manager team prior to relocating to Australia in 2005. Reynolds joins Octopus from Australian multi manager Ipac, part of the AXA Group, and said he’s looking forward to working with Lunnon and Limbu again. In his new role, Reynolds will add to the idea generation and research process across all asset classes, and will gradually take over some of the day to day portfolio management responsibilities.
Pictet’s Clean Energy fund manager Philippe de Weck has stepped down in order to take on the role of Head of Equities Total Return with the Switzerland-based firm. Management of the fund has been passed to De Weck’s former co-manager Luciano Diana, who has worked on the Luxembourg-domiciled product since he joined Pictet in March 2009. Xavier Chollet, who has been with Pictet for more than 13 years, will also now co-manage the Clean Energy fund. Read an interview with Diana on the clean energy industry here.
Threadneedle’s Simon Brazier has been promoted to Head of UK Equities, having previous been co-head with colleague Leigh Harrison. Brazier will continue to manage the Threadneedle UK fund. Watch Simon Brazier explain his view on UK equities at last year’s Morningstar Investment Conference here.
Threadneedle has also named Irina Miklavchich as fund manager of Threadneedle Global Emerging Markets Equity fund, following her appointment to the company in February this year.
The fund has been co-managed by Vanessa Donegan, Head of Asia (ex Japan) and Global Emerging Markets Equities, and Rafael Polatinsky since September 2010. Donegan and Polatinsky will continue to support Miklavchich, who will also be taking responsibility for other emerging markets portfolios at a later stage.
