Asset management

Aviva will find strategy harder to switch than CEO

9 Oct 2018

Mark Wilson is leaving the insurer after six years. Although he simplified the firm, boosted capital and bought Friends Life, Aviva’s valuation lags peers. If his successor can’t strategically advance beyond cross-selling and digital forays, it could become a takeover target.

UK tries shock therapy for fund liquidity disease

8 Oct 2018

Britain’s FCA is clamping down on open-ended funds that invest in hard-to-sell assets. One suggestion is to force funds to suspend redemptions – as happened in the chaos after Brexit – more frequently. That might eventually lead investors to pick less ropey fund structures.

Wealth tie-up can crack Lloyds’ top-line conundrum

8 Oct 2018

The UK bank is in talks to create a wealth management joint venture with Schroders. Boss Antonio Horta-Osorio needs to boost revenue to comfortably hit his 2020 targets. Flogging more savings products will boost fee income which has halved since 2012, while avoiding costly M&A.

Investec fund float could attract predators

14 Sep 2018

The Anglo-South African financial group is listing its asset management arm in London. Decent growth and increased focus should support a healthy valuation. With assets of 109 billion pounds, it may also make a choice morsel for a bigger rival.

Ashmore flashes buy signal on emerging markets

7 Sep 2018

The fund manager that focuses on these riskier geographies is growing revenue. Also, its managers are taking more risks as a rout caused by rising trade tensions and turmoil in Turkey throws up opportunities. That suggests developing markets can avoid a synchronised slump.

Pimco finds finance role robots can’t yet play

5 Sep 2018

John Studzinski, a Blackstone consigliere and consummate networker, is joining the bond fund manager to help woo rich and powerful investors. Pimco, like its rivals, is investing in big data and machine learning, but hiring “Studs” shows the high-touch stuff still matters too.

Saudi’s investment fund: the view from 2023

20 Aug 2018

The kingdom wants to expand the assets of its Public Investment Fund by 60 percent by 2020 as it diversifies away from oil. That involves it taking some big, risky bets. Breakingviews imagines the letter its chief executive will write five years hence.

Tesla is risky vehicle for Saudi reform drive

14 Aug 2018

The Gulf state wants to diversify away from oil and might help take the auto group private, reckons CEO Elon Musk. That’d be a mistake. Tesla could flop even if electric cars take off, and Musk’s buyout price is too high. There are cheaper ways to play the energy transition.

Political risk creeps into China’s very bad bank

13 Aug 2018

Huarong Asset Management says earnings will drop sharply, after its chairman’s fall from grace triggered a liquidity crisis. The government, its top stakeholder, seems content to watch the shares collapse. Investors will take note: state backing now comes with more caveats.

Saudi’s fund manager-in-chief veers off-piste

10 Aug 2018

Mohammed bin Salman wants to diversify the desert kingdom away from oil. Buying pricey Tesla stock while selling Canadian assets seems a strange way to do that, though. To stop further net outflows of capital, the crown prince could do with sticking more closely to his mandate.

Standard Life Aberdeen needs more activist touch

7 Aug 2018

The asset manager formed from last year’s merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen keeps losing funds. Cutting costs and returning capital have failed to close the discount at which the company trades to peers. Selling the India business and ditching a twin-CEO structure might help.

Oil investors are complacent on climate change

6 Aug 2018

Shareholders in the likes of Shell aren’t holding companies to account on carbon targets. A Breakingviews analysis suggests why: they may suffer only mild losses if oil majors just run down their reserves. But doing nothing may backfire if governments take more radical action.

Fidelity’s zero fees amplify industry dual track

2 Aug 2018

The giant manager is charging nothing for two new index funds. It’s a way to pull in more money, but at a price. Meanwhile, private equity and other alternative firms collect nearly half of global fees on under a sixth of assets. Market-beating returns are still worth something.

Fund managers’ twin-CEO model has short shelf life

1 Aug 2018

Janus Henderson has named Dick Weil as sole chief executive, ditching a two-headed model put in place when the group was formed last year. The integration of Henderson and Janus is nearly done. But clunky governance is a distraction from the big challenges facing money managers.

Carlyle mega-fund rolls with valuation tide

30 Jul 2018

The buyout firm’s largest single pool of capital, at $18.5 bln, coincides with fresh records across the industry. It may get harder for Carlyle and its ilk to deliver high returns. With shareholders prizing fees over investment profit, though, taking more money is a no-brainer.

Elliott may beat Juventus in returns shoot-out

11 Jul 2018

Paul Singer’s hedge fund has taken control of Italian soccer team AC Milan, while rival Juventus has bought goal machine Cristiano Ronaldo for 100 mln euros. Neither looks an easy financial score. But Elliott’s bargain price and Milan’s scope to improve combine for better odds.

Steven Cohen finds limit of UK regulatory lenience

6 Jul 2018

Britain’s market watchdog has deemed the hedge fund manager not “fit and proper”, making it harder for him to operate in Europe. The tough stance is admirable, especially when London is at risk from Brexit. There are some standards regulators won’t ease to stay competitive.

Invesco mounts quixotic defence of high fees

11 Jun 2018

The fund group wants to replace directors of a $160 mln trust it manages following a spat over fees. Its argument looks weak given that competitors were willing to do Invesco’s job for less. The niche battle shows the rising pressure on managers to deliver value for money.

Hedge funds are unwitting crisis altruists

5 Jun 2018

It was they, not banks or asset managers, who set the Mexican peso’s level after the 2016 U.S. election and the pound’s after Brexit, a new study finds. The irony is hedge-fund returns have remained mediocre. It suggests price discovery is a social service more than a business.

Billionaire’s Burberry sale is fashionably early

9 May 2018

The luxury brand’s top investor, a vehicle of Albert Frere, has sold its 6.6 pct stake. It’s an odd move for the typically long-term owner. But Burberry’s valuation rivals peers like LVMH, and boss Marco Gobbetti’s turnaround will be a lengthy process. It’s a good time to exit.