Fund Times: 14th - 18th September
SWIP lose UK equities head; Cazenove close UK absolute return fund to new investment; McLennan added as co-manager on New Star UK Property; Deutsche add six fixed income ETFs to LSE range and Aviva moves property fund pricing back to offer based
Robert Waugh this week stepped down from his position as Head of UK Equities at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (Swip). The group's investment director of UK equities, Peter Cockburn, will take on the role of head of UK equities in the interim until a long term replacement is found. Waugh also managed the group's Absolute Return UK Equity fund, which despite outperforming recently has had a difficult last three years. During that time it ranks in the bottom decile of the Morningstar Non-Euro Absolute Return category with annualised losses of 2.5%--a poor showing indeed for a fund mandated to produce absolute returns. James Clunie, who runs the group’s UK growth fund, will take over management of Absolute Return UK Equity.
Cazenove close UK absolute return fund to new investment
Cazenove Capital has closed its new Absolute UK Dynamic fund to new investment after receiving a flood of capital. The fund managed by Neil Pegrum and Paul Marriage quickly grew to over £120 million at which point Cazenove took the decision to cap it at 130 million shares. The move is aimed at protecting future performance as the fund invests in certain illiquid assets towards the bottom end of the market cap ladder. The fund was only launched on September 7th 2009.
McLennan added as co-manager on New Star UK Property
Henderson New Star has appointed Ainslie McLennan to the position of co-manger aboard their New Star UK Property fund. She will work alongside current fund manager Marcus Langlands Pearse. McLennan joined Henderson in 2002 and has managed UK and European commercial property portfolios for institutional clients. Until recently Langlands Pearse supported former manager Roger Dossett, but Dossett is due to leave the company at the end of the month to pursue his own property interests. The fund itself, like the majority of direct bricks and mortar property trusts, has had a torrid time over recent years down on average 14.4% per annum over the last three years. It has also lost 22.6% over the last 12 months as commercial property prices tumbled in the difficult financial environment.
Aviva moves property fund pricing back to offer based
Aviva Investors has this week followed M&G in moving back to pricing its Property Trust and Property Investment fund on an offer basis. The move comes in response to increase interest in the troubled asset class. Elsewhere other property managers are reporting positive inflows into their funds which have been dogged by redemptions over the last few years. The firms had moved to bid (?) pricing on their property trusts to make it unattractive for investors reluctant to redeem. In a lot of case redemptions were also frozen to protect investors who would have seen their holdings decline further should the fund become a forced seller. The latest moves suggest the firms think confidence is returning to the sector.
Deutsche add six fixed income ETFs to LSE range
Deutsche Bank's ETF division, db x-trackers, has listed six fixed-income ETFs on the London Stock Exchange this week. The new funds offer investors exposure to UK gilts, US treasuries and Eurozone sovereign debt, and will track a range of iBoxx indices. Such ETFs can offer a cheaper alternative to traditional active and passive funds. Annual charges range from 15 to 25 basis points.
