Fund Times: 9 - 13 March
Standard Life launch UK Equity Recovery fund; iShares adds to its fixed-income range; F&C poach Heemelaar to head global credit desk; Jupiter to merge Global Technology fund; Allianz RCM European Index to become an actively managed offering and more Morningstar qualitative ratings and reports issued this week.
Standard Life Investments have this week launched a UK Equity Recovery fund which will be managed by David Cumming, head of UK equities. The fund will attempt to capitalise on any potential economic and equity market recovery in the UK, emphasising beaten down sectors such as financials, industrials and retailers. Cumming, who joined the firm in 1998, has been heading the equity team since 2000 while also managing pooled and segregated UK equity fund portfolios and the UK Life fund. The team is well resourced and relatively stable: The large-cap specialists in the team have 13 years' average experience and have worked together at SLI for 10 years, and the small-cap team boasts 19 years' average experience and been together for 11 years. You can view our reports on rated Standard Life funds here.
iShares adds to its fixed-income range
iShares has launched four new fixed income ETFs on the London Stock Exchange this week. The new funds will provide access to the investment grade debt universe as well as exposure to corporate bonds, G7 bonds and short-dated European government bonds. The ETFs are iShares Barclays Euro Aggregate Bond (a basket of Euro-denominated investment grade bonds), iShares Barclays Euro Corporate Bond (a diversified basket of Euro denominated investment grade corporate bonds), iShares Barclays Euro Treasury Bond 0-1 (diversified basket of Euro-denominated government bonds with maturities between 0-12 months) and iShares Citigroup Global Government Bond (broad international exposure to some 500 government bonds issued by G7 countries).
These launches mark the continuation of expanding ETF listings. For UK investors who suffer from the high costs of open-ended vehicles, ETFs are often a low cost alternative as they typically have rock-bottom TERs. The choice in reality is often not that simple as there are brokerage commissions for ETFs, but you can read more on the pros and cons of ETF investing here.
F&C poach Heemelaar to head global credit desk
F&C has appointed Michael Heemelaar as head of global credit. Heemelaar joins from AEGON Asset Management where he worked for eight years as portfolio manager within the fixed income team and later became head of investment grade credit. Heemelaar was responsible for asset allocation decisions and in his current role, which will be based in Amsterdam, he will lead a team of five portfolio managers and one analyst.
Jupiter to merge Global Technology fund
Jupiter is planning to merge its Global Technology fund into Jupiter Global Managed next month, subject to shareholder approval. Jupiter launched the fund near the peak of the tech bubble in March 2000 and it shed 44% to the end of that year alone. The fund posted losses until 2003 when it returned 28%, however, performance remained erratic – as is the case with most sector funds – and the fund lagged its Morningstar Sector Equity - Technology category peers in every calendar year up to 2008.
Jupiter Global Managed has been run by John Chatfield-Roberts since 2001 and boasts a much stronger record. It also has a much broader mandate. That will cut risk substantially, but does not really serve the objectives of investors who presumably bought into the Global Technology fund for technology exposure.
Allianz RCM European Index to become an actively managed offering
Allianz Global Investors has said it will change its FTSE Eurotop 300 (ex UK) Index tracker, Allianz RCM European Equity Index, into an actively managed fund. The new fund, Allianz RCM European Equity Income, will be run by Europe CIO at RCM, Neil Dwane, and co-CIO Joerg de Vries-Hippen. The managers will continue to invest in high quality European (ex-UK) blue chips. Investors will undoubtedly pay more for the privilege and, assuming they bought the fund as a low cost tracker, will want to sell and go elsewhere.
Morningstar qualitative ratings and reports issued this week
Morningstar issued new qualitative ratings and reports on a number of funds available to UK investors this week, including Rathbone Smaller Companies, Fidelity South-East Asia and Rensburg UK Blue Chip. Click here to see the full list.
