Fund Times: 12 - 16 April

Skandia Brings European Best Ideas Fund to the UK
Skandia Investment Group has made its Dublin-domiciled Skandia European Best Ideas fund available for sale in the UK market this week. This pan-European fund launched in April 2008 and blends the top-ten stock ideas of ten externally selected managers, including Roger Guy of Gartmore and Barry Norris of Argonaut. The approximately 100 stock portfolio is then managed by Skandia’s Lee Freeman-Shor. Since its inception the fund has returned 2.5% per year annualised while its average peer in the Morningstar Europe Large-Cap Blend Equity category posted a loss of 1.5%. Although the fund is off to a promising start, investors should note that two years is too short to draw to meaningful conclusions from these results.

Schroders Launches Asian Income Maximiser Fund
Schroder Investment Management has this week announced the launch of an Asian version of its UK Income Maximiser fund (rated Superior by Morningstar). The fund is expected to launch in June 2010, subject to FSA approval. It will be co-managed by Thomas See, who is Head of Structured Investments, and Richard Sennitt who runs the Schroder Asian Income fund. The managers expect some 80% overlap with the holdings of the Asian Income fund, although with a covered call option on the stocks in an attempt to boost the yield, which is targeted at 7%. Sennitt has so far done a good job at Asian Income since the introduction of the income component in December 2006. He has posted a return of 13.6% per year annualised versus a lower 13.2% and 11.9% for its MSCI Asia Pacific ex Japan benchmark and average peer in the Morningstar Asia Pacific ex Japan Equity category, respectively.

Threadneedle Adds to Emerging Market Fixed Income Range
Threadneedle Investments has launched an emerging market corporate bond fund, Threadneedle (Lux) Emerging Market Corporate Bonds Fund. The fund will be run jointly by managers within Threadneedle's emerging market, investment grade and high yield credit teams, namely Barrie Whitman, David Oliphant and Richard House. Threadneedle has long had expertise in emerging market debt, having been one of the earliest in the UK to offer emerging market sovereign debt funds to retail investors. That said, we see this offering as a fairly specialist fund that may only appeal to a niche group of investors. Investors can typically access emerging market debt as part of a broader portfolio of global or unconstrained fixed income funds, although this fund may appeal to investors specifically wanting exposure to the emerging corporate bond market. 

Pictet Launches European Equity Long/Short Fund
Pictet Funds have launched a Luxembourg-domiciled long/short European equity fund this week, the PTF (Lux)-Corto Europe fund. The UCITS III fund is based on Pictet’s Corto European fund strategy, a Cayman Islands-based hedge fund. The fund has been run by managers Nils Francke and Philippe Sarreau since its launch in August 2006, and the duo will be responsible for the management of this fund in addition. They look for catalysts that can influence the long-term performance of stocks or sectors, such as changes in management or investor behaviour. They aim to invest predominantly in mid-cap stocks, with a market-cap below €5bn.

Aviva Hires Andrew Lake to Run High Yield Bond Fund
Ex-F&C manager Andrew Lake has joined Aviva Investors and will be taking over the management of Aviva Investors High Yield Bond from Chris Higham. Lake co-managed Global and European high field funds at F&C, so this marks his first appointment as sole portfolio manager. Higham has been running the fund alongside Aviva Investors Corporate Bond fund, which he will continue to run. He was given responsibility of these funds following the departure of head of credit, Roger Webb, in December 2009.

Morningstar Acquires London-based Old Broad Street Research (OBSR)
Morningstar UK has this week acquired Old Broad Street Research (OBSR) for £11.95 million, subject to post-closing adjustments, in an all-cash deal that bolsters our research capabilities and supports our strategy of continuing to build our thought leadership in investment research. Together, Morningstar UK and OBSR investment analysts cover more than 700 funds available for sale in the UK. In addition, Morningstar rates more than 600 funds sold throughout Europe and Asia and OBSR analyses a wide range of financial products and tax wrappers, including individual and group pension products, UK onshore and offshore investment bonds, individual and business protection products, and savings products. You can find more details on the acquisition here. 

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 Montanaro European Smaller Companies, GLG Japan CoreAlpha Equity and AXA Framlington Monthly Income. Click here to see the full list.