Asset management

Hong Kong lender tests Elliott’s patience anew

24 Sep 2020

After a long review, $6 bln Bank of East Asia is ready to sell its life insurer. It also promises better cost controls and hints at more deals. Since the pushy hedge fund showed up in 2015, however, the stock price has halved. Perseverance may be less rewarding than in Argentina.

The Exchange: Inflation nation

22 Sep 2020

The Fed’s new rate-setting philosophy is a game-changer, and hawks have become an endangered species in D.C. So argues David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management. The central bank may boost inflation, he suggests – but its blunt tools could cause damage.

SocGen surrender may spark ETF M&A wave

21 Sep 2020

The French bank may sell its Lyxor unit, which manages index-tracking exchange-traded funds. That could give CEO Frederic Oudea over 1 bln euros to absorb Covid-19 losses. Brutal fee pressure and BlackRock’s dominance mean punier rivals will need to scale up or get out too.

Natixis split could create a European BlackRock

17 Sep 2020

The $8 bln French lender has suffered trading losses and blowouts at its asset management arm. New CEO Nicolas Namias needs to fix these and sever the investment bank. If he can, the funds business could be worth $11 bln and create a tasty potential partner for Amundi or UBS.

Corona Capital: Banks and government, Ryanair cash

4 Sep 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Britain’s finance minister Rishi Sunak could hurt taxpayers by forcing lenders to chase pandemic borrowers; and the Irish airline’s war chest will come in handy if rivals go under.

Distressed debt cash flood could sink returns

31 Aug 2020

Investors are pouring billions into funds that take advantage of credit carnage. Brookfield's Oaktree unit just raised a whopping $12 bln. But assets chasing these bets have ballooned since 2008, and stimulus limits the opportunities. Many managers may fall short of expectations.

GAM will struggle to shake off virus malaise

4 Aug 2020

The Swiss fund manager reported a net loss and its assets under management fell to $130 bln in the first half. CEO Peter Sanderson is cutting costs, but his medium-term targets look fanciful. His company is badly positioned to cope with the tough environment facing the industry.

Credit Suisse takes right leaf out of rival’s book

30 Jul 2020

CEO Thomas Gottstein will cut costs and deploy more capital in wealth management. A slimmer investment bank would make the lender look more like UBS, which has a higher valuation. To close that gap faster, the new boss could hand savings to investors instead of reinvesting them.

The Exchange: Brave new credit world

21 Jul 2020

The crisis unearthed land mines in the fixed-income market – many of which Arena Investors Chief Executive Dan Zwirn had previously identified. He now explains how to navigate this opaque universe with deep dives on leveraged finance, liquidity crunches and an activist Fed.

Review: Market twists and turns, unraveled

17 Jul 2020

In a new book, “The Long Good Buy,” Goldman Sachs’ top equity strategist breaks down investment cycles and offers much needed historical perspective. It helps make sense of today’s head-scratching market and the asset total gyrations at the likes of giant fund manager BlackRock.

Green laggards face a rising tide of short selling

15 Jul 2020

A new BNP Paribas fund will hedge investments in companies embracing the energy transition by betting against shares in refuseniks. Shorting ESG sinners isn’t easy, and has even caused controversy. But as disclosure improves it can play a growing role in sorting sheep from goats.

BlackRock warrants a spot on its climate watchlist

14 Jul 2020

The $6.5 trln asset manager voted against 53 companies for environmental missteps in the past 12 months and put 191 more on notice. It’s much better than the previous year, and necessary after CEO Larry Fink’s call to climate arms. But BlackRock’s own role needs monitoring too.

Norilsk Nickel underlines funds’ ESG blind spot

2 Jul 2020

The Russian miner had a bad pollution record even before it leaked 21,000 tonnes of fuel in the Arctic Circle. Passive investors like BlackRock have pledged to engage more closely with ESG miscreants. But when the company is controlled by oligarchs, they may just be ignored.

New Standard Life boss may give dividend the bird

30 Jun 2020

Keith Skeoch is leaving the $7 bln fund group shortly after his co-CEO Martin Gilbert. With both architects of the Standard Life Aberdeen merger gone, successor Stephen Bird faces a lengthy turnaround, made harder by Covid-19. A fat payout looks like an unaffordable luxury.

Corona Capital: UK debt, Oaktree, KKR, Chanel

19 Jun 2020

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: UK government borrowing surges past GDP; Howard Marks is sceptical about the stock market revival; KKR bets on cheap and local European holidays; Chanel takes a gloomier view than rivals on the luxury rebound.

The Exchange: Bruce Flatt

16 Jun 2020

The office is not dead, though hot-desking may be. The elevator needs a rethink. And don’t rule out the shopping mall. Brookfield Asset Management’s chief executive made these and other predictions for the post-pandemic global economy in a recent chat with Breakingviews editors.

Buyout fund investors score some leverage on fees

15 Jun 2020

Private equity pools raised between 2006 and 2015 performed no better than public stocks, an Oxford University study found. Pension funds and other backers probably won’t abandon groups like Blackstone and KKR. Yet proof of shrinking returns helps make the case for lower costs.

The Exchange: BlackRock ETFs

9 Jun 2020

Exchange-traded funds are wildly popular with retail and institutional investors alike. BlackRock’s global head of ETFs and index investments Salim Ramji demystifies these tools, revealing how they passed their crisis test and how they challenge the active vs. passive divide.

BlackRock is becoming the new, old Goldman Sachs

4 Jun 2020

Before and during the financial crisis, Goldman seemed to have a finger in every pie. Now it’s as if Larry Fink’s asset manager, wielding $7 trillion of investor cash, is slipping into that role. For all BlackRock's efforts, brickbats and more regulation could follow.

Private equity hangers-on face diminishing returns

3 Jun 2020

France’s Ardian raised $19 bln to buy stakes in other buyout funds. The niche, known as secondary investing, did well after the last crisis and is booming as conventional fundraising slows. Yet sellers are less desperate this time, and an oversupply of capital may hurt returns.