Asset management

Sandell asks Barnes & Noble to pick an adventure

16 Nov 2017

Flip to chapter “flimsy proposal” to see the activist try a buyout of the struggling bookstore chain without financing. Turn to chapter “worse than before” to trade liquid stock for private shares without founder backing. Stay here if you don’t want to see how this story ends.

Banks walk on eggshells in post-MiFID II world

7 Nov 2017

An EU ban on providing free research comes into force on Jan. 3 next year. Instead of bundling the cost together with trading fees, lenders will have to charge separately. Breakingviews imagines how a bank’s compliance department might finesse the issue with clients come Jan. 4.

Treasury crowns asset managers, insurers victors

27 Oct 2017

Investment and insurance firms should be regulated for systemic risk based on their activities, not by specific entities, the U.S. department said. It also rebuked the global FSB for overreach with its stricter approach. The industries got nearly everything on their wish list.

Deutsche Bank’s next problem may be excess capital

25 Oct 2017

The German lender wants to float a 25 pct stake in its asset management arm next year. An IPO could raise around 2.2 bln euros, Breakingviews calculates. Deutsche would dilute its exposure to its best business – but would once again be able to give shareholders a dividend.

Blackstone’s mass gives it gravitational pull

19 Oct 2017

Steve Schwarzman’s investment shop boosted earnings by 23 pct in the latest quarter, driven by management fees on its new $18 bln private-equity fund. With managed assets approaching $400 bln and $92 bln of dry powder, the alternatives firm has powerful momentum.

Fidelity apes hedge funds to play active defence

3 Oct 2017

The asset manager’s UK offshoot will charge clients more when funds beat their benchmarks and less when they underperform. The risk is that fees become more opaque. Yet a variation on alternative managers’ “2-and-20” model may help it resist the onslaught from cheap trackers.

Eminem IPO risks a Slim Shady rap

25 Sep 2017

An online site for buying and selling artists' royalties is floating a unit that will buy into the revenue from music catalogs, starting with the Detroit star's. The interests may be partial, though, and the revenue volatile. The financial remix sounds off-key for public markets.

EU aims torpedo at asset managers’ Brexit defence

19 Sep 2017

Europe’s market regulator may be given new powers to prevent national watchdogs from turning a blind eye to funds that outsource jobs to the UK in the hope of luring business to their shores. London-based funds could face more upheaval than expected after Britain leaves the EU.

Lure of scale drives Axa asset management union

15 Sep 2017

The insurer may seek a partner for its European fund arm, Bloomberg reports. Joining forces with French rival Natixis would create a European giant with assets of more than 1.5 trln euros. The threat to margins from low-cost passive investments makes cost savings unavoidable.

Woodford’s mea culpa fails to go far enough

7 Sep 2017

The UK fund manager has been hit by huge slumps in AstraZeneca and Provident Financial. Markets are faddish, as he points out. But blaming dud picks on the gap between what’s publicly disclosed and reality is hard to square with his fondness for making big bets on single firms.

Deutsche sets tone for painful analyst price war

24 Aug 2017

Deutsche Bank has halved the going rate for its fixed-income research, which clients must soon pay for separately under new European rules. Banks may have to give even more ground. Buyers will only get more demanding – and may want to pick which boffins they really need.

Lloyds has a good get-rich plan

15 Aug 2017

The lender is considering a push into wealth and savings products. A capital idea. Lloyds’ 2,000-strong branch network gives it a head start over rivals. And while CEO Antonio Horta Osorio has done a good job at cutting costs, it’s high time he did more to grow revenues.

Standard Life’s new start barely beats status quo

14 Aug 2017

Its merger with fellow fund manager Aberdeen seems to have created no value for shareholders since it was announced – maybe due to messy governance and the difficulty of combining teams. Investors may warm to it, but the case for more mega-deals in the sector has yet to be made.

Man Group’s growth push comes at a cost

1 Aug 2017

The UK fund manager’s assets under management leapt to $96 bln as it bought businesses and raised funds. Man’s broad range of business helps it resist some of the pressure from passive products. Even so, margins are falling. Active managers have to keep working harder.

Julius Baer rightly cautious about double windfall

24 Jul 2017

The Swiss private bank’s client funds grew 6 pct, thanks to its horde of new wealth managers and rising markets. Baer’s singular business model makes it happily exposed to these trends, but the big picture is that servicing the rich will remain challenging and competitive.

BlackRock opens new investment passivity front

13 Jul 2017

The firm that disrupted stock pickers with low-cost funds tracking equity benchmarks wants to do the same to bond managers. Larry Fink’s shop will sell ETFs using its own fixed-income indexes and slash fees. For an industry with no top-line growth, casualties may be widespread.

Britain’s fund manager probe takes horse to water

28 Jun 2017

The Financial Conduct Authority wants clearer fees, more care for investors and better value for money. Its conclusion, that asset management is uncompetitive and too profitable, hit harder than its prescriptions. The question is whether clients will become more demanding too.

Economics rather than ethics will harm big tobacco

21 Jun 2017

Aviva is the latest investor to quit cigarette stocks. The sector has yet to suffer any material harm. Nor does it lack capital. Yet there are good reasons to be nervous: growing regulatory risk and competition from electronic alternatives make current valuations unsustainable.

Carmaker emissions scandal finds exec pay sequel

14 Jun 2017

Advisers have designed a hidden scheme that would let Renault-Nissan secretly pay bonuses to Chairman Carlos Ghosn and others. It’s unthinkable that such a plan can be implemented. Recent scrutiny over exhaust emissions has already shown that exploiting loopholes doesn’t pay.

HNA sees Value in connecting East and West

23 May 2017

The deal-hungry Chinese conglomerate reportedly wants to buy into Value Partners. The $2 bln fund manager trades on a lofty percentage of assets under management, thanks partly to high fees. Still, if HNA wants to link Chinese investors with the wider world, this could be handy.