 You couldn’t make it up. Just as European fund managers were building on last year’s post-millennium high for equity inflows of €111bn, along comes the legendary former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan to spoil the party. Only days before, his successor at the US central bank, Ben Bernanke, had testified on Capitol Hill that the world’s largest economy continued to grow, with no recession in sight. Then Greenspan told a Hong Kong business conference that the economy had been expanding since 2001 and as a result, “when you get this far away from a recession, invariably forces build up for the next recessions, and indeed we are beginning to see that sign.” What the subsequent panic showed is how quickly market sentiment can change. Set in the context of equity mutual funds, it is likely to mean that money market products, which diminished in popularity last year, will rebound in popularity among more risk-averse investors. Market wobbles aside, however, 2007 has seen a healthy flow of new fund launches to date as well as a broadening of the reach of already established funds to a wider European audience. For example, regular readers will not be surprised to hear that the energetic New Star International continues to branch out into Europe. Earlier this year the group received clearance for the New Star Global Financials and Hidden Value funds, both of which allow euro-denominated and US dollar investments, to be distributed in France. Guy de Blonay manages the former, while Jamie Allsopp looks after the latter. Philip Goldsmith, the managing director of New Star International, says: “Over the last year, New Star’s distinctive stock-picking style has led to a growing demand for New Star funds throughout Europe, in particular France. Both launches offer investors, through the multi-currency service, further access to New Star’s fund managers, who have excellent long-term track records and have delivered high levels of alpha across a wide variety of investment mandates.” UK specialist fund manager Artemis – catch line “The Profit Hunter” – is also extending the scope of existing funds with the launch of a Luxembourg Sicav umbrella with three sub-funds: Pan-European Equity, under Philip Wolstencroft; Global Equity, under the care of Peter Saacke; and UK Equity, to be jointly managed by Jacob de Tusch Lec and Mark Tyndall. Tyndall, chief executive of Artemis, says: “We are finding increasing interest from European institutional investors, some of whom have already been investing in our UK-based funds. This is a logical extension of our business and provides a timely opportunity to introduce our SmartGarp investment process to a wider marketplace.” A brand new fund launch, and one with a difference, is Nomura International’s structured fund, which is linked to the Nomura Japan Strategy Index. A Dublin-listed UCITS 111 vehicle, the Japan Strategy 80% Protected Fund does what it says on the tin. It offers investors the opportunity to tap into the growth potential of the country with the provision of a continuous profit lock-in of 80%. It is already registered for distribution in Sweden, Norway, Germany and Spain as well as the UK, and Italy will be added to the list shortly. Mike Fullalove, co-head of the international equity and fund derivatives team at Nomura, explains: “We believe that this is the right time for funds focused on Japan. Research supports Japan’s ongoing potential for growth in 2007, and, even should the market fall, our fund protects investors by locking in 80% of its highest net asset value daily.” |