- June 19, 2009 - After Turmoil, Luxury Goods To Return As Investment Darling - Julius Baer
The luxury goods industry entered recession in 2009, with Bain & Co, a consultancy, predicting there will be a 10 per cent fall in luxury spending by HNW individuals by the end of the year. However, as far as funds investing in luxury goods firms are concerned, prospects look rosier in the medium to long term, with emerging markets driving some of the demand, argues Dr Scilla Huang Sun, co-manager of the Julius Baer Luxury Brands Fund.
“2009 will be a difficult year for luxury; most analysts have already reduced their earnings estimates a lot.
- June 17, 2009 - Comment: Market Turmoil Puts Pressure On Multi-Family Offices
The market turmoil has hit wealthy families, raising the need for institutions like multi-family offices to pay closer attention to risk control and focus less on chasing returns, Dirk Jungé, chairman and chief executive officer of Pitcairn, a US multi-family office, said in a report.
The complexities of today’s stressed global economy have created unprecedented problems - particularly for those advisors serving ultra high net worth families or single family offices, he said in a statement.
“Skillfully and discretely managing the many options in today’s unpredictable investm.
- June 15, 2009 - UK Structured Product Firm Says "No Thanks" To Keydata Purchase
UK retail structured products specialist NDFA has withdrawn from the race to acquire Keydata Investment Services, the structured products provider which was placed into administration due to insolvency by the UK regulator, the Financial Services Authority, last week.
NDFA said it had approached administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers with a view to buying Keydata, but has subsequently withdrawn its interest after careful consideration of the acquisition.
“We will remain interested in all opportunities of this nature that present themselves in our drive to grow assets and to b.
- June 15, 2009 - Specialist UK Wealth Advisor Firm Has Expansive Ambitions
A UK-based wealth management advisory firm, Crossbridge Capital, which was created by a team of ex-Credit Suisse bankers less than a year ago, has enjoyed a profitable debut and is expanding beyond its core base of Middle East clients, its chief executive and co-founder said.
Crossbridge, which was founded last September by Tarek Khlat and Jean-Pierre N Aoun, is currently a niche player in the wealth advisory space; it oversees about $2 billion of assets. The planned recruitment of more managers in the next few weeks should help this fledgling business expand into something rather b.
- June 10, 2009 - Market Turmoil, Litigation Creates Opportunities For New UK Wealth Firm
Zucker & Co, a freshly-minted UK wealth consultancy and investment advisory firm, set up by a former Barclays Wealth director, Olivier Zucker, is looking at an expected increase in client litigation, fuelled by the financial market turmoil, as one of the drivers of its business.
The firm will be based in London’s West End.
As high net worth and ultra HNW clients have been bloodied by heavy losses and problems with structured products and other investment vehicles, they have reached for their lawyers.
- June 9, 2009 - UK Structured Products Specialist Placed Under Adminstration
A UK firm,
Keydata Investment Services, that designs and distributes structured products for investors, has been placed into administration due to insolvency, the Financial Services Authority, the UK regulator, said yesterday.
Dan Schwarzmann and Mark Batten of PricewaterhouseCoopers have been appointed joint administrators, the statement from the FSA said.
The structured products sector was rocked last autumn when Lehman Brothers, the US investment bank, went bankrupt.
- June 8, 2009 - NY Asset Manager To Boost Specialist Funds Market - Report
New York asset manager Neuberger Berman is planning to list its private equity fund of funds on London’s Specialist Funds Market according to the Financial Times.
“There is considerable interest from private client brokers and wealth managers in the UK but often they are mandated to invest only in LSE listed companies,” managing director Peter Von Lehe is quoted as saying.
The SFM has attracted only two funds since being established in July 2007 by the London Stock Exchange as a regulation-light market for private equity, property and hedge funds; IRF European Financ.
- June 8, 2009 - UBS Accused Of Misleading US Investors Over Securities Sales - Report
Securities regulators in New Hampshire, US, are accusing
UBS of misleading investors about complex securities issued by Lehman Brothers before it declared bankruptcy last year, according to a report by the Associated Press.
The Bureau of Securities Regulation was reported as saying that UBS Financial Services sold the securities as safe and didn’t warn investors during Lehman’s slide toward insolvency. UBS is expected to deny the allegations and request a hearing about them, the news agency said.
- June 2, 2009 - UK Firm Rolls Out FTSE 100 Six-Year Product
As wealth managers see a gradual recovery in risk appetite, UK-based Meteor Asset Management has launched a new savings product linked to the FTSE 100 index of blue-chip stocks.
Meteor says its Guernsey-registered FTSE Income Plan has a six-year term, requiring a minimum investment of £10,000 or £7,200 for a tax-advantaged individual savings account wrapper. Barclays, the UK bank, is the counterparty for the product, Meteor said in a statement.
- June 2, 2009 - BoA Securities-Merrill Unveils Top US Economics Appointments
Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch Research today announced a number of new top-level economics appointments, including Ethan Harris, who takes up the post of head of North America economics, replacing David Rosenberg.
David Bianco, a former employee at UBS and Deutsche Bank, has been made head of US equity strategy, a new position. Both men will be based in New York, according to a statement from the US-based firm.
