NEWS SCAN
RREEF Sale? Nein!
Deutsche Bank has concluded its exclusive negotiations with Guggenheim Partners over a potential sale of RREEF, its global alternative asset management business.
Upon further review, both parties were unable to agree on terms for the sale of the business and mutually agreed to end exclusive negotiations, according to a statement from DB.
J.P. Morgan Rolls Out Multi Asset Unit
J.P. Morgan Asset Management has launched a multi-asset unit headed by Seth Bernstein, who will oversee the new effort as Global Head of Asset Management Solutions, reporting to Mary Erdoes, CEO of J.P. Morgan Asset Management, according to an internal memo.
The firm's Global Multi-Asset Group and Institutional Strategy Group from its Investment Management division will be part of the new Asset Management Solutions unit as part of the launch. Also, the Global Access Portfolios group and J.P. Morgan Advisory Program unit from J.P. Morgan's Global Wealth Management division, will also be part of Asset Management Solutions.
P.E. Shop Makes Ultimus Bet
Middle market private equity shop LLR Partners has made an investment in Ultimus Fund Solutions, LLC, a Cincinnati, Ohio-based independent provider of fund accounting, administration, distribution, transfer agent and shareholder services to the mutual fund industry.
Terms of the deal were undisclosed. Park Sutton Advisors served as the advisor to Ultimus in the deal.
REGULATION
Corporations Will Dump Money Market Funds If...
If money market mutual funds shift to a floating net asset value, impose redemption holdbacks or seek additional reserve capital through fees, corporations say they would stop investing in these vehicles and most likely reduce or fully liquidate their holdings, according to data released by the Association for Financial Professionals.
Preliminary results from the 2012 AFP Liquidity Survey, found that 77% of companies would stop investing if the NAV were allowed to float, with 56% immediately liquidating all or some of their current
New Money Market Regs Could Pinch Issuers
Additional regulation of money-market mutual funds could increase short-term borrowing costs for state and local governments, leading municipalities to raise taxes or cut spending on infrastructure and other critical projects, according to a paper released Monday by a Georgetown University professor.
Shadow Banking is Not in Fidelity's Vocabulary
Shadow banking? Fuggedaboutit!
Fidelity Investments recently sent a letter to the European Commission on its Green Paper on Shadow Banking detailing the Commission's use of the term as "confusing" and "misleading".
Specifically, Fidelity, which said it "has a deep understanding of a number of the activities that the Green Paper classifies as part of the shadow banking system," said the term "shadow banking" should be discontinued in favor of terminology focusing on specific activities such as such as banks transacting with their non-bank counterparties, liquidity and maturity transformation and the provision of credit or transfer of credit risk, and securities lending and funding in the repo markets.
PRODUCTS
Huntington's Maiden Active ETF Goes Green
Yet another fund firm is throwing its hat into the actively managed exchange-traded fund space.
Today, Huntington Asset Advisors, Inc. revealed that it is launching actively-managed ETFs via its new ETF family, Huntington Strategy Shares.
The Huntington EcoLogical Strategy ETF (NYSE Arca: HECO) is the first of two Huntington Strategy Shares planned to launch. The new offering focuses on ecologically-focused companies and products, which are positioned to take advantage of continuing changes in laws, consumer behavior and business investments. The ETF holds stocks from companies large and small across a widely-diversified set of industries.
State Street Releases Two More SPDRs
State Street Global Advisors last week began trading the SPDR BofA Merrill Lynch Crossover Corporate Bond ETF (XOVR) and the SPDR BofA Merrill Lynch Emerging Markets Corporate Bond ETF (EMCD) began trading on the NYSE Arca.
The SPDR BofA Merrill Lynch Crossover Corporate Bond ETF tracks the performance of the BofA Merrill Lynch US Diversified Crossover Corporate Index, which measures the performance of US dollar-denominated BBB and BB corporate debt publicly issued in the US domestic market. Its expense ratio is 30 basis points.
Catalyst Debuts Insider Trading Alt Fund
Now there's an alternative mutual fund for...insider trading?
Yes, that's right. Omaha, Nebraska-based Catalyst Funds has launched what it touts as "the first legal insider trading mutual fund".
The Catalyst Insider Long/Short Fund is looking to take advantage of legal insider trading by betting on stocks experiencing significant insider buying and selling short those that are subject to large clusters of insider selling, according to a press release.
ARRIVALS
Morningstar Promotes Burns
Morningstar, Inc. last week unveiled several appointments within its fund analyst research team.
Specifically, Scott Burns has been named director of fund analysis for North America. In this new role he will also lead the mutual fund analyst teams in the U.S. and Canada. Burns most recently was director of exchange-trade fund, closed-end, and alternative fund research. In addition, the company is aligning its fund research coverage along four areas: active, passive, alternative, and fund of funds, under the leadership of Burns, who reports to Don Phillips, president of fund research.
Pru Makes Exec Appointments
Prudential Financial, Inc. last week unveiled several key leadership appointments in the U.S. and Japan, effective immediately.
Most notably, Scott Sleyster has been named chief investment officer for the company, reporting to Vice Chairman Mark Grier, and Tim Schmidt will assume the role of chief investment officer for the U.S. Businesses.
Callan Adds to Fund Sponsor Group
Consulting shop Callan has added John P. Jackson to its Fund Sponsor Consulting group as senior vice president, effective June 18. In this newly created position, Jackson, who is based in Chicago, will primarily be responsible for consulting to all types of large public and corporate defined benefit plans.
He reports to Kevin Dolsen, head of Callan's Chicago Fund Sponsor Consulting office.
DEPARTURE
Pyxis Names Ex-Ivy Exec Prez
Alternative mutual fund Pyxis Capital has named J. Bradley Ross as its new president to replace outgoing former president Joe Dougherty.
Ross was most recently National Sales Director of Ivy Funds, which he joined in its infancy in 2003 and grew to $55 billion in assets. He was charged with spearheading all aspects of that firm's retail distribution effort.
STATISTICS
$3.7T Is projected to flow into the IRA market by 2016. Of that, rollovers will be the largest component, representing nearly $600 billion.
Cerulli also forecasts that Retirement Income Opportunity group assets will reach $13.7 trillion by 2015, up from $11.5 trillion in 2010.
Source: Cerulli Associates
54% Of the $4.7 trillion in mutual fund retirement assets held in IRAs, 401(k) plans, and other retirement accounts at year-end 2011 was invested in domestic or world equity funds.
By comparison, about 45% of overall fund industry assets-including retirement and non-retirement accounts-was invested in domestic or world equity funds at year-end 2011. Domestic equity funds alone constituted about $1.9 trillion, or 41%, of mutual fund retirement assets.
Source: Investment Company Institute
