With lending from traditional quarters – namely, the major banks – still difficult to come by for companies large and small, it would appear that opportunities must abound for investors who are looking for something extra from their fixed interest portfolios. While credit funds offered by traditional fixed interest managers remain in demand this year, another form of debt investment is also catching on – mezzanine finance. GREG BRIGHT reports.
Mezzanine debt offers the best of both worlds … or does it?
With lending from traditional quarters – namely, the major banks – still difficult to come by for companies large and small, it would appear that opportunities must abound for investors who are looking for something extra from their fixed interest portfolios. While credit funds offered by traditional fixed interest managers remain in demand this year, another form of debt investment is also catching on – mezzanine finance. GREG BRIGHT reports.
Funds pressured to reverse shareholder inactivism
A rallying cry at superannuation conferences is for sharper shareholder engagement with investee companies, aimed at unlocking more value for members. But strangely, the investment managers dedicated to this pursuit – activists – are largely absent from the domestic market. This is despite the wealth of underperforming target companies, and the good track record established by overseas activists in generating absolute returns by galvanising shareholder campaigns. SIMON MUMME reports.
Funds pressured to reverse shareholder inactivism
A rallying cry at superannuation conferences is for sharper shareholder engagement with investee companies, aimed at unlocking more value for members. But strangely, the investment managers dedicated to this pursuit – activists – are largely absent from the domestic market. This is despite the wealth of underperforming target companies, and the good track record established by overseas activists in generating absolute returns by galvanising shareholder campaigns. SIMON MUMME reports.
The end of asset allocation – Alternative investment ideas to salvage your portfolio
There’s nothing like a crisis to make an industry question its fundamental beliefs, and poor old Harry Markowitz has certainly been in the firing line since everybody’s asset-allocated, ‘diversified’ portfolios all crashed together in 2008/9. Does his modern portfolio theory still stack up? What role will alternative assets play in any, ahem, alternative to it? … Read more
The end of asset allocation – Alternative investment ideas to salvage your portfolio
There’s nothing like a crisis to make an industry question its fundamental beliefs, and poor old Harry Markowitz has certainly been in the firing line since everybody’s asset-allocated, ‘diversified’ portfolios all crashed together in 2008/9. Does his modern portfolio theory still stack up? What role will alternative assets play in any, ahem, alternative to it? … Read more
The world after the GFC: lessons not learned
The funds management industry is very good at analysing itself and trying to predict the future, not just of markets but also of the shape and constituency of the industry. That is not to say that its analyses and predictions turn out to be correct all that often. Opinions tend to gather around the consensus and it is, usually, only the outliers which end up shooting the lights out in a business sense. Given the state of the world, as you can imagine, the soothsayers are working overtime.
The world after the GFC: lessons not learned
The funds management industry is very good at analysing itself and trying to predict the future, not just of markets but also of the shape and constituency of the industry. That is not to say that its analyses and predictions turn out to be correct all that often. Opinions tend to gather around the consensus and it is, usually, only the outliers which end up shooting the lights out in a business sense. Given the state of the world, as you can imagine, the soothsayers are working overtime.
Super funds be wary: we’re in a period of engagement
As Michael Dwyer observed at the Fund Executives Association Ltd conference last month: fund members do not move their accounts, no matter how good or bad the performance, just as they never change their bank accounts. The chief executive of First State Super was exaggerating, of course, but most of his colleagues in the room would agree. However, if Hugh Mackay, the social researcher, is right, that might be about to change. Opening the conference Mackay took the audience on an entertaining journey through the psyche of the Australian populace over the past 25 years, culminating in what he believes to be a massive mood swing in recent years. The nub of this was that Australians had become disengaged in politics, the economy and other big-picture aspects of life from the late 1990s through to about 2005-2006. And then, for a variety of reasons, we started to become engaged once again.
Super funds be wary: we’re in a period of engagement
As Michael Dwyer observed at the Fund Executives Association Ltd conference last month: fund members do not move their accounts, no matter how good or bad the performance, just as they never change their bank accounts. The chief executive of First State Super was exaggerating, of course, but most of his colleagues in the room would agree. However, if Hugh Mackay, the social researcher, is right, that might be about to change. Opening the conference Mackay took the audience on an entertaining journey through the psyche of the Australian populace over the past 25 years, culminating in what he believes to be a massive mood swing in recent years. The nub of this was that Australians had become disengaged in politics, the economy and other big-picture aspects of life from the late 1990s through to about 2005-2006. And then, for a variety of reasons, we started to become engaged once again.
An industry fund initiative that nobody can knock
As financial services is dragged screaming towards the fee-for-service model, there’s been a lot of malice coming to the surface, not least that directed towards the industry funds, who are already largely there. That ill-feeling might manifest itself in a cranky response to APRA’s whole-of-fund super performance statistics, as useless as they admittedly are. Maybe it comes out less publicly, for instance by feeding an Australian journalist an erroneous hatchet-job about the Conference of Major Super Funds, confident in the knowledge they won’t bother ringing to check the facts.
An industry fund initiative that nobody can knock
As financial services is dragged screaming towards the fee-for-service model, there’s been a lot of malice coming to the surface, not least that directed towards the industry funds, who are already largely there. That ill-feeling might manifest itself in a cranky response to APRA’s whole-of-fund super performance statistics, as useless as they admittedly are. Maybe it comes out less publicly, for instance by feeding an Australian journalist an erroneous hatchet-job about the Conference of Major Super Funds, confident in the knowledge they won’t bother ringing to check the facts.
