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West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) - Hedge fund manager, Aberdeen Asset Management PLC, has entered into an agreement with Credit Suisse to acquire their £40 billion ($58 billion) long-only asset management arm, making Aberdeen the the UK’s largest listed fund manager.
Credit Suisse sold the fund arm for approximately 240 million shares in Aberdeen, valued at £250 million ($363 million). The closing of the deal is to take place on 30 June 2009, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval.
Aberdeen’s largest hedge fund shareholder, Martin Hughes, Chief Executive of Toscafund, said, “Toscafund has already confirmed its support for this transformational acquisition, which has been made possible by the excellent operating platform offered by Aberdeen. Toscafund believes that the transaction is of clear benefit to the clients and shareholders of Aberdeen Asset Management and Credit Suisse.”
The acquired business is a long-only traditional asset manager with a leading presence in Europe, Asia and Australasia. It offers a broad product range, diversified predominantly across fixed income, money market and equities, with a variety of investment styles that will be integrated into Aberdeen’s investment processes. Its products are sold primarily to third party clients, with a significant minority of assets sourced through Credit Suisse’s Private Banking division, one of the world’s largest wealth managers.
Aberdeen has agreed an extension of the existing distribution agreement with Credit Suisse, this will give Aberdeen greater access to the banking network of Credit Suisse.
With the new acquisition, Aberdeen has opportunity to achieve greater scale in certain markets where the Group already has a presence, such as the UK, Australia, Germany, Switzerland and Japan. The Acquisition will also strengthen Aberdeen’s offering in certain product areas
“The acquisition confirms Aberdeen’s position as a leading global asset manager and provides us with greater access to the distribution network of Credit Suisse and its Private Banking division, one of the world’s largest wealth managers." Martin Gilbert, Chief Executive of Aberdeen, said, “This transaction fits perfectly within our strategy, a key part of which has been to make earnings enhancing acquisitions which give the business critical mass in our core competencies, complementing our organic growth."
“Given our proven track record of integrating businesses, we are well placed to ensure a smooth transition of the Credit Suisse assets to Aberdeen. We look forward to welcoming our new colleagues and clients, and also to welcoming Credit Suisse as a significant shareholder in Aberdeen. We believe that this transaction will be for the long-term benefit of all our shareholders.”
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The Australian - Hedge funds who invested in Channel Nine’s owner PBL Media are unhappy about a rescue package to refinance the group’s $4.3 billion in debt, The Asian Wall Street Journal has reported.
Private equity group CVC Asia Pacific, the owner of 75 per cent of PBL Media, is "scrambling" to prevent PBL Media from defaulting on its $4.3 billion in debt, the paper said. If the group did default, PBL Media (the owner of Channel Nine and Australia’s largest magazine group ACP) could be placed in the hands of its bankers.
The Australian last week revealed CVC was trying to negotiate a rescue package, which included raising an extra $325 million from its banks, of which about $250 million would go towards repaying PBL’s debt.
PBL Media’s debt is held by nearly 40 creditors, including global banks and hedge funds.
New York (HedgeCo.Net) - Private-equity firm CVC Asia Pacific, who owns 75 percent of PBL Media, is trying to prevent the company from defaulting on its $4.3 billion in debt, according to the Asian Wall Street Journal.
PBL Media, the owner of massive Australian magazine group ACP and Australia’s Channel Nine, could be placed under the control of its bankers if they default on the debt; something CVC is frantically trying to stop.
According to an article in The Australian, PBL’s debt is distributed among almost 40 creditors, including many hedge funds and global banks. CVC is trying to formulate a rescue package that would include raising $325 million from its banks, $250 million of which would go directly to paying PBL Media’s debt.
The Asian Wall Street Journal also reported that several of the large banks might also be on board to stop the default "which could result in their having to take a charge against earnings for the bad loans.” These banks include UBS, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Calyon, ABN AMRO and several other Australian banks.
However, some of the hedge funds who are invested in PBL aren’t too thrilled about CVC’s rescue plan, which entails creditors granting PBL a “covenant holiday” of 18 months. The Journal stated that “because hedge funds are required to mark their investments to market every day, the funds have little to gain from the CVC plan.”
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) - Research and Markets announced the addition of a new report, "Asia-Pacific Capital Markets Handbook 2009".
With increased investment and stability in the region, the Asia-Pacific capital markets have experienced rapid growth over the past few years, with many markets emerging as key players in the global economy.
"The economic appetites of the Asian tigers are alive and well in the global economy of the 21st century," it says in the report, "In fact, Asia’s share of the global economy continues to grow at a feverish rate. Asia’s combined gross domestic product (GDP) was over US$5 trillion in 2007, doubling in constant dollar terms since 1998. Asia accounted for over 13% of global GDP in 2007, up over 40% from the 9% recorded in 1998. With this growth in economic activity we have seen unprecedented expansion into the capital markets by Asian countries."
The Asia-Pacific Capital Markets Handbook 2009 is a guide through the key areas of growth and provide you with an insight into the region. With editorial from key players in the industry and contributions from (among others) the Philippine, Vietnamese, Japanese and Korean markets, this Handbook is a ‘must have’ tool for your work in the region, says Research and Markets.
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Interactive Investor - Man Group aims to win more business from big Asian investors such as pension funds and insurers even as global financial turmoil spurs some existing clients to redeem holdings and seek safety in cash.
The world’s largest listed hedge fund group recently hired an institutional salesperson in South Korea because of the potential it saw there and was studying the long-term opportunity in China, said Tim Rainsford, managing director, Asia Pacific for Man Investments.
"It’s certainly a challenging time. At the same time, the brakes are not on in the business. We will launch products when they’re appropriate," he told the Reuters Finance Summit on Monday.
The Australian - David Gray, UBS’s head of prime services in the Asia-Pacific, says: "In the next three months, people will make decisions about whether they want to continue their business that may prove uneconomic for them," Hong Kong-based Mr Gray said. "Fund managers are quite a hardy lot who don’t give up easily; they’ve gone through a couple of crises."
About 20 per cent of hedge funds in Asia, which underperformed rivals in the US and Europe, are profitable this year, according to Mr Gray. Their performance diverged from declines of 40 per cent to gains of 20 per cent, he said.
Bloomberg - The Artradis AB2 fund, run by Singapore’s biggest hedge-fund firm, gained 4.96 percent in September, when Asian equities had their worst month in 18 years, two people with knowledge of its performance said.
The $2.2 billion hedge fund, managed by the firm’s co- founders Stephen Diggle and Richard Magides, returned 20.64 percent in the first nine months of the year, the people said, asking not to be identified because details are private. Asia’s hedge-fund average returns fell 16.2 percent this year, the region’s worst annual performance, according to Singapore-based data provider Eurekahedge.
Hedge funds such as those run by Artradis Fund Management Pte, which manages more than $4 billion, tend to outperform when markets are falling because they trade on volatility, which increases when prices decline. The 30-day volatility of the MSCI Asia-Pacific Index, a gauge of the average fluctuation of 990 stocks, has almost tripled to 55 percent, from 21 percent at the end of August.
Reuters - Asia’s hedge fund industry, one of the world’s worst performers even before the latest surge in volatility, will see a major shake-out as the global financial turmoil shuts down a huge swath of managers.
Few in the industry will guess at how many of an estimated 1,200 Asia-Pacific-focused hedge funds will fold in the months ahead. But higher losses and rising redemptions suggest things will be proportionately worse than for U.S. and European funds, they warned.
"This is a watershed for the industry … a lot of players are not going to be here by early next year. Those with high leverage and many smaller players will be gone," said Low Jeng-tek, the Asia head of UK-based fund of hedge funds manager Gems Advisors, which oversees more than $7 billion.
Money Management - HSBC will soon provide local services to its global hedge fund and private equity clients as they chase “the superannuation dollar”.
HSBC plans to increase its footprint in the Australian market with the introduction of local alternative fund services.
The alternative fund services business will form part of HSBC Securities Services in Australia and will provide local fund accounting, investor servicing and financial reporting to a range of hedge funds, fund of hedge funds, absolute return managers and private equity partners.
HSBC head of fund services, Asia Pacific, Lillian Wong said the group has seen increasing demand from its global hedge fund clients for “onshore servicing in Australia as they target the superannuation dollar”.
Wong said the group aims to provide its clients with a “seamless service” for their Australian domiciled businesses.
The group’s new alternative fund services division will be led by Howard Yip and will be part of the wider HSBC global banking business led by Janie Wanless in Australia.
Reuters Singapore - U.S.-based Russell Investments, which manages over $211 billion (110 billion pounds) in assets, wants to boost its exposure to Asian real estate as it sees growing markets in China and India withstanding a global downturn.
The company, which raises money from institutions such as pension funds and invests it with other fund managers, said it expects to more than double its investments in Asia properties over the next three years, from about $300 million currently.
"Our clients tell us they want to be in Asia property, and we go where our clients want to go," said Martin Lamb, newly appointed Asia Pacific head of property for Russell, the funds and indices unit of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance.