Category Archives: Investor Perceptions

Artemis Positive Future Fund

Artemis was established in 1997 by a team that had worked together at Ivory & Sime,
Edinburgh. Artemis is an independent firm dedicated to asset management with AUM of £27
($37.45) billion. The firm has offices in Edinburgh and London; and sales offices in Munich
and Zurich.

Neil Goddin

Neil Goddin

Jonathan Parsons

Jonathan Parsons

In April 2021, Artemis launched the Positive Future Fund to invest in firms with the capacity
to effect positive change. The fund is managed by Craig Bonthron, Neil Goddin, Jonathan Parsons and Ryan Smith, who joined the business from Aegon Asset Management (formerly Kames Capital) in November 2020, where they managed the Aegon Global Sustainable Equity fund. The fund’s benchmark is the MSCI AC World and its active share is >99%.

 

What’s it like being Edinburgh-based, rather than London-based?
Edinburgh remains a vibrant place to be in the investment management business. In terms of
corporate access, we get better access in Edinburgh than we would if we were in London.
We compete for access with fewer institutions so get access to top management regularly.
Obviously, since Covid we do most things on-line so it in that sense it doesn’t matter where
we are located. Continue reading

Independent Franchise Partners, LLP

Independent Franchise Partners, LLP was established in 2009 to offer the Franchise investment approach to institutional investors. The approach is based on the understanding that a concentrated portfolio of exceptionally high-quality companies, whose primary competitive advantage is supported by a dominant intangible asset, will earn attractive long-term returns with less than average volatility. This is particularly true when those investments are selected with an absolute value bias. Franchise Partners has AUM of $18.5 billion.

Hassan Elmasry, CFA Managing Partner, Lead Investor • 37 years’ experience • 19 years managing Franchise portfolios • Morgan Stanley, 1995-2009 • Previously at Mitchell Hutchins Asset Management and First Chicago Corporation • A.B. Economics; MBA, Finance, both from University of Chicago • Former co-chair and board member, Human Rights Watch.

Since we last interviewed you in July 2009, AUM have risen from $250 million to $18.5 billion. Congratulations! How much larger will AUM grow?

We aim to grow our client base a little from here but not too much. Our priority has always been to protect our ability to generate attractive returns for our existing clients. Experience shows that larger size is the enemy of investment returns. We have always tried to manage asset growth very conservatively, even back when we were at Morgan Stanley. So, we have a couple of billion dollars of available capacity for new clients but no plans to dramatically increase assets.

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Premier Miton Group plc – London

Premier Miton Group plc was formed in November 2019 from the merger of Premier Asset Management Group plc and Miton Group plc. The merger resulted in an active manager with $16 billion under management.

Nick Ford joined Premier Miton in December 2012 and co-manages the US Opportunities (AUM of $1.3 billion) and US Smaller Companies Funds ($458 million). Prior to this, he was at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership and before that co-manager of the Gartmore US Smaller Companies fund, manager of the US funds for Sun Alliance and Clerical Medical, as well as working at F&C Asset Management.

 

Hugh Grieves joined Premier Miton in January 2013 and co-manages the US Opportunities and US Smaller Companies Funds. Prior to this, he was at Herald Investment Management. From 2000 – 2008 he co-managed the technology funds at SGAM and solely from 2008 – 2009. Prior to that, Hugh also worked in the US smaller companies team at Gartmore.

 

What’s changed since the merger with Premier?

When we did the deal, Miton had $6.8 billion (£5 bn) AUM and that figure is now $16 billion.

How does Premier Miton differentiate itself?

We have a very high Active Share (94.3%).  We are the only US multi cap fund.  We focus on capital preservation and do not chase crazy valuations (e.g., we don’t own the FAANGs).  We look very different to other funds and that works very well for clients looking to diversify risk.

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ING Private Banking – Belgium

ING Private Portfolio Management is the wealth management arm of ING Private Banking in Belgium. They are global investors and their investment approach is long-term oriented. They use various instruments and model portfolios according to the client’s risk appetite as well as tailor-made portfolios. Assets under management amount to $40 billion (ING Private Banking as a group), of which approximately $11-12 billion is managed in Belgium.

Moudy El Khodr is Head of Portfolio Management, South Region at ING Private Bank. Until 2018 he was at ING Investment Management (now NN Investment Partners) managing one of Europe’s largest US Equity Income funds. He re-joined ING Investment in 2014 after three years at Petercam  where he had managed a similar strategy. From 2001 to 2011 he worked at ING Investment Management in Brussels and The Hague. He also worked at BGL (Banque Générale du Luxembourg) in asset management (1998-2001). Moudy started his career at Euronext Brussels in 1998. He graduated “cum laude” from Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) with a Master in Economics, holds a CEFA certification and a Certificate in Risk Management from ICHEC in Brussels.

Where does ING Private Banking fit within the investment management sector in Belgium?

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Press Release – COVID-19: Impact on European Corporate Access. 76% of investors no longer attending conferences

March 13, 2020 – Investor conferences are experiencing significant falls in attendance according to a survey of European Institutional Investors conducted by Phoenix-IR, a specialist Corporate Access provider. As many as 76% of investors are no longer attending conferences.

However, although more and more people are working from home or locked down in their offices, it’s interesting to note that at least half the investment community is still engaged in physically meeting with corporate management teams.

60% of investors are still hosting one-on-one meetings in their offices. But only 49% are venturing outside to attend group breakfast / lunch presentations. Almost three quarters said they are no longer participating in reverse roadshows, with 54% of firms suspending international travel.

In terms of how investors wished to communicate with companies, investors remain quite “low tech” when it comes to their preferred method of talking to companies when direct contact is curtailed. Two thirds prefer telephone conf calls and only one third like video conf calls, partly due to the perceived technical and logistical barriers to setting these up.

In response to travel / face-to-face meeting restrictions, Phoenix-IR is hosting virtual roadshows for its clients.  In spite of the furore caused by COVID-19, investors still need to hear from corporates.

80 European-based investors managing approximately $2.5 trillion AuM responded to the survey, which was carried out over two days March 11 and 12.  They represent investors in the UK, Switzerland, Netherlands, Germany, France, Denmark, Austria, Spain, Ireland, Portugal and Poland.

Phoenix-IR is an independent European-based investor relations consulting firm specialized in helping listed companies communicate with institutional shareholders and potential shareholders throughout the U.K. and continental Europe. Phoenix-IR owns and operates www.CorporateAccessNetwork.com

BlackRock – Larry Fink’s annual CEO letter

Focusing on climate change, BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink, in his annual letter to CEOs published January 12, 2020, urges companies to focus more on sustainability.  He states that “Companies, investors, and governments must prepare for a significant reallocation of capital.”

Many of his comments are highly relevant for IROs.

Key takeaways:

BlackRock will not only double the number of sustainability ETS it manages but significantly, it will divest from its active portfolios those companies generating a quarter or more of their profits from thermal coal.  Mindful of the economic, scientific, social and political realities of the energy transition BlackRock will not pursue an across-the-board sale of energy companies that produce fossil fuels.

BlackRock aims to increase its actively managed sustainability assets 10X from $90 billion today to $1 trillion in the next 10 years.

Earlier in January, BlackRock joined Climate Action 100+, a group of more than 370 investment managers with a combined $41 trillion in assets. Together the campaign’s members are pressuring the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases to reduce their environmental impact and improve disclosure.  BlackRock has placed environmental and climate risk among its top priorities for meetings with the public companies it owns.

“In the discussions BlackRock has with clients around the world, more and more of them are looking to reallocate their capital into sustainable strategies. If ten percent of global investors do so – or even five percent – we will witness massive capital shifts.“

“BlackRock announced a number of initiatives to place sustainability at the center of our investment approach, including: making sustainability integral to portfolio construction and risk management; exiting investments that present a high sustainability-related risk, such as thermal coal producers; launching new investment products that screen fossil fuels; and strengthening our commitment to sustainability and transparency in our investment stewardship activities.”

“We believe that all investors, along with regulators, insurers, and the public, need a clearer picture of how companies are managing sustainability-related questions. This data should extend beyond climate to questions around how each company serves its full set of stakeholders, such as the diversity of its workforce, the sustainability of its supply chain, or how well it protects its customers’ data. Each company’s prospects for growth are inextricable from its ability to operate sustainably and serve its full set of stakeholders.”

“While no framework is perfect, BlackRock believes that the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) provides a clear set of standards for reporting sustainability information across a wide range of issues, from labor practices to data privacy to business ethics. For evaluating and reporting climate-related risks, as well as the related governance issues that are essential to managing them, the TCFD provides a valuable framework.”

“BlackRock has been engaging with companies for several years on their progress towards TCFD- and SASB-aligned reporting. This year, we are asking the companies that we invest in on behalf of our clients to: (1) publish a disclosure in line with industry-specific SASB guidelines by year-end, if you have not already done so, or disclose a similar set of data in a way that is relevant to your particular business; and (2) disclose climate-related risks in line with the TCFD’s recommendations, if you have not already done so. This should include your plan for operating under a scenario where the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to less than two degrees is fully realized, as expressed by the TCFD guidelines.”

“We believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held accountable. Last year BlackRock voted against or withheld votes from 4,800 directors at 2,700 different companies. Where we feel companies and boards are not producing effective sustainability disclosures or implementing frameworks for managing these issues, we will hold board members accountable. Given the groundwork we have already laid engaging on disclosure, and the growing investment risks surrounding sustainability, we will be increasingly disposed to vote against management and board directors when companies are not making sufficient progress on sustainability-related disclosures and the business practices and plans underlying them.”

Larry Fink (BlackRock) – letter to CEOs

Larry Fink, the founder and CEO of BlackRock has written his annual letter to the CEOs of the companies in which the world’s biggest institution owns shares.  In it he urges CEOs to consider the societal implications of their business decisions and to focus on their long-term plans.  “To prosper over time, every company must not only deliver financial performance, but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society. Companies must benefit all of their stakeholders, including shareholders, employees, customers, and the communities in which they operate.”

He highlights BlackRock’s responsibility to engage with companies because index investors have become the ultimate long-term investors and he reaffirms his belief that companies are overly focused on the short term.

He calls for companies to articulate their strategy for long-term growth and explain their strategic framework for long-term value creation. “This is a particularly critical moment for companies to explain their long-term plans to investors.”

The letter, available below in full, is well worth reading…

https://www.blackrock.com/corporate/en-be/investor-relations/larry-fink-ceo-letter