From the press release desk this week…
Business moves
Franklin Templeton Investment Trust Management in Korea and Samsung Active Management, a subsidiary of Samsung Asset Management specialising in active equity management in Korea, will merge to establish Samsung Franklin Templeton Asset Management, a joint venture firm. The new joint venture will be under joint management, with equal representatives from the two parties. It will focus on large-cap growth and small- and mid-cap equity strategies as offered and promoted by Samsung, combined with large-cap value strategies overseen by Franklin Templeton…
Deutsche Bank has determined the price range and offer structure for the initial public offering of Deutsche Asset Management. Shares are expected to be offered at a price between €30 ($36.93) and €36 per share. In addition, Nippon Life Insurance Company will be acquiring a 5% stake in the IPO and enter a strategic partnership with the firm…
Products
UBS Asset Management has launched the first Luxembourg Ucits fund denominated in onshore renmibi, the UBS (Lux) Bond Sicav – China Fixed Income (RMB) fund. The fund will mainly invest in onshore reneminbi-denominated fixed income instruments, with its NAV calculated in onshore renminbi instead of offshore renminbi, avoiding NAV volatility caused by discrepancies in onshore and offshore rates. In Asia, the fund is available to professional investors in Hong Kong and accredited investors in Singapore…
The majority of Australia-domiciled funds in most categories underperformed their respective benchmarks last year, apart from the Australian A-REIT funds, which delivered a higher average return of 6.8% than the S&P/ASX 200 A-REIT’s 5.7%, according to a report by S&P Dow Jones Indices. In addition, over the 10-year period ending 2017, 85% of international equity and Australian bond funds and 70% of Australian general equity and A-REIT funds underperformed their respective benchmarks. On the flipside, only 40% of Australian small-cap funds lagged their benchmarks…
The Asia-Pacific private equity deal market experienced a record year in 2017. Deal value soared to $159bn last year, up 41% over 2016 and 19% higher than the previous all0-time high of $133bn in 2015, according to Bain & Company’s Asia-Pacific private equity report. A combination of forces propelled the market to new heights, including an improved macroeconomic environment and mounting pressure to invest huge reserves of committed, unspent capital…
Regulators
The Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) of the Singapore Police Force have extended the joint investigations agreement to cover all capital markets and financial advisory offences. Both agencies’ joint investigations arrangement started in 2015 to investigate market misconduct offences, such as market manipulation and insider trading activities…
The MAS and the Bank of Lithuania have signed a fintech cooperation agreement that will allow both regulators to explore joint innovation projects and share information on emerging market trends. The agreement also enables fintech companies to tap on the support of the respective regulators to better understand the regulatory regime in each country…
New China indexes
MSCI has launched 12 new indexes that will expand MSCI’s China index offering to prepare global investors for the next step of the China A inclusion process. The new China indexes are:
- MSCI China A Index
- MSCI China A Large Cap Index
- MSCI China A Mid Cap Index
- MSCI China A RMB Index
- MSCI China A Large Cap RMB Index
- MSCI China A Mid Cap RMB Index
- MSCI China All Shares Large Cap Index
- MSCI China All Shares Mid Cap Index
- MSCI China All Shares SMID Cap Index
- MSCI China A International Large Cap Index
- MSCI China A International Mid Cap Index
- MSCI China A International Smid Cap Index
