Former U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne expects to earn 650,000 pounds from 48 days of work for BlackRock Inc., according to parliamentary filings. The Conservative politician, still a backbench lawmaker, expects to earn 162,500 pounds each quarter for 12 days’ work as an economic adviser at the BlackRock Investment Institute in London, according to the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, which details the outside earnings of U.K. legislators.
Category: BlackRock
Standard Life’s Aberdeen Bid Marks Push Against Passive `Bogey’
Standard Life Plc’s bid to take over Aberdeen Asset Management Plc is the latest defensive move by active asset managers grappling with fee pressure from cheaper passive funds that often outperform them. The merger of Scotland’s two biggest money managers follows France’s Amundi SA agreement to buy Pioneer Investments from Italy’s UniCredit SpA in December as companies seek extra scale to boost returns.
China’s $8 Trillion Bond Treasure Spurs Hiring at Global Funds
Speculation that China’s 56.3 trillion yuan bond market is about to go more global is spurring investment funds to hire in the nation. A central bank official said at the end of last year that China will create conditions for the inclusion of yuan debt in global indexes.
MetLife Hires UBS’s Matus as Strategist for Investing Unit
MetLife Inc.’s investing unit hired Drew Matus, formerly of UBS Group AG, as chief market strategist to help add third-party clients. Matus will be responsible for formulating the insurer’s global and economic market outlooks, the New York-based company said Wednesday in a statement.
For Asset Managers Battling Index Funds, It’s Hunt or Be Hunted
Janus Capital Group Inc. and U.K.-based Henderson Group Plc are merging to reduce costs, broaden their product mix and expand geographically. Last week, Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. struck a $3.3 billion agreement to buy alternative-asset manager Fortress Investment Group LLC, whose shares had lost two-thirds of their value since the company went public in 2007.
For Asset Managers Battling Index Funds, It’s Hunt or Be Hunted
Janus Capital Group Inc. and U.K.-based Henderson Group Plc are merging to reduce costs, broaden their product mix and expand geographically. Last week, Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. struck a $3.3 billion agreement to buy alternative-asset manager Fortress Investment Group LLC, whose shares had lost two-thirds of their value since the company went public in 2007.
Passive, Low-Cost ETFs Attract Record Inflows
Exchange traded fund providers are attracting record inflows as more investors look to low-cost, passive index-based products to track market moves. BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset manager and largest ETF provider, is experiencing record cash inflows, bringing in $140 billion to its iShares business last year, Bloomberg reports.
Fink Signals Support for Merkel Policies in German Election Year
One of Wall Street’s most influential figures, BlackRock Inc.’s Larry Fink, signaled his support for Angela Merkel as Germany’s chancellor prepares to campaign for re-election this fall, saying she has provided “moral leadership” to the world. “I sincerely hope that Germany chooses to continue its role as a leader and stabilizing force in the world,” Fink, the chairman and chief executive officer of the world’s biggest asset manager, said in a speech Monday evening at a reception hosted by Deutsche Boerse AG in Frankfurt.
BlackRock Quants Sustain Record Losses in Setback to Fink Plan
Like so many fund titans these days, Laurence D. Fink is betting on machines to turn around BlackRock Inc.’s beleaguered stock-picking business. BlackRock’s main quantitative hedge-fund strategies — which use computer models to sort through vast amounts of data to pick out patterns — were on track for losses in 2016, according to a monthly client update sent out in late December.
ICU Medical Shares Keep Climbing As BlackRock Ups Stake To More Than 10%
ICU Medical Inc. shares continued climbing in the extended session Monday after BlackRock Inc. disclosed earlier it had increased its stake in the medical device maker to more than 10%. ICU Medical shares surged 15% to $158.05 after hours, after closing up 4.3% in the regular session.
Vanguard’s $305 Billion Take From Investors in 2016 Sets Record
Vanguard Group, the world’s largest mutual fund manager, said it attracted a record $305 billion last year — an annual total that some firms need decades to reach. Vanguard’s take, which tops the firm’s previous record of $276.4 billion in 2015, includes $93 billion that went into exchange-traded funds, up from $76 billion the year before, spokesman John Woerth wrote in an e-mail.