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Financier Worldwide canvasses the opinions of leading professionals around the world on the latest trends in investment funds.

UNITED STATES

Eva Marie Carney

Richards Kibbe & Orbe LLP

“There are many reports and studies that compare US fund manager performance and returns to that of the S&P 500 and other market indices. By those measures, 2012 was not a good year for fund managers. One Bloomberg report noted that some 600 hedge funds closed in 2012, almost 10 percent more than in 2011. Fund manager performance, by those measures, has improved in 2013.”

MEXICO

Vicente Corta Fernández

White & Case S. C.

“As of June 2012 the performance of assets under management in equity investment funds was 7.2 percent and the performance of assets under management in debt instrument investment funds was 5.7 percent. The Index of Prices and Rates of the Mexican Stock Exchange – Bolsa Mexicana de Valores – was 9.96 percent. There has been a good track record for portfolio management in Mexico, however the percentage of exits is low.”

FRANCE

Daniel Schmidt

Jones Day

“Unfortunately it is difficult to be optimistic regarding the French market. Very few exits were achieved and the few exits that were have performed rather unsatisfactorily. These poor performances stem from the fact that all fundamentals determining the price of companies have been decreasing. Therefore, a company is paid for with EBITDA multiples that are inferior to the multiples often recorded before the financial crisis.”

CHANNEL ISLANDS

Joe Truelove

Carey Commercial Limited

“Within Guernsey there are funds invested in many asset classes, from traditional open ended, long only funds to London Stock Exchange listed funds of hedge funds. The dominant asset classes are currently illiquid and 75 percent of funds are closed ended, with the majority being defined as alternative. Assets under administration have experienced five consecutive quarters of growth since the beginning of 2012 and reached £296.5bn as of 31 March 2013.”

IRELAND

Michael Barr

A&L Goodbody

“Generally, the performance across our client base has been positive, although obviously there are exceptions and outliers. We have noticed plenty of activity involving product development, with new and complementary products coming onto the market, which is always a good barometer for the health of the industry. Whereas 12 months ago the overriding sentiment was flat to positive, during the last year that positivity has grown.”

SPAIN

Fernando de las Cuevas

Gómez-Acebo & Pombo Abogados

“The negative and recessive tendencies of the last few years, coupled with financial market turbulence have caused a high number of reimbursements, which has severely impacted the management and patrimony of the funds industry in Spain. However, these tendencies seem to be stabilising.”

INDIA

Ashwath Rau

Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co.

“The past 12 months have been a bittersweet experience for the Indian fund industry which was affected by the struggling global macroeconomic environment. Fundraising remained a difficult task for managers, even as India managed to attract a number of private equity (PE) investors. A few sectors – IT/ITES and healthcare – saw considerable activity, compared to sectors like infrastructure, where regulatory uncertainty and government indecision dampened fundraising exercises.”

AUSTRALIA

Andrea Wookey

TressCox Lawyers

“In general terms, most fund managers have performed much better in the last 12 months than they have over the last few years. Since the middle of 2012, and primarily as a result of global stimulus policies, a huge amount of life has come back into investment markets, with most managers turning in strong performances and a significant number achieving exceptional ones. The strongest performances seem to be from managers who picked the macro trends correctly and from portfolios with an income bias.”

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Jeremy Miocevic

Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP

“As legal advisers we do not track or monitor funds or fund manager’s performances, but anecdotal evidence from the UAE market would tend to suggest that successful exits remain a challenge for fund managers in the region. However, in the UAE we are certainly starting to see some green shoots both in terms of new acquisitions and exits.”

CONTRIBUTORS

A&L Goodbody

Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co.

Carey Commercial Limited

Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP

Gómez-Acebo & Pombo Abogados

Jones Day

Richards Kibbe & Orbe LLP

TressCox Lawyers

White & Case S. C.