SSgA Grabs Top Rank; F&C Falls From Grace

State Street Global Advisors has seized the top place in GMM’s half-year manager ranking by net new assets gained from non-U.S. pensions and other institutions.

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State Street Global Advisors has seized the top place in GMM‘s half-year manager ranking by net new assets gained from non-U.S. pensions and other institutions. The manager stepped up from second place at the midway point last year with 181 new mandate wins worth USD12.977 billion. Not so far behind was Record Currency Management with a whopping USD9.092 billion, compared to just USD665 million (GBP351 million) in 2004.

2006 Half-Year Manager Ranking by Assets Gained
Manager Net Net New
Rank Name Wins Assets (USD MILs)
1 State Street Global Advisors 181 12,977
2 Record Currency Management 14 9,092
3 AlpInvest Partners 2 7,579
4 AXA Rosenberg 42 4,701
5 Barclays Global Investors 104 3,917

Record Currency, a specialist in active currency management, has seen increased demand by local authorities, said Peter Wakefield, managing director, but there is also demand growing in continental Europe and the U.S. In addition, corporate pension schemes have shown increased interest in the asset class. The manager’s largest mandate was for roughly GBP1.8 billion from an undisclosed U.K. pension. Its most recent announced wins were GBP150 million from Strathclyde Pension Fund and GBP15.5 million from Pennon Group Pension Scheme.

AlpInvest Partners, formerly known as NIB Capital Private Equity, came third with only two net wins but worth a staggering USD7.579 billion. The private equity specialist is sponsored by the two largest Dutch pension schemes, Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP and Stichting Pensioenfonds PGGM, which are responsible for the big asset inflow.

Barclays Global Investors, the top ranker for the last two GMM manager league tables, has dropped to fifth place with USD3.917 billion in 104 new net wins, still a considerable number. The manager continues to suffer on the passive multi-asset offering as pension schemes move into an active specialist approach. One of its last mandate losses was worth GBP402 million when Leicestershire County Council Pension Fund decided to move to a specialist active strategy.

F&C Falls From Grace

At the bottom of the table comes F&C Asset Management with a staggering loss worth USD42.234 billion. The losses for the past six months included a EUR2 billion contract with Dutch Pensioenfonds Vervoer (GMM, 9/5), a GBP985 million mandate with Electricity Supply Pension Scheme in the U.K., and from its own F&C Latin American Investment Trust that decided to outsource GBP260 million. However, the largest blow to the manager was a GBP22.5 billion brief it lost from life insurer Resolution Life after it merged with Britannic Group early this year.

Putnam Investments continues to struggle, with losses worth USD2.071 billion. The manager ranked second from the bottom, having lost an AUD2.8 billion brief from Australian manager-of-managers BT Funds Management (GMM, 3/5).

Closely behind came Henderson Global Investors, with USD1.093 billion in losses. The balanced manager suffered the most from local authorities choosing to go via the specialist route. City of Westminster County Council Pension Fund (GMM, 25/5), Falkirk Council Pension Fund, London Pensions Fund Authority and London Borough of Barnet Superannuation Fund have all replaced Henderson this year.

Int’l Equity Mandates Increase

International active equity mandates saw a huge increase to 118 awarded for the first half of this year from just 22 during last year’s first half. However, global active equity has only seen 54 awarded briefs, compared to 248 last year.

Pension schemes are betting on the good performance of international equity markets and the diversification it brings, said a partner at U.K. consultant Hymans Robertson. Schemes “are opting for liability-driven investments and high-alpha [strategies], which can be considered alternatives,” he added.

There has been a considerable decrease in alternatives briefs, 94 this year from 193 last year, particularly of hedge funds, which saw a decrease to 3 from 12, and private equity, declining to 37 from 73 mandates. Hedge funds have been the target of much controversy over the last couple of years and performance has been disappointing but what most schemes seem to worry about is lack of transparency. One of the most recent pension schemes that decided against hedge funds for this reason was the EUR13 billion Dutch rail sector Spoorwegpensioenfonds (GMM, 26/1).

2006 Global (Ex-U.S.) Hiring Activity
2006 1Q 2Q 2005 1Q 2Q
Total Manager Hires 705 333 372 1459 457 1002
U.K. Active Equity 37 14 23 47 19 28
U.K. Passive Equity 0 0 0 2 1 1
U.K. Active Fixed Income 12 4 8 19 7 12
U.S. Active Equity 55 20 35 79 13 66
U.S. Passive Equity 1 0 1 19 4 15
U.S. Active Fixed Income 6 3 3 7 0 7
Ireland Passive Balanced 0 0 0 0 0 0
International Active Equity 118 47 71 22 9 13
International Passive Equity 0 0 0 7 2 5
International Active Fixed Income 69 31 38 9 7 2
International Passive Fixed Income 0 0 0 3 1 2
Global Active Equity 54 28 26 248 54 194
Global Passive Equity 4 2 2 19 3 16
Global Active Fixed Income 28 15 13 192 38 154
Global Passive Fixed Income 11 5 6 5 2 3
Europe Active Equity 10 2 8 29 15 14
Europe Passive Equity 0 0 0 7 1 6
Europe Active Fixed Income 0 0 0 4 1 3
Europe Passive Fixed Income 0 0 0 2 1 1
Asia Active Equity 1 1 0 2 2 0
Japan Active Equity 7 1 6 43 9 34
Australia Active Equity 14 8 6 25 10 15
Australia Active Fixed Income 1 0 1 2 0 2
Real Estate 42 32 10 54 21 33
Emerging Markets 0 0 0 0 0 0
All Alternatives 94 40 54 193 108 85
Hedge Funds 3 2 1 12 7 5
Private Equity 37 17 20 73 54 19
Consultant 29 13 16 48 29 19

2006 Global (ex-U.S.) Manager Ranking By Assets Gained

Net New
Net Assets
Rank Manager Name Wins (USD) Ms
1 State Street Global Advisors 181 12,977
2 Record Currency Management 14 9,092
3 AlpInvest Partners 2 7,579
4 AXA Rosenberg 42 4,701
5 Barclays Global Investors 104 3,917
6 Standard Life Investments 49 2,532
7 Millennium Asset Management 3 2,163
8 AQR Capital Management 2 2,115
9 Hermes Pension Management 1 1,849
10 A.G. Bisset & Company 1 1,749
11 Newton Investment Management 6 1,368
12 Hamilton Lane Advisors 7 965
13 Pantheon Ventures 25 915
14 Mellon Financial 2 906
15 PIMCO 5 789
16 AXA Group 3 777
17 Insight Investment 3 752
18 Merrill Lynch Investment Managers 4 718
19 Alliance Capital Management 9 643
20 Brandywine Global Investment Management 7 633
21 Cyrte Investments 1 632
22 Investec Asset Management 6 629
23 LaSalle Investment Management 1 555
24 JPMorgan Asset Management 3 535
25 Partners Group 2 484
26 ING Investment Management Americas 1 481
27 Union Bancaire Privée 1 462
28 Mirabaud Investment Management 1 405
29 Goldman Sachs Asset Management 8 398
30 GMO 2 370
30 Lazard Asset Management 1 370
30 Protego Real Estate Investors 1 370
33 Royal London Asset Management 3 365
34 BlueBay Asset Management 1 361
35 Delaware Investment Advisors 4 355
36 Taube Hodson Stonex Partners 1 349
37 UBS Global Asset Management 1 347
38 BankInvest 1 296
39 Lloyd George Management (Europe) 4 291
40 Blue Sky Group 1 277
41 Ausbil Dexia Limited 4 258
42 Morley Fund Management 18 253
43 Russell Investment Group 2 240
44 SanPaolo IMI Asset Management 13 235
45 KBC Asset Management 17 234
46 Irish Life Investment Managers 2 227
47 Suncorp Investment Management 3 226
48 Mercer Super Trust 1 207
49 Sarasin 2 200
49 Insurance Australia Group Asset Management 1 200
51 Majedie Asset Management 1 185
52 HFA Asset Management 3 171
52 Kempen Capital Management 2 171
52 Sparinvest 1 171
55 MFS Institutional Advisors 3 167
56 Midas Capital Partners 2 165
57 Carnegie, Wylie & Co. 1 148
58 DLIBJ Asset Management International 3 144
59 SG Asset Management 2 130
60 Morgan Stanley Investment Management 3 128
61 T. Rowe Price Associates 1 119
62 Quentin Ayers 1 118
63 Perennial Investment Partners 3 108
64 Baillie Gifford 2 103
65 OFI Institutional Asset Management 1 100
66 Alleron Investment Management 2 96
67 Wellington Management Co. 3 95
68 Credit Suisse Asset Management 1 92
69 Charterhouse Capital Partners 1 82
69 Handelsbanken Liv 1 82
71 Neptune Investment Management 3 70
72 Adams Street Partners 2 66
73 AGF Asset Management 1 63
73 Dexia Asset Management France 1 63
73 Fisch Asset Management 1 63
73 Forum Partners 1 63
73 Pictet & Compagnie 1 63
78 Collins Stewart (CI) 2 60
79 ABN AMRO Asset Management 4 56
79 DnB NOR Asset Management 2 56
81 HarbourVest Partners 1 55
81 Martin Currie Investment Management 1 55
81 Nuveen Investments 2 55
84 Kohlberg Kravis Roberts 1 50
84 Blackstone Group 1 50
86 Ruffer Investment Services 1 48
86 Octane Management 1 48
88 INVESCO 2 47
89 Coronation Fund Managers 1 46
90 Janus Capital Corporation 1 44
90 Rockspring Property Investment Managers 1 44
90 Key Asset Management 1 44
93 Ripplewood Holdings 1 40
93 AIG Global Investment 1 40
95 Investment Solutions 2 39
96 Warakirri Asset Management 1 37
97 Montagu Private Equity 1 32
98 Norwich Union Investment Management - 26
99 Asset Super 1 19
100 Healey & Baker Investment Managers 1 18
100 AMP Asset Management 2 18
100 Calibre Capital 1 18
103 Sydbank 1 17
104 Íslensk Ver_bréf 1 16
105 Regarding Capital Management 1 15
106 Sanlam Investment Management 1 10
107 Generali Asset Management 1 3
108 Fidelity Investments 2 2
109 Oxford Investment Partners 3 -
109 Vanguard Group 3 -
109 Gartmore Investment Management 1 -
109 H.R.L. Morrison & Co. 1 -
109 Dalton Capital (Guernsey) 1 -
109 Industry Fund Services 1 -
109 Intrinsic Value Investors 1 -
109 Bridgewater Associates 1 -
109 Charlemagne Capital 1 -
109 BNP Paribas Asset Management 1 -
109 AON Corp. 1 -
109 Azimut 1 -
109 Rogge Global Partners 1 -
109 Quest Asset Partners 1 -
109 RAS Asset Management 1 -
109 Pacific Corporate Group 1 -
109 Phillips Hager & North Investment Management 1 -
109 Numeric Investors 1 -
109 MIR Investment Management 1 -
109 Jardine Fleming 1 -
109 Joklar Securities 1 -
109 Jupiter Asset Management 1 -
109 LGT Capital Partners 1 -
109 Turner Investment Partners 1 -
109 Vontobel Asset Management 1 -
109 Western Asset Management 1 -
109 Wilshire Associates 1 -
109 WP Global Partners 1 -
109 SEB Asset Management -1 -
109 RCM Capital Management -1 -
109 King & Shaxson Asset Management -1 -
109 Threadneedle Investments -1 -
109 InTech Financial Services -1 -
142 Rathbone Investment Management -1 -4
143 SEI Investments 1 -11
144 AEGON Asset Management -1 -44
145 SVM Asset Management -1 -52
146 Legal & General Investment Management 2 -55
147 Liberty Ermitage Group -1 -88
148 Ariel Capital Management -1 -93
149 Schroder Investment Management - -194
150 TAL Global Asset Management -1 -270
151 Capital Group Companies -2 -277
152 Aberdeen Asset Management - -292
153 Deutsche Asset Management -5 -298
154 Lombard Odier Investment Management -1 -370
155 Bank of Ireland Asset Management -3 -746
156 Henderson Global Investors -4 -1,093
157 Putnam Investments -1 -2,071
158 F&C Asset Management -2 -42,234