News round-up

Glass buys Were fund; Huljich withdraws investment statement; Govt's response to Capital Markets Development Taskforce welcomed; Macquarie ratings affirmed

Monday, February 22nd 2010, 5:00AM 1 Comment

Glass buys JB Were fund
Brook Asset Management founder Paul Glass has bought the equity fund run by Stephen Walker at Goldman Sachs JB Were.

Glass has established a new firm Devon Funds Management.

The fund has around $35 million invested in it and it invests in Australasian equities. Glass says the investment strategy will be continued.

Huljich withdraws investment statement

Huljich Wealth Management voluntarily withdrew its current investment statement for the Huljich KiwiSaver Fund on Friday, after the Securities Commission expressed concerns about reporting of historical investment returns.

Huljich is preparing a new prospectus and investment statement. Pending the availability of the new offer documents, applications for membership are being held by the trustee, Trustees Executors Superannuation and will not be processed until the updated investment statement has been distributed.

The commission is seeking further information on certain transactions that have been undertaken by the fund and on the disclosure of income arising from these transactions and says Huljich is fully cooperating.

Govt's response to Capital Markets Development Taskforce welcomed
Both the Retirement Commissioner and the Investment Savings and Insurance Association (ISI) have welcomed the government's response to the Capital Markets Development Taskforce report.

The ISI says a number of recommendations will require amendments of the Securities Act, which is well overdue and the "appointment of Simon Power as the Minister responsible for implementation sends a clear signal of the importance the government has placed on these recommendations," ISI CEO Vance Arkinstall says.

Retirement Commissioner Diana Crossan says the government's response will help build trust in capital markets and is essential for investors.

"If we want New Zealanders to save for their future they need to be confident about putting their money into capital markets," she says.

The government has called for a coordinated approach to financial literacy initiatives and wants the first joint agency meeting to take place within the next two months.

Macquarie ratings affirmed
Macquarie Group has had its outlook revised and ratings affirmed by Standard & Poor's (S&P).

It had its a- long-term and A-2 short-term ratings affirmed and S&P revised the outlook to stable, from negative.

"The revised outlook reflects our expectation that MQG group will maintain supportive capital and a satisfactory earnings profile in the medium term, and manage funding and liquidity changes," S&P credit analyst Sharad Jain said.

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Comments from our readers

On 4 March 2010 at 1:47 pm Jens Meder said:

YES, MORE CONFIDENCE IN OUR CAPITAL MARKETS WILL INCREASE OUR SAVINGS FOR THE FUTURE - BUT ONLY MARGINALLY, BECAUSE IT WILL NOT ATTRACT ENOUGH AMONG THOSE WITH THE HIGHEST NEEDS FOR IT - OUR SUBSTANTIAL PROPORTION LOWER INCOME CONSUMERS.
THEIR PARTICIPATION IN RETIREMENT CAPITAL ACCUMULATION WOULD ALSO REDUCE THE FUTURE BURDEN OF NZ SUPER SUSTAINABILITY FOR BUSINESS AND TAXPAYERS, SO THE DISCUSSION OF THE PROS AND CONS OF COMPULSORY SUPER SAVINGS THROUGH THE NZ SUPER FUND SHOULD BE A RELEVANT ISSUE - WOULD IT BENEFIT OR HARM BUSINESS?
QUESTION:
WOULD BUSINESS AND THE COUNTRY AS A WHOLE BENEFIT MORE FROM THE CURRENT TAXATION RE-ALIGNMENT - OR FROM THE GST TO BE RAISED CONVERTED DIRECTLY INTO (RETIREMENT) CAPITAL THROUGH RESUMING NZSF ACCUMULATION, UNDER THE CONDITION OF ITS IMMEDIATE INVESTMENT IN NEEDED INFRASTRUCTURE AS A PRIORITY UNTIL EXCESSIVE UNEMPLOYMENT HAS BEEN OVERCOME?