Helaba Invest expands range of long/short strategy products Rating agency TELOS declares Helaba Invest the new sector leader in the master investment trust company area
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Figures for the current year reveal that Helaba Invest remains one of the fastest-growing investment trust companies in the German special funds market. A net inflow of funds of approximately EUR 3.4bn this year places Helaba Invest second among all companies offering special funds by this measure, and it now ranks eighth overall measured by special fund volume under management with a total of EUR 33bn . This impressive performance stems directly from the company´s consistent focus on the twin pillars of asset management using indicator-based investment approaches and the master investment trust company service. "We regard the best-in-sector master investment trust rating awarded to Helaba Invest by TELOS as further confirmation of the high quality of our service in a business area notable for its very narrow competitive environment", explains Uwe Trautmann, spokesperson for the executive management team at Helaba Invest Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH.
Innovative long/short strategies The long/short portfolio for Euro bonds introduced by Helaba Invest in 2005 uses active duration management and futures such that it that can have both a positive and a negative duration. This makes it possible, irrespective of market conditions, to achieve positive absolute returns whether general returns are falling or rising. The concept has already proven itself, with performance of 3.09% in 2006 (benchmark RexP German bond index 0.27%) and 4.78% ytd (RexP 1.17%, at 15 October 2007) in what have been two difficult years for bonds. The company now manages around EUR 3bn under the Euro bonds long/short strategy. "In light of the high level of demand for long/short strategies, we have decided to add a credit product and a share product to our range", Trautmann reports. The credit long/short portfolio enables customers to make a profit both when spreads are narrowing and when they are expanding. The global markets concept involves a highly diversified portfolio with a strongly international outlook. The eight most important regional and local share markets are mapped in share indices using highly liquid futures as part of this approach. Both strategies derive the signal to adopt a long or short position from a monthly tactical asset allocation (TAA) model. All three concepts are offered in the form of both special funds and institutional public funds.
Helaba Invest receives sector´s best master investment trust rating Rating agency TELOS of Wiesbaden, Germany, has awarded the Helaba Invest master investment trust company a rating of 1- (outlook rating 1). This is the best rating ever issued to a master investment trust company in Germany and makes Helaba Invest the first company in the sector to be rated "Excellent". Approximately EUR 26bn of the total of EUR 33bn under Helaba Invest´s management is administered under master investment trust company mandates. Helaba Invest offers a comprehensive range of fund administration and related services encompassing a powerful accounting system, thorough risk management including performance measurement, and a full reporting regime. The analysts from TELOS scrutinized and assessed Helaba Invest´s business processes in four categories - management, customers, production and infrastructure - as part of the rating operation. Helaba Invest´s great strengths include e-reporting, its comprehensive customer support and the great flexibility it demonstrates in working to meet individual customer requirements. Helaba Invest, by way of example, was the first master investment trust company to introduce internet-based reporting, which gives investors access to detailed evaluations and analyses of the portfolio as a whole including the mapping of direct investments. The full rating report is available to download from the Helaba Invest (www.helaba-invest.de) and TELOS (www.telosrating.de) websites.
end of announcement euro adhoc 23.10.2007 11:52:51
Further inquiry note:
Wolfgan Kuß
Telefon: +49(0)699132-2877
E-Mail: wolfgang.kuss@helaba.de
Branche: Banking
ISIN: DE000HLB0A20
WKN: HLB0A2
Börsen: Luxembourg Stock Exchange / regulated dealing
SWX Swiss Exchange / regulated dealing
Bolsa de Madrid / regulated dealing
Börse Frankfurt / official dealing/general standard