Weekly briefs

Hedge fund closes early, IAFP supports a wake up call, another fund bites the dust & more.

Monday, June 22nd 1998, 12:00AM

Hedge fund closes early
Investment money may not be finding its way into the more traditional managed fund products, but it is being attracted towards more innovative products.
One of those is Ord Minnett's OM-IP 220 hedge fund which come with a bank guarantee.
Ords says it has closed the current Series 3 offering early as it was fully subscribed earlier than expected.
The offer was for 45 million shares at A$1 each.
With these funds a portion of the investment is placed into bonds, which ensures investors at maturity are paid back their initial investment amount. Two fund managers invest the balance of the money. At maturity a percentage of their profits are paid to investors.

NZ Investment Trust suffers
Premature investment in cyclical forestry and metals shares in a poor trading environment contributed to a loss for the New Zealand Investment Trust in the six months ended April 30.
The trust has reported a loss of £4.83 million ($15.85m), compared with a loss of £1.13m ($3.7m) in the same period last year.
Many of the losses haven't yet been realised.
A weakening New Zealand dollar has also impacted on the trust which is domiciled in the United Kingdom.
Since balance date trust's asset backing has fallen further.
Coronet, which advises the trust, says it has maintained a low weighting in Telecom as it believed the company represented less value than many other shares.
It moved the trust into forestry and metals as they were considered two undervalued sectors.
"The continuing decline in many Asian economies has proven these investments to be premature, if not mistaken, but there is good reason to believe that the prices of these shares may have over-reacted to the actual problems in the broader world economy."
The trust said it has built up some cash reserves but was still substantially invested in the belief that markets would recover.

IAFP supports a wake up call
The Association of Investment Advisers and Financial Planners has supported the call for the Government to make policy moves to encourage people to save more for their retirement.
Chairman Denys Wright says the Government needed to put in place an environment which provided the right framework for savings.
"Because the public has rejected a compulsory retirement saving regime, there is now an urgent need to foster voluntary savings. Telling people to save is only part of the answer. The real issue is creating an environment in which supports positive savings actions," he says.
"There is a chorus of policy makers telling the public to save more, but that is not enough. What is needed is a tax-neutral investment environment and long-term economic policies which are positive for savings.
"Government has a responsibility to take the lead in this area so that the issue of retirement is addressed properly once and for all. People need certainty in these matters," he says.

AMP goes for diversity and liquidity
AMP has made changes to the wholesale fund which many of its retail property funds feed into.
The changes to the AMP NZ Property Investment fund have been made to increase diversity and improving liquidity.
Its allocation to listed property securities has been increased from 30 per cent to 50 per cent, and it has increased its weightings towards commercial and retail property at the expense of industrial and development properties.
AMP's unit trust, Personal Retirement Plan (PRP) and insurance bond feeds into this fund.

Another trust bites the dust
WestpacTrust has closed its Short Term Securities trust to new investments as it has had little investor support.
Since inception in 1990 funds flows have been a trickle and currently it has funds under management of just $350,000.
The trust invests in a range of short term securities and deposits with maturities of up to one year.
WestpacTrust expects to have the trust wound up in a month's time, and investors will be provided with various switching options.<

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