– As we are heading into summer, the period is busy with conference calls and webcasts for those preparing for equity reinvestments.

 – Our partners funds are now also registered on the ‘Euronext Funds360’ database (ex OPCVM 360) as well as other fund databases already (Morningstar, Bloomberg, Quantalys,…) and platforms (MFEX, FundChannel, Allfunds,…).

 – K Women initiative is back after the summer, with a ‘Leader’s Tips’ breakfast session programmed on September 8th.  

 – In those difficult times (Covid, crisis, attacks…), it is obvious for us to reengage our support to the french charity ‘La Chaîne de l’Espoir’, providing medical and surgery support for women and children around the globe.

– May was a very strong month at K Funds, with many investors reaching out for information and preparing their equity repositioning.

– Equity markets continued their recovery from the March lows. Investor confidence and risk appetite were supported by the gradual reopening of the global economy and better than expected macro data. The S&P Index managed to break the 3000 level for the first time since February, closing the month up +35% from the March low and down 11% from the February high.

– Our Due Diligence & Fund monitoring services and consulting team has also been busy helping allocators in this period where risk management is highly scrutinised.

– Although global lockdown seems to be coming to an end, clearly our working habits will change for the long term. Across the asset management and investment industry, our contacts’ experience to working ‘full-time’ from home has been mostly successful. Hence most companies are now reviewing this.

– All funds performed strongly in April. Despite the grim economic data released, global equities saw strong performance as investors seemed increasingly willing to ignore the short-term negative news flow and focus on the gradual lifting of the lockdowns.

– Our ‘due diligence & fund monitoring’ services are gaining traction with several new request for proposals. Market volatility, travel bans, reduction in costs and Brexit are generating an increase in queries.

– As many partners and peers, since March we switched to remote working. Our agile business model, flexibility and IT systems allowed smooth and fast transition. From an operations perspective, we are operating business as usual. Although all portfolio manager events, roadshows and meetings have been cancelled for now, the team has remained available at all times for calls/visio and queries, and this, more than ever. Our Due Diligence & Fund monitoring services and consulting team has also been busy helping allocators in this period where risk management is highly scrutinised. 

– On the fund side, Long-Only equity funds have been impacted of course across the range. Most have nevertheless outperformed their benchmark. Due to the drop in equity valuations, the future return profile of many of our partner’s funds has improved, hence the increase in inbound queries received. 

– Due to Codiv-19, all roadshows have been cancelled until further notice.

– Our team and asset managers remain on deck and available for any client queries. Many meetings have been converted into conference calls and we are more than happy to accommodate these calls.

 – Due to the defensive ‘Quality – large cap – no debt – Equity’ nature of several of our funds, we have incoming calls for information, this is in preparation for potential equity repositioning to come.

– Fund Risk & Monitoring functions are more important than ever in the current environment. Are you fully aware of the risk embedded in your invested funds? Have you got sufficient resources? What is the cost for additional external and independent opinion? K Funds Due Diligence & Monitoring offer a range of services provided by some of best experts in the industry.

– New joiner: Our Due Diligence and Fund Monitoring services team strengthens with a new addition: Pierre Mérillon. Pierre has 25 years’ experience in financial markets. He spent the first 10 years of his career in London in Debt Capital Markets structuring bespoke solutions for institutional investors at Top Investment Banks. Pierre then moved to the buy-side spending the next 15 years at Darius Capital, an affiliate of Natixis, based in Paris. His mandates encompassed operational and investment Due Diligence, portfolio construction as well as fund monitoring and risk management. Pierre studied Applied Mathematics and graduated from prestigious ENSAE, the National School of Statistics and Economics in Paris. This is a great addition the team as K Funds ‘Due Diligence & Fund Monitoring Services’ is gaining momentum.

– As the year kick-off, we are delighted as one of our asset managers is nominated for 2 Awards including Best European Asset Management Company at the European Funds Trophy, the ceremony rewarding the Best Funds and Asset Managers in Europe.