At time of writing, it was reported that Blackstone, the private equity group, had paid just over £1bn (€1.46bn) in cash for the Tussauds Group, owners of the famous Madame Tussauds waxworks in London.

Nat Mankelow attended a recent industry gathering on derivatives to find that many are touting the asset class as a natural move for institutions looking for more risky strategies.

Nat Mankelow reports on how asset/liability mismatches are pushing institutional investor demand for complex credit investing strategies such as CDOs and CPDOs.

Pension funds across the globe are continuing to look at commodity investments despite recent declines in returns, according to Barclays Capital.

The Russian bond market will host increasingly sophisticated fixed income products as more investors look for value in emerging market debt, senior issuers forecast.

Traditional buy-side firms are divided over whether they should upgrade their existing order management systems (OMS), retain their existing OMS or make an execution management system (EMS) investment, according to London-based investment consultancy Investit.

Nicholas Applegate’s CEO Marna Whittington delayed her retirement in an attempt to bring the firm out of dire straits after the 2000 market crash. A more streamlined company, with a three-pronged strategy, now exists, focusing on sustainable performance. Henry Smith reports.

State Street Global Advisors has made a name for itself as a beta provider, but now it is growing its alpha offering, which CIO Richard Lacaille believes can rival any other firm in Europe. Paula Garrido reports.

The changing nature of institutional asset management driven by the separation of alpha and beta returns has led some of the world’s asset management firms to rethink the way they run their businesses and promote their products.

After another 20 per cent returning year in European markets, then, at time of writing, a 6 per cent pullback, which is the right direction for this market?

Last quarter US Treasury yields traded within a 40 basis point range. The threat of inflation countered the threat from a slowing housing market, keeping Treasury yields relatively range-bound.

Structural reforms have been lacklustre of late but macro-economic balances have turned dramatically positive. Second generation fiscal reforms to increase expenditure efficiency, help deliver public goods and encourage private investment are lacking, with de-politicisation of judicial systems particularly important.

One leading property consultant predicted early last year that global direct commercial real estate investment could reach $600bn (€456bn) in 2006. This estimation is turning out to be a fairly accurate prognosis given the total investment amount in the first six months of the year totalled $290bn.

Sterling may be flying high at the moment, but caution is advised as it could be over-stretching, writes Neil Mellor.

Separating alpha and beta shows pension funds’ desire to focus on risk management. But combining them in a return-seeking portfolio is becoming more attractive, says Paul Trickett.

The equity market crash was on the cards according to fund managers, but many anticipate that they will remain on track for 2007. Elizabeth Cripps reports.

The equity market fall is a timely reminder of how important it is to diversify your portfolio. Paula Garrido reports on asset classes away from stocks and bonds.

Institutional investor interest in alternative asset classes has been on the rise over the last decade. Alternative assets offer investors new routes to finding extra returns by investing in markets and strategies not easily accessible via traditional investment management. One of alternative assets’ selling points has been their low correlation with market performance.

Diverse portfolios and a lack of historical performance makes measuring hedge funds difficult. But consistent monitoring of new sub-strategies is making life easier. Ceri Jones reports.

Hedge funds are slowly becoming more transparent to cater for institutional demand. However, there is always the chance of exposing portfolios to the competition. Ceri Jones reports.

Chinese A-shares may well have experienced a disturbing recent drop, but most expect solid performance going forward, albeit with an extra element of volatility. Henry Smith reports.

Risk hungry institutional investors are flocking to the high yield bond market, but this has resulted in lower returns due to capacity issues in Europe. Nat Mankelow reports.

A traditional analysis of undervalued stocks is the approach taken by the Axa Rosenberg Eurobloc Equity Alpha Fund, which has been ranked top in the euroland category over three years. Paula Garrido reports.

The buy-side should ask hard questions of its chosen DMA provider on market coverage, the algorithms offered as well as the algorithmic platform. Roger Aitken explains.

An alternative trade reporting venue could provide a stumbling block to the LSE. On the other hand, it might just be a device to get the exchanges to lower tariffs. Roger Aitken reports.

The ECB claims that its Target2 Securities could cut cross-border settlement costs by 90 per cent, but industry practitioners are questioning the figures. Roger Aitken reports.

More and more foreign exchange trading is taking place, and while the OMS systems in the front office are up to the job, the back office is struggling to keep up with STP, writes Gerry O’Kane.

Even before the merger of Bank of New York and Mellon Corporation last December to create the world’s largest securities services firm, the prognosis for a relatively “finite number” of very large players in securities services processing was on the cards. This year the writing might be well and truly on the wall.

Being small and adaptable, as well as offering lower costs, has seen Malta begin to come into its own in fund servicing. But some remain sceptical of its potential. Hugo Greenhalgh reports.

When Citigroup announced its fourth quarter results, most of the media comment focused on relatively poor results from the corporate and investment banking business. In spite of higher revenues of 14 per cent, net income declined by the same amount brought on by higher costs.

Recent massive mergers have seen the sharks circling for a supposed inevitable loss of clients, but the new super-custodians are preparing to battle for more business. The smaller firms still claim to offer value and quality that the bigger players cannot. Gerry O’Kane reports.

After all the ballyhoo surrounding STP in the late-1990s, now things seem to have been put on the back burner and it is only small software houses taking up the mantel, writes Gerry O’Kane.

Most agree that MiFID is set to be one of the most wide-ranging pieces of legislation to affect equity and derivatives transparency, yet there is concern that many in the securities services arena lack readiness. Gerry O’Kane reports.

Investment operations outsourcing deals are a long-term relationship and, in order for them to work, each party must adapt and evolve according to market conditions and individual requirements. So says our panel of industry experts in FT Mandate’s latest roundtable.

Henry Smith: Are outsourcing providers facing the same competitive pressures on pricing that has been felt in the traditional custody and fund administration provision arena? Is it a case that services become commoditised over time and that leads to constant pressure to come up with new value added services in investment operations outsourcing that can command a premium?

The industry has questioned the motives behind State Street’s acquisition of struggling IFS, but with 12 of the top 25 asset managers as its clients, it should be no surprise that State Street wants to capitalise on this shoo-in to a broader international presence, writes Gerry O’Kane.