por admin » Vie Ago 12, 2011 2:01 pm
Wow! ojo con Brasil:
El fondo GWI ha cerrado debido al sell off, no se permiten los retiros, esta es la segunda vez que lo hacen desde el 2008.
La bolsa de Brasil cayo 17% en seis dias.
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Brazil’s GWI Funds Closed for Redemptions After Market Sell-Off, BNY Says
QBy Alexander Cuadros and Lucia Kassai - Aug 12, 2011 1:09 PM ET .
Brazil’s GWI Asset Management closed some of its funds for at least the second time since 2008 after the global market sell-off crushed its leveraged equity bets.
GWI, a Sao Paulo-based firm that had $270 million under management as of June, shut nine funds for redemptions and new investments, Bank of New York Mellon Corp., the administrator of the funds, said in regulatory filings yesterday. Investors have been called to an Aug. 26 meeting to determine the future of eight of the funds, GWI said today on its website.
Brazil’s benchmark equity gauge plunged 17 percent in the six days through Aug. 8 after entering a bear market last month as concerns mounted that the European and U.S. debt crises are sinking the global economy into recession. When GWI closed two funds in October 2008 amid the global financial crisis, the firm was one of Brazil’s top performers and oversaw the equivalent of $1.7 billion.
“Successive portfolio losses stemming from the recent volatility in global markets, exposure to the derivatives market and significant concentration in the assets of a few issuers” led to the closure of one of the funds, Fundo de Investimento em Acoes GWI Private Investimento no Exterior, BNY said in one filing.
Investors in the fund were called upon to inject money after its asset value turned negative, BNY said. The fund had 210.2 million reais in net assets on July 1, according to data from the securities regulator, known as CVM.
Korean Community
While BNY didn’t elaborate on the reasons for closing the other eight funds, GWI on its website cites the use of leverage strategies in some of them. GWI partner Mu Hak You, who according to data compiled by Bloomberg manages several of the funds, didn’t return a phone call seeking comment.
Apart from the nine being closed, the CVM’s website lists only one other GWI fund, a real-estate investment vehicle.
GWI Asset Management was founded in 1995 as a financial- services company for Brazil’s Korean immigrant community, according to its website. In 1998, it shifted focus to investing in Brazilian equities. The firm’s GWI Leverage Fundo de Investimento em Acoes fund beat at least 98 percent of peers in 2006, 2007 and 2009, during which year it soared 244 percent.
The Bovespa index’s 17 percent slide from the end of last month through Aug. 8 was the largest for any six-day period since October 2008. The measure has rebounded 9.6 percent through yesterday.
Marfrig Losses
Marfrig Alimentos SA (MRFG3), Latin America’s second-largest beef producer, led declines during that rout with a 41 percent drop. Funds managed by GWI were holding 5.22 percent of the company’s common stock as of March 4, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Marfrig rose 2.3 percent in Sao Paulo to 8.61 reais at 10:59 a.m. New York time today, its first gain in 14 sessions.
The GWI Leverage fund saw net assets drop to 27.2 million reais on Aug. 8 from 110.8 million reais on July 1, according to CVM data. The fund, which held 65 percent of its assets in Marfrig stock as of June 30, is down 78 percent this year through Aug. 9 after losing 34 percent in 2010, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
The GWI Private Investimento fund, down 99 percent this year through Aug. 8, posted a 43 percent decline in 2010. It held 70 percent of its assets in Marfrig stock as of June 30.
Brokerages provide margin loans to customers who want to borrow money to buy stocks. If the value of a company’s shares decline below a certain level, the broker will issue a margin call. The customer must then pay down the margin loan or provide additional collateral.
To contact the reporters on this story: Alexander Cuadros
