LONDON (Reuters) – Aviva’s emerging markets bond manager Kieran Curtis has recently trebled allocation to Chilean debt by jumping in on a rare bond sale in one of Latin America’s most stable economies.

Curtis has seen assets in his Aviva Investors Emerging Markets Local Currency Bond Fund grow to 620 million euros from 100 million in 2006, as institutional investors accept higher risks for higher returns in fixed income.

“A lot of asset allocators are beginning to sense the fact that the extra yield you get for investing in emerging market bonds more than compensates for the extra risk,” he said.

Chile’s economy has been growing faster than expected and in June Moody’s raised its credit rating, citing the country’s financial resilience in spite of the global economic slowdown and damages from its earthquake.

Curtis sold out of Mexico to buy into Chile’s debt, taking part in the first auction in six years, which was so robustly subscribed that it prompted talk for more issuance next year.

“Foreign investors have not been involved in the Chilean local (currency) market, but a 10-year bond yields more than the average yield versus the indices and in the domestic market and this new deal might spur some foreign buyers,” he said.

“Latin American yield is good value.”

LONDON (Reuters) – Sander Bus, manager of a Robeco high yield bonds fund, is pinning his hopes for double-digit returns on jeans maker Levi Strauss and companies at the less-stressed end of the sector who are able to service debts.

Bus, who is in charge of the 2.1 billion euros (1.7 billion pounds) Robeco High Yield Bonds fund, told Reuters that the fund is attracting inflows as investors show tentative signs of renewed risk appetite.

“Comparables are not attractive; government yields are low, equities are very volatile. (In high yield bonds) you can still get very nice yields in a low growth environment,” Bus said, adding he expects further strong inflows.

In the year to end July, Bus delivered returns of 22.3 percent, underperforming rivals by 2.19 percentage points, according to Thomson Reuters fund research firm Lipper.

The manager is betting on companies at the more sedate end of the high-yield universe, able to generate cash and pay off their debts.

“We have identified a lot of companies which actually have the ability to de-lever,” he said, mentioning jeans maker and retailer Levi Strauss, which refinanced its debt earlier this year, prompting Bus to buy its new debt.

“It is a global company and the sector is relatively stable. A pair of jeans is a pretty basic item of clothing and the business is resilient,” he said.

LONDON (Reuters) – Sanofi-Aventis chief Chris Viehbacher should avoid paying much more than about $70 per share, or a total of $19 billion, to land U.S. biotech group Genzyme, shareholders in the French group say.

Two shareholders told Reuters they would not be happy with the drugmaker paying much over $70 a share, or around $18.7 billion, while a third said he was concerned about some valuations being put on Genzyme, which run to over $80 a share.

Viehbacher, who took over 20 months ago, is shaking up the Paris-based firm by cutting costs and diversifying operations and buying Genzyme would be the biggest move he has made so far in his hunt to buy new sales to offset revenues lost as a result of patent expirations.

Sanofi has made a takeover proposal valued at $69 per share to Genzyme and the two sides are discussing the offer, sources familiar with the situation said on Monday.

Genzyme’s share price, however, is already above this level — it ended at $70.36 on Nasdaq on Monday and the stock added a further 1.4 percent in pre-market trade.

It has already shot up since Genzyme was mooted as potential prey in early July and jumping 15 percent to over $62 on July 23 after sources told Reuters and other media the two were in talks.

A spokesman for Sanofi, whose shares were barely changed at 45.45 euros by 1253 GMT (8:53 a.m. EDT), declined to make any comment on Tuesday.

LONDON, Aug 3 (Reuters) – Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) chief executive Chris Viehbacher should aim to land U.S. biotech group Genzyme (GENZ.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for around $19 billion to keep his investors on side, according to institutional shareholders in the French firm.

Two shareholders told Reuters on Tuesday they would not be happy with Sanofi paying much over $70 a share, or around $18.7 billion, while a third said he was concerned about valuations being put on Genzyme.

Viehbacher, who took over 20 months ago, is shaking up the Paris-based firm by cutting costs and diversifying operations. Buying Genzyme would be the biggest move yet in the hunt for new sales to offset revenues lost as a result of patent expirations.

Sanofi has made a takeover proposal valued at $69 per share to Genzyme and the two sides are discussing the offer, sources familiar with the situation said on Monday. [ID:nN02102543]

Genzyme’s share price, however, is already above this level – it ended at $70.36 on Nasdaq on Monday and the stock added 1.4 percent in morning trade in Germany (GENZ.F: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

A spokesman for Sanofi, whose shares were up just 0.2 percent at 45.49 euros by 1013 GMT, declined to make any comment on developments on Tuesday.

BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT

LONDON (Reuters) – The pressure on Prudential (PRU.L: Quote, Profile, Research) chief Tidjane Thiam to quit in the wake of the insurer’s failed bid for Asian rival AIA has eased, with big investors refusing to put their weight behind an attempt to remove him.

Both Thiam and Pru chairman Harvey McGrath faced calls to step down after the insurer’s $35.5 billion (22.6 billion pounds) bid for AIG’s (AIG.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Asian arm hit the rocks in early June, leaving the company to pay out 450 million pounds in fees.

Some smaller shareholders have campaigned for Thiam or McGrath to go, but the firm’s biggest investors have not so far taken the bait.

One of the insurer’s top investors told Reuters: “I do not think there is any catalyst for (the debate) carrying on because there isn’t an annual general meeting to vote on management for another 10 months”

“I think it has died down,” the shareholder said. Asked whether he felt the CEO and chairman would be allowed to stay on, the shareholder said: “I think so.”

A second large shareholder said it had taken no action against the senior executives.

A third investor, familiar with moves to remove either Thiam or McGrath, said that while some shareholders would still like a head to roll, they do not have enough support from more influential Pru owners.

LONDON, July 30 (Reuters) – The pressure on Prudential (PRU.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) chief Tidjane Thiam to quit in the wake of the insurer’s failed bid for Asian rival AIA has eased, with big investors refusing to put their weight behind an attempt to remove him.

Both Thiam and Pru chairman Harvey McGrath faced calls to step down after the insurer’s $35.5 billion bid for AIG’s (AIG.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Asian arm hit the rocks in early June, leaving the company to pay out 450 million pounds in fees. [ID:nTOE65100R]

Some smaller shareholders have campaigned for Thiam or McGrath to go, but the firm’s biggest investors have not so far taken the bait. [ID:nLDE65K1TP]

One of the insurer’s top investors told Reuters: “I do not think there is any catalyst for (the debate) carrying on because there isn’t an annual general meeting to vote on management for another 10 months”

“I think it has died down,” the shareholder said. Asked whether he felt the CEO and chairman would be allowed to stay on, the shareholder said: “I think so.”

A second large shareholder said it had taken no action against the senior executives.

A third investor, familiar with moves to remove either Thiam or McGrath, said that while some shareholders would still like a head to roll, they do not have enough support from more influential Pru owners.

LONDON, July 29 (Reuters) – Pharmacist-turned-fund-manager Jayesh Manek is weighing up the launch of an India fund as the latest step in an idiosyncratic career that saw him thrust into fund management after winning a newspaper’s investment contest.

Manek’s professional life was turned around by chance in the mid-1990s after he won the Sunday Times’ Fantasy Fund Manager competition two years on the trot.

The victories prompted Manek, who owned a chain of eight high street chemist shops in North West London, at the time, to set up his own fund — Manek Growth LP60010456 — which has recently been delivering some strong returns. [ID:nLDE66514T]

Up to last Friday, his performance in 2010 puts him in the top 10 of more than 3,300 UK-registered equity funds tracked by Lipper. His gains of 24.65 percent in the year-to-date have come largely through investing in UK stocks at a time when the FTSE 100 .FTSE has fallen by close to 2 percent.

Now, however, 54-year-old Manek is looking to India to harness growth, as he prepares for more trouble in mature markets.

“The Indian market will offer tremendous opportunity in the next 10 to 15 years. There are (only) a few economies out there expanding that fast,” said Manek, who was born in Uganda but whose family came from the state of Gujarat in India. He is also a director on the India Value Investments fund run by ASK Investment Managers

“We have been looking at it for some time. The idea is to launch it at the right time, valuations now look a little stretched,” he said.