In continuing coverage, PlanAdviser reported, “Voya Investment Management announced that it has acquired the technology and hired the founding team of G Squared Capital LLP (G2), a London-based investment manager that serves institutions and other sophisticated investors.” According to PlanAdviser, “G2’s technology applies machine intelligence to fundamental investing. The company’s proprietary technology is built to identify persistent patterns in company data.” Under the deal, “G2 Principals Gareth Shepherd, Gabriel Andraos and Yana Kramer will form the new Equity Machine Intelligence (EMI) group within Voya Investment Management’s quantitative equities business.” PlanAdviser added, “Based in London, they will report to Vincent Costa, head of quantitative equity for Voya Investment Management.” Voya IM Head of Equities Michael Pytosh said, “This transaction supports our focus on building best-in-class equity portfolios that meet our clients’ long-term investment needs. Further, our new EMI team has the knowledge base and tools to accelerate Voya’s efforts to incorporate environmental, social and governance [ESG] factors in our investment selection process.”
Private Banker International, “Voya Investment Management (IM) has acquired the technology of G Squared Capital (G2) to boost its equity investment business.” Neither party disclosed the financial details of the transaction. “Founded in 2011, G2 is based in London and focuses on delivering customised investment solutions.” G2 “uses artificial intelligence to find persistent patterns in company and ESG data.” According to Voya IM Equities Head Michael Pytosh, “This transaction supports our focus on building best-in-class equity portfolios that meet our clients’ long-term investment needs.” He added, “Further, our new EMI team has the knowledge base and tools to accelerate Voya’s efforts to incorporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in our investment selection process.”
In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box, Voya Investment Management Head of Asset Allocation Barbara Reinhard said that the election’s outcome, so far, means “that fiscal policy and trade wars are going to get a lot of relief.” According to Reinhard, with Biden now in a position to take the White House, “The trade war relief has huge implications for the rest of the world and so many small countries in the Asian emerging markets had really been threatened.” She added that the U.S. economy “is slowing and the rest of the world is slowing right now under the heavy weight of rising COVID infections, so I think the big story is fiscal policy.” Furthermore, Reinhard said that “the growth of the world depends on a strong U.S., so it really is going to depend on the U.S. delivering yet again another fiscal package, as well as having a much friendlier environment.”
The Atlanta Business Chronicle features an interview with one of the executives it named to the Atlanta Most Admired CEOs of 2020 list, Voya Investment Management CEO Christine Hurtsellers. When asked what “other CEOs do to win such great admiration from their stakeholders,” Hurtsellers responded that they should “set a course and communicate, communicate, communicate.” According to Hurtsellers, “This is especially true in difficult situations. People deal better with change and bad news when they understand the ‘why’ and the results. Remind them again and again. Go out of your way to cascade news in your words throughout the organization. Be honest and authentic, especially during the bad times.” According to Hurtsellers, leaders should “never forget that tough decisions often impact your employees and that’s where being candid comes in. Face to face, live communication through town halls is always better than a memo.” In addition, Hurstellers said that leaders “should make themselves ‘answer questions and realize that while not everyone will be happy or agree with the choices, if you are open and honest, they will at least respect the decisions that were made.’”
The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports that Voya Investment Management CEO Christine Hurtsellers is among the honorees included in the publication’s list of the “Most Admired CEOs” for 2020. Honorees included in the year’s list “faced a year of change like no other. Amid a pandemic, accompanying economic shutdown and social upheaval, they were able to effectively transmit vision, encouragement and hope to their teams across virtual streams of communication, keeping their companies moving forward.” A virtual event planned for December 10 will honor Hurtsellers and the other honorees.
Voya Investment Management Mulit-Asset Strategies Chief Investment Officer Paul Zemsky joined Bloomberg Daybreak Asia “to discuss the latest on the markets.” When asked if the upcoming presidential election “represents the greatest near-term risk to markets,” Zemksy said, “Near-term risk? Yes. The election and handicapping who’s going to win is going to cause volatility ... The underlying fundamentals, in the U.S. particularly, are pretty strong, so I remain pretty bullish and I’m going to stay overweight [on] equities through the election.” Bloomberg’s Stephen Engle also asked Zemsky, “Where in the equity space would you play?” In response, Zemsky said, “I think the U.S. is still a very strong place to be in the developed world,” with U.S. small and large cap stocks “both going to do very well relative to bonds over the next few worlds, and relative compared to the rest of the developed world.”
Voya Global Advantage and Premium Opportunity Fund and Voya Infrastructure, Industrials and Materials Fund (the Funds) announced in a press release “important information concerning the Funds’ distributions declared in September 2020.” The press release was issued “as required by the Funds’ Managed Distribution Plan (the “Plan”) and an exemptive order received from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.” The Board of Trustees “has approved the implementation of the Plan to make quarterly cash distributions to common shareholders, stated in terms of a fixed amount per common share.”
Traders Magazine reports, “They might not be all that new, but conditional orders have really come into their own in this year’s unusual trading conditions, helping to make 2020 a bumper year for block-trading venues.” Voya Investment Management Head of Trading Nanette Buziak “confirms an increase in block trading earlier this year as asset managers responded to the volatility.” Buziak said, “When the NYSE closed the floor, there was a particular increase in activity on the block-focused venues around the market close, because buy-side firms no longer had access to the NYSE closing auction via the D-quote.” She added, “Conditional orders definitely make it easier to find the other side of the trade.”
CNBC reports on its website that Voya Investment Management Head of Asset Allocation Barbara Reinhard appeared on the network’s program “Squawk Box” along with Cornerstone Macro Policy Head Of The Market Research Team Donald Schneider “to discuss the potential impact of various election outcomes on the markets.” During the appearance, Reinhard said any losses that occur as a result of Biden’s tax plan going into effect, should he win, “would be more than offset by the stimulus program and the funding that he is going to” spend “to fight the coronavirus.” She added, “I do think” that a Biden victory “over the longer term, it’s probably going to be close to a wash over ... the next four-year period. But I think the economy is in desperate need right now of an extra stimulus plan and I think, also, a comprehensive plan to combat coronavirus.” Reinhard also said that the markets typically experience instability if an incumbent loses a reelection bid, but typically recover four to six weeks after the victor’s inauguration.
Kiplinger “identified 15 bond funds in four key categories” to build a properly “diversified bond portfolio” with “a range of holdings” depending on an investor’s goals, time horizon, and needs. Voya Multi-Asset Strategies and Solutions Chief Investment Officer Paul Zemsky is quoted in one of Kiplinger’s choices for bonds that generate income, the Fidelity Corporate Bond. He said, “Yield is relative.” Zemsky’s statement is placed after Kiplinger said that bond purchasers should “lean on high-quality, investment-grade corporate bonds – those rated between triple-A and triple-B – which currently yield 1.40% to 2.29%. That sounds low, but it’s better than what you’ll earn on cash, which is nothing.” Zemsky is also quoted in another Kiplinger choice for bonds that generate income, the Vanguard High Yield Corporate. According to Kiplinger, “High-yield debt, in small doses, can spice up your income exposure.” Zemsky advised those looking at high yield corporate bonds to “be selective.” Zemsky said, “A high-yield index fund is not a good idea ... Buy one that’s run by a seasoned manager who is skilled at picking good credit.”
