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"No impending bid" on New Star: board director
PARIS (Reuters) - New Star Asset Management NSAM.L -- seen by many as a possible takeover target -- is not facing an impending bid, board director Richard Pease told Reuters on Thursday.
"There is no impending bid situation," he said, speaking to Reuters as New Star held a series of presentations in Paris.
"I just don't think there are any obvious candidates at this moment. The fund management industry as a whole has been hit hard by what's been happening (in the wider financial markets)."
New Star shares were unchanged at 23.75 pence in mid-afternoon trade, giving the company a market capitalization of around 64 million pounds ($94.95 million).
Like many asset management and financial services companies, New Star has been impacted by the global stock market slump and credit crisis.
Earlier this month, it said it had accepted tougher terms on its bank debt amid accelerating outflows at the company.
Pease said New Star could remain independent.
"We'd like to think we can pull this thing through. We are challenged big time but we are fighting hard."
PEASE TOOK VOLKSWAGEN HIT
As well as being a board director, Pease is also one of New Star's more high-profile fund managers. He currently has around 1.5 billion pounds of assets under management and he has an "AAA" rating from Standard & Poor's.
Along with running a mainstream European Growth Fund, Pease also manages a European hedge fund.
He said that, like many hedge funds, he had been hit last month by a wrong-way bet on Volkswagen (VOWG.DE) shares.
Lots of hedge fund managers had bet on a drop in the stock, only to find themselves caught out when Volkswagen shares surged by a record amount after Porsche (PSHG_p.DE) unexpectedly moved to gain control of Volkswagen's voting shares.
Despite this, Pease was confident he could claw back ground after having cut back on his holdings in financial companies to focus more on defensive sectors, such as industrial companies.
Pease said lift makers Kone (KNEBV.HE) and Schindler (SCHN.S) were among his favored stocks, as well as legal and tax publisher Wolters Kluwer (WLSNc.AS).
"These companies have got good balance sheets, some of them have got net cash. Most have a high degree of recurring revenues," he said.
New Star was set up in 2000 by John Duffield, one of the City of London's best-known fund managers who founded Jupiter Asset Management in 1985.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; editing by Simon Jessop)
