Craig's Surprise Departure Makes the Scribes Scribble
From Boston Globe
The departure of Janus CIO Jim Craig is causing the virtual ink to flow at nearly all of the major news outlets. The MutualFundWire.com summarizes the articles and provides links to what are posters on 'Net message boards saying.

Pension providers play musical chairs in Hong Kong
From Boston Globe
Pension reform in Hong Kong is proving expensive -- for fund companies. The paper claims that the marketing campaigns for the the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) resulting from the island's pension reform is "one of the most expensive marketing campaigns of the year, but the product is moving slowly." Employers must enroll in a new pension program by December 1 and financial-services firms have spent $64.1 million to make sure they are chosen. Yet only 30% of the target market of 300,000 employers has signed on the dotted line, the paper notes. Most employers, it says, are confused not enlightened. The MPF will take in 5 percent of pay up to HK$2,000 from roughly 3.3 million employees and another 5 percent from their employer. The bad news is the MPF offers 20 authorized providers, but asset managers estimate that there is enough business for only six to 12 providers, says the paper.

US funds pressure European boards
From Boston Globe
McDonald's and Hollywood are not the only hot U.S. exports to Europe. Joining them is American-style investor activism, says the paper. It reports the case of Robert L. Friedman (he learned shareholder activism at the knee of Michael Price) manager of the Mutual European Fund. The fund owns a 2% stake in Internatio-Muller. Friedman is objecting to the timing and terms of a planned merger between the Dutch engineering firm and its rival Stork NV. "Simple math shows that Stork will provide one-third of the proceeds, yet receive one-half of the cash," he wrote in a letter to the Board. "We hope our prior faith in your abilities and prudence was not misplaced and you will cancel (or, at least renegotiate) this ill-founded deal," he wrote. Other U.S. managers pestering European boardrooms are Ronald Baron, who has pressured Sotheby's Holdings to reject a takeover bid by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA and Guy Wyser-Pratte who wants French automotive-equipment manufacturer Sommer Allibert SA to restructure or sell.  

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