(RTR) U.S. investors closely monitoring Pimco after internal strife

(Reuters) - Several U.S. institutional investors said they are closely monitoring the developments at Pimco, the world's largest bond firm, in the wake of Mohamed El-Erian's abrupt resignation as CEO and ensuing acrimony between him and co-founder Bill Gross.

The investors, including retirement systems, have formally put Pimco on "watch lists," a signal that they will keep a much closer eye its performance than usual. It could eventually lead to reductions in the amount of money they allocate to funds at the firm, whose full name is Pacific Investment Management Co and which has $1.91 trillion in assets.

"We intend to go out and meet with them over the course of the next month," said David Hunter, chief investment officer of the North Dakota State Investment Board. The board, which has about $400 million invested with Pimco, put the fund on its watch list on February 28.

Hunter said the board could ultimately decide not to make any changes to its allocation.

The California Public Employees' Retirement System, the largest U.S. pension fund, said it had not placed Pimco on a formal watch list, but it was also paying close attention to developments.

"CalPERS staff has tremendous respect for the staff at Pimco," the system said in an emailed statement. "That being said, we are monitoring the issue and will keep our board aware of the changes."

In a statement, Pimco CEO Douglas Hodge said: "We are focused on communication with our clients, and have been in regular contact with them following the recent leadership transition. They understand the changes we have taken and why, and are ready to move forward with us."

In a Tweet on Monday, Gross wrote, "No distractions here - just long term performance satisfaction - working hard as always for clients."

The closer scrutiny by state and local pension systems shows that Gross, though, may have more work to do to assuage investor concerns after El-Erian's surprise departure and reports of growing discord between the two men amid weak fund performance.

Overall, customers withdrew $41.1 billion from Pimco's flagship Total Return Fund last year, a record amount for the manager, according to investment research firm Morningstar. The fund posted another $1.6 billion in outflows in February, reducing assets to $236 billion and marking the 10th straight month of outflows.

The Total Return Fund, which Gross manages, trailed more than 70 percent of its peers in February.

Last month, a Wall Street Journal article described the worsening relationship between the two men as Pimco's performance deteriorated. Later, Gross told Reuters that El-Erian, who is due to leave the firm in less than a week, was trying to "undermine" him by talking to the Journal.

ELEVATED CONCERN

A memo from investment consultant NEPC to the City of Fresno Retirement System Joint Boards noted "an elevated level of concern" around the changes at Pimco.

During a recent on-site visit to the bond firm's offices, "it was clear that there was a profound sense of disappointment and surprise within Pimco regarding Mr. El-Erian's departure," the memo said, adding: "Mr. Gross viewed Mr. El-Erian as his successor and during the meeting he expressed a level of sadness and frustration regarding the resignation."

The Fresno systems were already weighing investing with Pimco when news of El-Erian's departure, as well as other staff changes, came out. When the city wanted reassurance on organizational questions, Pimco sent a team to the Fresno offices.

The Fresno systems are now negotiating with Pimco and expect to invest money with the firm in coming months.

"You're talking a lot of depth (of the bench). It's not driven by two people," said Stanley McDivitt, the systems' retirement administrator.

Other investors said they were not in a rush to make changes to their allocations to Pimco, which is owned by German financial services company Allianz SE.

The Florida State Board of Administration spokesman Dennis MacKee said it placed Pimco on its watch list as a routine procedure, which it followed for any firm that was undergoing management shifts.

The Florida board has about $1.7 billion in its pension fund at Pimco and about $240 million from its defined contribution plan with the firm.

"We think of our watch list as just enhanced oversight. You look a little deeper," MacKee said.

Neil Rue, a managing director at Pension Consulting Alliance, said it was too early to make any decisions about how these changes might affect Pimco's performance.

"On the fixed income front, we told our clients don't take any major action, but we need to watch this closely," Rue said.

If Pimco's style remains consistent, given Gross' strong track record over many years, there may be no changes recommended, Rue added.

R. T. Jones Capital Equities Management Inc Chief Investment Officer Steve Davis said his fund pulled out $100 million from Pimco Total Return Fund last year because of a desire to reduce duration exposure and interest rate risk, but he would consider returning to the bond giant in the future.

"Nor do we think the internal turmoil will negatively affect the performance of the fund. In fact, we don't rule out using the fund again in the future," Davis said. "We have very high respect for Bill Gross and his team at Pimco."

FT : Pot boom prompts US marijuana industry to go on recruitment drive

Colorado’s budding legal marijuana businesses are starting to sprout jobs and hundreds of people hoping to work in the weed business are lining up for the industry’s first employment fair.
Fifteen companies looking to recruit about 100 workers will attend the event in Denver on Thursday, says Todd Mitchem of OpenVape, the company organising the fair.

Would-be applicants are travelling from as far as Georgia and Illinois to deliver their CVs for jobs ranging from “budtenders” and store managers to book-keepers and customer service representatives.
The pot boom is reverberating from Denver to Florida as a wave of companies rush to meet demand following the legalisation of recreational marijuana in Colorado and Washington.
Colorado raised its forecast for 2014 tax revenue from recreational and medical pot to $134m, well above the previous estimate of $67m. On Monday, the state said it collected $2m in taxes on recreational sales in January.
Washington, where sales are set to begin in the coming months, is expecting to take in $129m in taxes this year. Arcview, a cannabis investor network, projects that the national legal market will reach $2.6bn in sales this year.
The jobs fair is the latest bid for legitimacy by an industry still emerging from the shadows. Twenty US states and the District of Columbia allow medical marijuana, but Colorado and Washington are so far the only two to permit “adult use” sales.
“We know job seekers will be pleasantly surprised at the number of well-paying, mainstream positions with comparable compensation that are available,” Mr Mitchem says.
OpenVape, which sells vaporiser pens that heat cannabis oil, using technology similar to electronic cigarettes, employs 125 people and is looking to hire more than 100 additionally this year.

The company is staking out a prominent role in Colorado. It recently moved into a 6,000 sq ft space in downtown Denver formerly occupied by an advertising company. Exposed brick, skylights and walls painted purple, orange and green – the colours used to market its different strains of cannabis – make it feel more like a start-up tech company’s headquarters than the industrial spaces that house many of the state’s marijuana businesses.
In August, OpenVape is sponsoring the annual Denver County Fair, alongside Whole Foods, the grocery chain, the Telemundo Denver television station and the local chapter of 4-H, a US government-backed youth development group.
“The opportunity to be a sponsor allows us to demonstrate to the public how responsible this industry truly is,” Mr Mitchem says.
The company knows its target market – it sent representatives to the X Games extreme sports competition in Aspen, Colorado, although Mr Mitchem says it is no longer allowed to give away sample products – but is also working to change the stereotypes associated with pot smokers.
It is introducing new products, including skin creams, to appeal to consumers who are not interested in lighting up a joint.
Interest in alternatives to smoking marijuana is growing among recreational and medical users alike. Arcview’s research has found new customers are flocking to products like vaporisers, edibles, infused lotions and even pills that dissolve in the mouth, and in turn, companies that extract cannabis oil and make accessories and equipment are seeing surging demand.
“The most profitable business is accessories,” says Garyn Angel, a Florida-based entrepreneur behind Magical Butter, an $175 appliance that infuses liquids with botanical ingredients such as marijuana. The company sold three months worth of inventory in the first 12 days of this year after shipping 10,000 units in 2013, he says, and is raising a new round of funding to boost production.
The cannabis oil that is OpenVape’s key ingredient is produced across town at Organa Labs, in a 2,000 sq ft building where the smell of marijuana is overpowering. Several employees are 20-somethings sporting dreadlocks.
Organa Labs was founded in 2010 by Ralph and Heidi Morgan, a married couple with medical backgrounds, and started off making medical marijuana products.
Inside, a worker uses a handheld blowtorch to heat balloon flasks filled with a dark, syrupy liquid. Through another doorway is a room echoing with the drones and bangs of air compressors feeding an extractor that pushes liquid carbon dioxide through cannabis trimmings, forcing out the potent oil.
It takes 1,000 pounds of trim to produce six beakers of a waxy brown substance that will be turned into a lotion users can rub into their skin for pain relief and a mild high.
Production of cartridges for OpenVape pens grew 1,600 per cent in 2013 – and Mr Morgan estimates it jumped another 1,000 per cent in the first two months of legal sales. In January, the lab was running 24 hours a day to keep up.
Soon, Organa Labs will expand its production line in a much larger space in a 160,000 sq ft facility OpenVape is building on 12 acres in northern Denver. “We’re in uncharted territory,” Mr Morgan says

(BFW) Altice Responds to Minister With SFR Jobs, Investment Pledge

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BN 03/11 14:11 *ALTICE IS WILLING TO PUT JOB, INVESTMENT PLEDGES IN LICENSE BN 03/11 14:10 *ALTICE PLEDGES TO CONTINUE INVESTING IN VERY HIGH-SPEED SVCS BN 03/11 14:10 *ALTICE SAYS WON'T CUT ANY JOBS AT SFR OR NUMERICABLE BN 03/11 14:09 *ALTICE GIVES GUARANTEES ON SFR JOBS, INVESTMENTS

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Altice Responds to Minister With SFR Jobs, Investment Pledge 2014-03-11 14:14:16.595 GMT

By David Whitehouse March 11 (Bloomberg) -- Co. responds to demand for formal promise from French Digital Economy Minister Fleur Pellerin. * Co. says no jobs would be cut at SFR or Numericable; co. is willing to put commitments on jobs and investments into SFR operating license.

Link to Company News:{ATC NA <Equity> CN <GO>} Link to Company News:{EN FP <Equity> CN <GO>} Link to Company News:{ILD FP <Equity> CN <GO>} Link to Company News:{VIV FP <Equity> CN <GO>}

For Related News and Information: First Word scrolling panel: {FIRST<GO>} First Word newswire: {NH BFW<GO>}

To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Whitehouse at +33-1-5365-5059 or dwhitehouse1@bloomberg.net

(NY Post) Deal spotlights popularity of used Tiffany, Louis Vuitton items

Penny-pinching luxury shoppers are coming out of the closet — and cleaning out each other’s closets.
Circa — a privately held firm that buys estate jewelry and other used baubles and sells them through its own stores and through upscale retailers — has acquired Portero.com, a growing e-tailer that hawks pre-owned Tiffany engagement rings, Cartier watches and Birkin bags to wallet-conscious luxury junkies, The Post has learned
The idea is to create a two-way marketplace in the lucrative secondhand luxury business, which has been losing its stigma among the well-heeled since the Great Recession, according to Circa execs.
“It has become very socially hip to buy in the pre-owned space,” according to Circa Marketing Director Natasha Cornstein. “I can’t give the names, but yes, we have a celebrity clientele for both businesses.”
Founded in 2001, Circa last year added shops in Beverly Hills, Las Vegas, Madrid and Geneva, bringing its total to 14 locations. This year, it will add shops in Short Hills, NJ, and Boca Raton, Fla., and on Long Island.
Clientele at Circa shops typically are over 40 with a net worth of $2 million or more — but still not above selling the family heirlooms, Cornstein said.
“The next generation doesn’t want the stuff from the previous generation,” Cornstein told The Post.
New York-based Circa is likewise discreet in moving one-of-a-kind gifts received on the charity circuit. “No one will see it in an auction catalog,” she said.
With its operations joined to Portero, Circa will now give its clients privileged access to deep discounts on handbags, watches and accessories, execs said.