Pour son fonds immobilier Fidelity Eurozone Real Estate Fund, Fidelity Real Estate Investment Management , filiale de gestion de fonds immobiliers de Fidelity Worldwide Investments, a acheté le complexe de bureaux «Le Verdi» à Issy-les-Moulineaux près de Paris. Cet ensemble sert de siège mondial à Nestlé Waters. L’acquisition a été financée entre autres par un crédit garanti de 22 millions d’euros.

A fin septembre, les actifs gérés dans des fonds par InverCaixa Gestión avaient augmenté de 18,2 % à 20,09 milliards d’euros, dont 2,37 milliards de souscriptions nettes pour les neuf premiers mois de l’année, rapporte Funds People. Le gestionnaire d’actifs de la Caixa a ainsi presque triplé sa part du marché des fonds en Espagne, passant de 5,6 % en 2007 à 14,2 % au 30 septembre.

Sous le titre «comment investir avec la famille March et gagner de l’argent, que l’Ibex monte ou baisse», Cinco Días rapporte que la sicav de la famille majorquaine March, Torrenova de Inversiones, est devenue la plus grosse sicav espagnole, avec plus de 600 millions d’encours, montant auquel il faut ajouter Torrenova Lux, un compartiment de 400 millions d’euros de la sicav luxembourgeoise March International.Ces deux produits sont gérés par Juan Berberana avec l’objectif de battre l’inflation de la zone euro sur le moyen et le long termes. La grande particularité de Torrenova est d’accepter des souscripteurs externes, avec une mise minimum de seulement 10 euros.Depuis 2002, Torrenova n’a été en perte (de 5,4 %) qu’en 2008. Sur dix ans, la performance moyenne a été supérieure à 4 %, avec une très faible volatilité.

Alken, la société de gestion de Nicolas Walewski, a annoncé vendredi la fermeture à toutes les souscriptions de son fonds de petites capitalisations européennes Alken Small Caps Europe, après de fortes rentrées dans le fonds. Au 30 septembre, le fonds affichait un encours de 90 millions d’euros. La décision prenait effet vendredi.La raison invoquée est la protection de la performance qui pourrait être remise en cause avec de fortes et soudaines souscriptions dans la stratégie.Alken précise que la fermeture n’empêche pas les investisseurs actuels de sortir du fonds s’ils le souhaitent.Début octobre, la société de gestion avait déjà fermé aux nouveaux investisseurs son fonds Alken Fund European Opportunities.

Le capital-investisseur britannique Permira a acheté pour 350 millions d’euros la marque de chaussures culte Doc Martens auprès de la société britannique R. Griggs, rapporte la Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

La boutique de gestion de fortune Berry Asset Management vient de nommer David Lee en qualité de development manager, rapporte Wealth Adviser.David Lee travaillait précédemment chez Fidelity International, où il était responsable des ventes auprès des conseillers indépendants (IFA).

Le gérant actions américaines Robert Anstey quitte Hermes Fund Managers où il a passé 12 ans, rapporte Citywire. Mark Sherlock, qui co-gérait la stratégie petites et moyennes capitalisations américaines de Robert Anstey (Hermes US SMID fund) depuis 2009, devient gérant principal du fonds. Il sera aidé par Alex Knox et Henry Biddle.

Le britannique BlueBay Asset Management LLP a publié le 25 octobre un communiqué annonçant le lancement du BlueBay Total Return Credit Fund dont l’objectif de performance se situe entre 500 et 1.000 points de base «au-dessus du cycle de crédit» et qui investit dans l’univers «sub-investment grade». Il s’agit d’un fonds coordonné de droit luxembourgeois, dont l’allocation se répartit entre le haut rendement, les «loans», les marché émergents et les obligations convertibles. BlueBay,AM, filiale à 100% de Royal Bank of Canada, n’a initialement pas voulu communiquer aux journalistes le code Isin et le montant des commissions liées à ce fonds. A posteriori, toutefois, la société de communication de BlueBay a précisé que le code Isin du fonds est LU0969341816 pour la part I.

Unigestion est en collecte nette depuis le début de l’année, a confié à Newsmanagers Jean-François Hirschel, le directeur marketing global de la société de gestion suisse. Ce dernier n’a toutefois pas dévoilé l’ampleur des souscriptions nettes, préférant attendre la fin de l’année. En 2012, la société était en légère décollecte et au 30 juin elle gérait 10,2 milliards d’euros.Unigestion a eu du succès principalement sur les actions et le private equity. Concernant les fonds de hedge funds, son troisième pôle, Jean-François Hirschel a observé un regain d’intérêt des clients. « Sur les 8-9 premiers mois de 2013, nous avons enregistré le double des appels d’offres que sur l’ensemble de l’année 2012. Cela vient principalement d’Angleterre, de Suisse et d’Allemagne », indique-t-il.Commercialement, Unigestion a « recruté » cinq à dix nouveaux clients, principalement institutionnels, ce qui correspond à son objectif annuel. La société a notamment décroché ses premiers clients au Canada. Un succès qui pousse Unigestion à réfléchir à une implantation locale…La société suisse continue aussi de se développer en Europe, son marché historique. Elle a récemment recruté le finlandais Jussi Louekoski en tant que responsable de la clientèle institutionnelle en Europe du Nord. Elle poursuit ses efforts en Allemagne, en France et en Angleterre. En revanche, Unigestion ne couvre pas l’Europe du Sud et n’a pour l’instant pas l’intention de le faire.Enfin, en Asie, Unigestion pose des jalons et a obtenu récemment à Singapour une licence qui lui permet de commercialiser certains fonds sur place.

Les mesures d'économie décidées par le Credit Suisse vont entraîner des suppressions d’emplois dans la gestion de fortune, rapporte le Schweiz am Sonntag. Sur les 650 millions de francs suisses que le secteur doit économiser, près de 400 millions de francs seront liés à des licenciements. Cela correspondrait à environ 1.500 emplois ou 7% de l’effectif, selon le journal qui cite une source «interne à la banque».

«Compte tenu de l’environnement de faibles taux d’intérêt ainsi que de la baisse des valeurs liquidatives et de la fermeture des remboursements de plusieurs des fonds immobiliers du portefeuille (Axa Immoselect, Axa Immosolutions, UBS 3 Sector Real Estate, DEGI German Business et DEGI Global Business)», la banque privée allemande Berenberg «estime qu’il n’est très vraisemblablement plus possible de tenir les objectifs de son fonds de fonds immobiliers Berenberg Select Income Universal*". Ce fonds sera donc progressivement liquidé d’ici au 30 septembre 2014, indique un communiqué, précisant que, depuis le 23 octobre, les souscriptions et rachats sont suspendus.Dans un premier temps, Berenberg va vendre les 57 % de l’encours du fonds (151,67 millions d’euros au 22 octobre) détenus sous forme d’obligations. Le montant correspondant sera très rapidement distribué aux porteurs.Pour les 43 % restants, les remboursements dépendront de ceux perçus par le fonds de la part des fonds immobiliers en liquidation qui figurent dans son portefeuille, au fur et à mesure de leurs ventes d’actifs.* Codes Isin : DE0002016441 et DE000A0RB9L1

Sans pour autant dénoncer sa coopération avec Deka, le gestionnaire d’actifs central des caisses d'épargne allemandes, la Sparkasse Bremen, caisse d’épargne de Brême, a annoncé le lancement de huit fonds de droit allemand dont la société de gestion est le hambourgeois Hansainvest et la banque dépositaire Donner & Reuschel, rapporte Fonds professionell.Les fonds concernés sont les suivants :BremenKapital Kompakt Ertrag (ISIN: DE000A1J67B6)BremenKapital Kompakt Ertrag Plus (ISIN: DE000A1J67G5)BremenKapital Kompakt Wachstum (ISIN: DE000A1J67J9)BremenKapital Kompakt Dynamik (ISIN: DE000A1J67F7)BremenKapital Aktien (ISIN: DE000A1J67E0)BremenKapital Renten Standard (ISIN: DE000A1J67C4)BremenKapital Renten Offensiv (ISIN: DE000A1J67H3)BremenKapital Zertifikate (ISIN: DE000A1J67K7)

Pour le troisième trimestre, le Government Pension Fund -Global (l’ancien fonds pétrolier norvégien) a enregistré une performance de 5 %, soit 228 milliards de couronnes. Les placements en actions ont généré un gain de 7,6 % pendant que ceux en obligations rapportaient 0,3 %, soit 0,1 point de plus que l’indice de référence, précise Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) à laquelle la Banque de Norvège a délégué la gestion du fonds. La performance du portefeuille immobilier est ressortie pour sa part à 4,1 %.Par ailleurs, comme la couronne norvégienne s’est affaiblie contre plusieurs monnaies principales durant le trimestre sous revue, l’effet de change a été positif de 31 milliards de couronnes, tandis que le gouvernement norvégien dotait le fonds de 58 milliards de couronnes.Au 30 septembre, l’encours du fonds ressortait à 4.714 milliards de couronnes, dont 63,6 % investis en actions, 35,5 % en obligations et 0,9 % en immobilier (l’objectif de long terme est de monter la poche immobilier à 5 %).

The British firm BlueBay Asset Management LLP on 25 October released a statement announcing the launch of the BlueBay Total Return Credit Fund, whose performance objective is 500 to 1,000 basis points “over the credit cycle,” and which invests in the “sub-investment grade” universe. It is a Luxembourg-registered UCITS fund, whose allocation is distributed between high yield, loans, emerging markets and convertible bonds.BlueBay AM, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Canada, initially did not want to disclose the ISIN coe and commission levels for the fund to journalists. Later, however, the communications company for BlueBay did state that the ISIN code for the fund is LU0969341816 for the I share class.

The US equity manager Robert Anstey is leaving Hermes Fund Managers, where he spent 12 years, Citywire reports. Mark Sherlock, who co-managed the US small and midcaps strategy by Anstey (Hermes US SMID fund) since 2009 has become the principal manager of the fund. He will be assisted by Alex Knox and Henry Biddle.

The pension fund for British universities (USS) has announced that it has invested GBP392m in Heathrow airport. USS has signed an agreement with Ferrovial to acquire an 8.65% stake in FGP Topco, the holding company that owns Heathrow Airport Holdings. The investment will be managed by USS Investment Management, an affiliate of USS which provides most advising and management to USS.

The wealth management boutique Berry Asset Management has appointed David Lee as development manager, Wealth Adviser reports. Lee previously worked at Fidelity International, where he was head of sales to independent financial advisers (IFA).

Helen Copinger-Symes, who for six years served as director of relationships with consultants at AllianceBernstein, and then became head of business development & client relationships for defined benefit activities, has been recruited by State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) as managing director and head of consultant relations for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

The automation rate for orders and the use of ISO messaging standards has risen slightly in the first half of 2013 to a total of 77.8%, compared with 77.7% in December 2012, according to the most recent report by the European fund and asset management association (EFAMA), in partnership with Swift. The volume of orders totalled 14.3 million, up 15% compared with the second half of 2012. In Luxembourg, the automation rate for orders rose 1.2% to 74.9%, while in Ireland, the rate contracted to 83.9% in second quarter, compared with 85.3% in fourth quarter 2012. “In first quarter 2013, the increase in automation and standardisation has continued due to increased use of ISO messaging standards. This is good news for the sector, since more automation goes hand in hand with improved cost-effectiveness. In the longer term, an automation rate of more than 80%, supported by an ISO standardisation rate of 50%, will represent a mid-term objective,” says Peter de Proft, CEO of Efama, in a statement.

The Caisse d’Epargne announced before the weekend that it is instituting a new communications relations framework for its clients and prospective private management clients. The programme aims to make the brand more visible and reaffirm its expertise in the private management market serving a wide range of clients. In order to strengthen its positioning on this market, the Caisse d’Epargne has announced the ambitious objective of becoming “a bank of reference for the regions serving private management clients.” The new framework will help to make clients more loyal and strengthen their relationships, making the expertise of the Caisse d’Epargne more visible.

Douglas Beck, managing director and head of product development at DWS (Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management) since 2006, has been recruited as head of investment capability management at Fidelity, Mutual Fund Wire reports.

French advisers are particularly interested in finding out about a new approach to portfolio constuction, according to a survey by Natixis Global Asset Management in August and September, covering 300 financial advisers, 150 of them in France.Advisers are very open to the idea of using new methods to bring investors appropriate diversification of their portfolios. Nearly two thirds of French advisers (64.7%) admit that for most advisers, a traditional allocation of 60% to equities and 40% to bonsd is no longer appropriate to obtain returns and manage risk (49%) in other countries.Two thirds (67.4%) also admit that financial advisers need to replace the traditional portfolio diversification and construction techniques with new methods (compared with 58.5% in other countries). “That should absolutely involve training and assistance for financial advisers. With that in mind, we have set up our Durable Portfolio Construction approach ,in order to help them construct portfolios which are able to stand up and adapt to unpredictable changes in market conditions,” says Christophe Point, director of Natixis Global AM in France. “This policy has met with strong interest, particularly in France: four adviseres out of five (80%) think they need more assistance with the construction of portfolios for their clients.” Lastly, so-called “alternative” investments are still underused as new investment strategies.

After two initial waves of mystery visits in 2010 and 2012, the AMF has continued the experiment in 2013, with identical scenarios (riskophilia and riskophobia), to which a new profile has been added (young active client seeking to invest directly in equities). The AMF is seeking to evaluation over the long term the quality of questioning of prospective clients and the pertinence of commercial offerings. By undertaking these mystery visits, the AMF is seeking to strengthen its preventive actions in the area of protecting savings through monitoring of the sales conditions on the market for retail financial products. The new mystery visits carried out in 2013 have repeated the same scenarios as in 2010 and 2012, with two types of clearly differentiated profiles: savings investors who are too averse to risk (riskophobic) and savings investors who are prepared to take a certain dose of risk (riskophilic). In 2013, it was observed that offerings were more differentiated from one scenario to the other, which has accentuated since 2010. Investment products of the OPCVM and PEA type were offered more to riskophilic prospects. A new profile was also tested in April 2013: a young, active homeowner expressing a desire to invest directly in equities. Many client advisers were hesitant to assist with this request. Surprisingly, the PEA was infrequently offered to this prospect. The major findings of visits carried out in 2013 are the following: sometimes insufficient getting to know the prospect, a spontaneous oral presentation of fees which could be perfected, a presentation of the benefits and drawbakcs of products offered hich remains unbalanced. Mystery visits also found some commercial offerings which were manifestly inappropriate even when the sales offers are sometimes more steered by sales policy for the brand than on really taking into account the requests expressed by the prospect.

With Spain joining the ranks of European markets that have emerged from recession, investors committed record-setting amounts of new money to Europe and Spain equity Funds during the third week of October, EPFR Global reports. Investors also warmed to emerging markets equity funds as fears of ‘tapering’ by the US Federal Reserve faded deeper into 2014.Overall, equity funds took in a net USD21.4 billion during the week ending October 23, according to statistics from EPFR Global.Bond funds absorbed a modest USD527 million. Europe high yield funds and Europe bond funds, however, posted significant inflows. Commitments to Spain bond funds crossed the USD4 billion mark.Flows into money market funds were just shy of USD66 billion as the agreement on the US debt ceiling lifted the specter of default that drove the previous week’s massive outflows.

At a recent conference in London, Dominic Rossi, global CIO for equities, has explained that Fidelity Worldwide Investment takes extra-financial data into consideration in its management process, but that as it does not have all the necessary analysis capacities internally, the firm buys in information from an external provider, MSCI, for environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings.“However, we try to go beyond these figures,” says Rossi. “And, since we can’t specialise in all three components of ESG, Fidelity Worldwide Investment has chosen to focus on the ‘G.’ We employ a team of six people in Europe for engagement, and these specialists are responsible for focusing on appointments and remuneration in particular. On this latter point in particular we have held specific meetings with 150 companies in 2012.”

As of the end of September, assets under management by InverCaixa Gestión in funds were up 18.2% to EUR20.09bn of which EUR2.37bn were in net subscriptions in the first nine months of the year, Funds People reports.The asset management firm of La Caixa has nearly tripled its market share for funds in Spain, from 5.6% in 2007 to 14.2% as of 30 September.

Funds People reports that Natixis Global Asset Management has registered a selection of seven funds with the CNMV with a view to selling them on the Spanish market, from its SRI division, Mirova.They include five equity funds (Mirova Global Climate Change, Mirova Global Sustainable Equity, Mirova Europe Sustainable Equity, Mirova Euro Sustainable Equity and Mirova Europe Life Quality) and two bond funds (Mirova Euro Sustainable Corporate Bonds and Mirova Euro Sustainable Aggregate).

Following very large inflows into the Alken Small Caps Europe recently, Alken has decided to hard close the strategy to new subscriptions as of 25 October 2013 at 16:00 CET. The reason behind this is to protect existing investors’ returns that could be jeopardised by these strong and sudden inflows into the strategy. The Board of the fund, together with Alken Asset Management will review this decision on an ongoing basis, according to a statement. Such measure does not affect whatsoever the existing shareholders’ right to exit the Sub-Fund at any time, stresses Alken.Alken has already soft closed a first fund at the beginning of the month - Alken Fund European Opportunities.

In third quarter, the Government Pension Fund – Global (the former Norwegian oil fund) has posted returns of 5%, or NOK228bn. Investments in equities generated a gain of 7.6%, while investments in bonds brought in 0.3%, or 0.1 point more than the benchmark index, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), to which the Bank of Norway has outsourced the management of the fund, states. The performance of the real estate portfolio, for its part, totalled 4.1%.As the Norwegian Kroner has lost value comapred with several major currencies in the quarter under review, currency effects were positive to the tune of NOK31bn, while the Norwegian government contributed funds of NOK58bn.As of 30 September, assets in the fund totalled NOK4.714trn, of which 63.6% were invested in equities. 35.5% in bonds, and 0.9% in real estate (with the long-term objective of increasing the real estate allocation to 5%).

For its real estate fund Fidelity Eurozone Real Estate Fund, Fidelity Real Estate Investment Management, the real estate fund management affiliate of Fidelity Worldwide Investments, has acquired the “Le Verdi” office complex in Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris. The property is the global headquarters of Nestlé Waters. The acquisition was financed partly by a guaranteed credit of EUR22m.