Rothschild & Cie Gestion, the French firm led by Jean-Louis Laurens, announced on Thursday that it is merging its traditional and alternative multi-management activities with those of HDF Finance, an French boutique which since mid-2009 has been led by Christine du Fretay, following the decease of her husband and the founder of the business, Gilles du Fretay. The businesses involved at the two asset management firms will be merged into a single firm, which will be known as Rothshild HDF Investment Solutions, and which will be 67% controlled by Rothschild & Cie Gestion and 33% by HDF Group. “Rothschild & Cie Gestion will eventually control 100 % of the new entity,” Laurens, a managing partner in the business, tells Newsmanagers. Rothschild HDF Investment Solutions will be headed by Laurens, and directed by Denis Faller. Pierre Lenders, currently CEO and co-CIO of HDF Finance, will be appointed as deputy CEO of the new company. Christophe Jaubert and Marc Terras, for their part, will serve as deputy CEOs and co-CIOs. Christine du Fretay, the current chairwoman of the board of directors at HDF Finance, says that she will not hold any responsibilities in the new organisation, and that she will be limiting her role to that of director and minority shareholder. In terms of human resources, Laurens states that some work to adjust and reclassify positions at HDF Finance has already been undertaken, and that the goal for Rothschild HDF Investment Solutions is to reach a level of 45 employees. To this end, “some adjustments will be made,” the head admits, “while sales positions are still vacant for Northern Europe and Great Britain.” In figures, the merged entity has EUR4bn in assets, of which EUR3bn comes from Rothschild & Cie Gestion, taking into account the recent acquisition of Héritage AM, and EUR1bn from HDF Finance. In terms of assets, the objectives set by Laurens may be considered cautious: “we are aiming to grow by 10% per year, of which 5% will come from inflows, and 5% from market effects.” This is a modest objective, largely due to to the “difficult” French market. “At any rate, we have a few advantages which make us a credible player in Europe,” the director adds.

Assets under management at the asset management unit of Prudential Financial as of the end of March 2012 totalled USD636.8bn, compared with USD568.8bn one year previously, the group has announced in a statement released on 3 May. Assets under management from institutional investors as of the end of March totalled USD283.2bn, compared with USD246.2bn one year previously. Institutional net inflows totalled USD5.4bn.

The French asset management firm A Plus Finance (EUR400m in assets) has announced that it has signed the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI). It pledges to systematically integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) questions as investment selection criteria.Niels Couurt-Payen, chairman of A Plus Finance, says that the decision to sign the Principles comes at a time when the asset management firm is genuinely in a position “to apprehend these responsible investment principoles in all its professions.” A Plus Finance is active in financing for SMEs, real estate, the film industry, and multi-management. This has led the firm to revise its processes, in order to integrate these principles transversally.

Asset management boutiques can be forbidding for institutional investors, who may consider their smaller size synonymous with operational and reputation risks. But for Fitch, which has recently published a study of the ratings of small asset management firms, these structures are very much able to overcome these handicaps, by demonstrating that their shareholders are committed in the business, by developing multiple product lines, or by positioning themselves as leaders in a particular market segment, while maintaining enough cash and other financial resources to ensure the survival of the asset management firm and its activities in difficult markets.

The private equity asset management firm 123Venture on 3 May announced the launch of the Trocadero Capital platform, which aims to offer institutional investors a complement to their fund range historically aimed at private clients. The firm, which has over EUR700m invested in over 300 European private businesses, now operates under two brand names, 123Venture and Trocadero Capital. Trocadero Capital offers institutional investors a limited range of investment strategies via dedicated funds. To date, Trocadero Capital manages FCPR funds and management mandates in renewable energies and mezzanine debt. Trocadero Capital manages over EUR100m for a wide range of investors. 123Venture, meanwhile, has announced the launch of a mezzanine fund, the FCPR Trocadero Capital et Transmission II. This FCPR fund aims to make mezzanine investments in French private businesses whose total valuation is between EUR15m and EUR150m. The 123Venture group will invest EUR7m of its own capital alongside institutional cients in the fund, which will aim for a final size of about EUR100m.

Assets under management at the US asset management firm Och-Ziff as of 31 March totalled USD30.1bn, compared with USD28.8bn at the end of December 2011, and USD29bn one year previously. An increase of USD1.1bn, or 4% year on year is related to net inflows of USD902.4m, and positive market effects of USD184.3m. As of the end of April, assets under management totalled about USD29.8bn, up by USD1bn compared with the end of December, due to positive market effects, and despite net outflows of USD600m, which are called “relatively small, in historical perspective.” Och-Ziff states that the proportion of assets in pension funds as a part of total assets under management has increased from 24% one year ago to 29% this year. At the same time, assets in funds of funds represent only 17% of total assets, compared with 21% one year ago, as institutional investors are now preferring to invest directly in single hedge funds.

The Credit Suisse group has announced that it will be converting six of its synthetic ETFs to physical ETFs during this month, at the request of many clients and the Swiss financial markets association, Finma. Once the conversions are completed, the number of ETFs to have transferred to a physical replication style in the past six months will total 10. At the end of November last year, the Swiss bank converted four of its 16 synthetic ETFs. Deborah Fuhr, cited by InvestmentEurope, says investors seem to show a marked preference for physical ETF funds. Last year, synthetic ETFs showed net outflows of USD4bn, while physical ETFs had net inflows of USD29bn.

Assets under management at the Banque Cantonale Vaudoise (BCV) have increased 3% in first quarter, to a total of CHF79.4bn, the bank has announced in a statement released on 3 May. Net inflows totalled CHF149m. Gross profits at the BCV were up 2% in first quarter, to CHF121m, on earnings up slightly to CHF253m, from CHF251.6m. The BCV has called these results “very good,” and “in line with the trend in recent years,” but has not provided any information about the current development of activities or outlooks for annual results.

The Swiss structured products association (SVSP) has accepted a new observing member, Global Financial Products. The new member strengthens the presence of the structured products association on the Swiss financial market, the association says in a statement released on 2 May. Global Financial Products was founded in 2011, and has offices in Pfäffikon, Zurich and Lausanne. The association says that it now represents the interests of 18 issuers and five observing members, who together represent over 95% of the total volume in the structured product market in Switzerland.

The Swiss Vontobel group on 3 May announced the launch of a commodity fund, the Vontobel Fund Belvista Dynamic Commodity fund, which will be managed by an affiliate of Vontobel Asset Management, Harcourt, specialised in providing alternative solutions. Vontobel already has a widely renowned expertise in commodities, since the launch of the Vontobel Fund Belvista Commodity in 2007. The fund outperformed the DJ Commodity Total Return Index by 15.8% between April 2007 and March 2012. Major characteristics Vontobel Fund (SICAV) – Belvista Dynamic Commodity Domicile: Luxembourg Currency of reference: USD Share classes: USD, CHF, EUR Management fees: 0.75% per year for institutional shares; 1.5% for retail shares Performance commission: 10% per year on outperformance of the benchmark Benchmark index: Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Total Return Index Reference codes: B USD LU0759371569 I USD LU0759372880 H CHF LU0759371999 HI CHF LU0759372450 H EUR LU0759372021 HI EUR LU0759372534

The Swiss firm Cernegie Fund Services, a specialist in representation and distribution for foreign investment funds, will be opening an office in Zurich, Finews reports. The office will be led by Heinz Gloor. Carnegie Fund Services has over 200 clients for fund launches in Switzerland, influding CR Asset Management, DNCA, Gottex, Janus Capital, Lazard Frères Gestion and MFS, Finews reports.

GAM and Barclays Capital have launched the GAM Star Barclays Dynamic Multi-Index Allocation Fund in Switzerland. The product is compliant with UCITS IV. It will invest in quantitative indices from Barclays Capital, Finews reports.

The Nasdaq OMX group on 3 May announced that it has acquired BWise, a corporate governance, risk management and compliance (GRC) software specialist. The BWise GRC platform will be available via Nasdaq OMX Corporate Solutions, a dedicated software arm of Nasdaq OMX which helps businesses to minimise risks, increase efficiency and improve transparency through a range of products for corporate governance and investor relations.

The Swiss firm Reyl & Cie has announced the appointment of Roger Groebli as CEO of its new affiliate Reyl Overseas Ltd, founded in October 2011 in Zurich, and registered with the US SEC as an investment adviser. Groebli, previously of ABN Amro, where he was head of the research unit for Asia-Pacific and investment advisory activities.Reyl Overseas Ltd was founded to meet the particular needs of US taxpayers based in Switzerland and abroad. As a Swiss firm, it offers its clients expertise in asset management, investment advising and wealth management.

Since Thursday, the XTF segment of the Xetra electronic platform from Deutsche Börse has listed 968 ETF funds, as db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank) has listed three new Luxembourg-registered bond ETFs for trading. The first two funds, with leverage of 2, one of them inverse, replicate the evolution of euro zone government bonds, while the third fund focuses on Bunds, with total maturities of 7 to 10 years.db x-trackers II Eurozone Sovereigns Double Long Daily ETFISIN code: LU0621755080Benchmark index: Deutsche Bank Eurozone Sovereigns Double Long Daily IndexTER: 0.30 %db x-trackers II Eurozone Sovereigns Double Short Daily ETFISIN code: LU0621755676Benchmark index: Deutsche Bank Eurozone Sovereigns Double Short Daily IndexTER: 0.30 % db x-trackers II iBoxx € Germany 7-10 TRI ETFISIN code: LU0730820569Benchmark index: iBoxx € Germany 7-10 IndexTER: 0.15 %

As of the end of April, total assets in ETFs worldwide totalled USD1.5284trn, USD9.7bn less than at the end of March, despite net subscriptions of USD2bn. ETFGI, the consulting firm founded by Deborah Fuhr, estimates that total assets YTD increased 13.1%, or USD177bn, of which USD60.6bn were from net subscriptions.In the first four months of the year, the three largest net inflows were to Vanguard (USD21.8bn), iShares (USD15.7bn) and SPDR ETF (State Street Global Advisors, or SSgA), with USD6.7bn. The heaviest net outflows were from db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank), with USD1.3bn, Polaris (USD0.8bn), and ComStage (Commerzbank), with USD0.6bn.The top three issuers remain unchanged. iShares has USd649.3bn in assets as of the end of April, followed by SPDR ETF with USD233.9bn, and Vanguard, with USD208.4bn. These three actors together control a market share of 71.4%.

The fund platform of the Frankfurter Fondsbank (FFB), also known as FIL Fondsbank, from Fidelity Germany, has announced that it is adding to its activities. It will now be offering to process orders for about 70 ETFs from iShares (BlackRock) and ComStage (Commerzbank), as it already does for about 8,000 traditional funds. The ETFs selected replicate all the major global indices, and represent over 30% of trading volumes on the XTF segment of the Xetra electronic trading platform from Deutsche Börse.For ETF buy and sell orders, FFB offers a flat price of 0.2% of trading volumes.FFB has assets under administration of EUR13.1bn, in 780,000 client accounts.

The largest investment bank in Brazil, BTG Pactual, which has recently held its IPO, on Thursday launched the largest investment fund for Africa in the world, with USD1bn in investments from Brazil, the firm’s chairman, André Esteves, has announced. The product will be the largest fund collected in Brazil to be specifically focused on the African continent. The creation of the investment fund is a demonstration of the enormous confidence and affinity which Brazil has with this region of the world, Esteves explained in an African investment seminar held by the Brazilian development bank (BNDES). The fund will invest primarily in infrastructure, energy and agriculture.

The US firm Van Eck Associates Corporation has announced that it is lowering the total expense ratio (TER) cap to 0.57% from 0.60% for its Market Vectors Indonesia Index ETF (acronym IDX), whose assets as of the end of March totalled USD537m. This is the second time in three years that Van Eck has lowered the TER for the product, which should not be confused with the Market Vectors Indonesia Small-Cap ETF (IDXI), which was launched recently (see Newsmanagers of 22 March).

Assets in the bond fund Pimco Total Return, managed by Bill Gross, have set a new record at USD258.7bn, largely due to USD2.7bn in net subscriptions in April, Mutual Fund Wire reports. Since the beginning of this year, the fund has gained 4.4%, allowing it to outperform 98% of products in its category.

Assets under management at the British firm St James’s Place as of the end of March totalled a record GBP31bn, the firm announced in an interim report on 3 May. Net inflows in first quarter totalled GBP700m, compared with GBP770m in first quarter 2011. Taking into account positive market effects in the quarter under review, assets under management increased by a total of GBP2.5bn.

For the first quarter of this year, Schroders has posted net inflows of GBP1.6bn. These inflows totalled GBP1.7bn for the asset management portion of the business, while private banking showed slight outflows (GBP0.1bn). Assets increased from GBP187.3bn as of the end of December to GBP199.6bn as of the end of March, GBP183.2bn for the asset management portion, and GBP16.4bn for private banking. Pre-tax profits totalled GBP95.5m, down compared with the GBP103.8m in first quarter 2011. Net earnings totalled GBP282.7m, compared with GBP292m in first quarter 2011.

SCOR Global Investments (SGI), qui enregistre un rendement des actifs de 2,9 % sur le premier trimestre 2012 malgré un environnement économique et financier difficile, a engagé un programme de relèvement prudent du risque moyen du portefeuille de SCOR. Dans un contexte économique et financier toujours difficile, SGI a poursuivi sa stratégie dite de « rollover », qui consiste à maintenir une duration du portefeuille obligataire relativement courte et à générer des cash-flows récurrents, tout en gérant de manière active son portefeuille d’actifs. Au 31 mars 2012, les cash-flows attendus sur le portefeuille obligataire sur les 24 prochains mois s'élèvent à EUR 5,0 milliards (y compris les liquidités et investissements à court terme), la duration du portefeuille obligataire ayant été maintenue relativement courte à 2,9 ans (hors liquidités). Dès le début de 2012, après plusieurs mois d’accumulation volontaire et tactique de liquidités et placements à court terme, SGI a redémarré un programme d’investissement prudent. Les liquidités et placements à court terme ont ainsi été réduits de EUR 695 millions (-6 points), pour atteindre EUR 2 355 millions au 31 mars 2012 contre EUR 3 050 millions au 31 décembre 2011. Le portefeuille d’actifs a été réinvesti essentiellement en covered bonds et agency MBS (+3 points) et en corporate bonds (+3 points). Le portefeuille obligataire (y compris les placements à court terme), de qualité élevée avec une notation moyenne AA-, n’a toujours aucune exposition à la dette souveraine de la Grèce, de l’Irlande, de l’Italie, du Portugal et de l’Espagne, ni aux dettes émises par les Etats et municipalités des Etats-Unis. Sur le 1er trimestre 2012, le portefeuille d’actifs génère une contribution financière de EUR 92 millions, soit un rendement des actifs de 2,9 %, contre 3,7 % sur l’ensemble de 2011. La politique active de gestion conduite par SGI a permis au Groupe de réaliser EUR 29 millions de plus-values sur les trois premiers mois de 2012. Le Groupe a strictement appliqué une politique inchangée de dépréciations sur son portefeuille d’investissements, pour un montant total de EUR 6 millions sur le premier trimestre 2012. En prenant en compte les fonds détenus par les cédantes, le taux de rendement net des placements atteint 2,6 % sur la période, inchangé par rapport à l’ensemble de 2011. Les actifs (hors fonds détenus par les cédantes) s'élèvent à EUR 13 100 millions au 31 mars 2012 et sont constitués à 8 % de liquidités, 81 % d’obligations (dont 10 % de placements à court terme), à 5 % d’actions, à 4 % d’immobilier et à 2 % d’autres placements. Le montant total des placements s'élève à EUR 21 402 millions au 31 mars 2012, à comparer à EUR 21 053 millions au 31 décembre 2011.

L'adossement d'HDF Finance, avec une option de prise de contrôle à 100%, témoigne des difficultés des fonds de hedge funds depuis le début de la crise

La banque centrale n'a pas modifié ses taux en attendant d'avoir plus d'éléments sur la situation économique dans la zone euro

La production en France a plongé de 31% au premier trimestre 2012, d'après l'organisme de garantie. Il prévoit un repli de 20% sur l'année

L’adossement d’HDF Finance à Rothschild & Cie Gestion est un nouvel épisode de la mutation du secteur des fonds de fonds alternatifs, imposée par la crise.

Le candidat socialiste à l’élection présidentielle française et qui a la faveur des sondages serait prêt à proposer des «solutions pragmatiques» en cas de désaccord avec la chancelière allemande Angela Merkel sur la renégociation du pacte fiscal européen. Des solutions qui pourraient déjà avoir l’aval de Berlin dans le cas de son élection dimanche.

Le gouvernement chinois pourrait bien prendre part au programme nucléaire de la Grande-Bretagne. Des groupes énergétiques contrôlés par Pékin (notamment China Guangdong Nuclear Power (CGNP) ou State Nuclear Power Technology Corp (SNPTC)) sont en effet impliqués selon le quotidien dans les discussions concernant le rachat du consortium Horizon auprès de ses propriétaires allemands E.On et RWE. Ces derniers ont mandaté Nomura la semaine passée. Des groupes industriels occidentaux et des fonds souverains sont également sur les rangs. Les responsables britanniques sont bien conscients selon le quotidien qu’un engagement de Pékin «n’échappera pas à la critique».

Charles Bean, vice-gouverneur de la Banque d’Angleterre, indique au journal dans une tribune que la politique monétaire expansionniste pratiqué par la banque centrale est «le meilleur remède» pour stimuler la reprise économique au Royaume-Uni. A ses yeux, «l’actuelle forte politique de stimulation monétaire menée est synonyme d’activité, d’emploi et de prix des actifs plus élevés».