A district court in Manhattan has dismissed a motion by Goldman Sachs to dismiss a lawsuit filed against it by Dodona I, Handelsblatt reports. The hedge fund accuses the bank of defrauding it of USD4m which it had invested in the CDO Hudson Mezzanine programme, launched in late 2006, which had USD2bn in assets before the real estate bubble popped, causing the product’s rating to be downgraded to junk bond status.

Pending the publication of the second level of the AIFM directive, French financial management professionals are continuing to dissect bills in preparation for the new regulations. At a conference held by the French association of securities professionals (AFTI), a majority of participants claimed that they were prepared, but that they still needed to reflect on the opportunities opened up by the directive. “We are AIFM-ready,” said the director general of the French financial management association (AFG), Pierre Bollon. “We have the knowledge, but we still need to work on the ‘how-to,’ for example, how to make our product ranges more comprehensible, and on the ‘able-to-do,’ as many French asset management firms export their management products with too much discretion,” he said.However, the role of the depository has once again sustained a large number of comments. First of all, the AFG/AFTI working group on the market depository convention has unveiled its new architecture model, which replaces the depository convention of 2002, and which includes regulatory and legislative texts from 2011. The project deals with only one point: the way in which foreign fund shares or equities are held by a registrar or transfer agent. But this divergence may be resolved by the terms of the level 2 legislation, which will soon be published. The convention will then need to be approved by the boards of directors of the two professional associations, which will set up a monitoring committee to examine the results at management firms and depositories.Eric Dérobert, head of public affairs at Caceis, and also vice president of AFTI, has presented the most recent recommendations of the STBF (European Trustee & Depositary Forum), an association which includes eight national associations of depositories, including those of France, the United Kingdom, and Germany. Commenting on article 12 of the directive on depositories, Dérobert pointed out that there is a need to retain the balance defined by the level 1 legislation, by stating the requirements of the depository and retaining the concept of “reasonable” controlling by the depository. It would also be a good idea to specify the field of application of custody, a fundamental definition in terms of responsibility.Natasha Cazenave, deputy director of the asset management division in the direction and regulation of international affairs at the AMF, points out that the AIFM market committee formed at the end of 2011 (see Newsmanagers of 28 December) would as planned launch a consultation in May this year on the major strategic orientations to adopt over the next few years. A final report would then be available from July, leaving one year for the French Treasury and the AMF to make the necessary modifications before the transposition deadline (July 2013).

Catella engages Ubbe Strihagen to strengthen Catella’s asset management within the real estate segment. Most recently, he held the position of director at fund manager Schroders Investment Management, where for the past four years he has been responsible for property funds in the Nordic region and Benelux countries.Catella has assets totalling approximately SEK 17 billion under management in real estate-related investment management mandates and funds. The operations are conducted through Catella Real Estate KAG in Munich and Amplion Asset Management OY in Helsinki. In close cooperation with these operations, Ubbe Strihagen will develop new investment products. The focus will lie on offering institutional investors in the Nordics and Benelux new products primarily allocated on other markets than the native markets. The Catella Group has assets under management totalling approximately SEK 34 billion, of which SEK 17 billion are managed within the property area and SEK 17 billion within equity, fixed income and hedge products.

The Chinese government council has granted its approval for the province of Guangdong to award a two-year management mandate for the management of its CNY100bn in local assets to the Chinese National Council for Social Security Fund (NCSSF), Z-Ben Advisors reports. A part of the assets will be given to third-party asset management firm, and the NCSSF has already received applications from 18 asset management firms for these mandates.

The announced merger of the Convergence Eastern European Sub-fund into the Eastern European Sub-fund in East Capital (lux) has now been executed, says East Capital in a press release.

On 5 March, iShares (BlackRock) applied to the SEC for a license for an ETF of selected government bonds, the iShares Sovereign Screened Global Bond Fund, whose fee level has not yet been set The fund will be actively managed, without replicating an index, and will invest at least 80% of its assets “in normal circumstances” in bonds denominated in local currencies or US dollars issued by governments of developed and emerging countries that are in the BlackRock Sovereign Risk Index universe, which as of the end of September included 44 eligible countries. The objective is to prefer exposure to high quality government bonds over those in a fund which replicated the performance of a larger index of government bonds, which would give a larger weight to governments which issue more debt. iShares states that the ETF may have a higher turnover rate than products which replicate an index.Securities lending will be limited to one third of total assets in the fund, including collateral value.

Market Vectors ETF Trust (Van Eck group) has announced the launch of the Market Vectors Indonesia Small-Cap ETF (acronym on NYSE Arca: IDXJ), its second ETF dedicated exclusively to Indonesia.As its name indicates, the product is focused on small caps, and replicates the Market Vectors Indonesia Small-Cap Index (MVIDXJTR) from the German asset management firm Market Vector Index Solutions GmbH.In order to join the index, which currently includes 39% financial sector businesses, 18% industrials, 17% energy sector and 15% consumer goods businesses, firms must have a market capitalisation of over USD150m, and a daily trading volume of at least USD1bn over three months, as well as an average monthly trading volume of 250,000 shares over the past six months. At launch, the average capitalisation of the fund was USD688m.The new ETC will charge 0.61% at least until 1 May 2013.

The Swiss asset management firm GAM has announced the launch of the GAM Star Emerging Equity fund, a UCITS-compliant long-only fund investing in emerging markets equities, in London. The portfolio of the Irish-registered product available in 10 currencies will include 100 to 150 positions.The two co-managers, Tim Love and Joaquim Nogueira, will use a fundamental valuation approach, which combines exclusive securities selection tools with a top-down thematic overlay and timing strategies.The fund currently has a sales license in Ireland, the United Kingdom and Luxembourg.CharacteristicsName: GAM Star Emerging EquityISIN code: IE00B55Y9W63Management commission:Institutional share class: 0.90%Ordinary share class: 1.50%

Skandia Investment Group (SIG) has announced the appointment of a new sub-advisor for its USD157.6m USD Skandia European Equity Fund (as of 29th February). The Fund’s management changes from Goldman Sachs to General Electric Asset Management (GEAM).

Qatar Holding, the Qatar sovereign fund, has since the beginning of the year increased its stake in the Vivendi group, a document from the telecoms and entertainment group announces. Qatar, which had already acquired 1.55% of capital in Vivendi in 2011, held 24,96 million shares as of the end of February, equivalent to about 2% of capital, the document states, confirming information published by the website WanSquare. The acquisition, which represents an investmnt of EUR356m at current share prices, comes in addition to a long list of investments already made by the emirate in French businesses. Qatar, which has recently increased its stake in the Lagardère media group to 12.8%, has also invested in Total, LVMH and Vinci.

In addition to the AlphaPlus Absolute Return fund, the Spanish asset management firm AlphaPlys has launched the Luxembourg fund AlphaPlus Absolute Return Plus, a more dynamic version, which aims for annual returns of 5-8%, with average volatility of 6%, Funds People reports. The product is managed by Francisco Esteban, for the tactical portion, and Edwin Voerman, for the mid-term and pair trading portion. The fund is a multi-asset class product (equities, bonds, currencies, fixed income and commodities ETFs), with a management commission of 0.55%, and a performance commission of 9%.

The CNMV has issued a sales license for the UCITS-compliant fund Merchant Astor Long/Short UCITS, from Merchant Capital, which applies a strategy by the US firm Astor Asset Management, an affiliate of Knight Capital Group, Funds People reports.The absolute return product invests in 15 to 20 ETF funds replicating the most favourable indices depending on the position in the economic cycle.

La Direction des retraites et de la solidarité de la Caisse des Dépôts a sélectionné, à l’issue d’un appel d’offres, Viveris REIM pour la mise en place et la gestion d’un OPCI dédié pour le compte de l’IRCANTEC (Institution de retraite complémentaire des agents non titulaires de l’Etat et des collectivités publiques). Celui???ci prendra la forme d’une Société à Prépondérance Immobilière à Capital Variable à Règles de Fonctionnement Allégées Sans Effet de Levier (SPPICAV RFA SEL) dont l’encours cible devrait atteindre 300 millions d’euros. « La stratégie immobilière prévoit une diversification des actifs répondant à la politique d’engagement socialement responsable de l’IRCANTEC », précise un communiqué de la société de gestion. Viveris REIM gère pour 2,7 Mds€ d’actifs immobiliers à fin décembre 2011, au travers de 17 OPCI dont 2 à destination du grand public.

Contrairement à ses objectifs en 2011, la Mutuelle d’Ivry a renoncé à investir dans des obligations allemandes pour préférer le crédit corporate périphérique. Et la stratégie de placement a été efficace. Alexandre Piazza, gérant de portefeuilles, le constate : nous avons servi un taux de +4,05 % en 2011, preuve de l’intérêt de cette classe d’actifs. Composée de 4 personnes, la direction des investissements de la Mutuelle d’Ivry gère en interne plus de 95 % de ses encours, dont 7.5% de monétaire. Seule la gestion de la poche action est externalisée, ce qui représente 5 % du portefeuille. Début 2012, l’allocation se composait de 5 % d’actions contre 7 % l’année précédente. En guise de décorrélation, la mutuelle possède des biens immobiliers à hauteur de 6 % des actifs, une poche matières premières de 1 % qui devrait être doublée prochainement. Nous n’avons pas fixé de délai, mais j’envisage d’allouer 2 % de mon portefeuille dans cette classe d’actifs explique le membre de la direction des investissements. Enfin, sur la partie obligataire, la mutuelle limite son exposition globale aux dettes souveraines à moins de 10 % et recherche davantage de rendement. Elle se dirige vers du crédit corporate périphérique à duration courte, au détriment des titres plus longs, ce qui lui permet de limiter le risque de crédit sur la partie courte de la courbe.

Les transactions avaient été boudées par les investisseurs asiatiques depuis début janvier. Mais les deux derniers placements ont été fortement sursouscrits

Un projet de règlement de la Commission européenne adopté mercredi veut utiliser l’argument de la réciprocité pour forcer l’ouverture des marchés

Eurex lancera un contrat sur les OAT le 16 avril, alors que le contrat sur le Bund est en situation de quasi-monopole sur ce marché

La filiale du groupe mutualiste d’assurance a souffert en 2011. Son résultat net a reculé de 10% à 23 millions d’euros, mais de 24% si l’on exclut l’effet de l’intégration de Groupama Fund Pickers. Son activité dépend encore trop de sa maison mère, en difficulté.

La filiale du groupe mutualiste d'assurance a souffert en 2011. Son activité dépend trop de sa maison mère en grande difficulté

Le fonds de pension des fonctionnaires votera contre les mandats de PDG, plaide pour le «say on pay» et le plafonnement des rémunérations

Mario Draghi a estimé que le pire de la crise européenne est passé. Le montant des achats de covered bonds a diminué à 8,7 milliards d’euros

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Le budget 2012-2013, fiscalement neutre, prévoit 168 milliards de livres d'émissions d'emprunts

Le budget 2012-2013, fiscalement neutre, prévoit 168 milliards de livres d'émissions d'emprunts

Eurex lancera le 16 avril un contrat sur la dette française. Depuis l'échec du Matif à la fin des années 90, les futures sur le Bund allemand détiennent le monopole de ce marché en zone euro, au grand dam du Trésor. Reste à attirer la liquidité pour assurer le succès du nouveau contrat.

Le gouvernement britannique devrait annoncer selon le quotidien la mise en vente d’une part de sa participation de 49% au capital de National Air Traffic Services, contrôleur du trafic aérien outre-Manche. Le montant de la transaction pourrait atteindre 250 millions de livres. De nombreux investisseurs spécialisés dans les infrastructures auraient exprimé un intérêt.

Le gouvernement allemand serait opposé à la proposition avancée par le président français, Nicolas Sarkozy, de créer un «Buy european act» visant à privilégier les entreprises européennes pour les contrats publics. Un tel plan créerait une «forteresse Europe» et enverrait un «signal protectionniste» à la Chine qui pourrait être tentée par des mesures de rétorsion, selon le journal qui cite un officiel allemand.

Le Fonds monétaire international a débloqué 500 millions d’euros supplémentaires à titre de précaution pour la Roumanie. Cela porte à 2 milliards d’euros le plafond de la facilité de crédit mise à disposition de Bucarest.

«La France étudie avec ses partenaires toutes les options possibles pour lutter contre la hausse du prix du pétrole. La libération d’une partie des stocks stratégiques des pays industrialisés constitue l’une de ces options», a indiqué le Ministère de l’Industrie et de l’Energie.

Selon les projections économiques mondiales pour 2012-2013, la nouvelle équipe gouvernementale qui va se mettre en place en France bénéficiera d’un environnement économique plutôt favorable. Le taux de croissance mondiale est attendu à 3,8% en 2013, après 3,3% en 2012. En France, il remontera de 0,6% cette année à 1,4% ou plus l’an prochain.