Le projet de fusion entre les banques privées genevoise Cramer et zurichoise Hottinger, annoncé en novembre 2011, a échoué, selon un communiqué commun publié par les deux groupes.Les deux établissements et la société de participations genevoise Norinvest, propriétaire de Cramer, ont décidé de renoncer à fusionner, «pour des raisons liées au développement stratégique futur de leurs activités».La décision a été prise d’un commun accord et «les deux groupes poursuivront leurs activités de manière indépendante en développant chacun leur stratégie existante et en optimisant leur structure pour soutenir une croissance durable».Hottinger est présent en Suisse (Zurich, Bâle, Genève) ainsi qu'à New York et aux Bahamas. Cramer est présent en Suisse, où la banque emploie 45 personnes, et aux Bahamas.

Malgré les incertitudes entourant la crise de la dette souveraine en Europe, les défaillances d’entreprise ont été très peu nombreuses en 2011, indique l’agence d'évaluation financière Moody’s dans sa dernière étude annuelle.Seulement 35 émetteurs notés par Moody’s ont fait défaut en 2011 pour un total de dette de 36 milliards de dollars, soit le montant le plus bas depuis quatre ans, souligne l’agence. La mojorité des défaillances ont eu lieu en Amérique du Nord avec 25 émetteurs (26 milliards de dette), le reliquat se trouvant en Europe. Le taux de défaut des émetteurs corporate notés par Moody’s est tombé à 0,8% fin 2011 contre 1,3% l’année précédente. Selon l’agence, le taux de défaut pourrait se retrouver autour de 2,8% fin 2012.

Neptune Asia Pacific opportunities va être renommé Neptune south east Asia Fund, croit savoir Money Marketing. Ce fonds géré par Tom Sinclair représente 17 millions de livres.

Vice president et senior investment manager chez ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company, Prashant Kothari rejoint l'équipe actions émergentes de Pictet Asset Management à Londres, où il continuera de se focaliser sur les actions indiennes.Selon certaines sources, il pourrait devenir co-gérant d’un fonds action indiennes aux côté de David Chatterjee, pour remplacer Oliver Bell, qui est allé gérer le fonds Moyen-Orient/Afrique du Nord (MENA) de T. Rowe Price.Pictet AM précise que ses encours en actions émergentes se situent aux alentours de 4,3 milliards de livres.

Ainsi qu’il l’avait prévu à la mi-janvier, le gestionnaire britannique Baring Asset Management (Barings) a lancé le 1er mars son fonds mondial de valeurs minières, le Baring Global Mining Fund, compartiment d’un OEIC coordonné de droit irlandais, Baring Investment Funds plc (Newsmanagers du 17 janvier).Ce fonds d’actions de toutes capitalisations est confié à Clive Burstow. Il est disponible en classes de parts en euros (IE00B5VDNH0), en dollars (IE00B55BZX02) et en livres (IE00B704RW18).

Le britannique Renaissance Asset Managers a annoncé le 1er mars le lancement du Renaissance Frontier Markets Funds, compartiment de sa sicav luxembourgeoise coordonnée. Le nouveau produit est disponible pour les investisseurs institutionnels et les particuliers qualifiés.Le gérant Sven Richter a précisé que le portefeuille sera concentré sur des valeurs de dix pays sur les 25 pour lesquels est prévue une croissance annuelle supérieure à 4 %. Il s’agit de l’Argentine, de l’Egypte, de l’Indonésie, du Kenya, du Nigeria, du Pakistan, des Philippines, de la Thaïlande, de l’Ukraine et du Vietnam, qui pèseront à tout moment entre 85 % et 100 % de l’encours.Ces pays ont été choisis parce qu’ils remplissent un certain nombre de critères, dont une population supérieure à 35 millions de personnes, une croissance du PIB supérieure à 4 % par an pour la prochaine décennie, un PIB par tête inférieur à 6.000 dollars, des marchés relativement peu développés et un réservoir important de population jeunes, des ressources intéressantes et la possibilité de se développer grâce à ces éléments.

Les actifs sous gestion de Man Group s'établissaient fin décembre à 58,4 milliards de dollars contre 64,5 milliards de dollars à fin septembre et 69,1 milliards de dollars à fin mars 2011, a indiqué la société de gestion alternative le 1er mars à l’occasion de la présentation de ses résultats trimestriels et des neuf premiers mois de son exercice 2011-2012.Les neuf premiers mois de l’exercice se sont terminés sur une décollecte nette de 1,5 milliard de dollars. Au cours du seul trimestre à fin décembre, la décollecte s’est élevée à 2,5 milliards de dollars. Sur neuf mois, les effets négatifs marchés et devises s'élèvent à respectivement 4 milliards de dollars et 1,7 milliard de dollars.Man Group relève toutefois qu'à fin février les actifs sous gestion pointaient à 59,5 milliards de dollars, en raison de notamment de bonnes performances chez GLG et d’une contribution positive plus modeste chez AHL. «La confiance des investisseurs s’est améliorée par rapport au dernier trimestre de 2011 et le ralentissement des rachats a entraîné une baisse significative des sorties nettes», explique Man Group qui ajoute toutefois que la confiance reste fragile et que la reprise de la collecte prendra un peu de temps.Man Group précise que les performances positives depuis le début de l’année calendaire jusqu’au 24 février des principales stratégies Ucits de GLG, 6% pour European Equity Alternative, 4% pour North American Equity Alternative, 5,2% pour Alpha Select, 8,4% pour Global Convertibles, 6,9% pour Emerging Markets, 19,3% pour Japan Core Alpha et 11,3% pour Global Equity. Seul le fonds Atlas Macro accuse une performance négative de 0,4%.Le bénéfice avant impôts des neuf premiers mois de l’exercice s’est inscrit à 262 millions de dollars contre 599 millions de dollars pour l’année à fin mars 2011.Le board a confirmé qu’il recommenderait un dividende final de 7 cents par action pour les neuf mois à fin décembre, ce qui portera le dividende total pour la période à 16,5 cents par action. Le dividende de l’exercice pourrait atteindre 22 cents.

Credit Suisse a décidé de réduire sa participation dans Aberdeen de 19,9 % à 9,9 % à la fin de la semaine dernière, rapporte Financial News. Une deuxième tranche de 57 millions d’actions a été placée à 240 pence l’unité hier par la banque.

Stephen Schwarzmann, founder of Blackstone, was the highest-paid chief in the private equity industry last year. He made USD213.5m in salary, dividends and cash. That puts him in first place in the profession, and represents a 33% increase compared with his 2010 income. However, last year he made 50% less than he did in 2006, when Blackstone held its IPO.

Convictions AM has announced the recruitment of Philippe Weller as head of international development for the French asset management firm. The German Weller, 41, had previously been head of international development at La Financière de Champlain, in charge of European, and then French clients, from 2007 to 2010.In his new role, he will be in charge of the commercial development of Convictions AM in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Luxembourg. He joins Edoardo Chiozzi-Millelire, head of international development for the countries of southern Europe (Italy, Switzerland, Monaco, etc.), who joined the firm in 2010.“International markets currently represent 15% of our assets, and remain a strong area of development for Convictions AM. We have seen strong demand from private banks and family offices in European countries, particularly for our Convictions Premium fund,” says Hugues Riant, head of management mandates and communications at Convictions AM.

Henderson Global Investors on 1 March announced that its UCITS-compliant hedge fund Henderson Credit Alpha has been admitted to the UCITS Alternative Index Blue Chip, an index of 50 absolute return hedge funds calculated by the Swiss firm Alix Capital.The Henderson Credit Alpha fund, launched in 2007, is a long/short credit fund investing in CDS and corporate bonds. Its assets totaled EUR628.7m as of 31 January.

Several European professional associations on 1 March called on the European Commission to reconsider its proposed revisions to the Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision (IORP) directive, at a public hearing on the subject in Brussels. “We argue that it is dangerous to apply legislation which is designed for insurance companies to professional retirement institutions There are fundamental differences between them. All efforts to harmonise the regulatory regime are based on a biased logic, and may have unpredictable consequences for participants in pension programmes, retirement institutions and the economy as a whole, as they may slow growth and the creation of jobs,” statement signed jointly by the European financial and asset management association (EFAMA), th European venture capital association (EVCA), the European association of paritarian institutions (AEIP), the European trade union confederation (ETUC) and Business Europe. The associations therefore call on the European Commission, with the help of the European insurance and occupational pensions authority (EIOPA) to reconsider the issues at stake and then to formulate new proposals. The European Commission should revise its bill as soon as possible and test the validity of its new proposals with quantitative impact studies, and a political debate involving all participants, including European social partners.

Juan Carlos Ureta, CEO, has announced at a presentation of the bank’s 2011 results (see article in today’s Newsmanagers) that Renta4 is an ideal candidate to acquire asset management firms, both in Spain and in Latin America, Funds People reports. The manager says that he has already studied several potential acquisitions, including those of the Spanish savings banks’ arena. Renta 4 is hoping to be a player in the reorganisation of the asset management sector, an area which offers many opportunities because it is fragmented and many actors do not have the necessary critical mass.

To replace Oriol Dalmau, who has been appointed as a board member at the private bank but remains as chairman of the asset management firm, CatalunyaCaixa has appointed Xavier Pinzolas as CEO of CatalunyaCaixa Inversió (EUR2.4bn in assets), Funds People reports. Pinolas was CEO of Caixa Manresa Inversió from 2006 to 2010, before the asset management firm was absorbed by CatalanyaCaixa Inversió.

For 2011, Renta4 has declared a net profit of EUR4.6m, compared with EUR6m for the previous year. The decline is largely due to an exceptional charge of EUR1.5m related to the adoption of bank status by the business.Assets under management and administration as of the end of December totalled EUR5.57bn, compared with EUR5.2bn one year previously, while net inflows totalled EUR663m, compared with EUR278m in 2010.As of 31 December, assets under management in investment funds had increased 3.4% year on ear, to EUR817m, while assets in pension funds totalled EUR292m (+15%), and assets in Sicavs were down 2.8% to EUR481m.At a publication of its annual results, Renta4 announced that it has created an affiliate in Dublin, Renta4 Investment Funds plc, to facilitate international marketing of its funds and investment instruments. Agreements in the same vein have been concluded with distributors in France and Germany.In addition, the firm has opened an office in Santiago, Chile, with the objective of developing activities in Latin America.

With the Investing for a New World service, at www.blackrock.com/newworld, BlackRock has made an online multimedia toolboox to help investors of any size to better take advantage of the opportunities offered by the markets, by constructing more dynamic and more diversified portfolios.The product, which includes access to the BlackRock Institute information platform, is BlackRock’s contribution to the offensive that Lawrence D. Fink, chairman and CEO of BlackRock, is hoping to see take off in the asset management sector, which, he says, should “collaborate with businesses to help investors adopt a long-term perspective. We should redouble our efforts to offer advice and provide answers. … If we want to finance a longer life expectancy, we need to convince individuals that they need to start investing for the long term now. Longevity is an advantage that we should exploit, and not a handicap.”

Despite uncertainty surrounding the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, there were very few corporate defaults in 2011, the financial ratings agency Moody’s reports in its latest annual study. Only 35 issuers rated by Moody’s defaulted in 2011, on a total of USD36bn in debt, the lowest level in four years, the agency states. The majority of defaults were in North America, with 25 issuers (USD26bn in debt), while the remainder were in Europe. Default rates for corporate issuers rated by Moody’s fell to 0.8% as of the end of 2011, compared with 1.3% the previous year. The agency says the default rate may come in at about 2.8% at the end of 2012.

Neptune Asia Pacific Opportunities will be renamed as Neptune South-East Asia Fund, Money Marketing reports. The fund, managed by Tom Sinclair, has GBP17bn in assets.

The British asset management firm Renaissance Asset Managers on 1 March announced the launch of the Renaissance Frontier Markets Fund, a sub-fund of its UCITS-compliant, Luxembourg-registered Sicav. The new product is available to institutional and qualified retail investors.The manager, Sven Richter, says that the portfolio will be concentrated on shares from ten of the 25 countries in which annual growth is expected to be higher than 4%. These countries are Argentina, Egypt, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, Ukraine and Vietnam. At all times, these countries will account for 85% to 100% of assets.These countries were chosen because they satisfy a number of criteria, including a population of over 35 million, projected GDP growth of over 4% per year over the next decade, a GDP per capita of less than USD6,000, relatively undeveloped markets, a significant young population, attractive resources, and the potential to develop due to these factors.

As announced in mid-January, the British asset management firm Baring Asset Management (Barings) on 1 March launched a fund of global mining sector shares. The Baring Global Mining Fund is a sub-fund of the UCITS-compliant, Irish-registered OEIC fund Baring Investment Funds plc (see Newsmanagers of 17 January).The fund of equities in all cap sizes will be managed by Clive Burstow. It is available in share classes denominated in EUR (IE00B5VDNH0), USD (IE00B55BZX02), and GBP (IE00B704RW18).

Rolf R. Frehner, who for the past four years had been executive vice president for central and eastern Europe at Coutts Bank in Zurich, on 1 March began in his new position as a member of the general board at Bank Sal. Oppenheim jr & Cie (Schweiz), in charge of private banking for eastern Europe.At Coutts, Frehner had been responsible for the markets of Russia and the CIS, after coorginating the entry of the Liechtensteinische Landesbank into the markets of eastern Europe. In 2007, he was also one of the founders and the president of the public association Swiss Russian Forum.

Jon Andrea von Planta has been appointed as co-head private clients at Rothschild Wealth Management in Zurich, Agefi Switzerland reports. He began in his new role on 1 march, and is co-head with Riccardo Petrachi of all private clients of the bank in Zurich. Von Planta spent 16 years at Morgan Stanley & Co International in London, where as project lead, he developed business with high net worth clients in continental Europe. After returning to Switzerland in 2008, Von Planta founded his own asset management consulting firm, in which he continued to manage the assets of high net worth clients as well as a private commodities fund.

The bank Sal. Oppenheim jr & Cie (Switzerland) has appointed Rolf Frehner as head of its private banking activities in eastern Europe, Agefi Switzerland reports. He began in his new role on 1 March 2012. Frehner also becomes a board member at the firm. Frehner spent four years at Coutts bank, as executive vice president for central and eastern Europe.

A planned merger of the Geneva-based private bank Cramer and the Zurich-based Hottinger, announced in November 2011, has fallen through, according to a joint statement from the two groups. The two firms and the Geneva-based investment firm Norinvest, owned by Cramer, have decided to call off plans to merge, “for reasons related to the future strategic development of their activities.” The decision was taken by common agreement, and “the two groups will continue their activities independently, each developing their existing strategy and optimising their structure in order to achieve ongoing and sustainable growth.” Hottinger is present in Switzerland (Zurich, Basel and Geneva), New York, and the Bahamas. Cramer is present in Switzerland, where the bank has 45 employees, and the Bahamas.

The resignation of Bernard Joei, who has chosen to leave the group, will lead to two promotions in the asset management unit at Zurich Financial Services (ZFS). The outgoing Joei is replaced from 1 March as head of alternative investments by Urban Angehm, currently head of investment strategy implementation. Angehm will be based in New York, and will report to Cecilia Reyes, CIO. Angehm came to ZFS in 2007 from Winterthur Asset Management, where he had been head of allocation & strategy.Thomas A. Rogers, regional investment manager for Americas, has been appointed as Angehm’s successor as head of investment strategy implementation in Zurich. He will also report to Reyes.

According to an exclusive report in Financial Times Deutschland, Deutsche Bank is said to be planning to integrate the ETF arm of its operation, db x-trackers (EUR30bn in assets), into its asset management firm DWS, which it plans to retain after the sale of the rest of its asset management operations. The bank has declined to comment on the reports. db x-trackers has hitherto been a part of the investment banking unit, led by the future co-CEO of the firm, Anshu Jain.

Assets under management at Man Group as of the end of December totalled USD58.4bn, compared with USD64.5bn as of the end of September, and USD69.1bn as of the end of March 2011, the alternative asset management firm announced on 1 March at a presentation of its results for the quarter and the first nine months of its 2011-2012 fiscal year. The first nine months of the fiscal year brought net outflows of USD1.5bn. In the quarter to the end of December alone, outflows totalled USD2.5bn. Over nine months, negative market and currency effects totalled USD4bn and USD1.7bn, respectively. Man Group states, however, that as of the end of February, assets under management totalled USD59.5bn, largely due to good results at GLG and a more modest positive contribution from AHL. “Investor confidence improved compared with the last quarter of 2011, and the slowdown in redemptions led to a significant decline in net outflows,” Man Group explains, adding that confidence remains fragile and that it will take more time for inflows to pick up again. Man Group states that performance was positive from the beginning of the calendar year to 24 February for the major UCITS strategies from GLG, with 6% for European Equity Alternative, 4% for North American Equity Alternative, 5.2% for Alpha Select, 8.4% for Global Convertibles, 6.9% for Emerging Markets, 19.3% for Japan Core Alpha, and 11.3% for Global Equity. Only the Atlas Macro fund has seen negative performance of 0.4%. Pre-tax profits in the first nine months of the year totalled USD262m, compared with USD599m for the year to the end of March 2011. The board has confirmed that it will recommend a final dividend of 7 cents per share for the nine months to the end of December, which brings total dividends for the period to 16.5 cents per share. Dividends for the fiscal year may total 22 cents.

Prashant Kothari, vice president and senior investment manager at ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company, is joining the emerging market equities team at Pictet Asset Management in London, where he will continue to focus on Indian equities.According to some sources, Kothari may become co-manager of an Indian equity fund with David Chaterjee, replacing Oliver Bell, who has become manager of the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) fund at T. Rowe Price.Pictet AM says that its assets in emerging market equities total about GBP4.3bn.

Credit Suisse decided to reduce its stake in Aberdeen from 19.9% to 9.9% at the end of last week, Financial News reports. A second block of 57 million shares was placed yesterday by the bank at 240 pence each.

The US firm Citi has appointed Cheeping Yap as its head of administration services for Asia, as part of an internal reshuffle which has also included the appointment of a new head for the Australian market, Asian Investor reports. Yap, who began in his new role on 1 February, covers alternative investment, long-only mutual funds, transfer agency services and fuduciary services. In the position he replaces Matt Brown, who takes up new responsibilities in fund administration for the EMEA region. Citi is also planning to create a position for a global head of ETFs, an activity which Citi would like to develop steadfastly.