Selon le palmarès mensuel établi par Allfunds Bank et relayé par Funds People, sept catégories de fonds affichent une performance supérieure à 100 % sur trois ans à fin janvier. Il s’agit exclusivement de fonds d’actions, en grande majorité spécialistes des marchés émergents (voir tableau joint).Le meilleur fonds dans la catégorie actions Russie est le Raiffeisen Russland Aktien, avec un gain de 235 % sur trois ans. Parmi les fonds d’actions australiennes, le Parvest Equity Australia C arrive en tête avec une performance de 130,5 %. Dans le compartiment des actions PME Asie-Pacifique le meilleur produit est le Aberdeen Global - Asian Smaller Companies A2 Acc.Aux valeurs cycliques, le champion est le Julius Baer Luxury Brands-EUR B avec un gain de 153 %.Enfin, pour les actions Amérique latine, les deux fonds les plus performants sont Pinebridge Global Funds - Lat Am Sm&Mid Cap Eq A (+143%) et Aberdeen Global - Latin American Equity S2 Acc (+132%) tandis qu’aux actions Brésil, le HSBC GIF Brazil Equity AC USD s’adjuge 137 %.

Taimur Hassan, un ancien trader pour compte propre de Goldman Sachs, prévoit de lancer un hedge fund sur les matières premières cet été, rapporte Financial News. Sa société a été baptisée Frere Hall Capital Management.

Surtout connue et reconnue pour son expertise sur les marchés émergents, la société de gestion Comgest entend consolider ce pôle historique tout en développant ses autres pôles de compétences, notamment les Etats-Unis avec désormais une équipe dédiée de 4 personnes, a indiqué le 15 février le président de Comgest, Vincent Strauss, à l’occasion d’un point de presse. Le pôle émergent reste évidemment central, avec la nomination récente d’un responsable du développement en Asie (Newsmanagers du 6 février), mais Comgest veut optimiser ses résultats et éviter toute dilution, quitte à refuser des mandats si nécessaire.Les actifs sous gestion du pôle «Global-U.S.» s'élèvent désormais à 906 millions d’euros, au terme d’une année où la collecte nette s’est inscrite à 154 millions d’euros. Sur les marchés émergents, la collecte nette s’est élevée l’an dernier à 600 millions d’euros pour des actifs sous gestion de 10,5 milliards d’euros à fin décembre. Au total, avec un encours d’un peu plus de 2 milliards d’euros sur l’Europe, les actifs sous gestion de Comgest s’inscrivaient fin décembre à 13,5 milliards d’euros contre 15,5 milliards d’euros fin 2010. Un effet marché significatif est passé par là puisque la collecte nette représente 200 millions d’euros. L’environnement difficile n’a toutefois pas empêché la société de poursuivre son développement, l’effectif de la société s'élevant désormais à 85 personnes contre 79 fin 2010. Un gestionnaire des risques est en cours de recrutement. La société a par ailleurs décidé de créer une structure de type holding afin notamment de soutenir l’organisation avec des départements supports centralisés et améliorer la visibilité financière avec les résultats financiers consolidés et faciliter la gestion actionnariale du groupe. La mise en place de cette structure permet également d’assurer l’indépendance de la société, «fondamentale pour une boutique comme la nôtre», souligne Vincent Strauss, grâce à une réserve de trésorerie dédiée à l’achat des actions des partenaires quittant le groupe ou partant à la retraite. Jan-Peter Dolff, qui a largement contribué au développement de Comgest en Allemagne, devient directeur général de Comgest encadrant toutes les fonctions du groupe exception faite de la gestion de fonds. Sur le chapitre des prévisions pour 2012, Comgest se veut optimiste pour les pays émergents malgré la faiblesse de la croissance mondiale. «Nous anticipons des taux de croissance supérieurs à la moyenne en raison de facteurs structurels comme l’augmentation du revenu disponible d’une classe moyenne en croissance ou l’amélioration de la productivité», estime Vincent Strauss qui ajoute toutefois que la faiblesse des économies industrialisées pourrait fragiliser les économies émergentes à court terme. Comgest prévoit une croissance moyenne annuelle des bénéfices par action de 12% en 2012 et 2013 pour les sociétés en portefeuille. Par ailleurs, après la baisse des taux de change des devises émergentes en août 2011, Comgest considère désormais l’appréciation des monnaies émergentes comme une véritable opportunité, à l’exception de l’Europe de l’Est.

Entrée en 2008 comme secrétaire général de la société de gestion de SwissLife Banque Privée (3 milliards d’euros d’encours), Laurence Pâris a été promue directeur général de cette entité en septembre 2011 et l’information a été communiquée mercredi.L’intéressée succède à Xavier Lespinas-Bertrand qui devient vice-président du conseil d’administration et directeur de la gestion actions."Dans le cadre de la poursuite du développement de la banque et de la société de gestion, Laurence Pâris participe au comité exécutif de la banque, ainsi qu’à l’élaboration et à la mise en œuvre de la stratégie. Elle contribue également au déploiement des synergies avec Prigest, société de gestion qui s’est rapprochée de SwissLife Banque Privée en juin 2011", précise le communiqué.

M&G vient de recevoir l’agrément de l’Autorité des marchés financiers pour commercialiser en France le M&G Global Macro Bond Fund, un fonds obligataire de type «total return». Lancé en 1999, le produit est géré par Jim Leaviss, le responsable obligataire de la société de gestion. Flexible, il peut être investi sur toutes sortes d’instruments de dettes sur un univers mondial.

Aberdeen Asset Management s’est vu confier un mandat de multigestion dans le domaine de l’immobilier européen de la part d’un fonds de pension américain, l’Employees Retirement System of Texas, annonce la société de gestion mercredi 15 février.Le portefeuille paneuropéen sera construit et géré par l’équipe de multigestion immobilière d’Aberdeen, qui gère actuellement environ 2 milliards de dollars de mandats en Europe.

Ariane Tardieu has been promoted to the position of head of business development for France at Carmignac Gestion, the asset management firm announced on Wednesday. She will begin in her new position on 1 March. Since 2011, Tardieu had been deputy head of development for France at the firm based in the Place Vendôme in Paris, where she has been working for eight years. Tardieu will report to Davide Fragonese, global director of sales and marketing, and will direct a team of 10 people, a statement says. A spokesperson for Carmignac Gestion has told Newsmanagers that the appointment is a promotion, and that Tardieu is not replacing anyone.

S&P Indices on 15 February announced the launch of an index which is designed to provide exposure to non-US equities identified by S&P as high-quality shares in terms of growth and stability of profits and dividends. The S&P International Developed High Quality Rankings Index will be used by PowerShares to create ETP products.

Northern Trust has made several appointments to its unit dedicated to alternative management, “Northern Trust Alternatives Group,” which will allow it to enlarge its personnel in hedge funds and private equity. Anthony Zanolla has been promoted to the position of head of portfolio management. He had previously been a senior portfolio manager. Tony Lissuzzo, previously at Lakeview Investment Management, has been recruited as head of hedge fund research. Bob DiCarlo, previously at Aurora Investment, has been recruited as chief administrative officer. Aimee Wright, who recently served high net worth clients at Northern Trust, is appointed as an Investor Relations consultant for hedge funds. Brad Dorchinecz, who has been at Northern Trust for more than ten years, is appointed director of the private equity unit. He will oversee the unit’s investment process.

The asset management firm Comgest, known largely for its expertise in emerging markets, is planning to consolidate this historic unit, while developing other areas of expertise, including the United States, where the firm now has a team of 4 people, the chairman of Comgest, Vincent Strauss, announced on 15 February. The emerging markets unit remains central, with the recent appointment of a head of development for Asia (see Newsmanagers of 6 February), but Comgest is seeking to optimise its results and to avoid diluting them, even if this means refusing mandates if necessary. Assets under management in the Global-U.S. unit now total EUR906m, after a year of net inflows totalling EUR154m. In emerging marktes, net inflows last year totalled EUR600m, with assets under management of EUR10.5bn as of the end of December. Overall, with assets of slightly over EUR2bn in Europe, assets under management at Comgest as of the end of December totalled EUR13.5bn, compared with EUR15.5bn as of the end of 2010. Net inflows totalled EUR200m. The firm has decided to create a holding company, in order to support centralised organisation with supporting departments, and to improve financial visibility, with consolidated financial results, and to facilitate shareholder management at the group. Jan-Peter Dolff, who has made significant contributions to Comgest in Germany, becomes CEO of Comgest for all areas of operation except fund management.

After heavy outflows in 2010, TCW, the US asset management company of the Société Générale group, has returned to inflows in 2011, totalling EUR2.3bn, according to results published by the bank on Thursday. After taking into account a “market” effect of EUR -0.9 billion and a “currency” effect of EUR +2.9 billion, assets under management totalled EUR 91 billion at end- December (vs. EUR 87 billion at end-December 2010). At EUR 344 million, revenues were down -24.6% vs. 2010. «This was primarily due to a change in the method of remunerating certain activities, which had a symmetrical impact on revenues and costs, without affecting gross operating income», explains SocGen. As a result, operating expenses declined -22.1% year-on- year to EUR 342 million. Gross operating profits amounted to EUR 2 million in 2011 vs. EUR 20 million in 2010. The contribution of Amundi, in which Société Générale holds a 25% stake, in 2011 was EUR98m, compared with EUR100m in 2010. At EUR2.169bn, earnings for the Global Investment Management and Services unit were down by -4.2% compared with 2010 (-4.4% in ongoing data). The division’s contribution to Group net income amounted to EUR 171 million in 2011 (EUR 236 million excluding goodwill write-down), vs. EUR 289 million in 2010.

Earnings from asset management at the AXA group remained stable in 2011 at EUR3.269trn. Earnings at AXA IM were up 5%, largely due to rising commissions on real estate transactions and performance commissions. Earnings at AllianceBernstein are down 3%, as rising distribution commissions were more than offset by lower management commissions. Operating profits in asset management are up 20% to EUR321m, largely driven by AXA IM due to the non-recurrence of a one-time provision related to a programming error at AXA Rosenberg in 2010, and rising earnings. Assets under management as of the end of December totalled EUR847bn, down EUR31bn compared with 31 December 2010. Several factors contributed to this development, notably a net outflow of EUR30bn (compared, it is true, with -EUR64bn in 2010), of which EUR28bn were from Alliance Bernstein, largely from institutional clients, including a net inflow of +EUR16bn related to an advising mandate for AXA Japan.

For the fiscal year ending on 31 December, Morningstar Inc has reported a 13.7% increase in its earnings to USD631.4m, of which USD15.3m came from acquisitions made in 2010, and USD10.1m in currency gains.Consolidated operating profits were up 14.3% compared with 2010, at USD138.4m, while net profits totalled USD98.4m, a 13.9% increase compared with the previous year.As of 31 December, global personnel at the group totalled 3,465, compared with 3,225 twelve months earlier, largely due to recruitments in the development centres in China, India and the United States.As of the end of 2011, Morningstar had USD470.2m in cash, compared with USD365.4m as of the end of 2010.

As part of its open architecture programme, the Union Financière de France (UFF) has signed up two new partners. Aberdeen will be replacing the former Fortis (BNP Paribas IP) as the financial manager retained for the emerging markets diversified fund UFF Emergence.The UFF has also retained Acropole to manage a convertible bond fund which will be launched in early March. It is a «secure» product maturing in August 2015, which is aimed primarily at corporate treasurers.The UFF is also preparing an eight-year formula guaranteed fund, which will be ready for release in April or May.

The Banque Cantonale Vaudoise (BCV) group has announced net profits of CHF301m for the 2011 fiscal year, down 4% year on year. Assets under management as of the end of December totalled CHF77.1bn, up 1.6% compared with 31 December 2010. Assets related to the consolidation of Banque Franck Galland & Cie SA, totalling CHF2.8bn, and net inflows of CHF1.1bn, offset the negative impact of falling markets.

According to monthly rankings by Allfunds Bank, relayed by Funds People, seven categories of funds have posted returns of over 100% for the three years to the end of January. They are all equity funds, most of them specialised in emerging markets (see attached table).The best fund in the Russian equities category is the Raiffeisen Russland Aktien, with gains of 235% over three years. Among Australian equity funds, the Parvest Equity Australia C fund tops the rankings, with returns of 130.5%. In the Asia-Pacific SME category, the best product is the Aberdeen Global – Asian Smaller Companies A2 Acc.In cyclical shares, the winner is the Julius Baer Luxury Brands-EUR B, with gains of 153%.Lastly, for Latin American equities, the two top funds are Pinebridge Global Funds – Lat Am Sm&Mid Cap Eq A (+143%) and the Aberdeen Global – Latin American Equity S2 Acc (+132%), while for Brazilian equities, the HSBC GIF Brazil Equity AC USD has gained 137%.

Volker Noack, who had been head of fund management at Union Investment Real Estate (UIRE), is handing over the position to the chairman of the managing board, Reinhard Kutscher. He has been appointed head of asset management for Europe, France, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific, which represent assets of EUR8.4bn; he will take over the responsibilities of Karl-Joseph Hermanns-Engel, who has resigned with effect from 1 February.Noack has been a member of the managing board at UIRE since 2010. The management team also includes Heiko Beck and Frank Billand.

Equity managers are most optimistic about the outlooks of returns in their asset class, according to a survey undertaken recently by the multi-management team at Aviva Investors, covering managers in the United Kingdom, United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America. The majority of respondents (64%) are expecting returns of over 5%, while only 3% are predicting negative returns. However, only 7% of bond managers are planning to earn returns of over 5% on government bonds in 2012. 20% even predict negative returns on sovereign debt, while 13% predict negative returns on corporate debt. Hedge fund managers are predicting returns in a range from 5% to 15%. A majority of managers specialised in real estate are predicting total returns of 0% to 10%. 10% predict growth of over 10%. Only 17% are predicting losses.

Sukuk issues last year totalled USD84.5bn, up 64.5% compared with the previous year, and nearly double the amounts issued in 2007, according to a study by Standard & Poor’s (“Global Crisis Boosts Growth in a Lovely but Fragmented Sukuk Market,” 10 February 2012). The agency predicts a dynamic comparable to 2010 and 2011, which may result in a new record level of issues. Since the beginning of the year, sukuk issues have totalled USD23bn, of which USD20bn were in the month of January alone. However, at current levels, the sukuk market represents only about 1% of total bond issues worldwide. The major issuers remain governments, semi-public institutions in Malaysia, and the Gulf countries. Sukuks continue to be aimed primarily at local investors, and are mostly issued in local currency. The Malaysian ringgit represents about 70% of total issues in 2011, with the second-largest currency being the Qatari riyal, and the third the US dollar, at about 10% each.

Aberdeen Asset Management has been awarded a European property multi-manager mandate from the Employees Retirement System of Texas. The Pan-European portfolio will be constructed and managed by the asset manager’s property multi-manager team. Aberdeen currently manages around EUR2bn in European property multi-manager mandates.

The financial services provider Sun Life Financial has announced that it has strengthened its ties with the British arm of the Canadian firm Sun Life Financial [sic], to provide services on assets of over GBP11.5bn. Services provided by State Street include fund valuation, custody, performance measurement, compliance monitoring, OTC valuations, and collateral management.

Patrick Chia, head of fixed income and currencies at Amundi for the Asia-Pacific region, has been recruited in Singapore as head of Asian fixed income at ING Investment Management. He will be responsible for the Asian bond team and the team handling global emerging market bond management, in cooperation with his colleagues in New York, Atlanta and the Hague.Chia will report to Rob Drijkoningen, co-head emerging market debt, and Grant Bailey, CEO of ING IM for the Asia-Pacific region.

M&G has received a license from the French financial market regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) to release the M&G Global Macro Bond Fund, a total return bond fund, in France. The product, launched in 1999, is managed by Jim Leaviss, head of fixed income at the asset management firm. The fund is flexible, and may invest in debt instruments of all types from a global universe.

Taimur Hassan, a former proprietary trader at Goldman Sachs, is planning to launch a hedge fund trading in commodities this summer, Financial News reports. His firm has been entitled Frere Hall Capital Management.

For the third consecutive year, the British firm M&G last year led retail sales in the United Kingdom, according to the Pridham report, published by Fundscape. The British asset management firm attracted GBP4.3bn in assets in a year characterised by massive redemptions, particularly from equities. The success of M&G last year was favoured by a taste on the part of investors for bond funds, as two thirds of its gross sales went to fixed income products in fourth quarter. BlackRock takes second place in the rankings, with a total of GBP1.8bn for the year as a whole. In fourth quarter, BlackRock earned inflows of GBP278m, compared with inflows of GBP1.2bn for M&G.

Allianz Global Investors has released a calendar to its distribution partners for name changes to 106 of its RCM funds, aimed at retail clients, while the RCM brand name will be preserved for the institutional market.The name changes will gradually be applied between 29 February and third quarter 2012. Newsmanagers is publishing the ISIN codes of the funds concerned in an attachment, with their current name and future name bearing the Allianz prefix. However, “historic” funds such as Fondak, Concentra and Industria, which were inherited from Adig/Commerzbank, will retain their current names, without the addition of the Allianz prefix.The Allianz prefix will also be added to Pimco funds, where it is not already present. This will be done on 29 February for the Allianz Emerging Markets Bond fund, which will become the Allianz Pimco EM Bond fund.

HFR estimates that the performance of hedge funds in the first month of the year has been 2.63%, while Hennessee estimates the figure at 2.51%, and Lyxor puts it at 1.30%. BarclayHedge, for its part, reports that the 1,671 funds which have released results as of 15 February gained an average of 2.98%. Only the four equity short bias funds showed losses, averaging 10.48%. However, equity long bias (223 funds) has gained 4.93%, while emerging market strategies (280 funds) have gained 4.47%.

Following the examples of France, Belgium and Italy, Spain’s CNMV has withdrawn a ban on short-selling of financial sector shares as of 16 February, which will allow bearish hedge funds once again to bet against Spanish financial sector groups such as Santander and BBVA, Cinco Días reports.The protected shares had included Banca Cívica, BBVA, Banco Sabadell, Banco de Valencia, Banesto, Pastor, Popular, Santander, Bankia, Bankinter, Caixabank, CAM, Catalana de Occidente, Mapfre, BME and Renta 4.The CNMV is maintaining a requirement that short positions totalling over 0.2% of capital in a publicly-traded business be notified.

The Market Vectors Unconventional Oil 7 Gas ETF (acronym on NYSE Arca: FRAK) was admitted to trading on 15 February. Van Eck Global says it is the first ETF listed in the United States to offer investors pure play exposure to new energies such as coal seam gas, shale gas, and shale oil.The new fund replicates the Market Vectors Unconventional Oil & Gas Index, which as of the end of January included shares in 43 companies.Management commission is limited to 0.54% until at least 1 May 2013.

With the rebound on the markets observed in January, long-term mutual funds (meaning all mutual funds excluding money markets) have posted a net inflow for the month of nearly USD34bn, MutualFundWire reports. According to the most recent statistics from Morningstar on fund flows, 54.36% of these inflows were absorbed by only three actors: Vanguard, with USD13.55bn (39.94% of the total), JP Morgan, with a total of USD2.53bn (7.47%), and DoubleLine, with USD2.36bn (6.95%).