Schroders has recruited two former employees of Axa Investment Managers for its sales teams based in Paris. Aurore Wannesson-Raynaud, who had previously been director, senior product specialist, fixed income at Axa IM, has been appointed as head of sales for institutional clients. She will report to Mustapha Bouheraoua, director of institutional clients at Schroders France. Thomas Strievi, who had served as product specialist at AXA IM in the Invesments Solutions division, becomes head of commercial distribution. He will report to Alexandre Gabus, director of distribution at Schroders France. The recruitments, which were expected, follow a reorganisation of the sales team at Schroders in Paris (see Newsmanagers of 27 April 2011).

PAI Partners on 3 November announced the arrival of Charles Bouaziz in the consumer goods activity based in Paris. He will oversee the Portfolio Performance Group, which is dedicated to optimising the operational performance of companies in the PAI portfolio. Bouaziz had previously been senior adviser to PAI for nearly a year. From 1991 to 2010, he was one of the major architects of growth at PepsiCo in Europe, where he began as head of the French franchise and eventually became CEO for western Europe.

The Liechtenstein private bank Frick has obtained permission from the British authorities to open an office in London, Agefi Switzerland reports. The bank is hoping to make it possible for British taxpayers to legalise their worldwide savings which are not subject to tax.

The Canadian asset management firm Manulife has announced net inflows of USD2.9bn in third quarter for its United States affiliate John Hancock Mutual Funds, up 27% compared with third quarter 2010. In the first nine months of the year, inflows totalled USD10bn, already more than all inflows in 2010 (USD9.7bn). Assets under management at John Hancock totalled USD33.4bn as of 30 September 2011, up 6% year on year. Manulife Asset Management, for its part, finished the quarter with USD173.3bn in assets under management for external clients. These assets are down by USD5.3bn compared with 30 June 2011, largely due to negative market effects, which were slightly offset by net subscriptions and the appreciation of the US dollar against the Canadian dollar. Total assets under management at the group as of 30 September totalled USD492bn, up by USD11bn compared with 30 June, and by USD16bn compared with 30 September 2010. The profitability of investments has contributed to a gain of USD13bn in twelve months. The Manulife group nonetheless saw a net loss of CAD1.27bn in third quarter, compared with a loss of CAD2.25bn in the corresponding period of 2010. In nine months, the group has posted net profits of CAD198m, compared with a loss of CAD3.46bn in the first nine months of 2010.

Aberdeen Asset Management has launched an additional multi-asset class fund for Mike Turner, with an emerging markets bias, Investment Week reports. The Aberdeen Diversified Growth fund will have a reduced exposure to equities, instead favouring bonds and alternative assets.

British retail investors may now complement their allocation to equity and bond products with the Skandia Global Futures Fund, which invests in the managed futures market (with a volume of USD290bn). Sales and distribution of the Irish-registered, UCITS-compliant product, a sub-fund of the Skandia Global Funds Sicav, will be provided for Skandia Investment Group (SIG) by the London-based Aspect Capital, a manager specialised in managed futures, with assets as of 1 October of USD6bn. The fund will start up with USD25m in investments from SIG clients. With the choice of Aspect Capital as a partner, SIG is seeking returns comparable to those of the Diversified Programme from Aspect Capital, Aspect’s flagship strategy, which is available to qualified institutional investors, and which has a track record of over 12 years. Characteristics Name: Skandia Global Futures Fund ISIN codes: IE00B4Z94309 (GBP share class)IE00B6SRG396 (Usd share class) Management commission: 2% Performance commission: 20%, with high watermark

Ashmore Investment Management Limited, specialist manager of emerging market debt and equity securities, with assets under management of USD58.9 billion has announced the launch of the Ashmore SICAV Emerging Markets Global Equity Fund and the Ashmore SICAV Emerging Markets Global Small-Cap Equity Fund, which further complement its existing SICAV fixed income funds. These two new SICAV funds bring the total of equity-focused Ashmore SICAV funds to three and complement the existing Ashmore SICAV Emerging Markets Fixed Income range of 13 funds, with a total of USD6.4bn of assets under management across all SICAVs. All Ashmore funds focus exclusively on emerging markets. The emerging markets fixed income strategies include external debt, local currency, local currency bond as well as corporate debt, blended debt (“total return”) and multi strategy investing. The Ashmore SICAV Emerging Markets Global Equity fund will invest in equities issued by corporates and quasi-sovereigns whereas the Ashmore SICAV Emerging Markets Global Small-Cap Equity fund will invest in equities issued by small-cap corporates with a market cap of up to USD2 billion and quasi-sovereigns. The funds will be managed by AshmoreEMM, a member of the Ashmore Group.

Ashmore, the London based emerging markets asset manager, has appointed Dominick Peasley as head of European third party distribution. Reporting directly to Christoph Hofmann, Ashmore’s global head of distribution, he is based at Ashmore’s London office and responsible for establishing key relationships with retail and wholesale distributors. Dominick Peasley joins Ashmore from Goldman Sachs Asset Management where he was an Executive Director, heading UK third party distribution. This recruitment is part of the ongoing effort to complement Ashmore’s predominantly institutional business. Approximately 87% of Ashmore’s assets under management (USD58.9bn) are from institutional investors from across the globe, including central banks, sovereign wealth funds, public and corporate pensions and insurance companies.

Skandia UK, an affiliate of Old Mutual Wealth Management, on 3 November announced that in the first nine months of this year, it registered net subscriptions of GBP1.8bn, 5% less than in the corresponding period of 2010, while net subscriptions to retail funds in the United Kingdom overall fell by 26%.Net subscriptions for the Skandia Investment Solutions platform increased 4% year on year, to GBP2.8bn.As of the end of September, total assets at Skandia UK came to GBP32.2bn, 5% less than at the end of December 2010, while the FTSE 100 index in the same period lost 13%.

BlackRock has announced that Paul Tebbit has joined its UK Real Estate team as a director. He will take a leading role in the management of BlackRock’s strategic joint venture investments, as well as sourcing new opportunities for the UK Property Fund. He will report to Jeff Morton, head of investment and managing director in BlackRock’s Real Estate team. Most recently Paul Tebbit worked as a director for Telereal Trillium, which is part of the William Pears Group, and specialised in the origination of real estate and corporate investment opportunities, debt raising, valuation and transaction structuring.

Polar Capital has announced the appointment of Ton Tija, who will be in charge of launching a European Market Neutral strategy for the group. Tija will also contribute more generally to enriching the UCITS product range in the next few months. Tija previously worked at Ratio Asset Management, where he managed a European strategy. Polar Capital has also announced the launch of a long-only fund dedicated to US equities, which will be managed by two managers who arrived at the firm in August this year from Threadneedle, Andrew Holliman and Richard Wilson. The Polar Capital North American fund, which will be domiciled in Dublin as a UCITS fund, will be launched on 15 November.

Assets under management at Man Group as of 30 September totalled USD64.5bn, compared with USD69.1bn as of the end of March 2011, the group announced in its interim report on the half year to the end of September, on 3 November. The decline in assets reflects subscriptions of USD1bn, redemptions of USD2.5bn, negative market effect of USD1.4bn, and other movements totalling -USD1.7bn. Assets under management at AHL as of the end of September totalled USD24.4bn, compared with USD23.9bn as of the end of June, while GLG Alternatives had USD16.5bn, compared with USD20.2bn, long-only funds had USD10.9bn, compared with USD13.7bn, and the multi-management unit had USD12.7bn, compared with USD13.2bn. The group emphasizes that redemptions slowed in October, Assets under management totalled USD63.5bn as of 31 October 2011. Pre-tax profits in the six months to the end of September totalled USD154m, compared with USD115m in the half-year to the end of March 2011.

According to Funds People exclusive rankings, Spanish asset managenment firms currently have assets of EUR3.29bn in their funds registered in Luxembourg and Ireland. As of the end of September, Santander topped the list, with EUR1.08bn, followed by A&G with EUR853m, and BBVA with EUR846m. However, Santander and BBVA have transferred all of their Irish funds to Luxembourg in the past few months, and other asset management firms have already decided to do the same.

Two former bank executives, Robert Zimmermann and Matthias Schulthess, have founded SchulthessZimmermann, a headhunting agency based in Zurich, Agefi Switzerland reports. The firm, which will have offices in London, plans to recruit specialists in private banking, capital markets, and asset management. Zimmermann comes from Goldman Sachs in Switzerland, while Schuthess comes from UBS.

The members of the management and board of directors, and some executives at the private bank Julius Baer have been asked to forego a part of their income. The percentage requested is 5% to 10% of net income, a spokesperson for the bank, Jan Vonder Muehll, told the news agency AWP on 3 November. The remainder of cost savings will come from natural departures, and from a program entitled “HR Tool Box,” according to the spokesperson. The program includes an offer from the bank to its employees to reduce their working hours under certain conditions, or to take unpaid leave. A variety of cost reduction measures were announced internally last month. The Swiss group employs about 3,600 people.

Assets under management at Pictet & Cie increased by 1% in third quarter, the news agency Bloomberg reports. Excluding funds under administration, client assets totalled CHF252bn as of the end of September, compared with CHF249.8bn as of the end of June. The Geneva-based bank has posted net subscriptions to funds from France in particular. “The overall total in wealth management is significantly positive,” says Jacques de Saussure, managing partner at the Geneva-based bank. Including funds under administration, client assets at the private bank total CHF365bn.

La Tribune reports that Overlay AM (OAM), a unit of BNP Paribas Investment Partenrs (IP) specialised in currency management, may be merged into BNPP IP, or into Theam. The aim is for the asset management business line at BNP Paribas to contribute in the reduction of the bank’s balance sheet. If Overlay is integrated, the brand would disappear, and part of the team may not be hired back, the newspaper adds.

Eaton Vance Management has announced the launch of a mutual fund investing in a wide range of asset classes. The Eaton Vance Multi-Strategy All Market Fund may invest in equities, bonds, and alternative investments, allocating the fund’s assets to portfolios from Eaton Vance. The product is managed by the Eaton Vance Customized Solutions Group team, which reports to Jeffrey Rawlins and Dan Strelow. Target volatility for the Eaton Vance Multi-Strategy All Market Fund is 4% to 14% per year, a statement adds.

Le fonds de dotation du Louvre (120 millions d’euros d’actifs) s’intéresse aux actions des marchés frontières. La fondation envisage également de modifier la répartition de ses actifs de 30 à 40 % d’actions. Nous réfléchissons à la meilleure façon d’investir dans les marchés émergents a déclaré le directeur du fonds de dotation, Thierry Brevet au site d’informations Mandatewire. Il affirme sa préférence pour l’investissement dans des entreprises implantées au sein des marchés émergents plutôt que les multinationales qui y sont exposées, en privilégiant l’investissement dans les moyennes entreprises. Mais identifier ce type d’investissement avec un quelconque degré d’incertitude s’avère compliqué ajoute-t-il. Le plus efficace à ce stade serait d’investir dans un fonds Monde, tout en surveillant la qualité des actions qu’il contient. Le fonds de dotation est déjà présent sur les marchés émergents de manière passive avec de la société de gestion BlackRock. Son directeur souhaiterait plus activement détenir des encours sur ces marchés. De plus, la fondation a élargit son horizon jusqu’en 2016 et a revu à la hausse la proportion d’actions dans son portefeuille, afin de passer de 30 à 40 %. Pour Thierry Brevet, une période plus longue autorise de prendre un peu plus de risques et permet ainsi de profiter d’actifs plus attractifs. En contrepartie, la part obligataire du portefeuille a été réduite du côté de la dette souveraine pour ne conserver que des encours d’excellente qualité. En septembre, la proportion de dette souveraine dans le portefeuille de la fondation était de plus de 35 %. L’allocation stratégique est désormais composée de 40 % d’actions (large et mid caps mondiales, small caps aux Etats-Unis en Europe et dans les pays émergents) et 60 % d’obligations (à taux fixe, les obligations gouvernementales étant indexées sur l’inflation en euros ou en obligations couvertes et les entreprises en euros ou couverts).

Emergence, le fonds d’incubation pour les sociétés de gestion, devrait être lancé officiellement fin novembre, rapporte L’Agefi Hebdo. Le fonds était quasiment prêt fin juillet pour un lancement en septembre. Toutefois, après l'été complexe traversée par la Bourse, ce n'était plus le moment, explique Alain Leclair, qui pilote le projet Emergence en tant que membre du comité de direction de Finance Innovation et président d’honneur de l’Association française de gestion financière (AFG). En plus de la Caisse des dépôts, qui a immédiatement manifesté son intérêt, plusieurs compagnies d’assurances et caisses de retraite vont également prendre part au projet. Nous avions initialement envisagé de lever 250 millions d’euros de capitaux mais nous allons nous lancer avec 100 millions, puis effectuer un deuxième appel début 2012, expose Alain Leclair.

Avec une baisse de 51% depuis le début de l’année, le hedge fund coté a pris la mesure du mal qui ronge son cours de Bourse. Il a fait part de sa décision de racheter 150 millions de dollars d’actions et a assuré que les rachats sont revenus à des niveaux normaux depuis octobre. Au troisième trimestre, ils ont atteint 7,3 milliards de dollars. Sur le premier semestre, le bénéfice avant impôts est tombé à 195 millions de dollars, contre 227 millions un an plus tôt.

Au 30 juin, les encours gérés des Perco atteignaient 4,8 milliards d’euros. Plus de 890.000 salariés ont déjà effectué des versements, soit une progression de 30 % sur 6 mois et 40 % sur un an, selon un communiqué de l’AFG. Du 1er janvier au 30 juin, les flux d’alimentation se sont élevés à 807 millions d’euros, ce qui marque une progression de 21 % par rapport à la même période de 2010.

Les autorités européennes n’ont pas encore réclamé à Nyse Euronext et à Deutsche Börse des concessions que les intéressés jugeraient inacceptables pour pouvoir sceller leur fusion, selon Duncan Niederauer, le directeur général de Nyse Euronext. Les deux opérateurs ont jusqu’au 17 novembre pour faire des propositions de compromis. Nyse Euronext a fait état d’un bénéfice trimestriel de 186 millions de dollars, en hausse de 54%.

La Réserve fédérale a acheté 950 millions de dollars de titres adossés à des créances immobilières (MBS) à des sociétés afin de compenser les transactions annulées avec le courtier MF Global qui a déposé le bilan lundi dernier, a annoncé la Fed de New York. Ces achats ont été effectués dans le cadre d’un programme de rachat de 5,5 milliards de dollars de ce type de titres dans la semaine au 2 novembre.

Bloomberg croit savoir que la société américaine de private equity vise la levée d’ici la fin de l’année de cinq à six milliards de dollars supplémentaires pour son nouveau fonds. L’objectif serait ainsi de porter la force de frappe de ce fonds, qui consacrerait ses efforts avant tout à des transactions en Amérique du Nord, à quelque dix milliards de dollars.

La perspective d'une récession modérée en fin d'année a poussé la BCE à une baisse de 25 pb

La perspective d'une récession modérée en fin d'année a poussé la BCE à une baisse de 25 pb

Une dizaine de pays s'engagent à accroître leurs contributions. Les sherpas des chefs d'Etat planchaient toujours hier soir sur les moyens de l'EFSF

L'autorité bancaire européenne les encourage à réduire leur exposition souveraine. Les rendements italiens restent supérieurs à 6 %

Le nouveau plan quinquennal chinois va élargir le spectre des secteurs ciblés pour favoriser la constitution de « champions globaux »