Entre fin juin et fin septembre, la société de gestion alternative Man Group a vu ses encours reculer de 71 milliards de dollars à 65 milliards. Sur le trimestre, la société a accusé des rachats nets de 2,6 milliards de dollars, après avoir enregistré des souscriptions nettes de 1,1 milliard au premier semestre de l’année. Le bénéfice avant impôt sur les six mois à fin septembre est ressorti à 145 millions de dollars, contre 180 millions un an plus tôt. Les frais de gestion ont aussi reculé de 234 millions à 200 millions, ce qui reflète l’élargissement de la base de coûts consécutive à l’acquisition l’an dernier de GLG. Ces résultats ont été sanctionnés en Bourse, mercredi, par une chute de l’action Man Group de 24,87% à 180 pence.
Pour son premier mandat depuis près de cinq ans, le Bureau of Labour Insurance (BLI) de Taïwan (13,7 milliards de dollars américains d’encours) a lancé un appel d’offres pour un mandat d’actions internationales de 600 millions de dollars, rapporte Asian Investor. Sur les quelque 50 candidats, seuls huit ont été retenus. Il s’agit de Amundi, BlackRock, Harding Loevner (groupe Affiliated General Managers); Harris Investments (groupe BMO Financial), JP Morgan Asset Management, MFS Investment Management, PanAgora Asset Management et Schroder Investment Management.Vraisemblablement, le BLI retiendra trois noms et confiera à chacun des lauréats un mandat de 200 millions de dollars. Le BLI gère déjà 2 milliards de dollars en actions internationales, en interne et sous forme d’un mandat accordé à Wellington en 2004. Janus Capital et Vontobel, pour leur part, gèrent des mandats actions mondiales et actions émergentes, respectivement, pour le compte du BLI.
Liontrust Asset Management has seen a 6.13% decline in its assets as of 28 September compared with 31 March, to GBP1.179bn. The decline is largely due to market conditions. In the quarter, the British asset management firm posted net subscriptions of GBP45m. Between 1 April and 27 September 2011, inflows totalled GBP58m.
Between the end of June and the end of September, the alternative management firm Man Group has seen a decline in its assets, from USD71bn to USD65bn. In the quarter, the firm underwent net redemptions of USD2.6bn, after posting net susbcriptions of USD1.1bn in the first half of the year. Pre-tax profits in the six months to the end of September totalled USD145m, compared with USD180m one year earlier. Management fees also fell from USD234m to USD200m, which reflects an increase in the costs related to the acqusition of GLG last year.The London-listed company suffered a 25 per cent drop in its share price in response to its results on Wednedsay – their biggest fall since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008.
Henderson Global Investors has appointed Andrew Friend to head up its UK distribution team for its GBP12.4 billion property business. As ‘director of institutional business’ he will take overall responsibility for the London based property distribution team, driving future growth into both existing and less explored capital markets. Andrew Friend has been with the company for 11 years, predominantly as the former fund manager of the Henderson UK Retail Warehouse Fund and latterly working on the launch of German retail funds from Henderson’s Frankfurt office.
For its first mandate in nearly five years, Taiwan’s Bureau of Labour Insurance (BLI) (Usd13.7bn in assets) has issued a RFP for an international equities mandate totalling USD600m, Asian Investor reports. Out of about 50 candidates, eight have been selected to continue to the next round. They are understood to be Amundi, BlackRock, Harding Loevner (Affiliated General Managers group), Harris Investments (BMO Financial group), JP Morgan Asset Management, MFS Investment Management, PanAgora Asset Management, and Schroder Investment Management.The BLI will probably select three candidates, and will grant each of them a USD200m mandate. The BLI already manages USD2bn in international equities, both internally and under a mandate awarded to Wellington in 2004. For their part, Janus Capital and Vontobel manage global and emerging markets equities mandates, respectively, for the BLI.
Lok Yim, Head of North Asia Private Wealth Management, says that high net worth clients at Deutsche Bank in Asia in June moved away from equities towards bond products. Unlike European high net worth investors, Asian clients tend to make large-scale movements from one asset class to another, Hedge Week reports.Lok says that in addition to pulling out of equities, Asian clients have turned to mutual funds in order to profit from increased volatility, insofar as liquidity is available. However, high net worth retail clients nonetheless remain overweight in emerging markets equities, and are interested in Asian as well as Latin American equities.Clients’ appetite for real estate remains relatively high, but investments in hedge funds have declined. However, Deutsche Bank has observed an increase in interest in private equity in the form of direct investments rather than via major specialist funds.
UBS Wealth Management has recruited Edmund Kian-Chew Koh as regional director for Singapore and CEO for wealth management. He thus replaces two people: Gerald Chan, country head at UBS Singapore, and Christine Ong, CEO of Wealth Management Singapore, who has been on sick leave for some time. Koh will begin in his new role at the beginning of 2012, and will join the board of directors at UBS Wealth Management.
Swiss Life AM (France) announced on Wednesday, 28 September, that it is recruiting Christophe Frespuech as director of development. In this role, Frespuech will be responsible for sales teams, product engineering activities, and operational marketing in France. Frespuech, 42, whose arrival is related to the departure of Alain Konrad from SPGP (see Newsmanagers of 01/09/2011), will coordinate all client segments (institutional and retail), and adaptation of the Swiss Life AM range of products and services, a statement says. He is also a board member at Swiss Life Asset Management (France), and will work in collaboration with the group’s teams in France, Switzerland and Germany. Ferspuech had previously been head of marketing and calls for proposals at Lyxor Asset Management; he joined that firm in 2007.
Northern Trust has announced the appointment of Marie Dzanis as vice president and director of sales for its ETF unit. Dzanis will be in charge of sales and client relationships. She will be based in Chicago, and joins from BlackRock (iShares), where she had been in charge of sales to private clients in the eastern United States.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has accused Corey Ribotsky, a hedge funds manager at the NIR Group, of fraud, the Wall Street Journal reports. The regulator claims that Ribotsky and his firm concealed losses and spent investors’ money on cars, a Rolex and other luxury items. Between 2004 and 2009, he is accused of misappropriating over USD1m. The SEC has filed a civil suit against Ribotsky, his firm, and a former analyst.
David Pérez de Albeniz has been appointed as head of the representative office that Allfunds Bank (a 50/50 joint venture of Santander and Intesa Sanpaolo) has recently opened in the Dubai Financial Center (DIFC), Funds People reports.The location will eventually become an operational hub for the fund platform’s activities (EUR60bn in assets intermediated, for 22,000 funds and over 400 asset management firms) in the Middle East and Asia.
AXA Real Estate Investment Managers, with over EUR40 billion of assets under management as at June 2011, has appointed Riccardo Dallolio as European head of transactions. Based in London, and reporting to Anne Kavanagh, global head of property services group, his role will be to source and secure large pan European transactions with the support of local experts. He will be responsible for co-ordinating all transactional activity in Europe. Riccardo Dallolio joins after six years at Grove International Partners,
Dirk Zabel, who has been head of third-party distribution for the past year (see Newsmanagers of 1 October 2010), will join the management board at Hansainvest Hanseatische Investment in early 2012 as head of securities activities, alongside Jörg W. Stotz. He replaces Gerhard Lenschow, who is retiring. Zabel will be in charge of distribution, marketing and strategic asset allocation for securities funds.
Frank Steinmetz, a specialist in human resources, project management and the insurance sector, has been appointed with immediate effect as a partner at the consulting firm Kommalpha, based in Hanover, and will focus on the institutional market. Steinmetz, a former engagement manager at McKinsey and principal at Egon Zehnder International, will be in charge of research and monitoring of new projectts, as well as the development of other sectors of activity.
Institutional investors estimate that corporate governance and investor relations practices have made some progress in Latin America, according to a recent survey of European investors in this class, published by JP Morgan Chase & Co. Respondents says that companies in the region still need to continue their efforts to attract more foreign capital. 50% estimate that Brazilian businesses have the best practices in corporate governance. The study based on the survey, entitled “North America and European Investor Opinions of Latin American Companies” (attached), also finds that investors have high hopes for growth in the region. According to the institutional investors surveyed, opportunities are largely in the Colombian and Brazilian markets.
The most recent edition of a study entitled “Impact of Fund Size and Age on Hedge Fund Performance” by PerTrac confirms the conclusions of last year’s study (see Newsmanagers of 2 November 2010): small hedge funds with less than USD100m in assets in 2010 posted average returns of 13.04%, compared with 11.04% for mid-sized funds (with USD100-500m in assets) and 10.99% for funds with over USD500m. The trend has continued in the first six months of 2011. PerTrac has also found that younger hedge funds (less than two years old) made 13.25% last year, compared with 12.65% for funds which have been in existence for two to four years, and 11.77% for older products. In addition, younger funds appear to have made these returns with less risk than their older rivals. PerTrac suggests several reasons for the fact that younger hedge funds achieve better results. It may be due to the fact that they were able to make changes to their portfolios more rapidly, “under the coverage radar,” or due to the fact that their administrative and operational needs are slighter, and result in lower fixed costs. New technologies also probably allow them to operate more efficiently in more fast-moving universes.
Deutsche Börse on 28 September announced that it has admitted the first 8 Exchange-Traded Commodities (ETC) and the first 12 Exchange-Traded Notes (ETN) from Commerzbank, all of them German-registered products, for trading on its Xetra electronic platform.The ETC and ETN products carry total management commissions ranging from 0.20% to 0.50% for the former, and 0.105 to 0.35% for the latter.The list of new ETCs and ETNs is available at the following address: http://deutsche-boerse.com/mr/binary/4ECDA7BA0CEECD8FC1257919003CFB4B/$… The ETC segment of Xetra now includes 190 instruments, while the ETN segment lists 47.
F&C RETI has raised EUR170m for its institutional real estate fund Best Value Germany form institutional investors, bringing assets in the product to over EUR300m, a statement says. The investment period for the fund will end in 2013.
Alain Dubois, chairman of Lyxor, claims that physical ETFs present the same default risks as synthetic ETFs, as the fund provider lends out the underlying securities held by the product, Financial News reports.
Various British media sources report that Dan Roberts, who joined Eden Financial in July, with his former colleague from Gartmore, Leigh Himsworth, will join Fidelity on 14 November to manage a new income fund investing in international equities, on a team with Michael Clarke and Aditya Shivram. He will report to Paras Anand, who will join Fidelity in early 2012 from F&C.
At the end of first half, on 30 June 2011, MAM Funds posted assets of GBP1.68bn, an increase of 9.9% compared with 30 June 2010 (GBP1.54bn). MAM Funds has also announced an increase in earnings of GBP10.7m, up 7% year on year.
As part of a succession plan that has been planned for a number of years, Bo Knudsen will replace Mikael Randel as CEO of Carnegie Asset Management, a nordic asset manager with DKK70bn under management. The change will take place by year end, securing a smooth transition process.Bo Knudsen has been with the company for 15 years, both in the capacity as a global portfolio manager and as part of the management team. Going forward he will also continue as a member of the portfolio management team with particular focus on the global equity product.
MMA vient de nommer Nathalie Bohère directrice marketing. Elle succède à Christophe Bardet, nommé directeur général de MMA Holding UK Arrivée chez MMA en 1999 au sein de la direction commerciale, elle a intégré en 2004 la direction Marketing et Développement de MMA, en charge de la direction du Marché des Particuliers.
Swiss Life AM (France) a annoncé, mercredi 28 septembre, le recrutement de Christophe Frespuech en tant que directeur du développement. A ce titre, il prend la responsabilité des équipes commerciales, des activités d’ingénierie produits et de marketing opérationnel en France.Agé de 42 ans, le nouveau promu dont l’arrivée est liée au départ d’Alain Konrad chez SPGP (voir Newsmanagers du 01/09/2011) assurera la coordination de l’ensemble des segments de clientèle (institutionnelle et distribution) et l’adéquation de l’offre de produits et de services de Swiss Life AM, précise un communiqué. Il est également membre du comité de direction de Swiss Life Asset Management (France) et exerce sa fonction en collaboration avec les équipes du groupe situées en France, en Suisse et en Allemagne. Auparavant, Christophe Frespuech était responsable du marketing et responsable des appels d’offres chez Lyxor Asset Management qu’il avait rejoint en 2007.
Generali a annoncé, mercredi 28 septembre, avoir confié à la société DeriveXperts la double valorisation de ses produits structurés présents dans les contrats d’assurance vie en unités de compte.En parallèle, DeriveXperts accompagnera les équipes de l’assureur dans la compréhension des produits complexes pour en optimiser la gestion des risques.La société développera également un véritable système d’informations adapté à la problématique de Generali permettant un accès rapide aux modèles, aux paramètres de marché et aux valorisations, et une analyse qualitative sur l'évolution du prix des produits, précise un communiqué.
L’an dernier, Financière de l’Echiquier a pris 10 % de Philéas Asset Management, une boutique long/short actions, rappelle L’Agefi Hebdo. Dans un entretien à l’hebdomadaire, Didier Le Menestrel, président de Financière de l’Echiquier, indique qu’il prévoit d’aller plus loin encore. «Je souhaiterais avoir en 2012 une petite équipe d’incubation pour racheter des petites sociétés de gestion ou prendre des participations dans leur capital ou dans leurs fonds», annonce-t-il. Il compte sur les conseils d’un nouvel administrateur indépendant, attendu en octobre. Didier Le Menestrel souhaite également «envoyer l’an prochain plusieurs membres de l’équipe de gestion en immersion à l’étranger pendant un mois, peut-être en Chine ou au Brésil, les deux nouveaux bassins de consommation qu’il faut connaître en priorité aujourd’hui». Avec une idée derrière la tête : " Monter un fonds ‘global opportunities’».
Selon une source proche du dossier, citée par La Tribune, la société de portefeuille française Eurazeo serait « très intéressée » par le rachat d’Axa PE, valorisé entre 250 et 300 millions d’euros. D’autres sont sur les rangs, indique le quotidien, comme les grands fonds américains Carlyle et KKR, ainsi que le fonds souverain de Singapour. Cette concurrence serait en train de conduire Eurazeo à tenter de mobiliser les pouvoirs publics (Elysée, Fonds stratégique d’investissement) en sa faveur, plaidant pour un maintien d’Axa PE dans des mains françaises, rapporte La Tribune.
F&C REIT a levé 170 millions d’euros pour son fonds immobilier institutionnel Best Value Germany auprès d’investisseurs institutionnels, ce qui porte l’encours du produit à plus de 300 millions d’euros, indique un communiqué. La période d’investissemrnt du fonds se terminera en 2013.
Spécialiste des ressources humaines, de la gestion de projets et du secteur des assurances, Frank Steinmetz a été nommé avec effet immédiat associé du cabinet de consultants Kommalpha de Hanovre, qui se focalise sur le marché institutionnel. Ancien engagement manager chez McKinsey et «principal» d’Egon Zehnder International, il sera plus particulièrement chargé de la recherche et du suivi de nouveaux projets ainsi que du développement des différents secteurs d’activité.