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03/01/2011

“We need to aim at more targeted clients in 2011, especially institutional investors”

Eric Helderlé tells Newsmangers what's new at a rising star firm with EUR50bn in assets under management. The CEO of the company based in the place Vendôme in Paris isn't bashful about answering any questions, on topics ranging from recent appointments, the firm's founder, Edouard Carmignac, the success of the Carmignac Patrimoine fund, the limits of its popularity...
03/01/2011

Euro has a one-in-five chance of surviving the next ten years

The euro has only a 20% chance of surviving in its current form for the next ten years, according to the British research institute CEBR (Centre for Economics and Business Research), which on 31 December published its ten major predictions for 2011.In its commentary on the euro, at the top of the list of predictions, the CEBR points out that Spain and Italy will need to refinance EUR400bn of their debt in spring, which could potentially create a new crisis in the euro zone. The euro may disintegrate at that time, even if European directors are capable of responding to such a crisis.“If the euro does not fall apart, 2011 could be the year when it weakens substantially, towards parity with the dollar,” says the CEO of the CEBR, Douglas McWilliams. “I think that the thing which will put an end to the euro will be the failure of most countries to adopt remedies that include the necessary constraints to make their economies competitive over the longer term,” the CEBR chief explains.The British think tank estimates that Germany will continue to play the role of a super-star in the Western world. It points out that the success of the German economy is partly due to the contribution of its immigrants, particularly from Turkey. However, Japan, whose debt now represents 200% of its GNP, may be facing a new financial crisis.The CEBR gives itself a positive verdict on its predictions for 2010, but admits that its sporting predictions were nearly all wrong. For 2011, the CEBR is nonetheless giving it another try. In football, it plucks for Manchester United for the British championship, and Real Madrid for the European title. New Zealand will beat Australia in the rugby world cup final, it says.
03/01/2011

One out of four Italian managers outperforms benchmark

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In 2010, only one quarter of Italian managers succeeded in outperforming their benchmarks, compared with 43% in 2009, Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. The two fund categories which suffered most were money markets and short-term bonds, with only 10.7% and 9.1% outperforming their benchmarks. Most funds analysed (60%) had returns 0% to 2% higher or lower than their benchmarks. Only 10% were more than 5% away from the index (13 in a positive and 34 in a negative direction).
03/01/2011

Van Eck to launch a new fund in early 2011

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The US management firm Van Eck is planning to launch a new mutual fund on 3 January, the Van Eck CM Commodity Index Fund, Mutual Fund Wire reports.
03/01/2011

Dynamic Funds has two champions among its six funds

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Since 2009, Dynamic Funds (DundeeWealth group) has had six funds on sale in the United States.As of 27 December, the Wall Street Journal reports, its US Growth Fund, managed by Noah Blackstein, has gained 52% in one year, and posted USD14m in net subscriptions in fourth quarter, doubling its assets. It is the best leverage-free diversified US equities fund of 2010.The Dynamic Gold & Precious Metals Fund, an equities fund managed by Robert Cohen, has earned the highest performance for any type of fund in 2010, with 71%.Dynamic Funds, which represents most of the CAD33.8bn in assets under management at DundeeWealth, is struggling to retain most of its star managers now that Scotiabank has announced plans to acquire DundeeWealth (see Newsmanagers of 23 November 2010). Blackstein has announced that he is planning to remain in place.
03/01/2011

Norwegian government pension fund changes strategies

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Government Pension Fund – Global (GPFG), formerly known as the Petroleum Fund, has recently obtained permission to invest up to 5% of its assets (currently NOK3trn) in real estate, Handelsblatt reports. Previously, the fund was allowed to invest 60% of its assets in foreign equities and 40% in bonds, but the proportion in bonds has now been limited to 35%.The CEO of the GPFG, Yngve Slyngstad, soon afterwards announced the acqusition of a 25% stake in 113 properties in Regent Street in London from The Crown Estate, for NOK4.2bn (EUR513.8m). Further real estate acquisitions are planned in the United Kingdom, Germany and France, but no investments will take place in the United States before 2012.Slyngstad and Svein Gjedrem, governor of the Norwegian central bank, are currently in talks with the government to get an approval for the GPFG to invest in private equity.
03/01/2011

Raymond James acquires a Chicago brokerage firm

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The US financial services firm Raymond James Financial has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Howe Barnes Hoefer & Arnett, a brokerage firm based in Chicago, which also has a wealth management unit with USD1.9bn in assets under management.
03/01/2011

Klaus Kaldemorgen: Fall of a DWS superstar

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Professionals do not believe the official version of the story, according to which Klaus Kaldemorgen is voluntarily giving up his position as administrative head of DWS (EUR274bn in assets) in order to concentrate on management of equities funds, Handelsblatt reports (see Newsmanagers of 30 December 2010).Sources familiar with the matter say that the transfer or departure of Kaldemorgen and other senior officers from the management firm (Andreas Feiden, who is moving to Fidelity, Ingo Gefeke and Axel Schwarzer, who are leaving the group) is due to insufficient profits for the investment fund activitie and to the fact that the heads of Deutsche Bank, would haveve wished to see DWS develop more internationally. In addition, open-ended funds from DWS in 2010 saw net outflows of over EUR1.6bn.The new CEO is Wolfgang Matis, 54, who had been planning to retire. He was a colleague of Anshu Jain, the head of the investment banking division of Deutsche Bank. Jain is credited with the best chances of succeeding Josef Ackermann, chairman of the board.
03/01/2011

Carlyle s’allège dans China Pacific Insurance

La société d’investissement américaine a vendu 215,8 millions d’actions au prix unitaire de 31,15 dollars de Hong Kong, selon un prospectus obtenu par Bloomberg. Au total, le montant de l’opération s’élève à 6,7 milliards de dollars (près de 650 millions d’euros). La banque suisse UBS a tenu le livre d’ordres.
03/01/2011

Le « Panel Allocation » se renforce en actions

Les gestions du Panel Allocation de L’Agefi consacrent désormais la moitié de leur portefeuille aux actions, au plus haut niveau depuis fin 2009. Ce mouvement s’est réalisé au détriment de l’obligataire, ainsi que du cash qui constitue plus que jamais une classe d’actifs de transition.
03/01/2011

DWS sur la piste de la gestion alternative

La filiale de fonds ouverts de Deutsche Bank, DWS Investment, va lancer au cours du trimestre en cours un fonds alternatif pour les investisseurs particuliers. C’est ce qu’a confié à l’édition dominicale du Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung à l’occasion d’un entretien le membre du conseil de direction du gestionnaire d’actifs Klaus Kaldemorgen.
31/12/2010

MiFID directive: CESR publishes a vademecum on publicly traded equities

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR), which on 1 January will become the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), on 30 December published a series of rules and a practical guide for the publication of certain information related to publicly traded equities to fulfil transparency requirements laid out in the MiFID directive. In the guide, the CESR details the various information to provide about equities, and the calculations to undertake, and indicates that the results of all these efforts will be made public. In order to respond to the requirements of the directive, the CESR has also set up a dedicated database on its website.
31/12/2010

Steven Rattner buries the hatchet with State of New York

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Financial Times reports that Steven Rattner, former automotive industry advisor to Barack Obama. Has agreed to pay USD10m to settle a dispute with the State of New York over a corruption scandal. Rattner was accused of paying bribes in 2007 to obtain a USD150m by the state’s pension fund in the Quadrangle fund, which he co-founded and directed. The New York authorities were seeking at least USD26m and a permanent ban of Rattner from the state’s financial activities. They ultimately got USD10m and a five-year ban on any contact with the New York pension fund. The payment comes in addition to the USD6.2m which the former advisor to Obama had already agreed to pay the previous month in order to settle SEC lawsuits.
31/12/2010

Axa poursuit son développement à l'Est

Le groupe Axa a annoncé le 30 décembre l’acquisition de 80% du capital du biélorusse B&B Insurance dans le cadre de la poursuite de son développement en Europe centrale et de l’Est. Le montant de la transaction n’a pas été rendu public.« L’acquisition de B&B est une excellente opportunité pour AXA d’entrer sur le marché biélorusse, qui se développe rapidement. Nous souhaitons réitérer ici le succès d’AXA en Ukraine où nous sommes devenus le premier assureur en trois ans, en nous appuyant sur les liens géographiques et culturels entre les deux pays », explique Cyrille de Montgolfier, directeur général d’AXA Europe centrale et de l’Est, cité dans un communiqué. Le marché biélorusse offre à l’assureur français un important potentiel de croissance puisque moins de 15% de foyers notamment disposent d’une assurance habitation. Deuxième assureur biélorusse par sa taille et premier assureur privé en Biélorussie avec une part de marché globale de 10%, B&B Insurance vend exclusivement des produits d’assurance dommages. Le montant des primes émises s’est élevé en 2009 à 29 millions d’euros.La finalisation de l’opération devrait intervenir dans le courant du premier trimestre 2011.
31/12/2010
Fonds

Astorg et Axa Private Equity, parmi les fonds plus performants du monde

Selon le Top 10 mondial des acteurs du private equity les plus performants, établi par HEC Paris et l’agence Dow Jones. Astorg Partners pointe à la deuxième place, gagnant un cran par rapport à l’année dernière, et AXA Private Equity arrive en dixième position, indique La Tribune. On retrouve trois acteurs américains (Leonard Green & Partners, Hellman & Friedman et Lincolnshire), trois britanniques (BC Partners, Permira et TowerBrook Capital), un allemand (Waterland) et un suédois (Nordic Capital).
Fonds
31/12/2010

AFG working group on competitiveness to publish conclusions

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The working group on competitiveness of French regulations created by the French financial management association (AFG), chaired by Arnaud Faller, will complete its work in early 2011, the AFG has announced in its December 2010 newsletter. The working group has met several times since September 2010, and its first conclusions have already formed the basis for talks with the AMF and the Treasury in relation to products, financial management, and the creation of fund managers in France, the letter states. A final report will be released in early 2011.
31/12/2010

Encouraging end of year for hedge funds

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Hedge funds posted inflows of USD13.7bn in November, compared with USD10.6bn in October, according to estimates by TrimTabs Investment Research based on a survey of nearly 995 hedge funds. This is the fifth consecutive month of inflows, and the highest total since February. Inflows to funds of funds totalled USD1.2bn in November. In the past five months, funds of funds have attracted only USD5.9bn, compared with USD41bn for hedge funds, and USD12.7bn for CTAs. In the boom times for hedge funds between 2004 and 2007, funds of funds attracted half of new capital invested in hedge funds. In terms of strategy, the Equity Long/Short strategy attracted USD2.6bn in November, while emerging markets funds attracted USD1.9bn, and bond funds, which saw negative returns for the first time in six months, still attracted USD1.8bn. Inflows remained modest in December and January due to redemption demands at the end of the year, but allocation modifications are expected to be favourable for hedge funds. Pension funds will not be able to greatly increase their exposure to equities, due to the increasing age of their subscribers, though bond returns remain at near-zero levels. In other words, the quest for returns calls for the use of hedge funds.
31/12/2010

Chinese insurers may develop in asset management

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In the wake of approval from the Chinese authorities for the insurance firm Sino-Life to create an asset management affiliate, the consulting firm Z-Ben Advisors estimates that the way has now been cleared for new initiatives in the insurance sector, Asian Investor reports. The insurance supervisory authority, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, has granted permission for Sino-Life, which is the eighth-largest insurer in China, to make preparations for the creation of an asset management affiliate.
31/12/2010

Wellcome Trust to remain opportunistic

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Wellcome Trust, which finances medical research in the United Kingdom and developing countries, now manages over GBP14.5bn, the Financial Times reports. Its chief investment officer, Danny Truell, would like to remain faithful to an opportunistic allocation, in order to achieve performance objectives of 6% per year set by the fund. While more than 40% of returns in the past three years are the result of investments in distressed private equity funds, Truell says good opportunities are becoming scarce, particularly in Europe and the United States. Truell is now turning to distressed debt funds and direct investment in currencies.
31/12/2010

Axa continues development in eastern Europe

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Axa group announced on 30 December that it has acquired an 80% stake in the Belorussian firm B&B Insurance, as part of its effort to develop in central and eastern Europe. The acquisition price has not been disclosed to the public. “The acquisition of B&B is an excellent opportunity for AXA to enter the Belorussian market, which is growing rapidly. Here, we would like to reproduce the success of AXA in Ukraine, where we have become the largest insurance provider in only three years, by relying on the geographical and cultural ties between the two countries,” Cyrille de Montgolfier, CEO of AXA central and eastern Europ, explains in a statement. The Belorussian market offers the French insurer major potential for growth, as less than 15% of households now have home insurance. The second-largest Belorussian insurer by size, and the largest private insurer in Belarus, with an overall market share of 10%, B&B Insurance offers exclusively damage insurance products. Premiums issued in 2009 totalled EUR29m. The operation will be finalised in first quarter 2011.

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