Le gestionnaire britannique Threadneedle a indiqué que son fonds luxembourgeois US Mid & Small Cap Equities (5,57 millions de dollars) sera liquidé. Aucune souscription n’est plus acceptée pour ce produit depuis le 24 août. L’actif et le passif du fonds seront transférés le 23 septembre au Threadneedle (Lux) American Select (5,34 millions de dollars au 31 août). Cette fusion a été décidée pour des considérations d’efficacité économique, le niveau trop faible des encours rendant impossible une exploitation rentable.

En juillet, Petercam a lancé le fonds luxembourgeois Petercam L Bonds Euro Short Term High Yield (LU0517222484 pour la part E et LU0517222302 pour la part F) qui vise à générer une performance intéressante pour une duration courte (maximum 4 ans), configuration avantageuse lorsque le rendement du monétaire est quasi nul. Sans s’exposer à des risques excessifs, puisque les défauts ont très rarement lieu à proximité de l'échéance, il tire profit d’un marché primaire à nouveau actif dans le papier à haut rendement, qui amène nombre d’émetteurs soit à rappeler leurs obligations avant terme ou à refinancer leur structure de capital à des conditions plus avantageuses. De plus, les fonds monétaires ne sont souvent pas autorisés à investir hors de la catégorie «investment grade» tandis que les gérants «high yield» se focalisent sur le segment 4-8 ans et n’allouent donc qu’une faible partie de leur encours aux échéances plus courtes. En outre, remarque Petercam, les salles de marché ne disposent plus de montants importants pour le négoce en compte propre.Le fonds, un compartiment de la sicav Petercam L Fund, est géré par Bernard Lalière sans aucune contrainte d’indice de référence et sans risque de change (couvert). La commission de gestion se situe à 0,70 %. Actuellement l’encours avoisine déjà les 20 millions d’euros, alors que l’amorçage provenant de la banque privée de Petercam s’est limité à 2 millions d’euros. Le gestionnaire belge a mis sur le marché ce produit «revenu récurrent» en complément du Petercam L Bonds Higher Yield, qui a une approche «total return» et dont l’encours est proche du milliard d’euros.

La société de gestion suédoise East Capital, spécialisée dans les marchés émergents, a annoncé lundi le lancement imminent du Special Opportunities Fund II, un fonds de droit luxembourgeois qui sera investi dans des actions d’entreprises ayant des perspectives positives, mais qui, pour des raisons de marché ou liées aux actionnaires, présentent des valorisations inférieures à leurs fondamentaux. Il pourra aussi être s’intéresser aux entreprises en difficultés. L’univers d’investissement géographique est la Russie et toutes les régions d’Europe de l’Est. East Capital précise que le Special Opportunities Fund II ciblera des entreprises ayant un potentiel évident de revalorisation avec la perspective de sortir dans les 4 à 5 ans. La société de gestion pourra jouer un rôle actif dans les entreprises, par le biais d’une représentation au conseil d’administration par exemple, lorsque cela sera nécessaire. Ce fonds fait suite au lancement du East Capital Special Opportunities Fund au deuxième trimestre 2009. East Capital Explorer AB, une entité suédoise cotée investissant principalement dans les fonds de private equity et des fonds actions semi-publics, investira 35 millions d’euros dans le nouveau fonds au quatrième trimestre. Libellé en euros, le produit sera ouvert aux investisseurs institutionnels et qualifiés. Il a une durée de quatre ans et sa taille maximale est de 100 millions d’euros.

La société de gestion alternative Nexar Capital Group SCA, créée il y a un an par des anciens de SGAM AI, a annoncé le 13 septembre l’acquisition d’Allianz Alternative Asset Management («AAAm») auprès d’Allianz France, son actionnaire majoritaire, et d’Allianz Global Investors Europe. Les modalités de la transaction n’ont pas été divulguées. Depuis 1981, AAAm propose à ses clients toute une gamme de fonds de fonds alternatifs, sous la direction de Jean-François Vert, un expert de ce secteur, qui passera sur la plate-forme de Nexar avec l’équipe d’AAAm. Les associés-fondateurs de Nexar, Arié Assayag, directeur général, et Eric Attias, directeur des investissements, ont déclaré que les fonds d’AAAm constituaient un précieux complément aux services d’investissement de Nexar, et que l’expertise et le réseau européens d’AAAm venaient compléter l’activité de fonds de fonds alternatifs de Nexar, principalement située à New York. Le partenariat stratégique que Nexar a conclu avec la société de capital-investissement Aquiline Capital Partners, basée à New York, l’a positionné pour agir en tant que consolidateur dans le secteur fragmenté des fonds de fonds alternatifs. «Nous sommes heureux que le point fort de l’équipe de Nexar dans les solutions génératrices d’alpha continue d’être reconnu ; la collaboration entre AAAm et Nexar confirme notre opinion selon laquelle le secteur est prêt pour la consolidation», a déclaré Jeff Greenberg, directeur général d’Aquiline. «Les clients d’AAAm tireront profit des processus éprouvés d’investissement et de gestion des risques de Nexar, combinés au niveau élevé de transparence et de liquidité exigé aujourd’hui par la communauté des investisseurs», a déclaré pour sa part Jean-François Vert.

Selon L’Agefi, la société d’investissement dans les secteurs innovants Seventure Partners a annoncé que plusieurs de ses fonds ont cédé la totalité de leur participation minoritaire dans cinq sociétés (Netasq, Opti-Time, Quescom, Scaleo Chip et W4) à un nouveau véhicule d’investissement, Chopin Partners sponsorisé par Greenpark Capital. L’opération a été conduite en vue de la liquidation des FCPI et FCPR de millésimes 2000, 2001 et 2002, précise le quotidien.

DNCA Finance vient d’annoncer l’arrivée de deux nouveaux gérants, Rajesh Varma et Damien Charlet, et l’extension de son expertise à l’international. Rajesh Varma va gérer un nouveau fonds global dont la poche actions pourra varier de 60 à 100 % du portefeuille, indique un communiqué. De son côté, Damien Charlet sera associé à la gestion et au développement des fonds diversifiés flexibles DNCA Evolutif et DNCA Evolutif PEA pour faire équipe avec Xavier Delaye et Augustin Picquendar. Avant de créer sa structure début 2009, Rajesh Varma est resté six ans chez Carmignac Gestion. Il y était spécialiste des marchés asiatiques (Chine, Inde, Japon) pour l’ensemble de la gamme et en charge de deux fonds. Quant à Damien Charlet, il exerçait ses fonctions depuis 2006 chez SGAM où il gérait des fonds diversifiés et Total Return.

Jérôme Peltier a rejoint UBS Investment Bank, en tant que co-head de la banque d’investissement pour la France aux côtés de Charles-Henri Le Bret, au début du mois de septembre. Il est rattaché à Simon Warshaw, responsable européen des activités de banque d’investissement pour UBS Investment Bank.Jérôme Peltier assurait précédemment les responsabilités de co-head of global banking et de co- head of investment banking coverage pour Deutsche Bank en France où il a travaillé pendant dix ans.

Du nouveau du côté des fonds de droit français au mois d’août ... Ainsi, selon Europerformance-SIX Telekurs, l’hémorragie sur les fonds de trésorerie régulière a été stoppée avec un encours en hausse de 3 %, les souscriptions nettes s'élevant à 9,49 milliards d’euros. Ce type de fonds est quasiment responsable à lui seul de la progression de cette classe d’actifs dans son ensemble (9,84 milliards) dont l’encours s’inscrit à 376,16 milliards d’euros – soit une progression en phase de 2,9 %.Un cran en deça, l’encours des fonds obligataires a progressé toutes catégories confondues de 1,6 %. Mais en termes de souscriptions nettes, seuls les fonds obligataires de la zone euro ont collecté (110 millions d’euros), les deux autres catégories (haut rendement et internationales) ayant perdu 10 millions chacune. En termes d’encours pourtant, les fonds de la zone euro et internationales progressent respectivement de 1,6 % et 2 %. Ce qui s’explique par un «effet marché», les fonds de la zone euro affichant un gain de 1,44 % et ceux exposés à l’international de 1,48 %. Du côté des fonds actions, la baisse globale de leur encours de 2,3 % masque des réalités sensiblement différentes. Les fonds de la zone euro accusent une baisse de 4,3 % - la baisse de l’encours la plus forte – et les fonds investis sur la France de 3,4 %. A l’inverse, les fonds Asie/Pacifique sont les seuls fonds actions avec les fonds actions internationales à voir leur encours progresser - de 1,2 % et 0,4 % respectivement. Pourtant, les fonds actions françaises ont affiché des souscriptions nettes (120 millions d’euros) comme les fonds Asie/Pacifique et à l’international (180 millions dans les deux cas). Ces chiffres sont à rapprocher des performances de ces fonds. En moyenne, ceux sur la zone euro et ceux investis sur la France affichent des pertes de 3,96 % et 3,58 % tandis que les fonds sur l’Asie gagnent en moyenne 0,23 %. Quant aux fonds d’actions internationales, ils ne perdent en moyenne que 0,37 %.

A Plus Finance a annoncé lundi 13 septembre le lancement de deux nouveaux fonds «IR 2010". Le fonds commun de placement dans l’innovation (FCPI) A Plus Innovation 10 investit dans des PME françaises innovantes, dans le secteur du e-business et du green business. Le fonds d’investissement de proximité (FIP) A Plus Planet 10 est centré sur le développement durable à travers la filière bois dans toutes ses composantes et les PME qui profitent, dans la construction et l’immobilier, de la mise aux normes Haute Qualité Environnementale (HQE). Ce fonds s’inscrit dans le cadre du mécénat avec la fondation GoodPlanet. Dans les deux cas, les fonds ont une durée de vie de 7 ans. A noter que A Plus Finance finalise aussi le lancement d’un troisième fonds spécialement destiné au financement des PME arrivées à un stade de développement plus avancé.

East Capital on Monday announced its forthcoming launch of the Special Opportunities Fund II, which will target investments in companies with a positive outlook for future operations but which, due to market or owner-specific reasons, can be acquired at valuations which are lower than those suggested by the companies’ fundamentals. In addition, the fund will also invest in distressed situations. It will invest in Russia and in all regions within Eastern Europe. The fund will target investments with a clear trigger for revaluation and with exit opportunities within a four-year period. When appropriate, East Capital will assume an active role in companies through board representation, or other means. The new fund follows the launch of the East Capital Special Opportunities Fund in the second quarter of 2009. East Capital Explorer AB, a Swedish listed entity investing mainly in East Capital’s private equity and semi-public equity funds, will invest EUR35m in the fund during the fourth quarter of 2010. The Special Opportunities Fund II is a Luxemburg domiciled, EUR denominated fund and will also be open to other institutional and qualified investors. The fund term is four years and the maximum fund size is limited to EUR100m.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In July, Petercam launched the Luxembourg-registered fund Petercam L Bonds Euro Short Term High Yield fund (LU0517222484 for E-class shares and LU0517222302 for F-class shares), which aim to generate attractive returns on a short-term investment (maximum 4 years), an advantageous configuration when returns on money markets are near zero. Without exposing investors to excessive risk, as defaults very rarely take place close to the maturity date, the fund aims to profit from a newly active primary market in high yield papers, which has led many issuers either to recall their responsibilities before maturity, or to refinance their capital structure at more advantageous conditions. In addition, money market funds are often not authorised to invest outside the investment grade category, while high yield managers focus on the 4-8 year segment, and therefore allocate only a small part of their assets to shorter maturity durations. In addition, Petercam remarks, trading desks no longer have large amounts of owners’ equity to trade on behalf of banks. The fund, a sub-fund of the Petercam L Fund Sicav, is managed by Bernard Lalière, without the constraint of a benchmark index, and hedged for currency risk. Management commission is 0.70%. Currently, assets total about EUR20m, while seed capital from the Petercam private bank has been a mere EUR2m.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British management firm Threadneedle has announced that its Luxembourg fund US Mid & Small Cap Equities (USD5.57bn) will be liquidated. No further subscriptions have been accepted for the product since 24 August. Active and passive assets of the fund will be transferred on 23 September to the Threadneedle (Lux) American Select (USD5.34bn in assets as of 31 August). The merger was decided on for reasons of economic efficiency, as the excessively low level of assets rendered profitable operation impossible.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The London borough of Wandsworth has awarded a mandate to Northern Trust to provide custody services on assets totalling USD1.2bn in its pension fund.

Si les rallongements de maturité sont les plus fréquents, l’excédent de liquidité pousse certaines entreprises à rembourser leurs dettes

L’évolution rapide de la part des dépenses allouées à l'innovation témoigne de l'engagement croissant des sociétés asiatiques

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Les Echos reports that talks between representatives of the Council and the European Parliament over the Europen directive to regulate the activities of hedge fund managers (AIFM) are still facing several stumbling-blocks: a European passport for managers based outside the European Union, rules for passive marketing, and responsibilities of depositories being among them. No agreement is expected until October at least.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to Ahorro Corporación, the Spanish market share controlled by fund management affiliates of banks fell to 54.5% as of the end of August, the lowest level since the 1990s, compared with 57.8% as of the end of December, Funds People reports. However, asset management firm affiliates of savings banks gained market share, with net subscriptions of EUR200m in August (though affiliates of the banks saw net outflows of EUR800m), and now represent 35% of the market, compared with 32.4% as of the end of December. Independent asset management firms also posted an increase in their market share, to 10.5%, compared with 9.8%. The growth of asset management firms affiliated with savings banks is largely a result of the popularity of long-term bond funds and guaranteed funds, while the falling market share for affiliates of banks is largely the result of redemptions from money market and short-term bond funds.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In July, the European fund sector posted net subscriptions of EUR22bn, according to the most recent statistics from Lipper FMI. These inflows were driven by German investors, who invested a net total of EUR3bn (excluding money market funds). These inflows compensated for redemptions to French investors, which totalled EUR3bn, of which EUR2bn came from money market funds alone. Lipper notes that for the quarter, net outflows to French investors total EUR39bn overall (EUR8bn excluding money market funds). In terms of asset classes, bond funds are still the leaders in July, with subscriptions which doubled month-on-month to EUR15bn. Equities funds, however, saw a reduction in inflows from EUR1.4bn to EUR600m. Franklin Templeton was the management firm with the strongest inflows, with EUR2.6bn. The firm is neck-and-neck with Allianz/Pimco as leaders in inflows to bond funds for the month, with EUR2.1bn each. For equities, Aberdeen has done best, with net subscriptions of EUR900m, of which EUR390m went to the Global Emerging Markets fund alone.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Union Asset Management Holding announced on 10 September that Wolfgang Mansfeld, a board member at the central management firm for the German co-operative banks since 1994, has decided not to seek another term, and will retire on 30 June 2011. He will be 60 years old. Currently, Mansfeld is head of the real estate fund unit, and also directs product development strategy, management control, legal affairs, compliance, and relations with professional associations. He served as president of Efama and of the German BVI association of management firms.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Russell Investments on 9 September announced a new enlargement of its alternative management team with the recruitment of three specialists. Egidio Robertiello has been appointed managing director for alternative strategies, with a specific focus on hedge funds. He previously worked for Credit Suisse Group in New York. Stephan Breban, previously founder and managing director of City Capital Partners in London, has been appointed director of private equity. Lastly, Samual Baughn, previously chief operating officer and chief financial officer of ETF Portfolio Management in New York, is joining Russell as director of operational due diligence.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Morgan Stanley Smith Barney on 9 September announced the appointment of James F. Walker, managing director, has head of consulting services, the division which provides investment advising and services to managed accounts. Walker succeeds James J. Tracy, who in July was appointed as chief operating officer for development and distribution for wealth management in the United States for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. Consulting Services is the top provider of managed accounts in the United States, with assets of USD385bn, a market share of nearly 21%.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Pending approval from the British regulatory authorities, the Goldman Sachs Group on 10 September appointed Jim O’Neill to the newly-created position of chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, or GSAM (USD802bn in assets as of the end of June). O’Neill, who invented the acronym BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China), will continue to be based in London, and will report to the two co-heads of the investment management division of Goldman Sachs, Ed Forst and Tim O’Neill. O’Neill was previously head of global economics, commodities and strategy research at Goldman Sachs & Co.

At a press conference to discuss the 20-year partnership between the independent financial advising firm Oddo & Cie and the management firm Banque d’Orsay, Philippe Oddo, managing partner at Oddo & Cie, confirmed that the recent acquisition of the Banque d’Orsay will give the partnership higher ambitions in terms of growth. Without exception, the logic of the operation is not to realise economies of scale, but rather, for teams at Banque d’Orsay, to enrich the product range and integration. “The teams at Banque d’Orsay are worried, and logically so,” Oddo noted. “We would also like to tell them that we would like to work with them.” After the departure last week of one of the more experienced heads of distribution from Oddo & Cie, Philippe Louisadat (see Newsmanagers of 10/09/10), Oddo confirmed that he would naturally consider staff at Banque d’Orsay before appointing a replacement.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Russell Investments has opened an office in Milan, and added to its local team, led by Mirko Butti, Bluerating reports. The four people already present in Italy are now joined by three professionals dedicated to sales development. Michele Quinto, who joins from Fidelity, will be in charge of the retail channel, as regional director, and will be assisted by sales manager Fabiano Galli, who was also at Fidelity. Vanessa Levi, from Russell UK, will handle the wealth management sector.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Hedgeweek reports that the fund of hedge fund management firm MCP Asset Management, based in Hong Kong, has acquired Sparx International (Hong Kong), the regional entity of the Sparx group, the second largest hedge fund in Asia.

Lombard Odier Investment Managers continues to develop its fixed income capabilities with the appointment of Richard Walsh as head of emerging market debt. He has depth of experience in this field, gained at BlueCrest Capital Management and GLG Partners. His is the latest in a series of senior appointments to Lombard Odier’s fixed income team. Richard Walsh will report to Stéphane Monier, global head of fixed income and currencies.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } For a long time, open-ended real estate funds attracted German investors with their dependable returns. Now, many of them are seeing losses and have suspended redemptions. The heads of the DEGI Europa and KanAM US grundinvest funds are watching the reopening of the P2 Value fund from Morgan Stanley with interest, as the fund will become the first to reopen, on 1 November, and their turns will be coming soon after, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reports. The P2 fund raised EUR228m in liquidity through sales of properties, and can count on a line of credit worth EUR97m in case of need. This will need to be enough, at least, for the first day, as the fund may subsequently be closed to redemptions again for up to a maximum of two more years. The funds which have frozen redemptions are not necessarily the worst ones, however: the SEB Immoinvest and CS Euroreal are among the best-performing funds of the past several years, and are closed, while the UniImmo: Europa and Deka Immobilien Europa funds remain open. The red lights are the UniImmo: Deutschland (open) and the DEGI Europa (closed). Meanwhile, the best two funds of the past 10 years in terms of their risk/return ratio are the CS: Euroreal and the SEB Immoinvest, both of which are currently closed. The redemption freeze does not, in fact, seem to have any connection with the quality of the fund, but with its capacity for distribution. Union (co-operative banks) and Deka (savings banks) have powerful networks, which is not the case for Axa, KanAM or Morgan Stanley.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to a study by the Austrian institute Finance & Ethic Research (FER), sustainable development equities funds, bond funds, and diversified funds in the German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) have grown significantly in the past few years, with an increase in assets from EUR17bn as of the beginning of 2007 to EUR31.6bn as of the end of August 2010. However, the annual performance of sustainable development equities, bond and diversified funds has proven inferior in all sub-funds, which FER says is due to the fact that there are comparatively fewer sustainable development specialists in emerging markets, compared with the general market. In the 12 months to the end of August, the best results among sustainable development products, with returns of about 12% were for “water” themed funds, followed by ethical/ecological funds (about 9%) and climate funds (about 6%). New energies funds gained only 0.86%.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Franklin Templeton Investments on 10 September announced the launch of four new sub-funds of its Luxembourg Sicav Franklin Templeton Investment Funds. The four new sub-funds received licenses from the AMF ( Autorité des Marchés Financiers) on 9 July, and have been on sale in France since 22 July 2010, when the Balo was published. The FTIT Franklin Gold & Precious Metals Fund (ISIN code for original A-class shares: LU0496367417), managed by Stephen Land and Frederick Fromm, aims primarily to increase capital, with revenues as a secondary objective. The FTIF Franklin Real Return Fund (ISIN code for original A-class shares: LU0496367417), managed by Anthony Coffey and Kent Burns, aims to obtain total returns higher than inflation through an economic cycle, in a manner which is compatible with prudent portfolio management. The FTIF Templeton Euro Money Market Fund 5 (ISIN code for original A-class shares: LU0454936104), managed by John Beck and David Zahn, aims to retain a high level of capital preservation and liquidity, while maximising returns in Euros by investing in portfolios of high quality debt and debt-related securities in Euros, money markets, and availabilities denominated in Euros. The FTIF Templeton European Corporate Bond Fund (ISIN code for original A-class shares: LU0496369546), managed by David Zahn, Robert Nelson, Emmanuel Teissier, and Eric Takaha, aims to maximise total returns in a manner compatible with prudent portfolio management, through a combination of interest returns and capital appreciation.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Until 6 January 2011, Banque Populaire is offering two new funds which guarantee initial capital at maturity: Fructi Sécurité juillet 2017, for ordinary securities accounts and life insurance policies, and Fructi Sécurité PEA juillet 2017, for PEA retirement savings accounts. Over an investment duration of 6 years, 6 months and 6 days, the funds will aim to offer the investor 55% of the final average performance of the DJ Euro Stoxx 50. The performance in question will be calculated by taking the average of the performance of 13 sub-indices, calculated on a semi-annual basis from the inception of the funds. Characteristics Fructi Sécurité juillet :ISIN code: 2017 FR 0010920348Fructi Sécurité PEA juillet 2017 :ISIN code: FR 0010920363Front-end fee: 2.5% until 6 January 2011 Redemption commission: 2% after 6 January 2011Management fee: 2%Value of one share: EUR100 Minimal subscription: 1 share