David Einhorn, le gérant américain de hedge funds qui s'était publiquement interrogé sur la santé de Lehman Brothers juste avant sa faillite, a coupé sa participation dans F&C de 3,4 % à 0,4 %, rapporte Investment Week.

La Commerzbank a annoncé le 2 septembre le bouclage de la vente de Dresdner Bank Monaco au groupe bancaire libanais Bank Audi sal-Audi Saradar. La Dresdner Bank Monaco, spécialisée dans la clientèle haut de gamme à Monaco, dans le sud de la France et dans le nord de l’Italie, gérait un patrimoine de 251 millions d’euros fin 2009.

Selon les dernières statistiques compilées par l’association allemande de la gestion (BVI), la collecte nette des fonds allemands s’est élevée sur les sept premiers mois de l’année à 43,3 milliards d’euros, soit le meilleur résultat observé depuis 2007. La collecte nette des fonds dédiés a totalisé sur la période 28,19 milliards d’euros, celle des fonds ouverts 12,81 milliards d’euros. Les fonds diversifiés ont drainé 10,17 milliards d’euros, les fonds obligataires 7,54 milliards , les fonds immobiliers ouverts 2,72 milliards et les fonds d’actions 507 millions d’euros. Du côté des fonds monétaires, la décollecte nette a porté sur 8,84 milliards d’euros.Grâce à cette collecte mais aussi à l’effet marché, le patrimoine géré par les sociétés de gestion s’inscrivait au 31 juillet à 1.767,1 milliards d’euros contre 1.603,3 milliards d’euros un an plus tôt.Au cours du seul mois de juillet, la collecte nette s’est établie à 2,9 milliards d’euros, dont 2,7 milliards d’euros pour les fonds ouverts.

Selon Wealthbriefing, Credit Suisse vient de nommer un ancien senior manager d’UBS, James Hong, en tant que CEO de la banque privée à Hong Kong. James Hong, qui est rattaché à Marcel Kreis, responsable de la banque privée pour la région Asie-Pacifique, a pris ses fonctions le 1er septembre

Selon Wealthbriefing, Credit Suisse vient de nommer un ancien senior manager d’UBS, James Hong, en tant que CEO de la banque privée à Hong Kong. James Hong, qui est rattaché à Marcel Kreis, responsable de la banque privée pour la région Asie-Pacifique, a pris ses fonctions le 1er septembre.

L’Agefi rapporte qu’un fonds de pension public canadien a annoncé, jeudi 2 septembre, avoir été approché par plusieurs fonds souverains et d’autres investisseurs en vue d’une participation à une éventuelle contre-offre d’achat sur Potash face à celle de BHP Billiton. Le directeur général de l’Alberta Investment Management Corp (Aimco) a néanmoins jugé qu’à ce stade sa participation à une offre ne lui semblait pas intéressante.

Selon le Wall Street Journal, les stratégies 130/30, très prisées avant la crise, font désormais figure de vestige du passé. En 2007, le nombre de fonds ainsi assortis de différents ratios (130/30 mais aussi 120/20 etc…) s'élevait à 21, avec des actifs sous gestion culminant à 373 millions de dollars. On ne compte plus actuellement que 12 fonds de ce type qui totalisent à peine 1 milliard de dollars.

Money Marketing reports that the international absolute return fund from Standard Life Investments was the fund in highest demand in first half, with net inflows of GBP1.7bn, putting it well ahead of a fund from Newton, which attracted GBP857m in subscriptions in the same period. Assets under management in the Standard Life fund, which earned returns of 6.18% in first half and 16.5% on one year, have recently topped GBP4.5bn.

Investment Week reports that BlackRock has decided to close its Japan fund, due to its insufficient size, which makes it unprofitable to operate. In a letter to investors, Tony Stenning, head of British retail products, says the fund has been continually losing size since a peak of GBP126m in March 2000.

The Jupiter European Opportunities Fund, a sub-fund founded in 2001 and managed by Cédric de Fonclare at Jupiter Asset Management, is now eligible for PEA subscriptions. The fund’s eligibility for PEA comes in response to demand on the part of many French professional investors, including many recipients of benefits, a press statement says.

L'autorité monétaire a étendu son offre de fonds illimitée à 3 mois jusqu'à la fin 2010

Alistair Darling, l’ancien ministre des Finances travailliste du Royaume-Uni, a reconnu mercredi que la supertaxe sur les bonus des banquiers n’avait pas permis de modifier les comportements du secteur en matière de rémunérations, rapporte le Financial Times. Il estime peu probable que la taxe soit reconduite par le nouveau gouvernement de coalition.

fundstrategy reports that the Irish firm Bloxham, a specialist in brokerage and wealth management, will launch an absolute return fund in UCITS III format, with the objective of earning returns of 8% to 10% per year. The Bloxham Midas global absolute fund will include 25 to 40 long and short positions. It will use the firm’s proprietary Midas analysis technique, which covers more than 2,000 shares and sectors worldwide. The fund, which will be launched in October, will be managed by a team of four people, led by Kevin McConnell, who is also director of strategy at Bloxham. Management fees are 1.5% per year for retail shares, with a performance commission of 10%.

According to the most recent available figures, the number of signatories to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI) now come to over 800, more precisely 808, nearly 60 of whom are in France.The PRI program was launched in April 2006. In the space of four years, the Principles have become an increasingly widely regarded standard of reference for investors.

The UK asset management firm Schroders on Wednesday announced the recruitment of Mario Pires, ex-head of sales for Portugal at Deutsche Asset Management Spain, as a member of its Iberian team (Spain and Portugal), led by Carla Bergareche. He will be based in Madrid, and will cooperate closely with Pedro Assis, deputy managing director of Schroders for Spain and Portugal, to develop the institutional client base in the two countries. It is a newly-created position, by which Schroders hopes to strengthen this distribution channel.

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has announced the appointment of Matthias Minor as its new head of corporate debt capital markets (DCM) Germany. He succeeds Roland Plan, who was head of DCM activities for Europe, including Germany, and who has been appointed country head of RBS for Switzerland. Minor, who joined RBS in 2002, will now report to Matt Carter, head of the origination team for investment grade European bonds.

The US firm Northern Trust, which has recently been issued a banking license by the Chinese banking and regulatory commission (CBRC), is now planning to apply for a qualified foreign institutional investor (QFII) quota, which it may use to buy A-class shares on behalf of its clients, Asian Investor reports. In the short-term, Northern Trust will continue to provide asset management services in Hong Kong. The team at the Beijing office has been strengthened with the transfer of client advisors previously located in Singapore.

Asian Investor reports that the Singapore sovereign fund GIC (Government of Singapore Investment Corporation) has recruited Kishore Gotety, previously of RREEF (Deutsche Bank) as country head for Indian real estate. The sovereign fund declined to comment on the appointment. Last year, the fund did announce its intention to increase its allocation to real estate. Assets under management at GIC total over USD100bn.

With the acquisition of the multi-management activities of the Royal Bank of Scotland earlier this year, Aberdeen Asset Management has set foot in the field of alternative management, via funds of hedge funds. Martin Gilbert, CEO of the Scottish asset management firm, says this is good, as investors want this type of management. But, he says, Aberdeen has no plans to move into direct alternative management, “as that would not align with out culture and our remuneration system based on team spirit.” In terms of acquisitions, Gilbert, who was in Paris on Wednesday, says the company is taking a break at the moment, after a relatively intense period. “We have a sufficiently large size – EUR200.9bn – and we are present in all the asset classes we want to be in,” he explains. This less aggressive attitude is also partly dictated by a regulatory environment which has changed very much recently, he adds. The Aberdeen CEO has called off plans for an acquisition in the United States, which had been a project for several years. But he now says that Aberdeen mostly needs to strengthen its capacities in distribution in North America, and not in management. The firm now estimates that it has everything which American investors need. Including international equities and emerging markets.

Gervais Williams, head of British small businesses at Gartmore, for the Gartmore Fledgling, Growth Opportunities, Irish Growth investment and Gartmore UK & Irish Smaller Companies Oeic trusts, has left the company, the website fundstrategy reported on Wednesday, 1 September. Williams is reaplced by Adam McConkey.

F&C Asset Management plc, the London Stock Exchange listed asset management group, has completed its acquisition of Thames River Capital. Following completion of the transaction, F&C has further strengthened its executive committee with two appointments. Charlie Porter, founder and chief executive of Thames River, joins the F&C executive committee with overall responsibility for the F&C group’s retail and wholesale fund business. In the enlarged group Thames River will focus on distribution to IFAs and wealth managers and F&C will concentrate on institutional distribution. Jeremy Charles, chief operating officer of Thames River, has also been appointed to the F&C executive committee with immediate effect. While remaining COO of Thames River Capital he has been given a group-wide brief, reporting to Alain Grisay, F&C’s Chief Executive, to implement changes to the enlarged group’s business model, with the objective of creating greater flexibility in its cost structure and to improve overall efficiency.

At an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on Wednesday morning, which voted 91.3% in favour of the acquisition of GLG Partners, Man Group Plc announced the appointment of Emmanuel (Manny) Roman to the newly-created position of chief operating officer, once the acquisition has been completed. He will also continue to serve as co-CEO of GLG Partners, with Noam Gottesman. Pierre Lagrange will remain senior managing director of GLG, in charge of investment and European long/short equity strategy. Gottesman will be head of global opportunity strategy for GLG. All three will report to Peter Clarke, CEO of Man.

The German construction group Hochtief announced on Wednesday in a market statement that Southeastern Asset Management, based in Memphis (about USD5bn in assets) had notified it on 30 August that it controls over 5% of its capital, with 5.19%, since 26 August. The US manager previously held slightly over 3% of Hochtief.

Landesbank Berlin Investment GmbH (LBB-Invest) on Wednesday announced the appointment with immediate effect of Andrea Daniela Bauer as a member of the executive board. Since 2006, Bauer was head of the capital markets division at Landesbank Berlin. In December, she will replace Joachim F. Mädler as chair of the executive board. Mädler will remain as an advisor to LBB-Invest, but will be retiring. The other two members of the executive board are Andreas Heß and Dyrk Vieten.

As part of the New Deal strategic plan, Natixis began repositioning its private equity business toward third party asset management, which is planned to integrate Natixis’ Investment Solutions division. This activity combines venture capital, expansion capital and funds of funds, which until now were part of Natixis Private Equity. Dominique Sabassier is in charge of repositioning this activity toward third party asset management within Natixis’ Investment Solutions division. He will report to Pierre Servant, CEO of Investment Solutions and member of the Senior Management Committee of Natixis, and will become part of the Executive Committee of the division. At the same time, Natixis Asset Management is implementing a new investment organization and modifying the composition of its Executive Committee. Ibrahima Kobar and Emmanuel Bourdeix are appointed CIO fixed income and CIO equity, asset allocation and structured products, respectively in replacement of Dominique Sabassier who was deputy CEO in charge of investments. They will both report to Pascal Voisin, CEO, and become members of Natixis Asset Management’s Executive Committee which also comprises Philippe Zaouati, head of business development who is appointed deputy CEO, and Jean-François Baralon, head of finance and operations. Investment Solutions has combined all investment solutions business lines since August 2009, i.e. asset management, insurance and private banking. Natixis Global Asset Management has a multiboutique structure. It combines some twenty financial and real-estate management firms. Its distribution platform provides a strong presence in Europe, the United States, Asia-Pacific and the Middle-East. It is a global player with total assets under management of €532 bn at the end of June 2010. Natixis Asset Management is Natixis Global Asset Management’s European expert with total assets under management of €302 bn at the end of June 2010.

Les Echos reports that Jules Kroll, 69, the eponymous founder of the economic intelligence group, is hoping to rival Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch, the three major ratings agencies which account for most of the market. “We need a credible alternative,” Kroll tells the Wall Street Journal. The US billionaire founded Kroll Bond Rating Agency last year. He has recently acquired a ratings boutique, Lace Financial, and has recruited several analysts, and is aiming to obtain new licenses and take a bite out of the three major ratings’ agencies, which have been under fire for the past two years.

Les Echos reports that the US Federal Reserve on Tuesday granted permission for the Chinese sovereign fund China Investment Corporation (CIC) to buy a 10% stake in the capital and voting rights of the US bank Morgan Stanley. The sovereign fund, which acquired 2.49% of ordinary shares in Morgan Stanley in 2009, injected owners’ equity into the bank in late 2007, with an investment of about USD5bn in convertible bonds. These bonds, converted on 17 August, will give CIC a stake of up to 9.9% in Morgan Stanley, on the condition that it remains a “passive investor.” To control over 5%, CIC is required to obtain permission from the Fed.

Pending the approval of the Chinese regulatory authorities (CSRC), the Japanese firm Mitsubishi UFJ will acquire 33% of the joint venture SYWG BNP Paribas, for a total of USD50m, from the Caijing agency.Consulting firm Z-Ben says that the deal has the primary advantage that it will bring BNP Paribas into full compliance with Chinese regulations that forbid foreign firms from having more than one local joint venture, after the sale of its 49% stake in ABN Amro Teda to Manulife last November. The French group may now concentrate on the development of the former Fortis Haitong, which has recently been renamed HFT Fund Management.The valuation of SYWG BNP Paribas was complicated by erratic fluctuations in asset levels, which increased from CNY13bn at the end of June 2009 to CNY24bn at the end of December (due to money market funds), and then fell back to CNY10.4bn as of the end of June 2010.

In the 12 months to the end of June, taxable profits at the British firm Hargreaves Lansdown rose 18%, to GBP86.3m, from GBP73.1m in the previous period. Net inflows increased 65% in the period, to GBP3.3bn. Assets under administration increased 47% to GBP17.5bn.

Launches of absolute return funds managed by traditional management firms or hedge funds have shown an unprecedented boom in the past 18 months, according to a study published on 1 September by Moody’s (“European Absolute-Return Funds: A Convergence of Two Worlds.”) The study finds that several factors contributed to this development, including the arrival of hedge funds on the market in UCITS format, as well as the continued preference of investors for liquid, non-benchmarked strategies and regulated vehicles. Moody’s finds that the European regulated absolute return market as of the end of March 2010 totalled about EUR78bn in assets under management, in 718 funds. The total amount of assets under management remains limited, but the number of strategies available is increasing rapidly.