L’ETF iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund de BlackRock et le Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF sont respectivement le quatrième et le cinquième ETF aux Etats-Unis par l’encours, avec 36 milliards et 24 milliards de dollars, note The Wall Street Journal. Ils ont le même indice de référence, le MSCI Emerging Markets. Le produit Vanguard est le moins cher, avec une commission de gestion de 0,27 % contre 0,72 % pour le iShares, mais ce dernier, lancé en 2003, affiche un volume de transactions hebdomadaire de 346,9 millions d’actions, contre 55,5 millions pour le fonds Vanguard lancé en mars 2005.Selon certains analystes, c’est la différence des taux de frais qui expliquerait pourquoi l’ETF d’iShares a subi pour janvier-mars des sorties nettes de 4,36 milliards de dollars pendant que son concurrent de Vanguard enregistrait des souscriptions nettes de 2,91 milliards. Cette situation intrigue, parce que d’habitude, c’est le «first mover» qui a l’avantage parce que les investisseurs préfèrent le fonds le plus liquide qui a les frais de transaction les plus bas.
Lundi, Ameriprise Financial a déclaré pour le premier trimestre un bénéfice net de 214 millions de dollars contre 138 millions de dollars pour janvier-mars 2009, ce qui représente un gonflement de 65 %.Les encours au 31 mars affichaient une hausse de 31 % en un an, à 332 milliards de dollars, grâce principalement à l’effet de marché et souscriptions nettes de 2,5 milliards de dollars pour l’activité «wrap» qui a atteint le volume record de 100 milliards de dollars.Aux Etats-Unis, la division gestion d’actifs a accusé des remboursements nets de 0,9 milliard de dollars dans le retail et des souscriptions nettes de 0,1 milliard dans l’institutionnel, malgré des synergies négatives de 0,6 milliard liées à l’acquisition de Columbia Management.A l'étranger, la gestion d’actifs «retail» a enregistré des rentrées nettes de 1,3 milliard de dollars compensées par des sorties nettes de 1,3 milliard pour la branche institutionnelle.
Le trustee board de Rydex/SGI (7 milliards de dollars d’actifs sous gestion) a approuvé vendredi la décision de liquider le 21 mai 12 des 14 ETF à effet de levier longs et courts de la gamme, des fonds qui représentent environ 129 millions de dollars d’encours.Cette initiative vise à concentrer l’offre de 40 ETP sur les produits les plus demandés au moment où Guggenheim Partners achète Security Benefit Corp, dont Rydex/SGI est une filiale (lire notre dépêche du 17 février).Parmi les fonds qui doivent être liquidés figurent le Rydex 2x Russell 2000, le Rydex 2x S&P MidCap 400, le Rydex Inverse 2x Russell 2000 et le Rydex Inverse 2x S&P MidCap 400.
Le procès opposant la banque américaine Lehman Brothers à son acquéreur, le groupe bancaire britannique Barclays s’est ouvert, hier à New York, rapporte les Echos. Les dépositaires de cette liquidation ainsi qu’un comité de créanciers espèrent récupérer 11 milliards de dollars (8,2 milliards d’euros). Ils veulent démontrer que Barclays avait à l'époque fait une bonne affaire, notamment en empochant sans en informer la justice une plus-value supplémentaire d’au moins 5 milliards de dollars, précise le quotidien.D’un point de vue financier, les liquidateurs de Lehman font face à plus de 60.000 demandes de réparation dépassant 1.000 milliards de dollars. Lehman doit par ailleurs rémunérer ses conseillers juridiques, dont la facture a déjà atteint 731,6 millions de dollars.
Skandia Global Funds (SGF) a annoncé lundi 26 avril avoir nommé, pour son fonds composé de grandes capitalisations américaines, Skandia US Large Cap Growth Fund, la société de gestion américaine Fifth Third Asset Management (FTAM). Cette dernière dispose de 19 milliards de dollars d’actifs sous gestion. De son côté, Skandia US Large Cap Growth Fund affiche un encours de 80 millions de dollars.
La société d’investissement Blackstone et la fondation Wellcome Trust ont renoncé à leur offre commune sur les 318 agences bancaires mises en vente par Royal Bank of Scotland, note les Echos. Quatre repreneurs potentiels restent en course : Santander, BBVA, National Australia Bank et Virgin Money.
Invesco Perpetual a recruté Nick Mustoe au poste de CIO. A partir du 7 juin, il travaillera en duo avec l’actuel CIO Bob Yerbury, qui part à la retraite à la fin de cette année. Nick Mustoe a 25 années d’expérience dans le domaine de la gestion. Il était auparavant CIO de Pictet Asset Management et Hermes Pensions Management.
Selon Citywire, Neil Pegrum, gérant du fonds Cazenove UK Dynamic, vient de quitter Cazenove Capital pour rejoindre Soros Fund Management.Paul Marriage, qui a travaillé pendant plusieurs années avec Neil Pegrum, et Julie Dean, prendront les fonctions assumées par Neil Pegrum.
Lorsque le Fonds de soutien aux banques (FROB) cessera son activité au 30 juin, certains fonds monétaires et obligataires risquent de rencontrer des problèmes avec les titres émis par certaines caisses d'épargne actuellement en situation difficile, souligne Expansión. Ces fonds détiennent pour 12 milliards d’euros d’obligations émises par les caisses d'épargne, soit 15 % de leur encours, mais en réalité le risque est beaucoup plus restreint parce que plusieurs des émissions realisées en 2009 bénéficient de la garantie de l’Etat espagnol.Les deux fonds potentiellement les plus exposés sont le AC Fondepósito d’Ahorro Corporación, avec 1,08 milliard d’euros, ce qui correspond à 96,3 % de son encours, et le Eurovalores Particulares Volumen de Popular Gestión, qui détient 715 millions d’euros de dette de caisses d'épargne, soit 39,75 % de ses actifs sous gestion.
La CNMV a enregistré à son tour le fonds Legg Mason Permal Global Absolute qui vise une performance de 8-10 % par an sur un cycle de 3-5 ans (lire notre dépêche du 27 janvier). Ce fonds de droit irlandais conforme à la directive OPCVM III couvre plusieurs classes d’actifs. Libellé en dollars, il comporte des classes de parties en euros, en livres, en dollars canadiens et en yen.
Muzinich & Co a fait enregistrer jeudi quatre fonds par le régulateur espagnol, la CNMV. Il s’agit des Muzinich America Yield, Europe Yield, Transtlantic et Enhanced Yield. Ces produits de droit irlandais focalisés sur les obligations à haut rendement seront commercialisés exclusivement par Capital Strategies Partners.
La Banque de Luxembourg a annoncé que Dieter Hein, son CIO pour l’obligataire, a été nommé aux côtés de Guy Wagner directeur de la société de gestion Banque de Luxembourg Fund Research & Asset Management (BL FR&AM). Il sera chargé de la distribution en Allemagne, Autriche, France, Belgique et Suède, de la gestion du risque et de la fonction sales support & administration.
A compter du 1er mai, Ingrid Szeiler sera membre du directoire et directeur général de Raiffeisen Vermögensverwaltungsbank AG (RVV), une filiale de Raiffeisen Capital Management (RCM) spécialiste des particuliers haut de gamme. L’intéressée dirige depuis 1999 l’allocation d’actifs et les stratégies multi-classes d’actifs de RCM. Elle remplace Georg-Viktor Dax, qui quitte le groupe Raiffeisen Zentralbank (RZB).L’autre membre du directoire de RVV est Mathias Bauer, CEO de RCM.
The CNMV has registered the Legg Mason Permal Global Absolute fund, which aims for returns of 8-10% per year over a 3-5 year cycle (see Newsmanagers of 27 January). The Irish-registered fund, which complies with the UCITS III directive, covers several asset classes. It is denominated in US dollars, and has share classes in Euros, pounds Sterling, Canadian dollars, and Japanese yen.
The sales team at JPMorgan Asset Management (JPMAM) dedicated to independent distributors how has a ninth member in Germany, following the addition of Martina Pröschold, who has been at the firm since 1998, to this team. Pröschold and two colleagues will serve independent financial advisers, while two others will handle wealth managers, and two more will be responsible for independent advisers in the insurance sector. The team also has two assistants. Pröschold previously served in relationship management for banking, fund of fund and asset management clients.
On Tuesday, Deutsche Bank declared net profits for first quarter of EUR1.8bn, compared with EUR1.2bn for January-March 2009, with an improvement in the cost-income ratio from 68% to 66%. Pre-tax losses for the asset & wealth management (AWM) division were down to EUR5m, from EUR173m. Invested assets as of the end of March totalled EUR808bn, EUR122bn more than as of 31 December 2009. Positive market effects are to thank for only EUR17bn of this increase. For the asset management branch, assets under management increased by EUR41bn (+8%), of which EUR4bn were due to net subscriptions, and EUR14bn due to the consolidation of some activities of Sal. Oppenheim. In wealth management, invested assets increased by EUR81bn, of which EUR68bn were related to the consolidation of Sal. Oppenheim. Net subscriptions represented EUR5bn.
The trustee board of Rydex/SGI (USD7bn in assets under management) on Friday approved the decision to liquidate 12 of the 14 long and short leveraged ETFs of the range on 12 May. These funds represent assets totalling USD129m. The move aims to concentrate the range of 40 ETPs on products most in demand at a time when Guggenheim Parrtners is buying Security Benefit Corp, of which Rydex/SGI is an affiliate (see Newsmanagers of 17 February). Among the funds to be liquidated are the Rydex 2x Russell 2000, the Rydex 2x S&P MidCap 400, the Rydex Inverse 2x Russell 2000 and the Rydex Inverse 2x S&P MidCap 400.
Skandia Global Funds (SGF) has appointed the US management firm Fifth Third Asset Management (FTAM), a specialist in large caps with USD19bn in assets under management, for its fund dedicated to US large caps.
The iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund ETF from BlackRock and the Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF are the fourth- and fifth-largest ETFs in the United States, respectively, with assets of USD36bn and USD24bn, the Wall Street Journal reports. They are based on the same benchmark index, the MSCI Emerging Markets. The Vanguard product is less expensive, with a management commission of 0.27%, compared with 0.72% for the iShares fund. But the latter fund, launched in 2003, has weekly trading volume of 346.9 million shares, compared with 55.5 million for the Vanguard fund, launched in March 2005. Some analysts says that the difference in fees is the reason that the iShares ETF has seen net outflows in January-March of USD4.36bn, while the competing Vanguard fund has seen net subscriptions of USD2.91bn. This is an intriguing situation, since ordinarily, the first mover has the advantage since investors prefer the more liquid fund which has the lowest transaction costs.
Muzinich & Co on Thursday registered four funds with the Spanish regulator CNMV. They are the Muzinich America Yield, Europe Yield, Transatlantic and Enhanced Yield funds, which are registered in Ireland, are focused on high yield bonds, and will be available exclusively from Capital Strategies Partners.
From 1 May, Ingrid Szeiler will become a member of the board and CEO of Raiffeisen Vermögensverwaltungsbank AG (RVV), an affiliate of Raiffeisen Capital Management (RCM) specialised in high net worth retail investors. Since 1999, Szeiler has been head of asset allocation and multi-asset class strategies at RCM. She replaces Georg-Viktor Dax, who is leaving the Raiffeisen Zentralbank (RZB) group. The other board member at RVV is Mathias Bauer, CEO of RCM.
BlackRock has reported net profits for first quarter of USD423m, of USD2.17 per share, compared with USD84m, or USD0.67 per share one year previously. Operating margins came out to 32.8%, including the impact of the cost of the integration of BGI before taxes (USD52m). Excluding costs related to the acqusition of BGI, net profits totalled USD469m, of USD2.40 per share, compared with USD110m or USD0.18 per share. Assets under management increased by USD17.6bn in first quarter, to USD3.36trn. During the quarter, net outflows (short-term products) totalled USD39.6bn, while net inflows to long-term products (equities, bonds, alternative investments and multi-asset) totalled USD8.9bn. In the equities asset class, assets under management as of the end of the quarter totalled USD1.58trn, an increase of USD46.5bn since the end of the year. Investors placed USD4.6bn in tracker funds and USD900m in active equities strategies. But quantitative funds saw a net outflow of USD8.8bn. In fixed income, assets under management increased by USD3.6bn to USD1.06trn. Net inflows to tracker products and ETFs totalled USD13.6bn, while actively-managed bond funds saw a net outflow of USD14.4bn. Performance commissions totalled USD50m in first quarter, compared with USD125m in fourth quarter 2009.
Russell Investments has announced the appointment of Penny Zuckerwise as CEO Americas Institutional. Zuckerwise, previously president and CEO of the management firm Utendahl Capital Management, will join Russell Investments on 3 May. She will report to the president and CEO of Russell, Andrew Doman, and will join the executive board at the firm. The development of institutional activities at Russell will be accompanied by the recruitment of 30 staff in the areas of advising, product development and risk management.
On Monday, Ameriprise Financial declared net profits for first quarter of USD214m, compared with USD138m for January-March 2009, which represents an increase of 65%. Assets as of 31 March were up 31% in one year, to USD332bn, largely due to positive market effects and net subscriptions of USD2.5bn for wrap activities, which have reached record volumes of USD100bn. In the United States, the asset management division saw net redemptions of USD0.9bn in retail, and net subscriptions of USD0.1bn in institutional, despite negative synergies of USD0.6bn related to the acquisition of Columbia Management. Elsewhere in the world, retail asset management saw net inflows of USD1.3bn, offset by outflows of USD1.3bn from the institutional operation.
A lawsuit pitting the US bank Lehman Brothers against its acquirer, the British banking group Barclays, began yesterday in New York, Les Echos reports. Depositories in the liquidation process and a group of Lehman creditors are hoping to recuperate USD11bn (EUR8.2bn). They are hoping to demonstrate that Barclays got away with a good deal at the time, particularly as they were able to pocket additional capital gains of at least USD5bn, without having to inform the authorities, the newspaper reports.
Amundi ETF on 26 April announced the launch of 14 ETFs on the SIX Swiss Exchange, of which seven are new to Switzerland. The listing of the 14 ETFs on the SIX Swiss Exchange has been divided into two stages. On 13 April 2010, ten ETF funds were listed, including five equities ETFs, four of which are regional and one of them covers emerging markets, and one of which is new to Europe: the Amundi ETF MSCI Europe Ex Switzerland. In addition, two bond ETFs were released, one of which replicates the evolution of an index of Euro zone government bonds with the full range of maturities, while the other provides exposure to about 40 corporate bonds which offer good liquidity and a credit rating higher than or equal to BBB- according to the ratings agency S&P. Two leveraged ETFs have also been released, of which one is new, covering the SIX Swiss Exchange, and 1 is a short ETF. “These ETF funds allow investors to double their positions or to hedge themselves with short positions on specific markets,” the management firm says. The benchmark index is the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50. Finally, the last group of funds to be listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange on 27 April will include four new commodities ETFs which allow investors exposure to the major commodities segments (soft commodities, precious and industrial metals, and energy), within a UCITS III regulatory environment. “The selection of available products will be extended in the next few weeks with several more listings on the SIX Swiss Exchange,” Amundi ETF announces in a statement.
The Börsen-Zeitung reports that the German federal finance ministry is currently putting the final touches on a new regulation to address liquidity problems being faced by open-ended real estate funds. It would impose a minimal investment period of two years and advance notice periods for redemption demands of 6 to 24 months. The shorter the advance notice period, the more liquidity the fund would be required to have. In addition, the German government is planning to introduce a more flexible procedure to the liquidation of open-ended real estate funds which are not able to provide the liquidity required to permit investors to exit from the fund.
In order to make the names of its fund products more uniform, and to make the themes on which funds are basedmore transparent, Frankfurt Trust has decided to change the names often of its funds from 1 May. They are as follows:ISINFormer nameNew nameDE000A0D95R8BHF SustainSelect FTFT Navigator SustainabilityDE0009770206FT Accugeld FT AccuGeldDE0008478082FT AccuzinsFT AccuZinsDE0008478041FT Amerika Dynamik FondsFT AmerikaDynamikDE0008478181FT Europa Dynamik Fonds FT EuropaDynamikDE0009772988FT Global Dynamik FondsFT GlobalDynamikDE0005317416FT HighDividendFT Global HighDividend DE0008478009FT InterspezialFT InterSpezialDE0008478033FT Nippon Dynamik FondsFT NipponDynamikDE0009770230FT US-Dollar Plus FT DollarGeld
Deka Immobilian has acquired the Daimler Plant Consolidation Centre (PCC, 102,000 square metres), located in Bremen, for its sectoral fund WestInvest TargetSelect Logistics fund. The investment represents EUR34m. The WestInvest TargetSelect Logistics is an open-ended real estate fund reserved for institutional investors.
Olaf-Johannes Eick, manager of several funds launched by the Swiss firm Multi-Invest with Sal. Oppemheim, has bought back a packet of shares from the funds he manages (Multi-Invest OP and Multi-Invest Spezial OP) in the British firm Petrocapital Resources (PCR), whose value has fallen to USD0.14 per share, down from USD0.81 at the time he bought them, Wirtschaftswoche reports. The manager personally bought up the shares, at a cost of about EUR10m, because he did not want subscribers to be penalised by his error in judgement.