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31/03/2010

Raj Shant (Newton) joins Skandia European Best Ideas club

Skandia Global Funds announced on Tuesday that Raj Shant, CIO for European equities at Newton Investment Management (a fund management boutique from BNY Mellon Asset Management) has been selected to be one of the ten fund of fund managers to be included in the Irish-registered Skandia European Best Ideas fund (EUR216.17m in assets as of 26 February 2010). He replaces Dirk Henderlein, of Allianz Global Investors (AGI). He will be in charge of the management of an equities allocation to include his 10 top equities picks, without the constraints of a benchmark index. The current fund management line-up includes, in addition to Shant, Crispin Odey (Odey Asset Management), Barry Norris (Argonaut), Terry Burnham (Acadian AM), Roger Guy (Gartmore), James Inglis-Jones (Liontrust), Hugh Cuthbert (SVM), and James Buckley (Barings), based in the UK; Tobias Klein, at the German asset management firm First Private, and Didier Le Ménestrel, at Financière de l’Échiquier.
31/03/2010

GAM launches a UCITS III-compliant quant fund

GAM is adding to its range of UCITS III funds with the launch of a systematic managed futures fund, managed by Sushil Wadhwani, founder and chief executive of Wadhwani Asset Management, Hedge Week reports. The new product range will for the first time provide investors with access to these strategies in a regulated onshore format. Wadhwani has more than 25 years of experience in quantitative modelling. These strategies rely on risk management on several levels, as risk control is integrated into the systematic models, and risk exposure is subject to ongoing analysis by risk committees and research teams.
31/03/2010

Hedge funds: USD160bn in net outflows in 2009

Hedge funds last year saw a net outflow of USD160.11bn, according to data from Lipper Tass reported by Hedge Week. The trend was largely reversed in fourth quarter 2009, putting assets under management at the end of 2009 at USD1.34trn, compared with USD1.29trn as of the end of September 2009.
31/03/2010

Two small sustainable development funds from UBS merge

With effect from 26 March, the Sustainable European Equities (EUR) P-acc sub-fund of the Sicav UBS (Lux) Equity Fund 2 has been absorbed into the Sustainable Global Leaders (EUR) P-acc (EUR3.38m as of the end of January, according to Fondsweb), the UBS Responsibility Fund Management Company has announced. The operation is notable for the motives cited by the management firm: weak demand for the “best-in-class” strategy, and the low level of subscriptions render it impossible to freeze the fund in a profitable and effective manner.
31/03/2010

Hong Kong tightens up rules on sensitive information

The government of Hong Kong has announced that it will be toughening the active regulations, to require publicly traded companies to disclose sensitive information, defined in terms similar to the concept of insider trading, without delay, the Wall Street Journal reports. The planned changes to the law, which would fill a gap in legislation, would provide for fines of up to USD1m. Activists are reported to have called for those who conduct insider trading in Hong Kong to face penal proceedings.
31/03/2010

Returns on British pension funds rebound

According to data from BNY Mellon Asset Servicing, British pension funds posted weighted average returns last year of 14.4%, a level not seen since 2005. Real returns come in at 12% compared with the price index for 2009, and 12.9% compared with the National Average Earnings Index. In 2008, returns for British pension funds came in at -13.6%. For the three years to the end of December 2009, average returns come to +1.7% per year. On the major equities markets, returns last year ran to 30.1% for UK equities, 50.7% for the Pacific ex Japan region, and 58.9% for emerging markets. The sole exception is Japan, where losses averaged 5.9% for the year.
31/03/2010

Standard Life Investments plans international development

The management firm Standard Life Investments announced on 30 March that it has appointed Colin Clark as Director-Global Client Group, in charge of distribution, marketing and global development of activities, for both retail and institutional products. For the past five years, Clark has been non-executive director at Standard Life Investments.
31/03/2010

Gartmore suspends one of its managers

Following consultation with the Financial Services Authority, the UK asset manager Gartmore has suspended Guillaume Rambourg pending the outcome of an internal investigation in relation to breaches of internal procedures regarding directing trades. In the meantime, assets managed by the fund manager continue to be managed by Roger Guy. Gartmore says it has not identified any information to date which suggests that Gartmore’s clients have suffered any loss as a result of these breaches. Guillaume Rambourg had joined Gartmore in October 1995 and is a senior investment manager in the European equity team. He works alongside Roger Guy on the European retail investment funds and high performance funds. He also co-manages the European hedge funds with Roger Guy.
31/03/2010

Computer-based quant funds speculate against the Euro

Some of the largest European hedge funds have made large bets against the Euro and the Pound Sterling. The attacks have not been instigated by human managers, though, but rather by trend-follower funds which are managed by computers, Handelsblatt reports, citing examples at Man Group (AHL), Winton Capital at Blue Crest, with assets of over USD40bn. One hedge fund manager says these computer-based funds made a lot of money betting on a falling US dollar, but that the trend has now inverted itself, and now the pound Sterling and the Euro are on the list of weak currencies. Managers of these funds says that they are not triggering the trends, but following them. In addition, most of them use futures for their bets, and these contracts are traded on futures markets which are closely regulated, unlike currency markets, where 90% to 95% of transactions take place over the counter (OTC).
31/03/2010

Russell clients adopt a more dynamic asset allocation approach

A growing number of institutional clients at Russell Investments are opting for liability-responsive asset allocation (LRAA), first launched in April 2009. As their coverage situation improves, pension funds respond with gradually less aggressive allocations. Russell Investments states that some pension funds using LRAA approaches have reduced their equities allocations 15% in the past three months, increasing their allocations to long-term bonds by the same proportion. Since its launch in spring 2009, the LRAA strategy has been chosen by 15 institutional clients. Many other clients are considering adopting this approach.
31/03/2010

Philippe Aurain becomes new CIO at FRR

Effective April 1st, 2010, Philippe Aurain is appointed chief investment officer of the FRR (Fonds de réserve pour les retraites). He succeeds Nicolas Sobczak. Philippe Aurain began working for the FRR in 2003 as investment director, and was later appointed head of external asset management for the FRR, then financial deputy director. Before joining the FRR, Philippe Aurain was head of savings surveys and network relationships within the CDC, ALM manager for the CDC, then head of own-account European equity management for Ixis. Philippe Aurain earned an MBA at ’ESCP Europe, and a post graduate degree in finance from the Université de Dauphine. He is also a member of the Société Française des Analystes Financiers (SFAF).
31/03/2010

oekom research to advise charities

The Munich-based SRI ratings agency oekom research on Tuesday announced that it has signed a cooperation agreement which will come into force on 1 April, with the German charities association (Bundesverbandes Deutscher Stiftungen). By the terms of the agreement, oekom research will offer more than 3,400 charities which belong to the association one-shot custom sustainable diagnostics on their portfolios, free of charge. This will allow the investors to avoid pitfalls such as the controversy in the Netherlands which was triggered when an anti-cancer charity, KWF Kankerbestrijding, was found to have invested part of its assets in the tobacco sector. Speaking to Newsmanagers, Rolf Häßler, head of products and development at oekom research, says that the agency may later earn commissions if the charities consider it useful to undertake ongoing screenings of their portfolios, or if they decide to invest in SRI funds which rely on research from oekom research.
31/03/2010

Bill Gross is not the only one wary of bonds

According to Emerging Portfolio Fund Research, net subscriptions to bond funds worldwide this year have already totalled USD89bn, nearly five times the total for the first three months of 2009, Die Welt reports. Bill Gross, who manages a bond fund with USD214.3bn in assets at Pimco (Allianz Gobal Investors), has warned that the rally on bonds, which has lasted for more than three decades, is nearing its end. Pimco announced in December that it will be launching equities funds, and recommends positions on government bonds with low deficits, such as Germany and Canada, or else investment in corporate bonds. Gross is not the only manager to be preaching prudence: Bill Eigen, manager of the JP Morgan Strategic Income Opportunities Fund (USD8bn), is predicting rising interest rates in the next two years, which will mean losses for subscribers to long-term bond funds. And Keith Harstein, CEO of John Hancock Funds, says small investors have already almost missed the right time to back out of bond funds. They are now once again making the mistake of betting on past performance, at a time when they need to be making investment decisions for today.
31/03/2010

AWD aims for EBIT of EUR40-50m in 2010

In 2009, the German financial services provider AWD Holding dragged down results at Swiss Life, as restructuring and one-time charges of EUR53.7m at the firm put earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) at -EUR41.1m, compared with profits of EUR19.7m in 2008, on revenues down 16.5% to EUR528.7m. Manfred Behrens, chairman of the board, announced on Tuesday that a restructuring program which made it possible to reduce set expenses by EUR50m per year has now been completed, meaning that it should now be possible to earn a positive EBIT of EUR40-50m this year. In first quarter, profits came to more than EUR9m, higher than expectations.
31/03/2010

Cecilia Reyes appointed as head of investment at ZFS

Zurich Financial Services has announced the appointment of Cecilia Reyes as chief investment officer and a member of the executive board of the group, replacing Martin Senn, who, since 1 January 2010, has been serving as CEO of the group. Reyes was previously head of deployment for investment strategies, a position she had held since April 2006.
31/03/2010

Le bénéfice de la banque privée Rothschild recule de 31,9%

La Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild à Genève conclut l’exercice 2009 par un bénéfice net en baisse de 31,9% à 136,8 millions de francs suisse, rapporte Le Temps. La rentabilité souffre du repli des clients vers les produits financiers les moins risqués et donc moins générateurs de commissions bancaires. Les encours sous gestion rebondit de 12% à 92,2 milliards de francs après le creux de 82,3 milliards de francs touché à la fin de 2008.
30/03/2010

Pimco recrute un responsable du développement dans les pays nordiques

Pimco vient de recruter Mikael Angberg en tant que senior vice president et responsable du développement dans les pays nordiques. Basé à Londres, il sera subordonné à Micheal Burns, executive vice president et responsable de l’activité nordique de la société de gestion. Auparavant, Mikael Angberg était responsable des ventes de dérivés actions aux institutionnels pour BNP Paribas. Avant, il était executive director pour les ventes institutionnelles dans les pays nordiques chez Goldman Sachs. Il a aussi travaillé chez Axa Investment Managers.
30/03/2010

Philip Gibbs consacre la moitié de son fonds à des liquidités

Citywire rapporte que le gérant de Jupiter Asset Management Philip Gibbs consacre actuellement plus de la moitié de l’actif de son fonds Jupiter Financial Opportunities, soit 1,2 milliard de livres, à des liquidités comme le précise le dernier rapport de gestion. A côté des 52,45 % en cash, le portefeuille est composé, pour près de 37 %, de dix lignes de titres. Quant au solde - 11 % environ - il est réparti sur dix-huit lignes, représentant 136,2 millions d’euros.
30/03/2010
Fonds

Invest & Give nomme un responsable de la distribution

Angus Duncan, l’ancien responsable de la distribution de Smith & Williamson, a été nommé responsable de la distribution pour le compte du fonds d’investissement Invest & Give.Selon Fund Strategy, Angus Duncan a la responsabilité d’une campagne de marketing pour le fonds qui a été lancé l’an dernier.
Fonds
30/03/2010

Richard Wohanka veut développer le "long only" chez UBP

Interrogé par le Financial Times Fund Management, Richard Wohanka, devenu récemment directeur général de la division gestion d’actifs et investissements alternatifs d’UBP, souhaite développer l’activité de gestion traditionnelle («long only») de l'établissement suisse, qui représente environ 10 milliards de dollars d’actifs, et en faire le troisième pilier de la banque aux côtés des branches hedge funds et banque privée. Il veut notamment bâtir les capacités d’UBP sur les marchés émergents. Dans ce cadre, même s’il affirme qu’UBP a les moyens de se payer des acquisitions, Richard Wohanka indique que la banque ne cherche pas activement.
30/03/2010

Schelcher-Prince prend pied en Espagne grâce à Capital Strategies

Capital Strategies Partners a intégré dans son offre en Espagne les produits du gestionnaire français Schelcher-Prince (2 milliards d’euros d’encours), dont la gamme comprend six fonds, rapporte Funds People. Le produit star de cette société de gestion est le Schelcher-Prince Convertibles, qui pèse environ 200 millions d’euros.
30/03/2010

Forte expansion de l'encours de C-Quadrat

Le gestionnaire austro-allemand C-Quadrat Investment affiche pour 2009 un bénéfice net de 5,7 millions d’euros contre une perte de 12,2 millions pour 2008. Le redressement est attribuable pour l’essentiel à un bond en avant des recettes de commissions de performance à 7,6 millions d’euros contre 0,5 million.L’encours des fonds a gonflé de 58 % sur l’année pour atteindre 2,66 milliards d’euros au 31 décembre. L’ensemble des actifs générant des recettes gérés par C-Quadrat représentait en fin d’année plus de 4,51 milliards contre 3,28 milliards, ce qui représente un accroissement de 37 %.L’amélioration du résultat s’explique aussi par une contraction de 39,7 % des charges d’exploitation hors frais de personnel à 4,1 millions d’euros, les charges de personnel ne progressant pour leur part que de 3,9 % à 7,4 millions d’euros.
30/03/2010

Le Credit Suisse se renforce en Inde

Le Credit Suisse a annoncé le 29 mars qu’il avait obtenu le feu vert des autorités indiennes pour l’installation d’une antenne à Bombay, ce qui lui permettra d'étendre sa gamme de services sur le marché indien.La banque suisse est également autorisée à négocier les titres de dette indienne ainsi que d’autres produits de fixed income.
30/03/2010

Credit Suisse ouvre une antenne à Bahreïn

Le Credit Suisse a annoncé le 29 mars l’ouverture de son antenne de Bahrein ainsi que la nomination de Khaled Salah à la tête de Credit Suisse à Bahrein. La banque veut se concentrer sur la clientèle fortunée, les grandes familles et les entreprises de Bahrein, qui se montrent plus exigeantes en matière d’allocation d’actifs et qui souhaitent avoir accès à une véritable plate-forme internationale dédiée aux produits et services financiers.
30/03/2010

KBL : les candidats brésilien et indien favoris

Selon La Tribune, les choses se précisent pour la vente de l’activité de gestion privée de la banque belge KBC, KBL European Private Bankers. Sur les cinq candidats qui figuraient sur la ligne de départ, deux auraient pris de l’avance. Il s’agit de la banque brésilienne Safra et du groupe financier indien Hinduja. Si la famille italienne Agnelli, à travers sa société Exor, semble tenir la distance, le fonds d’investissement KKR, allié au holding luxembourgeois Luxempart, et la banque suisse Julius Baer souffrent des faiblesses de leur dossier.
30/03/2010
Fonds

L'ex Fonds pétrolier a enregistré une performance de 25,6 % en 2009

Sigbjørn Johnsen, le ministre des Finances, a annoncé lundi que l’encours du Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), l’ex Fonds pétrolier, a augmenté l’an dernier de 394 milliards de couronnes pour atteindre 2.757 milliards de couronnes. L’augmentation est attribuable à 169 milliards de couronnes de transferts et à un effet de marché positif de 642 milliards de couronnes, mais la revalorisation de la couronne a amputé le total de 418 milliards de couronnes sans amputer le pouvoir d’achat international du fonds.La performance du GPFG est ressortie à 25,6 %, soit à 4,1 points de pourcentage au-dessus du portefeuille de référence, tandis que celle du Government Pension Fund Norway a atteint 33,5 %, ce qui représente une sous-performance de 2,2 points par rapport au portefeuille de référence.Le ministre précise qu’en matière de gestion active, un rapport d’experts recommande de limiter la marge de gestion active à 1 point de pourcentage d'écart de suivi contre 1,5 point auparavant, hors circonstances exceptionnelles. Il reconnaît cependant que répliquer servilement le portefeuille de référence entraine des coûts inutilement élevés.Concernant enfin l’investissement responsable, Sigbjørn Johnsen a souligné que désormais le GPFG a ajouté à sa panoplie d’outils comme l’exercice actif du droit de propriété et l’exclusion des critères environnementaux, sociaux et de gouvernance pour l’ensemble de ses investissements.
Fonds
30/03/2010

BNP Paribas élargit son offre "fixed income" pour les CGPI

Manoel de Ipanema intègre le département Fixed Income de BNP Paribas (Taux, Change, Crédit) et rejoint Samy Zergoun, le responsable de l’activité Banques Privées et Distributeurs sur la France et Monaco, afin d’y développer l’activité Distributeurs principalement à destination des Conseilleres en gestion de patrimoine indépendants.
30/03/2010

Schneider met en place d'un plan d'actionnariat salarié

L’Agefi rapporte que le groupe Schneider a annoncé une augmentation de capital réservée aux salariés adhérents au Plan d’Epargne d’Entreprise et une augmentation de capital réservée à des salariés du groupe Schneider Electric. Deux formules de souscription sont proposées aux bénéficiaires de l’offre d’actions réservée aux salariés : une première dite «classique» et une dite «à effet de levier», précise le quotidien.

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