Le gestionnaire espagnol Abante Asesores a confié à José Ramón Iturriaga un second fonds de performance absolue après l’Okavango Delta (42 % depuis le début de l’année), en l’occurrence le Kalahari Alpha qui utilisera la même approche, mais avec une volatilité maximale plus contrôlée et plafonnée à 9 %. L’objectif de performance est de 200 points de base au-dessus de l’euribor 1 an. Les commissions de gestion et de performance se situent à 1,25 % et 9 % respectivement.Le gérant peut investir jusqu’à 30 % en actions, le reliquat étant placé en pensions livrées (repos) et en crédit pour contrôler le risque.

cominvest Vertriebs AG va vendre sa filiale MK Luxinvest à Top Ten et Olaf-Johannes Eick, indique Fondsprofessionell. Les sociétés travaillaient déjà en partenariat sur la labellisation de fonds par exemple, précise le site. MK Luxinvest gère 400 millions d’euros dans des fonds commercialisés en Allemagne, au Luxembourg, en Autriche, en Suisse et en Grèce.

Selon un rapport de Hedge Funds Research Inc cité par Bloomberg.com, l’encours des hedge funds basé en Asie a atteint 73,7 milliards de dollars au cours du troisième trimestre, aidé par les entrées nettes de capitaux depuis plus d’un an, La hausse des actifs se décompose en 800 millions de dollars de collecte et un effet marché qui si l’on se limite aux marchés émergents en Asie – via l’indice HFRI Asia ex-Japan Index – représente près de 9 % de hausse au cours du troisième trimestre. Les hedge funds asiatiques sont de retour cette année, et font mieux que leurs concurrents mondiaux. Jusqu'à octobre, ils ont progressé de 23 % en 2009 tandis que l’indice global a gagné 16 %, selon Eurekahedge Pte.

En Asie-Pacifique, Morgan Stanley, le deuxième prime broker, a engrangé plus de 30 nouveaux mandats cette année, prévoyant une prestation de services incluant notamment ses activités de compensation, l’achat et la vente de titres et des prêts de trésorerie accordés à des hedge funds situés dans la région. Environ un tiers des mandats ont été obtenus via des startups, et le reste par des gestionnaires de fonds, a précisé Richard Webb, directeur général de la division de «prime brokerage» de Morgan Stanley, qui note que l’activité depuis le premier trimestre s’est améliorée de façon significative.

La banque privée Suisse Clariden Leu a annoncé le 3 novembre la nomination de Raymond Chung et de David Louie en tant que co-responsables de l’Asie du Nord. Les deux recrues travaillaient précédemment à la Deutsche Bank, en tant que Managing Director Private Wealth Managament.

La Réserve fédérale américaine a maintenu ses taux « pour une période prolongée »

Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) has been caught up in a storm triggered by the scandal related to the hedge fund K1, founded by Michael Kiener, Handelsblatt reports. The group had sold life insurance policies vis its Liechtenstein affiliate, Vienna Life, whose unit-linked accounts were based on rights of beneficial interest from K1 Invest Lts, a structure based in the British Virgin Islands, which, according to its own claims, had assets of EUR3.488bn. VIG and Vienna Life are denying all liability, claiming that Vienna Life was responsible solely for the insurance portion, while performance was the responsibility of K1. The insurance group states that losses total EUR10m; policies were held by 1,600 investors.

David Friehling, Bernard Madoff’s auditor, on Tuesday pleaded guilty to securities fraud and filing false audit reports, says the Financial Times. Mr Friehling faces up to 114 years in prison. He is co-operating with prosecutors in the hope of receiving less prison time and is likely to be sentenced by mid-February.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has recruited Norm Champ, general counsel to a multibillion-dollar hedge fund, Chilton Investment, to lead its New York examinations group, says the WSJ. Mr. Champ will run the SEC’s New York examinations team, which reviews investment advisers including hedge funds.

Mutual Fund Wire.com reports that the management firm Vanguard has doubled the front-end fees for its Emerging Markets Stock index, with the MSCI Emerging Markets Index as its benchmark. Fees have been increased from 25 to 50 basis points, the website states. The increase is the result of the application of a 2% tax imposed by the Brazilian government from 20 October on securities acquired by foreign investors. The weight of Brazilian assets in the portfolio is 16%. The fund, which invests primarily in emerging markets such as Russia, China, Korea, and Taiwan, posted performance as of Friday, 31 October, of 67% since the beginning of the year.

Islamic resources offer attractive solutions for businesses in search of financing, but there are still obstacles to overcome before their use becomes commonplace, Les Echos reports. At a conference held at Bercy on the subject of Islamic finance, participants defined several of these obstacles, including the very limited presence of instruments denominated in Euros; the cost of constructing the financial apparatus; the lack of harmonisation between varying interpretations of Sharia law, the need to develop expertise in these financial instruments, and the difficulty of obtaining direct access to the final investor. The rising presence of the Paris centre in this segment could make it possible to alleviate some of these difficulties.

The introduction in Brazil of an IOF tax of 2% on financial transactions involving investments in foreign currency “will create unfavourable conditions in the short term for local equities and for the Brazilian Real,” HSBC Global Asset Management reports. Jose Cuervo, manager of a Brazilian equities fund, says the tax will generate short-term volatility. But the manager says the tax will not have a significant impact in the long term “since factors favourable to equities and the Real remain positive,” according to a statement. As a result, HSBC Global Asset Management will retain a positive approach to the Brazilian market.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management has recruited three senior portfolio managers from Fortis, where they will join a team specialised in emerging market bonds, Investment Week reports. Didier Lambert, Alain Defise and Michal Wozniak will join the team led by Pierre-Yves Bareau, who is himself a recent arrival from Fortis. “We think the emerging market debt sector presents enormous opportunities for our global fixed income clients, and we have modified the structure of the team, and centralised international coordination in London, in order to benefit from the situation,” says Bob Michele, chief investment officer for fixed income at JP Morgan AM since September of this year.

Martin Currie Investment Management Limited announced on 3 November that it has added to its team dedicated to international equities, with the appointment of Christine Montgomery and Neil Robson. Montgomery was formerly employed by Edinburgh Partners, while Robson formerly worked at Pioneer. Montgomery and Robson will join the team led by James Fairweather, which manages about USD4.6bn, by the end of the year.

Legal and General Investment Management has reported a gross total for new mandates down 14% to GBP24.3bn, compared with GBP28.3bn previously. However, assets under management reached a record GBP311bn, up GBP38bn since the corresponding period of 2008. In the period under review, net inflows totalled GBP12.2bn. Funds managed for external clients totalled GBP246bn, including pension funds for 51 FTSE 100 companies and 41 local collectivities.

The founder and former partner at Maia Capital, Chris Ralph, has joined St. James’s Place, where he will occupy the newly-created position of chief investment officer, Investment Week reports. The investment committee at St. James’s Place will also gain two new members from January 2010: Vivian Bazalgette, formerly CIO of Prudential, and Peter Dunscombe, chief investment officer at BBC Pension Trust.

In its monthly report for October, Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) reports that in the first ten months of the year, the number of transactions on ETFs has leapt 111% in annualised terms, to 41,982, of which a record 5,333 were in the month of October alone, when trading volumes came to EUR290.6m. In January-October, trades totalled slightly less than EUR2.67bn. By comparison, the monthly trading volumes for the XTF segment in Frankfurt represent about EUR12bn.

ING has sold three of its broker-dealer locations in the United States, and their holding company, ING Brokers Network, for an undisclosed amount to the private equity investor Lightyear Capital LLC, which manages about USD3bn. The broker-dealers are Financial Network Investment Corporation, located in El Segundo, California, Multi-Financial Securities Corporation of Denver, Colorado, and PrimeVest Financial Services, Inc of St Cloud, Minnesota. ING stated on Tuesday that it will retain ING Financial Advisors in Windsor, Connecticut, and ING Financial Partners, Inc, in Des Moines, Iowa, as these entities are highly integrated into its activity and play a key role in the group’s strategy in the United States, which is focused on retirement, life insurance, and rollover annuities.

BNY Mellon on 2 November announced the appointment of Brian Ruane to the newly-created position of Chief Executive Officer for alternative investment services (AIS). BNY Mellon Alternative Investment Services is a hedge fund administrator, which has USD200bn in assets under administration. Brian Ruane, who will continue to be based in New York, will report directly to Art Certosimo, senior executive vice president and head of Broker-Dealer/Alternative Investment Services.

In third quarter, the asset management unit at Société Générale underwent net redemptions of EUR1.6bn. The major reason for these outflows was alternative management, which saw outflows of EUR2.1bn. However, traditional management also shows a slight outflow, as “clients of money market funds are continuing to prefer bond funds (-EUR2.5bn and +EUR1.9bn, respectively),” the bank explains. Due to positive market effects of EUR15.1bn, and negative currency effects of EUR2.3bn, assets under management came out to a total of EUR273.3bn, as of the end of September 2009. They break down as follows: EUR171.3bn at SGAM, which correspond to the perimeter determined by the merger with CAAM. Of these, 65% are in fixed income products and 35% in diversified equities; EUR73.8bn at TCW; and EUR16.8bn at SGAM AI. Revenues at SGAM totalled EUR197m in third quarter, a 9.4% increase over the corresponding period of last year (+7.1% according to ongoing data). “Due to the effects of staff reductions and cuts in variable pay, management costs are down 2.2% compared with Q3 2008 (-5.3% in ongoing data). As a consequence, gross operating results total EUR17m, while they were -EUR6m in Q3 2008. Net results for the part of the group total EUR12m,” Société Générale states. In the first 9 months of the year, revenues at SGAM totalled EUR536m, an increase of 18.8% (+21.8% in ongoing data) compared with the end of September 2008. In the same period, management costs are down 10.3% (-9.4% in ongoing data). Gross operating results and net results for the part of the group balance out to -EUR3m and -EUR2m, respectively, though they were -EUR155m and -EUR97m one year earlier.

Les Echos reports that the United States Supreme Court will hand down a verdict as to the appropriate level of management fees, when it considers several questions raised in the case Jones vs. Harris Associates, a US affiliate of Natixis Global AM. The retail investors who are plaintiffs in the class action suit claim that they paid the firm excessive management fees for three funds (under the Oakmark name), particularly in comparison to the far lower commissions which the manager charged for the same products to institutional investors. The plaintiffs claim that in some manner they were subsidizing the larger clients of the management firm. The claim highlights the fact that management fees are, as required by law, set by a board of directors composed of independent administrators. The verdict of the Supreme Court, which has begun hearing the case, is not expected for several months.

Mandy Wang is leaving China International Fund Management, the joint venture of JP Morgan AM based in Shanghai, where she had spent five years as CEO, Asian Investor reports. Her deputy general manager, Fu Fan, is also leaving to join Shanghai International Trust Corporation (Sitico), the Chinese partner of JPM AM.

Mandy Wang is leaving China International Fund Management, the joint venture of JP Morgan AM based in Shanghai, where she had spent five years as CEO, Asian Investor reports. Her deputy general manager, Fu Fan, is also leaving to join Shanghai International Trust Corporation (Sitico), the Chinese partner of JPM AM.

The Global Convertibles sub-fund of the Credit Suisse Sicav One (Lux), launched on 19 October, has obtained its sales licenses for Germany and Austria. The Luxembourg-registered convertible bond fund covers the entire world, and is actively managed using a multi-asset class approach. The fund may invest in traditional bonds, equities, and structured products, while currency positions are largely hedged for risks. Characteristics Name: Credit Suisse SICAV One (Lux) Global ConvertiblesISIN Codes: B class USD shares: LU0426279682; R class EUR shares: LU0457025293; S class EUR shares (minimum EUR0.3m): LU0456270396Benchmark: UBS Global Convertibles Focus (FX hedged) Front-end fee: maximum 5%Management commission: B USD: 1.20%; R EUR: 1.20%; S EUR: 0.70%

State Street Corporation announced on Tuesday that it will provide the teachers’ federation of Saskatchewan, Canada, with a range of investment services on CAD2.2bn in assets in the pension fund and funds related to collective insurance benefits. State Street will provide custodial services, fund accounting and securities lending, a statement from the firm states.

The transaction by which Conrad Hinrich Donner Bank, an affiliate of Signal Iduna, has acquired the private bank Reuschel & Co Privatbankiers from Commerzbank was concluded on Monday, 2 November. The integration of the acquired entity must be completed in the space of twelve months. The new establishment will be known as “Donner & Reuschel Privatbank seit 1798,” and will have two headquarters, one in Hamburg, and one in Munich (see Newsmanagers of 25 September), but the legal headquarters will be located in Hamburg, as Donner is the buyer. The new merged entity will have about EUR7.5bn in assets.

The Telos agency, based in Weisbaden, announced on Tuesday that DB Advisors, the institutional management division of Deutsche Asset Management (DeAM) has for the first time subjected its Master KAG activities to an audit, which resulted in the issuance of a rating of “1-”, or “excellent.” The Master KAG activities (fund accounting and administration, reporting, etc.,) are a part of the Fiduciary Management division of DB Advisors. Assets at DB Advisors as of 30 June 2009 were EUR79.18bn. The overall rating corresponds to ratings of “1-” for its four components: management, clients/sales, production, and infrastructure.

For the first time, the financial surveillance authority BaFin has authorised the transfer of assets between two pension funds: Allianz Pensionsfonds AG, the pension fund vehicle at Allianz for retirement savings plans for third-party businesses, will take over the delivery of benefits for 2,700 members of the MAN Ferrostaal pension fund. The benefits had previously been delivered by MAN Pensionsfunds AG, which in October transferred all its accounts to the Allianz affiliate, along with the corresponding EUR155m. The operation was rendered necessary by the fact that the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund, the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), had acquired a majority stake in MAN Ferrostaal.

Insight Investments has announced that about 120 jobs will be lost by March 2010, after the migration of its assets to SWIP and BNY Mellon, IFAonline reports. The news has also been carried by FT Adviser.

Le total des placements, y compris les liquidités, de Scor Global Investments (SGI), la société de gestion de Scor créée à l’automne 2008, s’établissait à 19,69 milliards au 30 septembre 2009 contre 19,54 milliards au 30 juin 2009 et 19,05 milliards au 31 mars 2009. Au 30 septembre 2009, les placements étaient constitués d’obligations (44 %), de fonds détenus par les cédantes (40 %), de liquidités et d’investissements à court terme (9 %), d’actions (4 %), d’immobilier (2 %) et d’autres placements alternatifs (1 %).Au cours du troisième trimestre 2009, SCOR a poursuivi la mise en oeuvre de sa politique d’investissement consistant à prendre en compte le retour attendu à moyen terme de l’inflation, de taux d’intérêt en hausse et un environnement économique profondément modifié, tout en saisissant à court terme les opportunités présentes sur le marché. Dans un contexte de forte pentification de la courbe des taux et de marchés financiers favorables, cette stratégie d’investissement a permis à Scor de réduire rapidement son niveau de liquidités et ses investissements à court terme afin de tirer parti des opportunités sur les marchés actions et obligataires. Grâce à cette stratégie d’investissement et à une gestion active du portefeuille qui ont conduit à la réalisation de plus-values nettes de 52 millions d’euros au cours du troisième trimestre 2009, le rendement net des actifs augmente pour atteindre 3,5 % au troisième trimestre 2009 contre 3,0 % au deuxième trimestre 2009. Hors fonds détenus par les cédantes, le rendement du portefeuille d’investissement atteint 4,3 % au troisième trimestre 2009 contre 3,6 % au deuxième trimestre 2009.Le groupe Scor a par ailleurs fait état d’un résultat net de 278 millions d’euros pour les neuf premiers mois de 2009, stable par rapport aux neuf premiers mois de 2008. Le rendement des capitaux propres moyens pondérés (ROE) atteint 10,5 %, dépassant ainsi l’objectif de SCOR de 900 points de base au-dessus du taux sans risque. Le bénéfice par action (BPA) s’élève à EUR 1,55 pour les neuf premiers mois de 2009. Au troisième trimestre 2009, le résultat net a atteint 94 millions d’euros, en hausse de 147,4 % par rapport au troisième trimestre 2008.