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16/10/2009

Un nouveau responsable clientèle chez SEI aux Pays-Bas

Le fournisseur de services de gestion fiduciaire SEI a annoncé le 15 octobre la nomination d’Alexander van Aken au poste de directeur du service clients pour les Pays-Bas. Avant de rejoindre SEI, Alexander van Aken a passé neuf ans chez Fortis Investments, dernièrement en tant que responsable Investment Specialist Solutions.
16/10/2009

Siemens achète Solel Solar à Ecofin

Pour 418 millions de dollars, Siemens International BV a acheté l’israélien Solel Solar Systems Ltd dont le gestionnaire d’actifs britannique Ecofin Ltd détenait 63 %.
16/10/2009

Les " performeurs " passés restent fragiles

Le facteur de momentum est représenté par le portefeuille constitué chaque mois des trois meilleurs «performeurs». Ces trois fonds sont identifiés sur la base de leur rendement corrigé du risque sur trois ans. La composition du portefeuille est donc renouvelée toutes les quatre semaines : les «performeurs» passés laissant (éventuellement) la place aux «performeurs» les plus récents.
16/10/2009

Une large majorité de gérants actions surperforment

Les tableaux ci-contre présentent les meilleures et plus mauvaises performances des fonds sur le marché des fonds actions américaines et le marché des fonds actions françaises au cours du mois de septembre 2009. Ces performances sont mises en perspective par le calcul de la volatilité et du ratio de Sharpe sur trois ans d’historique ainsi que du rendement depuis un an.
15/10/2009

Concentration of investments increases use of platforms

About two thirds of independent financial advisers in the United Kingdom are expecting to work with platforms in the next 12 months, according to a survey of 200 IFAs by Skandia. 85% of them explain this trend as the result of a consolidation of client assets on a single platform.
15/10/2009

Late birth of REITs

This Thursday, the Spanish congress will pass a law which will create Spanish REIT funds, «sociedades cotizadas de inversión en el mercado inmobiliario» (Socimi), Cinco Días reports. Though experts say the bill comes quite late, at the peak of the real estate crisis, they have nonetheless welcomed the legislation. SOCIMI vehicles will be subject to an 18% tax, lower than the current 30% rate, as long as they distribute at least 90% of their profits.
15/10/2009

Intesa reopens negotiations to acquire Fideuram

Negotiations between Intesa Sanpaolo and Exor, the holding company for the Agnelli family, to sell a part of the Banca Fideuram to the former, will formally restart next week, Il Sole - 24 Ore reports. Analysts estimate the value of Fideuram to be at least EUR3bn. If the acquisition talks are not successful, Intesa Sanpaolo may opt for an IPO for its affiliate.
15/10/2009

Strong growth of Hong Kong hedge fund industry

The hedge fund industry is continuing to develop in Hong Kong, but assets under management have declined in the past twelve months. The number of hedge funds managed by managers registered in Hong Kong has risen to 542 as of 31 March 2009, nearly five times as many as there were in 2004, the first year for which statistics are available, according to the most recent edition of a study undertaken by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), which had not measured this population since 2006. The number of funds is also up from its total last year (488 as of March 2008). Assets under management have also risen sharply in the period under review, to USD55.3bn as of 31 March 2009, six times their 2004 levels. However, assets as of 31 March this year are down 39% from March 2008, when they peaked at Usd90.1bn. The top 20 hedge funds manage USD32.7bn in assets, slightly over 59% of total assets. The industry now employs nearly 2,000 people in Hong Kong, up from 1,053 in 2006, an increase of 86.8% in three years.
15/10/2009

Government siphons money from state pension fund

In its proposed budget for 2010, the Norwegian government is planning to balance its non-oil finances, which show a deficit of NOK153.8bn, with a transfer of funds from the Government Pension Fund - Global (GPFG), a higher amount than the NOK118.1bn the budget drew from the fund in 2009. Meanwhile, net transfers to the fund have fallen to NOK66.6bn, from NOK146.6bn, and net profits for the pension fund, including dividends, is expected to total NOK172.2bn, compared with NOK255bn. The government projects that at the end of 2009, assets in the GPFG will total NOK2.597trn, compare dwith NOK2.280trn as of the end of 2008; it is expected to total NOK2.824trn as of the end of 2010.
15/10/2009

RHJ buys Kleinwort Benson

On Thursday morning, the private equity investor RHJ International announced that it has acquired Kleinwort Benson, including its private banking, wealth management and lending activities, from Commerzbank, for GBP225m in cash. The activities included in the deal (Kleinwort Benson Private Bank Limited and Kleinwort Benson Channel Islands Holding Limited) had GBP5.4bn in assets under management and GBP15.7bn in supervised assets as of 31 December 2008.
15/10/2009

CalPERS investigates suspicious commissions

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS, USD200bn in assets) on Wednesday announced that it has opened a special investigation of commissions paid by its external managers to placement agents. The investigation was provoked by reports from investment funds that more than USD50m in commissions were paid over five years to ARVCO Financial ventures, a placement agent led by Al Villalobos, who was director of CalPERS between 1993 and 1995. The special investigation will be carried out by Steptoe & Johnson LLP and other independent agencies.
15/10/2009

OCBC acquires ING's Asian private bank

OCBC, Singapore’s third largest bank, on Thursday confirmed that it would buy the Asian private banking operations of ING, for USD1.46bn in cash, says the Financial Times. HSBC was the other main contender for the assets.
15/10/2009

Appetite for risk at highest levels since April 2006

In October, investors’ appetite for risk is at its highest levels in more than three years, while fears of a W-shaped recession have dissipated, according to the most recent BofA Merrill Lynch Survey of Fund Managers (October). A majority of respondents estimated that a global recession in the next twelve months was unlikely, compared with 47% one month earlier. A net 72% of respondents estimate that corporate profits will improve in the next twelve months, compared with 68% in September. The corollary of this optimism is that exposures to cash are at their lowest levels since January 2004, and respondents are now overweight in equities (a net 38%) compared with 27% in September. Optimism for Europe is also notable. 30% of managers estimate that Euro zone equities are undervalued compared with other regions, the highest level of respondents to think so since April 2001. 9% of respondents want to go overweight in the region in the next twelve months, compared with 7% one month earlier. Japan, however, is seen as the least attractive region for the next twelve months, while outlooks for China remain excellent.
15/10/2009

Blackstone estimates that private equity is out of the woods

Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of Blackstone, speaking in Dubai, has claimed that private equity has now passed through the toughest straits of the crisis, and that investment opportunities and IPOs will now increase, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. He predicts that his company will be in a position to make transactions totalling USD3-4bn in the near future.
15/10/2009

Pension fund deficits down

As of the end of September, the combined deficits of 7,400 defined-contribution pension funds monitored by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) had shrunk to GBP148.9bn, compared with GBP173.2bn as of the end of August, but this compared with a shortfall in coverage of GBP52.2bn as of 30 September 2008. According to the PPF, the total deficit of funds which have a shortfall has decreased to GBP174.9bn, from GBP194.6bn one month previously, and GBP98.4bn twelve months earlier. The total surplus at funds in positive territory rose to GBP25.9bn, from GBP21.4bn as of the end of August, but has decreased compared with the surplus of GBP46.2bn as of 30 September 2008.
15/10/2009

UN initiative for sustainable development requirements

Aviva and the United Nations will announce an initiative in November which will encourage global stock markets to modify the rules for publicly traded companies. The aim will be to require firms to publish a sustainable development report, and to submit the document to a vote of shareholders.
15/10/2009

Mass confessions of secret accounts to IRS

According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), cited by La Tribune, 7,500 high net worth US residents have agreed to provide information to the tax authority about their secret bank accounts abroad, on the eve of the deadline for its amnesty program. The amounts disclosed to the authorities range from USD10,000 to more than USD100m, says Doug Shulman, director of the IRS, who is planning to increase the agency’s efforts to find funds, particularly in Beijing, Panama, and Sydney, Australia.
15/10/2009

Excellent year expected for hedge funds

According to Eurekahedge, hedge funds may attain assets as of the end of the year of USD1.5trn, and may turn in performance of 21%, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. As of the end of September, assets under management increased by USD26.3bn, from USD21.4bn in August. In the seven months to the end of September, performance totals 16.1%, and hedge funds are likely to turn in their best performance since 2003 for the year 2009 as a whole.
15/10/2009

In the City, statement of support for bonus rules not universally popular

The major non-British banks based in the City, including Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Securities, Morgan Stanley Nomura and UBS, were yesterday compelled by an injunction from Paul Myners, secretary of state in charge of the City, to issue a joint statement expressing their “complete support” for the G20 agreement on remuneration, La Tribune reports. Top directors at the banks agree to defer “40% to 60%” of their bonuses for a three-year period, while these bonuses will be paid “at least 50% in equities.” BNP Paribas, Société Générale and Deutsche Bank are dragging their feet. With branches and not affiliates in the United Kingdom, they are not regulated by the FSA. They have announced instead that they “will apply the G20 agreements in accord with regulators in their home countries.”
15/10/2009

Thick cream on the pint for fund subscribers

Rising stock markets in second and third quarters have resulted in good performance for equities funds, according to Handelsblatt. On the basis of rankings from Feri EuroRating Service, taking into account results from about 4,300 funds on sale in Germany in 36 categories, four funds have posted gains of over 100% since the beginning of the year: the BSF Latin American Opportunities Fund A2 USD from BlackRock, managed by Will Landers, is in first place, with returns of 142.11%, ahead of the Earth Exploration Fund UI, with 128.26%, the JPM Emerging Markets Small Cap Fund A Acc USD from JP Morgan, managed by Greg Mattiko, and the PF(LUX)-Eastern Europe-P Cap from Pictet, managed by Agne Zikute, with 101.98%. Also notable in the high yield bond category is the Aberdeen Global - Euro High Yield Mond A Dist, managed by Paul Reed, with returns of 98.27%.
15/10/2009

Private equity investors aim for EUR4bn in Amadeus IPO

BC Partners and Cinven have chosen the Madrid stock exchange as the site of their initial public offering next spring of a 40% stake in Amadeus, in which Iberia, Air France and Lufthansa own stakes, Expansión reports. The two private equity investors control 53% of the IT group. In 2005, BC partners and Cinven paid EUR4.34bn for a 100% stake in Amadeus. Now, the banks in the investment consortium (Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley) value the business at EUR8bn, and the vendors hope to make EUR4bn from the sale of the shares to be offered on the stock market.
15/10/2009

Legg Mason wins mandates

Principal Financial has awarded management of a portfolio of USD300m in large cap equities to Legg Mason, and Bill Miller’s team has obtained an equities mandate from SEI, says Kimberly Mustin, director of the institutional sector at Legg Mason, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. Assets under management at the firm have fallen from USD1.01trn as of the end of September 2007 to USD695bn as of the end of August 2009, but redemptions have fallen to USD30bn in second quarter, from a record USD77bn in October-December 2008.
15/10/2009

Asset management profits up at JP Morgan Chase

In third quarter, the asset management division of JP Morgan Chase has earned net profits of USD430m, compared with USD352m in second quarter, and USD351m in the corresponding period of last year. Assets increased by 9% in second quarter, to USD1.3trn, largely due to subscriptions to money market, bond and equities funds, which were partially offset by negative market effects and net redemptions for the group’s hedge funds. The bank has posted total net profits for July-September of USD3.59bn, compared with USD2.72bn in April-June, and USD527m for the corresponding period of last year.
15/10/2009

Prudential Financial introduces non-binding shareholder vote on pay scales

The board of directors at Prudential Financial (USD580bn in assets as of the end of June) has decided to introduce an advisory, non-binding vote of shareholders each year on remuneration for executives of the group as well as procedures employed by the remuneration committee. The first vote will come at the 2010 AGM.
15/10/2009

"Vice funds" don't pay

Supporters of SRI can breathe a sigh of relief. According to Les Echos, a study by Andreas Hoepner at Saint Andrews university and Stefan Zeume of Insead has found that the “Vice Fund” which invests in tobacco, alcohol, gaming and weapons, does not bring real value to investors. Instead, managers of the fund are more likely to destroy value for clients. The only previous study of the Vice Fund reached the opposite conclusion, but that study dealt with a shorter time period (three years rather than six), and did not correct for the style bias in products of this type. In fact, the outperformance of the fund compared with their benchmarks is due only to its very high exposure to small and midcaps, at a time when these were fashionable, as well as to its heavy bets on the tobacco industry.
15/10/2009

Bruce Wasserstein (Lazard) dead at 61

Bruce Wassterstein, president and CEO of Lazard and a Wall Street legend, died on Wednesday, 14 October, at the age of 61, Lazard has announced in a statement. The French-American bank revealed on 11 October that its chief had been hospitalised in a serious condition following a cardiac arrest. Wasserstein was particularly involved in the recent history of the prestigious US business bank, taking an active role in all strategic decisions ever since he arranged the firm’s IPO and took over as director of the firm in 2005. More recently, he had been active in Cadbury’s bid to acquire the US firm Kraft Foods. Lazard shares were suspended from trading for a few minutes before the end of the trading day, following the news of Wasserstein’s decease. Lazard has appointed Stephen J. Golub, Vice Chairman of Lazard Ltd., to serve as interim CEO, effective immediately. Golub, 63, joined Lazard in 1984, and was CFO and chairman of Lazard’s advising activities.
15/10/2009

Cadogan buys Fortis and BNP Paribas out of its capital

Cadogan Management, a USD3.6 billion hedge-fund investing firm, has agreed to buy the business back from Fortis Bank, according to the WSJ. Fortis and French bank BNP Paribas, which earlier this year agreed to acquire a range of assets from Fortis, plan to announce the agreement Thursday.
15/10/2009

Qatar buys HSBC Paris headquarters

The headquarters of HSBC France (formerly CCF) on the Champs-Elysées has been acquired by the Qatari Diar fund. The purchase price for the 35,000 square metre property is about EUR400m. The ground floor of the building will be converted into a retail gallery space, while the upper floors will become a luxury hotel.
15/10/2009

Two Madoff victims file suit against SEC

Two investors who lost more than USD2.4m in the Bernard Madoff fraud have filed suit against the US Securities and Exchange Commission, claiming that the government agency responsible for protecting investors was negligent in its oversight of Mr Madoff’s operations. Phyllis Molchatsky and Steven Schneider claim the government should compensate Ms Molchatsky by paying her USD1.7m, and by paying Dr Schneider USD750,000 – the amount they lost.
15/10/2009

Former Bear Stearns managers misled investors

Two former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers, Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin, who ran funds that collapsed and marked the beginning of the financial crisis misled investors to save their multi-million dollar bonuses and reputations, US federal prosecutors claimed on Wednesday, says the Financial Times.

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