Jeudi, la Deutsche Bank a indiqué que sa due diligence des comptes de Sal. Oppenheim s’est jusqu'à présent déroulée «positivement» ; elle devrait être achevée à la mi-septembre et une décision sur une éventuelle prise de participation (entre 30 et 50 %) pourrait être prise pour la mi-octobre, rapporte le Handelsblatt. Selon les proches du dossier, il est vraisemblable qu’ultérieurement la Deutsche prendra la majorité dans la banque privée familiale.

AXA Investment Managers Deutschland GmbH a annoncé qu’elle rouvre au 28 août le guichet des remboursements qui était fermé depuis fin octobre 2008 pour le fonds immobilier offert au public Axa Immoselect. Actuellement, la liquidité nette du fonds est remontée à 17 %. Grâce à des financements externes et à des cessions d’actifs, la liquidité disponible a pu être augmentée à 627 millions d’euros, contre 493 millions à fin juillet et 380 millions fin juin. Récemment (lire notre article du 24 juillet), Achim Gräfen, directeur général d’Axa IM Deutschland et gérant de l’Immoselect, avait indiqué qu’il s’attend à devoir faire face à des remboursements de l’ordre de 500 millions d’euros. L’encours du fonds se monte à près de 3,66 milliards d’euros.

Jeudi, la Deutsche Bank a indiqué que sa due diligence des comptes de Sal. Oppenheim s’est jusqu'à présent déroulée positivement ; elle devrait être achevée à la mi-septembre et une décision sur une éventuelle prise de participation (entre 30 et 50 %) pourrait être prise pour la mi-octobre, rapporte le Handelsblatt. Selon les proches du dossier, il est vraisemblable qu’ultérieurement la Deutsche prendra la majorité dans la banque privée familiale.

Pour le premier semestre, Henderson Global Investors (HGI) affiche un benefice avant impôt de 34,7 millions de livres contre 60,6 millions pendant que celui de Henderson Group plonge de 47 % à 27,1 millions de livres contre 50,8 millions. En net, henderson Group accuse une perte de 0,6 million contre un bénéfice de 41,2 millions pour janvier-juin 2008.Le gestionnaire britannique impute la détérioration de son résultat aux sorties nettes de 2,9 milliards de livres ainsi qu'à l’impact négatif des moins-values ainsi que de l’effet de change, qui ont représenté au total 1,7 milliard de livres.A fin juin, l’encours se situait à 53 milliards de livres contre 49,5 milliards fin décembre et 52,6 milliards douze mois auparavant. L’acquisition de New Star au 9 avril a apporté environ 8,1 milliards de livres d’encours, montant qui était revenu à 8 milliards fin juin.

Le gestionnaire britannique Martin Currie a annoncé avoir signé les Principes de l’investissement responsable des Nations-Unies (UN-PRI). Selon Tim Hall, managing director de l'équipe d’investissement, Martin Currie a depuis longtemps reconnu l’importance de prendre en compte une vaste gamme de critères environnementaux, sociaux et de gouvernance (ESG) dans la recherche sur les entreprises. Ces éléments seront désormais intégrés plus systématiquement dans les analyses effectuées par l'équipe de gestion.

With at least one month to go until the next G20 summit, the Basel Committee on 27 August published a set of guidelines which will aim to support,and perhaps provide a framework for, the work of the IASB in relation to provisioning, evaluation and fair valuation, and related problems. The guidelines will help the architect of international accounting standards to set up a new set of basic reference points for financial instruments, which will aim to replace the highly controversial IAS 39 standard, to improve the utility and pertinence of financial reporting for all parties, including prudential regulators, the Basel Committee says in a statement. Central banks add that these principles will also facilitate the handling of larger issues related to procyclicity and systemic risks. In July of this year, the IASB published a survey and review of classification and evaluation systems for financial instruments for comment until mid-September. The guidelines, which draw lessons from the financial crisis and which respond to recommendations made at the G20 summit in April, also reflect the necessity for rapid accounting of losses on loans in order to make projections of the consequent outcomes, with an awareness that their fair value is not appropriate in a context of dislocated or illiquid markets, and authorises reclassifications of assets in very specific circumstances from the fair value category into the amortised cost category, and promotes the same regulations for all these categories. To appease partisans of fair value, the Basel Committee statement points out that the new approach to financial instruments “will not result in an expansion of accouting in fair value,” for companies involves in intermediary activities in particular. Credit instruments, particularly loans, will not be included in the fair value accounting category, the statement says. The chairman of the Basel committee, Nout Welling, also points out that one of the lessons of the crisis is that “all accounting regulations must be articulated with appropriate practices in terms of risk management,a nd should promote transparency, in order to assist supervisors, banks, investors and other participants to achieve their respective objectives.” This also means that the objectives of international accounting: transparency, readability, comparability of financial states, have not yet been achieved. The Basel Committee says in its statement that the need to produce transparent and comparable information will lead to a revision of IFRS 7 standards. The IASB has put this revision on its agenda for the beginning of the coming season. It is one of the propositions included in the survey and report cited above.

In first half, Henderson Global Investors (HGI) has posted pre-tax profits of GBP34.7m, compared with GBP60.6m, while profits at Henderson Group have fallen 47% to GBP27.1m, comparedd with GBP50.8m. Henderson Group shows a net loss of GBP0.6m, compared with profits of GBP41.2m in January-June 2008. The British asset manager blames the deterioration in its results to net outflows of GBP2.9bn, as well as to the negative impact of capital losses and currency effects, which represented a total of GBP1.7bn. As of the end of June, assets totalled GBP53bn, compared with GBP49.5bn as of the end of December, and GBP52.6bn twelve months previously. The acquisition of New Star on 9 April brought in about GBP8.1bn in assets; these totalled GBP8bn as of the end of June.

The British management firm Martin Currie has announced that it has signed the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI). Tim Hall, managing director of the investment team, says that Martin Currie has long recognized the importance of taking a full range of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria into account in corporate research. These elements will now be more systematically integrated into the analysis undertaken by the research team.

According to statistics compiled by Lipper FMI for Responsible Investor, European SRI funds in June attracted EUR760.7m in investments, following net subscriptions of nearly EUR1.07bn in May. Total assets come to EUR42.7bn. The highest levels of subscriptions were for Money Market Euro Sustainable Fund (Dexia Luxembourg) and Securicash SRI (AGI France). The three largest SRI funds were money market funds: Invest Monétaire (SocGen) with EUR1.98bn, Securicash (EUR1.94bn), Moné Etheis (BNPP AM) with EUR1.18bn.

AXA Investment Managers Deutschland GmbH has announced that as of 28 August, it is reopening the open-ended real estate Axa Immoselect to redemptions, which had been closed since October 2008, as of 28 August. Currently, the net liquidity of the fund has risen to 17%. Through external financing and sales of assets, available liquidity has been increased to EUR627m, from EUR493m as of the end of July, and EUR380m as of the end of June. Recently (see Newsmanagers of 24 July), Achim Gräfen, CEO of Axa Im Deutschland, and manager of the Immoselect fund, announced that he was expecting to face redemptions of about EUR500m. Assets in the fund now total nearly EUR3.66bn.

Regulatory changes which spell the end of banking secrecy in cases of tax evasion not not only in cases of tax fraud have cost the major Liechtenstein banks. Net redemptions have totalled CHF1.6bn for LGT, and CFH304m for Landesbank (LLB), the Börsen-Zeitung reports. LGT, which is acquiring the Swiss affiliate of Dresdner Bank has seen net outflows equivalent to those in second half 2008, but its assets, which as of the end of June were CHF79bn,will increase due to the acquisition by about CHF9.4bn.

Jeudi, la Deutsche Bank a indiqué que sa due diligence des comptes de Sal. Oppenheim s’est jusqu'à présent déroulée «positivement» ; elle devrait être achevée à la mi-septembre et une décision sur une éventuelle prise de participation (entre 30 et 50 %) pourrait être prise pour la mi-octobre, rapporte le Handelsblatt. Selon les proches du dossier, il est vraisemblable qu’ultérieurement la Deutsche prendra la majorité dans la banque privée familiale.

Jeudi, la Deutsche Bank a indiqué que sa due diligence des comptes de Sal. Oppenheim s’est jusqu'à présent déroulée positivement ; elle devrait être achevée à la mi-septembre et une décision sur une éventuelle prise de participation (entre 30 et 50 %) pourrait être prise pour la mi-octobre, rapporte le Handelsblatt. Selon les proches du dossier, il est vraisemblable qu’ultérieurement la Deutsche prendra la majorité dans la banque privée familiale.

Hedge funds investing in emerging markets earned higher than average returns in second quarter. Hedge Week reports that the HFRI index of emerging markets gained 18.92% during the quarter, while the composite index shows gains of 9.17%. In the first six months of the year, hedge funds specialised in emerging markets earned returns of 20.18%, the best results in six months, since gains of 27.4% in 1999. Despite these fine returns, outflows from emerging markets have continued, totalling USD2.5bn in second quarter. This movement was compensated for by positive market effects on emerging markets totalling USD12.9bn. Assets in funds dedicated to emerging markets now total USD77bn.

As Philipp Hensler has left the company, DWS Investments has appointed Michael J. Woods as US head of distribution. He will report directly to Ingo Gefeke, the new Global Head of Distribution and Product Management. Woods was most recently Head of Financial Intermediaries and Investments Group at Evergreen Investments. He was previously CEO of XTF Global Asset Management.

Groupama, which yesterday announced its half-yearly results, has posted an increase in its earnings in first half 2009 of 8.4%, to EUR8.358bn, due to “strong growth in insurance and the deployment of solid platforms for international development, says Jean Azéma, its CEO. However, due to the turbulence in Europe earlier this year, net results were down 40.5%, to EUR166m. For financial and banking activities, net banking proceeds are up 18.2%, to a total of EUR116m. On the asset management side, assets under management by Groupama Asset Management and its affiliates total EUR89.5bn as of 30 June 2009, an increase of EUR8.2bn compared with the end of December 2008. These results are closely related to the evolution of the bond market and the good performance of equities management, which outperformed the market, Groupama says. Total net inflows in first half 2009 are positive at EUR3.1bn, of which EUR2.3bn were earned outside the group.

BBVA Asset Management’s lead over Santander Asset Management has now reached two percentage points of market share, to 20.61%, Expansión reports, adding that BBVA AM did not really overtake Santander AM until the end of 2008. Among the other asset management firms which have gained ground in the past few months are La Caixa, which, according to VDOS Stochastics, has attracted more than EUR2bn between the beginning of the year and 21 August, largely due to campaigns to promote their guaranteed funds. The Catalonian savings bank has gained market share to reach a total of 7.42%, compared with 5.6% as of the end of December.

The private equity investor CVC and the Asturian Cosmen family have made an offer of GBP560m (450 pence per share) in cash for the 81.4% of National Express that the Cosmen family does not already control, Cinco Días reports. The bid is higher than the GBP500m offer previosuly expected. Among the other major shareholders in National Express are Barclays (8%) and Prudential (6.58%). National Express is also reported to interest Stagecoach and Arriva.

Amaranth Advisors will not face any penalties from the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a letter received by the hedge fund manager, the Wall Street Journal reports. Amaranth, which once managed USD6.6bn in assets, but which imploded in 2006 following bad bets on natural gas markets, was cleared by the SEC after a three-year investigation into whether the firm misled investors.

James Davis, the CFO of Stanford Financial Group, pleaded guilty to charges that he helped Sir Allen Stanford in alleged USD7bn Ponzi scheme, the Financial Times reports. Sir Allen, had been due to appear in court, was taken to hospital with heart problems.

In first half, Deka had posted pre-tax profits of EUR50m, compared with EUR113.8m, while net profits totalled EUR46.4m, compared with EUR53.8m. The central asset management firm for the German saving banks has written down EUR218.9m (compared with EUR0.5m), of which about half is related to loans to Icelandic banks, and EUR25m to an amortisation of goodwill on the acquisition of Westinvest in 2004. Deka, which has reached an agreement with the board at the business to lay off about 350 people out of a total of 3,355 employees, at the end of June had assets of EUR145bn, compared with EUR142.5bn six months earlier. Net subscriptions fell to EUR1.3bn, compared with EUR1.4bn for the real estate arm (AMI), while the securities arm (AMK) saw net outflows of EUR1.4bn, largely due to money market funds, compared with net inflows of EUR7.3bn. In total, the group has posted net redemptions of EUR134m, comapred with net subscriptions of EUR8.654bn.

On Thursday, Deutsche Bank announced that its due diligence on accounts at sal. Oppenheim has been going positively so far, and that it will have reached a decision over a possible acquisition of a stake (of 30% to 50%) in the firm by mid-October, Handelsblatt reports. According to sources close to the firm, it is likely that Deutsche Bank will later acquire a majority stake in the family-owned private bank.

JP Morgan Asset Management has announced the recruitment of Pierre-Yves Bareau as head of the management team specialised in emerging markets debt. He will be in charge of coordinating international emerging market debt management teams located in the various geographical regions. Bareau has been managing portfolios of emerging markets debt for 20 years. He joins JP Morgan Asset Management after serving as director of emerging markets debt management at Fortis Investments for more than 10 years. Bareau will be based in London, and will report directly to Bob Michele, global director of bond management at JP Morgan Asset Management.

As of the end of July, worldwide assets for iShares (Barclays Global Investors, or BGI) totalled USD414.4bn, for market share of 48.1%, compared with USD380.23bn (48.2%) one month earlier, and USD324.84bn (45.7%) as of the end of December. The ETF management firm states that it has brought in net subscriptions worldwide of USD32bn, so that investment income totalled USD55.39bn, more than 1.7 times the total of net inflows. iShares, which as of the end of July had 391 ETF products on sale, up from 361 as of the end of last year, is by far the top provider of products of this type in the world, ahead of State Street (with a market share of 15.2% as of the end of July, and 104 funds), Vanguard (7.8% and 104 funds), and Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale, 4.5% and 105 funds). In Europe, iShares is also the top provider, with assets of USD72.26bn in 158 products, which represent a market share of 39.6% for its Irish and German product ranges. The two runners-up are Lyxor, with 103 funds, USD37.37bn in assets under management, and a market share of 20.5%, and db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank), with 105 funds, Usd29.79bn, and a market share of 16.3%. As of the end of June, the leader, iShares, had Usd64.40bn and 158 products, for a market share of 38.8%. It finished 2008 with USd55.89bn in assets in 145 funds and a market share of 39.1%. Its net inflows in Europe are estimated at EUR4.3bn.

Investment Week reports that F&C has launched a program to redeem debt for holders of its subordinated securities for a total of GBP260m. The operation will involve a swap of up to 50% of existing loan notes with a coupon of 6.75%, which trade below par, for senior shares with a set coupon of 9%, to be redeemable in 2016. The transaction will allow the management firm to reduce its debt by GBP32.5m.

Rod Davidson is leaving Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) to become head of fixed income at Alliance trust, which offers no bond products, either as a part of its unit trust product range, or within its OEIC range, Investment Week reports. Davidson will arrive at the beginning of January, with three of his partners from SWIP: Garteh Quantrill, Stuart McMaster and Stuart Steven.

Shirley Garrood, currently COO of the business, has been appointed chief financial officer of Henderson Group, effective 1 September, replacing Toby Hiscock, who is retiring. Garrood joined the British asset management firm in 2001.

The British asset management firm Hermes (EUR30bn in assets) has asked directors of Dax and MDax companies in a letter to make use of the opportunities offered by the new law on managerial pay scales (Gesetz zur Angemessenheit der Vorstandsvergütung, or VorstAG), and to to hold general meetings to pass consultative votes on pay scales for board members, the Börsen-Zeitung reports. If the businesses refuse to do so, Hermes will choose some companies on which it will impose (with at least 5% of capital) agenda items added to the programs at general meetings.

The Danish asset management firm Sparinvest has set up a consulting committee. Allan Timmermann, professor at the University of California, San Diego, and Thorsten Hens, professor at the Swiss Banking Institute at the University of Zurich, will be the first appointments to the new body. The consulting committee will be in charge of defining reliable criteria on which to base products which meet the requirements of the new market, Sparinvest says.

The British management firm Martin Currie, which has been developing its presence in Asia for several years, with the opening of an office in Shanghai in 1997, and of a branch office in Melbourne in August 2008, has announced the opening of an office in Singapore on 1 October of this year. Asian activities will be directed from Melbourne, where the office is directed by Kimon Kouryalas. The Singapore office will be led by a senior business development officer, whose appointment will take place soon.