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24/08/2009

KKR pulls together subscriptions for annex fund

After more than three months of negotiations, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) has signed up subscribers to its European 2 fund, who will contribute slightly over EUR400m to an “annex fund,” according to reports in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. KKR had initially hoped to obtain EUR730m in capital. The money will allow the private equity investor to address the financial situations of ProSieben Sat1, Kion and Pages Jaunes. This is the first time that KKR has made use of this approach involving annex funds.
24/08/2009

Barclays UK pension fund recruits a manager selection specialist

The British pension fund for Barclays (BUKRF) has appointed Andre Konstantinow as head of manager selection, a newly-created position. Konstantinow joins the firm from Morgan Stanley Investment Management, where he was senior manager, largely in charge of hedge fund managers in Europe and emerging markets.
24/08/2009

Close Brothers makes an offer for Kleinwort Benson

The private bank Close Brothers, advised by Greenhill, has made an offer to acquire Kleinwort Benson from Commerzbank, which is seeking up to GBP300m for the firm, The Sunday Times reports. Among the other potential buyers are the management of Kleinwort Benson, supported by Simon Robertson, the chairman of Rolls Royce, and by Sir John Bond, chairman of Vodafone.The new CEO of Close Brothers, Preben Prebenson, is seeking to strengthen the group’s private banking activities; he is planning to create an online fund management tool for high net worth clients, like those available from Fidelity and Hargreaves Lansdown.
24/08/2009

Morgan Stanley to sell Van Kampen

Morgan Stanley’s management is planning to sell the mutual fund activities operating from Van Kampen, Pensions & Investments reports. According to sources in financial circles, Invesco Ltd is the best-positioned of the potential buyers who have been invited to study the potential acquisition.
24/08/2009

BNP Paribas partly pulls out of Argentina

BNP Paribas will sell its retail banking divisionin Argentina to Banco Santander Río. The network consists of 17 locations in central and suburban Buenos Aires, serving over 30,000 retail and 900 business clients. The French bank will continue to have a presence in Argentina via its range of products and services available to businesses and investment companies.
24/08/2009

BBVA Compass takes control of Guaranty Bank

On Saturday, the Spanish firm BBVA confirmed that its US affiliate BBVA Compass has acquired the Guaranty Bank of Austin, Texas, from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Compass takes on Guaranty’s entire balance sheet, totalling USD12bn, and USD11.5bn in deposits, 300,000 clients, 106 branch locations in Texas and 58 others in California. This will allow Compass (which now has a total of 750 branches) to strengthen its presence in retail banking, business banking, and wealth management.
24/08/2009

Delays to come for Lehman clients awaiting reimbursement

L’Agefi reports that the British high court which must approve a plan to accelerate the reimbursement of clients whose money was ensnared in the collapse of the US bank Lehman Brothers, proposed by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the administrator of the European assets of Lehman Brothers International (LBIE), has claimed it is not competent to give permission for reimbursements of USD9bn to begin in first quarter 2010.
24/08/2009

Goldman Sachs gives tips to key clients

Goldman Sachs distributes trading ideas to key clients, hurting other customers, says the Wall Street Journal. For exemple, «Goldman Sachs Group Inc. research analyst Marc Irizarry’s published rating on mutual-fund manager Janus Capital Group Inc. was «neutral» in early April 2008. But at an internal meeting that month, the analyst told dozens of Goldman’s traders the stock was likely to head higher, company documents show». «The next day, research-department employees at Goldman called about 50 favored clients of the big securities firm with the same tip, including hedge-fund companies Citadel Investment Group and SAC Capital Advisors, the documents indicate. Readers of Mr. Irizarry’s research didn’t find out he was bullish until his written report was issued six days later, after Janus shares had jumped 5.8%», says the WSJ.
24/08/2009

Dollar General plans return to public trading

The private equity investor KKR, Goldman Sachs, and the other investors in the consortium that bought Dollar General for USD7.3bn in 2007 are getting ready to pocket an special dividend of USD200m on the occasion of the retail group’s partial return to public trading on the stock market, the Börsen-Zeitung reports. The IPO will raise up to USD750m.
24/08/2009

RBC CM recruits a head of hedge funds

RBC Capital Markets, the finance and investment banking unit of the Royal Bank of Canada, has recruited Marc Fleischman as managing director and head of sales for hedge funds in Europe. He previously worked at Citigroup.
24/08/2009

Hedge fund directive: A long road ahead

Hedge funds may be facing a month of conflict over the European directive intended to impose constraints on them, the Guardian reports on its website. “The United Kingdom … has obtained the support of Sweden, which currently holds the European Union presidency, to rewrite the document. But that process will likely still be ongoing next year, when Spain takes over the presidency. And Spain, with 4 million unemployed and a minuscule hedge fund industry, will not be likely to make rewriting the directive a priority,” the British newspaper predicts.
24/08/2009

Five funds post performance of over 60%

According to VDOS Stochastics, The BBVA Bolsa Europa Finanzas, whose benchmark index is the DJ Stoxx 600 Banks, has posted the best performance of any Spanish fund since the beginning of the year, with returns of 68.83%, compared with 68.25% for the Accion FTSE Latibex Brasil (68.25%), Cinco Días reports. The Sabadell BS America Latina Bolsa has earned 64.59%, and the Bestinvest Hedge Value Fund comes fourth, with 63.06%. The Eurovalor Iberoamerica comes in fifth place, with returns of 61.99%, with the Renta 4 Latinoamerica in sixth place, at 58.83%.
24/08/2009

Four new strategy ETFs listed in Frankfurt

The Deutsche Börse has announced that it has admitted four new “strategy” ETFs from ETF Securities to trading on the XTF segment of its Xetra electronic platform. All four are German-registered products. The products are the ETFS Dax 2x Long Fund, which replicates the evolution of the LavDAX x2 Index, the ETFS Dax 2x Short Fund, which is based on the ShortDAX® x2 Index, and the ETFS Dow Jones EURO STOXX Double Short (2x) Fund, whose benchmark is the Dow Jones Euro STOXX 50 Double Short Index. Management commission for the three ETFs is 0.60%. The fourth new product is the ETFS Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 Leveraged (2x) Fund, which reproduces the evolution of the Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 Leveraged Index, for which management commission is set at 0.40%. With the addition of these new products, the XTF segment now lists 481 ETFs.
24/08/2009

Spain opens market to other ETF promoters

According to Expansión, the Spanish government has decided to modify its regulations to bring the tax regime applicable to ETFs registered in the form of Sicav funds into line with the regime for traditional funds. This has previously been the largest obstacle to the entry of iShares (BlackRock) and db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank), among others, into the Spanish market. Currently, only BBVA and Lyxor are active on this market.The Spanish government is also planning to cancel minimal subscriptions of EUR50,000 for professional investors to local hedge funds, and to authorize real estate funds to invest in other real estate funds and in SOCIMI (Spanish REITs), which would make it possible to launch real estate funds of funds.
24/08/2009

Assets in hedge funds continue to increase

In July, hedge funds posted their third consecutive month of rising assets, Eurekahedge reports. Assets rose by nearly USD11bn in the month, to a total of USD1.350trn. This increase is largely related to positive market effects, while net subscriptions totalled USD2.1bn. About USD15bn were invested in hedge funds, but USD12.9bn were withdrawn.
24/08/2009

Sicavs and funds may invest in foreign private equity

The Spanish government is planning to allow Spanish fund and Sicav managers to invest in foreign private equity funds, Expansión reports. The rule could come into effect as soon as fourth quarter of this year. Currently, funds and Sicavs are allowed to invest only in Spanish private equity funds, from their discretionary investment allocation limited to 10% of assets.
24/08/2009

iShares lists five German ETFs

Continuing its cross-listing strategy, iShares (Barclays Global Investors, BlackRock group) has added five German-registered ETF funds to trading on the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (Mexico City). The funds now available on the Mexican stock exchange are the iShares DAX (DE), iShares DJ Stoxx 600 (DE), and three bond products: iShares eb.rexx Government Germany (DE), eb.rexx Government Germany 1.5-2.5 (DE) and iShares eb.rexx Government Germany 2.5-5.5 (DE).In May, iShares took over the NAFTRAC ETF from the Mexican bank National Financiera.
24/08/2009

Publicly-traded hedge funds under pressure

After a disastrous year in 2008, the publicly-traded hedge fund sector (in which most funds are listed on the London Stock Exchange) has continued to underperform, deapite a recovery in hedge funds and private equity in the past 7 months, the Financial Times reports. Publicly-traded funds of funds are doing worst of all. On average, funds of hedge funds are trading 18.2% below the value of their assets, according to an RBS study cited by the FT.
24/08/2009

Vice Fund outperforms Ave Maria Catholic Values Fund by a wide margin

Over the past five years, the Vice Fund from Mutuals, which invests at least 80% of its assets (USD80.3bn currently) in tobacco producers, breweries, casinos and weapons manufacturers, has posted returns of 185, while the Ave Maria Catholic Values Fund from Schwartz Investment Trust has earned virtually nothing, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reports. For investors who are seeking higher-than-average returns rather than morally irreproachable investments, the Vice Fund is a better choice, says Marc Lederer of Hesse + Partner. But volatility is also considerably higher for the Vice Fund: currently, the fund has lost 43% since its peak in December 2007, after gaining 146% in its first five years of existence (since its launch in September 2002).
24/08/2009

Fund assets at lowest levels since 2002

According to statistics from the Bank of Spain, Spanish households at the end of June had assets of EUR130.14bn in the form of shares in investment funds, 18.3% less than one year previously, and the lowest levels since September 2002, Cinco Días reports. However, the decline in annual terms is slowing: it was 20.7% in May, and 21.8% in April, while the steepest monthly contraction was in November 2008, at 29.2%.
24/08/2009

SRI funds represent only 0.52% of total assets

As of the end of June, assets in 27 SRI funds available on the Spanish market represented EUR844.8m, 12.3% less than one year previously, which represents only 0.52% of total assets, compared with USD1.3trn at the end of 2007. These products are available from 19 asset management firms, including, among others, Dexia (15 funds), Pictet (one fund), and Aviva (2 funds).
24/08/2009

DEGI acquires P&G headquarters

Germany’s DEGI, an affiliate of Aberdeen Property Investors, has announced the acquisition for EUR110m of the Italian headquarters of Procter & Gamble (P&G). The 20,000 square metre property, whose sale was agreed in principle in July 2007, will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund DEGI International. Real estate assets under management by DEGI in Italy total about EUR860m.
24/08/2009

Prison sentence for former UBS advisor

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports that Bradley Birkenfeld has been sentenced to three years and four months of imprisonment by a US court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The former wealth management advisor from UBS helped a billionaire US real estate magnate to evade more than USD200m in US taxes through a number of fictitious businesses.
21/08/2009

Morgan Stanley cherche une acquisition dans la banque privée

Dans un entretien à Il Sole – 24 Ore, Alexander Classen,directeur général de la division global wealth management de Morgan Stanley pour l’Europe, le Moyen-Orient et l’Afrique du Sud, affirme que l’établissement veut croître en Europe via des acquisitions dans le domaine de la banque privée. «Nous voulons aussi faire des acquisitions si nous trouvons des opportunités à un bon prix et s’inscrivant dans le cadre de notre métier», indique Alexander Classen, qui précise ne pas regarder des dossiers en deçà de 2 milliards d’euros d’encours.
21/08/2009

Fortis voit son bénéfice d'exploitation divisé par dix

Le journal les Echos rapporte que Fortis a enregistré un bénéfice net de 338 millions d’euros au premier semestre 2009 grâce à des éléments exceptionnels. En revanche, son bénéfice d’exploitation de 51 millions d’euros sur la période a été divisé par dix comparé à ce qu’il était un an plus tôt. Il s’affiche néanmoins en hausse de 10 millions d’euros par rapport au second semestre 2008.Le bénéfice d’exploitation a «surtout été soutenu par la banque de détail et la banque commerciale» précise le communiqué de l’établissement, tandis que les activités de banque privée ont enregistré une perte nette de 3 millions d’euros.
21/08/2009

John Wood quitte Artemis pour Aviva Investors

Aviva Investors a recruté John Wood, qui rejoindra la société le 1er octobre, pour gérer le fonds Aviva Investors UK Growth Fund et contribuer au développement de l’activité institutionnelle en actions britanniques. L’intéressé vient d’Artemis Asset Management, où il était gérant de fonds senior couvrant le Royaume-Uni et l’Europe. Avant, il était directeur des actions UK chez Deutsche Asset Management.
21/08/2009
Fonds

Jupiter AM améliore la transparence fiscale de ses produits

Jupiter Asset Management annonce avoir amélioré la transparence fiscale de plusieurs «unit trusts» en Autriche et en Allemagne, afin de répondre à la demande de ses clients.En Allemagne, la société de gestion britannique va ainsi rendre totalement transparents d’un point de vue fiscal trois unit trusts - Jupiter European, Jupiter European Special Situations et Jupiter UK Special Situations – à partir du 1er septembre. Cela inclut par exemple le calcul quotidien des plus-values. En Autriche, sept unit trusts vont passer en statut «semi-transparent», avec effet immédiat : Jupiter Emerging European Opportunities, Jupiter European, Jupiter European Special Situations, Jupiter Financial Opportunities, Jupiter Japan Income, Jupiter North American Income et Jupiter UK Special Situations.
Fonds
21/08/2009
Fonds

Carlyle va lancer un fonds en yuans

Carlyle est en négociations avancées pour lever en Chine un fonds libellé en yuans de plusieurs milliards de yuans, selon le Wall Street Journal, qui cite des personnes proches du dossier. Ce serait son deuxième fonds chinois. KKR envisage aussi activement de créer un fonds en yuans.
Fonds
21/08/2009

Le groupe BCV commence bien l'année

Le Groupe Banque cantonale vaudoise (BCV) a annoncé pour le premier semestre 2009 un bénéfice brut à 228 millions de francs suisses, en hausse de 37 % par rapport à la même période en 2008. En dépit de la crise financière et économique, le volumes d’affaires s’est affiché en forte hausse. Les revenus du Groupe BCV ont progressé de 14 % à 479 millions de francs par rapport au premier semestre de l’an passé. De leur côté, les actifs sous gestion ont progressé de 4,6 milliards à 71,4 milliards de francs.Enfin, pour le second semestre, le groupe s’attend à des résultats semblables.

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