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27/07/2009
Fonds

Les ex-stars des actions internationales reviennent sur le devant de la scène

Citywire constate le retour en grâce de plusieurs gérants actions internationales bien connus en Europe. Ainsi, les anciennes stars notées AAA par Citywire, comme Francisco Garcia Paramés, Rolf Stout, Charles Firmin-Didot, Frank Lingohr et François Badelon, sont revenus dans les 5 % des meilleurs gérants après environ deux ans de sous-performance, si l’on prend le classement de la catégorie actions mondiales de ces six derniers mois.
Fonds
27/07/2009

db x-trackers launches an ETF based on the DB Commodity Booster DJ-UBSCI

On Friday, db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank) listed a new ETF fund for trading on the XTF segment of the Xetra electronic platform. The DB Commodity Booster DJ-UBSCI ETF replicates the DB Commodity Booster DJ-UBS index, which reproduces the performance of 19 commodity futures, using the Optimum Yield methodology developed by Deutsche Bank. Futures are not systematically “rolled” over to the next futures contract, (which is the system used by other intelligent indices from Société Générale; see Newsmanagers of 5 June). This formula makes it possible to select the contract which maximises gains in backward (deport) situations, or which minimises losses in case of contango (report). The new ETF, registered in Luxembourg (LU0429790743), complies with the UCITS III directive, and shares in Euros are hedged for currency risks. Management commission is set at 0.95%.
27/07/2009

Roland Lescure to leave Groupama AM on 1 October

Groupama Asset Management has told Newsmanagers that its director of management, Roland Lescure, will be leaving the firm, as his appointment as the first vice-president and chief investment officer at the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec has been confirmed. The French management firm states that Lescure will continue to serve in his current position until 1 October. The name of his replacement will be announced in mid-September; it may be either an internal or an external appointment. In his new duties in Quebec, Lescure “will be responsible for investment strategy for the Caisse, for allocation of assets in the global portfolio, and research to support investment activities. He will also oversee investment in liquid markets (equities, fixed-income securities, currencies, and basic commodities) and will act as a key advisor for private and real estate investments,” according to a statement from the firm. The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is a financial institution which manages funds belonging primarily to retirement plans and public and private insurance programs. As of 31 December 2008, its net assets totalled USD120.1m.
27/07/2009

Neuberger Berman acquires Trust Company

The Neuberger Berman company has announced the acquisition of Lehman Brothers Trust Company, N.A. and Lehman Brothers Trust Company of Delaware, also known as The Trust Company. At the conclusion of the transaction, by the end of the year, the Neuberger Berman Trust Company will be led by Robert J. Laughlin, currently president of Lehman Brothers Trust Company, N.A. As of 30 June 2009, Neuberger Berman had approximately USD158bn in assets under management.
27/07/2009

FundQuest expands product range

Hedge Week reports that the financial services provider FundQuest has undertaken an adjustment of its allocation strategy, integrating three new asset classes into its open architecture platform for independent financial advisors. The three asset classes are hedge-style common investment funds, commodities, and international bonds. In FundQuest’s example portfolios, about 10% of assets may be invested in alternative asset classes.
27/07/2009

Cost of an ETF is not limited to its TER

Though ETFs are often presented as a low-cost element for use in the construction of portfolios, they may be more costly than previously thought. According to an analysis by Skandia, the total expense ratio (TER) is not the only factor that should be taken into account, but rather costs related to asset allocation and the platform used should also be considered. For a balanced comparison, the best approach is to establish an overall “factory price,” consisting of the TER, minus commission kickbacks, plus explicit costs.
27/07/2009

Gartmore adds to sales team

Warren Shiels, who joined Gartmore in 2000, has been promoted to head of intermediary sales, and will be in charge of distribution of Gartmore funds via IFAs, fund platforms, and life insurers. Shiels will reports to Richard Pursglobe, head of UK retail. The manager also announced on Friday that it is plannign to recruit two account directors as addition to its intermediary sales team, which already includes Sarah Walters, Paul Dagger and Ian Penrose, to report to Shiels. Sales managers Matt Frost and Nick Theim will continue to oversee relations with wealth managers, banks, and multi-managers, and will report to Pursglove.
27/07/2009

Mike Hussey and Neil Jones found a real estate fund

The former board director of Land Securities, Mike Hussey, has teamed up with Neil Jones, former head of Europe at Grosvenor, to set up a GBP500m fund to acquire undervalued real estate properties in the United Kingdom and on the European continent, the Sunday Times reports. The managers are initially in negotiations with high net worth private investors and private equity to raise GBP150m in capital. The launch of the fund is planned for this autumn.
27/07/2009

Fewer launches of hedge funds

The number of hedge funds launched in Europe has fallen in first half to its lowest level since 2000. As of the end of June, 47 funds had been launched, compared with 106 in the corresponding period of last year, and with about 190 in 2007, according to statistics from HedgeFund Intelligence, cited by the Financial Times. The new funds raised only USD2.1bn.
27/07/2009

Former stars of international equities return to the limelight

Citywire reports that several managers of international equities who in the past have been well-known in Europe have returned to high-profile positions. Former stars rated AAA by Citywire, such as Francisco Garcia Paramés, Rolf Stout, Charles Firmin-Didot, Frank Lingohr and François Badelon, are once again in the top 5% of managers, after about two years of underperformance, based on rankings for the global euqities category over the past six months.
27/07/2009

Some pension funds already observe ESG criteria

According to a study entitled “The Time to Lead is Now: The Adoption of ESG Analysis by Asian Government Pensions Funds,” from the Association for Sustainable & Responsible Investment in Asia (ASRIA), the majority of Asian pension funds are lagging behind in their adoption of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria. However, some big names in the sector have already set up directives relative to governance and the use of voting rights, Global Pensions reports. These include the National Pension Corporation in South Korea, the Employees’ Provident Fund in Malaysia, the Government Pension Fund in Thailand, and the National Social Security Fund in China. Wai-Sun Chan, executive director of ASRIA, says that in their quest for higher returns, Asian pension funds should identify long-term investments which will prove both secure and sustainable in the face of environmental and social challenges.
27/07/2009

Goldman Sachs to launch a UCITS III-compliant long/short equity fund

Citywire reports that Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) is planning to launch a long/short US equities fund in a UCITS III-compliant format. The Goldman Sachs Fundamental Equity Long-Short fund will be launched in September, and will be managed by the CIO, Eileen Rominger.
27/07/2009

CalPERS acquires shopping centres

CalPERS will buy a portfolio of 86 shopping centres in the United States for USD1.73bn, about USD1bn less than the price at which the centres were sold four years ago, the Financial Times reports. The vendor is Macquarie CountryWide Trust.
27/07/2009

Shell transfers EUR2bn to its pension fund

In its latest newsletter, the Shell Pensioenfonds announces that companies of the Royal Dutch Shell group made payments to the fund totalling EUR2bn in second quarter. These contributions have helped to raise the pension fund’s coverage level to the regulatory minimum of 105% as of 30 June. The fund states that Shell will provide supplementary capital on a quarterly basis in the next few months if coverage rates fall below 105%, up to a maximum of 10 quarters. These payments come in addition to a substantial increase in ordinary contributions tot he fund, which had already risen to 23.6%, compared with 5% as of 1 January 2009, and which rose further to 32.1% as of 1 July. To comply with statutes, employee benefits now stand at 2% of salary up to EUR84,881, and 8% above that level.
27/07/2009

Golden Hedge launches a multi-strategy fund

Hedge Week reports that the Maltese structure Golden Hedge Umbrella has launched a multi-strategy hedge fund, the Golden Hedge Multi-Strategy Fund, for which it is currently seeking potential investors. The fund, managed by Andreas Koettner and Bernard Goetsch, is specialised in stock market arbitrage and commodity trading strategies. The managers are aiming for annual returns of 15%, with volatility of 8%. Minimal investment is set at EUR100,000, with monthly liquidity reporting.
27/07/2009

Hedge fund directive: US government wants to be heard

The United States are quietly lobbying Europe to change the terms of the Alternative Investments Funds Directive, the Wall Street Journal reports. They are lining up with the United Kingdom. In its current form, the European directive would prevent some US businesses from operating in Europe.
27/07/2009

AMF extends ban on short-selling until January 2010

The college of the AMF confirmed that it has decided to extend measures announced in September 2008 which prohibit short-selling of a list of certain financial sector stocks until January 2010. The college wishes to wait for the results of a consultation announced on 8 July by the CESR, whose proposals it generally adopts, before deciding what course of action to take in France, the AMF says in a statement published on 24 July. The AMF places emphasis on the face that it considers it essential for a seller of shares to transfer the shares sold over a regulated market or a multilateral trading platform which processes the transfer J+3, which means three days after the date of the transaction. For these purposes, “the short-seller must have have signed an agreement in principle with a securities lender previous to trading, stating that it will be in a position to deliver the shares within J+3.” The AMF has also invited IOSCO and the CESR to study the following complementary measures “with the closest possible attention,” which, the regulator suggests, would serve to perfect the regulatory framework for short-selling. 1. All investors shall be required to inform their intermediary if an order they are about to pass is related to a short-sale. 2. All intermediaries shall be required to pass on this information to the regulator, in such a manner that the regulator shall be able to pass on aggregate information to the market. 3. Short-selling parties shall be prohibited from making a trade at a lower price than the most recent market price. 4. The regulator shall be in a position to prohibit short-selling in exceptional circumstances, as for example in the case of a brutal collapse in share prices exceeding a pre-defined threshold.
27/07/2009

Oddo sanctioned by AMF for management of enhanced money market funds

The French market regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), announced on Friday, 24 July that it has “issued a warning and a pecuniary sanction of EUR300,000, to the bank Oddo & Cie and one of its affiliates, Oddo Asset Management (OAM).” The two decisions, taken by the regulator’s Sanctions Commission, were issued on 18 June 2009. In both cases, the offending activities were “management and sales of funds referred to as ‘enhanced money market’ type in the period preceding the onset of the ‘sub-prime’ crisis in summer 2007,” the AMF says in a statement. Two years ago nearly to the day, Oddo Asset Management decided to close the dynamic money market funds Oddo Cash Titrisation, Oddo Cash Arbitrages and Oddo Court Terme Dynamique, which had total assets of EUR1bn, due to the liquidity crisis on the US securitizations market. The closure was followed by the liquidation of the three funds. The Sanctions Commission states that “...though the results of the infractions accounted for in the current verdict were thrown into relief by the emergence of the financial crisis which began in the United States, they must be … considered in themselves as of the date when they were committed.” The AMF states that the decisions may be subject to appeal under the conditions set forth in articles R. 621-44 to R. 621-46 of the monetary and financial code.
27/07/2009

Trader under investigation by SEC found dead

The trader Hazem Al-Braikan, CEO of Al-Raya Investment Co., who was suspected by the Securities and Exchange Commission of making more than USD5m in profit from the dissemination of false information about two US businesses, has been found dead in his home in Kuwait City, the Wall Street Journal reports.
24/07/2009

Aberdeen AM France veut doubler de taille

«Aujourd’hui, la France représente environ 3 % des actifs gérés totaux d’Aberdeen», a déclaré Philippe Troesch, directeur général d’Aberdeen Asset Management France, à l’Agefi Hebdo. «Elle doit devenir une part importante du groupe. L’objectif est de doubler cette part et la taille de notre structure dans les 3 à 5 ans à venir», poursuit-il. Aberdeen AM France est née le 1er juillet avec la reprise des activités de gestion de Credit Suisse AM France, rappelle l’hebdomadaire. L’entité affiche 3,7 milliards d’euros d’actifs sous gestion.
24/07/2009

ISR : les encours de CAAM à plus de 10 milliards d'euros

Crédit Agricole Asset Management Group (CAAM Group) a indiqué le 23 juillet que ses encours ISR dépassent désormais le seuil des 10 milliards d’euros, dont plus de 7 milliards au travers de fonds ouverts. La société devient, ainsi, le leader sur le marché français de l’ISR. «Avec un montant d’encours ISR qui dépasse dorénavant le seuil des 10 milliards d’euros, CAAM Group confirme sa détermination d’être un acteur financier engagé contribuant à orienter l’épargne au service d’un développement durable», déclare dans un communiqué Yves Perrier, PDG de CAAM Group.
24/07/2009

SSgA France et CFA France lancent un prix de la finance quantitative

State Street Global Advisors France (SSgA), et l’association CFA France, affiliée au CFA Institute, viennent d’annoncer l’organisation cette année de la première édition du «Prix de la Finance Quantitative». Ce prix s’adresse à tous les étudiants en dernière année de cycle universitaire, école de commerce ou d’ingénieurs. Chaque candidat doit rédiger un article, en français ou en anglais, portant sur un thème d’investissement lié à la finance quantitative. Fin novembre 2009, une cérémonie distinguera l’auteur du meilleur mémoire, qui se verra attribuer la somme de 5.000 euros et aura l’opportunité de présenter ses travaux.Le jury, qui sera composé de 6 à 10 personnes : un membre de CFA France et un représentant de SSgA ainsi que des personnalités indépendantes, toutes expertes en finance quantitative, notera les mémoires en tenant compte de l’intérêt du sujet traité mais aussi de son applicabilité.
24/07/2009

Inquiétudes face à la migration de la plate-forme de Nyse-Euronext

Selon Les Echos, la migration d’Aubervillers à Basildon, dans la banlieue de Londres, de la plate-forme des marchés «cash» européens de Nyse Euronext nourrit les débats et les inquiétudes. Le président de l’AMF, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, a appelé à se saisir des destinées de la place financière hexagonale. En revanche, jusqu’ici, Bercy n’a pas réagi officiellement. Du côté des professionnels, les réactions sont nombreuses et généralement préoccupées. Les opérateurs regrettent vivement la décision de Nyse Euronext, même si beaucoup ne s'étonnent pas de ce scénario et comprennent les exigences et les contraintes d’une entreprise commerciale cotée.
24/07/2009

Le FIR évolue

Selon «L’essentiel de l’ISR» du 21 juillet, lettre publiée par Novethic, le Forum pour l’Investissement Responsable (FIR) «a fait un grand ménage de printemps : nouvelle gouvernance, nouvelles instances, nouvelles résolutions!». «Le programme de travail de l’association est chargé et un nouveau permanent, Grégoire Cousté, a été recruté pour le coordonner. Le FIR est désormais organisé en cinq groupes projets : Transparence et labellisation, Reporting Emetteurs, Dialogue Emetteurs, Réseaux et grand public et Site Internet», précise la lettre.
24/07/2009

Valartis veut se développer à Zurich

Selon L’Agefi suisse, Valartis Bank, née de la fusion entre la zurichoise OZ Bank et la société de gestion genevoise MCT Asset Management, mise sur la croissance externe mais aussi sur le recrutement. Eric Berthelot, directeur de la gestion privée chez Valartis Bank qu’il a rejoint en 2007, souligne que la banque s’efforce de recruter et de développer l’activité à Zurich. La gestion de fortune de la banque représente quelque 2 milliards de francs, le poids de Genève dans cette activité étant plus important que celui de Zurich, le siège de la société.
24/07/2009

Credit Suisse : bonne résistance du private banking au deuxième trimestre

Le groupe Credit Suisse, qui a fait état le 23 juillet d’un bénéfice net en progression de 29% sur un an à 1,6 milliard de francs au deuxième trimestre 2009, souligne dans un communiqué les bons résultats du private banking et le retour à meilleure fortune de la gestion d’actifs.Le pôle private banking, qui regroupe les activités de wealth management et de corporate & retail banking, a dégagé un résultat avant impôts de 935 millions de francs, en recul de 23% par rapport à la même période de 2008 mais de seulement 6% par rapport au trimestre précédent. Le pôle wealth management a vu son résultat avant impôts s'établir à 662 millions de francs, en repli de 20% par rapport au deuxième trimestre 2008 mais en progression de 2% sur le premier trimestre 2009. La collecte nette de la banque privée s’est élevée à 10,7 milliards de francs, dont 8,5 milliards dans la gestion de fortune. Les activités d’asset management ont de leur côté terminé le trimestre sur un résultat positif de 55 millions de francs, à comparer à un bénéfice de 124 millions un an plus tôt mais une perte de 490 millions au premier trimestre 2009. L’encours des actifs sous gestion s’est inscrit à 410,7 milliards de francs, en recul de 102,9 milliards ou 20% par rapport au deuxième trimestre 2008. Mais par rapport au premier trimestre, l’encours marque une progression de 5 milliards de francs, l’effet marché positif étant battu en brèche par les sorties de capitaux et les mouvements de change. Les sorties nettes du trimestre ont atteint 4,1 milliards de francs, dont 1,7 milliard dans les stratégies multi-classes et 1,4 milliard dans les stratégies alternatives.
24/07/2009
Fonds

Le fantôme de Bernard Madoff hante la multigestion alternative genevoise

Après le scandale Madoff, le secteur de la multigestion alternative à Genève souffre. Depuis fin 2007, à fin mai dernier, les fonds de fonds alternatifs gérés depuis Genève auraient, selon Eurekahedge, perdu près de trois quarts de leurs actifs, chutant de 54,2 milliards à 15 milliards de dollars, rapporte L’Agefi. Un désamour qui aurait entraîné sur les cinq premiers mois de l’année 2009 la fermeture de près d’un quart des 227 fonds gérés à Genève.
Fonds
24/07/2009

Semestre exceptionnel pour la Banque cantonale de Bâle

Selon L’Agefi suisse, la Banque cantonale de Bâle (BCB) a réalisé un bénéfice net de 45,1 millions de francs au premier semestre (+ 20,2 % sur un an), soit la meilleure performance de son histoire. La somme du bilan a franchi pour la première fois la barre des 20 milliards en augmentant de 4 % à 20,2 milliards de francs.
24/07/2009
Fonds

Fortes souscriptions pour les ETF matières premières de Lyxor

En juin, les ETF de Lyxor Asset Management (groupe Société Générale) répliquant des indices de matières premières ont enregistré des souscriptions de 176 millions de dollars, soit 57 % de plus qu’en mai, rapporte Investment Week. L’encours mondial de ces fonds Lyxor se situe à environ 1 milliard de dollars.
Fonds
24/07/2009

L’industrie de la conservation bien ancrée à Paris

Selon Les Echos, le métier de la conservation des titres reste une spécialité bien ancrée à Paris. «Il serait dommage de laisser cette industrie -banque dépositaire, administration de fonds, conservation- partir à son tour, alors que c’est un secteur où les banques françaises font partie des leaders mondiaux, déclare au quotidien François Marion, directeur général de Caceis. «Soit on laisse jouer les rapports de forces et il y aura des perdants, avec la possibilité, par exemple, qu’un des acteurs soit racheté par un géant américain, soit ces métiers deviennent une priorité stratégique importante de développement des places financières de la zone euro et, bien entendu, de Paris».

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