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25/05/2009

AQR turns to products with lower fees

The alternative management firm AQR Capital Management, led by Clifford Asness, in January launched the mutual fund AQR Diversified Arbitrage Fund, whose TER will be limited to 1.75%. AQR, which has been hit by the crisis and poor returns for its products, is planning to launch a new range of mutual funds which will use momentum hedge fund strategies created by Asness when he was a graduate student in finance at the University of Chicago, the Wall Street Journal reports. The difference is largely that mutual funds will not charge a 20% commission on performance. AQR is not the only management firm to be moving towards products with slimmer margins: the fund of hedge fund manager Permal launched its first mutual fund in April.
25/05/2009

GWM SA family office recruits a Citi veteran

Shawn Modifi, head of high net worth clients for the Middle East at Citigroup Private Banking, is joining GWM SA, a Geneva-based family office, as president, Il Sole - 24 Ore reports. The entity manages EUR2bn in assets for 30 multi-millionaire families in Europe and the Middle East. GWM SA is currently planning to extend its services to other high net worth families.
25/05/2009

Difference between managers getting smaller

Les Echos reports that the Alpha League Table 2009, established by Europerformance-Groupe Fininfo and Edhec on the basis of 2008 performance of products invested in equities, shows that French managers invested in equities added considerably less value in 2008. Alpha is down by nearly 30%, to 1.78% in monthly terms, from 2.5% in 2007 and 3% in 2006. The rankings are topped by Carmignac Gestion, State Street Global Advisors France SA and Comgest SA, but the differences between the leaders in the rankings is smaller than last year. Management firms for insurance companies have withstood the downturn more successfully than others.
25/05/2009

As yet little-known advantages of currency markets

In light of the currency difficulties recently encountered in traditional asset classes, La Tribune reports, interest in currency markets has recently risen. Low transaction costs, the diversity of market actors and the applicable strategies offer a wide range of investment opportunities. In addition to this, there is very low correlation between currencies and with other asset classes. Hence their attractiveness as a means to diversify portfolios. Despite these qualities, the newspaper adds, there are currently only 50 US management firms specialised in this asset class. Some studies by consulting firms reveal that institutional investors have only limited interest in this area. According to the most recent European Asset Allocation Survey from Mercer, 5% of British pension funds invest 5% of their assets in currencies - 50% more than one year ago. For the rest of Europe, the proportion allocated by 1% of investors totals 2%.
25/05/2009

Deka Immobilien invests in Vancouver

The German management firm deka Immobilien (German savings banks) has announced the acquisition for EUR186m of the Bentall V building in Vancouver, which contains office and retail space. The 33,000 square-meter, 33-story skyscraper will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund Deka-ImmobilianGlobal. The vendor is the Canadian real estate firm SITQ, an affiliate of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.
25/05/2009

UBS wins a lawsuit against a Madoff fund

Handelsblatt reports that the Luxembourg affiliate of UBS has won a lawsuit against the French bank VP Banque, which sought USD1.4m invested in Madoff funds, or that its suit be overruled. UBS was the depository bank in this case.
25/05/2009

Insurance premiums increase for hedge funds

In the past six months, premiums paid by hedge funds to insure themselves against the risk of employee errors has increased by about 20%, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. This type of insurance is provided by companies such as AIG, Allianz, and Brit Insurance.
25/05/2009

Good results for Reuschel

The private bank Reuschel & Co, which was owned by Dresdner Bank and will be resold by Commerzbank, has posted net profits for first quarter of EUR4.7m, compared with EUR3.3m, and net operating profits of EUR6m, compared with EUR0.7m. Operating expenses haver been reduced by 2.6% to EUR15m, and the bank has been able to reduce its risk provisions by EUR0.2m.
25/05/2009

Managers on the move at Schroder Property

Robert Bergmann will be leaving his job as manager of the Luxembourg-registered FCP Schroder European Logistics Fund (EUR577.2m), but will remain as a member of the board of directors at the fund, and will dedicate himself to responsibilities other than fund management in Amsterdam. He will be replaced in Germany by Buddy Roes, who will take over management of logistical funds, and particularly the Schroder European Logistics Fund. He will report to Neil Turner, head of real estate funds at Schroder Property. Roes spearheaded the development of asset management at ING in Germany.
25/05/2009

Sarasin & Partners launches two equities funds hedged in Sterling

Sarasin & Partners is launching the Sarasin EquiSar Global Thematic Fund (Sterling Hedged) and Sarasin Global Equity Income Fund (Sterling Hedged) funds, which will offer British investors shares which are on average 90% hedged against currency risks in pounds Sterling. The funds are clones of the EquiSar Global Thematic Fund and the Sarasin International Equity Income Fund.
25/05/2009

Liontrust launches an absolute performance fund

Liontrust has announced that at the end of June, it will launch the European Absolute Return Fund, a British-registered product that complies with the UCITS III directive, and which will use the same strategy as the European Long/Short hedge fund, also managed by Gary West and James Inglis-Jones. The concept is to be long on businesses with high cash flows which managers predict will beat market expectations, and short on companies with limited potential to earn profits. In all cases, market capitalisation will be over EUR1bn. Investment Week reports that net exposure will be limited to +/- 20%, and gross exposure will be limited to 180%. Minimal subscription and management commission are set at GBP1,000 and 5%, respectively, while management commission is set at 1.5%, and a commission of 20% will be charged on performance exceeding the Libor 3-month, with high watermark
25/05/2009

Negotiations between Paternoster and Pension Corp break down

On Friday afternoon, negotiations between Paternoster, which controls pension funds representing GBP2.7bn in assets, and Pension Corporation broke down due to a disagreement over price, the Sunday Times reports. The CEO of Paternoster, Mark Wood, is now in negotiations with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to acquire a suspension of the license, which would prevent Paternoster from taking on other members. However, there is reported to be no challenge to Paternoster’s ability to pay the pensions of its roughly 60,000 members.
25/05/2009

Frédéric Leroux (Carmignac Patrimoine): "We pulled out of equities between October and March"

Cinco Días reports that Carmignac Patrimoine stands out for its exposure to equities of under 50%, which, says Frédéric Leroux (who manages coverage) makes it a highly appropriate fund for investment of retirement savings. The objective is to generate consistent and regular returns over the long term, which the fund has achieved, with 10% annual performance since its launch about 20 years ago. Leroux confirms that between October and March, net exposure to equities was zero; in early March, allocation to this asset class was slightly over 40% and was then reduced. But this has allowed the fund to profit largely from the current rally.
25/05/2009

Union Investment may invest up to EUR500m

La Tribune reports that the German investment and realty firm Union Investment Real Estate, which owns the Marriott hotel in Paris and the TFI building in Boulogne, is planning to invest EUR250m to EUR500m in France this year, of the EUR1.5bn to EUR2bn which it is planning to spend worldwide. Union Investment Real Estate has EUR13.9bn in real estate assets under management in 24 countries.
25/05/2009

Active ETFs slow to get off the ground

Currently, according to Morningstar, assets in 62 quantitative/active ETF funds total USD2.67bn, the Wall Street Journal reports. Among the products are five Invesco PowerShares products with about USD21.1m in assets under management, including one bond fund, one real estate fund, and three equities products. On 4 May, Grail Advisors launched the Grail American Beacon Large Cap Value ETF (GVT). In general, the Wall Street Journal observes, actively-managed ETFs have not attracted subscriptions as rapidly as some had hoped, but this has not affected their enthusiasm for launching non-tracker ETF products.
25/05/2009

Erste Sparinvest granted a sales license

The Austrian management firm Sparinvest (EUR23.2bn in assets) on Friday announced that its local affiliate Banka Sparkasse has been athorised to sell 21 Espa funds in Slovenia. The Slovenian fund market at the end of 2008 represented assets totalling about EUR1.6bn. Banka Sparkasse, whose headquarters are located in Ljubljana, employs 225 people and operates 9 locations.
22/05/2009

Temasek explique la vente de Bank of America

Le fonds souverain de Singapour, Temasek, a justifié la vente de sa participation dans Bank of America par un changement de l’environnement de risque de l’investissement, qui lui aurait fair perdre 3 milliards de dollars, indique le Financial Times.
22/05/2009

Axel Miller devient associé de Petercam

Au 1er juin, Axel Miller, président du comité de direction de Dexia de 2006 à octobre 2008, deviendra le 16ème associé-administrateur de la société de gestion indépendante Petercam (14 milliards d’euros d’encours).
22/05/2009

DWS réduit la présence mondiale de sa gestion de fonds

La Börsen-Zeitung rapporte que DWS (Deutsche Bank) va élaguer sa gestion de fonds aux Etats-Unis et en Asie. De nombreux sites de gestion de portefeuille dans ces régions vont être abandonnés, mais on ne sait pas encore combien cela coûtera d’emplois. Un porte-parole a par ailleurs indiqué qu’Ed Peter, le patron de l’Asie, a quitté la société.
22/05/2009

Pas de résultat record pour la Deutsche Borse en 2009

Lors de l’AG de mercredi, Reto Francioni, président du directoire, a souligné que la Deutsche Börse ne pourra pas présenter pour cette année des records de chiffre d’affaires et de bénéfice net comme ceux de 2,5 milliard et de 1 milliard de 2008, rapporte la Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Le manager a précisé que la croissance organique jouit d’une absolue priorité et qu’il dira lors de la présentation des résultats du premier semestre si l’entreprise de marché procédera de nouveau à des rachats d’actions.
22/05/2009

Ingo Gefeke et Axel Schwarzer promus au comité de direction de DWS

Le conseil de surveillance de DWS Investment GmbH (groupe Deutsche Bank) a nommé deux nouveaux membres de son comité directeur (Geschäftsführung) avec effet au 1er juillet. Il s’agit d’une part d’Ingo Gefeke, COO et en dernier lieu patron à New York du trading et du prêt de titres, qui prend la responsabilité mondiale de la distribution et de la gestion des produits. D’autre part, Axel Schwarzer, qui avait été dépêché aux Etats-Unis pour remettre Scudder sur pied, se voit confier la responsabilité mondiale des relations avec les partenaires de distribution stratégiques.Cela signifie qu’en plus de la gestion de fonds et du développement de produits, la direction de la distribution sera désormais centralisée à Francfort, comme l’a souligné Klaus Kaldemorgen, primus inter pares au sein du comité directeur. DWS précise qu’en 2008 quelque 3 milliards d’euros ont été transférés pour gestion à Francfort en provenance d’Asie et des Etats-Unis. D’ici à fin mai, ce montant atteindra probablement 7 milliards d’euros, principalement en provenance des Etats-Unis.
22/05/2009

Les "rationaliseurs" de la Deutsche Bank s'imposent chez DWS

Avec Ingo Gefeke et Axel Schwarzer, Kevin Parker, le patron de la gestion d’actifs de la Deutsche Bank, est parvenu à s’imposer aux dirigeants de DWS -jaloux de leur indépendance- deux de ses proches, qui font partie du clan de «rationaliseurs» de la banque, écrit le Handelsblatt. Le nouvel homme fort, Ingo Gefeke, arrive précédé d’une réputation de contrôleur.Apparemment, l’heure des économies a sonné même chez DWS qui, selon les informations du Handelsblatt, perd maintenant de l’argent.
22/05/2009

Julius Baer déstabilise les modèles d'affaires

En scindant sa banque de gestion privée (Julius Baer Group) des autres métiers de la finance (nouvelle entité GAM Holding) du groupe actuel, Julius Baer astreint ses principaux concurrents à revoir la complexité de leur modèle d’affaires, estime L’Agefi suisse. Par cette opération, le président Raymond J. Baer assure tirer les enseignements de la débâcle financière et éviter à ses clients les conflits d’intérêts potentiels inhérents à l’imbrication de différents métiers au sein d’une même entité.
22/05/2009

UBS révise ses comptes 2008

Comme elle l’avait annoncé le 5 mai, l’UBS a «retraité» son rapport annuel 2008, avec comme incidence nette une réduction du bénéfice net et du bénéfice net distribuable aux actionnaires de 405 millions de francs suisses, une diminution des fonds propres et des fonds propres revenant aux actionnaires de 269 millions de francs et une réduction du résultat de base par action et du résultat dilué par action de respectivement 15 et 14 centimes.

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