P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The natural resources specialist from BlackRock, Richard Davis, has resigned from his responsibilities in fund management after 19 years, Citywire reports. A spokesperson for the firm tells Citywire Wealth Manager that Davis took the decision “to explore other career opportunities at BlackRock and elsewhere.”

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The discreet asset management firm PGC, which in 2013 made waves with its recruitment of Cécile Imbert, former manager at Prigest, is now making news again. With the recruitment of Sebastien Lemonier, the firm has engaged the services of a widely-known manager. Lemonier, who worked for nine years at Tocqueville Finance, now part of La Banque Postale, spent five years working with Don Fitzgerald, during which time he managed one of the flagship funds of the range, Tocqueville Value Europe. After his departure in June 2012, the manager joined star manager Marc Tournier, formerly of Tocqueville Finance, with whom Newsmanagers understands he formed an ambition to found a joint company. The project was recently abandoned, and Lemonier is therefore returning to service at a small French “value” type asset management firm which is now changing names, as PGC will now be known as Mansartis. Mansartis, composed of two companies, Pgc Société Privée de Gestion et de Conseil and Pgc Colonne Vendôme, has nearly EUR600m in assets under management.

Pimco announced yesterday that its chief executive officer and co-chief investment officer Mohamed A. El-Erian has decided to step down from his role and leave the firm in mid-March. He will remain a member of the Allianz International Executive Committee and, as of mid-March, also advise the board of management of Allianz on global economic and policy issues. Pimco’s founder William H. Gross will continue to serve as the firm’s CIO. At the same time, the firm has appointed a new portfolio management and executive leadership team. They will immediately begin to transition into their new roles.Douglas Hodge is promoted chief executive officer. He is a managing director in the Newport Beach office and is currently Pimco’s Chief Operating Officer. Jay Jacobs becomes president. He is a Managing Director in the Newport Beach office and is currently the Head of Talent Management globally. Finally Craig Dawson is appointed Head of Strategic Business Management: Mr. Dawson is a Managing Director and is currently Head of PIMCO Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy, based in the Munich office. This departure comes as Pimco’s flagship fund, the Pimco Total Return Fund, which is also the biggest bond fund in the world, recorded net outflows of USD41.1bn in 2013.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Daniel Loeb, manager of the hedge fund third Point, with USD14bn in assets under management, has sent a letter calling for the Dow Chemical group, in which he holds his largest investment position (USD1.3bn, according to CNBC), to be split up, Agefi reports. The hedge fund estimates that the activity, which primarily has divisions in “commodities and energy” and “plastics and performance,” could generate an EBITDA of USD9bn.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Lombard Odier Investment Management has given its global energy fund to the former analyst Pascal Menges, the asset management firm tells Citywire Global. He replaces Michael Hulme, who joined Carmignac Gestion this week.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Italian asset management firm Anima sgr has modified its governance with an eye to an initial public offering, Bluerating reports. Marco Carreri, who is already managing director and CEO of Anima sgr, has also been appointed as deputy director of Am Holding, the shareholder of Anima. Giuseppe Zadra, already chairman of Am Holding, has also been appointed as chairman of Anima sgr. Maurizio Biliotti, top director of Banca Popolare di Milano, is resigning from his position as deputy director of Am Holding and as chairman of Anima sgr.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } JP Morgan Asset Management (AM) has announced the appointment of Travis Spence as head of strategic relationships for the group in Asia-Pacific (ex Japan), in order to build its presence serving major intermediary clients, including third-party instituitonals such as banks, insurers and private banks, Asian Investor reports. Spence, based in Hong Kong, will report directly to Jed Laskowitz, CEO for Asia-Pacific at JP Morgan AM. Spence had previously been head of liquidity for Asia-Pacific, in charge of short-term bond activities primarily for institutional clients.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Franklin Templeton Investments has appointed Scott Collison, based in Singapore, as head of sales for alternative management in Asia. He will report to Mark Browning, managing director for the region, and will work to accelerate the growth of the activity and sales of alternative products in the group within Asia, relying on local teams dedicated to institutional clients and retail distribution. Before joining Franklin Templeton, Collison was CEO of Talos Strategies, a financial advising structure for alternative and traditional asset managers.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In its “2014 Global Alternatives Reports,” Preqin notes that the alternative asset management industry has never been as large as it is now. Assets under management in hedge, private equity, infrastructure and real estate funds totalled USD6trn as of the end of June 2013. In detail, private equity has USD3.5trn, hedge funds USD2.6trn, real estate USD657bn, and infrastructure USD244bn. According to Preqin, the alternative management industry is expected to continue to grow. Investors appear satisfied with their investments, as 80% say that their investments exceeded objectives set in the past 12 months. 30% of investors surveyed want to increase their exposure to alternative asset in the next 12 months.

Investors start 2014 more optimistic about global growth prospects, especially for the U.S. but increasingly for Europe as well, according to the BofA Merrill Lynch Fund Manager Survey for January. An overall total of 234 panelists with US$653 billion of assets under management participated in the survey from 10 January to 16 January 2014.The proportion of investors who believe the global economy will strengthen this year has risen to a net 75 percent from a net 71 percent in December, continuing a trend of rising optimism that started in late 2012. This optimism is reflected in rising expectations for corporate profits with a net 48 percent looking for an improvement, up from a net 41 percent in December. Among the regions, a net 29 percent of investors choose both the U.S. and Japan with the most favorable prospects for profits. Europe has improved to a net 8 percent expecting profit improvement from a net 4 percent expecting deterioration in the December survey.As investors’ growth convictions rise, investors’ preference for Global Equities remains strong. A net 55 percent say they’re overweight equities, continuing a trend which started in mid-2012 when a net 4 percent were underweight equities. Confidence in equities is maintained despite a net 7 percent of respondents believing equity markets are overvalued, the highest reading since 2000. As for Europe, a net 22 percent believe equities in the region are under-valued up from net 15 percent expecting the same last month.Risk-taking by investors is near historic highs. Tech, Industrials and Banks top their overweight lists while Utilities, Staples and Telecoms languish in underweight territory.“Managers are positioned for a strong profit recovery in Europe, and the upcoming earnings season is key to maintaining this stance; given the high sentiment, any earnings disappointment will likely be punished by investors,” said John Bilton, European investment strategist.Against the broader global background of rising optimism from growth and profits, Global Emerging Markets remain out of favor. A net 61 percent expect a sharp deterioration in profits in GEM equities, up from net 32 percent expecting the same in December. Furthermore, investors believe the biggest “tail risk” to the global outlook is a China hard landing and commodity collapse – some 37 percent of investors take this view, compared with the 14 percent given to each of the EU sovereign/banking crisis and a geopolitical crisis.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The activist investor Elliott Management Corp has increased its stake in the German medical retailer Celesio, in which it now holds the equivalent of 24.08% of voting rights, compared with less than 20% previously, according to documents subitted to the Frankfurt stock exchange, the news agency Reuters reports. Elliott has increased its stake in the German business following the failure of a bid by McKesson for Celesio. Elliott also states in its documents submitted to the stock market that it holds convertible bonds representing an additional 7.93% of voting rights. In other words, Elliott has a theoretical total of 32.01% voting rights. As the convertibles have not yet matured, Elliott is not immediately required to submit a buyout offer, which is required under German lay whenever a stake exceeds 30%.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } UBS is adding to its team dedicaed to high net worth clients and family offices in Germany, according to Finews. The bank has receuited a complete team from Morgan Stanley for its Munich office. Carl von Wrede is joining UBS as head of ultra-high net worth clients. He will lead a team of 9 people. He will be assisted by two of his former colleagues from Morgan Stanley, Wolfgang Reuter and Ingo Stegmaier. A fourth person will join them during the year.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Assets under management at the British boutique Cavendish Asset Management have increased by 42.75% in the year to the end of December, to a total of GBP1.16bn. In the past year, two funds from the firm have topped GBP100m in assets: Opportunities and Asia Pacific. The Worldwide Fund has seen its assets increse by 45%, to GBP98.1m. The directors of Cavendish are confident for 2014, particularly since their funds are now available on two new platforms, Fidelity since August last year, and Co-Funds since December.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Lyxor Asset Management is building a presence in the Spanish market. The asset management affiliate of Société Générale has registered seven new exchange-traded funds (ETF), four of which are equity funds and four are bond funds, Funds People reports. Among the equity ETFs, Lyxor has launched a sectoral vehicle, the Lyxor Ucits ETF EuroStoxx Banks, and three others which replicate emerging market indices, the Lyxor Ucits ETF MSCI EM Beyond BRIC, Lyxor Ucits ETF MSCI Select OECD Emerging Markets GDP, and lastly, Lyxor Ucits ETF MSCI Mexico. Meanwhile, Lyxor AM is adding to its range with three other ETFs which allow investors to construct short positions on the main public debt indices in the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom. They are the Lyxor Ucits Daily Double Short 10Y US Treasury, Lyxor Ucits ETF Daily Double Short 10Y Japan Govt Bonds and lastly, Lyxor Ucits ETF Daily Double Short 10Y UK Gilts.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BNY Mellon IM on 21 January announced the launch of the BNY Mellon Emerging Markets Debt Fund Opportunistic Fund in France. It is the 4th emerging market debt fund in the range managed by Standish, asset management affiliate of BNY Mellon Investment Management, the specialist in this asset class. The fund, with daily liquidity, is a sub-fund of the SICAV BNY Mellon Global Funds, plc, domiciled in Dublin and UCITS licensed. The fund is managed by Alexander Kozhemiakin, director of bond strategies for emerging markets at Standish, who has solid experience in emerging market bond management and an excellent track record.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } There has been a change of directors at the head of the Chinese sovereign fund. Gao Xiging, current vice president and CEO of China Investment Corp (CIC), which has USD575bn in assets under management, will soon be retiring, according to the website Shanghai Securities News. He will be replaced in this position by Li Keping, executive vice president and chief investment officer.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Schroders is continuing its efforts to add to its product range aimed at Spanish investors. The asset management firm has registered the Schroder ISF Credit Conversion fund with the local regulator, a product which invests in investment grade corporate bonds, whose objective is to outperform euro zone corporate debt funds, Funds People reports. The vehicle invests primarily in bonds denominated in euros, and its benchmark index is the iBoxx Euro Corporate BBB Index. Its investment strategy is to concentrate on the best ideas from the European corporate debt team at Schroders, as part of an investment process that combines a top-down and a bottom-up approach.

Capital invested in the global hedge fund industry surged to a record in the fourth quarter, finishing a strong year of capital growth as hedge funds posted the best performance in three years, according to the latest HFR Global Hedge Fund Industry Report. Total capital increased in 4Q by USD120 billion on USD10.5 billion of net inflows to USD2.63 trillion.For the full year, total hedge fund capital increased by USD376 billion on USD63.7 billion of net inflows. Event Driven funds led capital inflows across all strategies for the first time since 2007, with investors allocating USD29.5 billion in 2013. Event Driven strategies grew by USD140 billion to more than USD698 billion for 2013. Capital invested in Equity Hedge strategies increased by USD48 billion in 4Q, driven by investor inflows of USD8.6 billion, with total capital invested in the strategy reaching a record USD734 billion; total assets invested in Equity Hedge increased USD136 billion for 2013. Total assets invested in fixed income-based Relative Value Arbitrage (RVA) increased by USD18 billion to USD684 billion in fourth quarter on USD2 billion of investor inflows. For the full year 2013, RVA increased by USD75.8 billion on inflows of USD22.6 billion. Macro funds experienced an outflow of USD13.3 billion in 4Q, resulting in a full year 2013 net redemption of USD6.3 billion. For the FY 2013, Macro assets increased by USD23.7 billion to USD511 billion.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Henderson Global Investors has promomted Paul O’Connor as co-director of its multi-asset class unit, Investment Week reports. He will assist Bill McQuaker to develop the firm’s international presence in institutional and retail markets. O’Connor’s promotion comes one year after he joined Henderson.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } M&G Real Estate is adding to its management. The affiliate dedicated to real estate at M&G Investments has recruited Tony Brown as chief investment officer and a member of its board of directors. Brown, former managing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Lend Lease, joined the company on 12 January, and will report directly to Alex Jeffrey, CEO of M&G Real Estate. At Lend Lease, Brown was responsible for GBP2bn in assets in real estate, and GBP2.5bn in assets under management in infrastructure for 50 institutional investors.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Philip Rodrigs, manager of the UK Smaller Companies fund from Investec, will be leaving the firm, Investment Week reveals. He will join River & Mercantile as a partner in March, and will take over the management of the UK Equity Smaller Companies fund.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Nick Hamilton, head of institutional business at Colonial First State in Sydney, will move to Australia to work at Oakley Capital Management as part of the retail asset management activity of Neil Woodford, former star manager at Invesco, Investment Week reports. Before joining Colonial First State, Hamilton worked for 9 years as head of global equity products at Invesco Perpetual. Craig Newman, head of sales at Invesco, has also joined Oakley as head of retail asset management.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British firm Standard Life Investments has launched a fund dedicated to emerging market corporate bonds, which will be managed by the team of Richard House, Citywire reports. The fund, which will be managed by House and Samantha Lamb, investment director for credit, will concentrate on bond issues denominated in US dollars, offered by financial establishments or businesses in emerging markets. The fund, domiciled in Luxembourg, will be based on the JP Morgan CEMBI Broad Diversified as a benchmark.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Neptune has closed the Global Long/Short fund by Robin Geffen, two years after the departure of co-manager Ted Alexander, Investment Week reports. The fund did not succeed in interesting investors, and at its peak had GBP5m in assets.

Lombard Odier Investment Management a confié son fonds énergie monde à l’ancien analyste Pascal Menges, a indiqué la société de gestion à Citywire Global. Il remplace Michael Hulme qui a rejoint Carmignac Gestion cette semaine.

Changement de dirigeant à la tête du fonds souverain chinois. Gao Xiging, actuel vice-président et directeur général de China Investment Corp (CIC), qui gère 575 milliards de dollars d’actifs, va en effet prendre sa retraite prochainement, selon le site internet Shanghai Securities News. Il sera remplacé à son poste par Li Keping, vice-président exécutif et directeur des investissements.

Le directeur général (CEO) de la Banque cantonale de Lucerne (LUKB), Bernard Kobler, a démissionné avec effet immédiat, a annoncé la banque le 21 janvier. Le patron a justifié son départ par une affaire de moeurs. «Je me suis rendu compte (...) que mes erreurs dans la vie privée et la résonance publique d’une plainte entretemps retirée avaient le potentiel de nuire à mon activité de patron de la LUKB», a indiqué Bernard Kobler, cité dans un communiqué. Il y a encore quelques semaines, le patron de la LUKB se trouvait sous le coup d’une enquête pénale pour tentative de contrainte sexuelle et tentative de contrainte. Son ex-amante avait déposé plainte contre lui en septembre 2013. Mais fin décembre 2013, Bernard Kobler et son ex-amante ont trouvé un accord. Les plaintes pénales avaient été retirées dans la foulée.La recherche d’un successeur va démarrer le plus rapidement possible, souligne la banque, qui a nommé pour la période intérimaire Daniel Salzmann au poste de CEO. Bernard Kobler va rester à disposition de la banque jusqu’au 31 janvier 2015, afin de permettre une bonne transition. A partir de début février jusqu'à son départ, il recevra son salaire sans le bonus. Le patron sortant ne bénéficiera pas non plus de la traditionnelle prime de départ.

En novembre 2013, l’encours de titres émis par les OPCVM non monétaires de la zone euro était supérieur de 48 milliards d’euros au montant enregistré en octobre 2013, évolution qui s’explique essentiellement par une augmentation de la valeur des parts, selon des statistiques communiquées par la Banque centrale européenne.L’encours de titres émis par les OPCVM non monétaires de la zone euro est ressorti en hausse à 7.241 milliards d’euros en novembre 2013, contre 7.193 milliards en octobre 2013. Sur la même période, l’encours des titres émis par les OPCVM monétaires de la zone euro a augmenté, passant de 835 milliards d’euros à 837 milliards. Les souscriptions nettes de titres d’OPCVM non monétaires de la zone euro se sont inscrites à 16 milliards d’euros en novembre 2013, tandis que les rachats de titres d’OPCVM monétaires sont ressortis à 1 milliard. Le rythme de progression annuel des émissions de titres par les OPCVM non monétaires de la zone euro, calculé sur la base des souscriptions nettes, s’est inscrit à 7,1% en novembre 2013. S’agissant des OPCVM monétaires, le taux de variation annuel est ressorti à ‑9,7%. En ce qui concerne la ventilation par stratégies de placement, le rythme de progression annuel des titres émis par les fonds «obligations» est ressorti à 5,7% en novembre2013 et les souscriptions nettes se sont élevées à 9 milliards d’euros. S’agissant des fonds «actions», le taux de croissance annuel s’est inscrit à 7,2% et les souscriptions nettes mensuelles sont ressorties à 7 milliards d’euros. Pour les fonds «mixtes», le taux de croissance s’est établi à 8,9% et les souscriptions nettes à 1 milliard d’euros.

Nick Hamilton, responsable de l’activité institutionnelle de Colonial First State à Sydney, va rentrer d’Australie pour travailler chez Oakley Capital Management au sein de l’activité de gestion d’actifs retail de Neil Woodford, l’ancien gérant star d’Invesco, rapporte Investment Week. Avant de rejoindre Colonial First State, Nick Hamilton a travaillé pendant 9 ans en tant que responsable des produits actions monde chez Invesco Perpetual. Craig Newman, l’ancien responsable commercial d’Invesco, a aussi rejoint Oakley en tant que responsable de la gestion d’actifs retail.

Les actifs sous gestion de la boutique britannique Cavendish Asset Management se sont accrus de 42,75% durant l’année à fin décembre pour s'établir à 1,16 milliard de livres.Durant l’année écoulée, deux des fonds de la boutique ont dépassé la barre des 100 millions de livres d’actifs, à savoir les fonds Opportunities et Asia Pacific. Le Worldwide Fund a vu ses actifs faire un bond de 45% à 98,1 millions de livres.Les dirigeants de Cavendish se montrent confiants pour 2014, notamment parce que leurs fonds sont désormais disponibles sur deux nouvelles plateformes, Fidelity depuis août dernier et Co-Funds depuis décembre.