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 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.

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.

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; } Funds on sale in Norway saw their assets increase by NOK106bn, or EUR12.6bn, in 2013, to a record of NOK663bn, or EUR79.25bn, the local fund association Verdipapirfondenes forening (VFF) reports. Net inflows contributed NOK16.8bn (EUR2bn) to this increase, of which NOK11.8bn (EUR1.4bn) came from institutional investors.

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.

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.

C’est une première depuis le début de la crise financière de 2007. L’endettement des Etats de la zone euro rapporté à la richesse nationale a reculé au troisième trimestre 2013 par rapport au trois mois précédents, selon l’Office européen des statistiques. Le ratio de dette sur PIB atteignait 92,7% fin septembre 2013, contre 93,4% à la fin du premier semestre, indique Eurostat. Les plus fortes baisses ont été enregistrées au Portugal (-2,6 points), en Finlande, en Belgique et en Allemagne. En France, la décrue est de 0,9 point. Sur un an, les ratios de dette sur PIB restent toujours en hausse: celui de la zone euro atteignait 90% fin septembre 2012.

Euronext a annoncé le lancement, courant 2014, d’un complexe colza proposant des contrats à terme et des options sur le tourteau et l’huile de colza en contrats individuel. Ce lancement complètera l’offre de contrats à terme et d’options sur le colza d’Euronext, créée en 1994. La croissance du contrat à terme a atteint 67% sur les cinq dernières années. En 2013, 1,9 million de lots ont été négociés, soit 93 millions de tonnes de colza.

La Cour de justice de l’Union européenne a rejeté le recours du Royaume-Uni contre certaines dispositions du règlement sur les ventes à découvert. La Cour juge que les pouvoirs accordés à l’ESMA pour interdire les ventes à découvert sont suffisamment encadrés et que la base juridique sur laquelle s’appuie le règlement est appropriée.

Les volumes de repo et de reverse repo en Europe, qui excluent les transactions nouées avec la BCE, sont en recul de 8% par rapport au semestre précédent, selon l’enquête semi-annuelle de l’ICMA, l’association des professionnels du secteur, menée auprès de 68 institutions financières à la date du 11 décembre. A 5.499 milliards d’euros, les montants sont les plus faibles depuis 4 ans.

La Caisse des dépôts a fait part d’une collecte positive de 0,73 milliard d’euros en décembre pour le Livret A et le Livret de développement durable (0,35 milliard pour le premier et 0,38 milliard pour le deuxième). Un chiffre qui fait suite à trois mois de décollecte. Sur l’ensemble de l’année 2013, la collecte s’élève à 19,1 milliards, contre 49,2 milliards en 2012. A fin décembre et en tenant compte d’une capitalisation annuelle des intérêts pour un montant de 5,5 milliards, l’encours total sur les deux produits atteint 367,2 milliards d’euros. Décembre est généralement un mois de collecte positive car les salariés qui touchent des primes ou des treizièmes mois les déposent sur leurs livrets. Bercy a décidé de maintenir le taux du Livret A à 1,25% au 1er février prochain, alors que le ralentissement de l’inflation en France, qui est pris en compte dans son calcul, aurait pu le ramener à 0,75%.

Mohamed El-Erian, directeur général et co-directeur des investissements, va quitter la société de gestion, propriété de l’assureur Allianz, au milieu du mois de mars. Andrew Balls deviendra directeur délégué des investissements, aux côtés de Daniel Ivascyn. Tous les deux seront placés sous la responsabilité de Bill Gross, fondateur de Pimco et gérant du plus grand fonds obligataire mondial. Mohamed El-Erian continuera de conseiller Allianz sur des questions économiques.

La banque centrale de Turquie a laissé mardi son principal taux directeur inchangé à 4,5%, et n’a pas touché non plus aux taux de prêts et de dépôts au jour le jour. Malgré la chute de 10% de la devise face au dollar depuis le 17 décembre, celle-ci se tient donc pour l’instant à l'écart des mesures conventionnelles.

Dix nouvelles personnalités font leur entrée au sein du conseil scientifique de l’Autorité des marchés financiers. Dans sa nouvelle configuration, le conseil compte 16 membres. Parmi les nouveaux membres figurent Eric Chaney, le chef économiste d’Axa, et Philippe Ithurbide, le directeur de la recherche d’Amundi.

Gao Xiqing, vice-président et directeur général du fonds souverain chinois CIC, va prendre sa retraite, a annoncé le site internet du Shanghai Securities News. Li Keping, vice-président exécutif et directeur des investissements, devrait lui succéder.

Réunis en assemblée générale, les actionnaires de Colonial ont donné mardi leur feu vert à une augmentation de capital de 1 milliard d’euros au maximum. L’opération doit donner au conglomérat espagnol Villar Mir une participation de 29,9%. Ce dernier, ainsi que deux autres investisseurs, ont exigé que Colonial ne cède pas plus de 20% du capital de SFL, dont il est actionnaire à hauteur de 53% du capital.

Le CAE estime qu'une baisse de 10% de l'euro vers sa moyenne historique ajouterait 0,6 point au PIB français sur un an et un point sur deux ans

Près de 50 milliards d'euros supplémentaires sont revenus dans le système hier. De quoi faire reculer l'Eonia, qui atteint des niveaux inégalés depuis fin 2011

Celle-ci pourrait obliger l’institution à revoir à la baisse son scénario de reprise lente dans l'union économique et monétaire