In the first nine months of 2013, Amundi has recorded net inflows of EUR1.1bn, according to financial results published this Thursday by its shareholder Crédit Agricole, which will soon increase its stake to 80% from 75% currently. The stake will be sold by Societe Generale for EUR337.5m. Over the first nine months, new inflows were pushed up by distributors, institutional and corporate customers (+7.5 billion euros), the international branch networks (+2.3 billion euros) and employee savings management (+0.9 billion euros)., the bank says in a statement. However, French networks have seen redemptions of EUR9.6bn. Amundi also notes that long term inflows total EUR5.7bn, indicating that net redemptions from money markets were high (EUR4.6bn).Including 100% of the joint ventures in Asia and Smith Breeden, recently acquired (impact: +4.7 billion euros), assets under management amounted to 759 billion euros at end-September 2013 (up 2.6% on end-December 2012). They benefited from a favourable market effect of +13.5 billion euros. Average assets under management were 756 billion euros, up 9% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2013. Amundi delivered a 1.3% increase in gross operating income in the first nine months of 2013 by comparison with 2012. Revenues rose by 1.8% year-on-year over the first nine months and by 0.5% over the third quarter of 2013, due to resilient commissions and fee income. Operating expenses increased by 1.4% year-on-year over the first nine months of 2013 excluding the impact of tax measures. The cost/income ratio stabilised at 55.3% at 30 September 2013. Amundi’s net income Group share came to 233 million euros for the first nine months of 2013, up 4.6% year-on- year, and to 73 million euros for the third quarter.
Das Investment reports that Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM), has mandated Aladdin Enterprise Investment System under a contract to update its entire IT system for investment processes, from securities analysis through to execution and settlement, including portfolio and risk management.
The German financial services provider MLP (EUR22bn in assets) on 6 November announced that, due to a downturn in activities in retirement insurance and health insurance, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) for 2013 will be lower than the projected EUR65m. For 2012, they totalled EUR74.1m, compared with EUR17.3m in 2011.The corridor of EUR65-78m for EBIT in 2014 and 2015 has not been modified.In January-September, EBIT fell to EUR12.3m, from EUR26.4m in the corresponding period of 2012.
BlackRock now controls 5.004% of capital in the Italian asset management firm Azimut, as part of its third-party management, Bluerating reports. The capital is controlled via 12 different vehicles.
Oliver Bolitho, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management in Asia-Pacific, will be retiring at the end of the year, after 15 years at the firm, according to an internal memo seen by Financial News. After his resignation, he will become an advising director.
Cogefi Gestion has recruited Côme Simon de Tinguy as representative for external distribution. The new recruit, who will aim to strengthen the development of the professional client base, will be more specifically resopnsible for sales of the fund range to private bankers, multi-managers, family offices and online brokers. De Tinguy had since 2008 been head of sales to portfolio management firms at Financière de Champlain.
BNY Mellon Asset Servicing has announced that it won a global custody mandate for USD6.5bn from the New Hampshire Retirement System (NHRS). The investor services unit at BNY Mellon will provide custody, accounting, currency, cash management and risk services.NHRS has about 85,000 members, and works for 475 employers, the State of New Hampshire, municipal governments, school districts, counties, etc.
The high net worth specialist Wealth-X and the Swiss group UBS on 6 November published the first edition of its survey of billionaires worldwide, the “Wealth-X and UBS Billionaire Census 2013.” The global population of billoinaires this year (June 2013) reached a record 2,170 people, up by 0.5% compared with 2012 (July). The wealth of Asian billionaires has grown most sharply in 2013, with a leap of nearly 13% for a population which has grown by 3.7% compared with the previous year. At the current growth rates, Asia would overtake the United States in five years, the report finds. Another remarkable development is that since the 2009 financial crisis, there are 810 new billionaires. The wealth of the population of billionaires has more than doubled since the financial crisis, to USD6.5trn, compared with USD3.1trn in 2009. The cumulative wealth of the billionaires has grown 5.3% since 2012.] Europe has the largest number of billionaires (766), but the United States continues to lead in terms of cumulative wealth, with a total of USD2.158trn.
The Dutch regulator, the Autoriteit Financiële Markten (AFM), has awarded Double Diviend, an investment consulting firm based in Amsterdam, an extension on its license, which allows it to manage investments, Fonds Nieuws reports.Double Dividend offers a socially responsible investment portfolio in equities, bonds and alternative assets, either directly or via the best funds from external managers, with a maximal commission of 1%, including VAT.In April, the firm also launched a sustainable development equity fund, which has EUR8m in assets, the Double Dividend Equity Fund, managed by Ward Kastrop.
ING Investment Management has published stable assets for third quarter, at EUR176.1bn, compared with EUR176bn the previous quarter, but down by EUR3.8bn in one year, according to quarterly results for the ING group. Asset management in third quarter suffered net redemptions in Europe and Asia of EUR0.4bn in total. In detail, assets under retail management totalled EUR46.4bn, compared with EUR45.3bn in the previous quarter, and EUR43.2bn one year ago. Assets under management for institutional clients total EUR56.5bn, compared with EUR56.3bn in second quarter 2013, and EUR61.2bn one year ago.
Credit Suisse is selling its DLJ Investment Partners (DLJIP) activity to Portfolio Advisors. The team at DJIP surrounding Igor DaCosta and Charles Harper will also transfer to the new owner, Credit Suisse said in a statement on 6 November. The operation is part of sale plans already announced, and is expected to be completed by the end of 2013. The financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. Since its inception in 1995, DLJIP has executed 75 financing transactions for a total of USD3.6bn.
The Swiss alternative asset management firm Gottex will set up a joint venture with the Chinese asset management firm Vstone Asset Management, the news agency Reuters reports. Vstone will assist Gottex with its planned developments in China. “The objective is to strengthen the capacities of Gottex in China in order to provide investors with access to Chinese onshore markets through equities, bonds and private equity,” the co-founder of Gottex, Max Gottschalk, tells Reuters. As of the end of September, assets under management at Gottex totalled USD5.8bn.
Mark Little, associate director of the discretionary sales team at Henderson Global Investors, will be leaving the firm at the end of the year, Investment week reports. His clients will be taken over by Matthew Frost and William Hamilton, with the assistance of Simon Hillenbrand. Little had previously been at New Star, a firm which was acquired by Henderson.
Old Mutual Global Investors has posted net subscriptions of GBP300m in third quarter, due to strong inflows to Old Mutual UK Alpha funds, managed by the fund star Richard Buxton, Fund Web reports. The firm now has GBP15.2bn in assets under management, an increase of 10% compared with the beginning of the year.
For an undisclosed sum, private equity investor 3i has sold its majority stake in the private client investment group Bestinvest, whose assets total GBP5bn, to funds from Permira. The transaction is expected to be completed in first quarter 2014.Peter Hall, CEO of Bestinvest, says that Permira is willing to support the growth strategy of management, and that the introduction of RDR regulation offers Bestinvest excellent opportunities for both organic and external growth.
Max Nardulli, head of international sales and distribution at Cheyne Capital, one of the oldest hedge funds in London, has left the firm after four years, Financial News has learned. He had been responsible for sales of the Cheyne product range abroad.
The British Royal London group has reported growth in its assets under management of 48% in the first nine months of the year, compared with the end of December 2012, to GBP73.5bn, according to figures released by the firm. This development is related largely to the acquisition in August this year of The Cooperative Asset Management, which represents assets under management of GBP20.4bn. Inflows at Royal London Asset Management, for their part, totalled GBP1.45bn in nine months. Retirement activities also contributed, with growth of 28% in nine months, to GBP2.2bn.
Skanska Property Poland, the Polish affiliate of the Skanska group, has sold the office property Atrium 1 in Warsaw for about EUR94m to the German firm Deka Immobilien.The property, with 18,000 square metres, which is slated for completion in spring 2014, is already 75% leased, to Zachodni WBK bank, among others. It will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund Deka-ImmobilienGlobal, for which it represents the first investment in Poland, although over the long term most of the portfolio is expected to be placed in properties outside Europe.
Lazard Asset Management vient de lancer une stratégie dédiée aux actions émergentes, le Lazard Emerging Markets Core Equity Portfolio, qui se propose de dégager de la performance avec une moindre volatilité. Cette stratégie vient la gamme sur les marchés émergents qui comprend les stratégies relative value, relative growth, dette et multi-classes d’actifs.Le portefeuille est géré par Stephen Russell, Thomas Boyle et Paul Rogers qui travaillent sur les stratégies émergentes depuis plus de dix ans. L'équipe utilise une approche flexible qui permet une évaluation systématique de sociétés présentant différentes structures capitalistiques. Le portefeuille est piloté sur la base d’une stratégie existante lancée en 2009. Au 30 septembre, les actifs sous gestion de Lazard Asset Management et des sociétés affiliées s'élevaient à 176 milliards de dollars.
BNY Mellon Asset Servicing indique avoir remporté un contrat de conservation mondiale pour 6,5 milliards de dollars du fonds de pension New Hampshire Retirement System (NHRS). Le pôle service aux investisseurs de BNY Mellon fournira des prestations de conservation, de comptabilité, de changes, de gestion de trésorerie et du risque.Le NHRS compte quelque 85.000 adhérents et travaille pour 475 employeurs, l’Etat du New Hampshire, des municipalités, des districts scolaires, des comtés etc.
Credit Suisse vend son activité DLJ Investment Partners (DLJIP) à Portfolio Advisors. L'équipe de DLJIP autour d’Igor DaCosta et Charles Harper passe aussi chez le nouveau propriétaire, a précisé Credit Suisse le 6 novembre dans un communiqué. L’opération fait partie des plans de cession déjà annoncés et devrait être bouclée d’ici à fin 2013.Les modalités financières de la transaction n’ont pas été divulguées. Depuis sa création en 1995, DLJIP a exécuté 75 transactions de financement pour un montant total de 3,6 milliards de dollars.
Le prestataire allemand de services financiers MLP (22 milliards d’euros d’encours) a annoncé le 6 novembre que, compte tenu du ralentissement de l’activité dans l’assurance retraite et l’assurance maladie, le bénéfice avant impôt et charges financières (EBIT) de 2013 sera inférieur à la prévision de 65 millions d’euros. Il était ressorti pour 2012 à 74,1 millions d’euros contre 17,3 millions en 2011.Le «corridor» de 65-78 millions d’euros pour l’EBIT en 2014 et 2015 n’est pas modifié.Pour janvier-septembre, l’EBIT est tombé à 12,3 millions d’euros contre 26,4 millions durant la période correspondante de 2012.
Le capital-investisseur américain achète pour 640 millions d’euros le pôle «water technologies» de Siemens, qui emploie 4.000 personnes dans le monde et réalise un chiffre d’affaires de 900 millions d’euros, rapporte la Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Cette activité, faiblement bénéficiaire, était sur la liste des actifs à céder depuis un an. La prochaine vente pourrait concerner les appareils auditifs, qui font partie de la division santé.
Das Investment rapporte que Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM) a commandé l’Aladdin Enterprise Investment System dans le cadre d’un contrat portant sur la modernisation de tout son appareil informatique pour le processus d’investissement, depuis l’analyse des valeurs jusqu'à l’exécution et au dénouement des ordres en passant par la gestion du portefeuile et du risque.
Oliver Bolitho, le président de Goldman Sachs Asset Management en Asie-Pacifique, va partir à la retraite à la fin de l’année après avoir passé 15 ans dans la société, selon une note interne lue par Financial News. Après sa démission, il deviendra un administrateur conseil.
MFS Investment Management est actif en Europe du Nord depuis plus de dix ans, rapporte Fondbranschen, qui a interrogé Per Künow, managing director et responsable pour les ventes institutionnelles de la région nordique. Les fonds Meridian Funds sont agréés à la vente dans les pays nordiques.
Cogefi Gestion vient de recruter Côme Simon de Tinguy au poste de chargé d’affaires distribution externe OPCVM. La nouvelle recrue, qui a pour objectif de renforcer le développement de la clientèle professionnelle, sera plus spécifiquement en charge de la commercialisation de la gamme des fonds auprès des banquiers privés, multigérants, familly offices et courtiers en ligne. Côme Simon de Tinguy était depuis 2008 responsable de la distribution auprès des sociétés de gestion de portefeuille chez Financière de Champlain.
A compter du 12 novembre 2013, l’exposition globale aux marchés de taux du fonds CamGestion Opportunité Obligataire 1-3 pourra aller jusqu’à 115% de l’actif net. Cette surexposition a pour objectif d’optimiser les investissements ou d’ajuster les investissements lors de mouvements de souscriptions et de rachats, indique Camgestion sur son site. Les rubriques «Titres de créance et Instruments du marché monétaire», «Instruments dérivés» et «Profil de risque» du prospectus seront de facto modifiées. Par ailleurs, toujours à la date du 12 novembre, le fonds CamGestion Deep Value sera autorisé à investir jusqu’à 50% de son actif net dans des titres libellés dans une des devises de l’Union européenne. En conséquence, l’OPCVM, qui est actuellement soumis à un risque de change sur les devises de l’Union européenne (hors euro) àhauteur de 30% maximum de l’actif net et un risque accessoire de change pour des devises autres que celles de l’Union européenne, verra ce risque de change sur les devises de l’Union européenne (hors euro) porté à hauteur de 50% maximum de l’actif net - et un risque accessoire de change pour des devises autres que celles de l’Union européenne.
Quelques jours après l’annonce du lancement du PowerShares China A Share Portfolio (code mnémonique : CHNA, lire Newsmanagers du 14 octobre) par Invesco PowerShares, deux autres promoteurs, DeAWM et KraneShares, ont lancé sur le marché américain leurs propres ETF sur les actions chinoises A cotées en Chine continentale, à Shanghai et Shenzen.Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM) propose avec Harvest Global Investments le db x-trackers Harvest CSI 300 China A Shares Fund (ASHR, lire Newsmanagers du 5 novembre) et chargé à 1,08 %, coté sur NYSE Arca. Le fonds réplique l’indice China Seucirities Index 300.Sur la même plate-forme, KraneShares, associé au chinois Bosera Asset Management, a lancé le KraneShares Bosera MSCI China A Share ETF (KBA) qui réplique l’indice MSCI China A et qui est chargé à 1,10 %.
Le groupe Crédit Agricole se déclare serein face aux investigations des autorités européennes concernant la manipulation présumée des taux interbancaires qui s'étend à de nombreuses banques internationales, rapporte L’Agefi. Il refuse toute idée d’une transaction avec Bruxelles car ceci constituerait une reconnaissance de responsabilité qui n’a pas lieu d'être. A propos du Libor, la banque collabore aux enquêtes ouvertes «sans qu’on lui ait opposé aucun grief».