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25/09/2013

Dexia AM sold to New York Life Investments

Dexia has sold its asset management division Dexia Asset Management to New York Life Investments for a set price of EUR380m, the Frenco-Belgian group announced during the night. The two firms had entered exclusive negotiations on 19 September. The agreement, which covers all shares held by Dexia in its division, comes after the collapse of an agreement to sell Dexia AM to GCS Capital of Hong Kong. The EUR74bn in asstes under management at Dexia AM will be added to the USD388bn in assets at New York Life Investments, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the insurer New York Life Insurance Company (as of 31 July). «New York Life Investments constitutes a solid financial and operational partner, able to support Dexia Asset Management’s commercial development,» according to a statement.Finalisation of this transaction remains subject to the approval of the regulatory authorities. Dexia will release the impacts of the sale on its financial situation and its regulatory ratios when the transaction is closed.
25/09/2013

State Street confidence index down in September

The State Street Investor Confidence Index (ICI) for September 2013. fell to 101.4 in September, down 3.5 points from August’s revised reading of 104.9.The fall was driven by sentiment in North America, which declined 7.6 points to 104.5 from August’s revised reading of 112.1. Meanwhile, compared to their revised August readings, European confidence rose by 4.7 points to 101.7 while Asian confidence rose by 2.1 points to 95.3.
25/09/2013

JPMorgan and the Gates Foundation launch healthcare fund

A new investment fund, the Global Health Investment Fund (GHIF), structured by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will allegedly, for the first time, allow individual and institutional investors the opportunity to finance late-stage global health technologies that have the potential to save millions of lives in low-income countries. “The GHIF will invest in new drugs and vaccines, emerging diagnostic tools, child-friendly formulations of existing products, expanding manufacturing capacity and other applications that will help bring affordable technologies to those most in need”, according to a press release.London-based LHGP Asset Management («Lion’s Head»), an asset manager specializing in sustainable development, will be responsible for originating, managing and exiting GHIF portfolio investments.With USD94m committed by a pioneering group of investors - including Grand Challenges Canada (funded by the Government of Canada), the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (acting through KfW) and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation - the Global Health Investment Fund («GHIF» or the «Fund») will help advance the most promising interventions to fight challenges in low-income countries such as malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and maternal and infant mortality.To help mitigate the risk of investing in the clinical development of new technologies, the Gates Foundation and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency have committed to partially offset potential losses in the Fund, which will seek a financial return for investors by targeting high-impact technologies with public health applications in both developed and emerging markets.
25/09/2013

Petercam integrates institutional management into a wholly-owned subsidiary

From 1 October 2013, Petercam will merge it institutional management activities into a wholly-owned subsidiary entitled Petercam Institutional Asset Management SA (Petercam IAM SA), according to a statement released on 24 September.Investment, sales and marketing activities at the group, as well as fund distribution activities for institutional management, will be transferred from the group to the specialist affilite. It will also inclue management of indidivual institutional mandates.As of the end of 2012, institutional assets under management totalled about EUR5bn, compared with over EUR9bn in private management.
25/09/2013

SRI: Wolfgang Pinner leaves Erste AM for RCM

The chief sustainability investment officer at Erste Asset Management, Wolfgang Pinner, has been recruited by Raiffeisen Capital Mangement (RCM), and will on 1 November join the firm as chief investment officer for socially responsible investment (CIO SRI). He will belong to the fund management leadership team, alongside Kurt Kotzegger (equities and asset allocation) and Robert Senz (bonds) from the asset management firm of the Raiffeisen group.Gergard Aigner, one of the MDs of RCM, says that the recruitment corresponds to a desire to better position and accentuate the sustainable investment theme within the asset management activities of the group, Following the arrival of Pinner, RCM will develop and launch new strategies.Pinner is vice-chairman of Forum Nachhaltige Geldanlage (FNG), the sustainable investment association.
25/09/2013

CommonWealth REIT improves governnance

The US CommonWealth REIT on 23 Sepember announced that it is making changes to its management agreements with REIT Management & Research (RMR) and improvements to its governance, according to a statement from the firm which seeks to respond to criticisms levelled at it by the hedge fund Corvex Management and the real estate fund Related Fund Management.The two funds, which together control nearly 10% of capital in CommonWealth, had lively criticism for the billing system between CommonWealth and RMR. Management fees will now be calculated on the basis of a new formula, which will no longer be based on historic costs alone.In the area of governance, CommonWealth has decided that the number of independent trustees on its board would be increased from 60% to at leat 75%. Activist funds did not appear to have been convinced by the news, which has been called “empty rhetoric.”
25/09/2013

KKR and Sycamore Partners eye Jones Group

The two private equity investors KKR and Sycamore Partners are planning to acquire the retail chain Jones Group in the next few days, according to the New York Post, citing several sources. KKR and Sycamore Partners have declined to comment. The Wall Street Journal had already a few days ago reported the potential for a joint bid from the two private equity groups.
25/09/2013

Bogdan Popescu joins Hilbert Investments Solutions

Bogdan Popescu, former head of sales for French-speaking Europe at Skandia Invest Group, will in October join Hilbert Investment Solutions, a firm founded by Steve Lamarque, former head of structuration at Skandia Investment group in London, according to information obtained by Newsmanagers. The new firm, to be based in Paris, will specialise in the design and distribution of investment solutions based on structured products.
25/09/2013

Two recruitments at Allianz Global Investors

Jürgen Adam, who had been responsible for about EUR100bn in euro bond and money market portfolios at MEAG, has been recruited by Allianz Global Investors (AGI) as head of the portfolio management team for Germany for bonds. In this new role, he will be responsible for overseeing the management and development of bond portfolios for insurer clients of AGI in Germany. He will report to Karl Happe, CIO for insurance-related strategies.AGI has also recruited Grant-Yun Cheng, who on 1 Ocober will join the firm as manager of the Allianz BRIC Stars and BRIC Equity funds. Cheng replaces Michael Konstantinow, who left the business in early September. Cheng had previously been head of emerging markets at Union Investment.
25/09/2013

SAC Capital Advisors: large settlement proposed

A Federal court in the United States has proposed to settle the insider trading case against the hedge fund SAC Cpital Advisors for USD1.5bn to USD2bn, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing sources close to the case. Lawyers for SAC seek to obtain a lower fine and to deduct the USD616m already paid.
25/09/2013

Amundi and BFT Gestion launch first global fund of implicit dividends

Amundi and BFT Gestion on 24 September announced the launch of the first global absolute return fund of dividends: Amundi Funds Absolute Global Dividend. The new sub-fund of the Luxembourg-registered, UCITS-compliant Sicav Amundi funds offers investors a solution which allows them to capture the potential difference in estimated dividends – through futures contracts – from those which are eventually paid by businesses. The more the markets undervalue dividends, the mosr the potential gains from the fund will be.This approach is applied to the major global equity markets, through futures contracts on market index dividends. The impicit dividends (futures and swaps on dividends) allow the fund to take positions on the dividends paid by companies which belong to a market index (Euro Stoxx 50, FTSE 100, Nikkei 225 and S&P 500) in the course of a year. At maturity, these dividends converge towards the level of dividends actually paid.
25/09/2013

Henderson preparing four credit funds

Thomas Ross, portfolio manager and co-manager of the Credit Alpha fund at Henderson Global Investors (HGI), announced on a visit to Paris on 24 Sepember that the six-member team recruited from Delaware Investments earlier this year (see Newsmanagers of 6 February) will be given a global high yield fund, which is expected to be launched in November.Henderson is also seeking to recruit a team to set up an emerging market credit fund. The team also plans a global and an EM investment grade funds.
25/09/2013

GLG Partners closes EM special sits fund

GLG Partners has closed its fund decicated to special situations on emerging markets, less than one year after the departure of its two co-heads of emerging markets, Karim Abdel-Motaal and Bart Turtelboom, Asian Investor reports.The GLG Emerging Markets Special Situations Fund saw a decline of about 60% in 2012. Investors were subject to three-year lock-up clauses, it is said.
25/09/2013

BlackRock closes a retirement product

BlackRock has closed an innovative retirement product in the United Kingdom, as it was unable to attract sufficient interest from consultants or clients, Financial News reports. The investment strategy, which is known as “DC Banking” had aimed to give members of the new defined-contribution plans, which do not offer any guarantee, more certainty about the results of their savings.
25/09/2013

China Focus from Fidelity changes managers

At the end of October, Martha Wang will be leaving Fidelity to take a break in her career. According to Investment Week, she will be replaced as head of the Fidelity China Focus Fund (GBP2.2bn) by Jing King, who had been manager of the BGF China Fund (USD725bn) at BlackRock.Jing will be replaced at BlackRock by two co-managers: Andrew Swan, head of the Asia fundamental equities team, and Emily Dong, co-manager of the BGF Asian Growth Leaders Fund.
25/09/2013

Profits down in first half at Miton

UK-based Miton has reported pre-tax profits for the half to the end of June of GBP300,000, compared with GBP500,000 in first half 2012, according to figures released by the firm.This development is due to spending of approximately GBP700,000 on the recruitment of four management professionals, the installation of a new IT system, the acquisition of PSigma, and the launch of two funds.Assets under management increased by 13% in the half under review, to GBP2.02bn. Net inflows totalled GBP121m.
25/09/2013

Libor: 13 banks sued by US regulator

The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), which oversees the savings banking sector in the United States, on 24 September announced that it has sued 14 international banks, including the French bank Société Générale and the Swiss UBS and Credit Suisse, with manipulation of the Libor rate.The regulator intends to recuperate a part of the sums lost due to these manipulations by five institutions which it had supervised and which have since gone bankrupt. The lawsuit, for violation of Federal and regional annti-trust laws, was filed in a Kansas court, according to a statement. So far, fines totalling about USD2.5bn have been levelled against three of the major players in the market: UBS, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Barclays. The NUA has also named JPMorgan Chase, Lloyds Banking Group, WestLB, Raiffensen Bank, Norinchukin Bank, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ and the Royal Bank of Canada.In a separate statement, the NCUA announced that it has filed a separate lawsuit against Morgan Stanley and eight other international banks, including JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and UBS, for selling USD2.4bn in faulty financial products. The NCUA explains that it intends to recover losses experienced by the banks it oversaw which have since gone bankrupt due to these bad investments.
25/09/2013

KBC sells KBC Bank Deutschland to a group of investors

The Belgian KBC group on 24 September announced that it has signed an agreement to sell KBC Bank Deutschland AG, a 100% owned subsidiary of KBC Bank SA, to a group of investors, including the Teacher Retirement Ststem of Texas (TRS), Apollo Global Management, LLC, Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc., and Grovepoint Capital LLP.KBC Bank Deutschland, a specialist in banking and financial services to German businesses, is also active in professional real estate financing, financing for acquisitions, institutional asset management and the management of wealth for ultra-high net worth clients.The transaction is subject to approval of the various antitrust authorities. In the meanwhile, KBC Bank Deutschland, with the support of KBC, will continue to dedicate itself wholly to its business activities and its clients.The transaction will free up about EUR0.1bn in capital for KBC, largely by reducing weighted assets, and will not have a notable impact on the financial results at KBC. KBC will thus improve its solvency position by about 15 basis points.
25/09/2013

Head of Cofunds resigns after only four months

Chris Last has resigned from his position as chief executive at Cofunds after only four months at the head of the firm, FundWeb reports. Last joined Cofunds in May, following the departure of Martin Davis following the acquisition of Cofunds by Legal & General. The current managing director of Cofunds, David Hobbs, who also arrived in May, will take over from Last.
25/09/2013

Martin Davis becomes CEO of Kames Capital

Martin Davis, the former head of Cofunds, will head Kames Capital, a subsidiary of Aegon Am, as chief executive officer from 1 October, FundWeb reports. His appointment comes after several changes to the management at Kames, including the departure of Andrew Fleming from his position as CEO at the end of March 2013. Sarah Russell has served as interim CEO of Aegon AM.
25/09/2013

ECM AM recruits fund manager

ECM Asset Management Ltd, the USD8.4 billion multi-asset credit investor owned by Wells Fargo, has hired Chris Telfer as specialist portfolio manager.He will trade financials and sovereigns across ECM’s strategies. He will report to Ross Pamphilon, co-CIO and portfolio manager.Prior to joining ECM, Chris Telfer spent three years as a credit trader at Barclays Capital in London.
25/09/2013

Close Brothers AM is profitable again

The asset management activities of Close Brothers have returned to profitability in the fiscal year ending on 31 July 2013, according to provisional results released by the group.The contribution of asset management to operating profits totalled GBP4bn, equivalent to 2% of the group’s profits, after losses last year of GBP4.3bn.Assets under management have increased 9% to a total of GBP9.1bn.
25/09/2013

Wells Fargo registers funds in Norway

The US asset management firm Wells Fargo Asset Management has registered 13 funds in Norway from its Luxembourg range Wells Fargo (Lux) Worldwide Fund, Sweden’s Fondbranschen reports. The firm is continuing its development in Europe. It has also registered its funds in France. The funds concerned are the following: China Equity FundEmerging Markets Equity FundEmerging Markets Equity II FundEmerging Markets Income and Growth FundGlobal Equity FundGlobal Opportunity Bond FundPrecious Metals FundUS All Cap Growth FundUS Dollar Short-Term Money Market FundUS High Yield Bond FundUS Large Cap Growth FundUS Premier Growth FundUS Short-Term High Yield Bond Fund
25/09/2013

Sovereign wealth funds have invested a lot in energy

Direct investment by sovereign wealth funds in energy has increased sharply in recent years. On the basis of data from the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, more than USD76.3bn have been invested in companies or assets related to energy between 2008 and August 2013. This takes into account energy producing companies, exploration companies, utilities and infrastructure related to energy. These direct investments in energy have profited Europe, which has attracted USD40.8bn in the period under review, in 254 transactions. In Europe, the United Kingdom is one of the major beneficiaries of this investment. Among companies which are particularly popular with SWFs are Royal Dutch Shell, BP, BG Group and Total. Eastern Europe and Russia have attracted a much more modest proportion of invetment by sovereign funds, and these investments have been largely carried out via invesmtent funds. Investments by SWFs in Europe have far outpaced those in North America, and total USD11.8bn in the period under review, in 191 transactions.
25/09/2013

Dragon Capital launches first UCITS fund dedicated to Vietnamese equities

One of the largest investment firms in Indochina, Dragon Capital, has launched the Vietnam Equity UCITS Fund, the first UCITS-compliant fund dedicated to Vietnamese equities.The objective of the fund is to generate mid- to long-term growth in capital be investing as a top priority in securities in Vietnamese companies listed on the Ho Chi Minh stock exchange or other publicly-traded businesses with a significatn exposure to Vietnam.The fund primarily targets clients of private banks and wealth managers. The minimal investment is USD25,000 and management fees are 2% per year.
25/09/2013

Towers Watson creates a position of head of advising dedicated to governments

The consulting group Towers Watson has appointd Jayne Bok as head of consulting activities to governments, a newly-created position, Towers Watson reports. Bok had previously been head of investment advising for Korea in Seoul.Bok, who will now be based in Hong Kong, began in early September. She reports to Peter Ruyan-Kane, head of investment advising activities for the Asia-Pacitic region.“Governments are a universe unto themselves, which have problems that extend beyond those of other major institutional investors such as pension funds and endowments,” Ryan-Kane explains to Asian Investor.
25/09/2013

Old Mutual GI recruits a big Asian name from BNPPIP

Carol Wong, who has spent 15 years at ABN Amro Asset Management and then at BNP Paribas Investment Partners, most recently as head of sales, Hong Kong, China & South East Asia, will in November 2013 join Old Mutual Global Investors (OMGI) as managing director, head of distribution, Asia.Wong will be based in Hong Kong, and will report to Warren Tonkinson, head of global distribution. She will be responsible for developing the Asian strategy of OMGI, which seeks to increase its assets through sales of its products through multiplace channel, including large global financial institutions, regional banks, and wealth managers, while co-operating with Old Mutual Wealth, the wealth management unit of the group which also has expansion plans in the region.
25/09/2013

Credit Suisse cuts back its offshore activities

Credit Suisse is cutting back its offshore activities, which are deemed costly and restrictive. The Swiss group has told Tages-Anzeiger that it will be discontinuing its activities in some countries and closing the accounts of some clients.Credit Suisse has not revealed the number of countries, clients and sums concerned. But the bank would like to recenter on certain segments and regions. It will be completely pulling out of some markets, and partially from others.The processing of offshore activities has become complicated and risky as a result of the tax-relevant conflicts between Switzerland and several countries. Abroad, the bank is also unloading private clients with limited means. Credit Suisse accepts only clients with wealth of at least CHF1m.At the publication of its results for second quarter, the bank announced that it is abandoning certain markets, to allow for savings of nearly CHF150m by the end of the year.
25/09/2013

Dominique Biedermann to become Ethos chairman in 2015

Kaspar Müller, chairman of the Ethos Foundation and the Ethos Services company, has announced that he will not stand for re-election at the AGM in 2015, according to a statement released on 24 September. Müller has been a member of the board at the foundation since the creation of Ethos in 1997, and its chairman since 2007.In order to ensure continuity and strategic development, the Board at the Ethos foundaton and the Board of Directors at Ethos Services have decided to propose Dominique Biedermann, its current CEO, to become its new president from spring 2015. At that time, he will leave his position as CEO in order to concentrate on his new role.The board now has 18 months to locate and appoint a new director to head up Ethos. This time will allow to ensure that the changes in the management maintain the pioneering orientation of the Ethos Foundation in socially responsible investment and active shareholding.
25/09/2013

Chinese SWF acquires 12.5% of Russia's Uralkali

The Chinese sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation (CIC) has acquired a 12.5% stake in the Russian potassium producer Ukalkali, through a conversion of bonds, the news agency Reuters reports, referring to two sources familiar with the matter.The largest shareholders in Uralkali, the largest producer of potassium in the world, sold convertible bonds in November last year to Chengdong Investment Corporation, an affiliate of CIC, and to the second-largest bank in Russia, VTB, for about USD3bn.The foundation of the largest shareholder, Suleiman Kerimov, retains 21.75% of capital in Uralkali, and his partners, Filarev Glatchev and Anatoly Skourov, control 7%, and 4.8%, respectively. The remaining 53.95% of capital, has been the publicly-traded capital in the firm at the heart of a feud between Russia and Belarus since it ended a distribution agreement with the Byelorussian producer Belaruskali.

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