Les pressions exercées par des investisseurs déçus obligent les hedge funds à réduire les commissions qu’ils facturent, ce qui place la structure traditionnelle de 2-20 % (2 % de commission de gestion, 20 % de commission de performance) sur la liste des espèces menacées, constate The Wall Street Journal. Aujourd’hui, la moyenne se situe en effet à 1,6 % pour la commission de gestion et à environ 18 % pour celle de performance.

The Wall Street Journal rapporte que vendredi, le Reserve Primary Fund, le premier fonds monétaire américain à valeur liquidative constante à «avoir cassé le dollar» (break the buck), est parvenu à un accord à l’amiable avec le Third Avenue Institutional International Value Fund et les autres plaignants d’une action de concert.Il accepte de verser les quelque 75 millions de dollars restant dans le fonds, dont 10 millions en numéraire seront versés aux trois co-gérants Bruce Bent Senior et ses fils Bruce Bent II et Arthur Bent III. De la sorte, les porteurs du Reserve Primay Fund auront recouvré le reste de leur argent, puisqu’ils en avaient jusqu’à présent récupéré 99 %.

Selon nos informations, OFI Asset Management devrait annoncer prochainement l’acquisition d’une participation dans le tierce partie marketeur parisien (TPM) Aloha Finance, OFI AM ayant l’intention d’accélérer son développement en France et à l’internationalL’objectif principal pour OFI serait le repositionnement de la gamme gérée en interne et de son offre externe. Cette nouvelle acquisition devrait permettre à OFI AM de concilier et améliorer les deux offres, et de consolider sa plate-forme luxembourgeoise afin d’accélérer son développement à l’international.L’acquisition d’Aloha Finance serait aussi l’occasion pour OFI AM de renforcer son équipe de direction. En effet, Sandrine Toulouse, fondatrice d’Aloha Finance et ancienne responsable du bureau parisien de BlackRock, deviendrait directeur du développement auprès de Gérard Bourret, directeur général, et de Jean-Marie Mercadal, directeur général délégué en charge des gestions. Autre nomination, Gilbert Nguyen, son associé chez Aloha Finance, serait nommé directeur de la distribution d’OFI AM pour la France et l’étranger.

Bill Gross, gérant du fonds Total Return (251,1 milliards de dollars) chez Pimco a subi des rachats de 7,7 milliards de dollars le mois dernier, soit le quatrième mois consécutif de décollecte, selon Morningstar. Sur la même période, le fonds DoubleLine Total Return Bond Fund de Jeffrey Gundlach (36,7 milliards de dollars) a vu sortir 1,1 milliard de dollars en août, soit le troisième mois de suite de décollecte. Bill Gross et Jeffrey Gundlach ont un statut de «rock-star» dans l’univers obligataire grâce à la performance solide de leurs fonds sur le long terme.

Alienor Capital propose jusqu’au 31 décembre 2013 InvestCore 2019. Ce fonds à échéance ciblant le rendement élevé d’obligations d’émetteurs privés des pays « core » de l’Union européenne, sélectionnés pour leurs fondamentaux et dont la qualité de crédit est jugée sous évaluée par l'équipe de gestion. «En agrégeant ces situations spéciales et en profitant des légères tensions obligataires récentes, Investcore 2019 vise un rendement actuariel net de frais de gestion supérieur à 5% au lancement et donc à échéance 2019", souligne Alienor Capital. Le portefeuille restera à l’écart des titres issus des pays périphériques (Italie, Espagne, Portugal, Irlande et Grèce) en raison des «tensions récurrentes sur leur dette et du risque politique», note le communiqué. Caractéristiques Code ISIN Part C (Capitalisation) : FR0011554294, Part D (Distribution) : FR0011558329 Date de l’agrément : 29 août 2013 Période de souscription : jusqu’au 31 décembre 2013 Indice de référence OAT à échéance 2019 / 3,75% Durée de placement recommandée : jusqu’au 31/12/2019 Décimalisation En millième de part Frais de souscription 4% TTC max de l’actif net non acquis à l’OPCVM Frais de gestion maximum 0,9% TTC par an de l’actif net/ Commission de rachat 1% pendant la période de souscription 0% après la période de souscription Commission de surperformance Néant Périodicité de la VL Quotidienne Montant minimum de souscription initiale Parts C & D : une part (100 €)

Le taux de couverture moyen des engagements des fonds de pension d’entreprise américains a reculé au mois d’août de 0,1 point de pourcentage pour s'établir à 88,1%, selon BNY Mellon Investment Strategy & Solutions Group. Depuis le début de l’année, le taux de couverture affiche un gain de 11 points de pourcentage.Durant le mois sous revue, les actifs des fonds ont diminué de 1,6%. Les engagements ont diminué de 1,5%, le taux d’actualisation augmentant de 13 points de base à 4,78% pour les entreprises notées Aa.

La société de gestion alternative Pine River Capital Management devrait lancer un fonds dédié à la Chine en octobre avec un capital de départ de 150 millions de dollars, selon un document obtenu par Bloomberg.L’an dernier, le Pine River Fixed Income Fund a dégagé une performance de 35%, grâce notamment à une exposition aux obligations hypothécaires. Depuis le 1er août 2011, les actifs sous gestion de Pine River ont plus que doublé pour s'établir à 13,6 milliards de dollars.

Newsmanagers understands that OFI Asset Management will soon announce the acquisition of a stake in the Parisian third-party marketing (TPM) firm Aloha Finance, as OFI AM is planning to accelerate its development in France and internationally. The primary objective for OFI will be to reposition the internally-managed product range and its external product range. This new acquisition will allow OFI AM to reconcile and improve the two product ranges, and to consolidate its Luxembourg platform, in order to accelerate its international development. The acquisition of Aloha Finance would also be an occasion for OFI AM to add to its management team. Sandrine Toulouse, founder of Aloha Finance and former head of the Paris office of BlackRock, should become head of development, in which position she will report to Gérard Bourret, CEO, and Jean-Marie Mercadal, deputy CEO reponsible for asset management. Gilbert Nguyen, associate partner of Aloha Finance, should also be appointed as head of distribution at OFI AM for France and abroad.

The two asset management firms from the private bank Neuflize OBC are expected to be only one firm by the end of the year, Agefi has learned from multiple sources. Once agreed by the AMF and its social partners, Neuflize Private Assets will be absorbed into Neuflize OBC Investissements. All asset management activities and a maximum of employees will be retained, says Philippe Vayssettes, chairman of the board at Neuflize OBC, who is seeking to significantly reduce the cost/income ratio (77% as of the end of 2012).The group does not want to initiate a social plan, but will take advantage of natural departures. The range would be reduced from about 50 funds to 30, preferring performance to critical size. Lastly, sales teams would be grouped at the bank and would sell all products from the firm, including credit, insurance and advising, to all institutional clients.

Crédit Agricole and Société Générale banking groups are contemplating to put an end to their joint ventures in the brokerage and asset management industries, after five years of cooperation, les Echos reports, citing Journal du dimanche.The financial side of the deal would involve Crédit Agricole selling to its partner its 50% stake in their joint brokerage operation Newedge, while Société Générale could sell 10 % of its 25% stake in their Amundi asset management affiliate to Crédit Agricole. Crédit Agricole and Société Générale refused to comment

Claudia Calich has left Invesco, where she had been head of the Invesco emerging market debt unit, for personal reasons, Citywire Global reports. To succeed her, the firm has promoted two of its managers; Eric Lindenbaum and Jack Deino.

The alternative asset management firm Pine River Capital Management is expected to launch a fund dedicated to China in October, with initial capital of USD150bn, according to a document obtained by Bloomberg. Last year, the Pine River Fixed Income FuND earned returns of 35%, largely due to exposure to mortgage bonds. Since 1st August 2011, assets under management by Pine River have more than doubled, to a total of USD13.6bn.

UCITS recorded net inflows of only EUR 12 billion in the second quarter of 2013, down from the record net inflows of EUR 132 billion recorded in the first quarter of the year, according to the latest statistical release of the European Fund and Asset Management Association (Efama).This drop can be attributable to a large increase in net outflows from money market funds and a reduction in net inflows into long-term funds, as investors’ expectations of increased interest rates rise.Long-term UCITS, i.e. UCITS excluding money market funds, continued to register strong net inflows (EUR 65 billion), albeit down from EUR 134 billion in the previous quarter. Money market funds recorded a large rise in net outflows to EUR 53 billion in the second quarter, up from EUR 2 billion recorded in the previous quarter. Equity funds experienced a turnaround in net flows to register outflows of EUR 8 billion, compared to net inflows in the first quarter of EU 44 billion. Bond funds attracted net inflows of EUR 30 billion during the quarter, down from EUR 44 billion. Balanced funds registered another quarter of strong net sales (EUR 28 billion), albeit down from EUR 36 billion in previous quarter.Combined assets of UCITS and non-UCITS decreased 1.7 percent in the second quarter to stand at EUR 9,232 billion at end June 2013. Nevertheless, since end 2012 total net assets of UCITS and non-UCITS have increased 3.2 percent.Overall in the first half of 2013, UCITS recorded net inflows of EUR 144 billion, driven by net sales of bond funds (EUR 74 billion), balanced funds (EUR 64 billion) and equity funds (EUR 36 billion).

The Wall Street Journal rapporte que vendredi, le Reserve Primary Fund, le premier fonds monétaire américain à valeur liquidative constante à «avoir cassé le dollar» (break the buck), est parvenu à un accord à l’amiable avec le Third Avenue Institutional International Value Fund et les autres plaignants d’une action de concert.Il accepte de verser les quelque 75 millions de dollars restant dans le fonds, dont 10 millions en numéraire seront versés aux trois co-gérants Bruce Bent Senior et ses fiols Bruce bent II et Arthur Bent III. De la sorte, les porteurs du Reserve Primay Fund auront recouvré le reste de leur argent, puisqu’ils en avaient jusqu’à présent récupéré 99 %.

UK-based ETF Securities on Monday announced the launch of Canvas, a new service which will allow asset managers worldwide, both passive and active, to create and sell ETFs under their own brands in Europe in a totally open architecture context.The white-label product factory offers multiple opportunities, including the possibility of issuing ETFs using all infrastructure from ETF Securities, the option of creating an advanced ETF platform, and of converting UCITS funds into ETFs, or to create an ETF share class in a UCITS fund.As Matt Johnson, head of distribution for Europe, the Middle East and Africa explains, Canvas supports all possible configurations, from the simple development of ETFs to total responsibility for management, with the primary objective of rapidly releasing products on the market in the context of efficiency in the use of capital and resources. The system allows for ETFs to be offered with both physical replication and synthetic replciation. For its part, ETF Securities will continue to offer its own range of UCITS-compliant ETFs to investors, with the service provided by the Canvas team.The creation of Canvas represents a smart diversification for ETF Secutities, which needs to reduce its dependency on gold ETPs, which represent about 75% of its assets of USD23bn, after a peak of USD31bn, when gold was valued at USD1,800 per ounce.Massimo Siano, director of sales for Switzerland, Italy and France, has told Newsmanagers that Canvas will primarily be aimed at entrepreneurial asset management firms (like ETF Securities itself), which are not competitors since they do not have commodity products. The formula selected “provides a means to share costs, competence, and profits.”Meanwhile, ETF Securities is planning to add to its range in new segments such as smart beta and variable rate high yield, but these plans are still in the development stages.

Bill Gross, manager of the Total Return fund (USD251.1bn) at Pimco, suffered redemptions of USD7.7bn last month, the fourth consecutive month of outflows, according to Morningstar. In the same period, the DoubleLine Total Return Bond Fund by Gundlach (USD36.7bn) has seen outflows of USD1.1bn in August, the third consecutive month of outflows. Gross and Gundlach have rock-star status in the bond universe, due to the solid performance of their funds over the long term.

The alternative asset management firm Pine River Capital Management is expected to launch a fund dedicated to China in October, with initial capital of USD150bn, according to a document obtained by Bloomberg.Last year, the Pine River Fixed Income Fund earned returns of 35%, largely due to exposure to MBS. Since 1 August 2011, assets under management by Pine River have more than doubled, to a total of USD13.6bn.

Pioneer Investments has launched a UCITS-compliant version of its US fund Dynamic Credit, Citywire Global reports. The new fund, which is domiciled in Luxembourg, replicates the USD366bn fund launched for US investors in April 2011. The co-managers of the fund are Andew Feltus, Michael Temple and Chin Liu.

Pioneer Investments a lancé une version coordonnée de son fonds américain Dynamic Credit, a dévoilé Citywire Global. Le nouveau fonds, domicilié au Luxembourg, réplique le fonds de 366 millions de dollars lancé pour les investisseurs américains en avril 2011. Les co-gérants du fonds sont Andrew Feltus, Michael Temple et Chin Liu.

Switzerland is one of the European countries in which the asset management group Henderson Global Investors is planning to develop. After opening a branch office in Zurich, Henderson GI is planning to set up shop in Geneva, Andrew Formica, CEO of Henderson GI, tells the news agency finews. The Australian head of Henderson adds that he would also like to develop in Germany and Italy, through independent financial advisers, as the firm has already done in the United Kingdom.

Bryan Collings has announced that he has resigned from his position as managing partner of the British asset management boutique Hexam, in order to concentrate on managing the range of onshore and offshore funds from the group, Investment Week reports. Collings, a founding partner of the group, had managed the Global Emerging Markets fund, whose assets under management totalled GBP13m, and which has lost more than 33% in the past three years, compared with average gains of 1.2% in the same period for the benchmark index. Hexam, which is 35% controlled by Ignis Asset Management, has not yet found a successor for Collings.

HSBC has offered USD250m to shareholders in the Thema fund to settle a lawsuit filed on 30 April this year in Dublin, Agefi Switzerland reports. The fund, which had been sold in Switzerland by Geneva-based staff at Genevalor, was seeking USD1.5bn from its depository bank, which it had accused of negligence in the surveillance of assets.The first settlement of a Madoff-related lawsuit corresponds to 43% of capital lost by the fund according to the shareholder register, HSBC states. It may represent a precedent for the next cases of this type.

One woman out of every two employed in asset management has been subjected to regular harassment or sexist behaviour at the office, according to the initial results of a survey carried out by FTfm, which surveyed 100 men and women employed in the sector. 54% of women say that they have faced “inappropriate” conduct in the workplace, while 28% say they have been sexually harrassed. One respondent explains that the asset management sector is highly masculine.

The British firm ETF Securities on Monday announced the launch of Canvas, a new service which will allow asset managers worldwide, both passive and active, to crate and sell ETFs under their own brands in Europe in a totally open architecture context.The white-label product factory offers multiple opportunities, including the possibility of issuing ETFs using all infrastructure from ETF Securities, the option of creating an advanced ETF platform, and of converting UCITS funds into ETFs, or to create an ETF share class in a UCITS fund.As Matt Johnson, head of distribution for Europe, the Middle East and Africa explains, Canvas supports all possible configurations, from the simple development of ETFs to total responsibility for management, with the primary objective of rapidly releasing products on the market in the context of efficiency in the use of capital and resources. The sustem allows for ETFs to be offered with both physical replication and synthetic replciation. For its part, ETF Securities will continue to offer its own range of UCITS-compliant ETFs to investors, with the service provided by the Canvas team.The creation of Canvas represents a smart diversification for ETF Secutities, which needs to reduce its dependency on gold ETPs, which represent about 75% of its assets of USD23bn, after a peak of USD31bn, when gold was valued at USD1,800 per ounce.Massimo Siano, director of sales for Italy, France and Monaco, has told Newsmanagers that Canvas will be aimed at the asset management firms industry acorss a variety of asset classes. The formula selected “provides a means to share costs, competence, and profits.”Meanwhile, ETF Securities is planning to add to its range in new segments such as intelligent beta and variable rate high yield, but these plas are still in the development stages.

The Bank of Italy has fined Amundi Sgr Spa EUR50,000, Bluerating reports. The surveillance authority noted an irregularity involving deficiencies in organisation and controls at the firm in the area of combatting money laundering.

Pressure exerted by disappointed investors has obliged hedge fund managers to reduce the commissions they charge, which places the traditional 2%/20% structure (2% management commissions, 20% performance commissions) on the list of threatened species, the Wall Street Journal reports. The average now stands at 1.6% for management commissions, and about 18% for performance commissions.

Christophe Gloser, who became head of Fidelity in France in 2011, has succeeded to change the image of the asset management firm, which was too much equities and not enough bonds. This has given him the means to add to sales teams and to highlight the good results from asset management in France. This is a characteristic which Fidelity in London is able to appreciate.

The Brazilian asset management firm Azimut will acquire a 50% stake in Legan Administração de Recursos, a Brazilian boutique which had the equivalent of EUR141m in assets under management as of 31 August, via AZ International Holdings. This will allow the Italian firm, which is already present in many countries, to enter Brazil. A joint venture will be created. Concretely AZ International Holdings will acquire a 50% stake in the holding company which controls all capital in Legan, through a purchase of shares from the founding partners for EUR3m, and through subscrption to a capital increase of EUR2.5m. Legan, founded in 2008 by 5 partners, now has 14 employees. It manages the Legan Low Vol, a low-volatility arbitrage fund invested in various financial instruments including fixed income, derivatives and government bonds, with an objective of exceeding the CDI, the Brazilian interst rate, and the Legan Special, an arbitrage fund which invests in various financial instrument, and which pursues a long/short directional equity strategy.

No new ETFs have been admitted to trading in August on the European markets of NYSE Euronext, the daily average trading volume has fallen 15.7% compared with July, to EUR183.3m. That also represents a decline of 4% compared with the corresponding month of last year. On-book trading volumes totalled EUR4bn, or 19.4% less than in the previous moth, and 8.6% less than in August 2012.Block trading in August was EUR377.9m, 3.7% more than in July, and 27.5% less than in the corresponding month of last year.The average spread, for its part, totalled 27.3 basis points.

According to the BlackRock Institute, European ETPs have posted net subscriptions of USD0.7bn for August, but four out of the ten major issuers have seen net outflows, starting with the market leader, iShares, whose redemptions totalled USD0.2bn, as at UBS. For their part, ETF Securities and the Cantonal Bank of Zurich (ZKB) have posted net outflows of USD0.1bn, while state Street has seen inflows of USD1.4bn, and DeAWM USD0.3bn, as at Source, while Lyxor has seen inflows of USD0.1bn.In January-August, European ETPs posted net inflows of USD7.8bn, while iShares alone took in USD11.6bn, and State Street posted inflows of USD2.7bn.For their part, DeAWM and Lyxor have experienced net ouflows of USD0.3bn and USD2.3bn, respectively, while the highest net redemptinos were for ETF Securities, with USD3.3bn.