Analyzing responses to its Global Hedge Fund Investor Survey from close to 550 institutional investors, representing USD1.03trn of hedge fund investments, Credit Suisse states that allocators this year plan to privilege long/short equity, emerging equity and event-driven strategies, the last one moving from the tenth place in 2012 to the tird this year. In terms of regional preferences, Emerging Markets and Asia-Pacific regions remained in the top two spots, though they traded places from last year’s survey. When respondents were asked to forecast total industry assets at the end of 2013, the average prediction was USD2.42trn. This would represent an industry growth rate of over 10% or USD220bn, comprising of positive performance and new capital inflows. The survey also uncovered a number of other key new industry trends and developments for 2013: Return expectations among institutional investors for hedge funds increased to 6.9% from returns expectations from a forecast of 5.4% last year. This appears to coincide with the ongoing reduction in correlations and the belief that this will create an environment for stock-picking strategies to outperform. Respondents ranked crowded trades/herd behavior, additional regulatory changes and underperformance risk as the three greatest sources of risks facing the hedge fund industry this year. Sovereign default risk and credit/counterparty risk, which were both in the top three last year, dropped significantly. Investors continue to show strong appetite for those new hedge funds launches deemed to be of institutional quality. However, in a new development, the survey results showed a large uptick in the number of investors who would require some level of reduced fees, including founder’s share classes. Sur le plan régional, les marchés émergents en général et l’Asie-Pacifique demeurent les deux ensembles préférés des investisseurs, mais ils ont échangé leurs places par rapport à 2012. Le Credit Suisse constate aussi un fort regain de faveur (26 %) pour l’Europe développée. En taille, les investisseurs préfèrent les hedge funds dont les encours se situent entre 500 millions et 2 milliards de dollars.Les institutionnels interrogés s’attendent en moyenne à un gonflement de 10 % des encours des hedge funds cette année, à 2.420 milliards de dollars. Ils escomptent de ces fonds une performance de 6,9 % contre 5,4 milliards attendus en 2012 pour l’an dernier.Le sondage met en exergue que les principaux risques identifiés par le panel pour les hedge funds sont le comportement grégaire, de nouvelles modifications de la réglementation et la sous-performance. Enfin, le Credit Suisse constate que les institutionnels sont très nettement plus nombreaux à vouloir obtenir une baisse des commissions.

SCOR a conclu le 8 mars un protocole d’accord aux fins d’investir dans la société MRM, société foncière soumise au régime des sociétés d’investissements immobiliers cotées («SIIC») détenant un portefeuille mixte d’immeubles de commerces et de bureaux, et de prendre son contrôle en vue de recentrer son activité vers la détention d’un portefeuille cohérent d’actifs de commerces.La nouvelle stratégie souhaitée par SCOR pour MRM vise à améliorer le taux d’occupation des actifs, à ramener le ratio d’endettement à un niveau raisonnable pour éviter tout problème de liquidité à moyen terme, et à restaurer la rentabilité de la société. Afin de mener à bien ces objectifs, la réalisation du programme d’investissements sur les actifs maintenus en portefeuille sera poursuivie simultanément à un plan de cession portant plus particulièrement sur les immeubles de bureaux. L’investissement de SCOR, qui prend la forme d’une augmentation de capital souscrite en numéraire comprise entre 41 et 54 millions d’euros selon le taux de conversion des obligataires de MRM, s’accompagne d’un désendettement de la société et de la mise en place d’une structure financière pérenne négociée en amont de l’entrée de SCOR au capital de MRM. SCOR détiendra au plus 59,9% du capital de MRM à l’issue de l’augmentation de capital.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The auditing firm Ernst & Young is currently seeking twelve experts in the asset management sector, nine senior managers and three managers, for its “Performance Improvement” service from its financial services unit (FSO). A description of the position describes the job openings in the department, serving both traditional and alternative asset managers.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The French asset management firm Roche-Brune on Friday announced the arrival of Ronan Franck de Preaumont as a product specialist. He will be the privileged interlocutor for independent financial advisers, a statement says. Franck de Preaumont, 27, had his first professional experience as a negotiator at Cholet Dupont, and then in sales trading at GDF SUEZ Trading. Thibault Saint-Raymond will continue to provide relationships with institutional investors, multi-managers and family offices. Roche-Brune AM is 67% controlled by the Groupe Patrimonial It has nearly EUR100m in assets under management in Paris and Lyon.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } According to the annual rankings by LCH Investments, the alternative management unit of Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management, Ray Dalio (Bridgewater Pure Alpha) and George Soros (Quantum Endowment Fund) have remained the best hedge fund managers in the world, with gains of USD36.8bn since 1975, and USD31.2bn since 1973, respectively, Institutional Investors Alpha reports. John Paulson (Paulson & Co) is in third place, with USD22.8bn in net gains since 1994, followed by Seth Klarman (Baupost Group) with USD17.5bn since 1983, and David Tepper (Appaloosa Management) with USD17bn since 1993.

Palatine Asset Management is an affiliate of Banque Palatine, one of the members of the Banques Populaires Caisses d’Epargne (BPCE) galaxy. Dominique Hartog chairman of the board at the Parisian firm , talks to Newsmanagers about the return of institutional investors to the riskiest sset classes and the ambitions of the asset management firm internationally. In Switzerland, Palatine AM is targeting asset management firms in particular.

L’ex-gérant allemand de hedge funds Florian Homm, recherché depuis cinq ans par la justice américaine, a été arrêté, le 8 mars, par la police italienne à Florence, selon un communiqué du FBI, rapporte Les Echos. L’homme est accusé d’avoir « orchestré une manipulation de marché destinée à améliorer artificiellement les performances de ses fonds, une fraude qui a provoqué au moins 200 millions de dollars de pertes à des investisseurs partout dans le monde ». Selon le FBI, l’homme âgé de cinquante-trois ans est le fondateur et l’ancien directeur des investissements d’Absolute Capital Management, un conseil en investissement basé dans les îles Caïmans et qui a géré neuf « hedge funds » de 2004 jusqu’en septembre 2007.

Nicolas Sarkozy is being wooed by sovereign wealth funds including Qatar’s who are ready to back him to launch a private equity fund, according to the Financial Times. « Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and other investors have offered to commit as much as EUR500m in total to a fund run by the former French président », people familiar with the matter said to the FT. However, Sarkozy has put this plan on hold in recent weeks because he is weighing a return to politics.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Since the beginning of this year, Meeschaert has been converting FCPs which have been in existence since 26 June 1989 to offer not only tactical asset allocation, but combining the French-registered funds MAM Patrimoine (more tactical) and the MAM Optima 250125 (two funds which were merged on 2 January 2013) for strategic exposure. As Philippe Troesch, chairman of the managing board at Meeschart Asset Management, announced on 8 March, it is proving commercially judicious that the two products are available, as the average portfolio for clients is limited to EUR0.4bn, and the two products on offer together provide a way to adopt a position on three asset classes: equities, bonds, and money markets.Meeschaert Asset Mangement has assets of about EUR1.2bn. The two funds respectively have about EUR40m in AUM, in the Patrimoine, and EUR50m in the MAM Optima 25-125 (the two numbers correspond to the exposure to equities) while SRI funds have assets of EUR300-350m under management.

Thorsten Michalik, global head of distribution for passively-managed products at Deutsche Bank, has announced that the number of physical replication ETFs on offer from db x-trackers will this year increase from 5 to 25, Die Welt reports. Synthetic replication ETFs remain the largest category (with 240 products).Reinhard Bellet, director of passive management at Deutsche bank, says that the grouping of tracker funds and other passively-managed products, which had previously been part of the investment bank, with active management (including DWS) will instantly increase the sales staff for passively-managed products from 6 to 500 worldwide.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Netherlands-based van Lanschot at the end of 2012 had assets of EUR40.9bn, 11% more than one year previously. But although the private & business banking unit EUR18.7bn compared with EUR19bn has seen net outflows of EUR1.9bn, asset management, primarily at Kempen Capital Management, posted net inflows of EUR2.3bn, for a total of EUR22.2bn, compared with EUR`7.7bn at the end of 2011.Van Lanschot states that due to EUR121.7m in amortisations on capital gains and one-time charges of EUR35.7bn, the 2012 fiscal year brought a net loss of EUR155.4m, compared with a net profit of EUR43.1m in the previous year. The cost/income ratio, taking into account one-time charges, deteriorated to 77.9%, from 76.5%.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Two members of the emerging markets team at Pictet Asset Management have left the firm, Investment Week reveals. They are Peter Jarvis, who was co-manager of the Pictet Russian Equities portfolio and the Pictet Emerging Markets fund, and Isabelle Alexander, who managed the Latin American portion of the global emerging markets funds. Pictet is not planning to replace the pair.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In continental China, competition is becoming increasingly lively in the nascent asset management sector. The country will soon have more than 80 asset management firms. The most recent, Donghai Funds, received a license from the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) on 19 February, and was then licensed by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) to act as an asset management firm at the end of February. The Shanghai-based firm, which is planning to offer mutual fund type investment vehiles and segregated accounts as a first priority, has three major shareholders: Donghai Securities (45%), Shenzhen Peng Bo Group (30%), and Suzhou Xiangcheng Jiangnan Chemical Fiber Group (25%). Meanwhile, applications are also on the rise. At the end of February, six asset management firms are awaiting approval from the CBRC to submit license applications to the CSRC.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The South Korean Financial Services Commission (FSC) at the end of February authorised the introduction of synthetic ETFs on the Korean market, the local press reports. The first synthetic ETFs may be launched in first half.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } DBX ETF Trust on 31 January submitted a license application to the SEC (form N-1A) for the db x-trackers Harvest CSI 300 Index ETF, which will replicate the evolution of the CSI 300 index of Chinese equities traded in Shanghai or Shenzhen, which are not yet open to foreign investors. The product, which will be listed on the NYSE Arca platform, currently has no acronym, nor indication of its total expense ratio. The sub-adviser for the fund will be Harvest Global Investment Ltd, in which DWS, an asset management affiliate of Deutsche Bank, controls 30%.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The default rate for European businesses classed as speculative grade has risen in February to 2%, from 1.6% in January, according to statistics from the financial ratings agency Moody’s. Last year at this time, the rate was 3%. In the United States, the default rate was 3.3%, the same level as the previous month. The global default rate also remains unchanged at 2.7%. The default rate for speculative grade businesses is expected to finish the year at 2.7% worldwide, according to Moody’s with a rate of 2.5% fo the United States, a net decline compared with its current level, and 3.% for Europe, as the rises observed last year are expected to continue in the following months.

Le gestionnaire activiste allemand Florian Homm a été arrêté ce week-end lors d’une visite au musée des Offices à Florence, apparemment sur un renseignement fourni par un agent du FBI en poste au consultat américain de Milan, rapporte Die Welt. L’Allemand, qui dirigeait la société de gestion alternative Absolute Capital Management, aurait escroqué ses clients de plusieurs centaines de millions d’euros et la SEC lui réclame 56 millions de dollars pour des infractions à la loi sur les valeurs mobilières. Il risque d’être extradé aux Etats-Unis.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Esemplia, the asset management firm dedicated to global emerging markets controlled by Legg Mason Global Asset Management, has recruited two people, Fund Web reports. They are Steve Triantafilidis, who becomes principal and chief investment officer, and Michael Bourke, long-only strategy manager. Triantafilidis previously worked at Vontobel Asset Management, as managing director and head of global equities, Bourke had been at FPP Asset Management as a partner and emerging markets manager.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Italian asset management firm Azimut Holding in 2012 earned consolidated net profits of EUR160.6m, compared with EUR80.4m in 2011. Consolidated earnings totalled EUR433.6m, compared with EUR325.7m in 2011. At the end of 2012, total assets at Azimut came to EUR19.6bn, of which EUR17.5bn were managed internally. A dividend of EUR0.55 will be distributed (EUR0.25 in 2011).

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to Bloomberg, net inflows for private banking at BNP Paribas in 2012 doubled toEUR7.5bn, due to Chinese, Singapore, Indonesian and Malaysian clients. Vincent Lecomte and Sofia Merlo, the two co-directors of the unit, hope to double their assets and earnings in Asia in the next three to five years, but the French firm is also planning to develop in Turkey, Poland and Morocco, where it hopes to attract ultra-high net worth clients with at least EUR25m in financial savings.

VAM Funds, la société de gestion de fonds domiciliée au Luxembourg, ouvre sa plate-forme Ucits IV (incluant des services de marketing et d’administration) aux sociétés de gestion retail et institutionnelles, rapporte Investment Europe.La société estime que cela pourrait aider les petites sociétés de gestion à gérer le poids de la réglementation et de l’administration ainsi qu’à élargir leur distribution.

Deux membres de l’équipe marchés émergents de Pictet Asset Management ont quitté la société, révèle Investment Week. Il s’agit de Peter Jarvis, qui co-gérait le portefeuille Pictet Russian Equities et le fonds Pictet Emerging Markets, et d’Isabelle Alexander, qui gérait la partie Amérique latine des fonds marchés émergents mondiaux. Pictet ne prévoit pas de remplacer les deux personnes.

En Chine continentale, la concurrence est de plus en plus vive dans le secteur naissant de la gestion d’actifs. Le pays va bientôt compter plus de 80 sociétés de gestion. Dernière arrivée, Donghai Funds, qui a obtenu le feu vert de l’autorité de tutelle bancaire, la China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) le 19 février dernier, et qui a reçu ensuite son agrément de la China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) pour exercer en tant que société de gestion fin février. La société basée à Shanghai, qui envisage d’avoir en priorité des organismes de placement collectif type mutual fund ainsi que des comptes ségrégés, a trois grands actionnaires, Donghai Securities (45%), Shenzhen Peng Bo Group (30%) et Suzhou Xiangcheng Jiangnan Chemical Fiber Group (25%). Parallèlement, les candidatures se multiplient. Fin février, six sociétés de gestion attendaient le feu vert de la CBRC pour déposer leur demande d’agrément auprès de la CSRC.

La banque privée suisse Julius Baer envisage de doubler son effectif en Asie pour le porter à plus de 1.000 d’ici à 2015, a indiqué le CEO de l'établissement, Boris Collardi, dans un entretien au quotidien chinois South China Morning Post.Julius Baer va notamment recruter des experts en investissement dans la région afin de répondre à la demande de la clientèle fortunée en pleine croissance. Les clients asiatiques recherchent des rendements de 10% à 20%, beaucoup plus élevés que les taux de 3% à 5% attendus en Europe, relève Boris Collardi.

Le profil de la dynamique amorcée en juin dernier près des 2.900 points offre un potentiel de hausse jusqu’à 4.170 points

Il a réorienté ses investissements en actions et obligations dès 2012. En 2013, il compte acheter des immeubles en dehors de l'Europe

Le taux de chômage américain est retombé à 7,7% de la population active en février ce qui correspond à un plus bas depuis fin 2008. Malgré cette embellie, les économistes estiment que la Réserve Fédérale devrait maintenir sa politique monétaire accommodante jusqu'à la fin de l’année.

Le taux de chômage en février a reculé à 7,7%, son plus bas niveau depuis fin 2008. Malgré tout, la Fed devrait encore soutenir l'économie

Des groupes industriels britanniques devraient alerter dès aujourd’hui le chancelier de l’Echiquier, George Osborne, sur la nécessité de consacrer une part nettement plus importante du budget à la relance de l’activité, notamment par des mesures ciblées sur la construction de logements immobiliers, indique le journal. Une pression exercée alors que l’austérité est de plus en plus contestée dans le pays.

Le président chypriote Nicos Anastasiades devrait demander à la Grèce de lui octroyer 2 milliards d’euros d’aides destinées à la recapitalisation de son système bancaire, selon le journal qui cite des sources officielles. «Nous faisons tout notre possible pour sortir Chypre de la crise aussi vite que possible, mais le chemin n’est pas parsemé de roses» a indiqué hier Nicos Anastasiades.