DNCA a enregistré une collecte de 160-170 millions d’euros sur les deux premiers mois de l’année, a déclaré Enrico Tarassinelli, managing director de la société de gestion française, dans un entretien au site italien Bluerating.La société va mettre en avant cette année deux fonds : le fonds actions flexible DNCA Invest Eurose et le fonds d’obligations convertibles DNCA Invest Convertibles.Enfin, DNCA compte lancer un fonds obligataire flexible.
Le new-yorkais Fred Alger Management (16 milliards de dollars d’encours fin 2012) a annoncé avoir renforcé son équipe actions internationales avec le recrutement de Pedro Marcl comme senior vice president et gérant de portefeuille ainsi que d’Ajoy Reddi et de Warren Zhang comme vice presidents et analystes.Tous trois viennent d’Allianz Global Investors (AGI), le premier ayant auparavant travaillé pour Nicholas Applegate, société de gestion acquise par AGI, et les deux autres respectivement de William Blair et Morgan Stanley Investment Management. L'équipe actions internationales compte ainsi sept membres et elle est subordonnée à Dan Chung, CEO et CIO.
La société de gestion autrichienne Raiffeisen CM a noué un accord de distribution avec le groupe italien Banca Etruria rapporte le site italien Bluerating. Ainsi, le réseau de banquiers privés de l’établissement transalpin commercialisera les 39 fonds de la maison autrichienne enregistrés en Italie (17 fonds actions, 4 diversifiés, 3 de performance absolue, 13 obligataires et 2 monétaires).
Le hambourgeois Aquila Capital (4,2 milliards d’euros d’encours) annonce avoir conclu un partenariat stratégique avec le gestionnaire slovène Numerica Partners, spécialiste de la gestion alternative pour les investisseurs institutionnels et les particuliers haut de gamme. Numerica va distribuer les produits Aquila dans l’Europe du Sud-Est, notamment en Slovénie et en Croatie.
RBC Investor & Tresury Services, une entité de Royal Bank of Canada, a annoncé le 7 mars la nomination d’Andrew Gordon en qualité de responsable des services aux investisseurs à Hong Kong et en Asie du Nord.Présent depuis près d’une vingtaine d’années à Hong Kong et à Tokyo, Andrew Gordon travaillait précédemment chez BNY Mellon où il était executive vice president, responsable des services aux gérants alternatifs et aux broker dealers.
Les actifs sous gestion intermédiés de Standard Life Investments, la filiale de gestion de Standard Life, ont progressé l’an dernier de 16% ou 11,2 milliards de livres pour s'établir à 83 milliards de dollars, a indiqué le groupe d’assurances le 7 mars à l’occasion de la publication de ses résultats annuels.La collecte nette s’est élevée à 6,1 milliards de livres, en hausse de 8% d’une année sur l’autre. La clientèle internationale a représenté 62% de la collecte nette, dont 1,8 milliard de livres en provenance des Etats-Unis. Les revenus liés aux commissions se sont élevés l’an dernier à 408 millions de livres contre 368 millions de livres en 2011. Le résultat d’exploitation avant impôts s’est inscrit à 145 millions de livres contre 125 millions l’année précédente. Standard Life indique par ailleurs que les actifs du groupe sous administration ont atteint l’an dernier le niveau record de 218,1 milliards de livres contre 198,4 milliards de livres en 2011. Le groupe précise en outre que les coûts de restructuration et réglementaires (RDR et Solvabilité II) se sont élevés l’an dernier à 109 millions de livres contre 70 million de livres en 2011. Malgré cette hausse, le groupe a fait état d’un bénéfice d’exploitation avant impôts de 900 millions de livres, en progression de 65% d’une année sur l’autre, en raison notamment d’une amélioration des résultats au Royaume-Uni et de la poursuite de la croissance de Standard Life Investments.
Selon Pension & Investments, les fondateurs de Perkins Investment Management ont cédé le 1er février la quasi-totalité des parts qu’ils détenaient encore dans la société de gestion à Janus Capital Group, qui avait acquis 30 % du capital en 2004 puis 50 % supplémentaires en 2008.Au 31 décembre, les parts de Perkins non détenues par Janus représentaient 35,3 millions de dollars, mais la juste valeur de ces parts sera fixée le 1er août selon une formule tenant compte des performances et du chiffre d’affaires.Cette transaction ne doit rien changer à la relation opérationnelle entre Perkins et Janus, il s’agit d’une simple démarche générationnelle, a indiqué un porte-parole de Perkins.Des trois fondateurs, Thomas McDonnell, Robert Perkins et Greg Wolf, seul Robert Perkins est encore actif dans la société comme gérant de portefeuille, a précisé pour sa part Peter Q. Thomson, le CEO.
Le prestataire saxon de services financiers Infinus AG indique avoir sélectionné le munichois DJE Kapital (10 lmilliards d’euros) pour gérer trois compartiments de son fonds Infinus Umbrella, les produits luxembourgeois Infinus Relaxed Fund, Infinus Balanced Fund et Infinus Dynamic Fund représentant environ 60 millions d’euros.Ces produits étaient précédemment gérés par Catus AG, un spécialiste de l’investissement écologique, éthique et social qui conserve la gestion du fonds de développement durable Infinus ecoConsort (12 millions d’euros). Le cinquième compartiment Infinus Terra Premium Fund (2,5 millions d’euros fin septembre), reste également géré par Catus.Ce changement de gérants interviendra au 1er avril 2013.
Ensemble, Nord LB Asset Management Deutsche Vorsorge Asset Management (DVAM) ont lancé le 5 mars la commercialisation d’un fonds diversifié défensif spécialement conçu pour des investisseurs institutionnels comme les fonds de pension et les fondations, le Nord LB AM.DVAM.Le portefeuille de ce fonds créé le 7 février sera investi au moins à 80 % en obligations d’Etat et d’entreprises, principalement libellées en euros. Les 20 % restants peuvent se répartir entre les actions, les matières premières et les dérivés.CaractéristiquesDénomination: Nord LB AM/DVAMCode Isin: DE000A1J3WK1Benchmark: 20% MSCI World Net Return Index EUR, 30% iBoxx Euro Overall Total Return Index und 50% iBoxx Euro Sovereigns Germany 1-10 Performance Index.Droit d’entrée: 5 %Commission de gestion : 1 %Souscription minimale: 25.000 euros
Linda Hellström, qui était directrice générale d’East Capital Asset Management, a rejoint la petite société de gestion suédoise Granit Fonder où elle occupera le même poste. Elle succède à Anders Alvin qui a quitté la société. Granit Fonder, fondée en 2010, gère 4 fonds, dont deux fonds actions suédoises et un fonds Chine.
Deutsche Bank aurait débauché Johan Stackelberg chez BlackRock où il est patron de la distribution retail pour les pays nordiques, rapporte le site suédois Fondbranschen. Il a été recruté pour travailler dans l’activité de gestion d’actifs dans les pays nordiques de la maison allemande.
L’année dernière la société de gestion britannique Schroders a enregistré des souscriptions nettes de 9,4 milliards de livres, soit près de trois fois plus qu’en 2011 (3,2 milliards de livres). La collecte a été positive chaque trimestre, aussi bien sur le segment institutionnel que sur celui des intermédiaires, précise un communiqué de presse. Dans ce contexte, les encours sous gestion ont atteint le niveau record de 212 milliards de livres, contre 187,3 milliards de livres fin 2011.Le bénéfice avant impôts de Schroders est néanmoins en baisse de 12 % à 360 millions de livres. Cela s’explique d’un côté par une baisse des revenus nets liée à une réduction des marges nettes, et de l’autre par une augmentation de 4 % des coûts.
Ignis Asset Management va lancer cet été une version plus puissante de son fonds Absolute Return Government Bond, d’un encours de 830 millions d’euros, ciblant un rendement entre 8 % et 12 %. Il aura le même processus d’investissement que l’autre fonds, mais avec un levier de deux.Le produit est un hedge fund non coordonné qui sera domicilié au Luxembourg en tant que fonds spécialisé. Il sera géré par l’équipe taux.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } DNCA has posted inflows of EUR160m-EUR170m in the first two months of the year, says Enrico Tarassinelli, managing director of the French asset maangement firm, in an interview with the Italian website Bluerating. The firm will highlight two funds this year: the flexible equity fund DNCA Invest Europe, and the convertible bond fund DNCA Invest Convertibles. Lastly, DNCA plans to launch a flexible bond fund.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Pension & Investments reports that the founders of Perkins Investment Management on 1 February sold virtually all of the shares they still owned in the asset management firm to Janus Capital Group, which acquired 30% of capital in 2004, and then a further 50% in 2008.As of 31 December, the Perkins shares not held by Janus represented USD3.5m, but the fair value of the shares will be set on 1 August, according to a firmula which takes into account performance and earnings.The transaction will not change anything in the operational relationship betwee Perkins and Janus, and is a simple generational change, a spokesperson for Perkins says.Of the three founders, Thomas McDonnell, Robert Perkins and Greg Wolf, only Robert Perkins is still active at the firm as a portfolio manager, Peter Q. Thomson, CEO, says.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The New York-based Fred Alger Management (USD16bn in assets as of the end of 2012) has announced that it has added to its international equity team with the recruitment of Pedro Marcal as senior vice president and portfolio manager, as well as Ajoy Reddi and Warren Zhang as vice presidents and analysts.The three join from Allianz Global Investors (AGI), where the first previously worked for Nicholas Applegate, an asset management firm acquired by AGI, while the other two come from William Blair and Morgan Stanley Investment Management, respectively.The international equity team has seven members, and reports to Dan Chung, CEO and CIO.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The French financial management association (AFG) has three new members, 38X Investment Partners, BDK Capital and Union Investment Real Estate France, the professional association has announced in the most recent issue of Gestion Info (February 2013, no. 8).
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Xavier de Saqui de Sannes, partner and administrative and financial director at the media firm KYD, is joining Invesco Real Estate (EUR38.6bn as of the end of 2012, of which EUR4.6bn are in Europe), a division of Invesco AM, as director of asset management for France and Belgium. He has previously been senior asset manager at DTZ Asset Management Europe, from 2005 to 2010.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Salaries for asset management professionals are expected to continue to rise in Asia, with an increase in investment flows to the region. Pay sclaes for equity and fixed income specialists increased in similar proportions in 2011, as figures for last year are not yet available, according to an annual buy-side survey by Greenwich Associates. Asian equity professionals, from the chief investment officer to the traders, have seen an average increase in their repmuneration of 1.2% in 2011, to USD337,000, compared with an increase of 1.3% for fixed income specialists, to USD316,000. By comparison, pay scales for managers and advisers specialised in equities in the United States fell 1.4% to USD690,000, while the pay scales for fixed income specialists rose 16% in the same period to USD490,000. In other words, Asian equity professionals earned an average of 49% of the pay of their US colleagues, while fixed income specialists earned 65%. The Greenwich Associates survey also finds that in the United States (the survey does not cover Asian hedge funds) remuneration for equity hedge fund managers rose 83% in 2011 to USD1.28m, while pay in fixed income fell 14.3%, to USD890,000.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Securities and Exchange Commission has engaged the services of the US tax authorities to evaluate the impact of a potential introduction of a floating net asset value for money market funds, the news agency Bloomberg reports. Talks took into account the tax treatment of gains and losses for investors in money market funds. The talks suggest that the SEC is in the process of developing a more detailed proposal, which would force money market funds to adopt floating net asset value. A proposal of this nature was rejected last year before being presented.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 6 March, the Chinese regulator CSRC announced two major changes to the regulatory framework applicable to renminbi qualified foreign institutional investors (RQFII), Z-Ben Advisors reports.The first is an extension of the regime to Hong Kong affiliates of commercial banks and Chinese insurance companies, as well as to foreign financial establishments registered in Hong Kong. Previously, the possibility to place liquidity in offshore yuan in continental Chinese capital markets was limited only to the Hong Kong affiliates of asset management firms and brokerage firms from continental China.The second change concerns the investment universe open to RQFII license holders. These organizations are now allowed to invest in securities, bonds and warrants traded on continental Chinese markets, as well as in fixed income products traded on the inter-bank bond market, index futures, and other instruments permitted by the CSRC. Previously, RQFII products needed to be at least invested at 80% in bonds, or to be structured in the form of ETFs.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Deutsche Bank is reported to have recruited Johan Stackelberg from BlackRock, where he had been head of retail for Scandinavia, the Swedish website Fondbranschen reports. He has been recruited to work in the asset management activity in the Scandinavian countries for the German bank.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Linda Hellström, who had been CEO of East Capital Asset Management, is joining the small Swedish asset management firm Granit Fonder, where she will serve in the same position. She succeeds Anders Alvin, who left the firm. Granit Fonder, founded in 2010, manages four funds, two of which are Swedish equities funds, and one invests in China.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Hamburg-based Aquila Capital (EUR4.2bn in assets) has announced that it has signed a strategic partnership with the Slovenian asset management firm Numerica Partners, a specialist in alternative management for institutional investors and high net worth private clients. Numerica will distribute Aquila products in South-Eastern Europe, mainly in Slovenia and Croatia.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Austrian asset management firm Raiffeisen CM has signed a distribution agreement with the Italian Banca Etruria group, the Italian website Bluerating reports. The private banking network at the Italian firm will sell 39 funds from the Austrian asset management firm registered for sale in Italy (17 equity funds, 4 diversified funds, 3 absolute return funds, 13 bond funds and 2 money market funds).
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Cinco Días reports that the Spanish firm Santander Consumer Finance has sold a portfolio of EUR300m in unrecoverable consumer credit to the vulture fund Elliott Management (USD21bn in assets), at a discount of 96%, meaning that the portfolio was sold for about EUR12m. The portfolio includes 87.000 loans.The hedge fund management firm founded by Paul Singer views the investment as a bridgehead to other acquisitions in Spain. Elliott estimates that there is good money to be made in the Spanish financial sector.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British Investment Management Association (IMA) has announced a decision to change the name of the absolute return sector, which will now be known as the “targeted absolute return” sector in order to leave no doubt about strategy, meaning that positive returns are an objective and not a guarantee. The association, which in recent months has undertaken an extensive review of the sector, says that funds in the sector must have the objective of earning positive returns in all market conditions, but that returns are not guaranteed. Funds in the sector also need to state the horizon for the targeted returns, and this horizon should be no more than three years. The name change is expected to take effect from 1 June. In the meanwhile, funds in the sector will be required to indicate by 20 May if they confirm their membership in the sector, or if they would like to be reclassified.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } RBC Investor & Treasury Services, an entity of the Royal Bank of Canada, on 7 March announced the appointment of Andrew Gordon as head of investor services in Hong Kong and Northern Asia. Gordon, who has been present in Hong Kong and Tokyo for nearly 20 years, previously worked for BNY Mellon, where he was executive vice president, in charge of services to alternative managers and broker-dealers.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Third party assets under management at Standard Life Investments, the asset management affiliate of Standard Life, last year rose 16%, or GBP11.2bn, to a total of USD83bn, the insurance group announced on 7 March at a publication of its annual results. Net inflows totalled GBP6.1bn, up 8% year on year. International clients represented 62% of net inflows, of which GBP1.8bn came from the United States.Earnings from commissions last year totalled GBP408m, compared with GBP368m in 2011. Pre-tax oeprating profits totalled GBP145m, comapred with GBP125m the previous year.Standard Life also states that assets under administration by the group last year reached a record GBP281.1bn, compared with GBP198.4bn in 2011.The group also states that restructuring and regulatory costs (RDR and Solvency II) last year totalled GBP109m, compared with GBP70m in 2011. Despite that increase, the group has reported a pre-tax operating profit of GBP900m, up 65% year on year, largely due to an improvement in results in the United Kingdom and continued growth at Standard Life Investments.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Last year, the British asset management firm Schroders recorded net inflows of GBP9.4bn, nearly three times more than in 2011 (GBP3.2bn).In this environment, assets under management have set a record at GBP212bn, compared with GBP187.3bn as of the end of 2011.Pre-tax profits at Schroders were down 12%, to GBP360m. This is partly due to a decline in net revenues due to a reduction in net margins from revenues, and partly to a 4% increase in costs.