P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Tim Yetman, a founding partner at the alternative asset management firm Olea Capital Partners, is joining Lombard Odier Investment Managers (LOIM) to create a global macro team in London, Investment Europe reports. He will report to CIO Jan Straatman.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Inverco association of Spanish asset management firms has reported a net inflow to securities funds of EUR1.195bn in February, the highest level posted since March 2006. The first two months have been positive to the tune of USD2.257bn.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The wealth management division of the British Lloyds banking group has earned underlying profits of GBP358m, up 25% compared with the previous year, according to a statement released by Lloyds Banking on 1 March. Assets under management by the united last year increased by GBP71.bn, to a total of GBP189.1bn. This development is largely due to a positive market effect. Assets under management at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) as of the end of December totalled GBP141.7bn, compared with GBP139.9bn one year earlier, while assets at St James’s Place totalled GBP34.8bn, compared with GBP28.5bn. The group is continuing to restructure and to invest in wealth management, an activity in which it is planning to gain market share, developing a product range aimed at mass affluent and affluent client segments in the United Kingdom.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Wolfgang Leoni, CIO since 2007, will on 1 April become chairman of the managing board at Sal. Oppenheim. According to a release from the Cologne-based private bank, he will be replacing Wilhelm von Haller, who is returning to “an important position” at Deutsche Bank which ordered him to the private bank when the latter was bailed out in 2009.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Starting today, web surfers can vote at dangerous-finance.eu for the “most dangerous financial product,” Les Echos reports. The initiative is at the impetus of German MP Sven Giegold, of the Green party, who is highly critical of financial regulatory issues, alongside the Belgian Pierre Lamberts (the originator of bonus ceilings) and the French Pascl Canfin, before he left the European parliament to join the French government. “In many areas of economic life, it is possible to forbid dangerous products. This idea needs to be applied in the financial sphere as well,” he explains to Les Echos.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } At a press conference to announce the launch of RDR share classes denominated in pounds sterling for British investors (TOBAM Anti-Benchmark UK Equity (R units ISIN: FR0011412618), TOBAM Anti-Benchmark Emerging Markets Equity (R units ISIN: FR0011412634) and TOBAM Anti-Benchmark World Equity (R units ISIN: FR0011412626)), Tobam has announced that its net inflows in 2012 hell to USD631m, from USD741m in 2011, and that its assets rose 52% last year and 44% in 2011. As of 31 January, assets under management topped USD3bn, the level reached in June 2011, with the addition of assets in funds and mandates awarded but not yet deployed (see Newsmanagers of 10 October 2011).
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Warren Buffett estimates that he missed several opportunities to buy last year, and hopes to catch up this year with acquisitions totalling several billion dollars, Les Echos reports. “We have gone back out on safari, and we will be hunting elephants,” he writes in his traditional annual letter to investors, published on 1 March. However, he regrets that the value of his assets has not increased as much as the US stock exchange last year, with gains of only 14.4%, compared with 16%. In nearly 50 years of activity, this is only the ninth time that the comparison has not gone in his favour. “We are doing better when the winds are against us,” he admits.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Are institutional investors in the process of returning to equity markets? Statistics published by Morningstar suggest that they are. An examination of the most popular investments on Morningstar platforms in 2012 (mutual funds, ETFs and segregated accounts) demonstrate that institutionals are primarily interested in US and international equities. In January 2012, equity mutual funds posted inflows of USD15.5bn, an amount not seen in any month since 2004, and the first time in nearly two years that equity funds have finished a month with positive results.“Institutional investors appear to be showing a preference for US equities in the full spectrum of cap sizes, as well as for international equities. It is also interesting to note that institutional investors who have conducted research in the segregated account segment last year concentrated nearly exclusively on active strategies. The lowest prices negotiated for segregated accounts fro major investors may indicate that investors still have an appetite for active management, but only at competitive prices,” says Paul Justice, director of fund research at Morningstar. Financial advisers and retail investors last year, for their part, were rather in search of return strategies which allow them to reduce risks. “Individual investors and financial advisors have an high aversion to risk, but they appear to make exceptions for emerging market equities, which appears to indicate that the remaining appetite for risk at any level is primarily international,” Justice says.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } A spokesperson for State Street has confirmed to Hedge Week that its affiliate SSARIS, specialised in alternative management, has liquidated the SSARIS Multi-Manager Japan Equity Fund, a fund of funds focused on Japanese equities, which had been managed primarily in New York by the CEO of SSARIS, Mark Rosenberg, and COO Jim Torneo. It appears that the liquidation is due to low asset levels, below USD10m. The fund has posted losses of 1.83% between its launch in 2005 and the end of June 2012.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Assets under management at the South African Old Mutual group last year rose 3% to GBP262.2bn, according to a statement released on 1 March. Net inflows, which totalled GBP5bn, and a positive market effect of GBP26.9bn, were partly offset by a reduction in assets under management of GBP27bn due to th sale of companies affiliated to USAM, and the sale of Old Mutual Wealth activities in Finland. In the United Kingdom, net inflows to the Old Mutual Wealth platofrm totalled GP2.2bn, meaning that assets under management as of the end of 2012 totalled GBP22.6bn. In the United States, assets under management finished the year at GBP128.4bn, up 14% compared with the end of 2011. Net inflows totalled GBP0.9bn, while the 2011 fiscal year ended with outflows of GBP3bn.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British asset management firm Armstrong Investment Managers, specialised in multiple asset classes, has announced on its website that it has recruited Vincent Tournant from Newedge Prime Brokerage as COO, a newly-created position. Meanwhile, the firm has recruited Philip Riris (ex Avalon Capital Markets) as analyst, and Andy Hutcheon (formerly of Barclays Wealth) as sales manager.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } With the FTSE Implied Volatility Index Services (IVI) range, FTSE Group is launching end-of-day indices which measure the implied volatility of the FTSE 100 and FTSE MIB indices. For each market, implicit volatility estimates for 30, 60, 90 and 180 days will be available, and there will even be a 360-day IVI for the FTSE 100.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The asset management firm Tobam, a quantitative management specialist which focuses on seeking ways to maximise diversification of investments, on Friday, 1 March announced that it is luanching a series of share classes in its Anti-Benchmark range which comply with the Retail Distribution Review in the United Kingdom, a statement says.Three new share classes in sterling are now available to UK retail investors, mostly with a minimal investment of one share (net asset value of GBP100):Tobam Anti-Benchmark UK Equity (R units ISIN: FR0011412618)Tobam Anti-Benchmark Emerging Markets Equity (R units ISIN: FR0011412634)Tobam Anti-Benchmark World Equity (R units ISIN: FR0011412626)The asset management firm has also reported net inflows of USD631m in 2012, down 14.84% compared with 2011 (USD741m). However, due to market appreciation, assets under management at Tobam rose 52% in 2012, compared with 44% in 2011. Since 31 January 2013, the asset mangement firm has over USD3bn in assets under management. 95% of this total comes from foreign investors.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The in the wake of two insurance firms buying stakes in its capital, the Swidish asset management boutique Tundra Fonder, founded in 2011, is planning to add to its fund range and to recruit new managers, Investment Europe reports. The asset management firm specialised in emerging markets has recently raised capital through the entry of the Finnish insurers Alandia-Bolagen and Ålands Ömsesidiga Försäkringsbolag in its capital, with a 9% stake each. Tundra Fonder is planning to increase its range of funds from three currently to seven, with the introduction of US dollar and euro-denominated versions of all sub-funds and strategies. By this summer, the firm is hoping to launch three new funds, including one fund dedicated to frontier markets, Frontier Opportunities, which may be made available in mid-March. A fourth fund ia planned for this autumn. At the end of its first full year of activity, Tundra Fonder as of the end of December had EUR46m in assets under management in three funds (pakistan, Russia and Agri & Food).
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The head for the Asia-Pacific region at Pimco, Ki Myung Hong, has decided to leave his position from 28 February, Asian Investor reports.Until a successor for him can be found, his responsibilities will be taken over by the chief operating officer, Douglas Hodge, for the interim.Ki joined Pimco in July 2010.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Brazilian asset management firm Bradesco (BRAM) is planning to launch a fund dedicated to Latin American equities by the end of 2013, Citywire reports.The Luxembourg-domiciled fund comes as an addition to the Bradesco Sicav range, which now has five UCITS funds.The initiative comes as part of a desire on the part of the Brazilian firm to increase its presence in Europe, and in major worldwide markets.
La Chine pourrait décider de relever le montant de l’acompte exigé pour l’achat d’une deuxième maison ainsi que le taux d’intérêt sur les prêts d’immobiliers contractés à cet effet afin de contenir les prix dans les villes où ils augmentent trop, a dit ce week-end le Conseil des affaires de l’Etat. En février, le prix moyen des maisons dans les 100 plus grandes villes du pays ont augmenté pour le neuvième mois de suite, à un rythme toutefois un peu moins marqué que lors des mois précédents.
Le collège de l’Autorité des marchés financiers a selon le quotidien transmis à Bercy il y a dix jours une série de propositions dans le cadre de la mise en œuvre de mesures protectrices pour les sociétés françaises. Un seuil de caducité de 50% serait introduit. L’AMF propose afin de récompenser l’épargne de long terme d’augmenter l’assiette et le taux de bonification du dividende majoré.
Voilà qui « pourrait passer pour un symbole de la mondialisation croissante», selon le quotidien, qui croit savoir que l’établissement de la Place de la Concorde, propriété d’un membre de la famille royale saoudienne, pourrait être exploité à partir du printemps 2015 par l’opérateur américain Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, lui-même contrôlé par un conglomérat de Hong Kong, New World Group. Ce dernier serait entré en négociations exclusives pour reprendre la gestion après deux années de fermeture pour rénovation complète. Sofitel, l’enseigne de luxe d’Accor, aurait ainsi été écartée «dans la dernière ligne droite», un «coup dur» pour le groupe français.
Consultés par voie d’initiative populaire, les électeurs ont largement approuvé hier des mesures encadrant plus strictement les pratiques salariales des sociétés cotées. Selon ce texte, qui doit être transcrit dans la loi, les actionnaires voteront désormais l’enveloppe globale des rémunérations.