Le 8 octobre au matin, Julius Baer a fourni des détails sur l’augmentation de son capital liée au financement d’une partie du prix d’acquisition de l’activité de gestion de fortune internationale de Bank of America Merrill Lynch hors des Etats-Unis et du Japon. Les nouvelles actions seront proposées aux actionnaires existants de Julius Baer sur la base de trois nouvelles pour 29 anciennes à un prix unitaire de 24,20 francs suisses par action. Les droits de souscription seront traités sur la Bourse suisse SIX Swiss Echange à compter du 10 octobre et seront exerçables jusqu’au 17 octobre à 12 heures, heure d’Europe centrale. Elles devraient être admises à la négociation à compter du 18 octobre. Cette opération générera pour Julius Baer une recette brute de 492 millions de francs suisses et l’émission portera sur 20.316.285 titres.

Le conseil d’administration de Gerifonds SA, filiale à 100% de la Banque Cantonale Vaudoise (BCV), a nommé, avec effet au 1er septembre 2012, Christian Carron au poste de CEO, suite au départ de Christian Beyeler, qui a fait usage de la possibilité de prendre une retraite anticipée, a indiqué Gerifonds dans un communiqué publié le 5 octobre.Christian Beyeler reste membre du conseil d’administration, alors que Christian Carron en est sorti pour des raisons de gouvernance d’entreprise. Un nouvel administrateur a été nommé au 1er octobre, en la personne de Florian Magnollay, ancien associé d’Ernst & Young. Gerifonds gérait à fin août 115 fonds de droit suisse représentant un encours de 15,9 milliards de francs suisses.

Publié le 8 octobre au matin, le résultat «final provisoire» de l’OPA lancée par JSH (groupe Safra) sur les actions nominatives B des actions de Banque Barasin détenues par les minoritaires fait apparaîtreque Safra détient ou est en droit d’acquérir, à l'échéance du délai supplémentaire d’acceptation de l’offre, des actions A Sarasin et des actions B Sarasin représentant au total 98.73% du capital et 99.26% des droits de vote de Banque Sarasin. JSH publiera le résultat «final définitif» le 11 octobre 2012.

Le belge Petercam se considère commue une boutique d'investissement bien spécialisée, avec tout de même 13,1 milliards d'euros d'encours. La collecte en mandats institutionnels a été forte au troisième trimestre, avec l'équivalent de 4 % des actifs institutionnels sous gestion. le pôle institutional asset management pèse 8,5 milliards d'euros, dont environ 3 milliards provenant de la banque privée. Le reste se répartit sur des mandats institutionnels et la distribution de fonds en Europe continentale.

UBS et Plural SA Banco Multiplo, un établissement basé à Sao Paulo, discutent actuellement d’un rachat de l’activité de banque privée de BNP Paribas au Brésil, indique L’Agefi qui cite l’agence Bloomberg. L’agence de presse évoque un montant de 50 millions de dollars environ. Cette activité gère quelque 7 milliards de réaux (2,67 milliards d’euros) d’actifs.

La banque Dexia, engagée dans un vaste plan de démantèlement, a annoncé le 5 octobre la finalisation de la cession de sa filiale luxembourgeoise BIL pour 730 millions d’euros à un fonds qatari, après avoir procédé à une augmentation de capital de 204 millions d’euros.Cette recapitalisation visait à porter le ratio de fonds propres durs de BIL à 9%, «conformément aux termes des accords de cession», précise la banque, qui indique que cette cession «se traduit par une perte totale de 199 millions d’euros» pour Dexia. La banque franco-belge précise toutefois que ce montant a déjà été intégré dans ses comptes du premier semestre 2012.Dexia avait officialisé en avril la vente de BIL (Banque internationale à Luxembourg) pour 730 millions d’euros à Precision Capital, une société détenue par la famille Al Thani du Qatar, et à l’Etat luxembourgeois. Restait à définir le montant de la recapitalisation nécessaire pour respecter l’accord passé avec l’acquéreur."Un ajustement éventuel sera réalisé par la suite sur la base des comptes de clôture audités au 30 septembre», ajoute cependant Dexia. BIL est désormais détenue à 90% par Precision Capital et à 10% par l’Etat luxembourgeois.Comme cela avait déjà été annoncé, le portefeuille d’actifs «legacy» de BIL a été transféré à Dexia Crédit Local. «Les participations dans les filiales exclues du périmètre de cession, Dexia Asset Management Luxembourg, RBC Dexia, Dexia LDG Banque, Popular Banca Privada et Parfipar, ont également été reprises par le groupe Dexia ou vendues dans le marché. Dexia Crédit Local est désormais l’actionnaire de Dexia LDG Banque», précise la banque.Par ailleurs, selon L’Agefi de ce jour, la banque franco-belge avait indiqué fin juin, discuter avec trois repreneurs potentiels pour Dexia Asset Management. L’un d’entre eux aurait jeté l’éponge tandis que les deux autres prétendants ne lorgnent en fait qu’une partie de Dexia AM : son activité australienne, Ausbil Dexia. Cette structure spécialisée sur les marchés actions gère autour de 11 milliards de dollars australiens (8,6 milliards d’euros), soit plus de 10% des encours totaux de Dexia AM, qui s'élevaient à 78,7 milliards fin juin. En attendant, l’incertitude est nuisible au développement commercial de Dexia AM, rappelle le quotidien. Les encours gérés ont fondu de 10% l’an dernier et les revenus de même.

F&C lancera le 18 octobre un fonds long-short sur l’immobilier coté paneuropéen, le F&C Real Estate Equity Long Short, a appris Investment Week. Géré par Marcus Phayre-Mudge et Raymond Lahaut, le produit répliquera dans un cadre Ucits la stratégie du fonds basé aux îles Caymans, le Thames River Longstone.

Simon Todd et Michael Nickson, co-gérants du fonds Majedie Asset Global Focus, vont quitter Majedie Asset Management, rapporte Citywire. Dans ce contexte, la société va procéder à une revue du fonds.

Alexandre Liebmann est responsable du desk Europe centrale et de l’Est à Société Générale Private Banking (Suisse). Dans une contribution au Temps, il estime que le le marché CEE devrait poursuivre à moyen terme son rattrapage économique sur les principaux pays développés. «Cependant, dans cette zone hétérogène, le potentiel réel en termes de gestion de fortune devrait significativement varier d’un pays à l’autre», souligne Alexandre Liebmann. Afin de s’imposer dans la région, les acteurs de la gestion de fortune se devront selon lui d’être sélectifs dans leur approche. «En effet, chaque pays comportant des spécificités marquées en termes de réglementation, de maturité du marché et de produits, des investissements significatifs sont souvent nécessaires pour espérer y acquérir une crédibilité et un positionnement concurrentiel solide face à des banques déjà implantées localement», souligne-t-il. Par ailleurs, les établissements souhaitant croître dans ces zones devront se donner les moyens de fournir à une clientèle exigeante et de plus en plus sophistiquée une gamme de services adaptés et innovants.

La chaîne allemande de magasins de bricolage Praktiker paraît sauvée : selon un avis boursier, les fonds Whitesmith Private Equity Investors L.P et Donau Invest Ges.m.b.H. se sont engagés envers la société et les banques du consortium de placement, dans le cadre d’un accord de «back-stop», à souscrire toutes les actions créées par l’augmentation de capital décidée le 4 juillet et qui n’auraient pas été places, sur la base de 1,08 euros par titre et dans la limite de 40 millions d’euros.

En septembre, Banca Generali a enregistré des souscriptions nettes de 103 millions d’euros. Depuis le début de l’année, la collecte nette a atteint 1,362 milliard d’euros, dont 938 millions provenant du réseau et 424 millions de la banque privée.

Robeco on Friday launched the Robeco Emerging Conservative Equity fund on the French market. The fund invests in equities in emerging markets which have two characteristics: they have good potential for returns, but their volatility, and thus their risk of decline, is lower. The asset management firm selects low-volatility equities via a quantitative model which ranks equities according to several different criteria; sensitivity to the market, volatility, valuation, and sentiment. Robeco Emerging Conservative Equity, launched in February 2011, already has EUR523m in international assets. In geographical terms, the fund is primarily invested in South African (16.1%), Taiwan (14.5%) and Brazilian (13.6%) companies, with a sectoral allocation composed of equities in financial sector firms (17.3%), basic consumer goods (15.3%) nd telecommunications (15.36%).

AllianceBernstein has received approval to distribute three of its emerging market debt funds, already on sale elsewhere in Europe, in Switzerland, Investment Europe reports. The three funds, Emerging Market Corporate Debt, Asia Pacific Income Portfolio and Emerging Market Local Currency Debt, were registered last month for sale in the European Union.

Equity funds have seen a rebound in their popularity in mid-September, but for third quarter overall, bond funds have been most popular with investors. According to the most recent statistics from EPFR Global, bond funds have posted a net inflow of USD130.78bn, compared with USD96.55bn in the first nine months of 2011. High yield bond funds finished third quarter with net inflows of USD30.4bn. Inflows over nine months total USD64.14bn, following redemptions of a net total of USD3.69bn in the first nine months of 2011. Municipal bond funds, for their part, attracted USD13.47bn, bringing the total over nine months to USD40.7bn, compared with a net outflow of USD26.12bn. For equities, third quarter finished with net outflows from developed countries of USD14.65bn, bringing redemptions over nine months to USD71.5bn, compared with -USD62.02bn Between January and September 2011. US equity funds underwent net outflows of USD8.82bn in third quarter, so that over nine months, outflows total USD33.73bn. Redemptions totalled a net USD53.59bn in the first nine months of 2011. However, emerging market equities posted net inflows in third quarer of USD4.49bn, so that over nine months, net subscriptions total USD18.06bn. The first nine months of 2011 brought outflows of USD37.72bn.

Invesco Perpetual, the largest shareholder in BAE Systems with over 13% of capital, will on Monday publicly express its concerns about a planned merger of the defence group with EADS, the Financial Times reports. The asset management firm, which has retained the merger and acquisition boutique Ondra Partners to advise it, does not understand the strategic logic of the deal. The firm feels that BAE Systems could diversify without merging, and that the merger would challenge the unique and privileged position of the group on the US defence market.

First State Investments is offering institutional investors a Dublin-domiciled fund, which invests solely in A-class equities, AsianInvestor reports. The A equity portfolio is highly concentrated, with only 20 holdings. It is primarily aimed at long-term investors, including US charities, sovereign funds, and Australian pension funds.

The average coverage rate for the liabilities of US corporate pension funds increased in September by 1.8 percentage points, to a total of 75%, according to estimates released by BNY Mellon. This improvement, the second consecutive monthly increase, is due to the good performance of the US stock markets and markets elsewhere in the world. Assets in pension funds increased by 1.7% in September, while liabilities for their part fell by 0.7%. The discount rate increased by six basis points, to 3.78% for business rated Aa.

The financial ratings agency Fitch on 5 October announced that it has lowered its financial solidity rating for Groupama, and for two of its affiliates, Groupama GAN Vie and Gan Assurances, by two notches, bringing the French insurer’s rating into the speculative grade. Fitch says in a statement that the financial solidity of Groupama and its two affiliates is now rated BB+, compared with BBB previously, and that it has a negative outlook. At the same time, it also lowered its ratings of three hybrid debt instruments issued by the French insurer, which remain on a watch with negative outlook. The ratings cut for Groupama comes after the insurer decided not to pay a coupon on its super-subordinated undetermined duration shares (TSSDI) to mature on 22 October. The total amount of the coupon was EUR63m, Fitch says. “The decision not to pay a coupon on hybrid debt risks negatively affecting the reputation of the group and may create fears that the group is facing new financial challenges,” Fitch explains. The ratings agency also expresses concerns about the financial flexibility of Gorupama, whose access to financing markets may become more complicated. Groupama, which was asked last year by the French prudential control authority (ACP) to strengthen its financial solvency, which had been depleted by the euro zone debt crisis, has in the past year undertaken a vast restructuring plan, and several sales of assets. Groupama was dragged down by depreciations related to its exposure to Greece and to the falling financial markets, and finished the year 2011 with a net loss of EUR1.81bn. The group reduced its losses to EUR87m in first half.

The Gulf Times reports that Morgan Stanley is continuing and amplifying its negotiations with the sovereign fund Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) to sell most of its commodities unit to the fund. The sale would allow the US firm to comply with the Volcker rule limiting proprietary trading.

F&C will on 18 October launch a pan-European publicly traded real estate long/short fund, the F&C Real Estate Equity Long Short, Investment Week reports. The product will be managed by Marcus Phayre-Mudge and Raymond Lahaut, and will replicate the strategy of the Cayman Islands fund Thames River Longstone in a UCITS-compliant vehicle.

Dexia bank, which is in the midst of a vast dismantling plan, on 5 October announced that it has finalised the sale of its Luxembourg affiliate BIL for EUR730m to a Qatari fund, after a capital increase of EUR204m. The recapitalisation was intended to increase the hard owners’ equity ratio at BIL to 9%, “in line with the terms of the sale agreement,” the bank states, adding that the sale “will result in a total loss of EUR199m” for Dexia. The French-Belgian bank states, however, that this amount has already been integrated into its accounts in first half 2012. Dexia in April officialised the sale of BIL (Bank Internationale à Luxembourg) for EUR730m to Precision Capital, a firm owned by the Al Thani family of Qatar, and to the Luxembourg government. The amount of recapitalisation necessary to respect the agreement signed with the buyer was the figure that remained to be determined. “A potential adjustment will be made subsequently on the basis of closing accounts audited on 30 September,” Dexia adds. BIL is now 90% owned by Precision Capital, and 10% by the government of Luxembourg. As previously announced, the “legacy” asset portfolio of BIL has been transferred to Dexia Crédit Local. “Participations in affiliates excluded from the perimeter of the sale, Dexia Asset Management Luxembourg, RBC Dexia, Dexia LDG Banque, Popular Banca Privada and Parfipar, have also been taken over by the Dexia group or sold on the market. Dexia Crédit Local is now the shareholder of Dexia LDG Banque,” the bank states.

In third quarter 2012, 57 initial public offerings raised EUR4.4bn, according to the “IPO Watch Europe” study by PwC. That represents a sharp increase in volume compared with second quarter (81 IPOs for EUR0.7bn), but a decline compared with third quarter 2011 (121 IPOs worth EUR9.4bn). The quarter was marked in September by an offering and capital increase from Sberbank, the largest commercial bank in Russia, as this operation mobilised EUR4bn. The classic indicators for IPOs, such as volatility of the market and benchmark indices, have improved over the course of the quarter. Encouraging signs are appearing at the end of 2012. Some companies have announced plans for IPOs, such as Direct Line, Megafon, Talanx and the German Telefonica affiliate O2. In the United States, third quarter finished nicely with an IPO for Santander Mexico. Over the quarter, 29 IPOs were held for a total of USD6.6bn, more than double the amount raised in third quarter 2011, despite a relatively stable volume. In Hong Kong, IPO activities slowed significantly due to a collapse in the number of Chinese companies seeking IPOs. As a result, Hong Kong may lose its dominant position as the top global market for IPOs by value, which it has held for three years.

In September, the average daily on-book trading volume for ETFs on the European markets of NYSE Euronext came to EUR241.9m, an increase of 9.74% compared with August.Block trades last month totalled EUR739.3m, which represents a 41.8% increase over the previous month (see Newsmanagers of 6 September). They made 15.3% of total trading volume on regulated European markets of NYSE Euronext, compared with 11.8% in August.

Banca Generali’s total net inflows in September amounted to EUR103 million. Year-to-date, total net inflows have reached EUR1,362 million, of which EUR938 million gathered by the Banca Generali network and EUR424 million by Banca Generali Private Banking.

SEB has decided to close one of its funds of hedge funds, SEB Multihedge, due to significant redemptions and poor performance, Privata Affärer reports. The fund is managed by Key Asset Management, the UK affiliate of SEB.

Simon Todd and Michael Nickson, co-managers of the Majedie Asset Global Focus fund, will be leaving Majedie Asset Management, Citywire reports. In this context, the firm will be reviewing the fund.

The central asset management firm for the German savings banks, DekaBank, has announced that it has passed a test set for it by the European Banking Authority (EBA), with a Core Tier-1 owners’ equity ratio of 11.7% as of 30 June, up from 11% six months earlier. The minimum was set at 9% by the EU Council.The evaluation was undertaken jointly by the EBA, BaFin and the Bundesbank.

The International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) on 5 October published its final report on principles to promote improved information on oil prices. The recommendations include promoting better valuation of oil prices in derivative contracts subject to IOSCO supervision.

In a quarterly consultation document released on 5 October, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) is asking professionals their opinions of proposed changes to adviser charging rules to ensure advisers do not receive “kick-back” payments for referring clients to discretionary fund managers (DFMs) after the introduction of the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) on 31 December.

Storebrand has recruited Henrik Strömgren in Sweden as head for real estate, the Swedish website Fastighetssverige reports. The former Aberdeen Asset Management manager will construct and manage a portfolio of directly-held assets.