Le spécialiste de la gestion alternative Man Group a annoncé le 3 octobre le lancement du Man Commodities Fund (code ISIN : IE00B3WCY689), un fonds permettant aux investisseurs privés et institutionnels de s’exposer aux marchés mondiaux des matières premières dans une structure conforme à la réglementation Ucits. La stratégie d’investissement sous-jacente a été conçue par Man Systematic Strategies, entité de gestion de Man, pour les investisseurs cherchant à diversifier leurs portefeuilles et ne plus se limiter aux actions et aux obligations.Avec 50 millions de dollars d’actifs de lancement, le fonds est géré activement, son objectif étant de surperformer les indices de gestion passive et de minimiser le risque baissier. Pour ce faire, il adoptera une exposition liquide et long-only à l’indice Man Systematic Commodity, un indice exclusif fondé sur 25 contrats à terme liquides sur les métaux précieux, les métaux industriels, l'énergie et les produits agricoles.La stratégie d’investissement est conduite par Scott Kerson, le nouveau responsable matières premières de Man Systematic Strategies, fort de 17 ans d’expérience dans les matières premières et le trading systématique. Elle bénéficie également de la recherche et de la contribution de Campbell Harvey, professeur de commerce international de la chaire J. Paul Sticht à la Fuqua School of Business de la Duke University et rédacteur en chef du Journal of Finance.Le fonds devrait être commercialisé dans plusieurs pays européens et nécessiter un investissement minimum de 1 000 USD/EUR/GBP/CHF pour les investisseurs privés et de 100 000 USD/EUR/GBP/CHF pour les investisseurs institutionnels. Il peut d’ores et déjà être souscrit par une clientèle institutionnelle en France.

Le fonds de pension des enseignants danois Lærernes a confié à Russell Investments un mandat de 120 millions d’euros répliquant l’indice Russell Fundamental Emerging Markets Large Company, rapporte Investment Europe. D’autre part, le gestionnaire a obtenu un mandat cantonné d’un montant non divulgué de la part du fonds de pension des métallos néerlandais (Pensioenfonds van de Metalektro) sur la base des indices Russell Defensive US et Developed Europe.

Confronté à un grave déséquilibre du régime de retraites de ses fonctionnaires avec un taux de couverture de 59,3% à fin 2011, le canton du Jura a présenté le 1er septembre son plan d’assainissement de la CPJU. Parmi les mesures phares de ce plan, le passage de la primauté des prestations à celle des cotisations. Un changement qui a déjà été opéré dans la plupart des institutions de prévoyance publiques suisses alémaniques, mais seulement par le Valais en Suisse romande, en début d’année. Autre mesure qui, si elle était adoptée, impacterait fortement la stratégie de gestion de la CPJU, la réduction du taux technique de 4 à 3%. L’analyse des causes du découvert chiffre en effet « l’impact de la surexposition au risque en raison d’un taux technique trop élevé » à 60 millions de francs suisses. En ajoutant les 152 millions de découvert dus à l'évolution négative des marchés financiers lors de la décennie 2001-2011, c’est près de la moitié des 466 millions du découvert actuel qui trouve son origine dans la gestion actions de l’institution jurassienne. L'évolution défavorable de l’euro par rapport au franc suisse est aussi pointée du doigt, la Caisse étant très positionnée sur la monnaie unique jusqu’en 2007-2008. Suivant les recommandations faites par PPCmetrics en 2011, la CPJU pourrait ainsi revoir en profondeur son allocation stratégique à partir de 2013, une fois son taux technique ramené de 4 à 3%. Selon nos informations, elle diminuerait son exposition actions à 20 ou 25 %, au profit principalement des obligations, rejoignant ainsi la moyenne des autres caisses suisses. Le gouvernement jurassien propose aussi dans son plan d’assainissement une recapitalisation de la CPJU à hauteur de 74 millions, dont 40 millions à charge de l’Etat et le solde à charge des employeurs affiliés. Une mesure nécessaire, étant donné que la loi fédérale impose aux caisses de pensions suisses un taux de couverture de 80% d’ici 2052, avec des étapes transitoires à 60% en 2020 et 75 % en 2030. Les jeux sont cependant loin d'être faits, puisque les mesures sont encore en consultation. Une fois cette phase achevée, vraisemblablement fin septembre, une version finale sera transmise au Parlement, dont le vote pourrait intervenir au premier semestre 2013.

On 3 October, Renaissance Asset Managers announced that it has received a sales license for France for seven of its Luxembourg or Irish-registered UCITS-compliant funds. Licenses had already been issued two months ago for four of them, as Newsmangers reported on 6 August.The three new funds are:Renaissance Ottoman Fund - A (LU0545677154)Renaissance Eastern European Fund - AA EUR (IE00B6VFVM49)Renaissance Eastern European Allocation Fund - A (LU0649361234)These come in addition to the following funds:Renaissance Emerging Europe Equity Fund - A EUR (LU0545678558)Renaissance Frontier Markets Fund - A EUR (LU0587031500)Renaissance Russian Equity Allocation Fund - A EUR (IE00BOTOFN89)Renaissance Sub-Saharan Fund - A EUR (LU0771341079)which are already registered.Renaissance states that these products are also available in Finland, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

The Dow Jones Credit Suisse Core Hedge Fund index has gained 0.47% in the month of September, following gains of 0.56% in August, according to statistics from Credit Suisse and S&P Dow Jones Indices. Since the beginning of the year, the index has gained 2.51%. In the month under review, five of the seven strategies that make up the index have posted positive returns. The hedge fund index from BarclayHedge, for its part, has gained 1.57% in September, and shows performance since the beginning of the year of 5.78%. All strategies in the index are in positive territory, except equity short bias (-6.34%) and multi-strategy (-0.14%).

The financial sector remains a top destination for sovereign funds, which are now preferring actors in emerging markets to Western banks, Les Echos reports. In 2011, the financial sector represented 43.5% of direct investments by sovereign funds, at USD35.2bn, according to statistics from Bocconi University. However, slightly under two thirds of this total corresponds to investments in their own banks. The funds were called on to support and “recapitalise” their financial systems, as countries were affected by the financial crisis. Finance in the wider sense represents only one quarter of foreign direct investment, at USD13.2bn. When they invest outside their own borders, sovereign funds have made the vast majority of their investments in emerging markets.

Henderson Global Investors is recruiting in Asia, with the appointment of Shiro Tsubota as CEO for Japanese activities, Citywire reports. Tsubota was previously head of activities at Pimco for the Asia-Pacific region. He is replacing Takashi Muramatsu, who has held the position for the past seven years, and who will be taking on other responsibilities within Henderson. Asian activities currently represent 5% of assets under management by the group.

The US asset management firm AllianceBernstein has launched a fund of funds managed exclusively for the Italian Banca Generali, AllianceBernstein Equity 3D, Investment Europe reports. The fund will be part of the Luxembourg Sicav BG Selection. It will concentrate on undervalued equities with strong potential for growth.

The service provider Exante has launched a benchmark index which proposes to track hedge funds which earn the best returns on its automated trading platform. The index, currently composed of 20 companies, covers a wide range of strategies, ranging from arbitrage to volatility, via long/short equity and real estate. In its first two months of official operation, July and August, the Exante index of hedge funds has posted returns of 1.4% and 0.2%, respectively.

Public pension funds in the United States and Europe are twice as likely to employ socially responsible investment (SRI) concepts and environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria as corporate pension programs, according to a survey by BNY Mellon. Overall, 24% of respondents have set up SRI or ESG strategies as part of their investment processes, representing over USD200bn in assets. The survey also finds that 80% of businesses estimate that there is no difference in performance between SRI/ESG strategies and traditional strategies, and that more than one third of them expect SRI strategies to become more popular in the future.

The new CEO of Skandia Fonder, Annelie Enquist, began in her new position two weeks ago, and one of her first missions is to review the range of 31 funds from the asset management firm, Fondbranschen reports. The review will study the investment strategy of funds, fee levels, and performance.

Angel de Molina, who had previously been director of research at Tressis, has joined Santander Asset Management at director of “market intelligence,” a newly-created position within the “global products” team directed by Leandro Vianna, Funds People reports.In his new role, de Molina will be responsible for analysing the industry and competition, detecting new trends in the area of asset management, and products in the ten countries where Santander AM is present.

The consulting and research agency ETFGI, founded by Deborah Fuhr, on 3 October reported that the global ETF and ETP market continues to be dominated by an oligopoly of firms consisting of iShares (BlackRock), SPDR (State Street Global Advisors) and Vanguard, which control more than 60% of assets, net subscriptions and trading volumes.As of the end of September, the market share for the top three providers in terms of assets under management totalled 68.7%, with 38.3 points for iShares, 18 for SPDR and 12.4 for Vanguard, while in fourth place, db x-trackers is far behind with 3.4 points.In terms of net subscriptions in the first nine months of the year, the top three accounted for 65% of the total, with 26.7 points for iShares, 22.8 points for Vanguard, and 15.5% for SPDR.In terms of trading volumes, SPDR and iShares have respective market shares of 42.4% and 28.3%, respectively, while ProShares takes third place, with 4.5%.ETFGI estimates that net subscriptions to global ETPs in January to September have totalled USD188bn, while the BlackRock Investment Institute values it at USD182.6bn (see Newsmanagers of 3 October). According to ETFGI, assets as of 30 September, at USd1.86trn, have increased by about USD100bn in one month, and 21.7%, or USD330bn, since the beginning of the year.The consultency states that as of the end of September, there were 4,690 ETFs and ETPs from 204 promoters, listed 9,626 times on 56 stock markets.

According to Sebastian Dovey, managing partner at Scorpio, M&A transactions now value the asset management firms at an average of about 2% of assets, compared with nearly double that in 2010, and these valuations can be expected to fall in the direction of 1.5% in the next 12 to 24 months. The 2012 Wealth Management Deal Tracker from Scorpio Partnership reveals that, over seven quarters to 30 September, there have been 65 merger/acquisition operations in the asset management sector worldwide (53 acquisitions, 9 purchases of stakes, and 3 mergers), totalling USD9.42bn, while the assets changing hands totalled USD635bn.In the period under review, the major markets were western Europe, where asets of USD337.9bn changed managers, while the United Kingdom represents USD80.2bn, and Asia USD102.5bn. In the United States, transactions totalled USD64.8bn.Markets dominated by sellers are in emerging countries, where buyers pay an average of 2.7% to 3.4% of assets, while one buyers’ market is clearly the United Kingdom, where companies are sold for only 1.1% of assets under management.

Net inflows to investment funds in the UK have totalled GBP23m in the month of August, their lowest level since October 2008, a month which brought net redemptions totalling GBP490m, according to statistics from the British Investment Management Association (IMA). In the first eight months of the year, net inflows total GBP9.1bn, compared with GBP15.8bn in the corresponding period of 2011. Assets under management as of the end of August totalled GBP619bn, compared with GBP564bn one year previously. The most popular asset class in the month of August was bonds, with net inflows of GBP518m, Fixed income remained the preferred asset class of investors in the past nine months. Equity funds have seen net outflows of GBP604m in August, the largest outflows observed since November 2011. In gross data, equity funds attracted inflows of 48% however, compared with an average of 49% in the past twelve months.

Sciens Fund of Funds Management Holdings Ltd., an affiliate of Sciens Capital Management Gorup, has announced the launch of the CCA Event Driven Fund from Citi Capital Advisors (CCA), on the Sciens Managed Account Platform (MAP).The global equity fund is managed with an event-driven approach, with an absolute return objective, low volatility and correlation. The managers have opted for a both opportunistic and conservative policy. The strategy had GBP561.1m in assets as of 31 August.

Fundweb has announced that Neptune Investment Management has decided to close its Neptune UK Alpha Fund, launched in July 2010, whose assets now total only GBP0.8m. The manager, Nicola Muirhead, left the firm in July, and the fund was taken over in August by Alex Breese, head of UK Equities.

The Brazilian asset management firm Bradesco Asset Management has received a sales license for the United Kingdom for its Brazil Hard Currency Bonds Fund, a product which is also in the process of being registered in France. The fund invests in government and corporate bonds from Brazil denominated in US dollars, while the choice of the US currency allows investors to avoid a 6% tax on foreign investors in local bond funds. Currently, the portfolio is 40% invested in government bonds, though this allocation is in the process of being gradually reduced in favour of corproate bonds, in order to profit from a rise in growth in Brazil. The objective is to reduce government bonds to 30% by the end of the year, the manager, Clayton Rodgrigues, based in Brazil, explains during a visit to Paris. The preferred corporates will be those located in sectors likely to profit from spending on infrastructure by the Brazilian government (USD60bn). Unlike many bond funds which hold the bonds until maturity, the Brazil Hard Currency Bonds Fund is very actively managed, Rodrigues points out. “Yield are the least that we want to earn, but we are trying to go further,” he explains. Some bonds may be held for only one week in the portfolio, if the objective the manager has set himself is achieved. Since the beginning of the year, the fund has posted returns of 7.8%, with volatility of 2.8%. Rodrigues points out that the Brazilian market, with USD116bn, represents the lion’s share of the emerging market debt market. He adds that the fundamentals of the economy are solid, and estimates that Brazil will eventually see its credit rating raised.

The Danish teachers’ pension fund Lærernes has awarded Russell Investments a EUR120m mandate to replicate the Russell Fundamental Emerging Markets Large Company index, Investment Europe reports. The asset management firm has also received a segregated mandate for an undisclosed amount from the Dutch metalworkers’ pension fund (Pensioenfonds van de Metalektro), based on Russell Defensive US and Developed Europe indices.

The alternative management specialist Man Group on 3 October announced the launch of the Man Commodities Fund (ISIN code: IE00B3WCY689), a fund which allows private and institutional investors to expose themselves to global commodity markets, in a UCITS-compliant structure. The underlying investment strategy was designed by Man Systematic Strategies, a management entity of the Man group, for investors seeking to diversify their portfolios and not to limit themselves to equities and bonds any longer. With USD50m in assets at launch, the fund is actively managed, and its objective is to outperform passive management indices while minimising the risk of losses. To achieve that, it will adopt a long-only, liquid exposure to the Man Systematic Commodity index, a proprietary index based on 25 liquid futures contracts on precious metals, industrial metals, energies and agricultural products. The investment strategy is designed by Scott Kerson, the new head of commodities at Man Systematic Strategies, who has 17 years of experience in commodities and systematic trading. It will also benefit from the research and contribution of Campbell Harvey, professor of international commerce and J. Paul Sticht chair at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, and editor in chief of the Journal of Finance. The fund will be released in several European countries, and will require a minimal investment of USD/EUR/GBP/CHF1,000 from private investors, and USD/EUR/GBP/CHF100,000 from institutional investors.

In January 2013, James Wilkinson will be joining BlckRock as CIO Europe for its new global securities platform. He will report to Mark Howard-Johnson, global head of real estate securities group. The platform was founded in June, with the recruitment of Howard-Johnson and Sherry Rexroad as CIO for the United States.Wilkinson had worked at Thames River Capital since 2004, where he managed several funds of real estate securities, and contributed to the establishment of a new activity in the area of real estate equities.

Karine Artus, previously director of sales at Avenir Finance IM and head of institutional clients, is joining Meeschaert Asset Management. The Meeschaert group represents over EUR3bn in assets under management and surveillance.

The Carlyle group will acquire a majority stake in an alternative management firm specialised in commodities, the Reuters news agency reports. This is a further illustration of Carlyle’s efforts to diversify into new alternative asset classes. Carlyle is acquiring a 55% stake in Vermillion Asset Management, a firm based in New York with assets under management of USD2.2bn.

In the twelve months to the end of June, assets at Mandarine Gestion have fallen by EUR900m, to EUR1.2bn, and only half of that decline is due to net outflows, while the remainder is due to market effects. However, Marc Renaud, founder and portfolio manager, sees an increasing interest in products from the firm, particularly on the part of multi-managers and wealth managers, the Börsen-Zeitung reports, adding that the star manager is staying faithful to his strategy of privileging the financial sector.In Germany, Mandarine has also lost some of its shine, with assets down to EUR57m as of the end of June, compared with EUR182m one year previously. Also in this market, Mandarine is now focusing on multi-managers and wealth managers specialised in asset allocation for institutional investors.

After a muted year in 2011, 2012 will be brighter for CPR Asset Management. The French asset management firm, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Amundi group, has posted net subscriptions since the beginning of the year of EUR2.4bn, and now has EUR20bn. “These inflows are composed of EUR730m for mid- and long-term products, and EUR1.7bn for treasury products such as CPR Cash and CPR Moné Carry. The CPR Oblig 12 month fund has also worked well,” explains Jean-Eric Mercier, CEO of the asset management firm. However, as CPR AM “cannot rely exclusively on good inflows,” Mercier has identified several major areas for development, one of the largest of which is international development for the asset management firm. The firm will target Switzerland, Germany and Benelux as its top priorities, as well as Italy and Spain. “Currently, our assets from abroad amount to 5% of the total, or about EUR1bn,” says Mercier, who notes that the top obective on these markets is to reach EUR2bn. “To achieve that, dedicated teams will have to be reinforced,” he says. In all markets, CPR AM has identified strong demand in the asset allocation niche. CPR AM is also not forgetting its independent financial adviser clients, whom it continues to assist through Le Comptoir par CPR, an activity launched two years ago. Real estate attracted the most initerest from CPR clients in 2012. “As of the end of June, 40% of inflows from IFAs went to Amundi Immobilier products. Our objective is to be one of the top three providers of SCPI products to these clients,” the CPR AM CEO says. Currently, the firm is one of the top five players for sales of this type of product to IFAs.

Wee Li Hee, who had been an analyst at First State Stewart since 2002, has been appointed as co-manager of the Asia-Pacific Fund (GBP815m), alongside Angus Tulloch. In April 2013, she will also become co-manager of the Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies Trust, while Susie Rippingal will be leaving the profession, Investment Week reports.Sophia Li, also an analyst, has been appointed by First State as co-manager of the Greater China Growth Fund (GBP510m), alongside Martin Lau, who manages the Asia Pacific Fund, and who will now focus on the China Growth and Greater China funds.

Pioneer has appointed John May as director of institutional development in the United Kingdom, in order to develop this activity, which represents EUR1bn in assets, IPE.com reports. He will also be responsible for co-ordinating relations with consultants worldwide. May joins from Aviva Investors, where he had been responsible for relations with consultants worldwide.

The government of Nigeria is hoping to grow its new sovereign fund by at least USD1bn per year, despite opposition from powerful governors in the country, the Financial Times reports. The fund was officially launched this week, It aims to saveguard oil revenues for future generations.

Le gouvernement portugais a annoncé mercredi une nouvelle série de hausses des prélèvements obligatoires censée permettre à l’Etat de tenir les engagements budgétaires liés au plan d’aide de 78 milliards dont bénéficie le pays. Le ministre des Finances, Vitor Gaspar, a précisé que le taux moyen d’imposition sur le revenu passerait à 11,8% l’an prochain, contre 9,8% actuellement, et que les contribuables seraient soumis en 2013 à un relèvement exceptionnel de 4% de l’impôt sur le revenu. Le gouvernement prévoit aussi une augmentation de la taxation du capital et la création d’une taxe spécifique sur l’immobilier haut de gamme cette année. Il a également annoncé l’instauration d’une taxe sur les transactions financières l’année prochaine et la poursuite de la réduction des dépenses publiques. L’ensemble des nouvelles mesures devrait représenter 3% du produit intérieur brut (PIB).

Le secteur privé américain a créé plus d’emplois que prévu en septembre mais moins qu’en août, montre l’enquête mensuelle du cabinet privé ADP. L'économie a créé 162.000 postes le mois dernier alors que les économistes interrogés par Reuters prévoyaient en moyenne 143.000 postes supplémentaires. Le chiffre du mois d’août a été révisé en baisse à 189.000 créations au lieu des 201.000 annoncées en première estimation.