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29/08/2012

Accelerando recruits a head for Germany and Benelux

The third-party marketer (TPM) and fund distribution consultant Accelerando Associates has announced the recruitment of Janek Baranowski as head of TPM activities for Germany and Benelux, Investment Europe reports. Baranowski, who has 25 years of experience in financial services, previously worked at Fundmatrix, ABN Amro, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank.
29/08/2012

US investors drag down confidence index in August

The Global State Street Investor Confidence Index (ICI) for August 2012 fell from July’s revised reading of 94.3 to 90.9. Driving the decline was a sharp deterioration in risk appetite among North American investors: the North American ICI declined 8.7 points from July’s revised level of 93.1 to settle at 84.4. The European ICI was close to unchanged, ticking down half a point from 101.7 to 101.2. Among Asian investors, risk appetite improved for the fourth successive month, and the Asian ICI rose 2.9 points from a revised level of 90.6 to finish at 93.5.“While confidence among European and Asian investors has broadly stabilized, this month’s reading on North American risk appetite signals a clear set-back,” commented Kenneth Froot, one of the developers of the index. “We did note some concrete buying of European equities, excluding the UK, as policy makers took pains to try to limit the ‘tail-risk’ of a euro-currency break-up, but in other regions flows were negative. One change we did note is that the composition of flows is slightly less defensive than was true earlier in the year. For example, the Materials and Financial sectors gained at the expense of Utilities and Consumer Staples.”
29/08/2012

Norwegian fund opposes Glencore/Xstrata merger

The Norwegian sovereign funds has rallied its Qatari counterpart to oppose a USD70bn merger between the commodity trader Glencore and the mining group Xstrata, the Financial Times reports. Norges Bank Investment Management, the asset management firm responsible for the Norwegian fund, has spent more than USD500m in the past few weeks to acquire shares in Xstrata. It is now the fourth-largest shareholder in the mining group, just behind Glencore, Qatar and Blackrock, with 2.97% of capital in the group.
29/08/2012

Only one hedge fund out of ten outperforms the S&P 500

In the seven months to the end of July, only one hedge fund in ten has managed to outperform the S&P 500 benchmark index, largely due to a double-speed decline for an index of long positions taken by managers, according to analysis by Goldman Sachs, Investment Europe reports. The 50 long positions most frequently cited by managers as being among their top 10 positions as of 30 June had lost 7.2% in the past three months. The S&P 500 index lost only 2.8% in the same period. Due to this underperformance, only 11% of hedge funds managed to outperform the benchmark index between January and July. This is less than half the percentage (26%) which did so for the year 2011 as a whole. Average gains of 5% for hedge funds as of 3 August is less than half that for the S&P 500 (12%).
29/08/2012

Inflows at Valartis, and a return to profits

Assets under management at the Swiss group Valartis, which has begun a process of refocusing on its wealth management activities, increased in first half by 8% compared with the end of December 2011 to a total of CHF7.4bn, according to a statement released on 28 August. Net inflows for the half totalled CHF491m, of which CHF486m came from private clients. Positive market and forex effects represented a total of CHF97m. The group returned to profitability in first half, with net profits of CHF3.9m, compared with losses of nearly CHF20m in the first six months of 2011.
29/08/2012

Vontobel planning to spin off structured products unit

The Swiss Vontobel group is reportedly planning to open its structured products platform Deritrade up to other issuers, or to spin off the activity, several sources are reporting, according to finews. Vontobel has declined to comment on the speculation. One thing, however, is sure: the structured product activity represents more than three quarters of the operating revenues for Vontobel. Separating Deritrade from the parent company could increase the credibility of the platform and spur its development in Asia, observers claim.
29/08/2012

Assets under management down but a return to profitability at Bellevue AM

Assets under management at the Swiss firm Bellevue Asset Management were down 3% in first half to a total of CHF3.5bn, according to a statement released on 27 August. The good performance of several investment products offset outflows.The asset management firm also returned to profitability in first half, with a net profit of CHF8m, where the first six months of 2011 saw a low of CHF23.5m.
29/08/2012

Paulson denies massive outflows from funds

In a conference call held on Tuesday with Bank of America for financial advisers and their clients, John Paulson admitted that his flagship fund, Paulson Advantage, has posted disappointing results, but assured his interlocutors that Paulson & Co has not seen an exodus of investors.Currently, assets at Paulson & Co have fallen to USD19.5bn, compared with USD36bn as of the beginning of 2011. Paulson Advantage lost 36% in 2011, and has lost 13% since the beginning of this year. The Paulson Advantage Plus, for it part, lost half of its assets in 2011, and another 18% since the beginning of 2012.However, the Merger and Recovery funds have posted respective performances this year of 3.6% and 3.9%, beating their benchmarks.
29/08/2012

Fidelity promotes Abigail Johnson

Fidelity Investments has promoted Abigail Johnson to the postion of president of Fidelity Financial Services, making her the heir apparent at the US asset management firm still headed by her father, Edward “Ned” Johnson, 82, the Financial Times reports. Fidelity Financial Services includes the key activities of the firm: asset management, institutional and retail brokerage, and administration of pension plans and benefits.
29/08/2012

Pershing Square Capital Manager puts pressure on General Growth

The hedge fund manager William Ackman, head of Pershing Square Capital Management, is putting pressure on the shopping centre manager General Growth Properties, and has twice called for the firm to be put up for sale in letters. Ackman suggests that the second-largest firm in shopping centres in the United States should not allow the asset management firm Brookfield Asset Management take control of the firm, in which Brookfield already controls a 42% stake. Ackman goes so far as to say that the leading shopping centre player, Simon Property Group, would be an excellent acquisition candidate. Brookfield Asset Management, which in 2010 helped to prevent bankruptcy at General Growth, has since claimed that it does not want to increase its stake in the firm. Pershing Square owns 10.5% of capital in General Growth.
29/08/2012

Hedge funds prefer Harvard and Columbia

What are the most sought-after MBAs for hedge fund managers who recruited in 2012? According to the most recent survey by HFObserver, it is a tie between the two most sought-after degrees, from the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University and from Harvard Business School. These are followed by the MBAs from the Stern School of Business (New York University) and the Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania). The survye reviews over 800 full-time recruitments (excluding administrative positions) at alternative management companies (hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, alternative units of sovereign funds, trusts, private equity firms). HFObserver finds that 31% of professionals recruited by hedge funds in 2012 had an MBA. Among investment professionals, the percentage with an MBA is 33%.
29/08/2012

Carmignac recruits a European equities analyst

Carmignac Gestion has announced the arrival of Merkus Kulessa as an analyst in its European equity team. Kulessa, a German national, assumed his new position on August 1, 2012, and reports to Laurent Ducoin.Before joining the French asset management firm, Kulessa worked as an analyst in the mergers & acquisitions department at KPMG AG in Frankfurt, and prior to that, at Société Générale and Wachovia Securities in London.
29/08/2012

British retail investors go in for bond funds

Retail funds based in the United Kingdom in July had net inflows of GBP903m, according to the most recent statistics from the Investment Management Association. More than half of these inflows, equivalent to GBP480m, went to bond funds. The second most popular category of funds for the month is diversified funds, which took on GBP211m. Equity funds are in third place, with GBP152m. As of the end of July, retail funds had total assets of GBP612bn, compared with GBP600bn one year earlier. Institutional funds, for their part, have posted net inflows of GBP130m in July 2012, and funds domiciled abroad have seen net redemptions of GBP187m.
29/08/2012

Hedge fund advertisng: first SEC vote to be held on Wednesday

The Wall Street Journal reports that the SEC will be voting a first time on Wednesday this week to repeal a ban on advertising by private investment companies. The US regulator was slated to take a similar vote in June to comply with the JOBS act (Jumpstart Our Business Startups). A second vote by the SEC will be necessary in autumn. Hedge fund directors are beginning to approach advertising professionals to determine whether they can envisage any novel advertising methods. They will certainly not be buying TV advertising spots or renaming stadiums, as their more visible compatriots in the banking world do.
29/08/2012

Strong gains in bond ETP assets

In a special survey published on 28 August, BlackRock reports that as of the end of July, bond ETP products represented global assets of USD309bn, 18% of a total of USD1.723bn, compared with USD258bn and 17% as of the end of 2011.In the first seven months of 2012, net subscriptions to bond ETPs totalled USD44.4bn, compared with USD50bn for all of 2011, and only USD22.9bn in January-July 2011, which represents 35% of net inflows to all ETPs, compared with 29% in 2011. The BlackRock Institute states that active bond ETP attracted a net total of USD1.1bn in 2010, and then USD1.9bn in 2011, and USD2.4bn in the first seven months of this year.In terms of actors, the leader in terms of assets and net subscriptions is iShares, with 140 bond ETPs and assets of USD184bn, and a market share of 59%. Net subscriptions in January-July 2012 totalled USD21bn, compared with USD28.3bn in all of 2011.Vanguard finishes a distant second, with 16 bond ETPs, USD39bn and a 13% market share, with net inflows in the first seven months of the year totalling USD8.3bn, compared with USD10.3bn in all of last year. State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) is third, with USD28bn in assets and USD5.5bn in net subscriptions, compared with USD5.7bn in all of 2011.These are followed by db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank) with USD9bn in assets and net outflows of USD1.8bn since the beginning of the year. PowerShares/Deutsche Bank, Pimco (Allianz) and Lyxor (Société Générale) follow in a tiw for fourth place with USD7bn in assets each. But the first two of these have seen respective net inflows of USD2.1n and USD2.8bn in January-July, while the second drew only USD0.3bn.
29/08/2012

Shenzhen submits a QFLP license application

The Shenzhen Financial Office has asked the State Agency for Foreign Exchange (SAFE) to issue it a Qualified Foreign Limited Partner (QFLP) license similar to those it has issued to Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin and Chongqing provinces. If it receives the authorisation, Shenzhen will allow offshore private equity and venture capital businesses to trade onshore. Z-Ben Advisors reports that Shenzhen is expected to use the license to promote implantation of industrial and hedge funds to strengthen its reputation as an international centre for finance and wealth management.
29/08/2012

Private management in Asia has its own rules

Asia is not another Switzerland, and the same recipes in private management do not lead to success there, Agefi Switzerland reports. The viability of many actors is under serious threat due to cost/income ratios of 80% to 100%. These are the findings of a study by the geneva-based consultant Newtone Associates, in collaboration with A.T. Kearney, of the private management market in Asia. This highly fragmented market is the subject of ferocious competition between managers, who are seeking to increase earnings and assets under management further, rather than ensuring sustainable profitability. A limited pool of talent penalises the development of clients and the setting of high objectives results in active acquisition of clients. Lastly, Asia is not free of increasing regulations, which results in higher costs. Asian managers are all the more affected, the study funds, since they are often less developedin terms of risk management and compliance.
29/08/2012

Assénagon hires a CEO from HVB

The asset management group Assénagon Asset Management (EUR10bn in assets), based in Luxembourg, with a branch office in Munich, on 28 August announced that Michael Hünseler has become head of credit portfolio management and a member of the general management from 1 August. The credit department has been freshly created, following the separation of the Assénagon group from Assénagon Credit Management GmbH in late June.Hünseler had for eight years been at the Bayerische HypoVereinsbank (UniCredit group), where he was head of management of major credit portfolios and credit risk strategy for UniCredit. He had previously been head of corporate bond funds and structured credit at Deka Investment.
29/08/2012
Gestion d'actifs

Aviva Vie préfère se priver de rendements élevés sur les obligations d'Etat plutôt que de prendre le risque d'une décote

Pascal Heurtault, responsable des investissements d’Aviva Investors qui pilote le fonds général des contrats d’Aviva Vie et celui de l’AFER dans un article paru dans La Tribune : Nous avons investi sur les obligations de l’Etat italien en 2011 et avons continué à acheter des signatures privées. Les niveaux de taux nous ont également fait réfléchir à une diversification internationale. Nous avons par exemple investi sur des obligations High Yield aux Etats-Unis, couvertes en euros, et avons continué à investir dans les obligations des pays émergents, là aussi avec une couverture en euros. L’implantation internationale d’Aviva Investors a par ailleurs facilité cette diversification. Par contre, pour éviter de subir une trop grande volatilité, nous ne revenons pas sur les PIIGS. Sur l’Espagne, où les obligations d’Etats sont très volatiles, nous préférons nous priver de rendements élevés, plutôt que de prendre le risque d’une décote de 30%. La gestion d’un fonds en euros doit se faire dans une approche patrimoniale. Il ne faut pas risquer de mettre en danger l'épargne du souscripteur. C’est pourquoi nous ne voulons abîmer le profil de risque du produit. A côté du fonds en euros, les épargnants ont en effet les unités de compte s’ils souhaitent prendre du risque.
Gestion d'actifs
28/08/2012

Knight Capital nomme trois nouveaux administrateurs

Le groupe de services financiers accueille trois nouveaux membres au sein de son conseil d’administration, dont le directeur général de TD Ameritrade Holding, trois semaines après avoir reçu de la part d’un consortium d’investisseurs une bouffée d’oxygène de 400 millions de dollars. Des erreurs techniques ont provoqué le 1er août des ordres erratiques se soldant par une perte de 440 millions de dollars.
28/08/2012

La SEC enquête sur ResCap

L’autorité américaine des marchés financiers s’intéresse aux pratiques de Residential Capital, filiale d’Ally Financial, en matière d’origination et de souscription de prêts hypothécaires. La SEC a émis un avis formel d’enquête le 22 février dernier portant sur une possible fraude dans la commercialisation par ResCap de titres adossés à des créances hypothécaires. L’autorité s’est adjoint les services de R.R. Donnelley & Sons dans le cadre de l’enquête.
28/08/2012

La confiance du consommateur américain dégringole

De manière inattendue, la confiance du consommateur américain a atteint en août son niveau le plus bas en neuf mois, les ménages affichant un pessimisme accru concernant les perspectives économiques de court terme. L’indice établi par le Conference Board est tombé à 60,6, contre 65,4 (chiffre révisé) en juillet. Les économistes sondés par Reuters tablaient sur une hausse à 66.
28/08/2012

Le FESF projette un emprunt de 3 milliards d’euros à 10 ans

Le Fonds européen de stabilité financière (FESF), noté Aaa/AA+/AAA, a mandaté Citi, HSBC et JPMorgan en vue d’un nouvel emprunt à 10 ans, a indiqué cet après-midi Citigroup. L'émission, qui sera de 3 milliards d’euros, sera lancée et mise à prix prochainement, «éventuellement demain», en fonction des conditions du marché.
28/08/2012

L’immobilier américain poursuit son ascension

Les prix des maisons individuelles aux Etats-Unis ont augmenté pour le cinquième mois consécutif en juin, ce qui laisse entendre que la reprise du marché immobilier américain est en voie d’accélération. L’indice S&P/Case-Shiller, portant sur 20 régions métropolitaines, est en hausse de 0,9% CVS, alors que les économistes avaient anticipé une progression de 0,5%. Sur une base non ajustée, la hausse est encore plus marquée à +2,3% (consensus +1,6%) et pourrait indiquer un «retournement du marché», selon David Blitzer, président de la commission des indices chez Standard & Poor’s.
28/08/2012

Angela Merkel pourrait évoquer à Pékin le taux de change du yuan

La chancelière allemande Angela Merkel pourrait soulever lors de sa visite en Chine cette semaine la question délicate de l’adoption d’un taux de change flexible pour le yuan, a rapporté Reuters de source officielle allemande. Angela Merkel cherchera aussi à convaincre la Chine que la zone euro est une destination sûre pour les investisseurs chinois, malgré les pertes subies par ces derniers lors de la restructuration de la dette grecque, a ajouté l’officiel sous le sceau de l’anonymat.
28/08/2012

La collecte d’Amundi soutenue par les institutionnels

La société de gestion, détenue à 75% par le Crédit Agricole et à 25% par Société Générale, a collecté 13,4 milliards d’euros sur le segment institutionnels et corporates sur les six premiers mois de l’année, 5,3 milliards au titre de l'épargne salariale et 2,2 milliards sur le segment des distributeurs tiers. En revanche, la décollecte sur les réseaux bancaires s’est poursuivie pour atteindre 7,1 milliards d’euros sur le semestre, après 3,4 milliards de rachats au premier trimestre.
28/08/2012

La Catalogne officialise une demande d'aide de plus de 5 milliards

L’Espagne se rapproche un peu plus encore d’une demande d’aide européenne après l’officialisation aujourd’hui de celle de la Catalogne, chiffrée à 5,023 milliards d’euros. La région souhaite participer au fonds de 18 milliards d’euros créé en juillet par l’Etat espagnol pour venir en aide aux régions. En l’occurrence la Catalogne fait face à une dette de plus de 40 milliards et à court terme à une échéance de 5,75 milliards au second semestre.
Les couleurs du drapeau catalan. Illustration: Fotolia
28/08/2012

Milan adjuge le maximum d'obligations CTZ et BTPei

Milan a adjugé 3,75 milliards d’euros d’obligations à deux ans à coupon zéro (CTZ) et d’obligations indexées sur l’inflation (BTPei), en haut de la fourchette annoncée. Le Trésor italien a notamment levé 3 milliards d’euros de CTZ à deux ans, à un rendement de 3,06%, son plus bas niveau depuis le mois de mars. Lors d’une adjudication comparable le mois dernier, le rendement avait été nettement plus élevé, à 4,86%.
28/08/2012

La dégradation de l'emploi en France sera durable, estime Michel Sapin

La dégradation de l’emploi sera durable, a prévenu mardi le ministre français du Travail, Michel Sapin, après l’annonce d’une nette hausse du nombre de demandeurs d’emploi en juillet. «La France va mal, l'économie française va mal», a-t-il dit sur RTL. « On est dans une situation extrêmement difficile.» «Dès les jours qui viennent, je vais saisir les partenaires sociaux pour qu’ils négocient rapidement les conditions de mise en œuvre», a dit Michel Sapin. « Le contrat de génération entrera en application dès le début de l’année 2013.»
28/08/2012

Madrid lève facilement 3,6 milliards d'euros à court terme

L’Espagne a placé sans difficulté 3,6 milliards d’euros de dette à court terme, les investisseurs étant de plus en plus convaincus que le pays fera appel à l’aide européenne pour l’aider à réduire encore ses coûts d’emprunts. Le Trésor espagnol a vendu 1,7 milliard d’euros de bons à trois mois et 1,9 milliard de bons à six mois, lui permettant de lever au total un peu plus que son objectif initial, qui se situait entre 2,5 et 3,5 milliards d’euros. Les rendements ont été bien moins élevés, à 0,946% pour les bons à trois mois, contre 2,434% en juillet, et à 2,026% sur les bons à six mois, en forte baisse par rapport aux 3,691% d’il y a un mois.

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