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23/08/2012

Sovereign fund CIC buys into BlackRock fund for a large investment

BlackRock has secured the support of the Chinese sovereign fund China Investment Corporation (CIC) for its China Global Opportunities Fund, whose placement objective is about USD2bn. The Chinese fund is planning to invest up to USD500m, Z-Ben Advisors reports, relaying reports by Bloomberg.The China Global Opportunities Fund is managed by Lin Erfei, former chairman fo activities at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in China. The first wave of inflows is expected to be completed by the end of this year. The fund will invest in shares in Chinese companies which sell products or commodities on their domestic markets.The fund will help BlackRock to strengthen its presence in Asia, where it has previously been rather modestly represented.
23/08/2012

STOXX launches a volley of 19 indices

The Swiss firm STOXX Limited has announced the launch of 19 broad and large indices of large caps, covering developed and emerging markets as well as broad regional indices for Asia and Africa. The new indices will be based on the STOXX Emergin g Markets Total Market, STOXX Developed Market Total Market, STOXX East Asia Total Market and STOXX Africa Total Market indices, launched this year.The new products will include the six broad indices STOXX Africa 90, STOXX Developed Markets 2400, STOXX East Asia 1800, STOXX East Asia 1800 ex Japan, STOXX Emerging Markets 1500 et STOXX Emerging Markets 1500 ex BRIC and the nine large versions STOXX Developed Markets Total Market Large, STOXX Developed Markets Total Market Mid, STOXX Developed Markets Total Market Small, STOXX Emerging Markets Large 500, STOXX Emerging Markets Mid 500, STOXX Emerging Markets Small 500, STOXX Emerging Markets Total Market Large, STOXX Emerging Markets Total Market Mid and STOXX Emerging Markets Total Market Small.Finally, the four large caps indices are the following: STOXX Developed Markets 150, STOXX East Asia 80, STOXX Emerging Markets 50 and STOXX Emerging Markets 50 ex BRIC.
23/08/2012

RBS targeted in investigation over ties to Iran

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is being targeted in an investigation by the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) and the department of Justice for potential violation of the US regime of sanctions against Iran, several concurrent sources report. The investigation was launched 18 months ago, after the bank voluntarily disclosed information to the US and British authorities. RBS has declined to comment as to whether or not the investigation has a basis in fact, but has announced at a presentation of its results for the half that it was evaluating its practices and procedures related to transactions in US dollars outside the United States. Last Saturday, the New York Times confirmed that the US legal authorities were investigatin Deutsche Bank and other global firms, which are claimed to have transferred billions of US dollars for Iran, Sudan, and other countries subject to sanctions.
23/08/2012

IOSCO launches a consultation on market oversight

The International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) on 22 August launched a consultation on the technological challenges to be confronted to achieve effective market surveillance («Technological Challenges to Effective Market Surveillance: Issues and Regulatory Tools»).The consultation document includes proposals to strengthen market surveillance capacities to improve use of collected data by market authorities for surveillance purposes. The consultation will remain open until 10 October.
23/08/2012

Liontrust to create institutional share classes in two funds

Pending approval from the FSA, Liontrust is planning to release institutional shares in its CF Liontrust Macro Equity and CF Liontrust Macro UK Growth funds, managed by Stephen Bailet, Jan Luthman and Jamie Clark, on 8 October. The creation of the share classes comes in the wake of strong demand on the part of discretionary managers and IFAs. Annual management commission will be 0.75%. Liontrust has also initiated the process to repatriate the Capita CF Liontrust Macro Equity Income, CF Liontrust Macro UK Growth and CF Liontrust Macro UK High Alpha Funds as an authorised fund manager, which will result in the disappearance of the CF prefix from the names of these products. Meanwhile, administration of these three funds will be transferred from Capita to IFDS, pending approval of these changes by the regulator.
23/08/2012

S&P puts VP Bank on negative watch

The financial ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has revised its outlook on the Liechtenstin private bank VP Bank from stable to negative. Standard & Poor’s explains in a statement that the operational performance and inflows at VP Bank had suffered from a stronger-than-expected negative impact of international onshore activities. Standard & Poor’s has nonetheless confirmed its long-term and short-term ratings for the firm (A- and A-2, respectively).
23/08/2012

CF Partners preparing a hedge fund dedicated to commodities

The London-based investment firm CF Partners, specialised in renewable resources, is planning to launch a hedge fund dedicated to commodities by the end of the year, the website Hedgefund.net reports. CF Partners is also working on the launch of a hedge fund dedicated to energy in fourth quarter 2012.
23/08/2012

SIG plans to build presence in Asia

Skandia Investment Group, the asset management affiliate of the British firm Old Mutual, is planning to extend its product range in Asia, and at the same time to move a part of its capacity to the region, Asian Investor reports. SIG, which is in the process of merging with Old Mutual Asset Managers UK, will also be gits name, says Jane Fung, managing director for Asia.
23/08/2012

Julius Baer lays off support staff but supports advisers

In the wake of the acquisition of the international wealth management activities of Merrill Lynch, the Swiss private bank Julius Baer is planning to lay off staff in support functions, in locations including Hong Kong and Singapore, where Merrill Lynch and Julius Baer both have significant numbers of personnel in this area, Handelszeitung reports. However, Julius Baer has set aside an allocaton of over EUR90m to win over good advisers to Merrill Lynch clients. Out of total staff of 2,243, Merrill Lynch has 528 client advisers and 1,715 back office employees.
23/08/2012

Qatar Holding takes over a 22.22% stake in Citic Capital Holdings

The Chinese investment fund management firm Citic Capital Holdings (USD4.4bn in assets) has announced that the sovereign fund Qatar Holding (an affiliate of the Qatar Investment Authority) has acquired a 22.22% stake in its capital, the Wall Street Journal repors.Following a capital increase which allowed for the creation of corresponding shares, Citic Pacific Ld and Citic International Financial Holdings, two affiliates of Citic Group, control 42.78% of Citic Capital, while the sovereign fund China Investment Corp (CIC) has a 31.11% stake.
23/08/2012

Urs Zeltner returns to UBS

Urs Zeltner has been appointed vice chairman of the Wealth Management Europe unit at the UBS group, finews reports, citing an interna memo dated 9 August. Until December 2011, Zeltner had been head of international wealth management activities at UBS for Germany and Austria. He had resigned from his position following a reshuffle of onshore and offshore activities in Europe. His departure nonetheless came as a surprise at UBS, and his return is now equally controversial. Zeltner is the brother of Jürg Zeltner, a board memebr at the group and CEO of UBS Wealth Management. Some claim that Urs Zeltner’s return may be a case of nepotism.
23/08/2012

KPMG increases presence in alternative management

In an environment in which asset management firms are having to confront toughening regulations and requirements to lighten their structures and increase transparency, KPMG has recruited five people for its alternative investment unit.The consulting and auditing firm has recruited Ted Carreiro (formerly of State Street Bank & Trust), Angela Yu (previously of the firm’s taxation unit) and Michael T. Richards (who joins from another “Big 4” company) as partners.Laura Thomson (formerly of Bain Capital) joins the firm as managing director, while Phillip W. DeSalvo becomes senior manager, after being responsible for M&A taxation questions at one of KPMG’s competitors.
23/08/2012

Aberdeen strengthens presence in Paris

Richard Pandevant, director of marketing at Oddo Asset Management from March 2011 to June 2012, has recently been recruited by Aberdeen Asset Management as marketing manager for France. Pandevant had been head of marketing and product specialist at Banque d’Orsay between August 1999 ad February 2011.The Paris office of the firm has also recruited Florent Pettenello, from Fidelity, as an institutional distribution specialist. He will report to Frédéric Lejeune, Co-Head France – Deputy CEO, Head of Business Development France – Monaco.Assets at the French offices of the Scottish asset management firm total about EUR5.8bn, of which EUR5bn are for French clients (EUR3.4gn for institutional clients via French funds, and EUR1.6bn for distribution via Luxembourg funds), while half of institutional assets are managed by a local team in France, and half by centralised teams of the group, largely in London.
23/08/2012

Pimco reduces exposure to high yield debt

Market valuations of high yield debt have become so extreme that Pimco has considerably reduced its exposure to this asset class in the past six weeks, the Financial Times reports. The asset management firm has reduced its allocation to high yield in its corporate bond portfolio from 12% to about 8%.
23/08/2012

Considerable decline in profits at Eaton Vance

For the quarter ending on 31 July, Eaton Vance Investment Managers has announced net profits of USD50.2m, compared with USD52.9m in February-April, and USD68.1m in the corresponding period of last year, bringing net profits in the first nine months of the fiscal year ending on 31 October to USD150.35m, a decrease of 11% compared with the first three quarters of 2010-2011.In the quarter under review, the US asset management firm has seen net redemptions of USD1.4bn, largely due to outflows of USD3.8bn from large cap value mandates, which more than offset net subscriptions of USD2.4bn for other long-term strategies. In February-April 2012 and May-July 2011, Eaton Vance experienced net inflows of USD0.6bn and USD1.9bn, respectively.Assets as of 31 July totalled USD192.9bn, compared with USD197.5bn three months earlier, and USD199bn one year previously. Declines in the third quarter of the current fiscal year are due to net outflows of USD1.4bn, in addition to which there was a negative market effect of USD3.1bn.
23/08/2012

Rwanda to create a sovereign fund

Rwanda is to officially launch a donation-based sovereign fund on Thursday, in order to offset a decline in international aid, Financial News reports.
23/08/2012

Norwegian firm Delphi plans to export its funds

The Norwegian asset management firm Delphi Fondene has changed the names of three equity funds in order to facilitate their sales abroad. From 23 August, Delphi Verden becomes Delphi Global, Delphi Europa becomes Delphi Europe, and Delphi Norden becomes known as Delphi Nordic. The investment strategies remain unchanged. A press release explains that these changes make the funds more comprehensible to international investors; the firm has recently received sales licenses for these funds in Finland and the Netherlands. It had previously been aimed only at investors in Norway and Sweden.
23/08/2012

Aberdeen launches small cap fund

The British asset management firm Aberdeen Asset Management has launched a global small caps fund managed by its Edinburgh-based team and domiciled in Luxembourg, based on the model of its US fund Aberdeen Global Small Cap (USD52m), entitled Aberdeen Global – World Smaller Companies Fund. Management commission will be 1% for institutional shares, and 1.5% for retail shares.The portfolio managed by the global equity team led yb Stephen Docherty (14 members, GBP21bn in assets) will include 40 to 60 holdings, with cap sizes equal to or lower than USD5bn.Aberdeen also manages two other regional small cap funds, the UK Smaller Companies fund (GBP140m) and the Global Japanese Smaller Companies (GBP79m).
23/08/2012

Silk Road launches a fund to invest in Myanmar, Mongolia and Mozambique

Silk Road Management, an investment management subsidiary of Silk Road Finance, an investment bank operating in Mongolia, is launching Silk Road M3 Fund, an investment fund to be focused on Myanmar, Mongolia and Mozambique. The fund will primarily invest in equities of internationally listed companies with assets and operations in these three countries as well as high yield fixed income and local currency instruments. Silk Road Management has developed M3 investment theme on the basis of the following factors: M3 countries have massive, largely untapped natural resources. They are all formerly socialist countries and they are both geographically and economically strongly linked with BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). Based on above factors, Silk Road estimates that Mongolia, Myanmar and Mozambique will be among world’s top five fastest growing economies in the next decade with Mongolia GDP growth at projected 15% p.a. while Myanmar and Mozambique expanding annually 12% and 10% respectively.
23/08/2012

Frankfurt stock exchange listings pass 1,000 ETF mark

With the addition to trading of five Luxembourg-registered ETFS from db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank), the XTF segment of the Xetra electronic platform as of 22 August lists over 1,000 ETF funds, with a precise number of 1,004, Deutsche Börse has announced. By comparison, the European markets of NYSE Euronext as of the end of July included 687 ETFs, and assets in these products exceed EUR170bn.Among the new funds listed in Frankfurt are an ETF with shares hedged for currency risks in euros, replicating the MSCI Japan TRN index (a non-hedged version has existed since 2007, and has assets of EUR460.5m), and four funds replicating MSCI Country indices for Asian countries (Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippines and Singapore).CharacteristicsName: db x-trackers MSCI Philippines IM TRN Index ETFISIN code: LU0592215403TER: 0.65%Name: db x-trackers MSCI Singapore IM TRN Index ETFISIN code: LU0659578842TER: 0.50%Name: db x-trackers MSCI Pakistan IM TRN Index ETF ISIN code: LU0659579147TER: 0.85%Name: db x-trackers MSCI Bangladesh IM TRN Index ETFISIN code: LU0659579220TFE : 0,85 %Name: db x-trackers MSCI Japan TRN Index ETF (EUR Hedged)ISIN code : LU0659580079TER: 0.60%
23/08/2012

ECM launches institutional fund of corporate bonds

The London-based affiliate of Wells Fargo, ECM, has launched a fund aimed at institutional investors, focused on senior secured loans and senior secured bonds, issued by European businesses, entitled ECM Senior Secured Fund, a Specialised Investment Fund (SIF) registered in Luxembourg.The performance objective is 600-800 basis points above Euribor. The average ratings of positions in the portfolio is BB- to B-, while the floor is set at B.Minimal subscription is set at EUR5m, and management commission is 0.60%.
23/08/2012
Gestion d'actifs

La MIF ne s'intéresse pas aux ETF sur les matières premières

Alexandre Piazza, responsable des investissements de la Mutuelle d’Ivry la Fraternelle (MIF) : Sur notre poche stratégique nous externalisons la gestion sur les matières premières à Prim’ Finance pour un montant de 15 millions d’euros pour faire de l’allocation globale. Ensuite en tactique, nous nous intéressons au pétrole et à l’or, qui sont des marchés que je connais. Pour investir sur cette classe d’actifs, il y a plusieurs formes possibles. Les ETFs ne m’intéressent pas car leur corrélation intraday avec le sous-jacent n’est pas très bon et ils ne sont pas, pour la plupart, couverts en change. Ce qui rajouterait un risque de change dans mon portefeuille. Certains le sont mais une fois par jour, et acheter ces produits revient à acheter de la corrélation devises/commodities (sans parler du coût du quanto). En plus, les futures coûtent beaucoup trop chers si on désire les conserver (coût du rollover des contrats futures). C’est pourquoi, le meilleur moyen pour le moment est de faire des contrats forward avec une banque, mais en ne conservant pas la position en overnight, afin de ne pas subir d’appels de marge.
Gestion d'actifs
23/08/2012

La Chine pourrait importer davantage de terres rares

A la fois premier producteur et premier consommateur mondial de terres rares, la Chine devrait augmenter ses importations en raison de la hausse de sa demande intérieure et de sa volonté de préserver ses ressources, a rapporté hier le China Daily en citant de hauts responsables du secteur.
23/08/2012

Des élections se profilent pour novembre au Japon

Le Premier ministre japonais Yoshihiko Noda a l’intention d’organiser des élections législatives début novembre et en a informé le chef de file du Parti libéral démocrate (PLD), principale formation de l’opposition, selon des membres de la formation cités hier par l’agence de presse Kyodo. Le chef du gouvernement a obtenu au début du mois l’aval de l’opposition à un projet d’augmentation de la TVA moyennant la promesse d’organiser le scrutin «bientôt».
23/08/2012

Le projet de loi sur le traité européen présenté le 19 septembre

Le Premier ministre Jean-Marc Ayrault a indiqué hier que le projet de loi sur le pacte budgétaire européen serait présenté le 19 septembre, sans préciser si cette date était celle de la présentation à l’Assemblée nationale ou au conseil des ministres. Sur BFM TV et RMC, il a répété que le gouvernement tiendrait l’objectif de réduction du déficit public à 3% du PIB fin 2013 et qu’il s’adapterait si la croissance était inférieure l’an prochain à sa prévision de 1,2%.
23/08/2012

Jean-Claude Juncker met la pression sur la Grèce

La Grèce doit tenir ses engagements auprès de ses créanciers si elle veut obtenir une nouvelle tranche d’aide en octobre, et l’octroi d’un délai supplémentaire pour mener les réformes dépendra des conclusions de la «Troïka», a prévenu hier le président de l’Eurogroupe Jean-Claude Juncker. «Je dois insister sur le fait que cela (le délai) dépendra des conclusions de la mission de la Troïka et nous devons encore discuter de la longueur de la période de grâce et d’autres aspects», a déclaré le Luxembourgeois à l’issue d’une rencontre avec le Premier ministre grec Antonis Samaras. «Une stratégie crédible pour combler le déficit budgétaire est la condition au versement d’une nouvelle tranche d’aide», a-t-il rappelé. «La balle est dans le camp de la Grèce - c’est la dernière chance de la Grèce et les citoyens grecs doivent le savoir». Le président de l’Eurogroupe s’est dit confiant dans le fait qu’Athènes ferait «tous les efforts nécessaires au versement de la tranche d’aide» prévue en octobre.
23/08/2012

Les réserves de pétrole américain diminuent

Les dernières données de l’Agence américaine d’information sur l'énergie (EIA) ont fait état d’une baisse beaucoup plus forte que prévu la semaine dernière des réserves de pétrole brut américaines. Les stocks de brut ont baissé de 5,41 millions de barils à 360,75 millions. Les économistes attendaient en moyenne un recul de 400.000 barils.
23/08/2012

Les Etat-Unis risquent de tomber en récession

L’économie américaine entrera dans une phase de récession l’année prochaine si les parlementaires ne parviennent pas à surmonter une impasse liée au budget fédéral, estime un rapport établi par le Congressional Budget Office. Cette instance non partisane s’attend à ce que les hausses d’impôts et les baisses de dépenses en 2013 inversent la modeste reprise économique. L’activité économique se contracterait de 0,5% l’an prochain, tandis que le taux de chômage grimperait à environ 9%.
23/08/2012

Hausse des reventes de logements aux Etats-Unis

Les reventes de logements et leur prix médian ont progressé le mois dernier par rapport à juillet 2011, a indiqué hier l’association nationale des promoteurs immobiliers (NAR). Le nombre de ventes dans l’ancien a grimpé de 2,3% au taux annuel de 4,47 millions d’unités. Les analystes anticipaient 4,52 millions. A l'échelle des Etats-Unis, le prix médian des maisons a atteint 187.300 dollars, 9,7% de plus qu’en juillet dernier.

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