Les nombreux outils de développement et de rationalisation prévus par la directive européenne entrée en vigueur le 1er juillet 2011 sont peu à peu utilisés, note L’Agefi Hebdo. Le dispositif des fonds maîtres nourriciers transfrontaliers est étudié de près par les grandes sociétés de gestion cherchant à rationaliser leur gamme. Allianz GI fait figure de précurseur et sera sans aucun doute scrutée de près par ses concurrents, souligne l’hebdomadaire. Les fusions transfrontalières, entre fonds domiciliés dans deux pays différents, n’ont pour l’instant pas été mises en œuvre à grande échelle. « C’est un outil intéressant, permettant de rationaliser nos gammes à travers l’Europe, souligne Daniel Lehmann. Mais des frottements fiscaux demeurent pour les clients dans certains pays. Nous n’avons donc pris aucune décision de fusion pour l’instant. » Ce qui est d’ores et déjà prévu, c’est la transformation d’un fonds allemand en nourricier d’un fonds luxembourgeois existant «au troisième trimestre, annonce Daniel Lehmann.

Le groupe américain BNY Mellon a communiqué, de Dublin, son intention d’acheter à l’allemand WestLB la participation de 50 % que ce dernier détient dans la société de gestion WestLB Mellon Asset Management. Sous réserve de l’accord des autorités de surveillance, cette transaction, dont le montant n’a pas été divulgué, sera bouclée durant le troisième trimestre, rapporte Fondsweb.

Le capital-investisseur RHJ International a confirmé mercredi avoir trouvé des co-investisseurs pour acquérir l’allemand BHF-Bank auprès de la Deutsche Bank et que des conversations informelles ont lieu avec la BaFin à ce sujet, rapporte le Handelsblatt. Selon les milieux financiers, il y aurait jusqu'à cinq partenaires, dont l’un serait BlackRock. RHJ aurait l’intention en cas de succès de fusionner la BHF-Bank (1.500 salariés) avec Kleinwort Benson, qui lui appartient déjà, et ses partenaires dans la transaction prendraient des participations dans la banque résultant de cette fusion.

Bank Linth LLB AG vient d’annoncer la nomination de David Sarasin au poste de président de la direction générale, rapporte L’Agefi suisse. Heinz Knecht entre pour sa part à la direction du groupe et de la Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLB). David Sarasin prendra ses nouvelles fonctions le 1er juillet 2012, remplaçant Heinz Knecht comme président. M. Knecht reprend la direction de la division «Retail & Corporate Banking».

Raymond Wong, portfolio manager at UBS Global Asset Management, has unveiled the Asian Smaller companies sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav UBS (Lux) Equity fund, launched on 24 April.The fund, denominated in US dollars, will be invested in local currencies in Asian small caps which have enormous potential for growth. The portfolio will initially be invested largely in Korea, Taiwan, China and Thailand, as well as in Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia, with a limit of 35% per country. In terms of sectors, it will prefer industry, IT and base materials. No holding will be allowed to exceed 4% of the portfolio.CharacteristicsName: UBS (Lux) Equity SICAV – Asian Smaller CompaniesISIN code: LU0746413003Front-end fee: 6%Management commission: 1.92%

The New York-based ETF management firm Global X Funds (USD1.3bn) has announced the launch of the Global X Top Guru Holdings Index ETF (acronym: GURU), which allows investors to benefit from the combined expertise of several major hedge fund managers.For this new product, Global X uses a proprietary methodology to extract the strongest convictions from several hedge fund managers with over USD100m in assets, who are required by regulations to release quarterly reports about the composition of their portfolios (13F form), eliminating funds with a high turnover range and portfolios which are not concentrated. The GURU fund is designed to be rebalanced every quarter, in order to capture major changes in these positions.The fund charges fees of 0.75%.

The SEC has agreed to stop a legal action against Oppenheimer Funds, which will pay USD35m to settle the suit. The market watchdog accuses the asset management firm of failing to notify investors in 2008 that, in order to boost performance, it had added a significant exposure to commercial mortgage-backed secutities (CMBS) to the portfolio of the high yield bond fund Oppenheimer Champion Income fund and to the intermediate-term investment grade bond fund Oppenheimer Core Bond Fund.

The trustee charged with recuperating money for victims of the US fraudster Bernard Madoff on 6 June in New York filed another wave of legal actions against financial establishments. Three Swiss banks are named: EFG, the Geneva-based bank Lombard Odier, and the Banque Cantonale Vaudoise. Most of these amounts were transferred by the fund Fairfield Sentry, which has been identified as the largest reseller for Bernard Madoff’s investment business, the trustee claims. In December last year, Irving Picard filed previous lawsuits against Credit Suisse, totalling USD375m, and against the Zurich-based bank Julius Bär. The money theoretically recovered by Picard and his teams now total about USD9.1bn, but most of this money is not yet available, as they are still subject to appeals or legal prcedures challenging the vaildity of the distribution system opted for.

The Hedge Fund Association, an international organization that represents hedge funds, service providers and investors, said liberalized advertising and solicitations rules contained in the new Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act would help hedge funds raise assets and “encourage emerging managers to continue to enter the industry.” The HFA also asked the SEC for clearer rules to verify that potential investors are indeed accredited as a way to “add further stability to the industry.” The HFA’s position was outlined in a comment letter submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 6, 2012. The SEC is soliciting comments before implementing regulations, scheduled to be published July 5, 2012, which are expected to allow hedge fund management companies to communicate directly with potential investors for the first time in their history. Hedge funds would still be restricted to selling their securities to accredited investors such as individuals with a minimum USD1 million net worth and qualified institutional investors.

The German asset management firm Union Investment (German co-operative banks), which has recently made a major capital gain in Seattle (see Newsmanagers of 5 June), has acquired the office tower located at 555 Mission Street (51,748 square metres) in San Francisco for its UniImmo: Europa fund, for USD446.5m. The vendor is the developer Tishman Speyer.

The Swiss private banking group EFG International on 6 June announced in a statement that its exposure to Greek debt now represents only 0.5% of its assets. Furthermore, EFG International committed to its regulator that it would not increase its exposure to Greece. Exposure has reduced to the point where EFG International no longer has any direct exposure to Greece, and exposure to European subsidiaries of Greek banks is just 0.3% of total assets. EFG points out that it has been driven to make these disclosures because “there have been a number of articles in the Swiss press which have shown a disregard for the facts. There have been suggestions that EFG International is particularly exposed to Greece, simply on account of the Greek heritage of its major shareholder and the fact that the latter had a substantial shareholding in a Greek commercial bank. This is completely without foundation,” EFG International says. EFG International operates in 30 locations worldwide, but is not present in Greece. EFG International is entirely separate from the Greek commercial bank, Eurobank EFG although it has a common major shareholder.

The Russell Investments group on 6 June announced the launch of a new fund dedicated to emerging markets. The Emerging Markets Extended Opportunities Fund includes several mandates (global, regional, national and capitalisation markets), which will be awarded to seven external providers, while direct management of the investment portfolio will be handled by Russell. Unlike the majority of emerging market funds, the new product aims to offer optimal access to small cap and frontier market opportunities, which have strong potential for returns, with active management. The fund uses the Russell Emerging Extended Index Net as its benchmark, whose performance since the beginning of 2012 has been over 12%. It covers frontier markets, which makes it the largest representative sample of opportunities in the emerging asset class. Annual management fees for the fund at the time of its launch are 1.30%. The fund is initially composed of seven managers, two of which cover global markets, and five others which are specialised in a specific segment which Russell estimates has high and sustainable potential under active management. The structure of the product will evolve depending as the manager search process continues to identify the most talented professionals in attractive segments of the emerging asset class.

Aviva Investors on 6 June announced the launch of Aviva Investors – Global Short Duration High Yield Bond Fund, in order to meet growing demand from institutional investors seeking less volatile and more consistant income.Applying a strategy which is new for Aviva Investors, the fund comes as an addition to the existing range of bond products, whose assets total EUR257.4bn (GBP165.7bn). The fund will invest in high yield bonds whose average maturity is less than five years, issued by businesses from all regions of the world.The fund is managed by the team dedicated to high yield bonds at Aviva Investors, led by Todd Youngberg, with assets of over USD4.5bn. Jeremy Hughes, senior portfolio manager specialised in high yield, oversees management of the fund, with the help of five other portfolio managers and 26 credit analysts based in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. By adopting a global approach, the team hopes to maximise investment opportunities in the short duration high yield bond segment, and to exploit a fundamental trend in favour of multi-currency issues.

The asset management firm Dragon Capital is planning to launch open-ended funds on the Vietnamese market, via a local import, VietFund Management, a joint venture with Sacombank, Asian Investor reports. Dragon Capital is planning to offer equity and fixed income vehicles.The initiative remains subject to a decision by the local authorities to lift a ban on foreign asset management firms in the local mutual fund sector. The lifting of the ban could come by the end of this year.

The US group BNY Mellon has made an announcement in Dublin of plans to acquire the remaining 50% stake in the asset management firm WestLB Mellon Asset Management from the German asset management firm WestLB. Pending permission from regulatory authorities, the transaction, for a price which has not been disclosed, will be completed in third quarter, Fondsweb reports.

The private equity investor RHJ International on Wednesday confirmed that it has found co-investors to acquire the German firm BHF-Bank from Deutsche Bank, and that informal discussions have been held with BaFin on the subject, Handelsblatt reports. According to financial sector sources, there may be as many as five partners, one of which is rumoured to be BlackRock. RHJ is said to be planning to merge BHF-Bank (1,500 employees) with Kleinwort Benson, which it already owns, if it is successful, and its partners in the transaction would receive stakes in the bank resulting from the merger.

Major institutional trades for corporate bond ETFs may result in distortions in the price of funds, analysts and investors claim, cited by the Financial Times. That could result in volatility for funds and discourage retail investors from using them.

In order to respond to rising demand from institutional investors seeking less volatile and more constant revenues, Aviva Investors on Wednesday released the Global Short Duration High Yield Bond Fund, an addition to a bond range whose assets total USD257.4bn, or GBP165.7bn. The portfolio will be invested in corporate bonds domiciled throughout the world, with maturities of under 5 years. The strategy is managed by the high yield team at Aviva Investors (USD4.5bn in assets), led by Todd Youngberg, global investment director of fixed income & head of high yield investments, but the principal manager of the fund is Jeremy Hughes, senior high yield portfolio manager, with the assistance of five portfolio managers and 26 credit analysts in the United States, the United Kingdom, continental Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Six managers from Savoy Investment Management, an affiliate of Ashcourt Rowan, will be joining Walker Crips Stockbrokers, Fund Web reports. Ashcourt announced last year that Savoy IM would be integrated into Ashcourt Rowan Asset Management, to become a division dedicated to high net worth clients at the asset management firm. This is the reason for a decision on the part of several managers to leave the firm with the agreement of Ashcourt, which will receive GBP425,000 from Walker Crips as a part of the arrangement.

The alternative asset management firm Commonwealth Capital Management, based in London, has launched a multi-management strategy on dbSelect, the Deutsche Bank platform dedicated to liquid hedge fund strategies, Citywire reports.The strategy proposed by Commonwealth includes exposure to Commodity Trading Advisors (CTA), and to other managers in the alternative sphere.

After an initial round of fundraising totalling EUR100m, Partech has received the support of the Casino group, which is investing in its new Partech International VI fund, for a total of EUR5m. Casino is the second large corporate investors to invest in Partech International VI, following Edenred, a global leader in prepaid securities for employees. The other major investors are large French and European institutionals. Partech International VI is particularly focused on rapidly-growing businesses active in new internet services, web to shop, new forms of electronic commerce and e-marketing. The fund has already made two investments, Lafourchette and Sensee, and is at work on some “very fine opportunities,” particularly in Germany and the United States.

Schroders has announced the launch of its Global Multi-Asset Income fund, a sub-fund of its Schroder ISF Sicav, in France. The fund, founded in April (see Newsmanagers of 19 April 2012), is invested in a range of high yield assets, from the bond markets (credit, high yield, emerging market debt, etc.) or equity markets (developed and emerging). In France, Schroders is planning to highlight EUR hedged shares as a priority. The asset management firm states that distribution shares are appropriate for investors from a securities account, while from a unit-linked life insurance policy, capitalisation shares should be preferred.

The alternative asset management firm Mason Capital Management has decided to sell its stake of nearly 19% in the Canadian Telus group, the Globe and Mail reports.The hedge fund has awarded Blackstone a mandate to sell the stake of approximately USD2bn.

Robert Senz, CIO fixed income, and Christian Link manager, have unveiled the Austrian government bond fund Global-Fundamental-Rent (AT0000A0KRS5, distribution shares; AT0000A0KRU1, capitalisation shares; AT0000A0LY69, special distribution shares) to French investors. The fund has seen inflows of about EUR300m in one and a half years in existence, which is one of the best sales results for Raiffeisen Capital Management (RCM), along with the Global Allocation Strategies Plus.Currently, the managers told Newsmanagers, the fund is invested in bonds from 13 developed and emerging countries (out of an eligible universe of 36 countries, with a limit of 16 and a minimum of 8), depending on the ratings awarded to these countries for eight equally-weighted indicators: GDP growth, trade & financial balance, balanced budget, public debt, currency reserves, external debt, corruption index and workforce turnover rate.The largest exposures (12.5%) are for Russia, Norway, and Indonesia, which rank both in the “top 8” and the “top growth” lists. The only euro zone countries are Germany, Austria and Slovakia, with 3.1% each, and the portfolio includes no US or Japanese securities, nor French, Italian or British. However, Switzerland, Sweden, Korea, Malaysia and Thailand weigh in at 9.4% each.Average returns for the portfolio are 3.6% for a duration of 4.9 years, with public debt at 40%, an average growth rate of 4%, a trade surplus of 6%, and a budget deficit of 1% for these countries on average.RCM has seen net inflows of EUR500m abroad (EUR5bn in assets) in the first four months of 2012, and has seen net outflows of EUR500m from horizon funds, due to competition from banking sector bonds being pushed by networks in Austria. Overall (including funds and mandates), RCM has about EUR30bn in assets under management.

With the Emerging Market Corporate Bond Fund (acronym: TRECX), T. Rowe Price has launched a third bond fund focused on emerging markets. The product, managed by Mike Conelius, invests in corporate bonds from emerging markets, issued largely in US dollars. The fund will be diversified over 30 countries, and 50% of the portfolio will be allocation to investment grade securities. Duration is approximately 5 years.The total expense ratio for the fund is 1.15% for investor class shares, and 1.25% for advisor (no-load) shares, and are available from IFAs.As of 31 March, T. Rowe Price managed about USD13.3bn in emerging market bond strategies.

The Finnish hedge fund Estlander Partners officially opened an office in Zurich in March, Agefi Switzerland reports. The fund, which has been present in Switzerland since last summer, was founded in 1991, and already has several representative offices, particularly in Helsinki and Munich. The group manages slightly under USD1bn. It has 60 employees, including 11 investment professionals.Christoffer Dahlberg, head of Estlander Switzerland in Zurich, says that “the objective of an office in Zurich is to increase our proximity to other hedge funds, and our local activities as well as in Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg).”

From 6 June, Union Investment (German co-operative banks) has released two classes of shares in the new Luxembourg-registered diversified fund UniRak Nachhaltig, launched on 1 June. The product is a sustainable development fund managed by Ingo Speich, which will invest in equities (55-75%) and corporate bonds which respect social and ecological criteria. It applies exclusionary criteria against nuclear energy and manufacturers of cluster bombs, and privileges firms whose activities are sustainable (renewable energies, water treatment, insulation, waste processing). In terms of countries, the manager takes into account the educational and health systems, with an eye to air pollution and political stability.UniRak Nachhaltig is offered as part of a new unit-linked savings plan formula, UniNachWuchs, which will launch on 1 July; it is available from EUR50 per month. The fund is being offered in cooperation with the SOS Kinderdorf association (SOS Child Villages Germany), and Union will pay EUR20 to this cause for every savings policy subscribed.Union Investment states that its assets in responsible investment represented EUR5bn as of the end of March.CharacteristicsNames:UniRak Nachhaltig AUniRak Nachhaltig -net- AISIN codes:LU0718558488 (A)LU0718558728 (net A)Front-end fee: 3% (A)0% (net A)Management commission:1.20% (maximum 2%) A shares1.55% (maximum 2%) net A sharesPerformance commission: 25% of performance exceeding the benchmark (65% MSCI World AC and 35% JPM Deutschland)

Rothschild & Cie Gestion, which had to replace Daniel Fighiera, a euro zone small and midcaps mutual fund manager who moved to Tocqueville Finance a few days ago, has recruited Alban Seydoux as head of management for european midcaps. Seydoux, 37, had previousl been in charge of management of midcap funds at Allianz Global Investors France, before becoming a financial analyst in the mergers & acquisitions department at Rothschild & Cie Banque in 2000 and 2001. Rothschild & Cie Gestion has also hired Raphaël Gallardo as head of economic research. Gallardo, 37, had since October 2007 been in serve at AXA Investment Managers as a strategist, and then as head of economic research. The asset management firm has also created a new position to strengthen its credit team. It has recruited Jérôme Loire as head of credit analysis. Loire, 44, had previously served as a credit analyst in several sectors at Natixis Asset Mnaagement, since 2007.

“Due to political and economic events affecting Europe,” Oppenheimer Gunds has published its exposure to this market.As of 31 May, aggregate exposure to the euro and to European assets represented USD6.36bn and USD10.26bn, respectively, which corresponds to 3.7% and 5.9% of total assets at Oppenheimer (USD172.65bn).

Guillaume Nicoulaud, a former manager from Avenir Finance, is joining the French asset management boutique Day Trade Asset Management (DTAM), the founder of the firm, Adrien Fuchs, has confirmed to Newsmanagers, following reports in Citywire.Nicoulaud will manage a fund which applies the same type of strategy as the US Opéra fund, which he had managed at his previous employer. “The aim is to find 50 US shares of the S&P 500 index which offer the highest risk premiums,” Fuchs explains.The arrival comes a few months after DTAM parted with its co-founders, as a part of which Fuchs took over the entirety of the structure.