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11/06/2012

Spanish treasury finalises bill to transpose UCITS IV directive

On Friday, the Spanish Treasury submitted a draft royal decree for approval by the Council of State, which would modify law 35 of 2003 concerning collective investment institutions, and transposing the UCITS IV directive into Spanish law, Funds People reports.
11/06/2012

Mutuactivos plans to begin international development

The asset management firm Mutuactivos (EUR2.4bn), an affiliate of the insurer Mutua Madrileña, has recently obtained a license from the CNMV to offer investment services outside Spain in the European Economic Area, Funds People reports. The permit will allow the asset manager to sell its products abroad without having to open a local affiliate in each country; Mutuactivos may also offer its products to international investors, if it launches funds domiciled in Luxembourg or Ireland.Currently, Mutuactivos manages 41 funds, and 67% of its assets are in bonds. In the past few months, the Spanish asset management firm has awarded mandates to foreign asset management firms, including a mandate for the Mutuafondo Corporate ex Financials, managed by Morgan Stanley IM, and a convertible bond product managed by JPMorgan AM.
11/06/2012

Good first quarter for the Jersey fund sector

Assets under management in Jersey rose by 0.9% in first quarter, to a total of GBP21bn, according to statistics from the Jersey financial services commission. Net on-book assets under administration increased in the same period by 3.5%, or GBP6.8bn, to GBP189.4bn. The number of regulated funds rose 1.4% in first quarrter, to 1,412, their highest level since 2009. Meanwhile, the number of unregulated funds rose 8.4% to 166.
11/06/2012

Significant inflows to long/short UCITS funds from GLG

The GLG European Equity Alternative fund, which deploys a market neutral long/short strategy on European equity markets, has seen strong interest from investors. The UCITS-compliant version of the flagship GLG Euorpean Long Short index was launched in July 2011. The fund, which in August 2011 had USD80m in assets, as of the end of May 2012 had assets of USD735m, compared with USD150m at the endof December 2011. The fund, which earned returns of 7% in 2011, this year has posted returns of 7.30% as of 31 May 2012. As Olivier Dubost, managing director in charge of distribution for Man and GLG funds in France, explains: “The GLG European Equity Alternative fund is a European market neutral type long/short equity fund characterised by a low level of volatility (4.5% in 2012 and 6.7% since its launch in 2011). It remains the preferred means of access to our European long/short equity platform, composed of 30 professionals, led by Pierre Lagrange, and responds to sustained demand from institutional clients in Europe in particular.”
11/06/2012

European asset managers have significantly reduced their equity investments

Equity investments managed by major asset managers on behalf of European instutitonals have fallen 16.9% in the past 12 months, as exposure to equity markets is down GBP280bn, according to estimates by IPE. According to the IPE Top 400 Asset Managers 2012 report, European institutional asset managers had EUR5.1trn in assets under management as of the end of 2011, compared with EUR5.7trn one year earlier. Investments in fixed income have remained stable (EUR2.31trn), but investments in equities and other asset classes are responsible for a decline of about EUR600bn year on year. Despite continuing concerns over public debt issues in the euro zone, European institutional investors are exposed to government bonds from developed countries, with a total of EUR537bn invested in the region. Bonds as a proportion of total assets remain at about 45%, compared with 40% in 2010. Among the major European institutional asset managers, BlackRock leads with EUR581bn in assets under management as of the end of 2011, followed by Legal & General Investment Management and APG. There are three French groups in the top 10, including Amundi in fourth place (EUR210.72bn), BNP Paribas Investment Partners (EUR166.67bn), and Natixis Global Asset Management (EUR163.99bn).
11/06/2012

Growth on the menu for stock-pickers

When selecting stocks, equity fund managers are increasingly looking for quality, ie, sustainable growth based on solid competitive advantage that converts into high return on invested capital, Fitch Ratings says in a commentary published on 8 June. Over the six months since the publication of Fitch’s special report ‘Stock Picking in Equity Funds’, European growth stocks as defined by MSCI have outperformed European value stocks by 8%, which brings the three-year outperformance to 28%. Interestingly, while most investors do not expect positive returns from equity investments, European growth stocks have managed to deliver positive returns (+3%) over the past two years, unlike the broad MSCI Europe index and the value index (down 12%). «This performance difference is explained by the structural trends at play. Fitch previously identified four critical factors that have a direct implication for stock-picking: low growth prospects, the sovereign crisis, globalisation and disruptive innovation,» says Aymeric Poizot, Managing Director in Fitch’s Fund and Asset Manager Rating Group. «In this context, quality growth remains a scarce asset, while value managers are threatened by ‘value traps’, ie, stocks stuck at a discounted price.» As a consequence, stock picking processes are changing, with a greater emphasis on strategic analysis to identify companies with high return on capital and strong competitive positioning. Valuation criteria, which were the dominant factors between 2001 and 2008, now come second, to identify entry and exit points and adjust positions accordingly.
11/06/2012

European private equity association elects a chairman

The General Assembly of the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (EVCA) has elected Vincenzo Morelli, partner emeritus and senior advisor to global investment firm TPG, as its chairman for the year to June 2013.For the past three years since its inception, Mr. Morelli has been chairman of the European Private Equity Roundtable (EPER).
11/06/2012

German retail investors not highly confident in ETFs

At a time when institutional investors are using ETFs to an increasing extent, German retail investors remain sceptical, and, according to a survey by Feri Eurorating Services, only 50% already have any such products in their portfolios, Das Investment reports. About 33% of those surveyed are planning to increase their allocation to ETFs, while 3% are planning to reduce it.Currently, 28.4% of respondents have allocated up to 10% of their portfolios to ETFs, while 22% say that they have invested more than 10%, and 0.3% say they have allocated all of their financial savings to exchange-traded funds.Two thirds of respondents prefer physical replciation ETFs, while 7.8% are supporters of synthetic replication. The remaining 30% say that they have not yet decided what their preference is between the two types of replication.
11/06/2012

Berenberg recruits for family office

Sébastien Roques, who had been in charge of advising German clients of the Pictet family office in Geneva on their asset allocations, in early June joined Consilisto Berenberg Privat-Treuhand GmbH, the family office affiliate of the German Berenberg Bank in Hamburg, Das Investment reports.
11/06/2012

Goldman to sell hedge fund administration activities

Goldman Sachs is on the verge of selling its hedge fund administration activities to State Street, according to reports from the Financial Times. That would create a firm with assets of nearly USD700bn in assets under administration.
11/06/2012

AdvisorShars Active Bear ETF profits from bad news

A steep fall in the value of shares in Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc last month (48%) brought profits for David Einhorn, the famous hedge fund manager. It was also good news for the AdvisorShares Active Bear ETF (USD280m), managed by John DelVecchio in Dallas, and Brad Lamensdorf in Connecticut, The Wall Street Journal reports. The fund, the only one of its kind, is catalogued by Morningstar as the only actively-manged, short-only ETF in the world. In other words, the ETF makes only negative bets, but does not use leverage, and the composition of its portfolio is published on a daily basis.
11/06/2012

Mark Mobius remains confident in emerging market equities

Mark Mobius, portfolio manager and executive director of the Templeton Emerging Market Group (Franklin Resources), in a presentation in Paris has emphasized all the advantages of emerging market equities: growth far higher than that from developed countries, ample currency reserves (which are gradually used to make acquisitions of assets in Europe), lower debt than in industrialised countries, inflation which has fallen steeply, and moderate valuations, at multiples of under 10.The star manager from Franklin Templeton, who as a general rule invests on a five-year horizon (his turnover rate is generally below 20%), claims two themes should be preferred: one the one hand, demography and consumer spending, and on the other hand, commodities, whose prices are mostly on an upward trend. Over the past 20 years, this applies to the CRB index as well as to copper, platinum, palladium, mickel, sugar, soy, corn, rice, wheat, gold and oil.The Emerging Market Group at Franklin Resources has assets of USD45bn in shares in companies which make at least 50% of their earnings in emerging markets. It also extends to local companies and to a small number of Western groups, including some locally listed affiliates of firms from industrialised countries.
11/06/2012

Reyl hires a portfolio manager for its French unit

Reyl & Cie France, the French asset management firm from the Geneva-based firm Reyl, has recruited Virginie Robert as senior portfolio manager. The former head of private asset management activities from Raymond James Asset Management will contribute to the development of an investment advising product range for entrepreneurs and high net worth clients seeking investments in non-public companies, a statement released on Friday says. Before arriving at Raymond James AM, where she managed a US equity fund, in 2008, Robert worked at Monpensier Finance, Lazard Frères Gestion and the Paribas group.
11/06/2012

Insurers remain engaged with private equity

Nearly two thirds of insurers are planning to make new invesrtments in private equity by the end of this year, according to a study undertaken by Preqin, covering a sample of 55 insurers who are already present in the asset class. At the same time, 22% of insurers are not committed to a sate, while 16% are not planning further allocations to the asset class until 2014. Despite forthcoming regulatory changes included in the Colvency 2 directive, most insurers (79%) have not modified their exposure to private equity. According to one US insurer, US regulations :have not affected our level of investment in private equity, but has affected some strategies and complicates our work.” The study also finds that nearly one third of insurers (30%) are currently below their allocation objectives for the asset class, and 88% of them are planning to maintain or increase their exposure to private equity over the longer term. 51% of insurers find that Europe, which is facing a crisis whose end is still not in sight, represents an attractive region for private equity investment, followed by the United States (45%) and Asia (16%). Preqin reports that 60% of companies have allocations to the asset class over USD250m.
11/06/2012

Fund selection expected to concentrate on quality

With the financial crisis, many actors, many of them adept on fund platforms, have had to fundamentally revise their strategies. Barclays was offering 350 funds three years ago in its long-only product ranges. Now, the bank offers only 110, Investment Europe reports. “Our strategy puts the priority on quality rather than quantity. In other words, less is more” says Jaime Arguello, head of multi-management at Barclays. In the alternative sector, the Barclays platform includes 35 single manager hedge funds, 12 UCITS funds, and two funds of funds. Assets in Barclays multi-manager funds total about GBP7bn. “There are now more than just equity funds, which makes the selection of funds a primordial activity. The concept of open architecture is based on the idea that a fund manager can’t perform well in all areas. It is important for us to be able to offer our clients the best specialists in each sector.”
11/06/2012

Credit Suisse a faim de croissance dans la gestion de fortune

La banque helvétique est à la recherche d’acquisitions dans la gestion de fortune, a indiqué au Finanz und Wirtschaft le responsable de la division de banque privée, Hans-Ulrich Meister. Selon ce dernier, l’expansion internationale est davantage une priorité que des acquisitions en Suisse.
11/06/2012

EQT proche du rachat de BSN Medical

Le véhicule d’investissement, partiellement détenu par les Wallenberg, est sur le point de racheter BSN Medical, un fabricant allemand de dispositifs médicaux utilisés dans les domaines du soin de plaies, auprès de Montagu Private Equity. Selon Bloomberg, l’opération avoisinerait 1,8 milliard d’euros.
11/06/2012

Tokyo réclame un durcissement des sanctions pour délit d’initiés

Dans le sillage de la première sanction pour délit d’initié infligée à un investisseur étranger, les autorités de marché japonaises (SESC) réclament un alourdissement des sanctions possibles afin de décourager ce type de fraude. Vendredi, la SESC avait épinglé le courtier américain First New York Securities, lui imposant une amende modeste de 185.000 dollars, pourtant la plus sévère de son histoire.
11/06/2012

Inquiétudes sur le rebond de l’activité commerciale chinoise

L’inflation chinoise est tombée en mai à son plus faible niveau depuis juin 2010, à 3%, après 3,4% en avril, et contre 3,2% anticipés par le consensus et qui donne des marges de manoeuvre à la Banque Populaire de Chine après la baisse de ses taux directeurs annoncée la semaine dernière. Par ailleurs, l’excédent commercial est ressorti à 18,7 milliards de dollars en mai gâce à une hausse des exportations de 15,3% (contre une hausse attendue de 6,8%), et des importations de 12,7% (contre une hausse attendue de 5%). Le consensus tablait sur un recul de l’excédent à 16,2 milliards, après 18,4 milliards en avril. Le ministre chinois du Commerce, Chen Deming, indique cependant ce matin dans un entretien accordé à l’agence officielle Chine nouvelle que «la situation commerciale reste relativement sombre après cela et, si nous avons de la chance, nous serons capables de maintenir une croissance annuelle d’environ 10%».
11/06/2012

La demande d’or par la Chine devrait progresser

Selon Bloomberg qui cite le directeur des activités de métaux précieux d’ICBC, la demande d’or de la part de la Chine devrait progresser d’au moins 10% cette année. «Les investisseurs chinois souhaitent augmenter leur détention d’or afin de se couvrir contre les risques, particulièrement les risques souverains» indique ainsi Zheng Zhiguang. Selon les prévisions du World Gold Council, la Chine devrait dépasser l’Inde cette année comme premier investisseur dans le métal jaune.
11/06/2012

3,5 millions de dollars pour déjeuner avec Warren Buffett

Un bon steak chez Smith & Wollensky à Manhattan coûte une trentaine de dollars, mais le même repas pris en compagnie de Warren Buffett s’est vendu aux enchères 3,46 millions de dollars. L’an dernier, ce même repas s'était vendu à 2,63 millions. Dix enchérisseurs ont participé à la vente, organisée chaque année sur le site internet eBay au profit de l’organisation caricative GLIDE.

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