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14/05/2012

Selection professionals unite

Independent fund selection specialists are seeking to make their profession more widely known with the creation of the Association of Professional Fund Investors (APFI), Agefi Switzerland reports. The four co-founders of the association, Mussie Kidane (head of fund selection at Pictet), Luca de Biasi (BSI), Carlos Fernandez (Inversis) and Rooland Meerdter (Propinquity Advisors) initially sought to create a contact network, but the association may also form a decisive vector for making the profession more widely known. “We want to make our voices heard as actors. Nobody else knows the fund industry the same way selectors do,” says co-founder Meerdter.
14/05/2012

Deutsche banker creates a CTA fund

Ryo Ishiyama, who until the end of May is a member of the team at Deutsche Securities Inc, in October 2011 founded his own asset management firm in Tokyo, Steinberg Capital Co. He is planning to launch a CTA fund in July, which will use software solutions to invest worldwide in publicly-traded commodity futures, Handelsblatt reports, relaying Bloomberg.The fund will initially have JPY300m in assets (EUR2.9m), of which JPY200m will be contributed by Ishiyama, but the objective is to achieve JPY1bn in the space of one year, with annual returns of about 20%.
14/05/2012

Credit Suisse seeking a new CEO

The board of directors at Credit Suisse is seeking a new CEO to replace Brady Dougan, whose neck is on the chopping block following a slide in the company’s share price, the newspaper Der Sonntag reports. The newspaper reports, citing a top executive at the bank, “that the board of directors is urgently considering” the question of Dougan’s replacement. Shares in Credit Suisse have fallen 57% in the past three years, far more than its competitor UBS, which has lost only 34%. Among the candidates to replace Dougan, the newspaper names Walter Berchtold, a Swiss citizen in charge of wealth management at the bank, and other former senior executives at the bank such as Ulrich Körner, Leonhard Fischer and Hugo Bänziger.
14/05/2012

Ratings agencies look again at JPMorgan

The financial ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) on 11 May announced that it is cutting its outlook for the debt rating of JPMorgan Chase, following an announcement by the US bank of a trading loss of USS2bn. Fitch, for its part, has lowered its rating for the US bank. Its long-term debt issuer rating has been lowered to A+ from AA- previously, and the agency has also lowered its solidity rating to A+ from AA-, with a negative outlook on both these ratings.
14/05/2012

TCW reportedly in talks with SocGen about its future

The directors of TCW, an affiliate of SocGen, have begun preliminary talks with their parent company over an acquisition of the firm, Agefi reports, based on reports in Reuters. There is no formal sale process, and an acquisition of TCW by its directors is only one of several possibilities under consideration, one source says. SocGen denies all reports of a planned sale.
14/05/2012

Hedge fund inflows rebound in April

Investors facing persistent market volatility injected more capital into their hedge funds in April. According to estimates from the fund administrator GlobeOp, net inflows in April represented 1.24% of assets (about USD187bn) in funds monitored by the firm. This amount represents nearly five times the inflows the previous month, which totalled 0.27%, but which remain steeply down compared with positive flows observed in March (2.02%) and February (2.2%), or one year ago (2.41%).
14/05/2012

Inflows to hedge funds of USD2.3bn in March

The hedge fund sector in March posted net inflows of USD2.3bn, compared with USD6.8bn in February, according to statistics from TrimTabs and BarclayHedge. First quarter nonetheless finished with outflows of USD3.2bn. Performance in the quarter totaled 5.6%, compared with gains of 12% for the S&P 500. Some strategies are nonetheless continuing to attract investors, such as macro and fixed income strategies, which has posted significant inflows in the past three years.
14/05/2012

Espirito Santo launches an equity/commodity fund

The Fortuny Valores Reales fund from Espirito Santo Gestión has received a sales license in Spain, Funds People reports. The product is an equity fund which invests in businesses worldwide active in the extraction, production, development and distribution of product and/or services related to commodities, and financial instruments based on commodities, or in commodities traded on regulated markets.The benchmark index is the Reuters/Jefferies CRB.CharacteristicsName: Fortuny Valores RealesManagement commission: 1.35%Performance commission: 9%Minimal subscription: EUR10
14/05/2012

Hedge fund assets in Asia up

Hedge funds focused on Asia have recuperated all the assets they lost in the poor performance of last year, even though the sector has underperformed local markets in first quarter 2012, according to statistics from Hedge Fund Research, cited by the Financial Times. Assets totalled USD86.7bn as of the end of March, compared with EUR83.4bn as of the end of 2010. China dominates the local sector, and now 30% of the world’s hedge funds are based in the country (including Hong Kong), putting it just behind the United States. However, most Asian, funds are much smaller than funds in the United States and other countries, and by volume, they represent only 4% of the USD2.13trn in assets in the sector.
14/05/2012

Jean-Pierre Jouyet calls for overhaul of savings taxation

Household savings, which are essential to the functioning of the economy, are subject to all kinds of legislative initiatives, particularly in the area of taxation. “Unfortunately, the current policy on savings is not totally up to the challenge of financing our ecnomy,” the chairman of the French financial market authority (Autorité des Marchés Financiers, or AMF), Jean-Pierre Jouyet, claimed on 11 May at the 2012 academic AMF and ACP conference (the latter being the French prudential control authority), dedicated to the consequences of the financial crisis on household savings and sales of financial products. According to the AMF chairman, two major reasons underlie the inadequacies of the tax framework. On the one hand, “some tax incentives are particularly burdensome and have an exaggerated influence on household savings.” In this context, tax breaks tend to be “the alpha and omega of sales of financial products. Neither prospective returns, nor risks, nor the object of financing are taken into account sufficiently at the time the investment decision is taken,” says Jouyet. Meanwhile, the current structure of tax incentices is extremely piecemeal, and sometimes lacks coherence, “due to a desire to treat every particular case and tax break, and to promote this or that activity, in such a way that each legitimate aim unfortunately leads us into a complex and illegibile framework, in which the real contribution to supporting growth and to long-term investment is difficult to measure,” says Joyet. He therefore calls for a “cleaning up of our savings tax policy, so make it support the growth of our country and returns for savings investors.”
14/05/2012

“We will be a highly active consolidation player”

Sergio Heuer, chairman of the French funds of hedge funds company Olympia for about a year now, discusses the recent merger of the firm which he leads with the US firm Kenman, in an interview with Newsmanagers. He claims that the move comes as part of a necessary movement of consolidation in the alternative multi-management sector, which has also seen a number of other recent deals. This recomposition is not yet completed, says Heuer, and Olympia Kenmar plans to be a key player.
14/05/2012

Arden AM appointed to manage transition at Massachusetts pension fund

The New York-based asset management firm Arden Asset Management will help the State of Massachusetts to transfer several hundred million US dollars invested in the portfolios of hedge fund managers. Reuters reports that Arden AM has won a transition manager mandate for the Massachusetts state pension fund, whose assets under management total about USD50bn. Capital invested in funds of funds will be moved to direct investments in a selection of hedge funds. The pension fund has about 10% of its assets invested in hedge funds. Assets under management at Arden AM total about USD6.5bn.
14/05/2012

Fidelity launches two global equity income funds

Fidelity Investments has announced the launch of its first two income funds to focus on international equities (bringing the number of income equity funds in the Fidelity range to 10). The products are the Fidelity Global Equity Income Fund, which is aimed directly at retail investors, and the Fidelity Advisor Global Equity Income Fund, which is available only via financial advisors. The objective for the product, managed by Ramona Persaud, is to outperform the MSCI All Country World index.Management commission is capped to 1.20% for the retail share class, 1.20% for the institutional share class, and 1.45%, 1,70% and 2,20% for Advisor share classes A, T, and C respectively.
14/05/2012

Old Mutual assets up in first quarter

As of 31 March, assets in the long-term savings division of Old Mutual, which includes assets managed by Skandia, totalled GBP116.1bn, Fundweb reports. Assets in British-registered funds increased 6% compared with the end of December, to GBP35.6bn, while British platform funds gained 8%, to GBP20.4bn.
14/05/2012

Inflows down at Axa Wealth in first quarter

Net inflows at Axa Wealth, the British arm of the Axa group, totalled GBP845m in first quarter, down 11% compared with first quarter 2011, Fund Web reports. Assets under management as of the end of March 2012 totalled GBP20.1bn, compared with GBP18.6bn in first quarter 2011. Assets on the Architas platform were up 37% in first quarter to USD10.7bn.
14/05/2012

Franklin Templeton seeks to grow in Asia

Franklin Templeton Investments is seeking to penetrate retail markets in Malaysia and Vietnam, and to create onshore activites in Taiwan and Indonesia, Asian Investor reports. In 2011, assets at the US asset management firm from Asia-Pacific rose by one fifth, to USD70.7bn. In the first quarter of this year, they have risen further to USD75.8bn.
14/05/2012

A fund from Skandia IG awards a mandate to BlackRock

Skandia Investment Group’s Skandia European Best Ideas Fund managed by Lee Freeman-Shor has awarded a EUR34m mandate to Richard Plackett of BlackRock. The move to bring in Placket coincides with the 4th anniversary of the EUR340m fund.
14/05/2012

Cheyne launches two UCITS IV funds

Cheyne Capital Management has announced the launch of two UCITS IV compliant funds: the Cheyne Global Credit Fund and the Cheyne European Real Estate Bond Fund. Their investment portfolios are based on those of two existing flagship Cheyne strategies.The Cheyne Global Credit Fund is an actively managed, directional UCITS IV compliant fund offering weekly liquidity. It positions investment grade and crossover credit, primarily in North America and Europe, where the team believes credit spreads are currently pricing in too much downside given the very robust fundamentals of most corporate balance sheets. Cheyne’s corporate credit team manages net assets of USD1.3 billion. The Cheyne Real Estate Bond Fund is a UCITS IV compliant fund focusing on high quality real estate-backed bonds offering weekly liquidity. Cheyne’s real estate debt team has also net assets under management of USD1.3 billion. The team has identified a compelling investment opportunity arising from the structural dislocation in Europe’s EUR1.4 trillion real estate debt market, offering attractive yields with strong downside protection.
14/05/2012

Un nouveau chef aux commandes de 3i

Selon le Sunday Times, le fonds LBO nommera cette semaine Simon Borrows au poste de directeur général, en remplacement de Michael Queen. Agé de 53 ans, Simon Borrows a rejoint 3i en octobre dernier comme responsable des investissements. Michael Queen a démissionné en mars sous la pression des actionnaires.
14/05/2012

TCW, filiale de SocGen, au centre de discussions

Des dirigeants de TCW ont entamé des discussions préliminaires avec la Société Générale , maison mère de l’un des plus grands gestionnaires de fonds aux Etats-Unis, en vue d’un rachat de la société, selon Reuters. Il n’y a pas de processus formel de cession et le rachat de TCW par ses dirigeants n’est qu’une des nombreuses options envisagées, a précisé l’une des sources. SocGen a démenti tout projet de cession.
14/05/2012

Le taux de chômage américain reculera en 2012 et en 2013

Selon une enquête de la Réserve fédérale de Philadelphie, le taux de chômage aux Etats-Unis va reculer cette année et l’année prochaine. Les 39 prévisionnistes interrogés prévoient que le taux de chômage s’inscrira à 8,1% en moyenne cette année et à 7,7% l’année prochaine.
14/05/2012

Le moral des ménages américains au plus haut depuis quatre ans

Le sentiment du consommateur américain est monté début mai à son niveau le plus élevé depuis plus de quatre ans en raison de l’optimisme ambiant sur les perspectives du marché du travail, selon l’indice Thomson Reuters/Université du Michigan publié vendredi. Il se situe à 77,8 en mai contre 76,4 en avril, alors que le marché attendait un léger repli, à 76,2. C’est le niveau le plus élevé depuis janvier 2008.
14/05/2012

Pékin, Tokyo et Séoul prêts à discuter libre-échange

La Chine, le Japon et la Corée du Sud sont convenus hier de lancer rapidement des négociations en vue d’un traité de libre-échange tripartite, un projet dans les cartons depuis dix ans. Les trois pays représentaient en 2010 près de 20% de l'économie mondiale et 18,5% des exportations, selon une étude de faisabilité. Mais les négociations pourraient se heurter à des rivalités géopolitiques, aux barrières douanières ou à des politiques d’investissement divergentes. Le Premier ministre chinois Wen Jiabao, qui a accueilli à Pékin son homologue japonais Yoshihiko Noda et le président sud-coréen Lee Myung-bak, a exhorté les trois pays à coopérer davantage face aux «nombreux facteurs instables, incertains et imprévisibles en Asie du Nord-Est et en Asie de l’Est». «La crise financière internationale n’est pas encore terminée et la perspective de la crise de la dette européenne est incertaine», a ajouté le dirigeant chinois.
14/05/2012

L'Autriche plaide en faveur d’un pacte de croissance

Le chancelier autrichien Werner Faymann souhaite que l’Union européenne adopte un pacte de croissance dès son prochain sommet et investisse dans l'éducation, l’emploi et les infrastructures grâce à des «project bonds». Pier Carlo Padoan, l'économiste en chef de l’OCDE, a estimé de son côté dans un entretien à La Stampa que l’UE devrait exclure les investissements publics du calcul des déficits budgétaires et émettre des euro-obligations.
14/05/2012

Cuisante défaite de la CDU en Rhénanie-du-Nord

L’Union chrétienne-démocrate (CDU) de la chancelière allemande Angela Merkel a subi hier une cuisante défaite lors des élections régionales dans le Land conservateur de Rhénanie-du-Nord-Westphalie. Selon les premières estimations, les sociaux-démocrates du SPD obtiendraient 38,5% des suffrages et devraient être en mesure de former une majorité stable avec les Verts crédités de 12,2% des voix. La CDU voit, elle, son soutien s’effondrer à 25,8% contre près de 35% en 2010, ce qui constitue le plus mauvais résultat des conservateurs depuis 1945 dans cette région dont la population dépasse celle des Pays-Bas. Ce revers pourrait fragiliser la position du gouvernement allemand qui continue de faire pression pour une discipline budgétaire renforcée qui n’est pas du goût de certains Etats comme la Grèce ou l’Italie qui souhaitent une approche plus mesurée pour résoudre la crise.
14/05/2012

De nouveaux assouplissements au Brésil

Selon le journal Estado, le gouvernement prévoit une croissance de seulement 3% cette année au Brésil. Le gouverneur de la banque centrale a indiqué qu’elle pourrait baisser une nouvelle fois ses taux directeurs, actuellement à 9%, du fait de la détérioration de l’activité. Alexandre Tombini estime la croissance potentielle à 4%.
14/05/2012

La livre dopée par les investisseurs étrangers

Selon une étude Dealogic citée par le Financial Times, avec 32,6 milliards de dollars de fusions et acquisitions annoncées jusqu’à présent depuis le début de l’année, les investisseurs étrangers auraient acquis plus d’actifs britanniques que durant la même période en 2008, poussant ainsi le niveau de la livre sterling à la hausse. La devise britannique s’est renforcée de 3,3% contre euro depuis le début de l’année, la meilleure performance parmi les dix principales devises des pays développés, selon Bloomberg.
14/05/2012

Bruxelles attend l'Espagne au tournant

La Commission européenne s’attend à ce que le déficit espagnol atteigne 6,4% du PIB en 2012, alors que le gouvernment s’est engagé à le ramener à 5,3%.

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