L’activité s’est animée en mars mais sur l’ensemble du premier trimestre, les introductions en Bourse ont permis de lever seulement 16,2 milliards de dollars, soit le plus bas montant observé depuis 2009, selon des statistiques communiquées par Bloomberg. Au dernier trimestre 2011, les introductions en Bourse avaient représenté un montant de 28,8 milliards de dollars et au premier trimestre 2011, le montant des introductions avait atteint 48,4 milliards de dollars.Renaissance Capital relève que les opérations d’introduction en attente aux Etats-Unis sont proches de leur plus haut niveau depuis plus de dix ans.On a toutefois observé ces dernières semaines un regain d’activité aux Etats-Unis, en Asie et en Europe. Aux Etats-Unis, neuf sociétés ont levé 1,4 milliard de dollars durant la semaine au 30 mars.

La performance des fonds de dette émergente est hétérogène et manque de persistance, selon une nouvelle étude de Fitch Ratings. Ainsi, seulement 11 % des fonds restent dans le premier ou deuxième quartile de performance sur les deux périodes 2005-2008 et 2008-2011. Pire, environ 20 % des fonds sont descendus du premier quartile au dernier quartile (et vice versa) sur ces mêmes périodes."Le manque de consistance dans la performance reflète les difficultés des gérants de fonds à adapter le style et l’exposition à des changements de régimes sur les marchés : les fonds de dette émergente restent un «beta play"", commente Manuel Arrive, director senior au sein de l’équipe Fund and Asset Manager Rating de Fitch.Les fonds de dette émergente ont enregistré des souscriptions nettes de 28 milliards de dollars en 2011 et de 13 milliards de dollars sur les deux premiers mois de 2012, ce qui a porté les encours sous gestion du secteur à 279 milliards de dollars fin février 2012. Les fonds devises locales ont attiré environ 64 % des flux en 2011. Les fonds indiciels dominent le secteur, tandis que les fonds rendement absolu représentent seulement 3 % des encours totaux. Mais Fitch s’attend au lancement de davantage de fonds multi-stratégies ou spécialisés.

Le groupe Valartis, qui a poursuivi l’an dernier la mise en œuvre du recentrage de ses activités sur la gestion de fortune dédiée à la clientèle privée haut de gamme et aux investisseurs institutionnels, a fait état d’une multiplication par quatre de sa collecte nette à 862 millions de francs suisses contre 220 millions de francs l’année précédente.Malgré des effets marchés et devises négatifs pour un montant de 304 millions de francs, les actifs sous gestion ont progressé à 6,8 milliards de francs à fin décembre 2011 contre 6,3 milliards de francs un an plus tôt.En raison d’éléments exceptionnels liés à la restructuration, le groupe a néanmoins terminé l’exercice sur une perte consolidée de 17,2 millions de francs. Valartis, qui a réduit ses coûts de 7% l’an dernier, entend poursuivre ses efforts de rationalisation pour asseoir durablement son nouveau modèle de croissance.

Le groupe Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild a vu son bénéfice net reculer de 16,6% en 2011, à 125,1 millions de francs suisses, contre 149,9 millions de francs un an plus tôt, selon un communiqué publié le 3 avril. La collecte nette s’est élevée à 3,2 milliards de francs suisses, contre 6,5 milliards de francs en 2010. En raison de l’impact négatif des marchés et de la faiblesse du dollar et de l’euro par rapport au franc suisse, les actifs sous gestion ont toutefois légèrement diminué pour s’inscrire fin 2011 à 91,4 milliards de francs contre 92,7 milliards à fin décembre 2010.

L’an dernier, le secteur de la gestion d’actifs chinoise, touché par une baisse de 22% de l’indice de la Bourse de Shanghai, a subi une perte cumulée de plus de 500 milliards de RMB, soit plus de 79 milliards de dollars, rapporte Asian Investor. Dix-huit sociétés de gestion ont enregistré des pertes de plus de 10 milliards de RMB, entre autres AMC avec une perte de 43,7 milliards de RMB, devant E Fund (34,7 miliards) et Harvest (28,7 milliards).Les statistiques précisent que 812 mutual funds sur 970 ont terminé l’année dans le rouge, notamment les fonds actions (314,7 milliards de RMB) et les fonds diversifiés (152,3 milliards de RMB). Le plus gros mutual fund chinois, Harvest CSI 300 LOF, dont les actifs sous gestion s'élèvent à un peu plus de 27 milliards de RMB (au 29 mars), a perdu 7,35 milliards de RMB.Seuls les fonds monétaires et les fonds garantis ont été bénéficiaires l’an dernier, avec un bénéfice cumulé de 5,8 milliards pour les premiers et de 25,6 milliards pour les seconds.

Janus Capital qui ouvre un bureau à Zurich a recruté Thomas Henauer directeur de la distribution pour la Suisse. Thomas Henauer est subordonné désomais à thomas Döring, head of sales for German speaking Europe. Thomas Henauer était director, head of sales financial institutions chez Clariden Leu (banque privée intégrée depuis le 2 avril dans le groupe Credit Suisse).

Rob Jones, un ancien de Threadneedle arrivé il y a une vingtaine de mois comme co-head of European equity, a été chargé par Union Bancaire Asset Management (UBAM), filiale d’UBP, de gérer le nouveau UBAM Equity Europe Dividend + qui visera un rendement annuel de 10 % sur des périodes glissantes de 5 ans en utilisant une stratégie de covered calls pour réduire la volatilité et augmenter les revenus, rapporte CityWire.Le fonds aura un portefeuille concentré d’environ 22 lignes, des titres sélectionnés pour la soutenabilité de leurs dividendes. L’objectif est de générer une performance de 5 % annuels pour le portefeuille action, l’exposition aux dérivés devant fournir l’appoint pour produire un gain net d’environ 6 %.

EFG Private Bank, la filiale britannique d’EFG International, a nommé Daniel Gerber au poste de Managing Director et Head of Private Banking, avec effet au 2 juillet 2012. Daniel Gerber siègera au comité de direction et au conseil d’administration d’EFG Private Bank, selon un communiqué publié le 2 avril.Il sera rattaché à Anthony Cooke-Yarborough, le CEO de la filiale d’EFG International pour le Royaume-Uni et les Iles anglo-normandes, qui chapeaute EFG Private Bank, EFG Harris Allday et EFG Independent Financial Advisers.Daniel Gerber a précédemment occupé le poste de Chief Executive Officer de Julius Baer International à Londres.

Le britannique M&G Investments annonce que Phil Cliff, un ancien de Threadneedle qui a rejoint la société en janvier, est chargé désormais de la gestion du M&G Pan European Dividend Fund. Il remplace Richard Halle, qui va pouvoir à présent se concentrer sur la gestion de portefeuilles d’actions européennes value ainsi que sur les fonds M&G European Strategic Value Fund et M&G Pan European Dividend Fund.Au 29 février, le M&G Pan European Dividend Fund affichait un encours de 27,07 millions d’euros.

Proposées par les BFI, et dans une moindre mesure par les asset managers, les options de couverture des risques permettent de réduire l’exigence de fonds propres. La Sham a étudié des scénarios où un risque important se matérialise sur ses actifs. Elle souhaite construire elle-même (avec l’aide d’un consultant en finance) des stratégies de couverture, « mais nous ne les avons pas encore mises en ??uvre car aujourd’hui tout le monde cherche à se protéger contre les mêmes risques (baisse brutale du marché actions, hausse brutale des taux obligataires ), ce qui rend les couvertures très chères » note Dominique Godet, le directeur général de la Sham. Sur les produits structurés, les asset managers proposent des offres proches de celles des BFI. Ces produits financiers effrayent certains investisseurs : « Des banques ou des asset managers nous proposent des produits structurés qui sont moins consommateurs en fonds propres que les actifs sous-jacents, décrit Dominique Godet. Ce type de produits ne m’intéresse pas car le risque intrinsèque demeure. Si un sous-jacent me coûte trop cher en fonds propres, je préfère y renoncer. »

Of EUR60bn taken on by the European fund sector in 2011, EUR32bn were paid out to distributors, a significant increase over the previous year, according to a study by Cerulli Associates (2012 European distribution dynamics), cited by Financial Times Fund Management. Cerulli finds that 69.2% of gross commissions paid out for European money market funds were paid back to distributors. The proportion is 58.2% for bond funds, and 54.1% for equity funds.

JP Morgan and Source on 2 April announced the launch of the J.P. Morgan Macro Hedge Dual TR Source ETF. The fund, denominated in euros, aims to allow qualified investors exposure to volatility in a financially advantageous way. This is the second ETF of the J.P. Morgan Macro Hedge range, which already includes the J.P. Morgan Macro Hedge US TR Source ETF fund, launched in February, whose assets under management now total over USD200m. The J.P. Morgan Macro Hedge Dual TR Source ETF is listed on the London Stock Exchange, in euros. It is licensed for sale in Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland and Italy (for institutional investors only), Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. J.P. Morgan Macro Hedge indices seek not only to profit from increases in volatility during periods of market tension, but also to generate positive performance when market conditions are less agitated. The J.P. Morgan Macro Hedge Dual TR adopts long and short positions on the volatility of US equities, depending on market conditions. But in cases of extreme tension on the US market, there is also a way to take 25% exposure to the volatility of European equities. Major characteristics of the product Name of product J.P Morgan Macro Hedge Dual TR Source ETF ISIN code IE00B675BN95 Bloomberg code MHDU LN Trading currency of fund EUR / EUR Management fees 0.25% per year* Listed on London Stock Exchange (LSE) Name of index J.P. Morgan Macro Hedge Dual TR Bloomberg ticker for index JPMZMHHT Index UCITS status Yes Domicile Ireland

Rob Jones, formerly of Threadneedle, who joined Union Bancaire Asset Management (UBAM), an affiliate of UBP, 20 months ago as co-head of European equity, has been appointed by the firm to manage the new UBAM Equity Europe Dividend +, which will pay an annual return of 10% over a sliding 5-year period, using a covered call strategy to reduce volatility and increase revenues, Citywire reports. The fund will have a concentrated portfolio of about 22 positions, on securities selected for the sustainability of their dividends. The objective will be to generate returns of 5% per year for the equity portfolio, while exposure to derivatives is expected to bring in a net gain of about 6%.

Last year, the Chinese asset management sector, affected by a 22% drop on the Shanghai stock exchange, underwent cumulative losses of over RMB500bn, or over USD79bn, Asian Investor reports. 28 asset management firms have posted losses of over RMB10bn, including AMC, with losses of over RMB43.7bn, E Fund (RNB34.7bn), and Harvest (RMB28.7bn). Statistics reveal that 812 mutual funds out of 970 finaished the year with losses, including equity funds (RMB314.7bn) and diversified funds (RMB152.3bn). The largest Chinese mutual fund, Harvest CSI 300 LOF, whose assets under management total slightly over RMB27bn (as of 29 March), has lost RMB7.35bn. Only money market and guaranteed funds posted gains last year, with cumulative gains of RMB5.8bn for the former and of RMB25.6bn for the latter.

The US auto maker general Motors now controls 7% of capital and 5.78% of voting rights in PSA Peugeot Citroën, the French financial market authority (AMF) reported on 2 April. The AMF reports that GM acquired the position via a subscription to 20.4 million shares in a capial increase at Peugeot, and an off-market acquisition on the same date, of nearly 4.4 million shares from the French auto maker. Peugeot announced in late February that it was forming a strategic alliance with GM, which would have called for an entry into its capital of 7% and a capital increase of EUR1bn.

Following a loss of 29% in one day for the Velocity Shares Daily 2x Long VIX Short-Term ETN from Credit Suisse, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has announced that it is investigating the entire ETN segment, the Börsen-Zeitung reports.

The board of directors at the US pension fund and foundation council CII (Council of Institutional Investors) has elected Anne Simpson as a member of its board. Simpson has worked for the Californian pension fund CalPERS since 2009 as director of corporate governance. She worked to promote corporate governance at the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) and the World Bank. She is a visiting professor at Yale.

For new structured bank notes from BNP Paribas, Morningstar is providing three Ultimate Stock-Pickers indices, the Ultimate Stock-Pickers, Ultimate Stock-Pickers Target Volatility 7 and Ultimate Stock-Pickers Target Volatility 10, for which the French bank has acquired a license.Morningstar in April 2009 began to study quarterly portfolios, purchases and sells by 26 star managers, the “ultimate stock-pickers.” The shares selected are then subjected to independent research by Morningstar in order to determine a conviction score; the shares with the best results are added to the index.The volatility 7 and 10 indices are constructed in the same way, but with an effort to control volatility by transferring from and to positions on cash in order to maintain standard deviations at 7 and 10, respectively. These indices are rebalanced on a monthly basis.

The CNMV on 30 March issued a license for the BBVA Solidez XVI BP fund, a product which is set to mature on 28 December 2015, and which guarantees a redemption of 110.473% of its net asset value as of 27 April 2012, which represents an annual return of 2.75%.Subscriptions are open until 27 April; returns are lower than for the BBVA Solidez XV, which pays 3%.CharacteristicsName: BBVA Solidex XVI BP, FIISIN code: ES0110017003Minimal subscription: EUR50,000Front-end fee: 5%Management commission: 0.85%Penalty for early withdrawal: 1%

Emerging market debt funds’ performance has been heterogeneous and shows a lack of persistency, according to Fitch Ratings. Only 11% of funds stay in first or second quartile performance in both the periods 2005-2008 and 2008-2011. Worse, around 20% of funds moved from top quartile to bottom quartile (and vice versa) over the same periods. «The lack of consistency in performance reflects fund managers’ difficulties in adapting style and exposure to changing market regimes: EMD funds investments remain a beta play,» says Manuel Arrive, senior director in Fitch’s Fund and Asset Manager Rating team. Flows to emerging market debt funds have been solid in 2011 attracting USD28bn (and USD13bn for the first two months of 2012), pushing the sector’s assets under management to USD279bn as at the end of February 2012, according to Fitch. Local currency funds attracted about 64% of the flows in 2011. Emerging market debt benchmarked funds dominate the sector, with absolute return funds representing just 3% of total assets under management. Fitch expects to see more multi-strategy funds (absolute return or blended currency) or specialised corporate funds being launched in the next few months.

DWS Investment (Deutsche Bank group) has had to freeze redemptions of its ImmoFlex Vermögensmandat fund of funds, with assets of EUR101.5m. Five other funds of this type have already been required to do likewise, as eight open-ended real estate funds are now in the liquidation process, and six others have recently announced that they are extending redemption freezes. As the DWS ImmoFlex Vermögensmandat is largely invested in open-ended real estate funds whose redemptions are suspended, the available liquidity is not sufficient to meet redemption demands, except by selling off assets at a loss and a disadvantage to shareholders. Overall, the DWS ImmoFlex Vermögensmandat is invested in 10 open-ended real estate funds, which hold about 500 properties.

Union Investment Real Estate (UIRE) has sold the Luisacenter shopping centre in Darmstadt (19,000 square metres) to LaSalle Investment management for about EUR104m. UIRE bought the property in December 2003. Management of the shopping centre will continue to be provided by ECE.A statement says UIRE took advantage of an attractive moment to sell the property, which belongs to a category currently in strong demand from investors.

Deutsche Börse announced on 2 April that four German-registered ETFs of the iShares brand have been admitted to trading on the XTF segment of the Xetra electronic trading platform. The XTF segment now lists 956 funds. Three new funds replicate S&P indices of commodity producers, while the fourth tracks an MSCI index of industrial shares. Characteristics Name: iShares S&P Commodity Producers GoldISIN code: DE000A1JS9D8Benchmark index: S&P Commodity Producers Gold IndexTER: 0.55%CharacteristicsName: iShares S&P Commodity Producers Oil & GasISIN code: DE000A1JS9C0Benchmark index: S&P Commodity Producers Oil & Gas Exploration & Production IndexTER: 0.55%CharacteristicsName: iShares S&P Commodity Producers AgribusinessISIN code: DE000A1JS9B2Benchmark index: S&P Commodity Producers Agribusiness IndexTER: 0.55%CharacteristicsName: iShares MSCI ACWIISIN code: DE000A1JS9A4Benchmark index: MSCI All Country World IndexTER: 0.60%

Activity has been lively in March, but for first quarter as a whole, initial public offerings have raised only USD16.2bn, the lowest amount observed since 2009, according to statistics from Bloomberg. In fourth quarter 2011, IPOs represnted a total of USD28.8bn, and in first quarter 2011, total IPOs measured USD48.4bn. Renaissance Capital observes that expected IPOs in the United States are close to their highest level in over 10 years. However, in recent weeks, some interest in activity in the United States, Asia and Europe has returned. In the United States, nine companies raised USD1.4bn in the week to 30 March.

M&G Investments announces that Phil Cliff, who joined M&G in January 2012 from Threadneedle, assumes management of the M&G Pan European Dividend Fund as of Monday.His appointment frees up the incumbent manager Richard Halle, who has been managing both the M&G European Strategic Value Fund and the M&G Pan European Dividend Fund, to concentrate full time on his European value portfolios.The M&G Pan European Dividend has EUR27,07 million assets under management as of 29 February 2012.

Tradewinds Global Investors, an affiliate of Nuveen Investments, has seen a further setback with the departure of its chief investment officer, David Iben, Pensions & Investments reports. Fundamentals improved at Tradewinds last year, thanks to a net inflow of USD13bn. But with the departure of Iben, Nuveen will have a lot of trouble putting an exit strategy at Tradewinds into practice, as the firm has debts of over USD4bn, after an LBO in 2007.

Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking (SG CIB) on 2 April announced a reshuffle and apopintments which particularly affect Lyxor Asset Management, which is now directly under the direction of SG CIB. This development allows Lyxor Am to “continue its development as a top-raking asset management firm in the areas of alternative management, ETFs, structured and quantitative management,” a statement says, adding that Inès de Dinechin, CEO of Lyxor AM, is joining the extended executive committee at SG CIB. Richard Paolantonacci, head of the newly-created Management of Rare Resources department, Vincent Mortier, CFO, and Sylvie Préa, director of human resources, are also newly-appointed. The Financing and Investment Bank will continue to be organised around its three major professions: investment banking, financing, and market activities. In these three divisions, SG CIB is making the following changes and appointments, effective from 2 April: In the Client Relations and Investment Banking division, led by Thierry Aulagnon and his deputy, Diony Lebot: two new departments are created, including Primary Equity Capital Markets and Merger and Acquisition Advising activities, and dedicated to client segments. A department of Corporate Finance, led by Thierry d’Argent, offers major clients of the bank a complete range of services from origination to execution. Luis Vaz Pinto and Olivier Buttier are appointed as deputies. A Financial Institutions department, led by Pierre-Yves Bonnet, will include a ream of bankers serving financial institutions. In the Global Finance division, led by Pierre Palmieri and his deputies, Slawonir Krupa and David Coxon: an organisation oriented to distribution and favouring synergies. Creation of a Financing professional area, led by Matthew Vickerstaff. This professional area includes Infrastructure and Asset Financing, Expore Financing and Debt Optimisation. Creation of an Energy and Natural Resources professional area, co-directed by Federico Turegano and Jonathan Whitehead. The professional area includes the Financing activities in the Energy sector, Commodity Trading, Metals and Mines, and will work closely with the team in Commodities Markets in the Market Activities division. Creation of a Capital Markets professional area, led by Patrick Ménard and his deputy, Jean-Marc Giraud. This professional area includes the Capital Markets Finance (securitisation and capital structuring) activities, Capital Debt Markets, Ratings Advising, Leveraged Financing and Media & Telecom, Strategic Acquisition Financing and Financial Engineering. In the Market Activities division, led by Dan Fields: Fixed Income activities are scaled up. Creation of a Fixed Income & Currencies professional area, created by merging the Fixed Income, Treasury and Fixed Income and Currency Derivatives, led by Danielle Sindzingre. For commodity market activities, Jonathan Whitehead has been appointed Head of these activities in the Market Activities division, assisted by François Combes and Jean-François Maurey.

The Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild group has seen a decline in its net profits of 16.6% in 2011, to CHF125.1m, compared with CHF149.9m one year previously, according to a statement released on 3 April. Net inflows totalled CHF3.2bn, compared with CHF6.5bn in 2010. Due to the negative impact of markets and the weak US dollar and euro compared with the Swiss franc, assets under management nonetheless fell to CHF91.4bn as of the end of 201, compared with CHF92.7bn as of the end of December 2010.

The Valartis group, which last year continued to refocus its activities on wealth management for high net worth private clients and institutional investors, has reported a quadrupling of its net inflows to CHF862m, compared with CHF220m the previous year. Despite negative market and currency effects totalling CHF304m, assets under management have increased to CHF6.8bn as of the end of December 2011, compared with CHF6.3bn one year previously. Due to one-time elements related to the restructuring, the group has now finished the year with total losses of CHF17.2bn, Valartis, which reduced its costs by 7% last year, is planning to continue its efforts to rationalise its organisation in order to sustainably restore its growth model.

Thomas Henauer, director, head of sales financial institutions at Clariden Leu (a private bank which since 2 April has been integrated into the Credit Suisse group), has joined Janus Capital International as director of distribution for Switzerland. The US asset management firm is taking the occasion to open an office in Zurich.Henauer will now report to Thomas Döring, head of sales for German-speaking Europe.