L’ancien responsable des hedge funds d’Unigestion, Philippe Gougenheim, lancera son premier fonds Glasnost Fund en septembre, au lieu du 1er juin. C’est ce qu’il annonce dans un communiqué expliquant ce retard par un accident de ski au cours duquel son talon d’Achille de la jambe droite a été rompu.Philippe Gougenheim, qui a fondé Gougenheim Investments en février, indique néanmoins avoir sélectionné JPMorgan comme prime broker et Pictet comme dépositaire et administrateur pour le fonds.

Skandia IG vient de nommer General Electric Asset Management pour gérer son fonds Skandia European Equity Fund de 157,6 millions de dollars au 29 février. Le produit était précédemment géré par Goldman Sachs.

Le gestionnaire helvétique GAM a annoncé à Londres le lancement du fonds GAM Star Emerging Equity, un fonds coordonné long-only investissant en actions des marchés émergents. Le portefeuille de ce produit de droit irlandais disponible en dix monnaies comportera entre 100 et 150 lignes.Les deux co-gérants, Tim Love et Joaquim Nogueira, utiliseront une approche de valorisation fondamentale qui allie des outils exclusifs de sélection de titres avec un overlay thématique «top-down» et des stratégies de timing.Pour l’instant, ce fonds dispose d’un agrément de commercialisation en Irlande, au Royaume-Uni et au Luxembourg.CaractéristiquesDénomination : GAM Star Emerging EquityCode Isin : IE00B55Y9W63Commissions de gestion:parts institutionnelles : 0,90 %parts «ordinaires» : 1,50 %

Generali a vu ses encours sous gestion baisser de 432,043 milliards d’euros fin 2010 à 424,433 milliards d’euros fin 2011, selon les résultats annuels du groupe d’assurances italien. Sur le total, les encours pour compte de tiers sont ressortis à 88,207 milliards d’euros, soit une hausse de 3,4 % à périmètre comparable. Le bénéfice d’exploitation du segment financier est ressorti à 342 millions d’euros, contre 354 millions fin 2010, soit un repli de 3,3 %. Cela s’explique par une réduction des commissions nettes.

L’an dernier, les trente valeurs vedettes de la Bourse de Francfort ont accumulé un bénéfice opérationnel (Ebit) de 104 milliards d’euros, selon une étude du cabinet Ernst & Young qui s’appuie sur les résultats des activités globales, c’est-à-dire récurrentes, rapporte Les Echos. Un montant en hausse de 8 %, tiré par les profits de Volkswagen. Les résultats nets ont légèrement reculé à 58 milliards d’euros.

La Deutsche Börse a annoncé que trois ETF supplémentaires du français Lyxor Asset Management (groupe Société Générale) ont été admis à la négociation sur le segment XTF de la plate-forme électronique Xetra, ce qui porte à 947 le nombre des fonds inscrits à la cote de ce segment.Il s’agit de trois ETF obligataires de droit français chargés chacun à 0,165 %, le Lyxor ETF EUROMTS AAA Macro Weighted Government 1-3Y, le Lyxor ETF EUROMTS AAA Macro Weighted Government 3-5Y et le Lyxor ETF EUROMTS AAA Macro Weighted Government 5-7Y.

Fonctionnant en architecture ouverte depuis 2001, la Deutsche Bank proposait déjà des fonds de 25 gestionnaires internationaux, et elle vient d'élargir son offre à 10 gestionnaires supplémentaires, ce qui lui permet de commercialiser quelque 900 fonds, rapporte Funds People. En effet, Allfunds Bank a signé un accord pour se raccorder au réseau de la banque allemande ; l'établissement espagnol apporte désormais ses services tant au centre d’investissement de la division banque commerciale de la Deutsche Bank qu'à celui de banque privée.

A côté du AlphaPlus Absolute Return, le gestionnaire espagnol vient de lancer le fonds luxembourgeois AlphaPlus Absolute Return Plus, une version plus dynamique qui vise une performance annuelle de 5-8 % avec une volatilité moyenne de 6 %, rapporte Funds People.Le produit est géré par Francisco Esteban, pour la partie tactique, et Edwin Voerman, pour la gestion moyen terme et le «pair trading». Le fonds est multi classes d’actifs (actions, obligations, devises, ETF de taux et matières premières) ; la commission de gestion se situe à 0,55 % et celle de performance à 9 %.

La CNMV a enregistré pour la vente en Espagne le fonds coordonné Merchant Astor Long/Short UCITS commercialisé Merchant Capital et qui applique la stratégie de l’américain Astor Asset Management, une filiale de Knight Capital Group, rapporte Funds People.Il s’agit d’un produit de performance absolue investi dans 15 à 20 ETF répliquant les indices les plus favorables en fonction de la position dans le cycle économique.

La société financière suédoise Catella vient de recruter Ubbe Strihagen, qui était responsable pour Schroders des fonds immobiliers dans la région nordique et au Benelux, afin de renforcer son pôle gestion d’actifs immobiliers.Catella gère environ 17 milliards de couronnes dans l’immobilier, sur un total de 34 milliards de couronnes d’actifs sous gestion, par le biais de Catella Real Estate KAG à Munich et Amplion Asset Management OY à Helsinki. En coopération avec ces sociétés, Ubbe Strihagen sera chargé de développer de nouveaux produits. L’idée sera de proposer aux investisseurs institutionnels des pays nordiques et du Benelux de nouveaux produits principalement exposés à d’autres marchés, explique un communiqué de presse. Outre l’immobilier, Catella gère aussi des produits actions, taux et des hedge funds.

East Capital annonce avoir fusionné le East Capital (Lux) - Convergence Eastern European Fund dans le East Capital (Lux) - Eastern European Fund. Ces deux compartiments sont de droit luxembourgeois.

Selon L’Agefi, le tribunal de commerce de Paris rendra son délibéré mardi 27 prochain, l’avant-veille de l’AG d’Altamir Amboise. L’Adam et Moneta demandent le respect de la séparation des pouvoirs et la limitation des droits de vote de Maurice Tchenio au seuil de 5%. Altamir a rétorqué par une demande reconventionnelle estimant que l’Adam agissait de concert avec Moneta à travers leur projet de résolution commun, note L’Agefi.

La rémunération des CEO de Federated Investors, Franklin Resources et T. Rowe Price Group, qui font partie des sept principales sociétés de gestion cotées en Bourse aux Etats-Unis, a augmenté de 28 % en 2011 à un total de 22,4 millions de dollars, relève The Wall Street Journal. Certains experts prédisent des hausses similaires pour Invesco et State Street. En revanche, les CEO de Janus et BlackRock ont vu leur rémunération diminuer.

La société d’investissement Wendel a présenté mercredi 21 mars ses résultats 2011 faisant état d’un chiffre d’affaires sur 12 mois de 5 953 millions d’euros, en hausse de 17,5%. Le résultat net des activités part du groupe est également en hausse de 25,9%, à 321,4 millions d’euros.La dette brute a été réduite de 1 587 millions d’euros et Wendel présente une trésorerie qualifiée de solide de 795 millions d’euros (au 12 mars 2012). Le produit de cession de la société Deutsch à venir est d’environ 960 millions d’euros a également annoncé la société.Dans ce cadre, la société d’investissement va aussi proposer à l’assemblée générale le 4 juin prochain, un dividende de 1,30 euro par action assorti, à titre exceptionnel, d’une action Legrand pour 50 actions Wendel de «façon à associer ses actionnaires à la belle réussite de Legrand». Au cours de l’année 2011, Wendel a en effet cédé 13,6 % du capital de Legrand, pour un total de 961,5 millions d’euros. Wendel détiendra après cette distribution environ 5,5 % du capital de Legrand, ces titres bénéficiant tous de droits de votes doubles.

Deutsche Börse has announced that a further three ETF funds from the French firm Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale group) have been admitted to trading on the XTF segment of the Xetra electronic platform, bringing the total number of funds listed on the segment to 947.These include three French-registered bond ETFs, each of which charge fees of 0.165%, the Lyxor ETF EUROMTS AAA Macro Weighted Government 1-3Y, the Lyxor ETF EUROMTS AAA Macro Weighted Government 3-5Y and the Lyxor ETF EUROMTS AAA Macro Weighted Government 5-7Y.

The Chinese government council has granted its approval for the province of Guangdong to award a two-year management mandate for the management of its CNY100bn in local assets to the Chinese National Council for Social Security Fund (NCSSF), Z-Ben Advisors reports. A part of the assets will be given to third-party asset management firm, and the NCSSF has already received applications from 18 asset management firms for these mandates.

In its asset management business Generali had total assets under management at EUR424,433 million at the end of 2011 (vs EUR 432,043 million FY10), with third-party assets at EUR88,207 million (+3.4% on a like-for-like basis). The operating result in the Financial Services segment was EUR342 million (EUR354 million FY10). «The trend (-3.3%) was particularly affected by the decrease in net commissions, reflecting trends on the financial markets. The net result on financial operations improved, thanks specifically to the increase in the intermediation margin», according to a financial statement.

The French prudential control authority (ACP) and financial markets authority (AMF) have drawn the attention of the public to the fact that the WorldSpreads Limited company, whose headquarters are located at 3 Minster Court EC3R 7DD, in London, has gone into administration. The firm, which is licensed by the Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) to provide investment services in the UK, has a branch in France, at 29 rue de Bassano, 75008 Paris, and is authorized to provide some investment services directly in France from its British offices, the two authorities say in a statement. Due to the opening of the legal procedure in 18 March 2012, the ACP and AMF call on clients of the branch to refer themselves to KPMG LLP, which will be administering the interests of the firm, at the following address worldspreads-enquiries@kpmg.co.uk / telephone +44 20 32 84 88 29.

A district court in Manhattan has dismissed a motion by Goldman Sachs to dismiss a lawsuit filed against it by Dodona I, Handelsblatt reports. The hedge fund accuses the bank of defrauding it of USD4m which it had invested in the CDO Hudson Mezzanine programme, launched in late 2006, which had USD2bn in assets before the real estate bubble popped, causing the product’s rating to be downgraded to junk bond status.

Pending the publication of the second level of the AIFM directive, French financial management professionals are continuing to dissect bills in preparation for the new regulations. At a conference held by the French association of securities professionals (AFTI), a majority of participants claimed that they were prepared, but that they still needed to reflect on the opportunities opened up by the directive. “We are AIFM-ready,” said the director general of the French financial management association (AFG), Pierre Bollon. “We have the knowledge, but we still need to work on the ‘how-to,’ for example, how to make our product ranges more comprehensible, and on the ‘able-to-do,’ as many French asset management firms export their management products with too much discretion,” he said.However, the role of the depository has once again sustained a large number of comments. First of all, the AFG/AFTI working group on the market depository convention has unveiled its new architecture model, which replaces the depository convention of 2002, and which includes regulatory and legislative texts from 2011. The project deals with only one point: the way in which foreign fund shares or equities are held by a registrar or transfer agent. But this divergence may be resolved by the terms of the level 2 legislation, which will soon be published. The convention will then need to be approved by the boards of directors of the two professional associations, which will set up a monitoring committee to examine the results at management firms and depositories.Eric Dérobert, head of public affairs at Caceis, and also vice president of AFTI, has presented the most recent recommendations of the STBF (European Trustee & Depositary Forum), an association which includes eight national associations of depositories, including those of France, the United Kingdom, and Germany. Commenting on article 12 of the directive on depositories, Dérobert pointed out that there is a need to retain the balance defined by the level 1 legislation, by stating the requirements of the depository and retaining the concept of “reasonable” controlling by the depository. It would also be a good idea to specify the field of application of custody, a fundamental definition in terms of responsibility.Natasha Cazenave, deputy director of the asset management division in the direction and regulation of international affairs at the AMF, points out that the AIFM market committee formed at the end of 2011 (see Newsmanagers of 28 December) would as planned launch a consultation in May this year on the major strategic orientations to adopt over the next few years. A final report would then be available from July, leaving one year for the French Treasury and the AMF to make the necessary modifications before the transposition deadline (July 2013).

Catella engages Ubbe Strihagen to strengthen Catella’s asset management within the real estate segment. Most recently, he held the position of director at fund manager Schroders Investment Management, where for the past four years he has been responsible for property funds in the Nordic region and Benelux countries.Catella has assets totalling approximately SEK 17 billion under management in real estate-related investment management mandates and funds. The operations are conducted through Catella Real Estate KAG in Munich and Amplion Asset Management OY in Helsinki. In close cooperation with these operations, Ubbe Strihagen will develop new investment products. The focus will lie on offering institutional investors in the Nordics and Benelux new products primarily allocated on other markets than the native markets. The Catella Group has assets under management totalling approximately SEK 34 billion, of which SEK 17 billion are managed within the property area and SEK 17 billion within equity, fixed income and hedge products.

Qatar Holding, the Qatar sovereign fund, has since the beginning of the year increased its stake in the Vivendi group, a document from the telecoms and entertainment group announces. Qatar, which had already acquired 1.55% of capital in Vivendi in 2011, held 24,96 million shares as of the end of February, equivalent to about 2% of capital, the document states, confirming information published by the website WanSquare. The acquisition, which represents an investmnt of EUR356m at current share prices, comes in addition to a long list of investments already made by the emirate in French businesses. Qatar, which has recently increased its stake in the Lagardère media group to 12.8%, has also invested in Total, LVMH and Vinci.

The announced merger of the Convergence Eastern European Sub-fund into the Eastern European Sub-fund in East Capital (lux) has now been executed, says East Capital in a press release.

The former head of hedge funds from Unigestion, Philippe Gouhengeim, will launch his first fund, Glasnost Fund, in September, rather than 1 June. He made the announcement in a statement explaining that the delay is due to a ski accident in which his right Achilles tendon was ruptured. Gougenheim, who founded Gougenheim Investments in February, has announced that he has nonetheless selected JP Morgan as prime broker for the fund, and Pictet as custodian and administrator.

On 5 March, iShares (BlackRock) applied to the SEC for a license for an ETF of selected government bonds, the iShares Sovereign Screened Global Bond Fund, whose fee level has not yet been set The fund will be actively managed, without replicating an index, and will invest at least 80% of its assets “in normal circumstances” in bonds denominated in local currencies or US dollars issued by governments of developed and emerging countries that are in the BlackRock Sovereign Risk Index universe, which as of the end of September included 44 eligible countries. The objective is to prefer exposure to high quality government bonds over those in a fund which replicated the performance of a larger index of government bonds, which would give a larger weight to governments which issue more debt. iShares states that the ETF may have a higher turnover rate than products which replicate an index.Securities lending will be limited to one third of total assets in the fund, including collateral value.

Market Vectors ETF Trust (Van Eck group) has announced the launch of the Market Vectors Indonesia Small-Cap ETF (acronym on NYSE Arca: IDXJ), its second ETF dedicated exclusively to Indonesia.As its name indicates, the product is focused on small caps, and replicates the Market Vectors Indonesia Small-Cap Index (MVIDXJTR) from the German asset management firm Market Vector Index Solutions GmbH.In order to join the index, which currently includes 39% financial sector businesses, 18% industrials, 17% energy sector and 15% consumer goods businesses, firms must have a market capitalisation of over USD150m, and a daily trading volume of at least USD1bn over three months, as well as an average monthly trading volume of 250,000 shares over the past six months. At launch, the average capitalisation of the fund was USD688m.The new ETC will charge 0.61% at least until 1 May 2013.

In addition to the AlphaPlus Absolute Return fund, the Spanish asset management firm AlphaPlys has launched the Luxembourg fund AlphaPlus Absolute Return Plus, a more dynamic version, which aims for annual returns of 5-8%, with average volatility of 6%, Funds People reports. The product is managed by Francisco Esteban, for the tactical portion, and Edwin Voerman, for the mid-term and pair trading portion. The fund is a multi-asset class product (equities, bonds, currencies, fixed income and commodities ETFs), with a management commission of 0.55%, and a performance commission of 9%.

The CNMV has issued a sales license for the UCITS-compliant fund Merchant Astor Long/Short UCITS, from Merchant Capital, which applies a strategy by the US firm Astor Asset Management, an affiliate of Knight Capital Group, Funds People reports.The absolute return product invests in 15 to 20 ETF funds replicating the most favourable indices depending on the position in the economic cycle.

The Swiss asset management firm GAM has announced the launch of the GAM Star Emerging Equity fund, a UCITS-compliant long-only fund investing in emerging markets equities, in London. The portfolio of the Irish-registered product available in 10 currencies will include 100 to 150 positions.The two co-managers, Tim Love and Joaquim Nogueira, will use a fundamental valuation approach, which combines exclusive securities selection tools with a top-down thematic overlay and timing strategies.The fund currently has a sales license in Ireland, the United Kingdom and Luxembourg.CharacteristicsName: GAM Star Emerging EquityISIN code: IE00B55Y9W63Management commission:Institutional share class: 0.90%Ordinary share class: 1.50%

Skandia Investment Group (SIG) has announced the appointment of a new sub-advisor for its USD157.6m USD Skandia European Equity Fund (as of 29th February). The Fund’s management changes from Goldman Sachs to General Electric Asset Management (GEAM).