The SPDR ETF range from State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) on 28 February grew with the admission to trading on NYSE Arca of two new equity products.One of these, the SPDR MSCI ACWI IMI ETF, whose acronym is ACIM, replicates the MSCI All Country Investable Market index; it charges 0.25%.The other, the SPDR AM 50 ETF (EMFT), tracks the MSCI EM 50 emerging markets index, which covers the 50 largest shares of the MSCI Emerging Markets index. Its total expense ratio is 0.50%.
The property located at 33 Maiden Lane in New York has been sold for USD207.5m to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York by an institutional real estate fund from Invesco Real Estate and Hannover Leasing, which earned capital gains on the sale of 56%.As the fund had already sold the property at 10 Exchange Plance in New Jersey for USD285m, the fund will be liquidated. The two properties were acquired in 2002 for USD330m. Over the life of the fund, the performance in US dollars was 12.5% per year.
In a 25-page report entitled “The Role of Credit Hedge Funds in the Financial System: Asset Managers, Not Shadow Banks,” the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) challenges the association by the G20 of credit hedge funds with entities related to “shadow banking,” on three main grounds.Firstly, they don’t operate in the shadows, but will soon be subject to strict regulations everywhere in the world. Secondly, these funds are not banks, and do not make any maturity transformation. Lastly, they are aimed at “sophisticated” institutional investors.In addition to these points, the hedge funds represent only a relatively modest volume compared with banks, use only limited amounts of leverage, and do not have implicit or explicit guarantees from taxpayers.According to the Association, credit or credit-related hedge funds represent one third of the global hedge fund sector, and they use a vast range of investment strategies, ranging from fundamental credit analysis and arbitrage to trading of complex derivatives.
The German asset management firm Deka Immobilien has sold the office property Myeongdong Central Building (19,500 square metres) in Seoul, which had been in the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund Deka-ImmobilienGlobal, for EUR58m. The property, which has been sold to the South Korean asset management firm JR AMC, was purchased for EUR46.6m in 2005, and its most recent expert valuation estimated its value at EUR55.6m.The sale reduced the exposure of the portfolio of the fund to the Asia-Pacific region from 36% to 34%, and the Deka-ImmobilienGlobal no longer has any assets on the Korean peninsula, as the other property had been sold in late 2010.
A growing number of public pension funds are increasing their investments in alternative management, either in hedge funds or private equity, Bloomberg reports. The two major alternative management firms D.E. Shaw and Brevan Howard will receive USD350m each from the New York police and fire departments pension fund. The New York pension fund, whose assets under management total about USD70bn (as of 30 November 2011), will also invest USD200m in Brigade Capital Management. Investments by the pension fund in hedge funds will total USD1.35bn, barely half of its objective of USD3bn.
Unlike the group overall, whose assets totalled USD670.3bn as of the end of December, the French affiliate of Franklin Templeton continued to post net inflows in fourth quarter last year. Dominique de Préneuf, CEO, attributes this result both to the quality and variety of products on offer, and to the vast diversity of client segments.
In January, the Finles/IEX Hollandse Hedge Fund Index (HHFI) of Netherlands-based hedge funds outperformed the Deutsche Bank (+1.76%) and Lyxor (+1.30%) indices, with gains of 3.42%. The index includes 29 products; at the end of January, it stood at 105.46.The three best-performing funds in the HHFI were the gold long/short fund Gold & Discovery Fonds, with gains of 17.71%, the Bloemendaal (long/short equity) fund with +11.47%, and the statistical arbitrage fund HiQ Market Neutral (+10.15%).
The firm born of the merger of Cajastur, Caja de Extremadura and Caja Cantabria, Liberbank, has launched the guaranteed fund Liberbank Telecommunicaciones 3X7, which offers returns of 0.93% per year (3% until maturity in July 2015), plus a participation in the evolution of the share prices of Telefónica, France Télécom and Deutsche Telekom, Expansión reports. Returns on these shares will be 7% per year if the average share price for the three firms remains higher than the initial value.Management commission is set at 0.75% until the end of the sale period on 24 April.
On 2 March, the CNMV registered three more ETFs from Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale group). They are the Lyxor ETF Russell 1000 Growth, Russell 1000 Value, and Russell 2000.
The CNMV on 2 March issued a registration for the passively-managed fund DWS Bonos 2016, which at maturity (on 20 September 2016) offers returns of 4% per year for A-class shares (retail) and 4.45 for B-class shares (institutional) subscribed to before 28 March 2012. The management of the fund, launched on 20 February by DWS Investments (Spain), SGIIC, SA is outsourced to the German firm DWS Investment GmbH.Until 28 March 2012, the portfolio will be invested in cash, repos of Spanish public debt, savings accounts, private bonds, and liquid public and private money market instruments of the OECD region (rated at least A-), with an average maturity of less than 3 months. The fund will then be 95% invested in corporate bonds (of which up to 33% is to be invested in securities rated below BBB-), and the remainder in public debt rated at least A-. There will be no currency risk, and the fund will not invest either in other funds, or in securitisations.CharacteristicsName: DWS Bonos 2016, FIISIN codes:ES0127098004 (A class shares)ES0127098012 (B class shares)Minimal subscriptionA class shares: EUR10B class shares: EUR600,000Management commissionsA class shares: 0.2% until 28 March 2012, then 1.2%B class shares: 0.2% until 28 March 2012, then 0.8%Early withdrawal penalty2% from 29 March 2012 to 19 September 2016
The British Financial Services Authority (FSA) claims that there is still a systemic risk of fire sales of assets by distressed hedge funds during periods of market turbulence, according to its most recent study of the sector (“Assessing the possible sources of systemic risk from hedge funds.»)The most recent surveys by the FSA suggest that the footprint of hedge funds remains modest in most markets, with the possible exceptions of convertible bond, interest rate derivative and commodity derivative markets.For most hedge funds, leverage remains relatively low, and most funds estimate that they would be able to liquidate their assets more rapidly then the deadlines on their liabilities, which suggests that the transformation of maturities into liquidity is not highly developed. The FSA adds, however, that these estimates are not necessarily appropriate in times of market stress.Statistics also suggest that counterparties have increased their requirements in terms of margin calls, and toughened up the terms for hedge fund exposures since the financial crisis, which has increased resistance to hedge fund defaults.
The asset management firm Thomas Miller Investment is launching an onshore activity based in the United Kingdom, as a complment to its existing activities on the Isle of Man, Investment Europe reports. The new activity will be based in Edinburgh, and will be led by Harry Morgan, former head of investment management at Adam & Company. He will lead a team of 15 people. Assets under management at Thomas Miller Investment total GBP2.7bn.
Hedge fund managers in the United Kingdom have a marked preference for Guernsey. According to a survey by Fund Domiciles, 24% of them have their funds domiciled in Guernsry, compared with 21% in the United Kingdom, 18% in Jersey, 12% in the Cayman Islands and 9% in Luxembourg. For 24% of managers, administration services for their funds are done in Guernsey, compared with 20% in the United Kingdom, 18% in Ireland, and 16% in Jersey. According to Fund Domiciles, these results reflect the rise of Guernsey to third place in the evaluation of the market in terms of stability. Guernsey is especially highly regarded by the private equity sector. The number of establishments with a license as of 2011 totalled 35, as Bank Sarasin has not renewed its license, down from a peak of 79 at the end of the 1990s.
Philip Collins, chief investment officer for private clients and charities, has left Newton Investment Management (BNY Mellon group). His position has been discontinued following the promotion of Simon Pryke to the position of CIO, FundWeb reports.Collins, who had been manager of the Newton Phoenix fund, will be replaced by his co-manager Paul Flood, who will be succeeded by Ben Ward.
Henderson Global Investors has hired John Feeney as head of real estate debt in its secured credit team. He will work closely with Henderson’s property business as well as the fixed income team to drive business growth in real estate debt as traditional lenders retreat from the market. Feeney most recently headed Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Asia real estate Special Assets Group with responsibility for the region’s legacy debt book.
Sara Assicurazioni is selling Mc Gestioni to Zenit Sgr, according to an article in Milano Finanza. The operation, which is pending approval from the Bank of Italy, would create an asset management firm with EUR800m in assets under management.
Scottish Widows has decided to entrust the management of the Scottish Widows HIFML UK Smaller Companies Alpha fund to an in-house team. As a result, the fund, which had previously been managed by Harry Nimmo, the small caps specialist at Standard Life Investments, will now be managed by two members of the SWIP equities team, Gregor Macdonald and Andrew Paisley. They are also responsible for the management of the SWIP UK Smaller Companies fund and the SW UK Smaller Companies fund. At Standard Life Investments, Nimmo manages the SLI UK Smaller Companies fund, whose assets under management total GBP1bn, the Standard Life UK Smaller Companies trust (GBP140m), and the SLI Global Smaller Companies fund, which has recently been created.
Appetite for risk has remained high in the last few days of February, but investors have been avoiding Europe, due to uncertainty about Greek debt and a downturn in growth in the region. European equity funds have seen levels of redemptions in the week to 29 February not seen in 14 weeks, according to statistics from EPFR Global.Equity funds overall nonetheless posted net inflows of USD4.7bn, and net subscriptions since the beginning of the year have totalled USD24bn, compared with USD40.2bn in the corresponding period of 2011. In the last few days of February, US equity funds have posted net subscriptions totalling over USD3bn.Bond funds in the week attracted more than USD5bn in assets, and USD48.8bn since the beginning of the year, compared with USD15.5bn in the corresponding period of 2010. As of the end of February, high yield bond funds have posted inflows of over USD1bn. Since the beginning of the year, they show inflows of over USD22bn.Money market funds, for their part, have seen redemptions totalling USD21bn in the last week of February, while European money market funds have posted their heaviest outflow since 2007.
Jesse Wang, executive vice president, says that the sovereign fund China Investment Corp last year received additional financing of USD30bn, Agefi reports. The head refused, however, to say whether this amount would be used to purchase assets in Europe. “It’s not because Europe has its problems that we will be changing our examination methods,” the manager says.
On 1 March, Herbert Dietz, who had been a director at Hauck & Aufhäuser Asset Management (H&A AM) in Munich, joined HansaInvest Hanseatische Investment GmbH as director of distribution. He will be in charge of intensifying relationship management for distribution partners, and will report to Dirk Zabel, a member of the board responsible for distribution.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mark McCombe, chairman of BlackRock for Asia-Pacific, says the firm is “bullish” on the Chinese economy, as the Chinese government has done a good job of managing it centrally through times of numerous economic uncertainties, with the situation in Europe and structural issues in the United States. He is also bullish on India, due to the entrepreneurial spirit there, but its major challenge is infrastructure, and it will take time for the country to catch up with China in this area.McCombe says that he has always regarded Indonesia as a sleeping giant, which is now trying to overcome its structural problems. In Australia, the overactive economy actually reflects growth in inter-regional trade, and the fact that growth in China is advancing at a fast pitch, which means that China will need to find resources or partners capable of supplying it with commodities it needs, and Australia is in a position to be that partner.
La Caisse de retraite des sénateurs de Belgique a sélectionné, fin février, six gérants pour son appel d’offres Specialty managers, avec l’aide de la société de conseil Econopolis Strategy. Les mandats de gestion discrétionnaires étaient répartis sur plusieurs thèmes d’investissement spécialisés: Le lot 1 portait sur une poche d’actifs ISR énergie. Il a été attribué à KBC AM. Le lot 2 concernait une poche agri-food. Son gérant sera Petercam. Le lot 3, real assets, n’a pas été adjugé. Le lot 4 sur les actions européennes large cap a été attribué à Edmond de Rothschild AM et Capital at Work (Banque Delen) Le lot 5, actions à haut dividendes a été attribué à Axa IM et KBC AM Chaque lot du mandat est compris entre 5 et 10 millions d’euros. Il s’agit uniquement de poches actions. La Caisse de retraite des sénateurs de Belgique gère un portefeuille d’actifs de 180 millions d’euros. Seuls 40 % de ces encours sont externalisés. Pour lire l’avis complet: cliquez ici
Canadian public pension funds appear as precursors in the eyes of institutional investors, who are seeking to imitate them, The Economist reports. It’s not the size of the funds which interests investors – they manage over USD640bn in assets – so much as their investment strategy. Unlike many pension funds, Canadian institutions manage their portfolios internally and invest directly. They invest more than other funds in buyout operations, infrastructure and real estate. The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) would like to have 90% of its assets managed internally by the end of 2012. Canadian pension funds often make small solo transactions, but they undertake larger operations as co-sponsors with major private equity firms. This strategy allows thm to make substantial savings, particularly in private equity, where the famous standard commission level is 2/20 (2% of assets and 20% of profits). This approach has manifestly paid off. In the past ten years, the Ontario teachers’ pension fund, a pioneer in this area, has earned the best returns of the 330 largest public and private pension funds in the world.
Selon Le Figaro, le fonds de gestion alternative Alura Partners a franchi le seuil de 2% du capital de l’équipementier aéronautique. Le groupe a finalisé en décembre dernier sa restructuration financière avec ses créanciers bancaires et entend prendre part à la consolidation du secteur «dans un horizon de 2-3 ans».
Le fonds d’investissement a racheté 37% du capital de Groupe Bertrand aux fonds L Capital et Capzanine. Fondé par Olivier Bertrand, le groupe compte notamment parmi ses enseignes la brasserie Lipp et les boulangeries Moisan. Olivier Bertrand en reste le PDG et le premier actionnaire.
Reuters croit savoir que des fonds de capital investissement tâchent d’unir leurs forces pour tenter de racheter les activités de peinture pour véhicules de DuPont, dont le prix pourrait dépasser 4 milliards de dollars. Blackstone se serait d’ores et déjà allié avec Bain Capital, tandis que le fonds Clayton, Dubilier & Rice ferait équipe avec CVC Capital Partners.
Jesse Wang, vice-président exécutif du fonds souverain China Investment Corp, a fait part de l’obtention l’an dernier d’un financement additionnel de 30 milliards de dollars. Le responsable a refusé de dire si ce montant pourrait servir à acheter des actifs en Europe. «Ce n’est pas parce que l’Europe a ses problèmes que nous changerons notre méthode d’examen», a déclaré le dirigeant.