Les hedge funds asiatiques ont terminé l’année 2011 sur des performances peu reluisantes, rapporte Asian Investor. Selon les statistiques de HFR, l’indice HFRX Asia Japon y compris a reculé de 5,2% sur l’ensemble de l’année. Mais hors Japon, l’indice Asia emerging Markets ex-Japan accuse un recul de 17,75%. Après inclusion des marchés asiatiques développés, l’indice asiatiques plus large affiche une baisse de «seulement» 13,81%. Autrement dit, les hedge funds n’ont pas réussi à battre les indices, à l’exxception toutefois de l’indice HFR Japan qui accuse une baisse de 6,8% contre 17,3% pour le Nikkei 225. Au quatrième trimestre, les hedge funds asiatiques ont subi une décollecte de 1,04 milliard de dollars mais sur l’ensemble de l’année, ils enregistrent une collecte nette de 6,6 milliards de dollars, ce qui a porté le total des actifs sous gestion à 82,1 milliards de dollars. Les deux tiers des fonds investis dans les hedge funds asiatiques ont été alloués à des stratégies equity hedge. Le nombre de hedge funds asiatiques a augmenté de 4% l’an dernier à 1.100 fonds.

La société de gestion danoise BankInvest, spécialiste des marchés émergents, vient d’annoncer la promotion de Kasper Elmgreen à la fonction de responsable du pôle actions internationales, rapporte Citywire.Kasper Elmgreen était jusqu'à présent responsable adjoint du pôle dont il prend la tête.

Evan Reedman, director of lifecycle strategies chez Queensland Investment Corp, rejoint Credit Suisse à Melbourne pour occuper le poste nouvellement créé de head of consultant relationships for Asia-Pacific, rapporte Asian Investor. Il sera subordonné à Will Britten, head of asset management, Australia.

Ce marché comprendra deux lots correspondant respectivement à deux types de Mandat. Lot n°1 : Obligations convertibles de la zone Europe - gestion ISR non benchmarkée Le Lot n°1 aura trois attributaires qui seront tous trois, pris individuellement, titulaires d’un Mandat régi par les termes du même Mandat Obligations convertibles de la zone Europe - gestion ISR non benchmarkée, lequel constituera le cahier des charges du marché. Toutefois deux de ces trois Mandats seront des Mandats dits stand-by. Le montant initial des placements sur les Mandats du lot n°1, donné à titre indicatif, sera de l’ordre de 30 millions d’euros. Le montant annuel des placements sur les Mandats du lot n°1, donné à titre indicatif, sera de l’ordre 25 millions d’euros. Le lot n°1 aura pour objet la gestion d’un portefeuille d’instruments financiers composé d’obligations convertibles et d’obligations échangeables d’entreprises admises aux négociations sur un marché réglementé de la zone Europe. La gestion du lot n°1 sera une gestion dite non benchmarkée ISR au sein d’un univers d’investissement d’obligations convertibles de la zone Europe : La composition du portefeuille décidée par le Titulaire devra être conforme au dispositif ISR de l’ERAFP. Pour cela l’entreprise d’investissement devra analyser chaque obligation convertible de son portefeuille et de l’indice utilisé comme référence pour l’application du principe de best in class au regard du dispositif ISR de l’ERAFP par ses propres moyens et/ou en s’appuyant sur des ressources externes. Le Titulaire aura la possibilité d’investir à hauteur de 20% maximum sur des obligations convertibles de pays membres de l’OCDE hors zone Europe, et à hauteur de 10% maximum de l’actif net sur des options listées et des obligations crédit. Des limites seront fixées en matière de pondération par titre. Chaque obligation détenue en portefeuille devra faire l’objet d’une notation crédit (interne ou externe). Le risque de change devra être couvert contre l’euro. Aucune limite d'écart de suivi (tracking error) ne sera fixée par rapport à un indice de référence. Lot n°2 : Obligations convertibles de la zone Monde - gestion ISR non benchmarkée Le Lot n°2 aura trois attributaires qui seront tous trois, pris individuellement, titulaires d’un Mandat régi par les termes du même Mandat Obligations convertibles de la zone Monde - gestion ISR non benchmarkée, lequel constituera le cahier des charges du marché. Toutefois deux de ces trois Mandats seront des Mandats dits stand-by. Le montant initial des placements sur les Mandats du lot n°2, donné à titre indicatif, sera de l’ordre de 70 millions d’euros. Le montant annuel des placements sur les Mandats du lot n°2, donné à titre indicatif, sera de l’ordre 40 millions d’euros. Le lot n°2 aura pour objet la gestion d’un portefeuille d’instruments financiers composé d’obligations convertibles et d’obligations échangeables admises aux négociations sur un marché réglementé de la zone Monde. Les modalités de détermination du lieu du marché réglementé seront définies dans le Mandat. La gestion du lot n°2 sera une gestion dite non benchmarkée ISR au sein d’un univers d’investissement d’obligations convertibles de la zone Monde : La composition du portefeuille décidée par l’entreprise d’investissement devra être conforme au dispositif ISR de l’ERAFP. Pour cela l’entreprise d’investissement devra analyser chaque obligation convertible de son portefeuille et de l’indice utilisé comme référence pour l’application du principe de best in class au regard du dispositif ISR de l’ERAFP par ses propres moyens et/ou en s’appuyant sur des ressources externes. Des limites seront fixées en matière de pondération par titre. Chaque ligne détenue en portefeuille devra faire l’objet d’une notation crédit (interne ou externe). Les pays autorisés à l’investissement sont les pays membres de l’OCDE, les BRIC, l’Afrique du Sud, Hong-Kong, Singapour et Taiwan. Le Titulaire aura la possibilité d’investir à hauteur de 10% maximum de l’actif net sur des options listées et des obligations crédit. Le risque de change devra être couvert contre l’euro Aucune limite d'écart de suivi (tracking error) ne sera fixée par rapport à un indice de référence. Pour lire l’avis complet: cliquez ici

Renforcer l’exposition obligataire et assurer un revenu récurrent à la CRCA des Côtes d’Armor seront les préoccupations principales de la direction financière en 2012. Le rendement des encours de la caisse s'élève à 2 % en 2010, « légèrement en-dessous des prévisions » explique-t-on au sein du CRCA, « et nous incite à nous éloigner de la valorisation de marché. » Pour ce faire, il est prévu en 2012 de stabiliser les revenus récurrents tout en se concentrant sur Bâle III. L’augmentation des encours de 70 millions prévus sera elle aussi investie dans de l’obligataire que le Crédit agricole conserve jusqu'à échéance. Notre interlocuteur confirme : « Nous avons de bonnes raisons d’espérer, à terme, une baisse des spreads, le potentiel est là, dans notre configuration, il est préférable de favoriser les titres qui peuvent se revaloriser. » Ces titres, la caisse les sélectionne selon les listes d'éligibilité établies par la BCE. Misant sur le long terme, « les encours sont également disponibles en guise de collatéral dans l'éventualité où CASA chercherait à lever des liquidités ». Contrairement à d’autres caisses régionales pour lesquels des mécanismes plus élaborés se mettent en place, il s’agit du seul élément de soutien de la CRCA des Côtes d’Armor à la maison-mère. Pour la gestion de ses fonds propres, la caisse régionale s’appuie sur Amundi. « A l’exception d’un reliquat d’actifs, environ 5 %, tout est géré au sein du groupe » nous précise-t-on. Les partenariats concernés par des produits structurés ont été suspendus dans l’attente d’une meilleure conjoncture. Le budget risque de la caisse, déjà faible, devrait être quasi-nul cette année.

Out of a sample of 1,300 international large cap funds with a track record of at least 10 years on sale in Europe, 736 products have posted gains in the period from October 2001 to October 2011, and 90 have remained consistently in positive territory, according to a Morningstar study on behalf of Gamax Management.A finer analysis of results reveals that defensively-managed funds, with a beta of less than 1, on average generated higher returns than passively-managed funds (beta=1), and higher returns than aggressively-managed funds (beta higher than 1).

The Danish asset management firm BankInvest, a specialist in emerging markets, has announced the promotion of Kasper Elmgreen as head of the international equities unit, Citywire reports. Elmgreen had previously been deputy head of the unit which he will now lead.

The hedge fund firm Atwater Capital, based in New York and founded by former managers from Atticus Capital, is closing down two years after its launch, having failed to achieve critical mass, Financial News reports. The fund had USD163.6m in assets under management at the end of December.

On 20 January, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) issued La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild Banque with an additional Chinese “A” shares quota of USD100m.The management of the additional quota will be entrusted to Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (EDRAM), which, with the Edmond de Rothschild Mainland China fund, manages USD560m in assets, 5% of total assets in QFII funds managed by foreign entities (USD9.3bn as of the end of October).As of 31 December 2011, Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management had EUR12.4bn in assets under management in mandates and 28 open-ended funds registered for sale in 15 countries. As of the end of 2010, Edram had about EUR14bn in assets (see Newsmanagers of 20 January 2011).

The California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), one of the largest US pension funds, has asked Facebook in a letter to include a woman on its all-male board of directors, claiming that diversity improves corporate governance and performance, the Financial Times reports. The fund, which has USD145bn in assets under management, has also called for an increase in the size of the board of directors and a separation of the roles of chairman and CEO.

Heritage International Fund Managers (HIFM) has recruited several people for its teams. David Dorey joins the asset management firm as head of Private Equity. James Christie and Andrew Cooper have been appointed as senior fund administration managers. Susie Peer joins the team as fund administration manager, Investment Europe reports. HIFM has total assets under management and administration of over USD50bn.

Asian hedge funds finished the year 2011 with less than shining results, Asian Investor reports. According to statistics from HFR, the HFRX Asia index including Japan lost 5.2% for the year as a whole. But excluding Japan, the Asia Emerging Markets ex-Japan index has lost 17.75%. When developed Asian markets are included, the larger Asian index has lost “only” 13.81%. In other words, hedge funds did not manage to outperform the indices, with the exception of the HFR Japan index, which is down 6.8%, compared with 17.3% for the Nikkei 225. IN fourth quarter, Asian hedge funds saw outflows of USD1.04bn, but for the year as a whole, they have seen net inflows of USD6.6bn, bringing total assets under management to USD82.1bn. Two thirds of funds invested in Asian hedge funds were allocated to equity hedge strategies. The number of Asian hedge funds rose 4% last year to 1,100 funds.

As Newsmanagers reported a few days ago, Thierry Pauwels, head of equity investments at OFI AM, has left the firm. He will be replaced by Ralph Bruneau, who served from 1990 until 2010 as head of equity at BGP and then at BFT. Bruneau has also served as deputy CEO of BFT Gestion. In addition to the departure of Pauwels, Pierre-Alexis Dumont, equity manager, has left OFI AM. The asset management firm will publish its new equity organisation in the next few weeks, a statement says. OFI AM manages EUR47.3bn in assets, of which EUR6.62bn are invested in equity products.

Hedge fund managers, a growing number of whom are hoping to launch UCITS hedge funds (known as “Newcits”), will need to remain highly attentive to constantly-changing regulations, Cerulli Associates claims in a survey dedicated to complex products published on 8 February.Managers will need to be prepared to abandon outright, naked short-selling, which is all but unanimously considered to be a counterproductive technique. Criticisms also focus on the use of derivatives, particularly synthetic ETFs, in UCITS hedge funds. Cerulli observes that the most recent statistics on ETFs for 2011 show an aversion to synthetic ETFs, not only due to performance issued but primarily due to regulatory concerns.Cerulli finds that rather than standing out with complex products with a large alpha component, hedge fund managers would do better to concentrate on simplicity and easy-to-understand strategies, in the lines of those which regulators and distributors would like to see.Growth will come largely from hedge fund providers, rather than from traditional actors, who are currently responsible for most products on offer. Richard Day, COO of ML Capital, claims that the segment needs a more diversified product range as well as a wider variety of experienced managers. From his point of view, demand is mostly for managed futures and systemic and discretionary macro strategies.

The healthcare sector will attract a growing share of transactions, as it is considered a refuge for investors, both short and long term, according to a study by PwC of merger and acquisition activiti4es in the healthcare sector (“Global Healthcare Deals Quarterly”). The market has shown a solid balance sheet and support from investment funds, despite a grim economic environment in 2012.PwC has identified three key factors in the growth of trading volumes. First of all, a general resilience of operations, favourable demographic indicators, and a strong infrastructure component are all reassuring indicators for investors facing a high-risk macroeconomic environment.In the Health/Pharma sector, difficulties encountered in the search for and development of new products have led to a reorientation of capital, reducing investments in medication-type products or medical equipment, in favour of investments in new medical technologies and medical services.Lastly, the development of innovative models for the diffusion of medical services make it possible to provide a higher quality, more competitive and more effective range of healthcare services in countries such as Australia, India and the Middle East, which will be likely to attract new capital.

Since JP Morgan, and now State Street, have dropped out of the running, it is increasingly likely that Deutsche Bank will have to sell off its activities in the areas of asset management (EUR400bn) separately, the Financial Times reports. The newspaper expects to see Ameriprise Financial pull out of the running soon, as it finds the price too high. But a sale in parts would be a more complex undertaking, and would increase the risk of seeing key personnel and top investment teams leave the firm.

Evan Reedman, director of lifecycle strategies at Queensland Investment Corp, is joining Credit Suisse in Melbourne to serve in the newly-created position of head of consultant relationships for Asia-Pacific, Asian Investor reports. He will report to Will Britten, head of asset management, Australia.

Colin Harte, co-manager of the Barings Global Bond Trust, has left the firm after 12 years of service, Investment Week reports. The move comes as the firm is closing the Absolute Return Bond Trust, also managed by Harte. The Global Bond Trust will now be managed by Dagmar Dvorak and Harjet Heer.

In line with its policy of refocusing on key markets, Coutts is stepping up its efforts in the direction of the Middle East, for which region it has recruited three senior partners, based in Geneva, Agefi Switzerland reports. The Geneva-based bank is also planning to recruit 20 more partners in the region this year.The former managing director of Bank Sarasin Alpen in Dubai, Akram Khattab, is appointed as Executive Director Relationship Managemnt. His preferred markets are Dubai and the northern Emirates. Ali-reza Vahabzadeh becomes Vice President Relationship Management. He joins from Citi Private Bank in Abu Dhabi, and previously worked in the Ultra High Net Worth Middle East team at Citi in Geneva. He will focus on Abu Dhabi and Qatar. Lastly, Arjun Mittal is appointed as regional director of NRI, in charge of markets. He is also formerly of Bank Sarasin Alpen in Dubai.

The additional retirement establishment for public sector employees (ERAFP) has launched a request for proposals for two management mandates for convertible bonds. The first allocation will be for management of a portfolio of financial instruments composed of convertible bonds and tradeable corporate bonds admitted to trading on a regulated market in the European region. This mandate will be for EUR80m. The second allocation will be for management of a portfolio of financial instruments composed of convertible bonds and tradeable bonds admitted to trading on a regulated market in the global region. This mandate will be for EUR130m. The initial duration of the market is four years, with a potential renewal of the market by ERAFP for two successive terms of two years each. ERAFP says that the new mandates must comply with the regime’s SRI framework, in a manner adapted to each.

“The objective for this fund is not to outperform any benchmark, but simply to make money, and at the worst, to limit losses to a minimum suitable for a sensitive investor,” says Michel Patri, manager of the new Luxembourg-registered fund AllianceBernstein Flexible Equity Portfolio, which has an absolute return approach with a net long bias. The strategy has been running for two years now, and AllianceBernstein has seeded the new fund.The product, created on 31 January, has received a license from the French regulator, AMF. It is particularly well-suited to retail clients who are disoriented after years of crisis. The fund will also be sold in Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.In practice, the new “opportunistic and agile” product is a European UCITS-compliant long/short equity fund whose management team may vary net market exposure from 0% to 100% (currently 40%), depending on a quantitative “disciplined” model which adatps to the market environment. Risks are hedged with the use of derivatives, possibly in the form of a synthetic short which AllianceBernstein’s size makes it possible to obtain at a competitive price from counterparties.The formula has been working reasonably well, as since launch (25 January 2010), net performance as of 31 January 2012 is 1.47%, with returns of 0.45% on 3-month Bunds, and volatility of 5.47%.CharacteristicsName: AllianceBernstein European Flexible Equity PortfolioISIN codes:A share class: LU0590155247I share class: LU0590155320Front-end fee: 6.25% (A shares)Management commission:1.50% (A share class)0.70% (I share class)Performance commission: 10% of performance exceeding the Bund 3-month, with high watermark

Since Tuesday, ComStage ETF (Commerzbank group) has added the ComStage ETF MSCI Emerging Markets Leveraged 2x Daily TRN fund to trading on the XTF segment of the Xetra electronic trading platform.The ETF (the 924th to be listed in Frankfurt) replicates the MSCI emerging markets index with a leverage of 2, on a daily basis (MSCI Emerging Markets Leveraged 2x Daily Net Index). It is the first emerging markets equity product offering leverage to be admitted to trading in Germany.CharacteristicsName: ComStage ETF MSCI Emerging Markets Leveraged 2x Daily TRNISIN code: LU0675401409TER: 0.75%

Axa Investment Managers has received a license from BaFin to release in Germany as well the SolEx share class, which is intended to limit the volatility of a traditional investment in equities (see Newsmanagers of 3 February).As in France, the shares will be available for all products of the Axa World Funds range, starting with the UCITS-compliant fund Axa World Funds Framlington Eurozone, launched on 22 November and managed by Gilles Guibout. Permanent investments in out of the money put options protect the investments against severe losses.The SolEx strategy will be operated by the Investment Solutions team at Axa IM, which since 1997 has been specialised in asset-liability management (ALM) for institutional investors. Arithmetically, the team manages EUR88bn in derivatives.

Christiano Migliorini, senior quantitative specialist in Geneva, will manage the new Dividend+ fund with three of his colleagues in London. The fund will focus on European large caps which regularly pay high dividends, with hedging via option writing for each share in order to reduce beta and the volatility of the portfolio, Investment Europe reports. The performance objective is 10% per year.

In a difficult environment for fundraising, Duke Street has called off the fundraising process for its seventh vehicle. The fund had aimed for assets of EUR850m, with a first closing at about EUR250m initially planned for first half 2012, a source familiar with the matter has told Agefi. The fundraising may be restarted in 2013, the source says. Although the sixth vehicle, raised in 2007 with a total of EUR963m, is now more than 85% invested, the British private equity firm is planning to adapt to the new situation. It is now planning to solicit investors, mostly European institutionals, on a case-by-case basis for each investment.

After several months of steep declines, culminating in 7,734 trades in December, the average daily number of on-book trades of ETF shares stabilised in January at 7,731 for the European markets of NYSE Euronext. This total is 2.6% higher than the corresponding month of last year.The contraction in daily trading volumes has also slowed considerably, at EUR265.5m, compared with EUR268.7m the previous month. However, compared with January 2011, this trading volume is down 43.2%.Block trading, for its part, has increased to EUR1.1bn in January, from EUR930.5m in December, and EUR974.9m in November.Lastly, the average spread in January came to 39.5 basis points, compared with 36.6 in December and 40 in November.

According to a survey by SimCorp of 100 heads at 50 North American investment companies, more than 40% of businesses surveyed are sceptical of the coherence and quality of the data coming from their various systems, including those used for order management, accounting, performance monitoring and risk management.67.4% of respondents estimate that a lot of work is needed to consolidate data coming from multiple systems and sources of information at their business. 22% say that they need several days to produce a report which calculates exposure or performance of the business for the portfolio as a whole, including derivative products. Nearly 8% even say that they need weeks to do so.

Hedge funds finished the month of January with gains of 2.63%, after a calamitous year in 2011, according to statistics from HFR. This is the best performance the sector has turned in for one year.Equity Hedge strategies performed best, with gains of 3.84% for the month, followed by Event Driven and Relative Value Arbitrage, with gains of 2.4% and 2.3%, respectively.After a year of losses in 2011, hedge funds investing in emerging markets began the year with gains of 5.3%, the best monthly result since May 2009. Hedge funds exposed to Russia/Eastern Europe and Latin Amerioca earned returns of 9.2% and 6.9%, respectively.

Avec 34,1 milliards de dollars de collecte nette en janvier à l'échelle mondiale, le secteur des fonds indiciels cotés signe son meilleur mois depuis septembre 2010, d’après BlackRock. Les produits sur les actions nord-américaines ont concentré 43 % de la collecte. Plus exceptionnel, le crédit en a représenté 20 %.

S&P a dégradé la note de crédit du CME de «AA+» à «AA- » en maintenant sa perspective négative, les sommes engagés pour dédommager les clients touchés par la faillite de MF Global ayant entamé la qualité de crédit de l’opérateur boursier. «Même si nous croyons que le CME prend une décision rationnelle en soutenant la liquidité et l’intégrité de ces marchés, un tel soutien augmente les risques qui n’étaient pas jusqu’ici intégrés dans notre notation de la société» explique l’agence.