Recherche
S'abonner
Connexion
Asset Management
Accueil Asset Management Actualités
23/01/2012

Talk of a Paulson comeback is still premature

The Advantage Fund from the hedge fund manager Paulson & Co has earned 4% from the beginning of the year to 17 January, while the S&P 500 gained only 2.9%. This is a stretch of barely two weeks, but it comes as a consolation after the loss of about 35% from the fund in 2011, with unlucky bets on Bank of America, Hewlett-Packard and Sino-Forest, the Wall Street Journal states. The performance early this year is related to the stocks selected by Paulson, which are expected to profit from the economic recovery.
23/01/2012

Investment funds expecting continued sales by banks

The asset management firm Garnier Principal Investments has announced a partnership with the US secondary fund Saints Capital, to attack the French market and buy up LBO shares from banks, Les Echos reports. “In France, nearly EUR40bn are now invested in private equity, and a large part of that historically comes from banks and insurers. All of these have announced sales of assets and will be less active in the future. We are expecting at least 10% to 20% of this total to be sold on the market,” says Grégoire Revenu, CEO of Bryan Garnier. Saints Capital, which has been active for more than a decade in the US, manages about USD1.2bn in assets, and has made 50 deals to invest in more than 300 businesses. In France, Bryan Garnier and Saints Capital will make one or two deals a year for EUR100m, and a total of possibly up to EUR500m.
23/01/2012

Banque Pâris Bertrand Sturdza continues development

Banque Pâris Bertrand Sturdza (BPBS), founded in March 2009, which offers management advising and outsources private management activities from other providers, is planning to develop in Switzerland and western Europe, with the opening of offices in Zurich and Luxembourg, Agefi Switzerland reports. Teams specialised in Asia and the Middle East may be recruited in 2012.BPBS, which has 34 employees and is continuing to recruit, is also in talks with independent managers, “who may be hired as employees or future partners,” says Olivier Bertrand, one of two operational partners, alongside Pierre Pâris.The lead project for 2012 is the creation of PBS Investment, a unit which will be “the core of management at BPBS,” based on a systematic multi-asset class approach developed internally. The firm has not disclosed its level of assets under mamagement, which are said to have increased 85% last year, after doubling in 2010.
23/01/2012

Schroders suffers no crisis in Japanese equities

“Not only has the Schroder ISF Japanese Equity Alpha (EUR194.2bn) earned 10.4% since its launch, compared with 4.3% for its benchmark index, the Topix, but this strategy has outperformed the MSCI World index by 300/350 basis points over ten years,” Nuno Texiera, deputy CEO of Schroders France, and Shogo Maeda, head of Japanese equities, explain to Newsmanagers.Schroders now has about USD4.8bn in assets in Japanese equities, with four ISF funds, including the Japanese Equity fund managed by Maeda, which with assets of EUR307.1m as of the end of December, is focused on core portfolio large caps, with less risk and more stable earnings, while the Japanese Equity Alpha is more oriented to midcaps, with a portfolio concentrated on about 30 positions.Two of the four Luxembourg-registered Japanese equity funds of the range, the Japanese Equity and Equity Alpha, have brought in a net total of more than EUR158m in 2011. The Japanese Large Cap fund, which saw net outflows of EUR9.8m last year, will be converted into an “Opportunities” fund in April, and its investment perimeter will be extended to include all cap sizes. “One of the major advantages of Schroders, which has about 140 staff in Japan, is that it is interested in the under-researched midcaps universe, which many sell-side analysts have abandoned,” says Maeda.
23/01/2012

ICAP retains Prosper to manage a UCITS version of one of its funds

The Swiss asset management firm Prosper Professional Services will advise and promote the fund Prosper Stars & Stripes, a UCITS-compliant version of a US long/short equity hedge fund. The product will be managed in Denver by the team at Independence Capital Asset Partners (ICAP) which is responsible for the original fund, Hedge Week reports. The fund will soon be registered in Switzerland, and will be aimed primarily at institutional clients.
23/01/2012

Lazard AM proposes an allocation fund dedicated to emerging markets

The asset management firm Lazard Asset Management has created a fund based on an existing strategy dedicated to emerging markets, to be managed by Kai Jacob, Fund Web reports. The Dublin-based fund, Lazard Emerging Markets Allocation, may rely on Lazard’s offerings in equities, debt and emerging market currencies. The new fund, derived from the portfolio of the Lazard Emerging Markets Multi-Strategy fund, which Jacob has managed since 2009, places the emphasis on growth and value equities, fixed income and currencies, in order to benefit from developments in the economic environment. Currently, the fund’s largest geographical allocation is to Brazil, where nearly 12% of the fund is invested, followed by Russia (11%) and China (8%).
23/01/2012

Skandia IG awards Artemis over GBP50m

Skandia Investment Group (SIG) has awarded Tim Steer of Artemis a mandate in the Skandia Global Best Ideas Fund worth GBP38 million and a mandate within the Skandia UK Best Ideas Fund worth GBP24 million. His appointment to the two Best Ideas funds sees him taking over the reins from Audrey Ryan of Kames Capital.Tim Steer is well known to SIG having managed a mandate for UK Best Ideas when at New Star. Additionally, he currently manages a mandate in UK Strategic Best Ideas.
23/01/2012

Invesco Perpetual rolls out a financial sector fund

Invesco Perpetual is offering a new fund dedicated to financial sector equities, the Global Financial Capital fund, which will be managed by the co-heads of fixed income, Paul Causer and Paul Read, and CIO Nick Mustoe. The fund will seek to earn returns over the mid- to long term through investments in banks and other financial institutions across the globe, in order to benefit from regulatory developments such as Basel III and ongoing structural reforms. The fund will be launched on 25 January, with initial capital of GBP2m. Initially, the fund will be primarily a bond vehicle, with a total equities allocation of 0% to 5%, but allocation to equities may increase up to 40%.
23/01/2012

Standard Life Investments extends MyFolio range

The range of MyFolio profiled funds on offer from Standard Life Investments (SLI), which has already attracted GBP9000m since October 2010, has gained two families of five products, the multi-managed MyFolio Multi Manager Income I to V funds, and the income funds MyFolio Managed I to V. The Multi Manager products are by definition composed of funds from throughout the market, while Managed funds are largely built from SLI funds. The MyFolio range offers subscribers active or passive management, which is always weighted in terms of risk.
23/01/2012

Putnam scales up consultant relations team

Charlotte Walsh (ex-managing director at Ranieri Partners) and Gregory Weissman (ex-senior vice president at Old Mutual Asset Management) have been recruited as professional relations consultants at Putnam Investments, for the consultant relations team at the head office for global institutional management (GIM). Walsh and Weissman will be based in Chicago and Boston, respectively, and will report to Joseph Phoenix, head of GIM, and join a team which already includes Keith Thomas in London and Anne Lundberg in Chicago, as well as two associates in Boston. Putnam, whose total asssets under management as of the end of December totalled USD117bn, has about USD57bn in assets under management for institutional clients, including sovereign funds, government pension funds and pension plans for large corporations.
23/01/2012

Millennium Management plans to open Korean arm

One of the largest US hedge funds, Millennium Management, with assets under management of USD14.1bn, is planning to open offices in South Korea, Hedge Week reports. Millennium Management is also reported to be the first foreign hedge fund to be active on the Korean market. The Korean authorities have recently decided to develop the onshore hedge fund sector.
23/01/2012

Management reshuffle at BNY Mellon Asset Servicing

Vince Sands has been appointed as deputy CEO at BNY Mellon Asset Servicing, a position in which he will report to Tim Keaney, vice chairman and CEO. He will be replaced as head of Asset Servicing Ammericas by Samir Pandiri, who had been CEO of BNY Mellon Shareowner Services.For his part, Lou Maiuri, head of outsourcing, has been appointed as head of the global financial institutions business, replacing Nadine Chakar, who becomes global head of Derivatives360.Hani Kablawi will replace Frank Froud, who is leaving the business, as head of EMEA Asset Servicing. Along with Maiuri, Kablawi will report to Tim Keaney, who will continue to report to Chung Jin Leow, head of Asia Pacific Asset Servicing.
23/01/2012

BNY Mellon appoints Nadine Chakar as head of Derivatives360

Nadine Chakar, head of the global financial institutions group at BNY Mellon Asset Servicing, has been appointed as global head of Derivatives360, a derivatives trading platform. She will report to Karen Peetz, vice chairman and CEO of the financial markets & treasury services division at BNY Mellon, and succeeds Patrick Tadie, who has been appointed as business executive for hedge fund services and broker-dealer activities.
23/01/2012

Assets at La Française REM up 20% in 2011

La Française REM last year posted a record increase of 20% to its real estate assets, the firm announced on 20 January in a statement. Assets under management now total over EUR7bn. Gross inflows last year totalled EUR1.2bn. The real estate asset management affiliate of La Française AM says that the past year was marked by the comlpetion of several projects using OPCI vehicles as their investment structure, for French and international clients, in the form of dedicated portfolios or as club deals. In one year, La Française REM has tripled its OPCI assets, to over EUR1bn as of the end of 2011. La Française REM is now positioning itself on the OPCI market as one of the leading providers, while retaining its position as leader in the SCPI non-publicly traded real estate fund segment (over EUR500m in gross inflows in 2011, and assets of EUR5.8bn). It is also continuing to develop multi-management in Europe, where it has increasing assets.
23/01/2012

Samsung seeking real estate partnership

The Korean asset management firm Samsung Asset Management is seeking to develop its investment portfolio of real estate in the United States, the UK, and other developed economies, in order to profit from sales of distressed properties, Asian Investor reports. Samsung launched its real estate fund activity in 2009, with three funds representing assets under management of USD500m. Samsung also launched an infrastructure fund in 2011.
23/01/2012

Three potential buyers for asset management activities of Deutsche Bank

According to sources familiar with the matter, JP Morgan Chase, State Street and Ameriprise Financial are among the finalists to acquire the asset management activities of Deutsche Bank, Handelsblatt reports. It appears likely that the German bank will ultimately sell the division off in lots, which would be more profitable then selling them all in a single block.
23/01/2012

Oxfam launches a microfinance fund

Oxfam, a charity to fight poverty, is launching its first fund, the Financial Times reports. The Small Enterprise Impact Investment Fund is a joint initiative of Oxfam GB and Symbiotics, a Swiss microfinance specialist. It will invest in financial intermediaries with the goal of supporting small and mid-sized businesses in Africa and Asia.
23/01/2012

ALFI critical of Volcker rule and Tobin tax

2012 will be marked by an increase in regulatory pressure, according to the Luxembourg investment fund association (ALFI), which says that it is “particularly concerned” by the Volcker Rule and a proposed tax on financial transactions.At a press conference, Marc Saluzzi, the new chairman of ALFI, claimed that the Volcker rule, in its current form, would create market distortions, and needs to be modified. “At the least, we think that the final version of this law should put European regulated funds on an even footing with their US equivalents,” says Saluzzi. In relation to the proposed tax on financial transactions, ALFI claims the legislation may drag down sales of UCITS-compliant funds outside Europe, and significantly reduce assets in European funds. In order to limit its impact, financial institutions “will make large-scale efforts to move their activities abroad, and/or to increase costs for consumers.” ALFI insists that the proposed legislation could slow sales of UCITS-compliant funds outside Europe, and significantly reduce assets placed in European funds. The impact on the fund sector would be significant, not only due to the high level of tax proposed, “but also because the proposal assumes multiple taxation of the fund portfolio and investors.”
23/01/2012

Arca Sgr cuts staff

In the space of six months, the Italian asset management firm Arca Sgr has reduced its staff from 180 to 70, Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. The changes come as part of a restructuring, which has also involved a change of governance. “The firm needed to radically change in order not to be liquidated, in light of the ongoing decline in net inflows since 2001,” the chairman of the firm, Guido Cammarano, explains. As of the end of 2011, assets at Arca totalled EUR12.4bn, compared with EUR31.6bn in 2001.
23/01/2012

Lloyd George Management recruits for frontier markets team

Greg Mills, Dafydd Lewis and Donatas Uzkurelis are joining the frontier markets team at Lloyd George Management (LGM), Das Investment reports. Mills will be in charge of strategy; he had previously been national director of the South African institute for international affairs, and continues to serve as director of the Brenhurst Foundation in Johannesburg, which is dedicated to economic development in Africa. Lewis had been head of frontier market research at an investment firm in Dubai, and will be a specialist in the finance sector, while Uzkurelis will focus on the consumer goods sector, after serving for six years as an analyst at a European bank in Lithuania.
23/01/2012

“Our ambition is to approach British IFAs and others”

Vincent Gleyze, a specialist in quantitative management and head of Rivoli Finance, discusses the evolution of this type of management in 2011, and the development of his company this year. The firm's goals are ambitious: it is hoping, via various channels, to increase the presence of the asset management firm in France and in Europe, serving savings investors, and also to win over institutional investors.
23/01/2012

New York Fed sells AIG assets to Credit Suisse

The New York Federal Reserve bank has announced on its website that it has selected Credit Suisse Securities to acquire assets with a face value of USD7.014bn, from the Maiden Lane II LLc (ML II) fund. Barclays Capital, Goldman Sachs, Pierce, and Fenner & Smith had also bid. The request for proposals was kicked off in January 2012 with an unsolicited bid from Goldman Sachs to acquire a part of ML II, a portfolio which was taken on board by the Fed as part of the AIG bailout. The New York Fed then retained BlackRock Solutions to auction off the portfolio.
23/01/2012

Hedge fund trader avoids prison sentence

On Friday, David R. Slaine, a former trader at the hedge fund management firm Chelsey Capital, avoided a prison sentence, because he cooperated very effectively with prosecutors during an investigation which led to charges against 10 individuals who have been found guilty of insider trading, the Wall Street Journal reports. Slaine recorded his conversations with his friend Craig Durmal for investigators; Durmal later pled guilty in the Galleon scandal. Slaine also bore witness against Avi Goffer, another Galleon trader.US District Judge Richard Sullivan sentenced Slaine to three years of probation, 300 hours of community service and a fine of USD500,000, in addition to the USD532,000 which he has already forfeited.
23/01/2012

Franklin Templeton launches dividend fund

Uwe Zöllner, head of Pan European equity at Franklin Equity Group, is head of the management team for the Franklin European Dividend Fund (LU0645132811), which has recently received a sales license from BaFin for Germany and the FMA for Austria. The fund is long-only, as it invests in European equities likely to pay higher than average dividends. The investment horizon for the product, which has no benchmark, is 3 to 5 years.
23/01/2012

Some real estate funds may go institutional

According to the Börsen-Zeitung, Axa IM is currently in talks with institutional investors who hold 100% of the open-ended real estate fund Axa Immosolutions (EUR352m), about a potential conversion of the fund into an institutional product.Hartmut Leser, chairman of the managing board at Aberdeen Asset Management, claims that a transformation of this kind is the only way to save the DEGI German Business fund (EUR242m).However, UBS Germany has ruled out converting the 3 Sector Real Estate Europe fund (EUR348m) into an institutional fund, as it still has 20% retail shareholders, and the asset management firm is keen to stay on the good side of these clients.
23/01/2012

Lyxor launches two ETF funds in Italy

From 23 January, two new Lyxor ETF funds focused on emerging countries will be listed on the Milan stock exchange. They are the Lyxor ETF MSCI Indonesia (FR0011067511), focused on Indonesia, and the Lyxor ETF Thailand (FR0011067529), focused on Thailand. The asset management firm is the largest ETF manager on the Borsa Italiana, both in terms of contracts (68%) and exchange value (57%).
23/01/2012

Hedge funds reject settlement proposed by Porsche

Porsche, which is facing lawsuits seeking damages and interest of EUR2bn from several US hedge funds which accuse the firm of misleading communications policies during a takeover bid by Volkswagen, has proposed to settle present and future cases for a sum in the hundreds of millions of euros, manager magazin reports. However, the plaintiffs are reported to have rejected the offer as too low. The heirs of Adolf Merckle are also seeking EUR250m in damages and interest from Porsche.
23/01/2012

La Troïka salue les efforts de Lisbonne

La réforme du code du travail portugais est conforme au plan de sauvetage consenti à Lisbonne et représente un premier pas important en vue de soutenir la compétitivité du pays, ont déclaré des représentants de ses bailleurs de fonds internationaux. La CGTP, première confédération syndicale portugaise qui revendique 750.000 adhérents, a toutefois refusé de signer l’accord.
23/01/2012

L’Espagne réclame plus de soutien

Le ministre du budget espagnol Cristobal Montoro a exhorté l’UE dans un entretien à La Vanguardia à relâcher la pression sur les objectifs budgétaires du pays. «Si Bruxelles n’adapte pas le programme de stabilité à un nouveau scénario de récession, ça ne sera pas réaliste et l’Espagne ne sera pas seule à couler, mais l’Europe entière aussi». Le ministre des affaires étrangères Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo a indiqué à El Pais que le MES devrait avoir une capacité supérieure à 500 milliards d’euros et précisé que la BCE «peut faire bien plus» pour soutenir les marchés obligataires.
23/01/2012

La Croatie dit « oui » à l'Union européenne

Malgré un faible taux de participation de 44%, les Croates ont massivement approuvé hier, avec 66% des voix, l’entrée de leur pays dans l’Union européenne à compter du 1er juillet 2013 malgré l’inquiétude soulevée par les difficultés actuelles de la zone euro.

Sujets d'actualité

Tous les sujets