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03/01/2012

Default rates for high yield issuers in 2012 not a subject of concern

Taking into account five defaults in the second week of December, the default rate for high yield debt issuers will rise from 1.7% for the twelve months to the end of November to 1.9% for 2011 worldwide, Agefi reports. “This marks a break with an ongoing falling trend in default rates over the past eight months,” analysts at the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s point out. However, specialists are not worried. According to Deutsche Bank, the default rate will return to a level lower than or equal to the historic average, which is about 5%. AG CIB predicts that the rate will stabilise at about 2.5%.
03/01/2012

Large US corporations were the top performers on the stock markets in 2011

US blue chips dominate the 2011 rankings of global large caps, Les Echos reports. Of the top ten performers on the stock markets (as measured in US dollars), no less than seven are US firms. ExxonMibil and Apple – which took second place from PetroChina – lead the list. This is a strong comeback for Wall Street at the top of the list, as there had been onlye three “made in USA” giants in the top ten last year. There is only one European firm in the top 10, Royal Dutch Shell, reflecting the torments which have been afflicting the continent. Emerging market shares also suffered, as did the banking sector: the total cumulative market capitalisation for all banks in the euro zone (more than USD420bn) is close to that of ExxonMobil or Apple alone.
03/01/2012

Afer: 55,000 members seek restitution

Afer, which has been the subject of a fraud scandal involving the period from Deember 1986 to July 1997, which has been mandated by 55,000 of its members to recuperate EUR24m in assets confiscated by the courts, last Thursday submitted a restitution request before the Paris court of appeals, Les Echos reports, relaying a report by AFP on 2 January. In December 2009, the two founding directors of Afer, Gérard Athias and André Le Saux, were sentenced by the Court of Cassation to two years in prison, with suspended sentence, and a fine of EUR200,000 for abuse of trust. The Paris court of appeals found them guilty of having skimmed nearly EUR128m from Afer members, via a hidden remuneration agreement with the insurer Abeille Vie (which later became Aviva), the provider of retirement savings policies to members of the association.
03/01/2012

Allianz Real Estate buys a property in Paris suburbs

Allianz Real Estate has acquired an office property in Levallois-Perret on behalf of French companies of the Allianz group. The property, with about 20,000 square metres in area, is leased for a fixed 10-year term, a statement says. The sale price is about EUR115m.
03/01/2012

Ace Management continues its airline industry consolidation drive

Via the Aerofund, the portfolio management firm ACE Management has undertaken two large operations in the aviation subcontracting industry, acquiring the Toulouse-based company Mecahers from Mecachrome, via a capital increase of EUR17m, and an investment of EUR5m in the capital of the company Le Piston Français, to support its growth, partly via acquisitions. In the context of an increasing pace of production in the aviation industry, “these two operations reflect the strategy conducted for the past seven years by the Aerofund, focused on development and consolidation of businesses in the aviation industry, in order to strengthen the supply chain for major groups (Airbus, Safran, etc.)” the firm says in a statement released on 2 January. In order to be in a position to undertake the action, ACE Management is already at work on creating a new fund (Aerofund III), dedicated to the aviation sector. Ace Management has already made 15 investments in this area, representing earnings of EUR1.3bn and over 12,000 employees worldwide, and 5 more operations are in the process of being finalised by summer 2012.
03/01/2012

Fidelity may launch ETFs

After ignoring them for years, Fidelity Investments now appears to be preparing a push on the ETF market, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal. The group has recently submitted an application to the Securities and Exchange Commission to offer a wide range of the exchange-traded funds. If the file is approved, Fidelity may offer nearly every type of ETFs available, including international and long/short ETFs.
03/01/2012

RBC GAM adds to US personnel

The new head of distribution for the United States at RBC Global Asset Management, Matthew Appelstein, is now recruiting five to seven people to strengthen his team, which already includes 15 people, MutualFundWire reports. Appelstein joined RBC GAM in September last year, to take up the newly-created position of head of distribution for the United States. He previously worked at Old Mutual Asset Management. Appelstein has told MutualFundWire that he would like to develop relationships with consultants in particular.
03/01/2012

Paul Orwicz returns to SAC Capital Advisors

After leaving SAC Capital Advisors to found the boutique Sursum Capital Management, a specialist in long/short management, Paul Orwicz will now be rejoining his former employer, Absolute Return reports. Results at Sursum were disappointing, and Orwicz has decided to close the fund, sources familiar with the matter say.
03/01/2012

Dark month in December for Spanish asset managers

In December 2011, asset management firms registered in Spain saw net redemptions of EUR1.05bn, compared with EUR1.25bn in November, the Inverco association for the sector reports.Of the 14 largest asset management firms by asset volume, only Ibercaja Gestión (EUR4.38bn in assets under management as of the end of the month) posted net subscriptions, and these totalled only EUR10m.The heaviest outflows were from Santander Asset Management (EUR21.22bn in assets), with EUR249.78m, BBVA Asset Management (EUR19.42bn) with EUR131.72m, and Ahorro Corporación Gestión (EUR5.03bn) with EUR130.44m.For their part, InverCaixa Gestión (EUR15.5bn in assets) and CatalunyaCaixa Inversió (EUR2.58bn) saw respective net redemptions of EUR105.63m and EUR106.16m, respectively.
03/01/2012

Spain has 20 signatories to UN-PRI

In 2011, seven players in Spain signed the United Nations Principles for Responsible Invesment (UN-PRI), of which the most recent was the pension fund affiliate of Ibercaja, Funds People reports.The new additions bring the number of UN-PRI signatories in the country to 20, of which eight are asset management firms (Arcano Group, Caser Pensiones Entidad Gestora de Pensiones, S.A., Gestión de Previsión y Pensiones E.G.F.P, Ibercaja Pensión E.G.F.P., S.A., MCH Private Equity Investments SGECR SAU, Mercapital, N +1 Capital Privado S.G.E.C.R., S.A.U. and Santander Pensiones, Entidad Gestora de Fondos de Pensiones, S.A.), nine are asset owners ( BanSabadell 25 F.P, BBVA Fondo de Empleo, Fondo de Pensiones Cajasol Empleados, Futurcaval, F.P., Midat Cyclops FP, Pensions Caixa 30 FP, Plan de Pensiones Iberdrola, Santander Empleados Pensiones, F.P. and VidaCaixa), and three are service providers (Consultora de Pensiones y Previsión Social, sociedad de Asesores, SL, Novaster and Oquendo Capital).Funds People reports that the international consultant Sustainalytics, which has signed the Principles worldwide, also operates in Spain, where it provides SRI advisory and services.
03/01/2012

JP Morgan liquidates six ETFs

Borsa Italiana is removing six ETFs from J.P. Morgan Structured Fund Management from its listings: JP Morgan etf gbi local Us, JP Morgan etf gbi emu, JP Morgan etf gbi emu 1-3y, JP Morgan etf gbi emu 3-5y, JP Morgan etf gbi emu 5-7y, and JP Morgan etf gbi emu 7-10y. The liquidation of the funds will be effective on 3 January. The six ETFs were launched in 2008 by JPMorgan, which now has a platform for ETFs entitled Source. The firm has now decided not to transfer these ETFs to Source, as the platform considers the investment strategy of these products to be too difficult to sell in the light of the sovereign debt crisis.
03/01/2012

Commerzbank launches 20 new ETNs on Xetra

Commerzbank is adding to its range of ETNs (exchange-traded notes) with 20 new products. These ETNs have been available since 30 December 2011 on the Xetra electronic trading platform (Deutsche Börse). Some of the products track the long and short performance of futures on the MDax and TecDax indices, with leverage of three or four. Others track the evolution of futures contracts on government bonds denominated in euros, with leverage of five, ten or fifteen. The Frankfurt exchange now lists 111 ETNs.
03/01/2012

Hedge funds had a hard time in a highly volatile 2011

According to Hedge Fund Research, hedge funds lost an average of 5% last year, while the S&P 500 index, for example, gained 2.1% TR (total return). The Wall Street Journal reports that 2011 was the third consecutive year in which hedge funds did worse than the stock markets.These disappointing results are largely due to huge fluctuations on the markets. Confronted with the falling markets in August and September, many managers reduced their exposure, which was the right thing to do from a risk management point of view, but meant that they missed out on the rally in October, one of the best months for the asset class in decades.
03/01/2012

KGAL temporarily closes its French real estate fund

KGAL GmbH & Co. KG is no longer selling shares in its real estate fund “PropertyClass Frankreich 1,” specialised in office properties in France. The fund, which is primarily available via the Commerzbank network, was launched 10 months ago. It had not been delivering satisfactory performance. The fund will be relaunched in first quarter 2012, and will then be based around a new management concept, and will be less complicated from a fiscal standpoint, KGAL says.
03/01/2012

Union Investment acquires a shopping centre from Natixis IP

The institutional real estate fund UII Shopping Nr1 from the German asset management firm Union Investment has announced that it has acquired the Förde Park shopping centre (46,861 square metres) in Flensburg, which had previously been in the portfolio of the Captiva Capital Partners III ELP fund, from Natixis Capital Partners. The management of the wholly-leased property will be contracted to Metro Group Asset Management Services. The acquisition price has not been disclosed.The UII Shopping Nr1 fund was founded in June 2011, and focuses on shopping centres with an area of over 25,000 square metres, and valued at over EUR90m.
03/01/2012

SEB Wealth Management takes over EFG Bank Denmark

EFG International on 2 January announced that it has agreed to sell EFG Bank Denmark to SEB Wealth Management, effective from 1 January 2012. The terms have not being disclosed. The transaction is part of a business review at EFG International.
03/01/2012

Fisch AM recruits a head of international distribution

Hansjörg Herzog, director of sales for Europe, Latin America and the Middle East at Vontobel, has been recruited as director of international marketing and sales at Fisch Asset Management (CHF4.9bn in assets as of the end of September), Das Investment reports. Herzog will concentrate on developing sales in Germany and Austria in particular.
03/01/2012

Lazard registers its Objectif range in Spain

Funds People reports that the French asset management firm Lazard Frères Gestion has registered the entirety of its “Objectif” range of investment funds for sale in Spain. Nine of the funds have had a sales licence in Spain since late October.
03/01/2012

Bankinter launches a guaranteed fund that pays 3.80% per year

With the Bankinter Renta Fija 2 Garantizado, FI, Bankinter has launched a bond fund which guarantees both 100% of net asset value as of 24 January 2012 on 1 February 2014, and also a coupon of 7.85% at maturity, which represents an overall return of 3.80% per year, Cinco Días reports.Subscriptions will be open until 23 January 2012, but may be closed sooner if target asset levels are reached.The portfolio will be invested in bonds issued or guaranteed by public borrowers, and in corporate bonds with a maturity similar to that of the fund.Minimal subscription is set at EUR600, and management commission is 0.20% (up to the beginning of the guarantee period), while depository banking commission will be 0.10%.
03/01/2012

Absolute return funds disappoint

Absolute return funds, which are intended to perform well in falling as well as rising markets, did not manage to measure up to investors’ expectations last year. More than half of these funds lost money in 2011, the Telegraph reports.Among the worst performers in the sector are the UK Absolut Alpha fund from BlackRock, which lost 7% of its value in the past twelve months. The UK Absolute Return fund from Polar Capital lost as much as 15% in one year.The Liontrust European Absolute Return fund is one of the rare funds to have finished the year with gains, returning 8% over the twelve-month period. The manager of the fund, James Inglis-Jones, claims the most managers specialised in absolute returns are too closely correlated to the stock markets to be able to perform better than him.
03/01/2012

L'Afer lance une requête en restitution

L’association d’épargnants a déposé une requête en restitution devant la cour d’appel de Paris après avoir obtenu le mandat de ses adhérents, a rapporté hier l’AFP. L’Afer entend récupérer 24 millions d’euros saisis par la justice. Il s’agit d’un «ensemble de procédures individuelles», a précisé l’avocate de l’association, la voie du mandat permettant une «mutualisation importante».
03/01/2012

Temasek lance un nouveau véhicule d’investissement

Le fonds souverain de Singapour a annoncé la création d’une nouvelle entité détenue en totalité et destinée à investir sous la houlette de son ancien responsable de la gestion Tow Heng Tan dans des sociétés privées dans les marchés de l’Asie du Nord. Baptisée Pavilion Capital, le fonds sera ainsi particulièrement attentif aux petites et moyennes entreprises chinoises.
03/01/2012

Allianz Real Estate acquiert un immeuble à Levallois-Perret

Allianz Real Estate a acquis un immeuble de bureaux à Levallois-Perret pour le compte de compagnies françaises du groupe Allianz. L’actif d’environ 20.000 m² est loué à une société de premier ordre à travers un bail d’une durée ferme de dix ans, indique le communiqué. Le montant de la transaction s'élève à environ 115 millions d’euros.

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