Debory Eres, qui se présente comme la première plateforme indépendante d'épargne salariale et retraite qui a dépassé les 500 millions d’euros d’encours sous gestion dans ses OPCVM d'épargne salariale début 2011, a annoncé le 7 octobre le lancement de son nouvel espace internet dédié aux partenaires distributeurs. Avec plus de 6000 entreprises, du CAC40 à la très petite entreprise, 1 000 cabinets référencés et plus de 600 actifs en 2010, Debory Eres est une plateforme industrielle où plusieurs centaines d’apporteurs se connectent chaque semaine. Au-delà du nouvel environnement visuel et d’une organisation plus claire des rubriques, le nouvel espace intègre quatre innovations: la mise à disposition d’outils permettant de développer la collecte notamment lors de la campagne de reversement de fin d’année; la mise en ligne des informations détaillées sur les comptes individuels des salariés qui ont donné leur accord grâce au «Service Info Compte» et l’alimentation des agrégateurs de données; l’intégration de l’article 83 au même niveau que l'épargne salariale: documentation commerciale, outils d’aide à la vente, suivi de portefeuille et lien transparent vers l’extranet de Swiss Life Assurance et Patrimoine la compagnie du contrat; et enfin, la présentation des cycles de formation et l’inscription en ligne des conseillers.

A l’heure des comptes, ce sont 380 professionnels qui ont assisté, jeudi 6 octobre, à la dixième édition du Forum de la gestion d’actifs de L’Agefi qui s’est tenue au Pavillon Dauphine à Paris. Outre une douzaine de tables rondes au cours desquelles une trentaine d’intervenants se sont exprimés sur les grands sujets de la place (MIF, Solvency 2, Bâle 3, l’ISR, etc), cette édition a été marquée par la remise de plusieurs prix. Tout d’abord, dans le cadre du partenariat amLeague-Newsmanagers, Antoine Briant, président de la société amLeague, a recompensé les lauréats ayant obtenu le prix de la meilleure performance pour la période du 30 juin 2010 au 30 juin 2011, dans la catégorie Actions Europe Fully Invested et Actions Euro Fully Invested - respectivement Petercam et AllianzGI (cf Newsmanagers du 04/07/2011). Puis, il a remis deux nouvelles récompenses attribuées aux sociétés de gestion affichant le meilleur ratio performance/risque (*) - toujours sur les mêmes zones d’investissement et la même période de référence. Les vainqueurs ont été été respectivement Invesco AM dans la catégorie Actions Europe Fully Invested et Edmond de Rothschild AM dans la catégorie Actions Euro Fully Invested. Par ailleurs, L’Agefi a procédé à la remise de ses premiers «Prix des lecteurs de L’Agefi». Au nombre de quatre, ces récompenses avaient pour objectif de distinguer les acteurs du monde de la gestion d’actifs et des investisseurs institutionnels qui se sont particulièrement illustrés au cours des dix dernières années.A partir d’une sélection de 15 à 20 nominés déterminée pour chaque prix par les rédactions de L’Agefi, plus de quatre cents lecteurs de L’Agefi ont voté entre le 20 septembre et le 5 octobre pour élire : Dans la catégorie du Meilleur gérant : Marc Renaud (Mandarine Gestion), devant Didier le Menestrel (Financière de l’Echiquier) et Eric Turjeman (Amundi AM). Dans la catégorie du Meilleur directeur de la gestion : Edouard Carmignac (Carmignac Gestion) devant Pascale Auclair (La Française AM) et Romain Bosher (Amundi AM).Dans la catégorie Meilleure société de gestion : Carmignac Gestion devant Amundi AM et Edmond de Rotschild AM. Dans la catégorie Meilleur investisseur institutionnel : Jean Eyraud (EDF) devant Olivier Hereil (BNP Paribas Cardif) et Philippe Desfossés (Erafp). (*) Les prix portent sur les univers d’investissement comportant au moins 10 compétiteurs : « Actions Europe Fully Invested » et « Actions Euro Fully Invested ». La méthodologie est fondée sur la mesure de l’alpha et du beta de Jensen (pour lesquels on régresse la performance du portefeuille nette du taux sans risque sur la performance de l’indice de référence nette du taux sans risque. Le classement de la «meilleure combinaison performance / risque» s’établit à partir du ratio de Black-Treynor : ratio = alpha/ beta.

Créée en 2005, la société de gestion TOBAM affiche une croissance spectaculaire depuis sa sortie de l'orbite de Lehman. Son président montre que la stratégie choisie pour réussir une telle expansion repose sur une approche très originale de données qui, au fond, seraient aisément disponibles pour beaucoup d'intervenants, s'ils avaient la bonne méthode. Tout l'art réside en fait dans la manière de les combiner, de les interpréter et d'en tirer parti…

Selon Das Investment, le tierce partie marketer (TPM) et consultant Accelerando Associates, implanté en Allemagne et en Espagne, va ouvrir une succursale à Londres avant la fin de l’année et recruter des collaborateurs supplémentaires tant à Francfort qu'à Valence à partir de janvier 2012. Cela a été annoncé par Philip Kalus, le fondateur et managing partner.

L’ex-managing director de Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities, Alexandre Kinmont, responsable de la stratégie sur les actions japonaises, va lancer un fonds dédié au Japon, rapporte l’agence Bloomberg.Alexandre Kinmont, qui a quitté Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities en juillet dernier, a créé depuis sa propre société, Milestone Asset Management, qui propose déjà un fonds long only. La récente volatilité du marché l’a toutefois incité à envisager le lancement d’un hedge fund long/short dédié aux actions japonaises, au moment où le Japon est désormais «bon marché».

BlackRock vient de recruter Al Denholm en tant que managing director et responsable EMEA (Europe, Moyen-Orient et Afrique) de l’équipe multi-asset client solutions. A ce nouveau poste, il travaillera en étroite coopération avec Michael Huebsch, managing director et responsable global de l’équipe. Il s’occupera aussi de l’allocation d’actifs active et sera au comité de gestion de la branche multi-asset.Avant de rejoindre BlackRock, Al Denholm travaillait chez ING IM où il faisait partie de l’équipe qui supervisait les activités de gestion d’actifs de la société.

Trois personnes pour Londres, cinq pour Munich, deux pour Luxembourg... Invesco Real Estate (IRE) étoffe son dispositif européen avec un total de dix recrutements pour la gestion de produits, la gestion de fonds investis dans les hôtels, la gestion d’actifs, la finance et la comptabilité de fonds.Andrew Hills (ex Corestate) rejoint IRE à Londres comme director of client portfolio management dans l'équipe European Product Management. Il se focalisera sur le développement et le suivi de la clientèle au Royaume-Uni, aux Pays-Bas et dans les pays nordiques.L'équipe spécialiste des fonds investis dans les hôtels a été renforcée par Hans-Peter Hermann (ex ArabellaStarwood Hotels) comme senior asset manager à Munich et Erik Jacobs (ex Morgan Stanley RReal Estate Investing) comme transactions manager à Londres.Christian Freundl (ex KGAL) et Neehar Pattni (ex IPD) sont recrutés respectivement comme director of asset management à Munich et comme asset management analyst à Londres. Christian Freundl sera responsable d’un portefeuille d’actifs «retail» couvrant toute l’Allemagne pour des clients institutionnels français et ainsi que des actifs allemands d’un «pooled fund» européen.D’autre part, Daniel Köhler (ex Landesbank Berlin et BayernLB à Londres) intègre le Finance Department d’IRE à Munich où il sera chargé de la structuration des financements et des financements à base de dette pour toutes les actifs immobiliers au Royaume-Uni et en Europe continentale.IRE compte également deux nouveaux account managers à Munich dans le pôle comptabilité de fonds de sa division gestion d’actifs. Verena Lorenz vient de terminer ses études supérieures tandis Dieter Zeiser arrive de chez Taurus Investment Holdings. Ils seront chargés de l’administration de fonds et du reporting pour les investisseurs concernant les fonds et les mandats paneuropéens d’IRE.Enfin, à Luxembourg, l'équipe IRE a été renforcée par l’arrivée de deux ex AIG Global Real Estate Luxembourg. Fabrice Coste arrive en tant que general manager et Marion Geniazux comme senior Fund Finance manager.

IPE.com reports that the asset management arm of the Bank or Norway, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), has confirmed that since 10 August, its external managers are not permitted to receive over EUR17.5m, or USD25m per year, in performance commissions for each mandate from the sovereign fund Government Pension Fund Global, formerly known as the Oil Fund.

Theam, a fund management affiliate of BNP Paribas, is planning to quadruple its investments in hedge funds dedicated to Asia next year to EUR200m, to take advantage of strong growth in the region, Eric Debonnet, who has been head of the alternative management team at Theam for a few weeks, told Reuters on 7 October. “In Asia, it is really urgent for us to extend our range,” says Debonnet. Theam manages about EUR1bn in 15 funds of hedge funds, for insurers, institutional investors and private banking clients. Debonnet, based in Paris, says that Theam is planning to launch a fund of hedge funds by the end of the year or early 2012. the firm is hoping to increase its assets under management to EUR3bn in the next three years, of which 20% will be invested with Asian managers, he says.

In order to further the continued growth of institutional demand for ETF products in Asia, the Dutch ETF-specialist market maker Flow Traders has set up an office in Singapore, with a team that will initially include four to five people, Asian Investor reports. Flow Traders currently employs about 150 people, distributed between Amsterdam, New York, and now Singapore.

Surge Trading, created out of the remnants of the stock-trading of Bernard Madoff’s business, last month entered a liquidation process, due to a failure to find a buyer or fresh source of financing, the Wall Street Journal reports. The founders of Surge paid USD25.5m for the market-making activities of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. But the operating costs related to high-frequency trading and a drop in market activity dragged the company down.

The co-founders of the French asset management boutique Day Trade Asset Management (DTAM), Adrien Fuchs and Thierry Dumont, both former traders, have decided to part ways. Fuchs will buy out his partner’s 50% stake in the capital, giving him complete control of the firm. The amicable separation will not lead to any changes in the activities of DTAM, which received a license in 2002 from the French financial market regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF). The firm, which has three staff, offers three funds, two of which are equity funds relying on the firm’s house specialty, day trading. Day trading, which literally involves buying and selling assets in the same day, exploits variations in price which equities undergo daily. The first fund invests in French equities, Day Trade Action France, while the second is a market neutral fund, Day Trade Equity Neutral. A bond fund, Saint Chamond Oblig Inter, completes the range. DTAM currently manages EUR20m, down from over EUR40m in July 2007. Negative market effects have wiped out assets, but the firm has also undergone the suspension of its fourth fund, a leveraged products, which had used Lehman Brothers as its prime broker, and which found itself caught up in the legal battle over responsibility of depositories (see Newsmanagers of 9 April 2009). The fund has not reopened, but Fuchs would like to be able to restart a fund using the same model. Among its other plans, DTAM, whose clients are mostly retail, would like to find a commercial partner. It is already working with TPM Investeam in the institutional segment.

AllianceBernstein on 6 October announced the launch of a blog dedicated to its clients and investors, to inform them in real time about investment issues. The “Context” blog will deal with all asset classes, and will draw on the expertise of several heads at AllianceBernstein, who will regularly post on the blog, including Sharon Fay, head of equities and chief investment officer at Global Value, Doug Peebles, head of fixed income, and Greg Singer, director of research at the Wealth Management Group.

The fall of the gold markets in September brought a further deterioration to results for John Paulson, whose largest hedge funds had already taken a hard hit since the beginning of the year. Paulson’s gold specialist fund lost 16.4% last month, while the price of gold fell by only 11%, and the fund shows gains of only 1% since the beginning of the year, although the metal has gained 16%.The Recovery Fund has also lost 14% in September and 31% YTD, while the Advantage Fund lost 12.1% in the month of September, and has lost 32% in the first nine months of 2011, and the Advantage Fund Plus has lost 19.4% and 47%.Assets in the Advantage Fund from Paulson & Co, which totalled USD38bn a few months ago, have fallen below USD30bn, according to sources familiar with the matter. Investors have until 31 October to decide if they want to withdraw from the Advantage fund by the end of this year.

In Bethesda, ProShares on 6 October announced the launch of the first two ETFs in the United States to offer leveraged exposure to natural gas, the ProShares Ultra DJ-UBS Natural Gas (acronym on NYSE/Arca: BOIL), with leverage of 2, and ProShares UltraShort DJ-UBS Natural Gas (KOLD), with leverage of -2. This leverage is invested against the daily performance of the Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas Subindex, before fees. Both funds charge fees of 0.95%, and were founded on 10 April 2011.The management firm says that in the past three years, it has raised over USD2.5bn for leveraged commodities ETFs. BOIL and KOLD are the ninth and tenth funds in the series, all of which (ETFs based on gold, silver, crude oil, and commodities more generally) are products with leverage of 2, either long or short.

Hedge funds from Fortress Investment Group have not been spared from the turbulence on the markets this autumn, but credit strategies have held out particularly well, according to regulatory documents released last Thursday. Two hedge funds dedicated to credit have remained in positive territory despite losses in August. The Drawbridge Special Opportunities Fund LP lost 1.29% in the month of August, outperforming its benchmark index, the HFRX Event Driven, which lost 4.05%. The fund shows a gain of 6.54% since the beginning of the year. The Drawbridge Special Opportunities Offshore Fund lost 0.53% in August, but has earned 9.2% since the beginning of the year. Macro strategies were the weak point in September. The Fortress Macro Fund, however, posted a slight gain of 0.29% last month, outperfoming the HFRX Macro/CTA Index, which lost 2% in the same period. Nonetheless, since the beginning of the year, the fund shows losses of 7.32%. The Fortress Asia Macro Fund, for its part, lost 2.5%, with losses since the beginning of the year totalling 1.23%.

GSO Capital Partners, the global credit platform from the Blackstone Group (EUR34bn in assets) has announced the acquisition of the Irish management firm Harbourmaster Capital Management, a leveraged loan manager with assets advised and under management of EUR8bn, for an undisclosed amount.The team at Harbourmaster in Dublin will continue to be responsible for Harbourmaster funds, and will form a joint platform with the European activities of GSO in the area of leveraged loans to create new funds aimed at European investors. The platform thus created will have assets of EUR11.5bn, with a team of 40 professionals in Dublin and London.

The list of countries planning to create government investment funds is growing on all continents, despite the market crises of this summer, Les Echos reports. Ratings agencies are encouraging the trend. Despite the falling markets, assets in sovereign funds have increased moderately, by 1.7%, in third quarter, to USD4.737trn, according to estimates from the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute. This is largely due to significant inflows of capital which some funds received (particularly in the Middle East).

In third quarter, hedge funds had their worst three months since the financial crisis began in 2008. On average, they suffered losses of 2.8% in September, bringing losses for the quarter to 5.5%, according to statistics from Hedge Fund Research, cited by the Financial Times. The funds which performed least well were those focused on equities in the energy and natural resources sectors, which lost more than 9% in September.

Das Investment reports that the third-party marketer (TPM) and consultant Accelerando Associates, which has locations in Germany and Spain, will open a branch office in London by the end of the year, and will recruit new staff in Frankfurt and Valencia from January 2012. The announcement was made by Philip Kalus, founder and managing partner.

According to statistics from the Geneva-based firm Alix Capital, the UCITS Alternative Index Global which measures the performance of UCITS-compliant hedge funds, lost 1.33% in September, after losses of 1.81% in August. Total losses for the first nine months of the year total 3.85%. The eleven sub-strategies are all in the red for last month, and only commodities show positive returns (0.10%) for the first three quarters of the year. The strategies showing the heaviest losses in September are emerging markets (-6.67%) and commodities (-4.01%). Emerging markets also show the heaviest losses by far in January-September (-11.69%), followed by long/short equity (5.42%) and funds of funds (-4.08%).

The European covered bond council (ECBC) on 7 October announced plans for a label for covered bonds. The objective of the initiative, which is undertaken in cooperation with issuers, investors and regulators, is to promote liquidity and to strengthen the secondary covered bond market, the council says in a statement. The certification process is based on the principle of self-certification, and is placed under the supervision of the ECBC steering committee. Plans to create the label will be presented at the next plenary sesssion of the council in spring 2012. At the end of 2010, covered bonds represented worldwide assets of over EUR2.5trn, and total issues of EUR600bn.

In Europe, corporate issuers rated in the speculative category as of the end of second quarter represented 24.3% of all corporate issuers, compared with 19.2% one year ago, according to an article published by Standard & Poor’s (“A Snapshot of the Corporate Ratings Distribution for the U.S., Europe, Emerging Markets, and Other Developed Regions.”) Out of 1,218 issuers, 922 were rated investment grade, while 296 were rated speculative. The agency says that the median rating in Europe in second quarter went from A- to BBB+. The percentage of issuers rated AAA, AA and A was 29.3% as of the end of June, compared with 55.4% at the end of June 2010. The percentage of issuers rated BBB< BB and B, meanwhile, has increased to 49.3% from 46.1% previously. Worldwide, the percentage of corporate issuers rated speculative grade has increased to 44.1% of all issuers as of the end of June, from 41.6% one year previously, for a total of 2,667 businesses, up from 3,379 rated investment grade.

Three recruitments for London, five for Munich, two for Luxembourg: Invesco Real Estate (IRE) is scaling up its Euoropean personnel with ten recruitments for product management, management of funds investing in hotels, asset management, finance, and fund accounting.Andrew Hills (ex Corestate) joins IRE in London as director of client portfolio management in the European Product Management team. He will focus on development and client relationships in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia.The team specialising in funds investing in hotels has gained Hans-Peter Hermann (ex ArabellaStarwood Hotels) as its senior asset manager in Munich, and Erik Jacobs (ex Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing) as transactions manager in London.Christian Freundl (ex KGAL) and Neehar Pattni (ex IPD) have been recruited as director of asset management in Munich and asset management analyst in London, respectively. Freundl will be head of a retail asset portfolio covering all of Germany for French institutional clients, and the German assets in a European pooled fund.Daniel Köhler (ex Landesbank Berlin and BayernLB in London) joins the Finance Department at IRE in Munich, where he will be in charge of financing structuring and debt-based financing for all real estate assets in the United Kingdom and continental Europe.IRE has also recruited two new account managers in Munich for the fund accounting unit of its asset management division. Verena Lorena has just finished her studies, while Dieter Zieser joins from Taurus Investment Holdings. They will be in charge of fund administration and reporting for investors in funds and pan-European mandates at IRE.In Luxembourg, the IRE team has gained the addition of two former employees of AIG Global Real Estate Luxembourg. Fabrice Coste joins as General Manager, and Marion Geniaux joins as Senior Fund Finance Manager.

BlackRock has announced Al Denholm has joined BlackRock’s Multi-Asset Client Solutions (BMACS) team in the newly created role of managing director and regional head of BMACS’ business in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). In this role, he will be responsible for leading BMACS EMEA activities working closely with Michael Huebsch, managing director and global head of BMACS, in the oversight of the group’s four main functions: Client Strategy, Solutions Portfolio Management, Active Asset Allocation and Research, and Business Management. He will also assume the direct responsibility for the active asset allocation and research team and serve on the BMACS management committee. Al Denholm joins BMACS from ING Investment Management (ING IM), where he was a member of the four person leadership team responsible for overseeing ING IM’s investment management activities in more than 20 countries.

ATP, the largest Danish pension fund (USD122bn), has announced that it has renegotiated its swap contracts, in order to avoid having to accept French government bonds as collateral, though these continue to have good ratings, according to the Bloomberg Risk Newsletter. The renegotiation also affects Italian bonds and bonds from other countries of Southern Europe. The fund will now only accept German, Danish and US government bonds.

At the Responsible Investor conference in Amsterdam, Alex van der Velden, head of equity strategy at the Netherlands management firm PGGM, has announced that the group’s responsible investment portfolio of EUR3bn has outperformed its benchmark by 17% since its launch three years ago, IPE.com reports. The portfolio aims for long-term financial returns, integration of ESG criteria, and shareholder engagement in a small number of firms.

Manulife Asset Management has appointed James Chen, formerly of Goldman Sachs AM, as head of institutional sales for Asia, Asian Investor reports. He will be based in Hong Kong, and replaces Avere Hill, who left the firm in late January.

The former managing director of Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities, Alexandre Konmont, head of the Japanese equities strategy, will launch a fund dedicated to Japan, Bloomberg reports. Konmont, who left Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities in July this year, has since founded his own firm, Milestone Asset Management, which already offers a long-only fund. The recent volatility on the market, however, has led to plans to create a long/short hedge fund dedicated to Japanese equities, at a moment when Japan is inexpensive for the first time in a very long time.

The head of real estate strategy at Aviva, Chris Laxton, has told Money Marketing that the Chinese residential real estate market is in a bubble market situation that may last five years. Laxton says that the Asia Pacific real estate fund from Aviva, with assets under management of about GBP318m, has no exposure to the Chinese market.