Bien qu’il démente toute mesure supplémentaire d’assouplissement quantitatif dans l’immédiat, le président de la Fed a indiqué hier que le FOMC se tenait prêt à agir en cas de besoin. Son homologue européen s’est dit opposé de son côté à une implication plus forte de la BCE.

L’agence a dégradé de trois crans la note souveraine italienne à « A2 » et promet un même sort à l’ensemble des pays européens non « Aaa »

Ce sont environ 49.000 sociétés vietnamiennes qui auraient déposé le bilan entre les mois de janvier et septembre derniers à cause d’un retrait de fonds, selon le journal qui cite des propos du ministre de la planification et des investissements, Bui Quang Vinh. Un chiffre en augmentation de 22% sur un an dû à un coût d’emprunt qui a dépassé le seuil des 20% cette année.

Le coût pour s’assurer contre un risque de défaut (CDS) de l’Allemagne a atteint un nouveau record mardi en raison du sentiment que Berlin paiera l’essentiel de la facture de la crise de la dette de la zone euro. Le CDS à cinq ans sur l’Allemagne est en hausse de cinq points de base, à un record de 121 pdb, selon des données Markit. Le CDS à cinq ans sur la France est en hausse de 9 points de base, à 198 pdb et celui sur la Belgique en hausse de 14 points de base, à 286.

La détérioration de la confiance sur les marchés européens et un ralentissement anticipé de la croissance aux Etats-Unis pèsent sur les perspectives de l’Europe, estime Standard & Poor’s, dans une note publiée mardi ayant pour titre : «Le spectre d’un retour en récession en Europe se rapproche».

L’Union européenne proposera la semaine prochaine d'élargir le panier de monnaies auquel sont adossés les droits de tirage spéciaux (DTS) du Fonds monétaire international (FMI), apprend-on mardi dans un document de travail, ce qui pourrait presser la Chine de donner à sa devise une plus grande flexibilité. Le panier des DTS comprend actuellement le dollar, l’euro, le yen et la livre sterling, des devises entièrement convertibles. L’inclusion du yuan pourrait faire pression sur la Chine pour qu’elle permette une plus grande convertibilité de sa monnaie sur le marché des changes.

Allianz Global Investors is launching its second renminbi fund, Allianz RMC Renminbi Currency Fund, a fund domiciled in Luxembourg, which offers investors exposure to the expected appreciation of the Chinese currency, Investment Week reports. The fund will be managed by Helen Lam, who has been working in the regional team dedicated to bonds since 1999, and who since May has been managing the firm’s first fund denominated in renminbi. According to Lam, the appreciation of the renminbi will range from 4% to 7% per year. “Despite the recent market volatility, the renminbi has appreciated more rapidly since August, which shows that the Chinese authorities have decided to take measures to improve the convertibility of the Chinese currency, with the ultimate objective of internationalising it.” The first fund, whose assets total EUR450m, was closed to new investors in August.

On 3 October, Chi-X Europe, an alternative trading platform specialised in pan-European equities, and Russell Indices, an index provider affiliate of Russell Investments, unveiled their new range of pan-European indices: Chi-X Europe Russell Indexes (CHERITM). The new range was designed especially to bring users of pan-European and euro zone indices “high quality, tradeable” products. The two firms announced an alliance in this area slightly over five months ago (see Newsmanagers of 30 March).Currently, the new family of indices includes the Chi-X Europe Russell PanEurope Index (CHERI PanEurope), a large and highly liquid index of large caps from developed European markets (216 shares from 14 countries, in 5 currencies).Another CHERITM product is the Chi-X Europe Russell Eurozone Index (CHERI Eurozone), with 130 highly liquid shares form 1 countries, in a single currency.Chi-X and Russell have also launched the Chi-X Europe Russell PanEurope 60 Index (CHERI 60), a sub-index of the CHERI PanEurope, with the 60 largest caps of the general index, from 8 countries, denominated in 3 currencies. Lastly, the Chi-X Russell Europe Eurozone 40 Index (CHERI 40), a subset of the CHERI Eurozone index, includes only the 40 largest caps of the general index, from 8 countries, in a single currency.

On 3 October, a new sub-fund joined the Luxembourg SICAV from Sparinvest. The fund, initially entitled Atrium Value Partner SICAV European Small Cap, was launched in June 2006 by Atrium Asset Management, a Danish asset management firm specialised in value investments, which was acquired by Sparinvest in March 2011. The fund is now renamed as Sparinvest European Small Cap Value, and will retain its ISIN code (LU0256591552) and management team. The team consists of Karsten Løngaard and Lisbeth Søgaard Nielsen, who will continue to jointly manage the “new” fund as a part of the value equities team at Sparinvest, which is composed of 10 members. The fund thus joins the SICAV with a five-year track record. Although Sparinvest is specialised in long-term investment and does not believe in the virtues of market timing, it nonetheless considers the current prospects for the fund excellent, due to the massive divestment recently affecting the European stock markets. Due to the euro crisis, small companies based in Europe have all indiscriminately been devalued, and now represent a promising hunting ground for investors seeking opportunities. The Sparinvest European Small Cap Value index aims to earn positive returns over the long term, using Sparinvest’s value equities strategy a 100% bottom-up approach, which seeks out value investment opportunities in the small and micro-cap segments (as defined by MSCI), on stock markets of EU member countries plus Norway and Switzerland. Characteristics of the portfolio at launch: ISIN code: LU0256591552 R Launch date: 22 June 2006 Size: EUR3.31m Subscription commission: 3% Top five positions: Aareal Bank AG 6.1%, Wash Tec AG 5.3%, Wolford AG 4.8%, Derby Cycle AG 4.8%, Haldex Group AB 4.6% Top three sectors: Consumer goods 32.5%, industrial materials 27.5%, corporate services 10.3%.

The JO Hambro Capital Management group has launched two Asian equity funds, Investment Week reports. The funds are the JOHCM Asia ex Japan fund, a fund investing in all cap sizes which will be managed by Samir Mehta, and the JOHCM Asia ex Japan Small and Mid Cap fund, a small and midcaps fund which will be managed by Cho-Yu Kooi. The two managers are both veterans of the Singapore-based management boutique Silver Metis Capital Management, which was acquired a few months ago by JO Hambro Capital Management. The fund, which will be available to institutional and retail clients, will be available in Dublin in shares denominated in pounds Sterling, US dollars, and euros. Front-end dees are 5%, while management fees are 1.50% per year, and performance commission is 15%.

Louis N. Cohen, managing director of the global fixed income division of the New York firm MacKay Shields (USD56bn in assets), on a visit to Paris to present the US Corporate Bond Fund (LU0458979746), a sub-fund of the Nordea 1 Sicav, to investors, said a few words in praise of US investment grade corporate bonds, whose potential is at least as solid as that of high yield bonds, he says.The fund, whose assets as of the end of September totalled USD1.252bn, up from USD978m at the end of December, has not seen redemptions since the beginning of this year. Cohen’s confidence is partly due to the fact that he does not believe there will be a recession, but is still expecting a slow growth rate of 2% for the United States. This is in line with the results of a survey by Russell Investments published on 29 September, in which 79% of US asset managers predict that there will not be a double-dip recession. In addition, the profit situation for surviving US businesses has improved considerably, and US banks are not as vulnerable as they were in 2008. The “Twist” operation initiated by the Fed aims to dissuade banks from converting the maturities of their bonds to invest in Treasuries, but to convince them instead to “pump credit into the system.” For investors, the returns on investment grade corporate bonds is highly attractive, with spreads of 225 basis points. The Nordea fund invests 60% of its assets in BBB-rated bonds, 10% in BB bonds, and 25% in A-rated papers. The portfolio has about 225 positions, with a low turnover rate.

Cormac Sheedy, head of sales at SHUAA Capital, an investment bank based in the United Arab Emirates, has been recruited as senior executive officer for Middle East & Africa at RBC Dexia Investor Services. He will be in charge of directing the development of the business in the Middle East from the Dubai office of RBC Dexia, and will report to Simon Shapland, managing director of UK, Ireland and Middle East.

Fonds Professionell reports that Evelyn Muth, who in November 2010 was promoted to Head of Global Relations Central Europe at Fidelity Germany, will officially be leaving the firm at the end of this year, but that she has taken a leave of absence beginning on 30 September. She had been employed at the group since 1995.At the end of June, Fidelity recruited Kerstin Behnke, managing director and head of Northern Europe, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg at Gartmore, to be director of distribution for Germany (see Newsmanagers of 17 May). At that time, the firm announced that Adam Lessing would be leaving his job as head of distribution for Germany in order to focus on Austria and central Europe.

The UBS group is expected to report a slight net profit for third quarter, and net inflows to its wealth management activities, the Swiss bank announced in a statement on 4 October. The results include a loss of USD2.3bn due to unauthorised trades previously announced, and about CHF0.4bn in restructuring costs associated with the firm’s cost reduction programme. Results were also boosted by gains for the firm’s own financial sector engagements, which at fair value made about CHF1.5bn, largely due to a narrowing of credit spreads at UBS in third quarter. In addition, UBS will announce a capital gain on its sale of cash investments, which allowed it to make nearly CHF0.7bn at the Wealth Management & Swiss Bank division. Currently, the group’s tax costs for the quarter come out to near zero. UBS will also post a net inflow to its wealth management activities at a level comparable to the previous quarter. Global Asset Management will for its part announce a limited net outflow.

The Swiss asset management firm Unigesion has appointed Bill Foo as its president for Asia and its Singapore office, Unigestion Asia, from 1 October. Since 1999, Foo had served as chairman and CEO at ANZ Bank in Singapore. He will remain as vice-chairman of ANZ South & South East Asia. In his new role, Foo will assist Bernard Sabrier, chairman of Unigestion and CEO of Unigestion Asia Pte Ltd., and Nicholas Hulme, executive director based in Singapore, to develop the activities of Unigestion in Asia.

AXA Investment Managers has announced the appointment of Francisco Arcilla as global head of AXA Funds of Hedge Funds (AXA FoHF) effective 3 October, 2011. He will be responsible for the overall leadership of AXA IM’s FoHF platform and accelerate its development as a provider of tailor made investment solutions in the hedge fund space. Francisco will be based in London and report to Thibaud de Vitry, global head of AXA IM’s Investment Solutions business and member of the AXA IM Management Board. Francisco Arcilla will be a member of the AXA IM executive committee.

Alain Massiera is joining the college of partners and the board at Rothschild & Cie Gestion, as head of the private banking unit at Rothschild & Cie Gestion, the firm announced in a statement on 3 October. “His exceptional expertise in private banking and investment banking and his international career will be at the core of the new responsibilities of Alain Massiera,” Jean-Louis Laurens, chairman of the board and managing partner at Rothschild & Cie Gestion, says in a statement. Massiera was appointed in December 2010 as global head of the private banking profession at the Crédit Agricole S.A. group in Paris.

“Assets under management related to the deployment of the international product range represent about 25% of total assets,” says Mandarine Gestion, whose total assets under management as of the end of August totalled EUR1.6bn. The firm has chosen once again this autumn to announce its exposure to international business, with an added reminder that this products are now available in five European countries outside France (see Newsmanagers of 30 August): Germany, Luxembourg, Austria, Spain, and Italy.In Italy, the Mandarine Valeur and Mandarine Unique funds were registered in July. In Spain and Italy, the management firm is present through a partnership with La Française AM, which has offices in Madrid and Milan. In addition, Mandarine has an office in Frankfurt, and uses the services of First Quant in Vienna.Mandarine also manages assets from Switzerland (a market it entered in 2008), Luxembourg (2008), Ireland (2011) and the United Kingdom (2009). These markets are handled by the sales team bases in Paris.

In a filing released on 3 Ocotber, the Austrian oil group ÖMV announced that it has been informed by the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC, an affiliate of the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund), that the latter firm has increased its stake in the capital of ÖMV to 24.9%, from a previous level of 20.9%. IPIC now owns 81.49 million shares in ÖMV, and its most recent acquisition is valued at EUR320m.The holding company ÖIAG, which controls the Austrian government’s investments, remains the largest shareholder in ÖMV, with about 31.5% of the firm.

Axa Investment Managers is adding to its Optimal Investments range with the launch of the Axa WF Optimal Absolute fund, which will aim to earn positive returns every year, regardless of the direction of the markets. It joins the two flexible funds AXA Optimal Income and AXA WF Optimal Income, which have over EUR1bn in assets under management as of the end of July 2011. “Axa WF Optimal Absolute is an opportunistic fund which offers a way to take long or short positions on a wide variety of assets. These positions may be realised directly through indices, financial sector shares, equities and bonds, or via derivatives,” explains Serge Pizem, manager of the fund and head of the Optimal Investments team at Axa IM. He will be assisted by Laurent Talon, who joined Axa IM in July this year. The fund may invest in developed and emerging markets, and will include liquid asset classes in variable proportions depending on the evolution of the markets. It combines a macro and bottom-up approach in order to limit the correlations between its various investments. “Currently, the portfolio is invested primarily in money markets, as volatility is high and the correlations between the various asset classes are unstable. In addition, the impact of policy decisions on the markets is very high. These points have compelled us not to engage too much capital in this environment,” Pizem says. The fund has a wealth management approach, and is aimed primarily at distributors (private banks), funds of funds, IFA networks, and wealth management advisers, among whom absolute return strategies are currently in high demand.

DoubleLine Capital, the asset management firm founded by Jeff Gundlach and several former employees of TCW (Société Générale), has announced that DoubleLine Funds Trust on 30 September launched the bond product DoubleLine Low Duration Bond Fund, with two no-load share classes. The I share class carries a commission of 0.47%, while the N share class carries a commission of 0.72%. Minimal initial subscription is set at USD100,000 for I shares, and USD2,000 for N shares.It is the fifth fund of the DoubleLine range.The managers of the portfolio are Philip Barach, Luz Padilla and Bonnie Baha. The effective duration of the new fund will be a maximum of 3 years under ordinary conditions.

The British asset management firm Schroders, which has already released its GAIA CQS Credit fund in France (see Newsmanagers of 11 July) and in Spain (see Newsmanagers of 31 August) will now make a roadshow for the UCITS-compliant hedge fund for German and Austrian investors in the month of October, Investment Europe reports. The product has gained 6.8% since its launch in April, and its objective is returns higher than the Libor 3-month.

The US asset management firm State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has announced that the new SPDR S&P® Aerospace & Defense ETF (XAR), SPDR S&P Health Care Services ETF (XHS) and SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF (XSW) funds were admitted to trading on the NYSE Arca platform on 29 September. They replicate the sectoral sub-indices of the S&P Select Industry Indices range, and each charge fees of 0.35%.Assets in ETFs of the SPDR range as of the end of June totalled over USD266bn.

Most funds from InverCaixa now offer three share classes, Funds People reports. The first class is for subscriptions varying from EUR600 to EUR50,000; the second covers the range from EUR50,001 to EUR300,000, and the third, entitled Premium, is for investments of over EUR300,000. Each share class charges a different commission level.According to the most recent statistics from the CNMV, the system of multiple share classes, which has been allowed in Spain for two and a half years, is not yet common practice. Only 129 funds now have a total of 300 share classes. InverCaixa has become the most recent firm to participate in the movement.

On 29 September, Aviva Gestión registered the Aviva Renta Variable Zona no Euro fund with the CNMV. As its name indicates, the fund will invest at least 75% of its assets in equities in companies outside the euro zone, or in other funds which invest outside the euro zone, including in emerging countries. At least half of the portfolio will be placed in at least four third-party or in-house funds. The fund was created on 15 June 2011.The benchmark index is composed 60% of the S&P 500 Total Return, and 10% each of the Topix Total Return, FTSE 100 Total Return, MSCI Emerging Markets Total Return, and EONIA 7-day.The portion of the fund not invested in equities will be placed in moderate-quality bonds from OECD countries, but will also be partly invested in euro zone equities. The average duration of the bond portfolio will not exceed two years. Exposure to currency risks may vary from 0 to 100%.The product will be available primarily via Allfunds Bank.CharacteristicsName: Aviva Renta Variable Zona No Euro, FIISIN code: ES0112186004Indirect management commission: 2.25%Direct management commission: 0.1%Indirect depository banking commission: 0.2%Direct depository banking commission: 0.04%Minimal initial subscription: EUR10

According to an analysis by the ratings agency Scope, open-ended real estate funds which have suspended their redemptions are endangering funds of funds, Handelsblatt reports. Once real estate funds reopen their redemption windows, there is a danger that funds of funds will call in their money immediately.Scope analysed funds of funds with assets of EUR3.1bn, and found that 60% of their portfolios are composed of shares in real estate funds. In three cases, the funds of funds themselves which were closed to redemptions had 70% to 90% of their assets frozen in closed real estate funds. Handelsblatt cites the recent case of the Premium Management Immobilien-Anlagen fund of funds, which Allianz Global Investors announced in mid-August would be liquidated (probably this month), with EUR500m, or EUR19 per share, to be paid out to subscribers. This represents a considerable loss for clients.Many funds of funds are invested in the Morgan Stanley P2 Value fund, which will be liquidated. The next funds to reopen, in mid-November, will be the Axa Immoselect and the DEGI International (Aberdeen). If the re-opening is a failure, these funds will also have to be liquidated.

BlackRock has launched the BlackRock Absolute Return Bond Fund, a UK authorised unit trust, in response to growing investor demand to add value in an environment of low interest rates and stretched valuations across many areas of fixed income investments.The BlackRock Absolute Return Bond Fund is managed by Ian Winship, a senior portfolio manager.

The UK asset management firm Baring Asset Management (Barings) on 3 October announced the recruitment of William Palmer as investment director for its global emerging markets (GEM) team. Palmer, who had previously been senior asset manager and head of Asia ex-Japan equities at KBC Asset Management, will report to Roberto Lampl, head of GEM equities. The Barings Global Emerging Markets fund as of the end of August had assets of USD1.7664bn.

Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) has announced the recruitment of James Carver as investment director for absolute return bond funds. Carver will co-manage absolute return bond funds with Juan Valenzuela. Carver previously spent ten years at Aberdeen Asset Management.

The hedge fund manager Cambridge Strategy Asset Management, a specialist in emerging markets, has recruited Adam Reynolds for the newly-created position of chief executive officer for the Asian region, Asian Investor reports. Reynolds, who will begin in January 2012, previously worked at Société Générale, where he was co-head of bonds and currencies for Asia.