07/07/2011
La Grèce en appelle aux investissements allemands
Dans un entretien accordé au journal, le ministre grec des affaires étrangères, Stavros Lambrinidis, a appelé les sociétés allemandes à venir en aide au pays en y réalisant des investissements dans le cadre du programme de privatisation mis en place par l’Etat afin de réduire son endettement. Les entreprises allemandes pourraient trouver intérêt à prendre des participations dans des secteurs tels que les énergies renouvelables, la pharmacie ou le tourisme.
07/07/2011
Citigroup donne leur chance à tous les investisseurs
Selon le quotidien qui n’identifie pas ses sources, la banque américaine entend lancer d’ici la fin de l’année une plateforme de négociation permettant de rassembler tant les traders à haute fréquence que les investisseurs institutionnels ou particuliers. Le «dark pool», dénommé Citi Cross, serait en phase finale de test. Une information évoquée en avril par le hedge fund Knight Capital.
06/07/2011
Le second plan pour la Grèce probablement en septembre
Le deuxième plan d’aide à la Grèce sera probablement prêt en septembre, a déclaré mercredi François Baroin. «Nous avons franchi le passage de la cinquième tranche de soutien à la Grèce, c'était les 12 milliards. Dans les semaines qui viennent, nous allons commencer à discuter du prochain plan de soutien à la Grèce», a réaffirmé le ministre français de l’Economie et des Finances sur Europe 1.
06/07/2011
La décision de Moody's pèse sur la dette portugaise et sur les banques européennes
Les rendements de la dette portugaise étaient en forte hausse, au lendemain de la décision de Moody’s d’abaisser la note souveraine du Portugal de quatre crans. Le cours des obligations à deux ans a plongé, faisant bondir leur rendement de 121 points de base, à 14,60%. Le rendement de la dette à dix ans gagne 50 pdb à 12,68%. La dette irlandaise à dix ans gagne quant à elle onze points de base, à 11,88%. Le Portugal a par ailleurs adjugé pour 848 millions d’euros de bons à trois mois. La première adjudication tenue sous le nouveau gouvernement de centre-droit a donné un taux de rendement de 4,926% contre 4,863% lors de l’adjudication du 15 juin. De leurs côtés, les valeurs bancaires européennes étaient également lourdement affectées. A 12h30, Crédit Agricole accusait la plus forte baisse de l’indice CAC 40, avec un repli de 3,24% à 10,01 euros, tandis que Natixis perdait 1,87% à 3,47 euros, Société générale 1,58% à 40,50 euros et BNP Paribas 1,2% à 52,61 euros. Les banques italiennes étaient les plus attaquées, Banca MPS, UniCredit, Banca Sondrio et Banco Popolare abandonnaient entre 3,6% et 4,56%.
06/07/2011
La demande des utilisateurs de bureaux en Ile-de-France a nettement ralenti
Le marché locatif des bureaux franciliens a nettement ralenti au deuxième trimestre d’après les données d’Immostat-IPD. La demande placée, à 503200 m², a ainsi baissé de 20 % par rapport aux trois premiers mois de l’année et de près de 15 % par rapport au deuxième trimestre 2010. Les investissements continuent en revanche de se reprendre. Les transactions dans l’immobilier d’entreprise en Ile-de-France ont progressé de 27 % sur un an au deuxième trimestre, à 1,9 milliard d’euros d’après Immostat-IPD. Sur les six premiers mois de l’année, le volume d’investissement ressort à 3,3 milliards, en hausse de 37 % par rapport au premier semestre 2010.
06/07/2011
S&P rejette les critiques sur son attitude envers la Grèce
Le directeur de Standard & Poor’s pour l’Allemagne a rejeté les critiques formulées contre son agence de notation, accusée notamment d'être trop sévère dans ses menaces de prononcer un défaut sur la Grèce en cas d’implication des créanciers privés du pays. «Ces allégations n’ont aucun fondement et sont factuellement fausses. Elles reposent soit sur la méconnaissance des faits, soit sur des motivations politiques qui négligent ces faits», affirme Torsten Hinrichs dans une interview diffusée mercredi par la radio autrichienne.
06/07/2011
La Chine relève à nouveau ses taux d'intérêt
La Banque populaire de Chine a relevé ses taux mercredi, pour la troisième fois cette année, soulignant ainsi que maîtriser l’inflation est sa première priorité même si la croissance chinoise ralentit. Le taux de prêt à un an est relevé d’un quart de point à 6,56% et le taux de dépôt à un an est augmenté également d’un quart de point à 3,5%.
06/07/2011
Les commandes à l'industrie en Allemagne gagnent 1,8%
Les commandes à l’industrie en Allemagne ont augmenté en mai par rapport à avril, selon les données officielles. Ces commandes ont augmenté de 1,8%, alors que les économistes interrogés par Reuters avaient anticipé en moyenne une baisse de 0,5%.
06/07/2011
La Commission européenne juge l'action de Moody's "contestable"
La Commission européenne a regretté la décision de Moody’s de placer la note du Portugal en catégorie spéculative, jugeant qu’elle mettait en évidence le «comportement contestable» des agences de notation. « Cette décision s’appuie sur des scénarios absolument hypothétiques», a déclaré le porte-parole de la Commission Amadeu Altafaj. Le président de la Commission européenne, José Manuel Barroso, a par ailleurs confirmé que la CE était prête à mettre sur la table une proposition visant à réguler de manière plus étroite l’activité des agences.
06/07/2011
Merchant House launches a Russia long/short fund
Merchant House Group has launched the Russian Phoenix Ucits fund, which adopts long/short positions on Russian equities, Citywire reports. The fund, which was launched with USD40m in assets under management, replicates the Spectrum Russian Phoenix fund, a long/short strategy offered by Spectrum Partners Group. The fund, launched on the firm’s UCITS platform, offers weekly liquidity. It is available in US dollars, euros, and pounds Sterling, with a minimal investment of USD20,000, EUR20,000, or GBP20,000. The fund is the first in a series of five; the other four will be launched by October this year.
06/07/2011
EQT Partners raises EUR3.5bn
The Swedish private equity group EQT Partners, which is partly owned by the Wallenberg family, has successfully raised EUR3.5bn in less than six months, the Financial Times reports, a sign that investors are seeking to place their funds with the top performing managers. EQT Partners has achieved 83% of its objective of EUR4.25bn for its sixth fund.
06/07/2011
Schroders releases a concentrated fund of US equities
Since 15 December 2010, Joanna Shatney has been manager of the US Equity Alpha sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav Schroder ISF, which has recently received a sales license for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The fund has a concentrated portfolio of 20-35 positions, dedicated to US equities with a market capitalisation of over USD1bn. There is no benchmark index, and in many ways it is a best ideas fund from the Schroders US equities team, which currently manages USD2.18bn in assets (as of 31 May). Since its launch, the fund shows performance, also as of 31 May, of 12.16%, 4.02 percentage points higher than the S&P 500 composite index. Characteristics Name: Schroder ISF US Equity AlphaISIN code: LU0562796101Front-end fee: 5%Management commission: 1.50%Minimal subscription: EUR1,000
06/07/2011
Chinese bank investment fund CDB looks to Asian SMBs
The China Development Bank (CDB) is increasingly active internationally, the Financial Times reports. With its USD10bn investment fund, it is buying up stakes in private equity and hedge funds. It is now looking to Asian small and mid-sized businesses, the British newspaper reports.
06/07/2011
DWS releases a covered bond fund
On 21 June, the CNMV issued a sales license for Spain to DWS Investments (Spain) for the German-registered fund DWS Covered Bond (DE0008476532, EUR503.8m in assets as of the end of May), formerly known as DWS Select-Rent. The fund invests at least 70% of its assets in European covered mortgage bonds. The fund may also adopt an exposure of up to 30% to government or corporate bonds, while asset-backed securities (ABS) may represent up to 10%, and emerging markets bonds up to 15%. The team actively managed duration within a range from 0 to 6.5 years for a portfolio of 50-70 mortage bonds, Pfandbriefe and cédulas hipotecarias. Currently, duration comes to about 3 years, compared with a benchmark which stands at 4.2 years.
06/07/2011
Deka buys “Vienne Rocher” real estate property under construction in Paris for EUR330m, and invests in Hamburg
The German asset management firm Deka Immobilien on 5 July announced that it has acquired the “Vienne Rocher” construction project in Paris for a maximal price of EUR330m. The completion of construction of the 31,800 square metre structure in the 8th district of Paris is slated for the end of 2013, and two thirds of its area have already been leased to “a well-known French business.” The developer of the complex, which carries a Haute Qualité Environnementale (HQE) label, is Nexity. An LEED certification will also be applied for.The property will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund Deka-ImmobilienEuropa.Meanwhile, Hochtief Projektenwicklung has sold the office property Lindely Carree (23,000 square metres in Hamburg) to Deka Immobilien for an undisclosed amount. The property will be added to the portfolio of the WestInvest ImmoValue fund, an open-ended real estate fund aimed exclusively at institutional investors.
06/07/2011
NewAlpha AM to be first recipient of Emergence seed capital
As planned (see Newsmanagers of 1 July) the Finance Innovation competitiveness group on 5 July unveiled the first seed money fund for the Paris market, entitled Emergence. The incubation fund will bring together the top managers in the Paris market, to contribute seed money to young asset management firms based in France, or which are hoping to set up offices there, in order to accelerate their development in the first years of existence.Emergence will provide EUR25m to EUR50m to each management firm selected over a three year period; the partnership will last 7 to 10 years.The objective for Emergence is to offer investors a way to participate in the performance of incubated funds (without buying a stake in the capital of the firms), and a participation in future revenues from the asset management firms.Emergence will take the form of a contractual SICAV with sub-funds, which will allow for various investment themes (absolute return, long-only, SRI, corporate bonds, etc.), with appropriate managers contracted to manage them, one per sub-fund, says Alain Leclair, a member of the board of directors at Finance Innovation and honorary president of the French asset management association AFG.The first sub-fund of Emergence will be an absolute return product launched in September (while the second one is expected be launched in early 2012), with NewAlpha AM (an affiliate of OFI) as its contracted manager, due to its recognised experience in this area (incubation for third parties, profit sharing with funds, and OPCVM mutual fund products). About 30 initial incubation targets have been identified. At this stage, the level of capital aimed at for the first sub-fund is EUR150m to EUR250m. According to information obtained by Newsmanagers, commitments already total EUR150m.
06/07/2011
CalSTRS makes a good sale in Manhattan
The California pension fund CalSTRS has been through a difficult period on the Manhattan real estate market. But it has just made a comfortable gain from a sale of its 65% stake in the Equitable Building (120 Broadway) for UDS341m to UBS Realty Investors, the Wall Street Journal reports. The stake was bought for USD240m in 2004.
06/07/2011
John Paulson's fund recuperates USD550m from Lehman
John Paulson’s fund will get back more than half a billion US dollars under a new agreement under the Lehman Brothers liquidation plan, the Financial Times reports. The settlement, which was approved by 30 financial groups, will allow Paulson & Co. to recuperate USD550m due to its acquisition of bonds at a steep discount (about 7.3 cents on the dollar) at the time the bank went bankrupt. According to the final agreement, holders of Lehman bonds will receive 21.1 cents for each dollar in face value, compared with an initial offer of 17.1 cents. This is a welcome gain for Paulson’s fund (USD38bn in assets under management), which has seen several setbacks in recent months.
06/07/2011
Lombard Odier adds to European sales teams
Lombard Odier Investment Managers (LOIM) has recruited two key employees as additions to its sales team in Europe, with the goal of developing its activities by forging closer ties to clients.Frédéric Cruzel has been appointed as head of sales for France at LOIM, based in Paris, and Donato Savatteri as head of sales in Italy, in a new office based in Milan, pending the approval of the relevant authorities. Cruzel, 49, was previously deputy director of sales for France at Amundi Asset Management. The most recent position occupied by Savatteri was that of head of sales at Franklin Templeton Investments in Italy.Both will report to Marius Wuergler, head of European sales. Géraud Dambrine will now focus on strategic clients of the management firm in Europe, and will remain as CEO of Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch & Cie Gestion France S.A.Cruzel will have the assistance in his new role of Patrick Lajoinie, who plays a strategic role in the development of LOIM’s activities in France. Savatteri will work with Alessandro Fonzi, who plays a determining role in the development of LOIM’s strategically important activities in Italy, and is based in the firm’s London offices.As of the end of March, LOIM, the institutional management unit of Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch & Cie, whose headquarters are in Geneva, managed over EUR28bn for its clients.
06/07/2011
Stoxx launches a basket of indices covering major global markets
Stoxx Limited on 5 July announced the launch of the iStoxx World Select index, a basket of indices which includes the Euro Stoxx 50, Stoxx USA 50, and Stoxx Japan 50, and which provides access to the world’s major markets in a single index. Within the basket of indices, exposure is distributed between the three underlying indices, which makes it possible to reduce the generally excessive influence of US companies in the weighted global indices by market capitalisation. The index is rebalanced on a quarterly basis, in March, June, September and December.
06/07/2011
Strong increase in IPOs in Europe, thanks to Glencore
In second quarter 2011, the number of initial public offerings worldwide rose 29% compared with the previous quarter, to 378 offerings, according to the quarterly barometer published by Ernst & Young. Capital raised has also increased 39% quarter on quarter, to USD64.6bn, a level not seen since second quarter 2007 (USD94.6bn). In the first six months of the year, there were 672 offerings, which raised USD111.1bn, an increase of 10% compared with first quarter 2010. On European markets, capital raised between April and the end of June 2011 were up 534% compared with the previous quarter, to USD17.7bn, largely, it is true, fur to the initial public offering of Glencore in London (USD10bn). The number of operations has also increased, though more modestly, by 76% quarter on quarter, to 95. The US stock markets in second quarter raised USD13.8bn, in 46 offerings. There were 28 operations on the NYSE, totalling USD9.9bn, an increase of 177% compared with second quarter 2010. But emerging markets continued to drive the market in second quarter, with 67% of total transactions, and 55% of total capital raised. BRIC markets registered 125 offerings, totalling USD24.8bn, 34.8% of the total raised in second quarter. Asian issuers, for their part, raised USD25.3bn, 39% of the total, in 173 operations. 79% of initial public offerings worldwide in second quarter were within their initial price range, compared with an average over ten years of 74.3%. Only 13% of IPOs went ahead below their initial price range, and 8% above. In other words, nearly 9 out of 10 offerings took place within or above their initial price range.
06/07/2011
BlackRock now has a director of sales for South America
Alvaro Setién will be leaving the Spanish team at BlackRock, led by Armando Senra, to become director of institutional and retail sales for South America excluding Brazil, as the latter country is covered by the office based in Santiago, Chile. Setién will report both to Armando Senra as global head of Hispanic markets, and to Axel Christensen, CEO for Chile, Funds People reports.Ricardo Comín, who joined BlackRock Iberia two months ago, will succeed Setién as head of sales.Currently, BlackRock has assets of EUR5.1bn in Spain and Portugal. The group’s total assets in Iberia and Latin America total USD42bn, compared with USD35bn as of the end of 2010, while Mexico alone represents USD16bn.
06/07/2011
Cass Business School becomes academic partner to CAIA Association
Cass Business School has announced that it has become the first British academic establishment to become an academic partner of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) Association. The partnership means that students at Cass will receive a training precisely in line with the professional criteria and practices of the alternative management sector (hedge funds, private equity, real estate, commodities, and structured products). This means a competitive advantage for Cass students aiming to make a career in this sector. Cass Business School, already a partner of the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Institute, has added another key to its chain with the partnership. The school awards an MSc (Master of Science) in Investment Management, including training in professional investment practices. “As an internationally recognised independent qualification, the CAIA designation is a safe bet in the area of alternative investments,” says Susan Roth, director of MSc programs at Cass.
06/07/2011
New IAS 19 standard may encourage pension systems to reallocate their assets
The new IAS 19 standards published last month, which seek to clarify the financial conditions of companies with regards to their overall costs and risks related to pension regimes, may lead companies to revise their asset allocation strategies covering social engagements, and investors may be led to revise their estimates of the impact of risks related to pension regimes for the companies in question, according to Mercer. Mercer is pleased to observe that the emphasis is on questions of risk management, and points out that the new rules, which will come into force from 2013, may encourage companies to adjust the way in which they invest billions of dollars in coverage assets in their social engagements. Eric Morin, a senior consultant in the international activity at Mercer, says that “investments of coverage assets from pension schemes in equities will not mechanically lead to a rise in profits for companies, although the equities will generate higher returns over the long term, according to the consensus of analysts.” Mercer estimates that the phenomenon will accelerate a trend at many companies which are asking if taking risks with pension schemes creates value for shareholders. An asset allocation which depends less on equities and more on bonds tends to increase the stability of key performance indicators. “Overall, the accounting changes may encourage companies to adopt better risk management for their pension liabilities,” Morin continues.
06/07/2011
hausInvest acquires a property in Milan
The German firm Commerz Real has announced, without disclosing the purchase price, that it has acquired the third building in the Edison Park Center (12,000 square metres), located in the Sesto San Giovanni office district of Milan, from Nexity. The property will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund hausInvest, 6% of whose assets are invested in Italy.Commerz Real states that it has already concluded in the past transactions with Nexity in Madrid, Brussels and Milan.
06/07/2011
Acatis to advise LBB-Invest VermögensManagement
According to a cooperation agreement signed with sole Berlin’s asset management firm, Landesbank Berlin Investment GmbH (LBB-Invest), the Frankfurt-based asset management firm Acatis Investment will become the advisor to the LBB-Invest VermögensManagement program, a unit-linked wealth management formula. The head of advising activities for LBB-Invest will be Hendrick Leber, CEO and founder of Acatis.The product will be made available in two variants: a prudent version, with at least 50% invested in bonds, and a dynamic version, for which the percentage invested in bonds may not fall below 30%.
06/07/2011
Wilhelm von Finck and Deutsche Family Office merge
The Bavarian wealth management firm Wilhelm von Finck AG (based in Grasbrunn) on 5 July announced that it is merging its activities with immediate effect with those of the Frankfurt-based Deutsche Family Office GmbH. The move allows the firms to construct an independent actor which remains within the orbit of, and the powerful support of, the Deutsche Bank group. The product range from the new entity will be aimed primarily at high net worth retail investors with an entrepreneurial background, and to charities in the German-speaking countries.The new group, which manages over EUR4bn in assets, will be lead by the heads of the two entities it is being created from: Stefan Freytag, chairman of the board at WvF, and Laus Kluder, CEO of Deutsche Family Office.
06/07/2011
German funds have no money to spend on IPOs
According to a survey of 44 fund managers, German asset management firms have become increasingly critical of IPOs, and 90% of them are planning to analyse businesses which turn to the open markets more critically than in the past, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports, adding that foreign institutional investors will pick up the slack.German asset managers recommend to candidates for IPOs that they go on “pre-IPO roadshows,” in order to spread the word to investors. Three quarters of respondents also recommend that businesses get an independent valuation before turning to banks to set up IPOs.Fund managers estimate that the new introductions should total at least EUR150m and 40% float.Four fifths of respondents thing that failures of IPOs in the past can be blamed on an unconvincing equity story. Managers are particularly sceptical of companies launched on the markets by private equity firms.
06/07/2011
Lombard Odier has ambitions in Japan
The Swiss group Lombard Odier is seeking to sign new partnerships with financial intermediaries in Japan, to double its assets under management in the country in five years to JPY200bn (CHF2bn), the news agency Bloomberg reports. The Geneva bank is already cooperating with four Japanese organisations, including Shizuoka Bank Ltd. and Yamaguchi Financial Group Inc, and has signed similar agreements with five other banks, Norbert Joue, chairman of the Tokyo office of Lombard Odier, explains.