Avec l’arrivée de Sébastien Thomas, (ex Invest AM, ex Olympia Capital Management), la succursale de Paris de Pictet & Cie Europe compte fournir à sa clientèle un service supplémentaire en la dotant d’un interlocuteur en mesure de l’informer du sentiment en matière d’allocation d’actifs des équipes de Pictet Asset Management basées à Genève. Un second recrutement a par ailleurs été finalisé pour renforcer, en juillet, l'équipe commerciale de Paris.

Comme l’a souligné tout récemment à Istanbul Sergio Albarelli, senior director Southern Europe & Benelux, qui coiffe également la France, Franklin Templeton Investments cible prioritairement les investisseurs institutionnels de tout premier plan en France. Des clients potentiels considérés comme extrêmement sophistiqués, comme la société américaine peut le constater par les renseignements qui sont demandés dans les appels d’offres. L’implantation parisienne, qui gère «plus de 4 milliards de dollars» selon son directeur général Dominique de Préneuf, se targue de travailler déjà avec tous les acteurs de cette catégorie, notamment avec le FRR (qui représente environ un bon tiers des encours), et les banques privées, le reliquat se répartissant entre CGPI, produits structurés et fonds de fonds.D’ores et déjà, il est prévu que l'équipe commerciale d’une douzaine de personnes, sur un effectif de dix-huit, sera renforcée au moins par le recrutement d’un spécialiste de la clientèle institutionnelle, sans qu’il faille pour autant exclure l’embauche ultérieure d’autres membres pour muscler la force de vente.

NYSE Euronext a annoncé qu’Amundi a fait admettre à la cotation sur la plate-forme parisienne les ETF Amundi ETF MSCI EM Asia B (code Isin : FR0011018316) et Amundi ETF MSCI EM Latin America B (FR0011018324). Tous deux chargés à 0,45 %, ils répliquent respectivement les indices MSCI Emerging Markets ASIA et MSCI Emerging Markets Latam.Avec ces nouveaux produits de droit français, NYSE Euronext cote désormais 649 fois 557 ETF en Europe. Depuis le début de l’année, les plates-formes européennes de l’entreprise de marché ont enregistré 108 introductions correspondant à 82 ETF.

Au mois d’avril, dans un contexte de hausse des marchés actions et des marchés de matières premières parallèlement à une forte baisse du dollar, toutes les stratégies alternatives ont progressé, selon les données communiquées par l’Edhec-Risk Institute.Le meilleur résultat a été enregistré par les stratégies CTA Global, avec un gain de 3,82%. En revanche, les stratégies d’arbitrage de convertibles ont eu quelques difficultés malgré les bons résultats des obligations convertibles (+2,68%) et ont terminé le mois sur un gain modeste de 0,12%.Les stratégies equity Market Neutral ont dégagé un rendement de 0,97%, l’ensemble des stratégies actions affichant de bonnes dispositions à l’instar des stratégies évenementielles (+1,19%) ou du long/short equity (+1,35%).

Avec 30 milliards de dollars d’encours et une équipe de 80 professionnels de l’investissement (gérants de portefeuille et analystes), le pôle local asset management de Franklin Templeton dont Stephen H. Dover est le CIO international regroupe des produits gérés et distribués localement par des filiales ou des coentreprises en Corée du Sud, au Brésil, en Chine, en Inde, au Vietnam, en Malaisie et dans les Emirats arabes unis (Dubaï), sans oublier le Canada et le Japon.Le manager a aussi indiqué lors d’un séminaire à Istanbul, qu’il étudie d'éventuelles implantations par exemple en Europe orientale, au Mexique, en Australie et en Turquie, mais toujours selon le même schéma, avec des équipes de gestion locales autonomes, alors que les concurrents ont tendance à privilégier leurs fonds internationaux.Cela posé, les meilleures idées de cet ensemble de gérants «growth» sont reprise dans une stratégie mondiale qui pèse environ 100 millions de dollars, dont un compartiment luxembourgeois (Franklin World Perspectives Fund) de 52,2 millions de dollars (fin avril) géré justement par Stephen Dover.Une approche très sélective des marchés «frontières"Néanmoins, les fonds de marchés dits «frontières» sont pour leur part du ressort du groupe marchés émergents (55 milliards de dollars) que dirige Mark Mobius. Et Carlos von Hardenberg, responsable pays pour la Turquie, est plus particulièrement chargé du compartiment Templeton Frontier Markets Fund, qui pesait fin avril environ 1,16 milliard de dollars.Il s’agit d’un produit de sélection de valeurs avec 5 gérants assistés d’une quarantaine d’analystes qui ont constitué un portefeuille de 115 titres actuellement, avec un ratio cours/bénéfice de seulement 8,7 contre 16 pour l’indice MSCI Frontier Markets. L'équipe a pour principe de ne pas se fonder sur la recherche extérieure, notamment locale, parce qu’elle n’est clairement pas fiable. Les favoris sont actuellement le Kazakhstan, l’Ukraine et le Nigeria, voire le Kenya, alors que les titres égyptiens ont été revendus, vu les circonstances.Plusieurs pays sont consciencieusement évités. Il s’agit notamment du Venezuela, pour d'évidentes raisons d’instabilité, de la Mongolie, à cause des pratiques comptables incertaines, du Bangladesh, dont la réglementation ne satisfait pas aux exigences de Franklin Templeton (notamment avec l’obligation d’avoir des commissaires aux comptes locaux), du Koweit, un marché très spéculatif, ainsi que de l’Angola et de la Libye, qui n’ont pas de Bourse.En tout état de cause, Carlos von Hardenberg, les souscripteurs devraient avoir un horizon de placement d’au moins cinq ans. Et le gestionnaire veillera à ce que les encours n’augmentent pas trop fortement et trop rapidement.

Palaedino Asset Management, une société de gestion issue d’un family office genevois gérant 1,1 milliard de francs suisses, lance le fonds Axiom Global Currency, compartiment de sa Sicav luxembourgeoise Ucits III, dont l’objectif est de diversifier le risque monétaire.Concrètement, ce fonds réplique l’indice PAM Hard Currency Index, un indice investissable créé par la société suisse mi-décembre 2010 qui se compose de 25 devises possédant un fort potentiel de revalorisation. «Il vise à protéger et préserver le pouvoir d’achat mondial des investisseurs en base euro ou dollar dans un contexte de désordre monétaire où le dollar ou l’euro vont se déprécier par rapport aux autres devises», explique Sandro Mauceri, l’un des gérants du fonds, aux côtés de Jérôme Berset et Christian Bado. Pour entrer dans la composition de l’indice, les devises doivent provenir de pays dont la situation de la dette souveraine est viable sur le long terme, être sous évaluées en termes de parité de pouvoir d’achat, bénéficier d’un environnement à fort potentiel de croissance et présenter les caractéristiques d’une valeur refuge. L’euro et le dollar n’y figurent pas.En fonction de leur potentiel d’appréciation, les différentes devises sont sur ou sous-pondérées dans l’indice, qui est révisé tous les trois mois.Le fonds affiche à ce jour un encours de 50 millions d’euros, l’objectif étant de lever 100 à 200 millions d’euros supplémentaires sur les prochaines années. En France, le fonds, comme les cinq autres de la gamme, sera commercialisé par la société de tierce partie marketing Compagnie Financière Jacques Cœur.

On 18 May, the Hamburg stock exchange has announced that a freeze on subscriptions and redemptions for the open-ended real estate fund of funds DB ImmoFlex, announced by DWS Investment, has led to shares in the product being admitted to trading on its platform. The stock market business, which operates the Hamburg and Hanover stock markets, adds that all German open-ended real estate funds and funds of funds which are currently subject to freezes are admitted to trading on its markets.

Fidelity International is now offering those German investors who tend to be more prudent and conservative the Fidelity Global Strategic Bond Fund, which covers all bond segments (investment grade corporate bonds, high yield bonds, government bonds, inflation-linked bonds, and emerging markets bonds). The fund, denominated in euros and registered in Luxembourg, has received a German sales license from BaFin.Fidelity Germany on 20 May also announced that it has released the Fidelity Asian Bond Fund (in USD), which is aimed at clients who are less hesitant to take risks, and who are seeking to participate in Asian growth.Assets in Asia-Pacific (ex Japan) managed by Fidelity as of the end of December totalled USD55.7bn.CharacteristicsName: Fidelity Global Strategic Bond FundISIN codes: Distribution share class: LU0594301060Capitalisation share class: LU0594300682Manager: Andy WeirBenchmark index: Barlcaus Capital Global Aggregate Bond IndexFront-end fee: 3.5%Management commission: 1.15%Name: Fidelity Asian Bond FundISIN code: capitalisation share class: LU0605512275Manager: Bryan CollinsBenchmark index: BofA/Merrill Lynch Asian Dollar Investment Grade Index (ADIG)Front-end fee: 3.5%Management commission: 0.75%

The team of trustees who have been working to create France’s Strategic Investment Fund (FSI) since its inception in November 2008 have nearly completed their mission, Les Echos reports. The seven members of the board of directors of the CDC affiliate, which inherited a three-year renewable civil mandate, will meet on 31 May to prepare for the future. Fresh terms for the two representatives of the CDC on the one hand, and of the government on the other, do not appear to be in doubt. The two independent administrators, Patricia Barbizet, CEO of Artémis, the financial holding company for the assets of François Pinault, and Denis Kessler, chairman and CEO of the reinsurer SCOR, have expressed their intention to continue to assist in the development of the FSI. However, Xavier Fontanet, currently chairman of Essilor, will not be standing for another term.

With the arrival of Sébastien Thomas, (ex Invest AM, ex Olympia Capital Management), the Paris office of Pictet & Cie Europe is now planning to offer its clients additional services, with the addition of an interlocutor in a position to inform them about the asset allocation sentiment of teams at Pictet Asset Management in Geneva.A second recruitment has also been finalised, which will bring an addition to the Paris sales staff in July.

Ibercaja Gestión on 24 March launched a “expected performance” bond fund, which is described as an intermediate solutions between a guaranteed fund and a savings deposit. The product, Ibercaja Renta Fija 2014 – 2, matures on 29 December 2014. It aims for annualised performance of 3.25% to 3.50%.The portfolio will be invested in bonds rated at least A- by S&P or the equivalent, but may be up to 40% invested in BBB+/BBB- rated shares, and may allocate a maximum of 3% of its assets to bonds with a rating of less than BBB-, or which are not rated. The average duration for the portfolio will initially be less than 3.5 years. All securities will be retained until maturity.The fund will be available until 30 July with no front-end fee.CharacteristicsName: Ibercaja Renta Fija 2014 – 2ISIN code: ES0147049003Front-end fee: 0.5%, from 30 July 2011Management commission: 0.95%Depository banking commission: 0.1%Early withdrawal penalty: 1.5%, from 30 July 2011

The “Offene Immobilienfonds Rating 2011” rankings from the Berlin-based agency Scope Analysis covers only 24 open-ended real estate funds, compared with 29 in 2010 (see Newsmanagers of 12 May 2010). Only three products saw increases to their ratings: the Deka-ImmobilienGlobal (up to A+ from A), the grundbesitz europa fund from RREEF Investment (Deutsche Bank), which is promoted to AA from AA-, and the WestInvest InterSelect, reserved for institutional investors, which has moved into the AA+ category from A+, putting it at the top of the rankings. In total, 10 funds get A ratings or higher, compared with 12 in 2010, and 18 in 2009.Scope has also maintained its ratings for ten funds unchanged, and has further lowered its ratings for 11 funds (compared with 23 in 2010). At the bottom of the rankings, the only funds in the “D” class are two funds from DEGI (Aberdeen group), the Global Business fund (which was already rated D in 2010), and the International fund (which was rated BB in 2010). The DEGI International fund, meanwhile, is the fund which has seen the heaviest losses in one year (15%); it is also second for highest levels of leverage (41.6%), after the TMW Immobilien Weoltfonds (48%).The dispersion of performances for the various funds is very wide, from +5.2% and -15% in one year. According to calculations by the BVI, average one-year performance as of the end of March totalled 0.9%, due to the fact that the German association of asset management firms does not take into account real estate funds whose liquidation has been announced since the beginning of the year, which had seen double-digit losses. According to estimates as of the end of December, however, open-ended real estate funds had lost an average of 1.3%.The best retail products in the rankings are the grundbesitz europa, followed by the Deka-ImmobilienGlobal, SEB ImmoPortfolio Target Return Fund (high net worth private clients and institutionals), which receive A+ ratings, and then the Deka ImmobilienEuropa, hausInvest (Commerz Real) and UniImmo: Deutschland, which receive A ratings.

In an echo of the 2011 rankings of open-ended real estate funds by Scope (see article in today’s Newsmanagers), Die Welt reports that the ratings agency finds that the UniImmo: Global fund from Union Investment has a good chance of being able to reopen to redemptions, because it did not close to redemptions in March due to liquidity problems, but rather due to the disaster in Japan.Scope also estimates that the CS Euroreal fund (Credit Suisse Asset Management) and the KanAm grundinvest fund, which have high quality portfolios, could reopen to redemptions in the relatively near future. However, the SEB ImmoInvest fund is facing a handicap due to the fact that one fifth of its portfolio is invested in properties on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, which presents a cluster risk. In addition, SEB Asset Management lacks a reliable distribution partner, who could prevent redemptions from being too high if the fund is reopened.Lastly, four funds will have difficulty reopening, either because they are too small, or because they have seen losses, or because the value of their portfolios could be revised heavily downwards: these funds are the TMW Immobilien Weltfonds, Axa Immoselect, and the DEGI International and Global Business funds.

Appetite for risk has continued to diminish over the week to 18 May, as investors were confronted with not particularly encouraging macroeconomic data, a rise in speculation about a potential restructuring of Greek debt, and the forthcoming end to the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing programme. According to the most recent statistics from EPFR Global, equities funds have seen a net outflow of USD7.07bn in the third week of May, while outflows from emerging markets equities funds totalled USD1.64bn. However, bond funds posted a net inflows of USD4.59bn Since the beginning of the year, inflows to bond funds invested in emerging markets posted a net inflow of USD7.9bn. Inflows to US bond funds have totalled USD28.4bn since the beginning of the year, while international bond funds have taken on USD24.5bn, and funds dedicated to high yield bonds have seen inflows of USD22.1bn. However, US municipal bond funds have seen outflows of more than USD25bn since the beginning of the year, and European bond funds have seen outflows of nearly USD13bn.

Investors worldwide are acquiring a growing interest in emerging markets and alternative asset classes, according to an annual survey of institutional investors by Mercer (“2010 Global Manager Search Trends report”). From a diversification standpoint, investors are interested in real estate, largely due to the relatively attractive prices in this asset class. There is also a growing interest in commodities, infrastructure, and multi-strategy hedge funds. Research into emerging markets, both in equities and bonds, has also increased strongly. Andy Barber, global director of Manager Research at Mercer, says that “interest in non-traditional asset classes is continuing to increase, as investors seek to diversify their investments and participate in opportunities to generate alpha and beta.” Interest in traditional investments is falling, due to the crisis, but it will continue, Berber predicts, adding that mandates for traditional equities and bond management will continue to dominate research activities in the short term. In Europe, research activities have been significantly reduced in the United Kingdom in 2010, but had increased strongly the previous year, while it has risen more than 50% in Germany, with strong demand for emerging markets strategies (equities and bonds). Activities have also increased in Switzerland and Sweden, while they have fallen in France, Ireland, and the Netherlands.

Frank Schröder, manager of the HSBC Trinkaus Kurzläufer fund (DE0005324552) at HSBC Global Asset Management (Deutschland), has announced that the fund’s investment policy concept is changing, for two reasons.On the one hand, a change in the economic environment, as official rates are increasing and the quality of credit is holding stable, argues in favour of a shorter-duration credit portfolio, which would be actively managed, and focused on floating rate securities, with the euribor three-month as its benchmark.On the other hand, the segment of banking sector bonds with state guarantees, which was the fund’s largest allocation, is beginning to shrink, as these securities begin to mature. The fund will now invest in senior corporate bonds investment grade, complemented by covered bonds and government bonds. The fund invests solely in bonds denominated in euros, with a maximal duration of one year.

Jean-Rémy Roulet, who is both president of the Groupement des Institutions de Prévoyance in Switzerland, a group of Swiss pension funds, and the head of a pension fund, talks with Newsmanagers about the way that institutional investors' capital is managed in Switzerland, and the natural internationalisation of their investments. The president and head would like to be able to bring asset managers at the various management firms face to face with a global investment universe.

In an environment in which the CSI 300 equities market has lost 12.5%, the portfolio of the Chinese social security fund (NCSSF) earned 4.23% in 2010, compared with 16.12% in 2009. These results are better than the 3.3% gains for the consumer price index, Z-Ben Advisors reports, due to mandates for foreign investments, bonds, and cash.Assets increased in one year to CNY856.7bn as of the end of December, compared with CNY776.7bn one year previously of which 41.1% is in the form of mandates (compared with 46.6%), and CNY497.8bn in direct investments. A 10.2% increase in assets under management is due to performance of 4.23% on the one hand, and to capital injections and transfers from the Ministry of Finance and state-owned enterprises, on the other.

Palaedino Asset Management, an asset management firm created by a Geneva-based family office that manages CHF1.1bn in assets, is launching the Axiom Global Currency fund, a sub-fund of its UCITS III-compliant Luxembourg Sicav, with the objective of diversifying money market risks. The fund replicates the PAM Hard Currency Index, an investable index created by the Swiss firm in mid-December 2010, and composed of 25 currencies with strong potential for revaluation. “It aims to protect and preserve the global purchasing power of investors based in euros or dollars, in a context of monetary disorder, at a time when the dollar and euro are likely to depreciate against other currencies, Sandro Mauceri, one of the managers of the fund, along with Jérôme Berset and Christian Bado, explains. In order to be included in the index, currencies need to come from countries where the sovereign debt situation is viable in the long term, which are undervalued in terms of purchasing power parity, and which are enjoying an environment of strong growth potential, with the characteristics of a refuge investment. The euro and US dollar are not included in the index. Depending on their potential for appreciation, the various currencies are over- or underweighted in the index, which is revised every three months. The fund currently has assets of EUR50m, with the objective of raising a further EUR100m to EUR200m in the next few years. In France, the fund, like the other five products in the range, will be sold by the third-party marketing firm Compagnie Financière Jacques Cœur.

The US Senator Charles Grassley, a Republican from Iowa and head of the Senate judiciary committee, is investigating 20 cases over the past decade in which the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) suspects the alternative management firm SAC Capital of making trades on options on the basis of insider information, the Wall Street Journal reports. The transactions concerned companies in the healthcare sector. Neither SAC Capital, nor its CEO, Steven A. Cohen, have been accused of wrongdoing.The Senate investigators will study transactions made by SAC Capital, with the assistance of the SEC and the Department of Justice, sources familiar with the matter say. The investigations will also concern hedge fund management affiliates, such as CR Intrinsic Investors and Sigma Capital Management.

The value of the F&C Commercial Property Trust increased by GBP12.98m in first quarter, the firm has announced in a statement. As of 31 March, the portfolio of the fund weighed in at GBP851.28m.

Barclays Capital and HFR Asset Management have announced that they are creating a partnership in the managed accounts segment. The cooperation will bring together the managed accounts platform at HFR, on which more than 1,000 hedge fund strategies are available, and the expertise of Barclays Capital, particularly in structuring and distribution.

In the month of April, in a context of rising equities and commodities markets coupled with strong gains for the US dollar, all hedge find strategies posted gains, according to statistics from the Edhec Risk Institute. The best results were for CTA Global strategies, which gained 3.82%. However, convertibles arbitrage strategies saw some difficulties, despite good results for convertible bonds (2.68%), and finished the month with modest gains of 0.12%. Equity Market Neutral strategies earned returns of 0.97%, while all equities strategies posted good results, such as event-driven, with +1.19%, and long/.short equity, with +1.35%.

Due to redemption demands following an accusation of insider trading by one of its portfolio managers, Joseph F. “Chip” Skowron III, and poor returns, FrontPoint Partners will be liquidating some of its hedge funds, the Wall Street Journal reports. However, the management firm did not disclose the scale of the redemption demands, or indicate which funds would be closed.According to sources familiar with the matter, FrontPoint may retain a recent USD1bn fund specialised in lending to mid-sized businesses, a quant-macro fund, and a strategic credit fund.

NYSE Euronext has announced that Amundi has added the Amundi ETF MSCI EM Asia B (code Isin : FR0011018316) and Amundi ETF MSCI EM Latin America B (FR0011018324) ETF funds, both of which charge fees of 0.45%, to trading on its Paris ETF platform. They replicate the MSCI Emerging Marekets ASIA And MSCI Emerging Markets Latam indices.With these new French-registered products, NYSE Euronext now lists 557 ETFs 649 times in Europe. Since the beginning of the year, the European platforms of the market business have registered 108 listings, corresponding to 82 ETFs.

The French investment management association (AFG) has responded to comments by the financial stability board (FSB) about ETFs and the risks that they could pose to financial stability. In response to the uncertainties expressed by the FSB about potential systemic risks inherent in these products, the professional association points out that these products are developing in a robust regulatory environment in Europe. On the one hand, ETFs are UCITS format funds, which therefore have a very solid regulatory framework; on the other, ETFs, unlike other UCITS-compliant funds, are also required to respect a series of requirements related to their listing on stock exchanges, such as disclosure of their indicative asset value and intra-day net asset value. The AFG also claims that ETFs are simple products, regardless of the method of replication used, either synthetic or physical. More sophisticated products, such as inverse ETFs and leveraged ETFs, represent only a very small part of the market, and these are also UCITS-compliant funds, meaning, for example, that leverage may not exceed 100% of net assets. However, the professional association points out that there is currently a “very high” risk of confusion for the final investor between ETFs and products whose legal status is completely different, and which do not offer anything like the same guarantees, such as exchange-traded products (ETP) exchange-traded vehicles (ETV), exchange-traded commodities (ETC), and exchange-traded notes (ETN).

The alternative management firm SAC Capital Advisors is planning to launch a new quantitative hedge fund in the next few months, probably in third quarter, Bloomberg reports. Quantitative strategies represent about 15% of total assets under management at SAC Capital Management, which weigh in a USD35bn overall.

Nancy Utterback (ex European Credit Management) and Alessandro Rovelli (ex Deutsche Bank) have been recruited as credit analysts in the corporate bonds team at Aviva Investors.Utterback will be in charge of completing the integration of the offshore research team based in Mumbai; she will be responsible for the credit research process, covering the TMT (telecom, media, and technology) and consumer sectors.Rovelli will be in charge of the industrial and utilities sectors.

The hedge fund services provider BNY Mellon Alternative Investment Services (AIS) has announced that its assets under administration have topped USD400bn, making it one of the top actors in the sector. Since 2008, BNY Mellon AIS has doubled its assets under administration, largely due to the acquisition of the Global Investment Servicing unit in July 2010. In addition to its assets under administration, assets under custody at the firm total over USD120bn.

One of the wealthiest women in Europe, Elena Ambrosiadou, has been accused of spying on the top employees at her hedge fund, Ikos, including her husband, Martin Coward, according to a lawsuit viewed by the Financial Times on Friday. The fund’s manager, Sam Gover, and the research team at Ikos, were fired by the businesswomen on 23 December 2008. In the lawsuit, Gover claims that his former employer hired an agent to infiltrate his private life.