Les volumes ont été multipliés par 2,5 en un an en Europe. Vendeurs sous contrainte financière et fonds LBO alimentent le mouvement

Echaudées par les affaires d’emprunts toxiques, les collectivités territoriales françaises et leurs banques ont joué la sécurité. D’après l’Observatoire Finance Active, sur les emprunts réalisés en 2010, 100% sont peu risqués et 98% ont été souscrits à taux fixe ou à simple taux variable.

Les objectifs budgétaires fixés ont été atteints. La restructuration du secteur bancaire doit se poursuivre

Le parti des « Vrais Finlandais », hostile au sauvetage de la Grèce, a obtenu 19% des voix aux élections législatives qui ont eu lieu hier en Finlande

Les économies chinoise et française notamment seront surveillées par de nouveaux indicateurs

L’indice consolide les gains enregistrés récemment avant de progresser à nouveau avec un premier objectif à 3.075 points

Les autorités, qui ont relevé le ratio de réserves obligatoires des banques, veulent rendre la devise chinoise plus flexible à leur rythme

Les économies chinoise et française notamment seront surveillées par de nouveaux indicateurs

Nicolas Forest, responsable de la stratégie taux chez Dexia AM

Marie-Suzanne Mazelier et Thomas Giquel, gérants de portefeuilles chez Amundi

Selon l’observatoire Finance Active, 100% des nouveaux emprunts souscrits l’an dernier par les collectivités locales françaises étaient peu risqués, et 98% étaient simplement à taux fixe ou taux variable. En conséquence, la part des produits structurés dans le stock de dette s’est repliée de 22,4% à 19,9% en un an. Les marges bancaires ont continué à progresser au quatrième trimestre. Sur la base des taux forward, «le coût de la dette resterait maîtrisable dans les années qui viennent», avec un taux moyen de 3,31% fin 2011 contre 3,09% fin 2010.

Les nouvelles mesures d’austérité que prendra le gouvernement grec pour éviter d’avoir recours à une restructuration de la dette seront détaillées après Pâques, a déclaré vendredi le Premier ministre George Papandréou. Alors que le marché s’est à nouveau inquiété hier d’un risque de restructuration de la dette grecque, ce délai a fait encore grimper le CDS du pays de 15 pb, à 1.105 pb.

L’inflation en zone euro a été revisé en hausse en mars et reste bien supérieure à l’objectif de la Banque centrale européenne de 2%. Eurostat a annoncé vendredi une inflation annuelle de 2,7% le mois dernier contre une première estimation de 2,6%, et 2,4% février. Les économistes interrogés par Reuters tablaient sur une inflation de 2,6%. Hors prix de l'énergie, des produits alimentaires, alcool et tabac, l’inflation ressort à 1,3% sur un an en mars.

Moody’s a abaissé vendredi la note attachée à la dette souveraine irlandaise de deux crans, de Baa1 à Baa3, soit un cran au-dessus de la catégorie spéculative. L’agence a expliqué que sa décision était motivée par l’anticipation d’une diminution des marges de manoeuvre financières du gouvernement, par des perspectives économiques plus mitigées, ainsi que par les effets du resserrement monétaire de la BCE.

Un fonds immobilier de Morgan Stanley, MSREF V, aurait fait défaut sur le paiement de 278 milliards de yens (3,3 milliards de dollars) de dette titrisée dans un CMBS, rapporte Reuters. La dette avait servi à refinancer le rachat d’un immeuble de 32 étages à Tokyo. Les créanciers, au rang desquels Blackstone, devraient prendre possession de l’immeuble.

L’Agence France Trésor annonce vendredi l’adjudication, le jeudi 21 avril, d’un montant compris entre 7 et 8,5 milliards d’euros de bons du Trésor à intérêts annuels (BTAN), et de 1,5 à 2 milliards d’euros d’obligations assimilables du Trésor indexées sur l’inflation française (OATi) et sur l’inflation de la zone euro (OATei). L’opération à taux fixe portera sur les lignes d’OAT 4,0% avril 2013 et d’OAT 3,50% avril 2015, dont les maturités résiduelles les assimilent à des BTAN, ainsi que sur la ligne de BTAN 2,25% février 2016. L’opération sur titres indexés portera sur les lignes d’OATi 1,30% juillet 2019 et d’OATei 1,10% juillet 2022 et 1,80% juillet 2040.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) on 14 April published a final draft of its recommendations for risk measurement and calculation of global exposure of some types of structured UCITS funds. The recommendations will come into force when they have been translated into all the languages of the European Union, and will accompany level 2 clauses in the UCITS directive, which will be legally binding from 1 July 2011.

Morgan Stanley has announced the launch of a new fund under its Ucits Irish umbrella, FundLogic Alternatives. The new Newcit will be managed by New York based Sandler O’Neill Asset Management, and will offer European investors access to a long/short equity strategy focused on the U.S. financial services industry.

UCITS funds in February saw a net inflows of nearly EUR27bn, compared with EUR12bn the previous month, according to statistics from the European fund and asset management association (EFAMA). This rapid growth month on month, at a rate not seen since August 2010, is due to strong inflows to diversified funds (EUR9.2bn, compared with EUR4.1bn in January), and a return of investors to money market funds, which in February attracted EUR7.6bn, compared with outflows of EUR10.7bn in January). Long-term UCITS funds (excluding money market funds) posted a net inflow of EUR19bn, compared with EUR23bn in January. Equities funds attracted EUR2.6bn, compared with EUR9bn in January. Non-UCITS vehicles, for their part, gained EUR9bn in February, compared with EUR13bn the previous month. This decline is related to lower inflows for dedicated funds. Since the end of January, UCITS funds gained 1.2%, to EUR5.921trn, while non-UCITS funds were up 0.9%, to EUR1.958trn.

Source on 14 April announced the launch of its new EURO STOXX® Optimised Banks ETF. The product is an addition to its range of 18 optimised European sectoral ETFs from Source, which already represent EUR1.6bn in assets under management, and strong liquidity, with over EUR120bn in volume traded since their launch in June 2009. The new EURO STOXX® Optimised Banks ETF from Source offers exposure to banks of the Euro zone, by replicating the EURO STOXX® Optimised Banks Total Return (net) index. This subindex of the EURO STOXX® index is composed of 24 shares denominated in euros (as the EURO STOXX® index is composed of 312 shares representing companies from the 12 contries of the euro zone, while the Stoxx Europe 600 index is composed of 600 shares from 18 European countries). As for the current optimise sectoral European ETFs from Source, the benchmark index has been optimised in order to reduce exposure to less liquid shares, thus creating a more representative and investable sectoral benchmark index. Major characteristics Name of product: EURO STOXX® Optimised Banks ISIN code: IE00B3Q19T94 Bloomberg ticker: S7XE GR Currency: EUR Management fees: 0.30% per year Listing: Deutsche Börse (XETRA) Name of index: EURO STOXX® Optimised Banks EUR (net return) Index ticker: SXO7T Country of domicile: Ireland

Falcon Private Bank SA on 14 April in a statement announced the official opening of a representative office in Abu Dhabi. The bank, which opened a first office in Dubai in 2008, is continuing its expansion in the region into the United Arab Emirates. Falcon Private Bank SA belongs to the sovereign fund Aabar Investments, controlled by the Emirates government, which currently manages USD12bn in assets.

Richard Schutte, the main witness for the defence in the trial of Raj Rajaratnam, founder of Galleon Group, on charges of insider trading, received USD15m from the billionaire’s family two months before the start of the trial, the Financial Times reports. The money was paid to the man in order for him to manage it in his SportTail fund. He had already received an investment of USD10m in September 2010 from Rajaratnam, two months after the launch of the fund. The information was revealed on the fourth day of testimony from Schutte, former president of Galleon Group.

The private equity specialist firm XAnge on 14 April announced that last year it made investments for a total of EUR38.7m in 36 targets, including investments and reinvestments. The 15 new investments, for a total fo EUR18.5m, bring the number of stakes held by XAnge Private Equity to 65. FCPI funds have invested in 6 businesses, and are focused on current issues such as open source (Exoplatform, RunMyProcess). The amount of capital managed by XAnge Private Equity totalled EUR340m as of the end of 2010. XAnge Private Equity advises one SCR (XAnge Capital), an FCPR (Xpansion), 11 FCPI/FIP Funds raised from retail clients, and one fund of funds, entitled Actys 2.

German equity investment specialist, Tungsten Capital Management GmbH, has launched a new UCITS III fund via SEB Master KAG (Kapitalanlagesellschaft).SEB Master KAG is a one-stop shop which facilitates the launch and marketing of German UCITS funds. It helps manage risks and fund administration, accounting and pricing as well as fund and tax reporting.

In the past few months, funds with the term “absolute return” in their name have multiplied, Bloomberg Businessweek.com observes. Absolute returns is above all a marketing concept which works on investors traumatised by the 2008 crisis, says Nadia Papagiannis, a strategist at Morningstar. The fund category lacks unity, Bloomberg estimates, and products are not easily comparable with one another, which makes them less transparent for investors. In addition, funds are often new and lack a track record.

Both providers of ETF funds (iShares, see Newsmanagers of 14 April) and regulators (such as the financial stability fund, or FSB, see Newsmanagers of 13 April), appear to agree that recent developments in the ETF market present risks which deserve to be taken more serioualy. In its most recent report on global financial stability, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) dedicates an annex to ETFs (Annex 1.7. Exchange-Traded Funds: Mechanics and Risks), which points out an increase in risks related to the growing complexity of ETFs. The IMF finds that by some estimates, ETFs may grow by as much as 20% to 30% per year, largely due to the increasing interest of hedge funds in creating and distributing ETFs to a wider base of investors. Providers of ETFs themselves may be tempted to develop more complex instruments in order to replicate and improve the relatively inflexible returns from indices, the IMF remarks, adding that regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are increasingly monitoring this trend toward more complex products.

On Thursday, 14 April, Lyxor launched five ETFs on the Milan stock exchange which allow investors access to particular sectors in Asia. They replicate sectoral indices of the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan index, which is composed of over 600 large cap equities listed on the stock markets of 10 Asian countries. The five ETFs are as follows: • Lyxor ETF MSCI AC Asia Ex Japan CONSUMER STAPLES TR • Lyxor ETF MSCI AC Asia Ex Japan FINANCIALS TR • Lyxor ETF MSCI AC Asia Ex Japan INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TR • Lyxor ETF MSCI AC Asia Ex Japan INFRASTRUCTURE CAPPED TR • Lyxor ETF MSCI AC Asia Ex Japan MATERIALS TR

The price of gold is rising, and the trend appears to be here to stay for a long time. “We have entered a long rising cycle, which may last as much as ten years,” Martin Murenbeeld, chief economist at DundeeWealth, stated on 14 April in Paris. From his point of view, gold is not in a bubble situation, and remains attractively priced as a financial asset. According to quarterly projections from DundeeWealth as of 1 April, the weighted average price of gold in various more or less optimistic scenarios may hit about USD1,476 per ounce on average in 2011, and USD1,546 as of the end of December. The average for 2012 is USD1,573, with a potential low extreme of USD1,160, and USD1,880 at the most optimstic. There are many arguments in favour of a continued rise in the price of gold. In addition to accomodating economic policy, the sovereign debt crisis, which may concern European governments for several years to come, and geopolitical instability, relatively new phenomena are accentuating the optimstic scenario, including inflation in emerging countries, limited growth in production from gold mines, which may have peaked, rising financial demand (ETFs, China, India), and central banks, including banks in emerging countries, which are buying gold. China has increased its gold reserves from 600 to 1,054 tonnes, while India bought up the 200 tonnes sold off by the IMF, and Russia is buying gold every month. Russia and India have proposed to revise the basket of DTS products to include gold. Of course, there are also potentially negative factors for the price of gold as well, such as the continued rise of the equities markets observed at the beginning of this year, and solutions to the European debt crisis, which have helped to restore investor confidence. According to Murenbeeld, two developments are particularly likely to contribute to a correction in the price of gold: the establishment of more restrictive “crisis exit” policies, and Chinese recession, with growth falling under 6%, among them.

Fitch Ratings has raised its national asset management rating (Morocco) for the management activities of Wafa Gestion, based in Casablanca, from M2(mar) to M2+(mar). The Moroccan firm, which manages about EUR5.7bn in assets, is 66% owned by AttijariWafa Bank, and 34% controlled by Amundi. The ratings rise largely reflects “the stabilisation of teams, after organisational changes that have taken place since 2008, continued progress in the operational environment (automatisation and teams), and improvements to the IT platform, particularly in terms of integration,” the ratings agency explains.

The Norwegian pension fund (EUR381bn in assets under management) will increase its alloation to green sectors by EUR630m, Responsible Investor reports. The investments are part of an investment program which proposes to allocate more than EUR2.5bn to companies active in environmental issues, over the next five years.