Recherche
S'abonner
Connexion
Asset Management
Accueil Asset Management Actualités
04/11/2010

Dissensions chez AGI

Selon Fonds professionell, Matthias Glas a démissionné «par consentement mutuel» de son poste de membre du comité de direction de la société de gestion Allianz Global Investors KAG et a été remplacé depuis le 1er novembre par Nina Klingspor,, qui était head of business management, comme responsable de la distribution auprès des banques et des intermédiaires financiers (lire notre article du 14 janvier 2009). Le site d’information croit savoir que ce départ est dû à un désaccord sur la stratégie avec James Dilworth, CEO d’Allianz Global Investors Deutschland.
04/11/2010

L'ancien directeur financier des AGF chez Allianz sur le départ

L’Agefi qui cite La Lettre de l’Assurance annonce le départ de Patrick Dixneuf , l’ancien directeur financier des AGF, qui dirigeait depuis un an les opérations du groupe Allianz à partir de Munich. Il rejoindrait Aviva pour prendre à compter du 1er janvier la responsabilité des opérations de l’ensemble des filiales européennes de l’assureur britannique.
04/11/2010

Julius Baer ouvre une succursale à Hong-Kong

L’Autorité monétaire de Hong-Kong (HKMA) a délivré une licence bancaire au suisse Julius Baer, qui disposait sur place depuis quatre ans d’un bureau de représentation qui disposait déjà de licences de conseil et de négoce de valeurs mobilières. Cela permet désormais à l'établissement helvétique d’offrir une palette complète de services à ses clients qui désirent maintenir leurs actifs à Hong-Kong.Julius Baer souligne le 4 novembre que ce nouveau centre va lui permettre à la fois de poursuivre son expansion et d’offrir une gamme plus large de produits en Asie, «le second marché intérieur du groupe».
04/11/2010

Scandal at FrontPoint Partners

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } A French doctor, Yves Benhamou, has been arrested by US investigators on charges of insider trading filed by the Fed, the Börsen-Zeitung reports (see yesterday’s Newsmanagers). The regulator accuses Benhamou of providing insider information to the hedge fund manager FrontPoint Partners (Morgan Stanley group), which allowed the firm to avoid USD30m in losses at Human Genome Sciences. Benhamon was apparently contracted by six hedge funds at the time of the events in question. FrontPoint has dismissed Chip Skowron, the specialist fund manager of its medical sector. FrontPoint had assets under management of USD7bn at last account. Morgan Stanley has recently announced plans to pull out of these vehicles and sell a majority stake to the management.
04/11/2010

“We would like more comments on the investments by the fund manager”

Francis Weber, also vice president of the French association of institutional investors AF2I, presided over the redaction of the “Guide to open-ended fund reporting” published by the association (see Newsmanagers of 20 September). It would therefore appear to be judicious to speak with him about the way in which Réunica works with its asset managers.
04/11/2010

Julius Baer opens a Hong Kong branch

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has issued a banking license to the Swiss firm Julius Baer, which has had a representative office for the past four years, which was already licensed for advisory and securities trading. The license will now allow the Swiss firm to offer a complete range of services to clients seeking to keep their assets in Hong Kong. Julius Baer announced on 4 November that the new cente will allow it to both continue its expansion and to offer a wider range of products in Asia, “the group’s second home market.”
04/11/2010

Syz Asset Management appoints a head of business development

The Swiss banking group Syz & Co on 3 November announced the appointment of Marc T. Clapassonau as head of businesses development for its institutional management division, Syz Asset Management. On 20 October, the group announced the integration of its entire institutional management product range under the single banner of the new division, headed by Patrick Bédat.Clapasson joins the group after holding similar positions at Millennium Global in Geneva and Prime Capital in Frankfurt.
04/11/2010

Michael Coglin appointed chief investment officer at Sarasin

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Banque Sarasin & Cie SA on 3 November announced the appointment of Michael Coglin at chief investment officer (CIO) for the Asian region. Coglin will be based in Hong Kong, and will report directly to Enid Yip, chief executive officer (CEO) for Asia, and on technical matters to Murkhard Varnholt, director of the Asset management, Products and Sales (APS) sector, CIO of the Sarasin group, and member of the Executive Committee. Coglin has over 20 years of experience in private banking, asset management and capital markets.
04/11/2010

Threadneedle releases Absolute EM Macro Fund in Germany

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Threadneedle on 3 November announced that it has received a sales license for Germany for the Threadneedle (Lux) Absolute Emerging Market Macro Fund (ISIN LU0515765609; see Newsmanagers of 30 September). It is an absolute return fund aimed at investors seeking to profit from the potential of debt and emerging market currencies.
04/11/2010

Hugues Engrand joins sales team at J.P. Morgan AM

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } J.P. Morgan Asset Management announced on 3 November that it has appointed Hugues Engrand as senior salesman in charge of institutional clients in the sales team. “This initiative aims to further the development of J.P. Morgan AM among banks, insurers, mutuals and retirement institutions, which represent a strategic area for development in France,” a statement says. Before joining J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Engrand was director of sales for France & Partner at ADI Alternative Investments. Previously, he was in charge of Insurance and Proprietary trading banks at AXA Investment Managers Paris, and institutional salesperson at CPR AM.
04/11/2010

Losses up at Och-Ziff in third quarter

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The US firm Och-Ziff Capital Management Group has reported losses for third quarter of USD93.5m, compared with losses of USD80m in the corresponding period of 2009. Assets under management as of 1 October totalled USD26.3bn, up 4% compared with July and 19% compared with 1 October 2009. As of 1 November, estimated assets under management totalled USD27.2bn, up 18% year on year, due to net inflows of USD2.4bn and appreciation related to returns of USD1.7bn.
04/11/2010

Pre-tax profits up 19.3% for Investment Solutions unit of BNP Paribas in Q3

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Assets under management at the Investment Solutions unit of BNP Paribas totalled EUR887bn as of the end of September, up 6.9% compared with 30 September 2009, and 1.4% compared with 30 June 2010. while positive performance effects offset negative currency effects. In a context of high aversion to risk on the part of investors, net inflows in the quarter were nearly zero (-EUR0.1bn). Good inflows in domestic markets and Asia for private banking (EUR1.8bn), insurance (EUR2.2bn) and Personal Investors (EUR0.4bn) offset outflows from money market and equities funds from Investment Partners (-EUR4.7bn). After taking into account one third of private banking results in domestic markets, the Investment Solutions unit earned pre-tax profits of EUR495m, up 19.3% compared with third quarter 2009. In the first months of 2010, an increase in revenues from Investment Solutions of 15.3%, to EUR4.51bn, combined with an increased in management fees (14.8%) gave the unit a gross operating profit up 16.8% compared with the first nine months of 2009. This solid operational performance, in a market environment characterised by aversion to risk on the part of investors, put pre-tax profits at EUR1.43bn, up 33.6% for the period. The BNP Paribas group earned net profits (for the part of the group) of EUR1.9bn, up 46% compared with third quarter 2009, for net banking proceeds of EUR10.85bn (+1.85%). Over nine months, net profits totalled EUR6.29bn, up nearly 41% compared with the first nine months of 2009.
04/11/2010

Bank of America and PNC reduce stakes in BlackRock

On 3 November, BlackRock Inc announced the launch of a secondary offering of 42 million ordinary shares, of which 34.5 million from from the portfolio of Bank of America, and up to 7.5 million shares being made available by PNC Financial Services Group. The joint bookrunners for the deal are Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley.Bank of America acquired Merrill Lynch and therefore controlled a stake which most recently stood at 34.1% in BlackRock, following the acquisition of ML Investment Managers (MLIM) by the latter in September 2006. Bank of America has granted a greenshoe option of 6.3 million shares.PNC merged with BlackRock in 1995, and controls 24.6% of capital.After the deal, BoA’s stake in BlackRock will go down to 12-13% in the form of preferential shares, while PNC’s stake would be down to slightly over 20%.
04/11/2010

Detlef Lau becomes head of institutional clients for Métropole Gestion in Germany

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As Newsmanagers has already announced (see Newsmanagers of 21 May), Detlef Lau, who was previously a director at Lombard Odier Germany, in Düssledorf, a few months ago joined Métropole Gestion in Frankfurt. He reports to Markus Hampel, country head for Germany, and has the title of director institutional clients. In this role he will be in charge of developing institutional clients of the French asset management firm in Germany. In May, BaFin granted a sales license for Germany for five French-registered funds from Métropole Gestion, four of them equities products, and one convertibles fund.
04/11/2010

Resignation at AGI

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Fondsprofessionell reports that Matthias Glas has resigned “by mutual consent” from his position as a member of the board of directors at the management firm Allianz Global Investors KAG, and from 1 November has been replaced by Nina Klingspor, who was head of business management, as head of distribution to banks and financial intermediaries (see Newsmanagers of 14 January 2009). The news website reports that the departure is due to disagreement over strategy between Glas and James Dilworth, CEO of Allianz Global Investors Deutschland.
04/11/2010

RCM planning to extend range

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The equities and asset manager of the Allianz Global Investors (AGI) group, RCM, currently has assets of about EUR100bn, of which barely EUR3-4bn are for the Allianz group. Net subscriptions since the beginning of the year total about EUR7bn, and all global regions except the UK have made a positive contribution to this evolution, Andreas Utermann, global CIO, explained in Paris on 3 November. Net inflows, which are balanced about 50/50 between retail and institutional, went to a vast range of products: large caps funds and US core funds; European and Euro zone value and growth funds, Chinese securities funds, UK securities funds and global equities funds, as well as multi-asset class and overlay products, IT products and hedge funds in the United States. On planned launches, Utermann says that RCM will no longer pursue activism, but will rely on existing strategies. The asset management firm is nonetheless looking at thematic funds, such as an intellectual property product (firms which invest a lot in research and development), a fund focused on businesses in developed countries which profit from development in emerging countries, and one or two hedge funds in incubation. RCM is also hoping to extend distribution of German-registered commodity funds to the rest of Europe, opting for a product which would be launched on the new European platform.
04/11/2010

German institutionals avoiding risk

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The most recent edition of an annual study undertaken since 2005 by Universal Investment of risk management by German institutional investors has found that the financial crisis reversed their priorities. Performance is now a priority for only 7% of the 83 institutionals surveyed (EUR360bn in total assets), compared with 27% in 2007. At the same time, the security of the investment has become a priority for 70% of respondents, up from 22%. This evolution has resulted in changes in asset allocation. Between 2008 and 2010, exposure to bonds and money market instruments increased sharply, while the proportion allocated to equities decreased. Union Investment has also found that fluctuations in financial markets during the crisis led institutional investors to focus on risk of loss in absolute terms, which has resulted in an increase in populatiry for absolute return mandates and guaranteed concepts. In the past, investors had long preferred benchmarked strategies, while risk was only considered in terms of the volatility of the benchmark index and the tracking error. The study also finds that 69% of respondents, up from 62% in 2009, consider the legal risks to be the most important. But reputational and environmental risks are also gaining importance, with 59% and 24%, compared with 38% and 4%, respectively, one year ago. Many institutional investors are now tending to use sustainable investments as a complementary instrument for risk management. This has the advantage of complementing largely quantitative models with qualitative criteria.
04/11/2010

BofA Merrill Lynch launches three commodities UCITS funds

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Hedge Week reports that Bank of America Merrill Lynch has launched a new range of UCITS-compliant alpha and beta commodities funds on its platform Bank of America Merrill Lynch Invest, consisting of three products: MLCX Commodity Enhanced Beta Fund, MLCX Agriculture Optimal Crop Fund and MLCX Commodity Alpha Fund. The funds replicate indices designed by BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research.The first two products are long-only, while the third is a long/short market neutral fund with low volatility and a high Sharpe ratio.From now, the funds are open to institutional and retail investors in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Luxembourg and Spain. Management commission is 0.50% for institutional and 1.85% for retail shares.
04/11/2010

Positive fund population growth

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to Lipper, as reported by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, in Germany 372 funds were created in the first nine months of this year. In the same time period, 197 funds were merged, and 145 were liquidated. There are currently 8,983 funds with a sales license, of which 44% are equities funds, 21% are bond funds, and 21% are diversified funds.
04/11/2010

ProShares planning to launch an ETF replicating the performance of hedge funds

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In a filing to the SEC (form N1-A), ProShares Trust has announced plans to launch the ProShares Hedge Replication ETF, with fees of 0.95%, in December 2010. The objective is returns before fees corresponding to those of the Merrill Lynch Factor Model – Exchange Series index, calculated by Merrill Lynch International. The index aims to preserve a high correlation with the beta of hedge funds as measured by the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index on the basis of the performance of over 2,000 equally-weighted hedge funds.The Merrill Lynch Factor Model uses a systematic model to set long or short positions each month on the basis of six factors: S&P 500 Total Return Index, MSCI Emerging Markets Free US Dollar Net Total Return Index, Russell 2000 Total Return Index, and the Libor 1 month in US dollars.
04/11/2010

Banif (Santander) launches a protected emerging markets fund

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 14 October, Banif created the Banif Selección Emergentes fund, which was registered with the CNMV on 29 October. Santander guaranteed 95% of the net asset value of the fund on 2 December 2010 at maturity (5 November 2012) of the product from its private banking affiliate, plus a variable return which will depend on the evolution of an equally weighted basket of two indices, one of Chinese equities (Hang Seng China Enterprises) and one of Malaysian shares (FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI), and two ETFs, iShares MSCI Brazil Index Fund and iShares MSCI South Africa Index Fund.The effective minimal performance will be a loss of 2.6243%, and gains would be a maximum of 7.5152% per year. The variable return percentage is limited to 20% of initial net asset value.From 3 December 2010, 94.65% of the portfolio will be invested in government bonds or issues guaranteed by EU member states and in cash. The management team may invest up to 20% in private corporate bonds. Minimal rating will be A-. The remaining 5.35% will be invested in an OTC option.CharacteristicsName: Banif Selección EmergentesISIN code: ES0113463006Management commission: 2% until 2 December 2010, then 1.6%Exit fee: 5% between 3 December 2010 and 2 November 2012Minimal initial subscription: 1 share
04/11/2010

Dubai-based management firm Global Capital Partners launches a fund dedicated to Iraq

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Hedgeweek reports that Abraham Merchant and Kenneth Kuhn, managing director of Global Capital Investments, have launched a fund dedicated to Iraq. The fund will invest primarily in securities listed on the Iraqi stock exchange, while up to 20% of assets will be in less liquid private investments, which will be concentrated on natural resources and infrastructure.
04/11/2010

BBVA Bancomer launches three Mexican sectoral ETFs

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Since 2 November, the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) has admitted three sectoral ETFs from BBVA Bancomer aimed at institutional investors to trading.The products replicate the BVM Consumo Frecuente de Rendimiento Total (RT), BMV Construye RT and BMV Enlace RT funds, which are indices of 12 shares each in the retail foods, construction and non-food retail sectors. The objective is to quickly attract MXP100m in investments.
04/11/2010

BNP Paribas IP is the only French manager selected by a Danish pension fund

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Agefi reports that BNP Paribas Investment Partners has been selected, along with 19 other asset management firms, by the Danish pension fund LD, in one of the largest requests for proposals of the year in Europe for asset management. After receiving more than 100 proposals, the pension fund narrowed it down to a short list of 40 names this summer. The institutional investor finally issued 12 mandates to 20 firms on Tuesday, for EUR5.7bn in assets. The BNP Paribas IP group won two mandates. The first, for about EUR50m, shared with its US affiliate FFTW, is for inflation-linked bonds worldwide. The second, for EUR75m, is for an equities allocation to environmental and climate themes. LD is a closed fund which is no longer receiving new contributions. It manages about DKK54bn (EUR7.2bn), and plans to distribute about EUR500m to EUR600m in pension benefits per year.
04/11/2010

Assets under management up 20% at Standard Life Investments

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Assets under management for third parties at Standard Life Investments (SLI) totalled GBP69.1bn as of 30 September 2010, up 21% compared with the end of December 2009. Net inflows were up 48% to GBP6.3bn, compared with GBP4.3bn as of the end of 2009. David Nish, head of SLI, says performance was driven by its well-known global absolute return strategies (GARS), which may soon be replicated in a vehicle dedicated exclusively to bonds.
04/11/2010

Susan Clarke joins Heritage International Fund Managers

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Hedgeweek reports that Susan Clark has joined Heritage International Fund Managers as head of fund administration. Clark previously worked at BNP Paribas Securities Services as head of fund services and executive director for fund administration, in Jersey.
04/11/2010

Rothschild transige au Brésil

Rothschild & Cie Banque a accepté de verser 500.000 réaux (210.000 euros) d’amende pour mettre fin à une enquête sur son rôle dans la reprise de l’opérateur de téléphonie brésilien GVT par Vivendi, a annoncé l’autorité brésilienne de régulation, la CVM. Celle-ci cherchait à déterminer si Rothschild, en tant qu’organisme basé hors du Brésil, avait enfreint les règles de marché en achetant en novembre 2009 des actions de GVT pour le compte de Vivendi.
04/11/2010

Croissance plus forte que prévu du secteur des services américains

La croissance de l’activité dans le secteur des services aux Etats-Unis a connu une nette accélération en octobre, montre l’enquête mensuelle de l’institut ISM publiée mercredi. L’indice d’activité du secteur s’est établi à 58,4 le mois dernier, contre 52,8 en septembre.
04/11/2010

Recul des bénéfices de KRR

Le résultat net économique dégagé par la société de private equity au troisième trimestre ressort à 317,3 millions de dollars, contre 822,7 millions un an plus tôt. Les actifs sous gestion ont grimpé à 55,5 milliards de dollars. Par ailleurs, le dividende trimestriel versé aux actionnaires s’élève à 15 cents par action, contre 8 cents au trimestre précédent.

Sujets d'actualité

Tous les sujets