Les Echos reports that European finance ministers yesterday reached agreement over the planned AIFM directive despite reservations on the part of the United Kingdom. But the deal is a far cry from the version voted on the day before by the economic and monetary affairs committee of the Parliament, as the two European legislative bodies diverge on whether countries outside the Union would be allowed European passports. Ministers and MEPs will need to find common ground with the commission, in order to achieve a single text before the end of the Spanish presidency of the Union on 30 June. The compromise, which will then need to pass a formal vote by the Council, could then be ratified by a plenary session of Parliament as soon as July.

Sabre Fund Management will launch a UCITS III-compliant fund in July, which for the first time will provide access to its market neutral strategy, entitled Sabre Style Arbitrage Fund. Since its launch in 2002, the fund has earned annual returns of 8.2%. The fund, which will make its investment selections from a universe of 1,500 companies, aims for total returns of 8% to 12% per year.

Matrix Group will launch the Matric Asia Ucits Fund, one of a very few pan-Asian long/short equities funds, which will be managed by Rupert Foster, who has been head of Asian long/short funds for 16 years. The fund will be exposed to Asian equities markets including China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia and Singapore.

The UK fund manager Jupiter (GBP19.5bn in assets) on Tuesday confirmed that it is planning an initial public offering in London by the end of June. The deal will involve an issue of new shares totalling GBP220m, and sales of shares by some shareholders, while employees of Jupiter and TA Associates will retain a significant percentage of capital in the firm after the IPO. Jupiter is planning to use the proceeds of the share issue to buy back subordinated debt, reduce its bank debts and pay off the costs of the offering. The asset management firm also states that the IPO is a significant step in its development, and will strengthen its capacity to attract and retain talented managers.

Schroder Income A-rated duo Ian Lance and Nick Purves are set to leave the group, Citywire understands. The pair will be joining boutique RWC Partners. They will be replaced by Nick Kirrage and Kevin Murphy.

Standard & Poor’s on May 18th announced that the «BBB+/A-2» ratings of Man Group have been put under rating watch negative (RWN) after the announcement of the purchase of GLG Partners. The ratings agency suspects the deal might lessen the British group’s liquidty whilst uncertainties remain on GLG Partners’ contribution to the group in terms of activity and cash flow.

Citi Capital Advisors has appointed Mahmood Noorani as portfolio manager in its global macro strategies management team, which provides investment management services for the CCA Global Macro Fund. Moorani has 20 years of experience, including five years at Blue Crest Management, and 4 years at Credit Suisse.

Aside from dedicated short bias, which has lost 2.95%, the other 12 hedge fund strategies monitored by Edhec risk posted positive results in April, with the highest returns for distressed securities (2.49%) and convertible arbitrage (2.13%). Since the beginning of the year, dedicated short bias has also been the only strategy to post a loss (8.5%), while distressed has gained 8.3%. Since January 2001, no strategy shows losses, and the highest average annual returns have been for emerging markets (12.6%) and distressed securities (11.6%).

Particularities of the French tax regime which began in 1992, with the introduction of the equities savings plan reserved for French-registered funds invested primarily in French equities, and were later extended in 2003 to equities of the European Commnity, has led Carmignac Gestion to offer a range of three funds invested in European equities. This range is perhaps slightly too large, according to directors of the asset management firm, who on 7 May obtained permission from the French regulatory authority, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), to merge two of the three funds. The Carmignac Euro-Entrepreneurs fund will absorb the Carmignac Euro-Investissement fund. As regulations require, shareholders in the latter fund will have one month to approve the operation, which is slated for completion on 30 June. If they do not accept the merger, they will be permitted to redeem their investment free of charge. The Carmignac Euro-Entrepreneurs, the fund which will absorb its counterpart in the merger, is composed of equal parts small and midcaps, while the Carmignac Euro-Investissement fund, which will be absorbed, is an “all caps” fund, nearly half of whose portfolio consists of European large caps. At the conclusion of the operation, the Carmignac Grande Europe – a European mid- and large-cap fund, will exist alongside the new fund, which will be billed as a “small and midcaps” fund.

Agefi reports that Warren Buffett is tidying up the portfolio of its investment holding company Berkshire Hathaway. His stakes in health insurance and insurance companies have been reduced. Buffett is also reducing his stakes in large caps, such as the food supplier Kraft Foods, which is considering selling off its pizza division to Nestlé, in a deal which Buffett calls “idiotic.” Buffett has also reduced his positions in the oil group ConocoPhillips, and in the pharmaceutical and personal hygiene product group Johnson&Johnson. The multiple sales of assets may go to finance large-scale deals. Buffett is planning trips to India and Japan next year in search of opportunities, the newspaper states.

Jonathan Clark, an analyst at Optimal, the hedge fund management firm from Santander, pointed to several suspicious details in the functioning of the management firm controlled by Bernard Madoff as early as 2006, which led him to suspect that there could be fraud involved, according to an internal document supplied to the US authorities, Cotizalia reports, relaying El Confidencial. Despite the dangers, Optimal continued its dealings with Bernard Madoff, and did not share its concerns with clients.

The Spanish affiliate of DWS Investments, DWS Investments (Spain) SGIIC, on 14 May registered the absolute return fund of funds DB Evolution One with the CNMV. The product aims for returns 200 basis points above the Eonia 1 month, while retaining a level of volatility lower than or equal to 10%. The recommended investment duration is three years. Minimal initial subscription is set at EUR6.01. Management commission is 1.5%, and depository banking commission is 0.1%. In normal market conditions, assets in the fund will be 30% to 75% invested in equities or equities funds, primarily large and midcaps. The fund is managed by DWS Spain, and was launched on 7 May.

Cometa, the Italian pension fund for mechanics and machinists, with EUR5.2bn in assets, has selected the asset management firms which will be responsible for managing its assets for the next five years from July. According to reports in Il Sole – 24 Ore, CAAM, Halbis, State Street, Russell and UBS have been selected, while BNP Paribas, Duemme and Axa lost out. Eurizon is coming back and Allianz, Generali and Pioneer have been confirmed. The Italian newspaper reports that Generali and Eurizon will be responsible for money market management, while Allianz and CAAM have been awarded active equities and bond management, with capital protection. The other firms received passive mandates, while Russell will handle currency risks.

Barclays on 18 May announced the arrival of Tony Blanco, 44, at Barclays Bank France, where he will serve as deputy CEO, director of private clients, and member of the executive board. He will report directly to Pascal Roché, CEO of Barclays Bank France, country manager and head for Europe of Barclays Premier clients. Blanco previously worked at McKinsey in the financial services sector in France. Guillaume Touze, 39, previously director of private clients, will take over as head of the newly-created Investment department for Western Europe. In this role, he will coordinate all investment products aimed at retail clients. He will be based in London, and will continue to report to Roché in his European responsibilities.

As of the end of April, total assets at Franklin Templeton Investments came to USD602.5bn, compared with USD586.8bn one month earlier, USD553.5bn as of the end of 2009, and USD421bn twelve months earlier. Of this total at the end of April, equities funds represented USD264.6bn, compared with USD255.8bn at the end of last year, and USD192bn as of 30 April 2009, while diversified funds accounted for USD109.4bn, compared with USD104bn as of 31 December and USD80.1bn twelve months previously. Bond assets totalled USD222.6bn, compared with USD187.6bn four months previously, and USD140.5bn as of 30 April last year.

BNP Paribas Investment Partners BNPP IP on Tuesday, 19 May announced the appointment of Michael Gordon as head of equities investments for the multi-specialist investment centre BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM). He will report to Christian Dargnat, head of the multi-specialist investment centre and CEO of BNPP AM, a statement from the bank says. Before joining BNP Paribas Investment Partners in London, Gbordon served as global head of institutional investments at Fidelity Investments International.

BNY Mellon has announced the appointment of Lawrence Hughes as chief executive officer of BNY Mellon Wealth Management. Hughes will report to Robert Kelly, chairman and chief executive officer at BNY Mellon. Hughes, who has worked at BNY Mellon for nearly 20 years, replaces David Lamere, who has submitted his resignation.

Société Générale Asset Management (SGAM) will transfer its 49% stake in the Chinese joint venture Fortune SGAM to Lyxor Asset Management, an affiliate of Société Générale Corporate and Investment Banking (SGCIB). The announcement was made Wednesday morning by Z-Ben Advisors, the consulting firm contracted jointly by Crédit Agricole Asset Management (CAAM) and SGAM to assist them with a non-compliance issue arising from the fact that the two firms are merging their European activities into Amundi Asset Management. The Chinese regulator CSRC limits the number of asset management affiliates any foreign firm may hold in China to one. CAAM and SGAM already had one local affiliate each (ABC-CA, a joint venture of CAAM with Agricultural Bank of China, and Fortune SGAM). Rather than liquidating one of its two affiliates, as BNP Paribas did with its excess participations, SGAM preferred to transfer Fortune SGAM to SG CIB. There may still be some questions about the interpretation of the rules, as Société Générale still indirectly controls 8.33% of ABC-CA via the 25% participation of SGAM in Amundi.

L’Echo reports that the popularity of high yield corporate bonds is such that BlackRock, the largest fixed income asset management firm in the world, has created an affiliate which will allow its managers direct access at lower cost to net issues of corporate bonds. Last year, the firm bought and sold over USD3.4trn in corporate bonds on behalf of its clients.

Agefi reports that Pierre Cailleteau, director of the sovereign risk group at the ratings agency Moody’s, is leaving his job. The firm states that he is leaving of his own accord, but does not give reasons for the choice.

State Street Global Advisors (SsgA) on Tuesday, 18 May announced the recruitment of Lynn Blake as head of the index-based equities management unit. She succeeds Paul Brakke, who will retire on 31 December 2010, and will report to Rick Lacaille, global director of equities management, according to a statement. Blake, 45, joined SSgA in 1987, and has served in several management positions. Most recently, she has held the position of head of the structured products group for non-US markets. She has also been manager of several non-US index-based equities management portfolios.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports that Barbara Knoflach, CEO of SEB Asset Management, representing real estate fund management firms at the German BVI association of management firms, has suggested that funds should be allowed to operate according to different general conditions corresponding to three categories of clients: professionals, semi-professionals, and retail clients. Matthias Danne, CEO for real estate funds at DekaBank, does not completely reject the government’s proposal to introduce a minimum investment duration period, but he says that in this case, a withdrawal fee should be levied on retail clients. Management firms are seeking to retain daily liquidity for real estate funds at any price, and unanimously oppose government plans to impose an across-the-board 10% reduction to the declared value of assets in their portfolios.

Investment Week reports that Vanguard is planning to introduce float-adjusted benchmarks for nine of its bond index funds (Global Bond Index; U.K. Government Bond Index Accumulation; U.K. Investment Grade Bond Index Accumulation; Euro Government Bond Index; Euro Investment Grade Bond Index; Japan Government Bond Index; U.S. Government Bond Index; U.S. Investment-Grade Credit Index, and U.S. Mortgage-Backed Securities Bond Index). The modifications will take effect from 30 June.

On 19 May, Credit Suisse is launching an Irish-registered product on the SIX Swiss Exchange entitled CS ETF (IE) on S&P 500 – just two days after a similar product from HSBC was launched. The introduction of the product on the XTF segment of hte Xetra platform from Deutsche Börse is scheduled for 26 May. Credit Suisse is the leader for ETFs on the Swiss market, with assets of CHF11.2bn. In Europe, Credit Suisse ETFs have posted net subscriptions of CHF1.4bn since the beginning of the year (as of 7 May). Characteristics Name: CS ETF (IE) on S&P 500 ISIN: IE00B5BMR087 Management commission: 0.09%

A team of credit managers from Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch (LODH) are leaving the firm to join Dutch fixed income boutique IMC asset management, says Citywire. They include Rodrigo Araya, Oscar Jansen, Robert Manning and Henk Wiersman.

La Tribune reports that AXA APH may withdraw its support for a takeover bid for the National Bank of Australia for USD11.59bn at the end of this month, if the conditions of the deal do not satisfy the Australian antitrust authorities.

Ministres et députés européens se donnent trois mois pour concilier leurs deux versions

En un an, S&P a dégradé 452 tranches de 103 transactions, soit 52 % des tranches de CMBS dont l'agence assure le suivi

Pour Fabrice Cuchet, membre du comité exécutif et responsable de la Gestion Alternative de Dexia Asset Management, le développement des «Newcits» est loin d'être une nouveauté. Une société de gestion comme Dexia AM gère des fonds alternatifs sous le format UCITS depuis plus de 15 ans et comme le confirme une récente étude d’Eurekahedge, on recense plus de 500 fonds UCITS alternatifs sur le marché pour un actif sous gestion de l’ordre de 52 milliards d’euros. Certes, les montants sont modestes comparé aux 1.600 milliards de dollars comptabilisés fin décembre pour les hedge funds (source HFR). Cela dit, plusieurs constats peuvent être dressés, estime Dexia AM. Tout d’abord, les Newcits n’ont pas vocation à remplacer les hedge funds, ni à les répliquer. Par ailleurs, ils n’ont pas non plus vocation à être vendus à l’ensemble des investisseurs – notamment à la clientèle «retail». En outre, contrairement à une idée reçue, les Newcits ne créent pas de la liquidité, souligne la société de gestion. Elle reste fonction de celle des sous-jacents et du calibrage des stratégies mises en oeuvre, expliqant ainsi pourquoi toutes les stratégies ne sont pas déclinables sous la réglementation Ucits - qui impose aux fonds un minimum de liquidité (mensuelle pour les Ucits III de droit français). Ces contraintes en termes de liquidité mais également en matière d’actifs éligibles auxquelles doivent se plier les Newcits ont aussi un coût. Et il est fort probable que, sur la durée, la performance des fonds alternatifs Ucits ressorte en deçà de celle des hedge funds. Différentes études quantitatives menées chez Dexia AM montrent que le niveau moyen de leurs performances serait inférieur de l’ordre de 3% à celles des hedge funds."Les Newcits ne sont donc pas des clones des hedge funds et n’ont pas les mêmes objectifs. Ils ont vocation à apporter une offre complémentaire aux investisseurs qui souhaitent diversifier leur portefeuille tout en conservant une forte liquidité de leurs investissements, et ce dans un cadre réglementé», précise Fabrice Cuchet. Et la liquidité joue un rôle essentiel dans cette nouvelle segmentation du marché. Compte tenu de ce panorama, le responsable de la gestion alternative de Dexia AM table sur une segmentation de la demande. Avec d’un côté des investisseurs institutionnels comme les grands fonds de pension qui vont continuer à privilégier les hedge funds dont les rendements seront selon toute vraisemblance supérieurs à ceux des Newcits. Et d’un autre, des investisseurs professionnels, comme les comptes propres de banques qui doivent également gérer des contraintes de liquidité à court terme, pourraient privilégier un mix entre les hedge funds et les Newcits. Enfin, il faudra aussi compter avec des investisseurs qui souhaitent investir dans la gestion alternative pour apporter d’autres sources de performance à leurs portefeuilles diversifiés, tout en restant dans un cadre réglementé, liquide et transparent.Pour autant, les Newcits ne sont pas à mettre entre toutes les mains… «Ils restent des fonds mettant en oeuvre des stratégies souvent complexes, sur des supports financiers spécifiques comme les dérivés, et avec des mesures de risques sophistiquées comme la VaR ou les Stress», rappelle Fabrice Cuchet, qui milite pour que les gérants alternatifs définissent des niveaux minimums d’investissement appropriés à la stratégie et au type d’investisseur.

Reyl Asset Management vient de lancer un fonds irlandais de hedge funds spécialisé dans l’investissement d’amorçage ou de développement à destination des hedge funds.Le Reyl Accelerator Fund sera conseillé par FRM Capital Advisors qui choisira les gérants de hedge funds éligibles au fonds qui souhaite réunir un portefeuille diversifié de gérants pratiquant une large palette de stratégies (directional trading, relative value, equity long short, specialist credit et idiosyncratic strategy).