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01/04/2010

Jeffries adds to presence in Paris

Jeffries on 31 March announced the appointment of Cyril Paillard as managing director of distribution for MBS/ABS products in Paris, where he will be in charge of institutional clients in France and Northern Europe. Paillard’s arrival marks a new stage in the development of the MBS/ABS international platform, which now includes 90 professionals in the United States, London, Paris, Tokyo, and Hong Kong. Paillard was previously at RBS, where he was in charge of distribution for structured products in the EMEA region.
01/04/2010

AM Investment Partners and BAM Capital merge

The alternative management firm AM Investment Partners and BAM Capital on 30 March announced an agreement in principle for a merger “between equals” bringing the two firms together. The new firm, which will be known as AM Investment Partners, will be led by the co-founders of BAM Capital, Ross Berman and Hal Mintz, as well as the co-founders of AM Investment Partners, Mark Friedman and Adam Stern. Assets under management at the new firm will total about USD600m.
01/04/2010

Crédit Agricole Assurances signs PRI

Crédit Agricole Assurances on 31 March announced that it has decided to sign the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN-PRI). The firm becomes the first banking-insurance business to sign the PRI, Crédit Agricole says in a statement, making the step a sign of genuine progress in the consideration of extra-financial criteria in analysis and investment decisions. By joining the PRI, Crédit Agricole Assurances joins other entities of the Crédit Agricole which have already signed the PRI (Amundi, Chevreux, Crédit Agricole Private Equity), and confirms the desire of Crédit Agricole to bring its investment decisions into harmony with the needs of society.
01/04/2010

BNY AM closes Ivy AM, implicated in Madoff scandal

Ivy Asset Management, which BNY Mellon Asset Management is closing, is under investigation for advice it allegedly gave related to investing with Bernard Madoff, according to a person familiar with the matter cited by the Wall Street Journal.
01/04/2010

Jean-François Canton delegates responsibilities at Comgest

Vincent Strauss is stepping in as co-manager of Comgest’s Monde and Growth World funds, replacing Jean-François Canton who has begun delegating his responsibilities in anticipation of his forthcoming retirement, says Citywire. The latter will also be relinquishing his responsibility as the firm’s head of global equities but will remain on the company’s board of members.
01/04/2010

Fund.com acquires Weston Capital Management

Hedge Week reports that the financial services firm Fund.com has acquired Weston Capital Management, a firm specialised in developing and distributing hedge funds. Weston Capital, which is based in Florida, and also has offices in New York and London, has three activities: the origination and distribution of funds of funds, the origination and distribution of single-manager hedge funds, and raising capital to launch new hedge funds. Weston has recently entered into an alliance with Harcourt for manager research and fund financing. Harcourt, which is controlled by the Swiss firm Vontobel, is a hedge fund management firm (USD4.5bn in assets under management) which advises institutional investors on hedge fund investment opportunities.
01/04/2010

Carmignac Gestion seeking a new head for Northern Europe

Following the departure a few days ago of Patrick Giry from Carmignac Gestion, where he began in 2001 as head of distribution for France, and subsequently served from 2007 as CEO for the Luxembourg unit of the asset management firm and country head for Luxembourg, Carmignac is now in an active recruitment phase. Giry’s responsibilities have been divided into two positions, one for a director for southern Europe, including France, Spain, and Italy, and one for a co-manager in charge of northern Europe, which includes Benelux, Germany, and Switzerland. For the moment, the first of these positions has been entrusted to the asset management firm’s head for Italy, Davide Fregonese, but the second position has not yet been assigned. Eric Helderlé, CEO of Carmignac Gestion, confirms that the firm is seeking an applicant who is “perfectly bilingual, with serious pan-European experience.” In terms of inflows, the volume represented by each of the two zones has not been disclosed. The only sign is that the overall total for 2009 at the asset manager was EUR15bn.
01/04/2010

TIAA-CREF raises commissions

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the US teachers’ pension fund TIAA-CREF has decided to increase commissions for its ten Life Funds, which invest in variable annuities, which aim to guarantee subscribers a supplement to their pension benefits, from 1 May. The price hikes range from 3 basis points (for the Stock Index Fund) to 44 basis points (for the Small-Cap Equity Fund). The increase in charges, which is the third such increase in five years is reported to have been motivated by an increase in regulatory burden as well as increased competition on the market for new management talent.
01/04/2010

State Street investor confidence index up in March

The investor confidence index calculated by State Street Global Markets posted an increase in March of 5.4 points, to 108 points, compared with a corrected level of 102.6 for February. Institutional investors in Asia were the foremost cause of this movement, as the regional index gained 4.1 points to 100.8, compared with a corrected level of 96.7 points the previous month. Changes were more moderate elsewhere: investor confidence in North America increased slightly, from 110.1 (corrected level) to 110.4, while in Europe, confidence remains slightly lower, with the regional index down slightly, from 99.8 (corrected level) to 97.3 points in March. In addition to this significant increase in the confidence of institutional investors, “it is interesting to note that we are beginning to observe some divergence between the confidence of investors and consumers in the United States, as consumers are becoming less confident and investors are gaining confidence,” says Paul O’Connell, one of the two creators of the index. “It remains to be seen whether consumer sentiment will change this month, but in the meanwhile, institutional investors have been persistent in their acquisitions on many markets and in many sectors, with the exception of the economies on the periphery of Europe, and some specific sectors such as health.”
01/04/2010

Dutch firm Finles launches a hedge fund tracker

The Netherlands-based investment boutique Finles Capital Management has launched the first tracker fund dedicated exclusively to hedge funds in the Netherlands. Hedge Week reports that the initiative aims to attract more institutional investors to Dutch hedge funds, and to put the Netherlands on the map as an international centre in the hedge fund sector. The Dutch Hedge Fund Tracker is a fund of funds which will initially replicate the performance of at most 25 hedge fund managers in the Netherlands, on the basis of the new Dutch Hedge Fund Index. The index is derived from the Finles/IEX Dutch Hedge Fund Index, which started out with 17 hedge funds on 1 January 2009, and which included 27 funds as of January this year. In 2009, the performance of the index measured 11%.
01/04/2010

250 layoffs rumoured at DWS

Handelsblatt reports that, according to rumours in financial circles, the management firm DWS (Deutsche Bank) is in talks with State Street to outsource its fund accounting, which would affect about 250 jobs. Currently, the activities concerned are provided by the Global Technology Operations (GTO) division of Deutsche Bank. DWS, Deutsche Bank and State Street all declined to comment.
01/04/2010

Nuveen to manage SSgA ETFs

State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) on Tuesday announced that it has signed an agreement with Nuveen Investments, by the terms of which Nuveen will become sub-adviser to five municipal bond ETFs. Nuveen Asset Management will be responsible for management of assets under the supervision of SSgA Funds Management and the board of trustees for each fund, with total assets of nearly USD2bn. The agreement comes into effect on 1 April 2010. It covers the SPDR Barclays Capital Municipal Bond ETF (acronym TFI), Capital California Municipal Bond ETF (CXA); Capital New York Municipal Bond ETF (INY), Capital Short Term Municipal Bond ETF (SHM), and SPDR S&P VRDO Municipal Bond ETF (VRD). To ensure a smooth transition, Tim Ryan, lead portfolio manager for ETFs at SPDR, specialised in municipal bonds, will join Nuveen Asset Management as senior vice president.
01/04/2010

Strong performance for NAI sustainable development index since its launch

The sustainable equities index Natur-Aktien-Index (NAI), which includes 30 “sustainable” international equities, has seen performance of 477% since its launch on 1 April 1997. In this period, it has outperformed classic indices such as the Dax or Dow Jones, as well as the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), the Financial-Times-Index (FTSE4Good) and the Öko-Dax. Currently, the Nai index includes the following businesses: Aixtron, Bio-Treat Technology, Boiron, BWT, Natura Cosmeticos, East Japan Railway Company, Ecolab Energy Conversion Devices (ECD), Gaiam, Höganäs, Insituform, Interface, Kadant, Kurita Water Industries, Mayr-Melnhof, Molina Healthcare, Ormat Technologies, Ricoh, Shimano, Solar Millennium, Solarworld, Starbucks, Steelcase, Steico, Svenska Cellulosa, Tomra Systems, Triodos Groenfonds, United Natural Foods, Vestas Wind and Westpac.
01/04/2010

Universal launches a currency fund with Prem1um Currency Advisors

On Wednesday, Universal Investment announced that it will be releasing a specialist currencies fund, with the objective of generating annual returns of 10%, with volatility of about 8%. The German-registered product (DE000A0YJF34), Premium Currencies UI, was launched on 15 February, and replicates the strategy which has been used since 2004 by the Zurich-based Prem1um Currency Advisors (CHF1bn in assets) and its CIO, Guiseppe Manieri. The strategy’s track record since 2004 shows a correlation of -0.16 with the S&P 500, - 0.12 with the HFRX Global HF Index, and -0.38 with the Barclay Currency index. The fund bets on the evolution of bilateral parity between the most liquid currencies of the G10, and may use long and short positions. The process uses chart-based technical analysis, trend monitoring and statistical resources, and a quantitative and discretionary trading method. Front-end fee and management commission are set at 5% and 0.35%, respectively, while advising commission is set at 2%, and performance commission is 20%, with high watermark.
01/04/2010

RWC to release its Absolute Alpha fund in Germany

Hedge Week reports that the British management firm RWC Partners has been granted permission to distribute its RWC US Absolute Alpha fund, which complies with the UCITS III directive, in Germany. The fund is a long/short US equity strategy, led by Mike Corcell, which was launched in October 2009, and has about USD350m in assets.
01/04/2010

New record for UK fund sales in February

Inflows to funds in February totalled GBP1.9bn, the highest level ever recorded in the month of February, following a January which was also exceptional, according to statistics published on 31 March by the British investment management association (IMA) Assets under management in funds domiciled in the United Kingdom as of the end of February totalled a record GBP484.7bn, up 3% from January, and 42% up on february 2009. This development is related to growth in inflows as well as to positive market effects. Equities were the most popular asset class, with total sales of GBP703m, a 23% increase over January. February 2009 saw a net outflow from equities of GBP28m.
01/04/2010

Threadneedle adds to Asian equities team

George Gosden, who spent eight years as a director in the international team at Insight Investment, has joined the Asian Equity desk at Threadneedle. He will be deputy head of the Asia ex Japan team, and will report to Vanessa Donegan, head of Asian Equities. Gosden will be in charge of management of pan-Asian institutional mandates; he will also be the technology specialist for the Asia ex Japan region.
01/04/2010

Roger Guy lashes out at Gartmore internal compliance rules

In a private conference call held on Wednesday for investors, Roger Guy, the co-head of hedge fund operations at UK asset manager Gartmore, has hit out at the company’s “excessive” internal compliance rules which he blames for the suspension of his Partner Guillaume Rambourg this week, says the Financial TImes. The latter is alleged to have requested the company’s dealers place trades with particular brokers – prohibited by Gartmore’s regulations concerning best practice.“I didn’t agree with the rule when it was introduced,” Roger Guy said.
01/04/2010

Schroders, Oddo and Dexia managers fined

According to Financial News Online, Fund managers at Schroders, Oddo Asset Management and Dexia Asset Management, along with Guillaume Rambourg at Gartmore, have been fined almost EUR1m by the Italian regulator Consob for market abuse.
01/04/2010

L’enlèvement d’Europe n’est plus un mythe

La Grèce ne fera pas faillite, sans «bail-out» ni discipline budgétaire, puisque les mesures d’urgence prises la semaine dernière aboutissent à ce que la BCE et le FMI lui garantissent un financement en dernier ressort. Un double privilège, qui malheureusement révèle l’impasse dans laquelle la construction européenne se trouve.
31/03/2010

Axa PE va soumissionner pour des actifs gaziers d'Endesa avec F2I

Mathias Burghardt, patron du fonds d’infrastructures d’Axa, a annoncé à Reuters en marge d’une conférence à Berlin que le capital investisseur Axa Private Equity prépare une offre pour les actifs gaziers d’Endesa en Espagne, conjointement avec le fonds d’investissement italien F2I. Axa PE et F2I se sont déjà associés par le passé pour acheter 80 % du réseau gazier d’Enel en Italie et pour présenter une offre conjointe pour le réseau gazier d’E.On en Italie, offre qui a ensuite été retirée.Enel détient 92 % d’Endesa, rappelle Expansión. Selon un expert consulté par le journal, compte tenu des valorisations appliquées lors des dernières transactions similaires, le réseau gazier d’Endesa (4.500 kilomètres pour la distribution et 859 kilomètres pour le transport) pourrait valoir environ 500 millions d’euros.
31/03/2010
Fonds

Les fonds espagnols enchaînent cinq mois de remboursements nets

Après des sorties nettes de 485 millions d’euros pour janvier et de 1,81 milliard pour février, les fonds espagnols de valeurs mobilières ont accusé des remboursements nets de 913 millions pour mars, qui a été leur cinquième mois d’hémorragie consécutif, selon l’association Inverco des sociétés de gestion. Néanmoins, grâce à la hausse des marchés, l’encours a encore progressé de 0,6 % en mars, à 160,93 milliards d’euros.Pour le mois écoulé, InverCaixa a affiché les plus fortes souscriptions nettes, avec 110,7 millions d’euros, tandis que Santander Asset Management subissait les sorties nettes les plus fortes (453,5 millions).
Fonds
31/03/2010
Fonds

Marshall Wace commercialise deux ETF en Espagne

Par l’intermédiaire de RBC Dexia Investor Services, qui les commercialisera, Marshall Wace va faire ses débuts sur le marché espagnol avec deux ETF de persormance absolue utilisant une stratégie market neutral, le MW TOPS Global Alpha et le MW TOPS Global Alpha UCITS Fund, rapporte Funds People.Ces deux produits répliquent l’indice MW TOPS Global Alpha développé par Marshall Wace et qui recouvre les principales stratégies MW TOPS à l'échelon mondial. MW TOPS est un processus systématique pour l’analyse et la sélection d’idées d’investissement provenant des forces de vente actions dans une cinquantaine de pays.Les deux ETF existent en dollars, en euros et en livres. Ils sont cotés depuis janvier sur le London Stock Exchange (LSE) et à la Bourse de Francfort.
Fonds
31/03/2010

Nouveau responsable pour Hong Kong chez ABN Amro Private Banking

ABN Amro Private Banking a nommé Arjan de Boer au poste de responsable de la banque privée à Hong Kong à la suite de la promotion, en septembre dernier, de son prédecesseur, Hans Diederen, à la tête des activités Asie, selon Asian Investor. Depuis 2006, Arjan de Boer était responsable des produits dédiés pour l’Asie chez ABN Amro Private Banking.

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