Malgré une très forte expansion au second semestre, avec un triplement du bénéfice net, EFG International a accusé sur l’ensemble de 2009 une contraction de 54 % de son bénéfice net à 101,1 millions de francs suisses et son coefficient d’exploitation s’est détérioré à 79 % contre 65,4 % en 2008 (lire notre article du 25 février 2009)Les actifs sous gestion se sont accrus de 14 % pour ressortir à 87,7 milliards de francs fin décembre. L’encours sous gestion et administration s’est situé à 97,1 milliards de francs contre 86 milliards douze mois plus tôt.Les souscriptions nettes provenant de la clientèle de particuliers se sont montées à 8,7 milliards de francs, mais le total des rentrées nettes après les sorties nettes des hedge funds dans le domaine institutionnel est ressorti à 6,3 milliards de francs. Le nombre de conseillers clientèle a diminué pour sa part de 10 % à 650 personnes en fin d’année; malgré le recrutement «très sélectif» de 94 personnes, EFG International accordant la priorité à la qualité sur la quantité. Les seuils de performance ont été relevés, les nouveaux conseillers devant apporter une contribution au bénéfice avant la fin de la première année.En 2009, EFG International a fermé ses bureaux de Bahreïn, Buenos Aires, Mexico, Victoria (Canada) ainsi que trois antennes dans le canton du Valais. Il est prévu également de fermer Caracas, Panama et Malmö. En revanche, des bureaux ont été ouverts à Abou Dhabi, Bangalore, Key Biscayne et Ottowa en 2009, puis à Shanghai début 2010. Le groupe a l’intention d’ouvrir un bureau au Danemark et de s’implanter en Uruguay.
Axa Investment Managers compte lancer en mai la version «onshore» d’un fonds d’obligations américaines à haut rendement géré par Anne Yobage, gérant de portefeuille senior basée dans le Connecticut. Le produit de base est le compartiment US Short Duration High Yield de sa sicav luxembourgeoise qui a été lancé en avril 2004 et dont l’encours représente 4,1 milliards de dollars. Anne Yobage pourra compter sur l’aide de l'équipe obligataire de 18 personnes que dirige Hannah Strasser, équipe qui gère au total 38,8 milliards de dollars.
Sparkling Commodities un fonds d’investissement français, a obtenu une concession pour exploiter des mines de charbon à ciel ouvert, sur l'île de Borneo (désormais appelée Kalimantan), rapporte la Tribune. Le fonds, qui a déjà levé 3 millions d’euros, est en train d’organiser une nouvelle levée de fonds de 50 millions d’euros, avec un objectif de rendement de 15 %.
Le fonds souverain Mubadala Development Co d’Abou Dhabi, qui détient des participations dans Ferrari et dans General Electric, entre autres, a déclaré pour 2009 un bénéfice net de 8,6 milliards de dirhams des Emirats arabes unis (2,34 milliards de dollars), contre une perte de 19,8 milliards de dirhams pour 2008, indique The Wall Street Journal. Le chiffre d’affaires a presque doublé à 13,1 milliards de dirhams et l’encours a gonflé de 75 % à 88,5 milliards de dirhams.
Barclays modifie son organisation rapporte l’Agefi. Le groupe est désormais structuré en trois pôles: Global Retail Banking (GRB), Corporate and Investment Banking and Wealth Management (CIBWM) et Absa, l'établissement sud-africain. Le pôle CIBWM regroupe quatre entités. Barclays Corporate réunit les activités de l’ex-Barclays Commercial Bank (l’ancienne banque commerciale d’entreprises). Elle a été rapprochée de Barclays Capital, la banque de gros de l'établissement. La gestion de fortune intègre également CIBWM, «beaucoup de clients de Barclays Corporate et Barclays Capital recherchant les services de Barclays Wealth», précise un communiqué de la banque. Enfin, on trouve aussi Investment Management dédiée à la gestion d’actifs.
Partant de l’idée que la disponibilité et l’efficience des ressources sont deux aspects essentiels de la qualité de vie dans un pays, et que la raréfaction de ressources constitue au contraire une menace pour la prospérité, la Banque Sarasin a actualisé son rating de durabilité pour les pays. D’où il ressort que les pays où les ressources sont abondantes et ceux qui les utilisent de façon efficiente obtiennent les meilleurs résultats. A ce titre, la Suède, l’Australie, le Brésil, le Japon, les Pays-Bas et l’Allemagne figurent en tête du classement. A l’autre bout de l’échelle, on trouve les pays inefficients dont les ressources sont relativement restreintes (par rapport à la consommation) – notamment la Grèce, les Etats-Unis ainsi que de nombreux Etats africains et asiatiques – de même que les pays riches en ressources qui ne les utilisent pas de façon efficiente, en particulier la Russie. On notera que dans son étude, la Banque Sarasin relève également que la Suisse, malgré sa faible biocapacité, le bilan écologique du pays au niveau de la production économique ne présente qu’un déficit modéré, parce qu’une grande partie du courant est produite sans émissions de CO2. En même temps, le pays dispose d’un important capital matériel, humain et financier et d’une qualité de vie très élevée. Cela dit, selon le communiqué de l'établissement, «l’empreinte écologique laissée pour atteindre ce niveau de prospérité est également très forte en raison du volume des importations. Le potentiel d’amélioration de l’efficience des ressources est donc loin d’être épuisé».
Selon Les Echos, Icap, le spécialiste britannique du courtage interbancaire a annoncé la fermeture de ses services d'«agence» sur les actions au comptant, comprenant la recherche, en Europe et en Asie. Ce département, qui a généré une perte de 25 millions de livres sur l’exercice se terminant fin mars, employait 114 collaborateurs, qui devraient être transférés ou licenciés.
Sur les 2 milliards d’euros environ de commissions, les sociétés de gestion présentes en Italie en ont distribuées plus de 1,4 milliard à leurs réseaux de distribution, rapporte Plus, le supplément Argent de Il Sole – 24 Ore. Soit 71,44 %. Il s’agit d’une baisse par rapport aux 73,15 % de 2008. Sur le podium des sociétés les plus généreuses avec les distributeurs figurent trois sociétés de gestion contrôlées par les banques, qui, en général, ont tendance à rétrocéder des commissions plus élevées par rapport aux indépendants. Amundi Sgr reverse en moyenne 84 % des commissions encaissées, avec des pointes à 100 %. Suivent Eurizon Capital et Carige AM avec 82 % et 81 %.
En 2009, les frais des fonds commercialisés en Italie sont restés stables à 1,28 % des encours totaux, selon une étude de Plus24 menée en partenariat avec Interactive Data Kler’sInvestOnline. Cela équivaut à environ 2,5 milliards d’euros, dont la moitié finit dans les poches des distributeurs. Malgré la baisse de ces dernières années, le coût des fonds reste plus élevé que celui de la moyenne des 448 ETF et ETC cotés à la Bourse de Milan (0,7 %). Les commissions de performance ont fait aussi leur grand retour en 2009, note Plus, le supplément Argent de Il Sole – 24 Ore. Enfin, peu de fonds ont affiché des frais supérieurs à 5 %.
Guggenheim Partners LLC has announced the acquisition for an undisclosed amount of LBBW Securities LLC, the broker-dealer affiliate of the German Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW). The transaction will be completed in early April, once regulatory approval has been granted by Finra. LBBW Securities, founded in 2007, is specialised in repos and securities lending. LBBW will retain its New York offices, to serve German businesses in the United States and Canada, as well as for transactions in the area of commercial real estate financing in the United States.
The Lazard group yesterday announced that the deputy CEO at Lazard Frères Banque in Paris, Matthieu Bucaille, will become CFO for the group as a whole from 1 April 2011. Bucaille, 50, who has been a partner since 1998, will succeed Michael Castellano on his retirement at the end of March 2011. He will immediately become a member of the general board of directors at Lazard Ltd., and will work in collaboration with president and CEO Kenneth Jacobs.
Investment Week reports that JP Morgan Chase has applied to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with the goal of launching passive and active ETF funds. The passive ETF range will include a product which tracks a total return index, including fixed-rate IG municipal bonds.
According to reports in Handelsblatt, Georg Reul, head of investment fund activities at IVG Immobilien, will not stand for another term as a board member, when his current term expires at the end of July. It is not yet known whether his position will be retained. Georg Reul is the last “survivor” from the old management team. His departure comes at a time when president Gerhard Niesslein (who has been in the position since November 2008) would like to restart investment fund activities, which include 33 closed real estate funds with assets of EUR1.6bn (EUR3.3bn including leverage). In addition to these retail products there are institutional funds with assets of EUR12.4bn. But three of these funds, with total assets of EUR2bn, will be closed, as clients are not satisfied. These funds were launched by Oppenheim Immobilien KAG (OIK), which IVG took over more than three years ago.
Since 17 March, Deutsche Börse has been offering the DAXglobal China Urbanization index, which covers the 20 largest and most liquid caps from five sectoral DAXglobal indices. The companies must be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (either as H-shares or Red Chips), or on the Singapore Stock Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange, or the Nasdaq. The objective is to bring investors exposure to strong growth in Chinese cities, whose populations are growing by about 13 million people per year. The challenge presented by such dynamic urbanization imply investments in infrastructure, for example, in an increase in housing aupply and the development of urban transport systems, both growth sectors which are included in the new index. The Deutsche Börse states that since 15 March there has been a product from Vontobel based on the Euro-denominated version of the DAXglobal China Urbanization Index, which is available in three currencies (Swiss francs, Euros, and US dollars), in two versions each (PR and TR, for performance and total return).
The Financial Times reports that Gerhard Fried, a member of the board in charge of acquisitions and product management at the independent financial services provider MLP, is leaving the firm to join HDI-Gerling Privatkunden. He will be a member of the board and head of marketing.
The financial product distribution network Deutsche Vermögensberatung AG (DVAG) has announced a fall in profits in 2009 of 6.8% to EUR138.8m, on earnings down 10.4% to EUR1.09bn. Last year DVAG recruited 300,000 new clients, bringing the total to 5.4 million. The adviser network from DVAG now has 37,000 members, of whom 16,000 practice as full-time advisers. The network has appointed Reinfried Pohl, founder and chairman of the board, to another five-year term, a statement says.
The KanAm US-grundinvest fund (Usd620m), the only German open-ended real estate fund which is denominated in US dollars, has sold its two largest properties, both of them shopping centres. According to sources familiar with the matter, the sales are said to have brought in USD260m and USD300m, USD60m-USD100m less than the declared value of the properties one year ago, Handelsblatt reports. However, the fund has managed to sell the Evening Standard building in Washington for USD180m, and will earn gains on the sale, as the property was on its books with a value of USD140m. The KanAm US-grundinvest has been in a constant redemption freeze since the end of October 2008, and the Munich-based management firm estimates that it will need at least USD200m in liquidity on hand before reopening redemptions.
The passage of health insurance reforms by the US Congress has resulted in sharp increases for ETF funds focused on the health sector, with the most pronounced impact for the most diversified funds and those focused on pharmaceuticals. At the end of the trading day on Monday, shares in the Vanguard Health Care ETF, the iShares Dow Jones US Healthcare Sector Index Fund and the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund were up 0.9%, 0.7%, and 0.7%, respectively, the Wall Street Journal reports. This was probably a relief rally, as the bill has finally been passed, but it remains difficult to say what it will mean for profit margins, says Ronald DeLegge, editor of ETFGuide.com.
Asian Investor reports that Brian Chinappi has left his position as head of acquisitions at RREEF, the specialised affiliate of Deutsche Asset Management, to join Standard Chartered as global head of real estate in Hong Kong, the largest investment platform for the bank. He will begin in his new position in June, replacing richard Johnson, who left the bank in August, following the closure of the bank’s joint venture in real estate with Istithmar World Real Estate, the investment arm of Dubai World. The Hong Kong platform is the dedicated vehicle for all real estate investments in Asia, particularly in China, Hong Kong, India, South Korea and Singapore.
Asian Investor reports that Scott Girard has been promoted to the position of chief executive officer at PruPim, the affiliate of Prudential dedicated to real estate investment, replacing Alex Humbly, who will now concentrate on private equity activities of Prudential in Asia. Scott Girard, who joined PruPim three years ago, will continue to serve as chief investment officer for the region. He will be based in Singapore.
Due to growth in demand, Allfunds Bank (Santander and Intesa Sanpaolo) has decided to create a special category of absolute return funds, subdivided into fuor risk profiles (high risk, moderate risk, low risk, and miscellaneous), based on Value at Risk (VaR), Funds People reports. The range currently includes 10 funds with high risk, 10 with moderate risk, 10 with low risk, and 8 funds in the “miscellaneous” category.
The sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Development Co of Abu Dhabi, which holds stakes in Ferrari and Gneral Electric, among others, has announced a net profit for 2009 of AED8.6 (USD2.34bn), compared with losses of AED19.8bn in 2008, the Wall Street Journal reports. Revenue nearly doubled to AED13.1bn, and total assets increased by 75%, to AED88.5bn.
Skandia Investment Group on 22 March announced the launch of a corporate bond fund rated investment grade, which comes as an addition to the range of single manager products based in Dublin. Skandia has contracted out the management of the fund, which will aim to participate in spreads on corporate bonds, to the institutional asset management firm Wellington Management. The manager of the fund will be permitted to diversify his portfolio with other debt instruments, including MBS, convertible bonds, and high yield bonds, but only up to a maximum of 30%. The fund will be based on the Barclays Capital Global Aggregate Corporate Index as its benchmark.
Olympia Capital Management has launched a multi-strategy fund of funds based in Luxembourg, entitled Olympia Dynamic Fund, based on a dynamic allocation determined as a function of risk profiles. The fund uses a core-satellite approach based on an in-house indicator, the Olympia Rick Indicator. The core and satellite elements are actively managed. The core portfolio is invested in hedge fund trackers, while the satellite portion is invested in managed accounts at single hedge funds with a strategic allocation determined on the basis of risk. The fund aims for annualised returns equal to the Libor 1 month + 400bps in the mid-term (three years), with annualised volatility of 6% to 8%.
UCITS III-compliant funds are considered by European and Asian fund distributors as the ideal vehicles to regain the confidence of investors who got out of hedge funds during the crisis. 9)% of 59 fund distribution firms - private banks, family offices, and fund supermarkets - surveyed by KdK Asset Management feel that the potential for sales of an alternative strategy housed in a UCITS vehicle (“Newcits”) is higher than for an offshore hedge fund. The percentage of respondents who think so attains 10)% for countries such as France and Germany. 85% of the same distributors, however, expect UCITS funds to perform sell well then their offshore fund equvalents. The major advantage of these products is their liquidity conditions, according to distributors.
Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank, Julius Baer, UBS and Amundi launched 45 commodity ETPs in the first two months of 2010, according to figures from Deutsche Bank, compared with 66 such launches across Europe in the whole of 2009. The launches come after assets under management in European commodity ETPs surged 145 per cent to EUR21.2bn in 2009, according to Deutsche. However, investors in these products are, more often than not, receiving substantially worse returns than those of the underlying spot commodity prices.
Les Echos reports that the British inter-bank brokerage specialist Icap has announced the closure of its “agency” services for cash equities, including research, in Europe and Asia. The department, which generated losses of GBP25m in the fiscal year to the end of March, had 114 employees, who will be either transferred or laid off.
Les Echos reports that the US bloc trading platform Liquidnet has enjoyed growing success with global institutional investors. Its management is predicting that the MiFID directive will be revised, particularly the chapter on dark pools, which will strengthen the business’ prospects in continental Europe.
Though KBC is about to sell KBL, the latter firm is moving into the Spanish market, Expansión reports. KBL has even recruited two top managers in the sector: Rafael Grau, former CEO of Banco Urquijo, as well as Riva y García and Iñigo Colombo, former chief investment officer at Fonditel, the manager of the Telefónica pension fund.
In 2009, fees for funds on sale in Italy remained stable at 1.28% of total assets, according to a study by Plus24 in partnership with Interactive Data Kler’sInvestOnline. That is equivalent to about EUR2.5bn, half of which winds up in the pockets of distributors. Despite a decline in recent years, the cost of funds remains higher than the average for 448 ETF and ETC products listed on the Milan stock exchange (0.7%). Performance commissions made a comeback in 2009, according to Plus, the money supplement of Il Sole - 24 Ore. Few funds have fees of over 5%, however.