Allianz Global Investors (AGI) a annoncé vendredi que James Dilworth, directeur de la région EMEA chez Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) devient CEO d’Allianz Global investors Deutschland. En tant que responsable de la distribution, il fera également partie de l’European executive committe. Thomas Wiesemann, reste co-CEO d’AGI KAG et va prendre parallèlement le poste nouvellement créé de chief market officer dans l’European executive committe d’AGI Europe Holding GmbH. Dans cette fonction, il sera responsable à l'échelon européen de la stratégie produits et de commercialisation. Il aura pour tâche de s’assurer que le savoir-faire des gérants soit mis de manière optimale en adéquation avec les besoins, dans chaque pays, des particuliers et des investisseurs institutionnels. AGI gérait fin juin 412 milliards d’euros en Europe.Enfin, Horst Eich, qui était co-CEO d’AGI Deutschland et CEO d’AGI product solutions, mettra à partir d’octobre ses compétences au serice du développement et de la fourniture de produits dans le cadre d’une initiative mondiale ; en tant qu’expert des produits mondiaux, il apportera son concours au global corporate centre. Il est prévu de lui ménager un poste de senior management au sein du groupe Allianz.

Pour un montant non communiqué, le capital-investisseur néerlandais HTP Investments a indiqué qu’il reprend deux des trois usines allemandes du sous-traitant automobile allemand Geiger ainsi que la filiale polonaise de ce dernier. 410 salariés, soit les trois quarts de l’effectif, seront conservés, rapporte la Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Apparemment, les constructeurs automobiles clients de Geiger, dont Volkswagen, ont insisté pour la préservation des deux usines. Ils ont signé des contrats de fournitures allant jusqu'à 2012.

Le groupe IVG Immobilien a vendu huit immeubles situés dans des grandes villes européennes à un fonds institutionnel de 300 millions d’euros, IVG Protect Funds, qui est totalement placé auprès de cinq assureurs et caisses de retraite, IVG fournissant lui-même 20 % du fonds, rapporte le Handelsblatt. Cette participation est un signe de bonne volonté pour montrer aux autres investisseurs que les actifs du portefeuille sont sains, d’autant que les statuts prévoient que les pertes éventuelles seraient imputées jusqu'à hauteur des 33 premiers millions d’euros à la seule participation d’IVG.

Selon l’Agefi, le groupe Dexia entend faire rattraper à la banque de détail, en particulier en Belgique, le retard technologique pris ces dernières années. Outre des économies réalisées sur les fonctions supports, la clientèle sera mieux segmentée et le pilotage des fonctions transverses telles que la gestion des risques et l’audit devraient être améliorés.Sur trois ans, Dexia souhaite réduire de 15 % ses coûts, c’est-à-dire économiser un total de 600 millions d’euros. Reste à savoir si ces efforts seront suffisants aux yeux de la Commission européenne qui mène une enquête sur les aides publiques accordées à Dexia, précise le quotidien. Les conclusions de l’étude pourraient être rendues au mois d’octobre.

Selon la Tribune, Fival, une société de gestion de portefeuille élargit la palette de ses services. Elle inclut aujourd’hui des services de gestion privée, deux OPCVM et une plate-forme à destination des conseillers en gestion de patrimoine (CGP), baptisée Fival Partners. Au-delà de l’offre de gestion qui comprend Fival Réactif, un fonds de multigestion, et Ariane Invest, un produit de conviction, Fival compte proposer des fonds de sociétés de gestion entrepreneuriales comme Aliénor Capital ou Hixance Asset Management. En fin d’année, une offre immobilière devrait aussi voir le jour, précise le quotidien.

Pour 177 millions d’euros, Union Investment Real Estate (UIRE) a acheté à Standard Life Investments l’immeuble de bureaux A4C à Paris Rive Gauche. Cet actif de 25.400 mètres carrés est loué en totalité, le principal locataire étant Natixis, qui y a établi son siège. Le A4C entre dans le portefeuille du fonds immobilier offert au public UniImmo: Deutschland.Selon Karl-Joseph Hermanns-Engel, membre du comité de direction, cet immeuble marque le début d’un retour d’UIRE sur le marché de l’investissement immobilier parisien.Depuis le début de l’année, UIRE a réalisé au total des acquisitions pour environ un milliard d’euros.

Selon la troisième enquête annuelle sur les FCPE (fonds communs de placement d’entreprises) menée par la société de conseil Debory, spécialisée en épargne salariale et retraite et en actionnariat salarié, les sociétés de gestion péchaient toujours par manque de transparence, rapporte la Tribune. Sur «plus de 510 FCPE multi-entreprises totalisant plus de 19 milliards d’euros d’encours analysés, il ressort que 69 % des sociétés de gestion mettent sur leur site Internet au moins un des documents nécessaires à la compréhension de la vie des fonds, contre 59 % l’an dernier, seulement 10 % d’entre elles rendent publique toute l’information nécessaire». Cela étant, deux acteurs majeurs Natixis Asset Management et CM-CIC Asset Management, ne présentent pas leurs fonds dans le détail sur Internet, ne mettent aucun document à la disposition des salariés lorsque des documents commerciaux sont fournis, ils ne sont pas homogènes. Ce manque d’informations concerne également le poste frais prélevés. La plupart des FCPE appliquent à la fois des frais de gestion directs et indirects mais cesfonds multigérés permettent aux grandes maisons de gestion d’assembler généralement leurs fonds afin de constituer des FCPE. Les frais indirects atteignent 1,41 % TTC, soit 70 % plus élevés que les frais directs.Ils varient cependant de 0,73 % TTC à 1,61 % TTC selon la classe d’actifs.

Jeudi soir, une délégation d’Aberdeen Asset Management était en visite à Paris pour se présenter aux investisseurs français. En effet, la société d’origine écossaise, qui a absorbé Credit Suisse Asset Management France SA et Credit Suisse Asset Management Gestion, est relativement nouvelle dans le paysage de la gestion d’actifs français. Certes, elle était présente sur la gestion immobilière, mais assez peu sur la gestion de valeurs mobilières.L’acquisition de Credit Suisse change la donne, puisque Aberdeen aligne désormais dans le pays 19 personnes dédiées aux fonctions support, à la gestion et au développement et affiche un encours sous gestion de 5 milliards d’euros d’actifs, en incluant l’immobilier (1,5 milliard environ).Andrew Laing, le vice directeur général, a souligné à l’occasion de cette conférence qu’Aberdeen était la plus grosse société de gestion britannique indépendante en termes d’encours (151,7 milliards d’euros). Son principal actionnaire est désormais Credit Suisse avec 23,9 %. Viennent ensuite le japonais Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking (18,7 %), avec lequel la société a un accord de distribution, Toscafund (17,6 %), les dirigeants, les administrateurs et le personnel de la société (8,8 %) et Fidelity Investments (7,1 %) pour le compte de ses clients.Aberdeen est présente sur toutes les classes d’actifs depuis l’acquisition de Credit Suisse : les taux, les actions, l’immobilier, le monétaire et les multi classes d’actifs.Ces actifs sont gérés localement, mais répondent à un processus global. «Nous favorisons une approche fondamentale, principalement «long only», et nous basons nos décisions d’investissement uniquement sur notre recherche interne», a indiqué Anne Richards, directrice des investissements. Cette approche unifiée de la gestion a donc nécessité une adaptation des fonds Credit Suisse qui ont été absorbés, surtout pour la partie actions. Pour les taux, c’est un mélange des méthodes de CS et d’Aberdeen qui a été privilégié.

The ING group announced on 25 September that it has sold its wealth management and life insurance activities in Australia and New Zealand to its partner ANZ. By the terms of the agreement, ING will sell its 51% stakes in ING Australia and ING New Zealand to ANZ, which will become the sole owner of these activities. The proceeds of the operation total EUR1.1bn, putting the net profits for ING as estimated by the firm itself at EUR300m. The debt ratio for the firm will thus be improved by 345 basis points. ING will continue to be present in Australia via ING Direct, ING Investment Management, ING Wholesale Banking and ING Real Estate, which are not affected by the operation.

Les Echos reports that the banking giant HSBC has made a huge step in the direction of Asia, with the transfer of its CEO, Michael Geoghegan, to Jong Kong. “There is a major movement [in the global economy] from west to east,” explained Stephen Green, president of the bank, on Friday. “The crisis is accelerating this movement.” HSBC will continue to be domiciled in London.

The advising firm Kommalpha, based in Hanover, has announced that it will be extending its range of services to provide advising to institutional investors on requests for proposals (RFPs) for administrative processes (depository banking, Master KAG services, etc). Kommalpha will also offer its services for requests for proposals in financial IT services to institutional investors, asset management firms, and banks.

The board at Avalon Acquisitions, a new firm controlled by funds from Permira Advisers, and the independent directors of Just Retirement Holdings, on Friday agreed to the terms of a takeover agreement by which the private equity firm will acquire the pension fund. The transaction will be undertaken at a price of 76 pence per share, or one share in Avalon for ten shares in Just Retirement. This represents a premium of 9.4% over the closing price for the shares on 24 September; the acquisition price totals EUR229.6m. Avalon has additionally agreed to increase capital in Just Retirement by GBP25m. If shareholders in Just Retirement universally participate in the share exchange program, they will control about 31.3% of Avalon, before the capital increase, while the remainder would continue to be held by Permira funds.

Money Marketing reports that the co-founder of Nucleus, Philip Martin, has been appointed “head of proposition” for retail activities at F&C. Martin was director of development at Nucleus, the investment platform for independent financial advisers (IFAs) which he co-founded in 2006 and left this June.

Simon Blundell, head of investment grade credit at Fortis Investments/ABN Amro Asset Management, has been recruited as a senior portfolio manager at Aviva Investors. He will join the active bond fund management team, and will be in charge of several portfolios of corporate bonds. He will report to Mark Wauton, head of credit.

The largest UK hedge fund manager, Brevan Howard (USD27bn in assets), has launched a search for an office large enough for at least 100 people in Geneva or Nyon, which could be the first sign of a massive exodus of financial groups from London, the Sunday Times reports. In June, the CEO of Brevan Howard claimed that the planned European hedge fund directive would make it impossible for them to continue their activities in London. In addition, moving to a country with lower taxes would save them millions. Brevan Howard has 100 employees in Switzerland, out of 240 total personnel.

Brian Beades, a spokesman for BlackRock, has told Mutual Fund Wire that the question of the new name after its acquisition pf Barclays Global Investors has been confronted. Rather than BlackRock Global Investors, the directors of the firm have chosen to retain the name of BlackRock, in order to avoid confusion with the BlackRock Global Funds line of products. However, BlackRock will retain the iShares name for ETFs developed at the offices of BGI.

Dustin Lewellyn, who was head of ETFs at Northern Trust until the firm pulled out of the sector after one year, has been recruited by Charles Schwab to direct its new ETF activities. The first product was launched in January, and replicates the Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market index. In July, Charles Schwab launched three ETF funds based on FTSE indexes (Developed ex-U.S., Developed Small Cap ex-U.S. Liquid, and All-Emerging), and six funds that track Dow Jones indexes for the United States (Broad Stock Market, Large Cap Total Stock Market, Large Cap Growth Total Stock Market, Large Cap Value Total Stock Market Mid Cap Total Stock Market and Small Cap Total Stock Market), according to ETF Data Base. According to ETF.com, Charles Schwab has since applied for licenses to launch nine more index-based ETF funds.

Goldman Sachs will hire up to 200 staff across all regions in an attempt to establish a dominant position as one of the world’s leading asset managers, said Marc Spilker to the Financial Times in his first interview since being appointed co-head of the bank’s investment management business in June 2008. Goldman has USD820bn under management.

Allianz Global Investors (AGI) on Friday announced that James Dilworth, director for the EMEA region at Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM), will become CEO of Allianz Global Investors Deutschland. As head of distribution, he will also be part of the European executive committee. Thomas Wiesemann will remain co-CEO of AGI KAG, and will also assume the newly-created position of chief market officer on the European executive committee of AGI Europe Holding GmbH. In this role, he will be in charge of product strategy and marketing throughout Europe, and will ensure that the expertise of asset managers is optimally employed in line with the needs of retail and institutional investors in each country. As of the end of June, AGI managed EUR412bn in Europe. Horst Eich, who was previously co-CEO of AGI Deutschland and CEO of AGI product solutions, will from October dedicate his efforts to the development and provision of products as part of a global initiative: as a global product expert, he will assist the global corporate centre. There are plans to assign him a senior management position at the Allianz group.

On Friday, the BBVA announced that it would earn gross capital gains of EUR830m on its sale of 948 branch locations for EUR1.15bn to Tree Inversiones Immobiliarias, a firm managed by RREEF, the real estate and alternative management affiliate of Deutsche Bank. The sale-and-lease-back operation will additionally allow BBVA to change up to 27% of the locations concerned at its discretion. For this transaction, RREEF has obtained the financial support of Banca March and Area.

The British management firm Man Investments has received permission from the CNMV to release the Man AHL Trend fund in Spain. The trend-following product complies with the UCITS III directive, Funds People reports. This is the first time that a fund from AHL (USD20.4bn in assets as of 30 June), the futures management affiliate of Man, has been released on the Spanish market.

Union Investment Real Estate (UIRE) has bought the A4C office building on the south bank of the Seine in Paris from Standard Life Investments for EUR177m. The 25,400 square-metre property is wholly leased; the largest tenant is Natixis, whose headquarters are located there. The A4C building will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended retail fund UniImmo: Deutschland. Karl-Joseph Hermanns-Engel, a member of the board of directors, says the property marks the beginning of the return of UIRE to the Parisian real estate investment market. Since the beginning of the year, UIRE has made acquisitions totalling about EUR1bn.

Details of an aluminium ETF are being finalized by Swiss commodity supplier Glencore International and Credit Suisse Group, says the Wall Street Journal. If the product gets the regulatory go-ahead, Glencore, will need to buy aluminum as physical backing for the fund. The potential timing of the launch remains unclear.

The IVG Immobilien group has sold eight properties located in major European cities to an institutional fund with EUR300m in assets, IVG Protect Funds, which is wholly subscribed to by five insurers and pension funds, while IVG itself supplies 20% of the capital, Handelsblatt reports. The participation is a sign of goodwill to show other investors that the assets in the portfolio are healthy. Additionally, there are clauses stating that the first EUR33m of any potential losses will be borne solely by IVG.

According to figures from the agency FWW, assets in funds of funds primarily sold in Germany had fallen at the end of March to EUR54.21bn, from EUR57.80bn at the end of December, and a peak of EUR62.2bn at the end of 2007. The number of products of this type fell in the three-month period to 964 as of 31 March, from 998 as of 31 December. The BGF World Gold Fund from BlackRock was the most popular active fund with fund of funds managers: it featured in the portfolios of 137 fund of funds managers, ahead of the Axa Immoselect (in the portfolios of 122 funds of funds) and the JPM Highbridge Statistical Market Neutral fund, found in the portfolios of 121 funds. Among passively-managed funds, the most popular remained the db x-trackers II Eonia Total Return ETF, in 116 portfolios, compared with 119 in fourth quarter 2008. Lastly, FWW states that the main managers of actively-managed target funds are Deka (savings banks) with a market share of 29.9%, compared with 32.3% previously, followed by DWS-Deutsche Bank, with 6.95 of the market, and Union-Investment (co-operative banks) with 5.4%. For index-based target funds, the largest player is Barclays Global Investors with 40.8% of the market, followed by db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank), with 36.3%, and Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale) with 14.3%.

At the beginning of October, Pictet will launch its new Pictet (CH) Precious Metal Fund - Physical Gold, domiciled in Switzerland and aimed at Swiss investors, Citywire reports. The fund, denominated in US dollars, will aim to track the price of gold, and will invest primarily in gold ingots of 12.5 kilos each. Investors will be able to receive redemptions in physical gold when they redeem their shares.

Le franchissement de cette zone de résistance libérerait un potentiel de hausse supplémentaire jusqu’à 4.315 points

Stefan Isaacs, gérant de fonds chez M&G

Emmanuel Hurault, gérant de taux chez Groupama AM

Joël Konop, responsable de la gestion diversifiée à la Française des Placements