La division de gestion de fortune du groupe britannique HSBC, basée à Genève, avait averti en septembre 2008 ses clients que la détention de titres de certains pays étrangers pouvait impliquer la levée du secret bancaire, indique Le Temps. Le quotidien a révélé mardi que Credit Suisse venait d’émettre une mise en garde similaire.
Le gérant de fonds de hedge funds Gottex, basé à Lausanne, vient de décrocher un important mandat de la part Nestlé Capital Advisers, société chargée de la gestion de la caisse de pension du géant mondial de l’industrie alimentaire Nestlé, indique Le Temps. Le mandat porte sur des fonds de hedge funds qui doivent suivre deux stratégies : event driven et relative value.
Le gestionnaire alternatif suisse Harcourt Investment Consulting AG (Harcourt, 4 milliards de dollars d’encours) annonce avoir lancé le 1er juillet le fonds de hedge funds diversifié Belmont (Lux) Recovery, qui se spécialisera sur le crédit et des actifs accidentés (distressed). L’objectif est une surperformance annuelle stable de 800 points de base par rapport au Libor net de frais, avec un ratio de Sharpe de l’ordre de 1,4. Le Belmont Recovery sera investi dans 15 à 20 fonds
Selon L’Agefi suisse, la société de gestion genevoise Forum Finance Group va incorporer du sang neuf en se rapprochant d’une société de gestion de fortune IWM, créée en 2000 à Genève par le biais d’une fusion par absorption entre les deux sociétés anonymes, conclue le 22 juin. Les clients de IWM sont ainsi repris automatiquement par les banques dépositaires au nom de Forum Finance Group, ce qui évite de faire signer un nouveau contrat à chaque client.
Selon L’Agefi suisse, la société d’investissement Reinet Investments SCA, qui est basée et cotée à Luxembourg, a acquis en avril dernier, à travers son fonds fermé Reinet Fund SCA FIS, les affaires de merchant banking de Lehman Brothers Holdings à New York et Londres. Reinet, qui résulte d’un spin-off de Compagnie Financière Richemont, a ainsi gagné l’accès à une équipe expérimentée de gérants d’actifs dans le private equity pour un montant modeste.
RBC Dexia Investor Services annonce avoir été sélectrionné comme prestataire de services de relations avec les actionnaires par le gestionnaire alternatif Arrow Hedge Partners pour une gamme de single hedge funds et de fonds de hedge funds au Canada.
Fitch Ratings a abaissé à A- contre A la note long terme de la banque Sal. Oppenheim et la met sous surveillance avec implication négative pour le cas où l'établissement ne réussirait pas à réduire ses risques et n’augmenterait pas son capital, rapporte le Handelsblatt. De fait, l’agence de notation s’attend à une augmentation de capital durant le second semestre, ce que Sal. Oppenheim a refusé de confirmer jeudi. Selon les informations du Handelsblatt, il avait été primitivement envisagé d’abaisser la note beaucoup plus sévèrement, ce qui aurait provoqué l’intervention des dirigeants de la BaFin et des responsables gouvernementaux. Fitch justifie l’abaissement de la note par la détérioration de la situation financière et bénéficiaire. Les turbulences sur les marchés ont révélé des faiblesse dans la gestion du risque ; de plus, la transparence de l’externalisation de certaines participations et divisions a laissé à désirer.
Les spécialistes s’attendent qu’environ un cinquième des fonds commercialisés en Allemagne (6.276 fin 2008) sera fermé, et même les ETF ne seront pas épargnés, rapporte Die Welt. Sur les quatre premiers mois de l’année, 131 fonds ont disparu du marché, et les experts s’attendent que soit égalé cette année le record de 347 fermetures ou fusions établi pour 2003. Rien que pour les douze plus gros promoteurs en Allemagne, la moitié des 3.500 fonds distribués dans le pays affichent des encours inférieurs à 50 millions d’euros. La proportion la plus forte de petits fonds est supportée par Universal Investment (voir tableau), mais cette société de gestion met une plate-forme à disposition de petits gestionnaires de fortune, si bien que la masse critique doit être nettement inférieure à 50 millions d’euros. Société de gestion Encours en Allemagne millions d’euros Nombre de fonds Nombre de fonds < 50 millions d’euros Total DWS/db x-trackers 127.452 463 948 Deka 102.417 161 384 Union Investment 77.604 34 164 Allianz Global Investors 73.645 287 596 Barclays Global Investors 17.913 44 81 Groupe Oppenheim 9.910 144 204 Pioneer 9.539 115 364 Universal Investment 9.063 170 205 Franklin Templeton 8.591 25 69 Fidelity 7.075 37 229 Frankfurt Trust 6.526 82 97 Groupe UBS 4.249 18 145
Le gestionnaire indépendant Lupus alpha a annoncé avoir lancé le 2 juin le fonds de performance absolue Lupus alpha LS Duration Corporates Invest, son deuxième produit obligataire. Ce fonds conforme à la directive OPCVM III combine un concept long/short pour la duration avec une stratégie passive d’investissement en obligations d’entreprises. L’objectif est d’utiliser le potentiel de performance des obligations d’entreprises tout en protégeant contre le risque de taux. D’autre part, le pilotage actif de la duration (- 6/+6 ans) permet de générer des performances même lorsque le marché obligataire est en baisse, souligne Ralf Lochmüller, président du comité des associés de Lupus alpha.L’objectif sur le moyen terme consiste à surperformer de 250 points de base l’euribor 6 mois, avec une volatilité de 5 %. La gestion du fonds est confiée à Egbert Sauer, associé de Lupus alpha et directeur de la gestion obligataire.Ce nouveau fonds est mis en place en coopération avec State Street Global Advisors qui est chargé de la réplication passive de plus de 1.000 obligations d’entreprise investment grade faisant partie de l’iBoxx € Corporates.Lupus alpha précise qu’elle gère déjà presque un milliard d’euros sur des stratégie de duration, dont près de 250 millions d’euros pour la nouvelle utilisant les obligations d’entreprise comme sous-jacent.Caractéristiques : Nom du fonds Lupus alpha LS Duration Corporates Invest Code ISIN DE000A0RDTA6 Commissions de souscription 4 % maximum Frais de gestion Fixes : 0,75 % Variables : 15 % sur la performance dépassant l’Euribor 6 mois + 250bp avec high watermark Pénalité de remboursement 1 % maximum sauf le 15 et le dernier jour de chaque mois Montant de la part 100 euros
BNY Mellon Asset Servicing indique avoir obtenu le contrat de conservation, de comptabilité et d’administration de mutual funds de Cullen Funds Trust et d’administration de hedge funds pour Schafer Cullen. Les actifs gérés par ces fonds représentent environ 500 millions de dollars.
Selon le quotidien japonais Asahi cité par L’Agefi, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) «souhaiterait acquérir une part du capital de Nikko Asset Management après que Sumitomo Trust and Banking a racheté le gestionnaire d’actifs auprès de Citigroup, pour plus de 100 milliards de de yens (près de 750 millions d’euros)».
The independent management firm Lupus alpha has announced the launch on 2 June of the absolute return fund Lupus alpha LS Duration Corporates Invest, its second bond product. The fund, which complies with UCITS III, combines a long/short concept for the duration of the investments with a passive corporate bond investment strategy. The goal is to take advantage of the potential performance of corporate bonds while protecting investors against interest rate risks. The active management of investments for their duration (-6/+6 years) makes it possible to generate performance even when the bond market is falling, says Ralf Lochmüller, chairman of the partners’ committee at Lupus alpha. The goal in the mid-term is to outperform the Euribor 6 month by 250 basis points, with volatility of 5%. The fund is managed by Egbert Sauer, a partner at Lupus alpha and director of bond management. The new fund has been created in cooperation with State Street Global Advisors, who are in charge of the passive replication of more than 1,000 investment grade corporate bonds of the iBoxx € Corporates index. Lupus alpoha states that it already manages nearly EUR1bn in duration strategies, of which nearly EUR250m are for the new strategy, using corporate bonds as an underlying. Characteristics: Name Lupus alpha LS Duration Corporates Invest ISIN Code DE000A0RDTA6 Initial value of shares EUR100 Front-end fee 4% maximum Management fee 0.75% Performance commission 15% on performance exceeding the Euribor 6-month +250bp with high watermark Withdrawal penalty 1% except on the 15th and the last day of each month
Professionals expect that as much as one fifth of the total 6,276 funds (at end-2008) registered for sale in Germany will be shut down, and that even ETFs will suffer, Die Welt reports. Over the first four months of this year, 131 funds have disappeared and experts reckon that the all-time high of 2003 (347 closures or mergers) will be matched. As far as the twelve bigger fund companies are concerned, half of their 3,500 funds show AUM under EUR50m. Universal Investment shows the biggest proportion of dwarf-funds (see table) but this company actually established a platform for smaller wealth managers, which means that the break-even point should be considerably lower than EUR50m. Fund management company AUR in Germany EUR millions Number of funds Number of funds < EUR50m Total DWS/db x-trackers 127.452 463 948 Deka 102.417 161 384 Union Investment 77.604 34 164 Allianz Global Investors 73.645 287 596 Barclays Global Investors 17.913 44 81 Oppenheim Group 9.910 144 204 Pioneer 9.539 115 364 Universal Investment 9.063 170 205 Franklin Templeton 8.591 25 69 Fidelity 7.075 37 229 Frankfurt Trust 6.526 82 97 UBS Group 4.249 18 145
The manager of the fund of hedge funds Gottex, based in Lausanne, has won a major mandate from Nestlé Capital Advisers, the firm in charge of the management of the pension fund for the global food industry giant Nestlé, Le Temps reports. The mandate covers funds of hedge funds following two strategies: event driven and relative value.
The Swiss alternative management firm Harcourt Investment Consulting AG (Harcourt, USD4bn in assets) has announced the launch on 1 July of the diversified fund of hedge funds Belmont (Lux) Recovery, which will specialise in distressed credit. The objective is to provice stabel annual outperformance 800 basis points above the Libor after fees, with a Sharpe ratio of about 1.4. The Belmont Recovery will be invested in 15 to 20 funds.
The Church of England has announced that an examination of its financial situation as of 31 December 2008 has found a deficit of GBP352m, compared with GBP141m as of the end of 2006. The deterioration si due to an overall decline in the value of shares in 2008 and to diminishing returns on government bonds used to calculate the liabilities for the Funded Clergy Pension Scheme. The audit has also found that if the situation remains unchanged until the end of 2009, contribution rates will have to be increased significantly.
“In response to demand on the part of financial advisors,” Skandia has released two passive funds for retail investors, the Skandia UK Index and Skandia Gilt. The products, which had already existed for several years as mandates, will now be available via the Investment Solutions platform from Skandia, life insurance and pension fund product ranges, and directly, from Skandia Investment Management Ltd. In general, Skandia is planning to increase the proportion of passively-managed products in its range. The Skandia UK Index fund has been managed since 2004 by Barclays Global Investors (BGI), while the Skandia Gilt has been managed by Panayotis Ferenedinos at BlackRock since 2002.
According to Pierre Bollon, of the French association of asset managers (AFG), who was speaking at the Europlace forum, France is far from being ridiculous in terms of SRI. However, the country is a laggard in respect to its European neighbours, especially Luxembourg, in terms of carbon and micro-finance funds.Pierre Ducret, director of banking services at Caisse des Dépôts, points out that there are legal hindrances to create vehicles that would be allowed to purchase carbon credits. He also suggests that French asset managers should be encouraged to promoted environmental funds. Jean-Luc Perron, managing director of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Microfinance Foundation, points out that less than 1% of funds financing micro-finance institutions are domiciled in France, vs 30% in Luxembourg. This has to do with regulations that makes impossible to set up pure microfinance funds in Paris.
Federal marshals took possession of Bernard Madoff’s USD7 million Manhattan penthouse on Thursday in a move that forced his wife to move elsewhere, says the Wall Street Journal. Proceeds from a sale of the property and its contents could be used to help reimburse those who lost money investing with Mr. Madoff.
According to The Wall Street Journal, US, UK and Austrian prosecutors believe that Sonja Kohn, who was chairwoman of Austria’s Bank Medici AG, was paid more than USD40 million in kickbacks to funnel billions of dollars of investments to Bernard Madoff. In exchange for the kickbacks, prosecutors allege, Ms. Kohn turned three Bank Medici funds into «feeder funds» that supplied Mr. Madoff.
BNY Mellon Asset Servicing has announced that it has been awarded mandates for custody, accounting and administration of mutual funds from Cullen Funds Trust, and the administrion of hedge funds from Schafer Cullen. Assets managed by these funds represent about USD500m.
The French national pension fund, the Fonds de réserve pour les retraites (FRR), on Thursday announced that it has withdrawn a mandate from Robeco Institutional Asset Management, awarded in November 2005 for a duration of four years, which covered a portfolio of government bonds and credit denominated in Euros (EUR1.475bn as of 29 May). The withdrawal of the mandate is said to be the result of “continued unsatisfactory financial performance” compared with objectives and the benchmark.
The French association of asset managers (AFG), the French association of institutional investors (AF2I), the French federation of insurance companies (FFSA), the French bankign federation (FBF) and Paris Europlace on Thursday evening signed a responsible investment (SRI) charter at the Paris Europlace financial sector conference. Representatives of institutional investors, asset management firms and banking and financial businesses pledged to follow three major principles: develop SRI; develop extra-financial information about businesses, and to favour dialogue between issuers and investors; and to favour long-term financing.
In May 2008, Credit Suisse closed its transition management operations in Europe, and concentrated these activities in New York. Now, the firm has recruited Steve Webster, who was previously head of transition management at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), to head a transition management team, with several recruitments to come, Professional Pensions reports. Webster has also confirmed that Charlie Schaffer from Merrill Lynch has been appointed managing director and co-head of transition management for the United States.
Ángel Martínez Aldama, CEO of the Spanish Inverco association of management firm, is in charge of the Obervatorio Inverco project, a platform which will aim to serve retail investors in the collective investment, investment funds, and pension fund sectors. The program will include information days and training courses for small investors as well as added-value information (conjuncture and market notes), along with an active participation in the investment forums. There is a website for the initiative at http://www.observatorioinverco.es/.
According to les Echos, Sweden, which chairs the EU since July 1st, has decided that the draft directive on hedge funds will be one of its priorities for the coming six months.Stockholm aims to find an agreement among all 27 member states by the end of this year, in order to bring about the definitive adoption of the text by mid-2010, after successful negotiations with the EP.
Selon le quotidien japonais Asahi cité par l’Agefi, Sumitomo Mitsui FinancialGroup (SMFG) «souhaiterait acquérir une part du capital de Nikko Asset Management après que Sumitomo Trust and Banking a racheté le gestionnaire d’actifs auprès de Citigroup, pour plus de 100 milliards de de yens (près de 750 millions d’euros)».
According to the Japanese newspaper Asahi, cited by L’Agefi, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) “is seeking to acquire a stake in the capital of Nikko Asset Management, after Sumitomo Trust and Banking bought the asset management business from Citigroup for more than JPY100bn (nearly EUR750m).”
RBC Dexia Investor Services has announced that it has been selected as a provider of shareholder relations services by the alternative management firm Arrow Hedge Partners, for a range of single hedge funds and funds of hedge funds in Canada.
Hewitt Associates has purchased from HypoVereinsbank the remaining 73 % of pensions consultant BodeHewitt it didn’t own for an undisclosed sum. The company will be merged with Hewitt Germany.