Recherche
S'abonner
Connexion
Asset Management
Accueil Asset Management Actualités
22/04/2009

Morningstar 1000 hedge fund index: -0.1% in Q1

Morningstar has calculated that its Morningstar 1000 Hedge Fund Index has posted an increase of 2.1% in March, while the Morningstar MSCI Asset-Weighted Hedge Fund Composite Index was up 0.1%. For first quarter as a whole, the former index has fallen 0.1%, while the latter has gained 0.5%.In March, the Morningstar MSCI Emerging Markets and Morningstar Emerging Markets Hedge Fund indexes have posted respective gains of 4.2% and 6.2%.
22/04/2009

Hedge funds will bottom out this year, according to BNY Mellon and Casey Quirk

On the basis of a survey of 150 institutional investors, investment consultants, hedge fund and fund of hedge fund managers and experts on the industry worldwide, Bank of New York Mellon and Casey Quirk estimate that assets in hedge funds will reach a low point of about USD1trn this year, down from USD1.9trn at the end of 2007. Then, as the markets begin to rise and approximately USD800bn in net subscriptions roll in, total assets under management may rise to USD2.6trn in 2013.
22/04/2009

Artemis IM launches a multi-asset class long/short fund

Artemis Investment Management will launch its first fund in four years on 5 May, entitled Artemis Strategic Asset Fund. It is a retail multi-asset class product (equities, bonds, commodities, currencies, and cash), long and short, bottom-up and top-down, and compliant with UCITS III, managed by William Littlewood, who was initially a long-only manager, before moving into hedge fund management. The planned allocation will initially be 45% cash, 20% short positions on British and US government bonds, 25% currencies, 15% commodities, 5% corporate bonds, 5% short positions on equities, and 35% on equities (25% British equities, and 10% international equities).
22/04/2009

Over 200 ETFs are now listed in London

With the addition of the seven new ETF funds launched by iShares (see Newsmanagers of 21 April), the number of ETF products listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) now comes to 207. The issuers are Deutsche Bank, ETF Securities, Invesco Powershare, iShares (Barclays Global Investors), and Lyxor (Société Générale). Aside from the new iShares products, the LSE lists 78 ETFs based on equities indexes, 21 products that reproduce bond indices, 41 emerging markets ETFs, and 53 funds which cover a wide range of sectors and asset classes such as real estate, private equity, and commodities. In addition to this, there are 7 management style-oriented ETFs. The LSE also lists 123 ETCs and one ETN.Since the beginning of the year, 18 new products have been admitted to trading, the LSE Group states. By comparison, Frankfurt now lists 442 ETFs and 136 ETCs.
22/04/2009

First State to launch an emerging markets/sustainable development fund

David Gait and Jonathan Asante are the managers of the new Global Emerging Markets Sustainability fund launched by First State in the United Kingdom, which will subsequently be made available in continental Europe, Investment Week reports. The portfolio will include 50 to 60 positions, and half of the equities included in the fund will be equivalent to those included in the Asia Pacific Sustainability fund (GBP51m). The benchmark is the MSCI Emerging Markets Free Index. Front-end fee and management commission are set at 4% and 1.55%, respectively, with a minimal subscription of GBP1,000.
22/04/2009

Standish to manage a strategic bond fund from BNY Mellon AM

BNY Mellon Asset Management has launched a strategic fund which will invest in bonds worldwide, with a net performance objective of 5.3% at launch. The product is managed by Standish, an affiliate of BNY Mellon in the United States, Money Marketing reports. The two managers of the fund will be David Leduc, global head of fixed income fund management and senior portfolio manager, and Tom Fahey. The management firm will comply with standards established by the Investment Management Association (IMA) for funds of the sterling strategic bond category, with at least 80% of assets denominated in pounds sterling or invested in assets whose currency risks against the pound sterling are hedged for.
22/04/2009

State Street perfects confidence index

State Street Global Markets announced on Tuesday that from 26 May, its index of institutional investor confidence will be improved, to provide more specific information about investors’ level of appetite for risk. The basis of the index will be consequently recalibrated so that a level of over 100 indicates that institutional investors are increasing their exposure to high-risk assets, while a level of under 100 means that they are reducing their exposure. This adjustment will be undertaken separately for the global index and for the regional indices. The publication of the indexes will now take place on the last Tuesday of each month, in order to better align the results with quarterly and monthly developments.
22/04/2009

State Street index: institutional investors seem to be regaining confidence

The global index of institutional investor confidence maintained by State Street Global Markets comes in at 79.6 for April, compared with 70.2 in March (up from an initial announcement of 70; see Newsmanagers of 25 March). This is the third increase in four months, from a level at the start of the year of 60.2 (and 48.2 in December). The index of US institutional investor confidence is up to 70.2 from 60.2 in March, while the index for Europe has risen to 68.9 from 63.9, and the Asian index is up to 87.3 from 86.6.?Despite the increases on the global index, we think that a dose of prudence is necessary,? says Paul O’Connell of State Street Associates. ? This is the first time since September 2008 that institutional investors worldwide have increased their allocation to high-risk assets, but many questions remain as to the pace of the economic recovery. ? Due to the global nature of the current financial crisis, estimates of the time necessary for an economic recovery on the basis of historic examples drawn from specific countries are perhaps over-optimistic, and this issue may drag down the morale of investors in second quarter.?
22/04/2009

Retirement funds scale up exposure to alternative asset classes

European pension funds and retirement institutions, severely affected by the stock market collapse of last year, are seeking new ways to optimise their risk management. These institutions are increasingly frequently opting for alternative investments, according to the annual ?European Asset Allocation Survey? by Mercer. The survey, covering 1,000 pension funds and retirement institutions in Europe, which manage more than EUR400bn, finds that ?35% of British retirement plans and 60% of European retirement plans (outside the UK) are planning to introduce new types of investments into their portfolios to improve their risk/return profiles.? In 2008, allocations to non-traditional asset classes increased in one year from 10% to 11% in Germany, from 9% to 11% in the Netherlands, and from 4% to 6% in the United Kingdom. In France, they represented 5% to 10%, depending on the institution. Another finding of the study is that exposure to equities was affected by the crisis and the dent it made in reserves for defined-benefit pension plans. ? In the United Kingdom, allocations fell from 58% to 54%, while in Ireland, they fel from 67% to 60%. Exposure to the equities markets has remained low in other European markets, including France,? says the Mercer study, adding that bonds have remained the dominant asset class in most European countries.
22/04/2009

CNMV may allow side pockets

To remedy liquidity problems in investment funds, the Spanish securities commission, CNMV, is considering integrating ?side pockets? into its regulations in the coming month, Expansión reports. The conditions would require, for example, that the proportion of low-liquidity assets not exceed 20%. The measures would not be limited to hedge funds, but would be extended to all categories of funds.
22/04/2009

The lessons of the crisis for the fund of hedge fund sector have not been learned, says Unigestion

Since summer 2007, Patrick Fenal, CEO of Unigestion, has been sounding the alarm about a liquidity ?mismatch? in some funds of hedge funds, as these funds claimed to offer liquidity which they couldn’t back up in practice. ?Logically, a fund of hedge funds should be less liquid than its underlying funds. But this was often far from the case,? he explained again today. The problem, which he called a ?time bomb? did eventually detonate during the crisis, and many funds of hedge funds found themselves unable to reimburse shareholders who wanted out.This was not the case at Unigestion, which maintained a practice of quarterly liquidity for its funds. ?We missed out on business in 2006-2007 because we didn’t want to introduce monthly liquidity. We knew that if the situation continued as it was, we would not have been capable of honouring redemptions,? admits Jean-François Hirschel, managing director and head of marketing at Unigestion. ?But now, clients are aware? of the issues, he adds. Now, Fenal estimates that the lessons of this liquidity crisis for alternative multi-management have not genuinely been learnt. Particularly in France, where the authorities have been obliged to introduce emergency measures to restrict liquidity (see Newsmanagers of 24/10/2008). ?In France, for example, it is not always possible to make an Aria 3 fund with quarterly liquidity reporting. We can only choose between monthly or weekly liquidity reporting, which is unrealistic for the market as it is,? says Fenal. This remains true even though France as a country has a political tendency to demonize hedge funds, he says.
22/04/2009

Epsilon GA preparing a fund of hedge funds

Epsilon Gestión Alternativa, which was issued its operating license by the CNMV in September of last year, and which trades under the brand name BrightGate Capital, is about to receive permission from the Spanish regulator to launch its first fund of hedge funds, the BrightGate Absolute Return fund, which will be advised by Permal, an affiliate of Legg Mason, Funds People reports. The performance objective for the fund will be 8-12%, with annual volatility of 5-7%. Management commission is 2.25%, and Epsilon will not charge a performance commission.The fund will provide subscribers with access to 60 managers and eight strategies (Systematic, Discretionary, Event Driven, Fixed Income Developed Markets, Fixed Income Emerging Markets, Fixed Income Hedge, Relative Value Arbitrage, Natural Resources).
22/04/2009

Hedge funds: only two strategies out of 13 are in the red for March, according to Edhec

While in February, only four hedge fund strategies out of 13 monitored by Edhec posted positive results, in March 11 strategies out of 13 did so. The only two strategies in the red were CTA global, with losses of 1.64%, and dedicated short bias (-4.62%).The convertible arbitrage strategy posted its fourth consecutive month of positive results, with gains of 2.58%, and returns of 9.4% for first quarter as a whole. Only CTA global shows losses (2.1%) in January-March.
22/04/2009

Germany - Deterioration in results at Bankhaus Lampe

In 2008, after a withdrawal of EUR22m from reserves, the private bank Bankhaus Lampe, which is owned by the Oetker family, has posted profits of EUR10m on its balance sheet. It thus has lost a total of EUR12m fur to increased expenses related to recruitments, the opening of three new branch offices, and a depreciation in the value of its 6% stake in Aareal Bank compared with its share price at the end of December. In 2007, Lampe posted net profits of EUR21.5m (see Newsmanagers of 17 April 2008).For 2009, Bankhaus Lampe is planning to bring on board the family offices of its affiliate Lampe Corporate Finance as part of the parent company.
22/04/2009

State Street profits down

For first quarter 2009, State Street has posted profits of USD1.02 per share, compared with USD0.54 in October-December 2008, and USD1.35 per share in the corresponding period of last year. Earnings totalled USD2bn, compared with USD2.67bn last quarter, and USD2.58bn in January-March 2008.As of the end of March, assets under administration and management were down by 24% and 29% on one year, respectively, to USD11.337bn and USD1.395bn.
22/04/2009

Assets at Bank of NY Mellon down

In first quarter, the Bank of New York Mellon has seen a decline in its assets under management to USD881bn, a fall of 20% in one year and of 5% compared with the previous quarter. In the first three months of the year, the bank has seen net redemptions of USD12bn, largely due to redemptions from government money market funds.
22/04/2009

Active fund managers underperform

S&P states that over the five-year period to end-2008, its S&P 500 index has lost 18.8% but outperformed 71.9% of actively managed US large cap funds. The same pattern applies to small caps, emerging markets and bonds.
22/04/2009

Pimco sees normalization on credit markets

According to Steve Rodosky, head of Treasury and derivatives trading at Pimco Treasuries purchases thorough the Fed have helped improve credit markets and there are signs that the markets have started to «operate more normally.»
22/04/2009

Profits down at BlackRock

By US-GAAP accounting standards, BlackRock has posted a fall of 65% in its net profits to USD84m, or USD0.62 per hsare in January-March, on earnings down 25% to USD987m. As of 31 March, assets totalled USD1.283bn, which represents a 2% decline from the end of December, and a 6% decline compared with the end of first quarter 2008.The firm’s chairman and CEO, Laurence Fink, points out that net subscriptions nonetheless totalled USD5.6bn in January-March, and USD138bn in the twelve months to the end of March. This organic growth more than compensated for negative market and currency effects of USD29.4bn and USD219.1bn, respectively. BlackRock has posted net inflows in the first three months of the year of USD21.3bn on products and long-term advising mandates (of which USD18.8bn come from institutional investors, and USD3.3bn from high net worth private clients), while cash management products suffered net outflows of USD15.7bn. Fink also states that personnel at the hedge fund management firm R3 Capital Partners (USD1.5bn in investments in credit), led by Rick Rieder, have agreed to join BlackRock.
22/04/2009

Assets up at BlueBay

BlueBay has seen an increase in its profits of 8% to USD18bn in the quarter ending 31 March, the Financial Times reports. The firm has benefited from an increased interest on the part of investors in investment grade credit.
22/04/2009

Postbank to distribute M&G funds

The ?financial centres? and mobile sales personnel of Deutsche Postbank will now carry three British-registered funds from M&G Investments, the M&G Global Basics Fund, M&G Global Leaders Fund, and M&G European Corporate Bond Fund. The British asset management firm thus becomes the fifth preferred partner of the German bank in distribution of investment funds, alongside DWS Investment (Deutsche Bank), Credit Suisse, Allianz Global Investors, and Fidelity Investments.
22/04/2009

Wolbern Invest not included in sale of Bankhaus Wolbern

Fondsprofessionell reports that the M.M. Warburg private bank has indeed acquired Bankhaus Wölbern, but that the deal does not include Wölbern Invest, a promoter and manager of closed-ended investment funds. The reports were confirmed by Heinrich Maria Schulte, who was the owner of Bankhaus Wölbern and remains the owner of Wölbern Invest, a management firm created in a spinoff from the bank in April 2007.
22/04/2009

Unigestion in "plan mode"

In 2008, Unigestion, a firm specialised in equities management, hedge funds, and private equity, suffered from the downturn on the markets, like many others, but it registered net subscriptions of EUR250m. At the end of 2008, assets totalled EUR6.8bn.Against this background, and thanks to owners’ equity of EUR100m, Unigestion is still in «plan mode,? says Jean-François Hirschel, managing director and head of marketing. The general idea is to take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves, both on the markets, with new products, and on the labour markets, with recruitments, and in the asset management sector, with, why not, an acquisition to add to the firm’s capacities. The firm is also seeking a replacement for Kostas Iordanidis, who joined the firm last September as managing director in charge of hedge fund activities.
22/04/2009

Bank of China recruits in Geneva

In Geneva, the Bank of China has appointed Daniel Penseyres as CEO of BOC (Suisse) Fund Management SA. Penseyres will continue in his role as director of the fund selection and alternative investment division, l’Agefi Switzerland reports. The management firm has also hired Fulvio Maccarone as head of global equities. Since 2004, he has been a partner at the London-based BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd, an alternative management firm, where he managed a long/short equities portfolio.Bank of China (Suisse) SA has appointed Fatima Al Arabi (formerly of BNP Paribas) as head of institutional clients for the Middle East, and has also recruited Mohamad Bleik (co-head private bakning GCC0; Teresa Cheung-Constantin (senior private banker); Jean-Pierre De Barro (head of sales); Julien Froidevaux (head of independent managers department); Jose Luis Piccinini (head of institutional clients - Latin America); Daniel Alexander Rieber (senior private banker - Latin America).
22/04/2009

Skepticism over rumours of planned sale of A&Q division at UBS

Analysts are reacting with skepticism to reports that UBS is seeking to sell of its hedge fund activities in the immediate future, Handelsblatt reports. In theory, a sale of the alternative and quantitative investments (A&Q) division (USD39bn in assets) is conceivable, since the bank is seeking to isolate it to prevent it contaminating the future of its traditional management activities. But such a sale would not decisively strengthen the bank’s position in terms of its capital base, and potential buyers for such a high-risk activity are not numerous.
22/04/2009

Draft European directive for hedge funds comes in for criticism

In a letter sent on Monday to the chairman of the European Commission, the Socialist bloc in the European parliament claims that a draft European directive on hedge funds, which is up for a vote on 29 April, is ?ineffective? and ?full of loopholes,? Les Echos reports. The major fault with the bill pointed out by Socialists is that it singles out hedge fund managers, who would be required to register, rather than the funds themselves.
22/04/2009

AIMA to release a guide to best practices for funds of hedge funds

At the end of April, the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) will publish a guide to ?best practices? for funds of hedge funds.The association has already published a code of conduct for hedge funds, but this is the first time that it is doing so for multi-management.It must be said that the credibility of the sector has been somewhat tarnished by the Madoff scandal, as well as by the liquidity issues that many funds have found themselves confronting since the onset of the crisis. The guide, composed by a steering committee made up of alternative multi-management actors, focuses on risk management, transparency, valuation, management of conflicts of interest, fees, investor protection, and operational issues. The guide does not aim to impose requirements on actors in the fund of hedge fund sector, but rather presents itself as ?a practical tool for managers of funds of hedge funds, investors, regulatory and political authorities, and providers of services to the hedge fund sector,? says Patrick Fenal, CEO of Unigestion and chairman of the steering committee at the AIMA.
21/04/2009

AGI noue un partenariat avec Bajaj Finserv

Allianz Global Investors (AGI) a annoncé la création d’une société de gestion commune avec Bajaj Finserv en Inde. L’allemand détiendra 51 % des parts de cette nouvelle entité, rapporte le Handelsblatt. Le groupe d’assurance Allianz a déjà deux autres joint-ventures avec Bajaj Finserv ; il a d’ailleurs annoncé lundi, selon The Wall Street Journal, qu’il va reprendre d’ici à la fin de l’année la participation de son partenaire indien dans la société Bajaj Allianz Financial Distribution, une société de distribution de produits financiers.
21/04/2009

Le Crédit Suisse va indemniser ses clients en Suisse Romande pour Lehman

Le Credit Suisse est parvenu à un accord avec la Fédération Romande des Consommateurs pour indemniser 1700 de ses clients ayant détenu des produits à capital protégé Lehman Brothers. L’indemnisation concerne un montant total de 50 millions de francs suisses. Sur la base d"une analyse individuelle de chaque situation, la banque soumettra une offre de rachat aux clients représentés par la FRC qui, au 31 août 2008, disposaient d’une fortune globale de 500 000 francs maximum au Credit Suisse et avaient investi plus de 20% de cette fortune globale dans des produits de ce type.
21/04/2009
Fonds

L'heure est aux fonds "tous-terrains"

Les investisseurs espagnols, comme les autres Européens, ont redécouvert les fonds diversifiés dynamiques, qui ont la possibilité de changer souplement la configuration de leur portefeuille pour profiter de toutes les opportunités apparaissant sur le marché. En 2008, cela a été le cas principalement du Carmignac Patrimoine, qui se distingue par une gestion active sans se focaliser sur les indices. Les autres fonds préférés des Espagnols ont été le JPM Global Capital Preservation, le Santander Eurobalance, le Axa WF Optimal Income et le BGF Global Allocation de Blackrock, rapporte Expansión, citant les statistiques de Lipper et de JPMorgan Asset Management. Au premier trimestre, les fonds diversifiés qui ont drainé le plus de souscriptions ont été le Banesto Selección RV, le Kutxadinero Plus et le Ibercaja Patrimonio Dinámico.
Fonds

Sujets d'actualité

Tous les sujets