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02/03/2009

Germany - Axa IM audits portfolio of Immoselect fund

Fondsweb reports that Axa Investment Managers Germany has announced that an audit of eight properties in the portfolio of the Immoselect real estate fund, previously valued at EUR351.89m, has led to a downward adjustment of the fund’s net asset value of EUR11.62m, which explains a reduction of 9 cents in the fund’s per-share asset value on 23 February.The manager also states that assets in the fund, whose redemptions have been frozen since the end of October, now total nearly EUR3.33bn (down from EUR3.97bn at the end of September). Assets in the portfolio, which has a total value of over EUR2.22bn, have already been subjected to a revaluation, and corrections to the value of the portfolio have been limited. Downward revisions have primarily affected four properties in Spain, one in the Netherlands, and two in Luxembourg.However, the value of the shopping centre La Scaglia (Civitavecchia), and of one property in Amsterdam, have been revised upwards.
02/03/2009

Germany - Threadneedle has a new head in Germany

Werner Kolitsch, previously country director for Austria and the countries of central and eastern Europe for Threadneedle, based in Vienna, has been appointed head of Germany and Austria. He will be based in Frankfurt and will report directly to Christian Pellis, head of European distribution. In Germany, he replaces Volker Plate, about whose future Threadneedle cannot yet offer any details.
02/03/2009

United Kingdom - Tables turn as Brian Myerson faces shareholder revolt

Brian Myerson, known for his shareholder activism, is facing a revolt on the part of shareholders in his own Principle Capital Investment Trust, who are seeking to unseat him and three other directors, sell off the shares, and redistribute the money to shareholders, the Sunday Times reports. The revolt is being led by the United States hedge fund QVT, which is dissatisfied with the poor performance of Principle, and also has the allegiance of the investment fund EIM, managed by Arki Busson, and of Invesco. At a general assembly on 26 March, they will propose that Crystel Amber Management be designated to sell off the fund’s investments over a two-year period.
02/03/2009

United States - Warren Buffett: ?I was dumb in 2008??

Berkshire Hathaway earned net profits in 2008 of USD4.99bn, compared with USD13.21bn the previous year, and Warren Buffett, the fund’s owner, has admitted that the firm lost USD11.5bn on its investments, the Sunday Times reports. The ?Sage of Omaha? admits that he made ?dumb things? in 2008, one of which was investing in ConocoPhillips at a time when oil was close to its peak: the investment cost Berkshire Hathaway several billion dollars. The firm’s book value per share lost 9.6% last year, its heaviest fall since 1965, when Buffett took over the company.
02/03/2009

Spain - Fewer than 6 million accounts

In February, net redemptions from Spanish securities funds fell to EUR1.13bn, their lowest level since August 2007. There have been continual outflows since May 2007. Cinco Días notes that the rate of decline in the number of accounts has slowed to 57,254 in February, compared with 10,000 in January. This is also the first time since 1997 that the total has fallen below 6 million (5,999,698).
02/03/2009

Germany - Thomas Mann becomes head of AmpegaGerling Investment

The chairman of the managing board at Gothaer Asset Management, Thomas Mann, was appointed on Friday by the supervisory board at the AmpegaGerling group as CEO of AmpegaGerling Investment GmbH, and as a member of executive committee at AmpegaGerling Asset Management GmbH. He will begin in these positions, as well as the position of CIO for both companies, on 1 August 2008, replacing Walter Schmidt, who will be retiring.Jürgen Wrobbel, COO of AmpegaGerling Investment and Ampega AM, will be leaving the firm on 1 April, by a mutual agreement with the management board. His duties will be redistributed to the directors of the two firms. AmpegaGerling Investment had assets as of the end of December of EUR12.76bn in securities funds, and of EUR264m in open-ended real estate funds.
02/03/2009

Spain - 100 ?global? funds posted positive returns in 2008

Cinco Días reports that approximately 100 of the 480 ?global funds? on the registers were in positive territory in 2008. ?Global funds? are a catch-all category (in Spanish, a cajón de sastre) which largely includes hedge funds. The best performer was Bankinter Kilimanjaro, with returns of 18% in the 12 months to 31 January. The fund played the falling markets from June on, with a portfolio that had a continual ?short? position ranging from 20% to 60%. The Renta 4 Pegasus fund gained 7.1%, with a strong allocation to bonds, and a net exposure to equities of +/- 10%. The Caja Burgos Fondo de Fondos Conservator VaR 3, for its part, has no exposure to equities funds, and gained 6.28%.
02/03/2009

Italy - Fideuram adds to staff

Fideuram Investimenti is adding to its personnel, Bluerating reports. Mario Bortoli, former CEO of Eurizon Alternative, has joined the firm as head of multi-management. There will also be recruitments for the asset allocation team.
02/03/2009

United States - Pimco to redeem ARS

Pacific Investment Management Co (Pimco, Allianz group) has announced that it will redeem USD342bn in auction-rate preferred securities (ARS) issued by come of its closed funds, and analysts are predicting that other redemptions will follow in the next few weeks, the Wall Street Journal reports. US federal law prohibits closed funds from paying dividends if their ARS leverage is over 50% of their assets, which is reportedly currently the case for the five Pimco funds (Pimco Corporate Income Fund, Pimco Corporate Opportunity Fund, Pimco High Income Fund, Pimco Floating Rate Income Fund and Pimco Floating Rate Strategy) for which the redemptions have been announced, and also for two funds from Nicholas-Applegate, another Allianz affiliate, specifically, the Nicholas-Applegate Convertible & Income Fund and Nicholas-Applegate Convertible & Income Fund.
02/03/2009

Europe - Pension funds lending to businesses

Major pension funds are beginning to lend directly to businesses in search of credit, the Financial Times reports. ?The withdrawal of banks has raised the price of borrowing, increasing returns so far that pension funds can generate results by lending directly to very highly-rated companies, at a time when returns on traditional assets are low,? the newspaper reports.
02/03/2009

France - Société Générale upgrades IT infrastructure

L’Agefi reports that Société Générale will this week send out an internal announcement of an initiative known as SG TEC, which will unite management of IT infrasctructures for its major professions and affiliates in a single unit. All of the bank’s professional areas, including asset management, will be involved. The IT restructuring will bring the bank savings of EUR100m beginning in 2010, the news agency reports.
02/03/2009

Germany - Irregularities at DekaBank

On Friday, DekaBank, the asset management arm of the German savings banks and Landesbanken, caused consternation with a downward revision of about EUR100m to its 2008 results. According to sources in the finance sector, market traders blatantly disobeyed orders from the management, Handelsblatt reports. A spokesperson for the fim merely confirmed on Sunday that an investigation is being undertaken by the Bundesbank, and that the board has launched an internal enquiry.
02/03/2009

Switzerland - Gottex to reimburse clients

Gottex Fund Management has send a letter to investors in its USD1.9bn Gottex Market Neutral Plus fund, to confirm that some redemptions will be paid out this Monday, and that fees will be reduced for those remaining in the fund, the Financial Times reports.
02/03/2009

Austria - Government investigates Medici president

The Austrian public prosecutor’s office has launched a criminal investigation of Sonja Kohn, president and majority shareholder in Bank Medici, on suspicion of fraud and betrayal of confidence in connection with the Madoff scandal, the Financial Times reports. The investigation comes in the wake of a complaint filed by Gabriel Lansky, a famous Vienna lawyer, on behalf of anonymous clients who lost their investments in funds managed by Bank Medici and placed with Madoff.
02/03/2009

United States - DE Shaw to appoint an independent administrator

DE Shaw, one of the largest US hedge funds, is planning to appoint independent administrators to reassure investors rendered more cautious by the Madoff scandal, the Financial Times reports. The practice, common in Europe, is still rare in the United States.
02/03/2009

United Kingdom - Hedge fund fundraising halved

According to statistics from the Financial Services Authority cited by the Financial Times, fundraising by hedge funds was reduced to 1.15 times net assets in October, half of what it was one year previously. The survey also shows that hedge funds have never had so little borrowing capacity since 2005, when statistics began to be kept.
02/03/2009

Germany - Deka revises 2008 profits down by 57.4%

DekaBank announced on Friday that, due to losses on portfolios of financial instruments now apparent in light of recent information, it is revising its ?economic profits? (pre-tax results by IFRS accounting standards, before valuation of financial instruments) for 2008 to EUR71.5m, rather than the EUR157.9m previously announced (see Newsmanagers of 12 February).
02/03/2009

United Kingdom - RBC concludes acquisition of Mourant Private Wealth

The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) on Friday announced that it has concluded its acquisition of Mourant Private Wealth, the private fiduciary services division of Mourant Limited. Mourant Private Wealth (GBP3.5bn in assets) has offices in Jersey, Dubai, and the Cayman Islands. The details of the transaction have not been divulged. Counting Mourant Pwm RBC Wealth Management has more than 1,000 employees in Jersey. It also has more than 300 employees in Guernsey, and 200 other employees in London, Cheltenham, and Edinburgh.
27/02/2009

Allemagne - Dresdner Bank : la Commerzbank tient à rassurer

Après la publication des comptes provisoires de la Dresdner Bank, qui aura coûté 6,4 milliards d’euros supplémentaires à Allianz au titre de 2008, la Commerzbank s’est empressée de publier un avis boursier dans lequel elle précise que les pertes de la banque verte ont été totalement prises en compte et que les fonds propres de premier rang (tier 1) représentaient 10 % au 1er janvier 2009. Hors l’apport du Fonds de stabilisation des marchés financiers (SoFFin) et la reprise de CDO de la Dresdner Bank par Allianz (pour 400 millions d’euros), le ratio de Tier 1 se serait situé aux alentours de 7 %.D’autre part, Martin Blessing, président du directoire de la Commerzbank, a tenu à souligner dans un communiqué que la perte de plusieurs milliards supportée par la Dresdner Bank occulte le fait que les activités de banque du particulier, de banque des entreprises et de pans importants de la banque d’investissement de cet établissement acheté par la Commerzbank sont saines. Les problèmes ont été provoqués par certains secteurs de la banque d’investissement Dresdner Kleinwort qui vont être sévèrement élagués.
27/02/2009

Allemagne - Le moral des investisseurs au plus bas depuis début 2003

Selon le sondage trimestriel Forsa pour le compte d’Union Investment auprès des décideurs financiers de 500 ménages, 37 % des investisseurs allemands pensent que les marchés d’actions baisseront dans les six prochains mois (contre 34 % au T4-08) et 31 % (contre 43 %) estiment qu’ils seront en légère hausse. Il n’y a eu moins d’optimistes que par trois fois depuis le début de la série en 2001 ; la dernière fois, c'était au premier trimestre 2003 (19 %).En ce qui concerne les préférences en matière de placements financiers, l’aspect «sécurité» arrive très largement en tête, avec 58 %, devant la disponibilité (26 %), la rentabilité (10 %) et les avantages fiscaux (5 %).
27/02/2009

Allemagne - L'Etat fédéral se constitue une cagnotte pour ses indexés

L’Etat fédéral a l’intention de constituer grâce à une loi ad hoc (Schlusszahlungsfinanzierungsgesetz) une réserve cantonnée de 1,5 milliard d’euros sur les années 2010 à 2012, rapporte la Börsen-Zeitung. Cela évitera au ministre des Finances d’avoir à faire porter sur un seul budget annuel la liquidation de la prime d’inflation qu’il devra payer sur ses emprunts indexés.
27/02/2009

Etats-Unis - Le NYSE suspend la radiation à 1 dollar

The Wall Street Journal rapporte que le New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) suspend jusqu’au 30 juin la règle imposant la radiation de la cote lorsque l’action d’une société tombe au-dessous d’un dollar. L’entreprise de marché demande aussi au régulateur d’approuver l’extension jusqu’au 30 juin du régime allégé concernant l’obligation de capitalisation boursière minimale : sinon, le 22 avril, ce plancher serait remonté à 25 millions de dollars contre 15 millions.

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