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02/02/2009

United States - Russell to lay off one fifth of staff

Against the background of a deteriorating global financial environment, Russell Investments has announced that it finds itself obliged to reduce costs, which will involve, among other things, a reduction of about 20% in staff numbers worldwide by the end of the year. Russell, an affiliate of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, had USD150bn in assets as of the end of December, compared with USD213bn as of 31 March.
02/02/2009

Germany - DJE Real Estate remains closed to redemptions

On Friday, DJE Kapital announced that its open-ended real estate fund of funds, DJ Real Estate, will remain closed to redemptions, in order to protect the interests of subscribers who wish to remain invested in the fund.
02/02/2009

United States - NewRiver accuses Morningstar of espionage

NewRiver Inc has filed a lawsuit in the US state of Massachusetts against Morningstar, accusing the ratings agency of illegally copying information from a patent-protected online system used to update mutual fund prospectuses, The Wall Street Journal reports. Morningstar was in negotiations to buy Morningstar last summer, and is said to have been given a guest password at that time which allowed it access to the database. Morningstar denies the allegations.
02/02/2009

United Kingdom - Prudential Financial recruits a team from N.M. Rothschild

The former Prudential Real Estate Funds (PREI), an affiliate of Prudential Financial, has announced that it has recruited the management team in real estate financing from Paramount Private Equity N.M. Rothschild & Sons, to create a mezzanine platform for real estate in Europe, which will come as an addition to the existing platform in the United States. This will include the recruitment of the two founders of Paramount, Andrew Radkiewicz and Andrew Macland, who will be managing directors, and of Mathew Crowther and Brian Scally.
02/02/2009

United States - Two Senators propose legislation to require transparency of hedge funds

US Senators Carl Levin and Charles Grassley have unveiled a bill known as the Hedge Fund Transparency Act, which would require hedge funds with more than USD50m in assets to register with the SEC, and to disclose their total assets under management as well as the names of their investors and prime brokers, the Wall Street Journal reports. The bill also would make registered hedge funds subject to random audits by the regulator.
02/02/2009

Spain - Net redemptions continue

According to provisional estimates from the Spanish Inverco association of management firms, assets in securities funds declined by 1.2%, or more than USD1.93bn, in January, to a total of ERU165.72bn. Net redemptions represent EUR1.62bn of this total, Expansión reports.
02/02/2009

Spain - Net redemptions for top ten managers in January

In January, as the number of shareholders declined by a further 97,000 to a total of barely 6 million, securities funds underwent net redemptions of EUR1.62bn in total, compared with EUR2.56bn in December, Cinco Días reports. BBVA Gestión suffered net redemptions of EUR134.6m, but the worst affected was Santander Asset Management, with net redemptions of EUR339.8m. None of the top management firms has posted net subscriptions. The first firm in the rankings to show net subscriptions is BBK Gestión, which is in twelfth place.
02/02/2009

United States - Nuveen forms alliance with Harcourt

The United States-based management firm Nuveen Investments, a specialist in institutional and high net worth private clients (USD134bn in assets as of the end of September), has signed a strategic partnership agreement with the Swiss firm Harcourt Investment Consulting (USD5.5bn as of the end of June), which is specialised in alternative multi-management.Nuveen gains access to a provider of hedge funds, while Harcourt (Vontobel group) gains larger exposure to the US market.
02/02/2009

United Kingdom - AIMA would accept a slight toughening of regulations

Andrew Barker, number two in the hierarchy at the AIMA alternative management association, has remarked in a Parliamentary hearing that shares in RBS, Barclays and HBOS plunged in value between October and the first half of January, at a time when short-selling of these shares was not allowed, Expansión reports. The AIMA would nonetheless agree to some additional regulation, in the form of a permanent prohibition on naked shorts, and a requirement that short positions concentrated on a single company be declared, or single short positions if they account for more than 3% of the firm’s capital.
02/02/2009

France - Invesco launches a PowerShares ETF focused on Middle East and North Africa

Invesco on Friday announced the introduction to the Nextrack market segment of the PowerShares Middle East North Africa ETF, which it says is the first tracker providing direct exposure to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It replaces the NASDAQ OMX Middle East North Africa fund, and invests directly in the shares which compose the portfolio, without the use of derivatives.The index, weighted by market capitalisation adjusted for float, includes the largest and most liquid companies in nine countries of the Middle East and North Africa: Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Morocco. Saudi Arabia and Tunisia are not part of the eligible universe, but may be included in the future.The shares selected for the index have a market capitalisation adjusted for float of at least USD200m, and have a daily trading volume over the past three months, measured on an ongoing basis, of at least USD1m. Each share is limited to 10% of the overall total, and exposure per country is limited to 20%. The index is re-weighted and revised each quarter.
02/02/2009

United States - Fidelity turns in performance with a low-priced stock fund

Joel Tillinghast manages the USD18bn in assets in the Fidelity Low Priced Stock Fund, using an approach which he admits may seem stupid: he concentrates (at least 80%) on shares which cost less than USD35 each, Forbes.com reports. As simplistic as the idea may seem, it works, and the fund has posted average annual performance of 11.12% in the past twelve years, compared with 6% for the S&P 500. In addition, the fund has proven particularly resilient in periods of falling markets. The portfolio presently includes 827 positions.
02/02/2009

World - Consolidation on the cards in private equity

Four fifths of managers in private equity feel that a wave of consolidation is likely in their industry this year, according to a study published on Monday by Private Equity News and Simmons & Simmons, cited by the Financial Times. The financial crisis will force private equity firms in difficulty to merge with rivals, while the larger firms will have to diversify by acquiring niche players.
02/02/2009

United Kingdom - Vanguard sets up shop in the UK

Vanguard Group, which made a name for itself in the United States for selling low-cost funds, is setting up shop in the United Kingdom, the Financial Times reports. The newspaper predicts that this may trigger a price war in the asset management sector. Vanguard will offer equities and fixed income products to institutionals and to independent financial advisers (IFAs) who agree not to receive commissions.
02/02/2009

United Kingdom - Mark Shuttleworth invests in a hedge fund

The Financial Times reports that Mark Shuttleworth, the man known as the ?first African in space,? after paying USD20m to become the world’s second space tourist, has invested USD10m in Insparo, a hedge fund supported by Michael Spencer, the billionaire who founded Icap. The fund is specialised in Africa.
02/02/2009

United Kingdom - Mogull launches a real estate fund

Marc Mogull, former head of real estate at Berd, will return to the British real estate markets with an opportunity-driven fund with GBP450m in capital, the Financial Times reports. In total, the investor has lined up GBP1.8bn in pledges for the structure, to be known as Benson Elliot Capital Management.
02/02/2009

Europe - Invesco awards a mandate to BNY Mellon AS

BNY Mellon Asset Servicing has announced that it has been awarded a global custody, accounting and fund administration mandate from Invesco, on assets of over USD50bn in 135 funds domiciled in Dublin, Luxembourg, and the United Kingdom. Invesco employees currently dedicated to these tasks will be offered the opportunity to continue their careers at the BNY Mellon group.
02/02/2009

Norway - Government pension fund divests from Barrick Gold and Textron

The Norwegian state pension fund (formerly known as the Oil Fund, EUR250bn in assets) has announced that it has sold its shares in the Canadian firm Barrick Gold Corporation for EUR140m, due to the mining company’s continuing unclean disposal of pollutants at the Porgera mine in Papua New Guinea, Reponsible Investor reports. The fund has also sold its shares in the American firm Textron Inc. for EUR28m, due to the firm’s involvement in the production of cluster bombs.
02/02/2009

Spain - Retirement savings plans show losses on 1 and 3 years

In total, assets in retirement savings plans at the end of Decembner totalled EUR78.41bn, which is EUR7.43bn or 8.47% less than at the end of 2007, according to statistics from the Spanish Inverco association of management firms. However, the number of accounts has increased 2.3% in the past twelve months, to 10.6 million, and the total number of contributors is estimated at about 7.5 million. Gross inflows totalled EUR6bn, or 16% less than in 2007.Inverco states that assets in individual plans are down 9.5% to EUR49.05bn, while assets in corporate plans are down 6.8% to EUR28.36bn, and mixed plans are down 16.4% to EUR997m.The association also reports that plans have posted average losses of 8.07% on one year, and 0.98% over three years. Over five and ten years, annual performance measures 1.39% and 1.04%, respectively.
30/01/2009

Allemagne - Le scandale Madoff touche certains investisseurs allemands

Les fonds de fonds de Bernd Greisinger à Mayence contenaient en moyenne 40 % de Madoff, celui de Carat, 19 %. Les autres sinistrés sont le gestionnaire AmpegaGerling, le réseau de courtiers Top Ten et le gestionnaire de fortune Sauerborn (UBS), rapporte la Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.Selon une enquête de l’association BVI des sociétés de gestion auprès de ses membres, les montants investis dans des fonds de droit européen impliqués dans le scandale Madoff représentaient 220 millions d’euros. Bernd Greisinger a précisé que les investisseurs ont souvent été mis sur une liste d’attente pour souscrire au fonds irlandais Thema, ce qui est a priori peu cohérent avec la notion de fraude pyramidale.
30/01/2009

Allemagne - Les banques sont fortement exposées aux hedge funds

Selon les statistiques de la BRI (BIS en anglais), les banques allemandes affichaient fin septembre des créances de 295 milliards de dollars sur les centres financiers offshore, dont 114 milliards sur les îles Caïman et 52 milliards sur Jersey, rapporte la Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. L’exposition des banques britanniques se situait à 516 milliards de dollars, dont 190 milliards sur Hong-Kong et 90 milliards sur les îles Caïman. Le Japon et la Suisse avaient pour leur part des créances sur ces îles de respectivement 238 milliards et 102 milliards de dollars.
30/01/2009

Allemagne - Les fonds de hedge funds s'évaporent

Après Allianz Global Investors, Cominvest, Pioneer et UBS, DWS (Deutsche Bank) et Union Investment (banques populaires) ont décidé de liquider leurs fonds de hedge funds. Celui de DWS, qui fermera le 1er mai, ne pèse plus que 6 millions d’euros et ceux d’Union, liquidés au 1er janvier, ont perdu 30 % en 2008, deux fois plus que la moyenne du secteur, rapporte le Handelsblatt. Seul reste en lice Deka (caisses d'épargne) avec un fonds de hedge funds de 93 millions d’euros.Cependant db x-trackers, la filiale spécialisée de la Deutsche Bank, prévoit de lancer en février un ETF sur des indices de hedge funds.

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