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07/01/2014

Schroders plans to relocate in London

Schroders will soon reveals plans to move its offices in London, the Times reports. The newspaper states that the asset management firm will be leaving its headquarters in Gresham Street to take possession of a new property under construction at One London Wall Place. The construction is slated for completion in 2016. The Times states that the decision follows the acquisition of Cazenove Capital last year for GBP424m.
07/01/2014

The FCA appoints supervisor of wealth management

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has appointed Robert Taylor as head of wealth management and private banking in its supervision division. Taylor, who has 20 years of experience in financial services in the United Kingdom, United States and Germany, will begin in his new role in February 2014. He had previously been CEO of Kleinwort Benson, a position he held until 2011. He had previously spent a part of his career at Merrill Lynch, SG Hambro and Coutts.
07/01/2014

Zoe Cruz joins board of directors at Old Mutual

Old Mutual Group has appointed Zoe Cruz to its board as independent non-executive director. She was previously co-president of institutional securities and wealth management at Morgan Stanley before founding Voras Capital Management in 2009 and running the fund until its closure in 2012.Old Mutual Group has also appointed Adiba Ighodaro as independent non-executive director. She has previously held senior investment roles with Commonwealth Development Corporation and Actis, where she has head of West Africa.It follows the resignation of Bongani Nqwababa who had served as a non-executive director since April 2007.
07/01/2014

Former head of Threadneedle takes over as head of a consulting firm

Simon Davies, former chairman of Threadneedle, has been recruited by the investment consultancy firm Square Mile Investment Research as chairman. He had previously been chairman of J.P. Morgan Overseas Investment Trust. Davies had previously served 16 years at Threadneedle, first as chief investment officer, then as CEO, and lastly, as chairman, a position he resigned from in June 2012. Under his leadership, the firm was profoundly transformed, from a small British asset management firm to a global asset management giant.
07/01/2014

Franklin Templeton plans to develop its equity unit in India

The bond specialist Franklin Templeton has decided to promote its equity range to Indian clients, Asian Investor reports. Vivek Kidva, managing director of the Indian firm at Franklin Templeton, admits that it will not be easy to convince potential clients. “In a market like India, where you can easily get rates of 8% or 9% for bank savings annually, selling equity funds to investors is a real challenge,” he tells Asian Investor. However, with an eye to diversification, Franklin Templeton is planning to push US equities, which gained more than 30% last year. If demand is sufficient, Franklin Templeton is planning to offer a European equity fund at a date yet to be determined, after making a US equity fund domiciled in Luxembourg available to Indian investors in June last year. But the international equity sector still remains miniscule. According to figures from the Association of mutual funds in India (AMFI), feeder funds investing in foreign mutual funds represent less than 1% of assets under management, which total about USD143bn, of which only 17% are invested in equities.
07/01/2014

JP Morgan AM overhauls British fund teams

JP Morgan Asset Management (AM) has profoundly overhauled the management teams for six funds focused on the United Kingdom and Europe, with a total of over GBP3.1bn in assets under management, eFinancial News reports. From the beginning of January, Ian Butler, Thomas Buckingham and Ben Stapley became the prime managers of the open-ended investment company (OEIC) range from JPMorgan. Butler is now mnager of the UK Strategic Equity Income fund, which has GBP138m in assets. He is also appointed to the position of additional manager for the Europe Strategic Value Fund, with GBP1.3bn in assets, alongside Michael Barakos, co-manager of the fund. Buckingham, for his part, is responsible for the UK Higher Income Fund, with GBP303m in assets, and is also co-manager of the Europe Strategic Dividend Fund (GBP1.03bn), with Barakos. Stapley is responsible for the UK Strategic Growth Fund, with GBP283.5m in assets, and is co-manager of the Europe Strategic Growth Fund (GBP166m).
07/01/2014

Aberdeen and Scottish Widows suffered in 2013

Scottish Widows and Aberdeen Asset Management, its new parent company, in 2013 both saw redemption requests among the highest in Europe, Financial Times fund management reports. On the basis of data from Morningstar, Scottish Widows was one of the least popular asset management firms in Europe in the first 11 months of 2013, with net outflows of EUR6.8bn from its funds. Aberdeen AM is among the 10 least popular firms, with EUR1.6bn in net redemptions.
07/01/2014

EFG International takes over Falcon Private Bank in Hong Kong

EFG International has reached an agreement with Falcon Private Bank regarding the latter’s business in Hong Kong, according to a press statement.They have agreed on a referral of Falcon Private Bank’s clients in Hong Kong. This follows Falcon Private Bank’s decision to exit the Hong Kong market.The two organizations will be working closely together to ensure a smooth introduction of client relationships during the first half of 2014.A number of Client Relationship Officers and related support staff will move from Falcon Private Bank to EFG Bank, EFG International’s business in Asia. The assets under management involved are circa CHF 800 million, and it is expected that the lion’s share of this will ultimately move across to EFG.The Asian operations of EFG International were established in 2000. Its regional network of offices encompasses Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei, Shanghai and Jakarta. As of June 2013, EFG International’s Asia business accounted for 99 Client Relationship Officers, and clients’ assets under management of CHF 14.8 billion.
07/01/2014

BlackRock builds sales team in Germany

BlackRock is adding to its retail sales team in Germany, according to Fondsprofessionell. Dieter Sutterlüti has been appointed as head of sales for open-ended funds available on the retail network. Meanwhile, Britta Bene is joining the Asset-Allocators group in charge of wealth management clients, private banks and family offices. The two new arrivals will report to Christian Machts, director of retal activity at BlackRock Germany and Austria.
07/01/2014

SRI specialist becomes an affiliate of Natixis AM

Mirova has since 1 January become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Natixis Asset Management. The creation, announced on 6 January, strengthens the independence of management at Mirova, and aims to accelerate the development of the socially responsible investment (SRI) unit at Natixis AM. In the next five years, this will aim to make it a leader internationally, a statement says. Pascal Voisin, CEO of Natixis Asset Management, becomes chairman of the board of directors, while the position of CEO goes to Philippe Zaouati. Mirova, which claims to be the second-largest European manager of SRI funds and the leader in solidaristic management in France in Europe, has EUR3.4bn in assets under management and EUR23.6bn in votes and engagements. These figures are compared to EUR292.3bn at Natixis Asset Management.
07/01/2014

AXA Real Estate wins a mandate from a Texas pension fund

AXA Real Estate Investment Managers has been appointed by The Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), the largest public retirement system in Texas, U.S., to manage a new EUR135 million investment mandate, targeting mainly value-add investment opportunities in Northern Europe. TRS delivers retirement and related benefits authorized by the Texas Legislature and currently manages approximately USD120 billion trust fund established to finance member benefits. It is the sixth largest public pension plan in the U.S. and among the 20 largest funds in the world. More than 1.3 million public education and higher education employees and retirees participate in the system.
07/01/2014

Gérard Moulin joins Amplégest

As recently announced by Newsmanagers (see Newsmanagers of 13/11/2013), Gérard Moulin is entering a new phase in his career following his departure from Delubac AM. Moulin has joined the asset management firm Amplégest as head of European equity management. He is also responsible for the management of the Amplégest Multicaps fund. Moulin will be responsible for developing “pricing power” management of European large caps, a speciality he has already applied to the management of the Delubac Pricing Power fund. He will work in collaboration with a team composed of Saad Benlamine and Augustin Bloch-Lainé, managers at Amplégest Midcaps. Assets at Amplégest at the beginning of this year total EUR615m. The Amplégest Multicaps fund has EUR188m.
07/01/2014

Myra Capital adds to management teams

The Austrian asset management firm Myra Capital has recruited Sebastian Stahn, a specialist in absolute return management. He will take over open-ended funds at the institutional asset management firm. Stahn previously worked at the private bank Walser, where he was a portfolio manager, Das Investment reports.
07/01/2014

Two French boutiques merge

The French boutiques Turgot Asset Management and Alienor Capital on 6 January announced in a joint statement that they have signed a memorandum of agreement to merge the two firms. Pending the agreement of the AMF, Turgot Asset Management will acquire a 35% stake in Alienor Capital as part of a capital increase slated for first quarter 2014. The sale price has not been disclosed. The new group will represent total assets under management of over EUR250m, 15 employees (including 7 portfolio managers) and a joint, in-house internal deontology control. At the end of 2012, assets under management at Aliénor totalled EUR122m. Operational synergies are already planned, with plans to benefit from the best practices at each of the two firms.
07/01/2014

Neuflize OBC pools services dedicated to valuation of wealth

Banque Neuflize OBC has announced that it is grouping together its expertise dedicated to the valuation and optimisation of the total wealth of its clients into a single unit. Th private bank has entitled the new unit “Advising Direction” and has placed it under the leadership of Sophie Breuil, who at the same time joins the board at Banque Neuflize OBC. The department has 30 employees specialised in five areas of expertise: wealth engineering, financial structuring, mergers and acquisitions, real estate, and art. Since January, a family office activity has been added, the private bank states. “The Advising Director aims to offer clients panoramic advising based on a consolidated vision of their assets and riven by an objective of long-term preservation of family interests. For Neuflize OBC, advising is a vector which adds dimension to the relationship with the client. Acting as part of the sale of a business, advising a family transmission strategy or selling works of art and/pr real estate properties allows for intimacy with the client to be constructed for future generations, and to offer adapted and personalised service,” says Breuil. Neuflize OBC has EUR37.8bn in assets under management as of the end of December 2012.
07/01/2014

New head at BNP Paribas RE Property Management France

BNP Paribas Real Estate Property Management France has appointed Paul Cornaille as deputy CEO. He will report to Jean-Claude Tanguy, vice chairman and CEO of the activity in France. Cornaille is also joining the board of director at BNP Paribas Real Estate Property Management France. In practice, Cornaille will be responsible for the management of real estate complexes whose teams are located at La Défense in Paris, as well as responsibility for all suppot functions at the business. Before joining ADYAL In January 2011 as president of ADYAL Property Managemnet, Cornaille worked at CBRE as CEO of Property Management for France.
07/01/2014

Permira loses control of LegalZoom.com

The private equity firm Permira Advisers is planning to buy a majority stake in the online legal document provider LegalZoom.com, the news agency Reuters reports. According to the terms of the transaction, an ad-hoc company formed by Permira is expected to acquire shares in LegalZoom for more than USD200m. The company had initially planned an IPO, but ultimately preferred an agreement with Permira. The operation is expected to be completed in first quarter.
07/01/2014

Lombard Odier & Cie (France) appoints a head of key clients

Lombard Odier & Cie (France) has recruited Nathalie Rossiensky as deputy director, responsible for major investors. Since December 2013, she has been working to strengthen the development of private banking activities in the European market. Since 2005, Rossiensky had worked at Goldman Sachs in London, and then in Paris, as executive director. She was previously at JP Morgan Private Bank.
07/01/2014

Legg Mason recruits a head of development

Legg Mason on 6 January announced the appointment of Thomas Hoops to the position of executive vice president in charge of development. Hoops joined the asset management group on 6 January, and will be a member of the executive board, reporting to chairman and CEO Joseph Sullivan. He previously worked at Wells Fargo as head of affiliated managers at Wells Fargo Asset Management.
07/01/2014

Natixis Global AM aims for EUR75bn in inflows by 2017

In an interview with Les Echos, Pierre Servant, CEO of Natixis Global Asset Management (NGAM) names an objective of EUR75bn in overall cumulative inflows by 2017. To achieve that, the asset management firm is planning to restart its activities in Europe, while its largest affiliate in Europe, Natixis Asset Management, has seen outflows in the past few years. “For our prospect of endogenous global cumulative inflows of EUR75bn by 2017, Europe is expected to contribute EUR5bn per year,” Servant explains to the economic newspaper. Servant would like to strengthen several areas of expertise, citing the need to have “more emerging market funds” as well as “more alternative expertise in volatility products and risk control.” The head of NGAM also admits that the firm does not have “enough equity products, particularly global funds,” which have been the most successful in the past few years.
07/01/2014

Generali Switzerland appoints a new CIO

The insurer Generali Switzerland has appointed René Schmidli to the position of chief investment officer (CIO), according to a statement released on 6 January. Schmidle began in his role on 1 January, and also joined the board of directors. Schmidli has since 2006 been responsible for asset management at Generali, and since 2010 has been deputy to the CIO, a statement from the Italian insurer states. The previous head, Karl Schönenberger, has become manager of the group in Switzerland.
07/01/2014

Skagen launches “clean” share classes

Skagen has launched new unit classes for three of its equity funds – Skagen Kon-Tiki, Skagen Global and Skagen Vekst – on 1 January 2014.The new unit classes will comply with regulatory changes in the Netherlands and UK where investment managers will no longer be allowed to pay commission to advisors or retrocession to platforms or distributors and must make available so-called «clean share classes».
07/01/2014

Asian institutionals slowly developing their alternative asset management

Alternative mutual fund assets under management (AUM) in Asia ex-Japan totaled USD20.7 billion as of September last year, about 6.1% higher than at the end of 2012, according to Cerulli Associates. Still, AUM in this space has mostly been on a slow uptick since 2009. Cerulli Associates believes that these allocations have primarily been driven by institutional and, to some extent, high-net-worth investors, rather than retail investors.Although alternative allocations are still small at most institutions, often accounting for less than 10% of their overall portfolios, it is notable that they are rising steadily. For example, Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) had nothing in alternatives in 2008, but by 2012 it had allocated nearly 11% of its assets to alternatives, including private equity, hedge funds, real estate, commodities, and special investments. Recognizing institutions’ growing taste for alternatives, some global fund houses traditionally focused on long-only assets are stepping up their alternatives capabilities. There were notable acquisitions last year: Franklin Templeton in June bought the remaining 80% stake in Pelagos Capital Management, which manages a commodities, managed futures, and hedge fund replication strategy, while BlackRock announced in May an agreement to purchase MGPA, a London-based private equity real estate manager.
07/01/2014

Red alert over insider trading

The level of fines, arrests and investigations for insider trading in 2013 leapt worldwide, which is putting asset management firms on red alert, Financial Times fund management reports. The Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States has promised to be particularly active this year in punishing insider trading. Howard Groedel, a partner at the law firm Ulmer & Berne, tells FTfm that asset management firms are scrambling to recruit compliant staff in order to ensure that they are protected.
07/01/2014

Strong inflows to ETPs in 2013

ETPs worldwide last year posted net inflows of USD235.5bn, the third-largest total on record, after 2008 and 2012, according to initial estimates from BlackRock. In the month of December alone, net inflows to ETPs worldwide accelerated to USD24.7bn, compared with USD16bn in November. Equity ETPs alone attracted a record USD247.3bn in the year as a whole, topping the previous record in 2008. Exposure to US equities represented USD147.8bn, followed by Japanese equities (USD38.2bn). Pan-European funds posted strong inflows in second half, to finish the year with net inflows of USD26.7bn, more than double those observed in 2012. Inflows to bonds remained high compared with the previous year, at USD27.5bn, due to engagements to short-maturity ETPs totalling USD35.9bn.
07/01/2014

Swiss & Global AM launches a fund based on the Chinese “new economy”

Swiss & Global Asset Management has launched a fund focused on the Chinese “new economy,” JB China Evolution Fund, Citywire reveals. The Luxembourg-registered fund will invest in 30 to 50 companies of the consumer and technology sectors, both of which are underrepresented in the existing funds and indices, Swiss & Global indicates. The prime manager of the fund is Jean Shi Cortesi.
07/01/2014

L'inflation ralentit à nouveau en zone euro

Le taux d’inflation annuel de la zone euro a décéléré à 0,8% en décembre contre 0,9% en novembre, selon la première estimation d’Eurostat. Il revient ainsi près de son plus bas de quatre ans de 0,7% touché en octobre et qui avait incité la Banque centrale européenne à réduire ses taux par surprise. Les économistes interrogés par Reuters prévoyaient en moyenne un chiffre stable à +0,9%. Egalement publiés mardi, les prix à la production ont diminué de 0,1% en novembre par rapport à octobre, donnant un recul de 1,2% sur un an.
07/01/2014

Le chômage repart à la baisse en Allemagne

Le nombre de demandeurs d’emploi a baissé de 15.000 en décembre après quatre mois de hausse, à 2,965 millions en données corrigées des variations saisonnières, a annoncé l’Office fédéral du travail. Les économistes interrogés par Reuters prévoyaient en moyenne un chiffre stable. Le taux de chômage, en données CVS, est resté stable à 6,9%. En données brutes, les plus commentées outre Rhin, le nombre de demandeurs d’emplois a toutefois augmenté à 2,873 millions contre 2,806 millions en novembre, pour un taux de chômage de 6,7% contre 6,5%.
07/01/2014

L'Agirc Arrco retient Russell Investments pour sa gestion de transition

La société de gestion Russell Investments France a annoncé qu’elle a été retenue par le GIE Agirc Arrco pour réaliser fin 2013 la restructuration d’un de ses portefeuilles actions zone euro, et gérer la transition de ce dernier vers plusieurs fonds ISR actions zone euro. Fin 2012, Russell Investments avait déjà accompagné la fédération Agirc dans le cadre de ses besoins de liquidités et avait procédé à la cession totale ou partielle de plusieurs portefeuilles obligataires et actions.

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