Berkshire Hathaway, the company of Warren Buffett, has bought a USD3.7bn stake in ExxonMobil, in a vote of confidence in a company which has underperformed compared with its smaller rivals, the Financial Times reports. The acquisition was partly financed by the sale of USD500m in shares in ConocoPhillips, Exxon’s competitor. Buffett has also reduced his stake in GlaxoSmithKline and increased his stake in Davita Healthcare Partners.

At a time when the Italian asset management firm Anima is preparing to hold its IPO, Bluerating observes that most funds on sale from the structure show disappointing returns. For example, since the beginning of 2013, Anima Fix Emergenti has lost nearly 8%, and Anima Obbligazionario Emergente has lost 7.3%. From November 2012 to the present, all Anima funds invested in emerging markets have lost money for their clients. Over three years, the results are the same.

Renaissance Asset Managers has announced that it has registered its Luxembourg fund range in Italy at InvestmentEurope’s Fund Selector conference in Milan, Investment Europe reports. The range includes the following funds: Global Emerging Market Yield, Sub-Saharan, Pan-Africa, Frontiers et Russia Equity Allocation. The range of funds based in Dublin is also expected to be registered soon.

The independent asset management firm Unigestion, whose assets under management total EUR10.4bn, on 14 November announced the most recent investment by the Unigestion-Ethos Enviromental Sustainability fund, its fund of funds dedicated to sustainable development. The engagement of the Armstrong South East Asia Clean Energy Fund, which invests in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in South-East Asia, will allow investors to access opportunities in the clean energy sector on emerging markets in the region. The investment, the seventh by the Unigestion-Ethos Environmental Sustainability fund, is a sign of Unigestion’s ongoing care to idenitfy and invest in the most promising segments in the sustainable development sector, and reflects its conviction that this sector will outperform the other sectors of the global economy over the long term.

International fund groups are making further inroads into Spain and Italy as investors lobby for access to third-party funds, according to the fourth quarter issue of The Cerulli Edge-Europe Edition. «Investors are demanding third-party funds like never before,» commented Barbara Wall, a Cerulli director. «Industry figures suggest that foreign funds are approaching EUR50 billion as investors switch from domestic products to global, emerging markets, and multi-asset funds."In Spain, non-domestic managers currently have around 30% of the whole market. Independent financial advisors (EAFI) are keen to play up their non-tied status and are certainly attracting high-net-worth clients. That has been enough to tempt foreign groups to woo them directly. With advised assets of around EUR15 billion, the independent channel has some way to go before it can significantly influence fund distribution in Spain, but Cerulli believes the clout of the EAFI sector is understated by industry and regulatory assets under advice figures.Like Spain, Italy’s independent intermediary channel is attracting the attentions of international fund groups. Products that are selling in Italy include asset allocation, absolute return, and, most recently, equity income products. Alternatives are also doing well.

Inflows to German funds have totalled EUR59.3bn in the first nine months of the year, including EUR49.2bn for institutional funds alone, according to the most recent statistics from the German asset management association (BVI). Institutional funds had not succeeded in attracting such a sum since 1998, when inflows over nine months totalled EUR47.2bn. Open-ended funds, for their part, posted net inflows of EUR16.1bn, while mandates saw redemptions totalling a net EUR6bn. For institutional funds, insurance companies represent 40% of assets (EUR1.036trn). In the first nine months of the year, inflows from insurers totalled EUR28.2bn, more than half of total subscriptions. Retirement institutions, for their part, have attracted EUR8.9bn. In the month of September alone, institutional funds have posted inflows of EUR4.2bn, of which EUR2.1bn were for insurers alone. In the open-ended fund segment alone, diversified funds attracted EUR9.4bn over nine months, compared with EUR9.2bn for bond funds. However, equity funds have posted outflows of EUR3.8bn over nine months.

Pavilion Energy, an energy firm owned by the Singapore sovereign fund Temasek, on 14 November announced that it has acquired 20% of three natural gas installations in Tanzania for USD1.3bn. The liquified natural gas from the Tanzanian project will provide another source for Asian markets, Pavilion explains in a statement. The acquisition, which remains subject to the approval of the authorities and shareholders in Ophir, is the first major investment to aim to form a diversified portfolio of natural gas sources in order to meet demand from Asia for clean energy, Pavilion adds. The development of natural gas in Tanzania has gigantic potential, not only for Pavilion Energy but also for Singapore and Asia, the chairman of Pavilion, Hassan Marican, says in a statement. The first gas deliveries are scheduled for 2020. The three natural gas installations, known as Tanzania Blocs 1, 3 and 4, are currently 60% owned by the British BG Group and 40% by its partner Ophir Energy. They are estimated to contain about 15 trillion cubic feet (28 billion cubic metres) at a shallow depth across Tanzania. According to the most recent official statistics (March 2013) published on its website, assets under management at Temasek total SGD215bn, or about EUR128bn. Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East represent 2% of its total investments.

Russell Investments has recruited David Vickers in London for the team which oversees its multi-asset class fund, Citywire Global reports. Vickers joins from Sarasin,where he was lead portfolio manager in the balanced assets unit. Vickers will be responsible for strategy for the Russell Investments Multi-Asset Growth fund, with EUR2.2bn in assets.

ETFs are increasingly occupying independent investors in Germany, according to a survey conducted in October by V-Bank in partnership with manager magazin. Nearly half of respondents to the survey say they have a maximum of 15% ETFs in their portfolios. But for about 40% of professionals surveyed, the proportion of ETFs represents 20% or more of their assets. The survey fins that the proportion of ETFs in the portfolio depends largely on the size of the companies: the larger the company is, the smaller the proportion of ETFs. The survey also finds that nearly 40% of participants are planning to increase the proportion of ETFs in their allocation in the next six months. About 86% of asset managers say that ETFs are a part of their allocation.

BATS Chi-X Europ on 14 November announced that Lyxor Asset Management would be listing two ETFs on the regulated BATS Chi-X Europe market on Monday, 25 November 2013. The Lyxor UCITS ETF MSCI Emerging Markets fund (code: LEMD) will be listed in USD, while the Lyxor UCITS ETF EURO STOXX 50 (Code: MSE) will be listed in EUR. Lyxor is the third-largest ETF provider in Europe, with more than USD41bn in assets under management. According to the CEO of BATS Chi-X Europe, Mark Hemsley, “Lyxor is a major Euoropean actor in the world of ETFs, and we are delighted to welcome pan-European listings to our platform. The decsion by Lyxor to list their funds on BATS Chi-X Europe is a sign of our desire to provide an efficient and borderless pan-European capital market, in the service of all market actors. … Thanks to the pan-European position of the BATS Chi-X Europe, we are able to offer issuers a neutral channel to reach all investors throughout Europe, while offering them simplified access to innovative products,” he adds.

M&G has reported steady inflows for the three months to the end of September 2013. Total net inflows for the quarter were GBP5.1 billion, taking the cumulative total since the start of the year to GBP8.9 billion.In retail, M&G’s European businesses continue to be the main engine of growth. During the first nine months of the year, net fund flows from Europe reached GBP6.4 billion, an 82 per cent increase over the same period in 2012. Total net retail inflows for the quarter were GBP1.1 billion and for the year-to-date amount to GBP5.9 billion, being 4 per cent lower than at the same stage in 2012, which was itself a record year. Retail funds under management (FUM) increased by 24 per cent year-on-year to GBP64.5 billion at 30 September 2013. Of this, FUM from European clients total GBP22.1 billion, up from GBP12.3 billion at 30 September 2012 and now account for over a third of total retail FUM.M&G Optimal Income and M&G Global Dividend remain the best sellers.The institutional business posted net inflows of GBP4.0 billion during the third quarter, resulting in total net inflows for the year of GBP3.0 billion. Total FUM have risen to GBP242.2 billion at the end of September 2013, up 12 per cent year on year. Over the same period, external client assets increased by 19 per cent to GBP124.3 billion; net inflows contributed 14 percentage points of this growth with the remaining 5 percentage points attributable to market movements. Prudential’s Asia asset management business, Eastspring Investments ended the quarter with funds under management (FUM) of GBP59.7 billion, up 7 per cent over the same time last year. FUM from external parties rose by 12 per cent to GBP18.5 billion, benefiting from third party net inflows of GBP2.0 billion (2012: GBP1.0 billion) in the first nine months.

Rothschild Wealth Management (UK) Limited has recruited the private bankers Paolo Lenzi and Francesca Speroni, Bluerating reports, citing Magstat. The two previously worked at Morgan Stanley.

Henderson Global Investors has acquired 100% of the equity of Australian and London-based alternative investment manager H3 Global Advisors. The exact terms of the deal were not disclosed.H3 specialises in active and enhanced commodities strategies and, managing approximately USD342 million on behalf of institutional and retail clients. The group was founded in 1996. Henderson manages USD123 billion (as at 30 September 2013) of assets.

The British firm Charles Stanley on 14 November announced at a publication of its results for the half that it has acquired the boutique specialised in passive management Evercore Pan Asset Capital Management. Charles Stanley will acquire 100% of the company, including the stake held by co-founder John Redwood and the 68% held b the US investment firm Evercore Partners. Redwood, chairman of the investment board at the firm, as well as CEO Christopher Aldous, have joined Charles Stanley in the wake of the acquisition. Assets under management at Evercore as of the end of October totalled GBP593m. The firm, which continued to show losses last year and which was near the breaking point this year, was expected to be “immediately profitable” following the acquisition, which will be accompanied by some savings measures, Charles Stanley says. Charles Stanley in the first half of its year to 30 September earned pre-tax profits of nearly GBP5m, up 44% compared with the first half of last year. Its assets under management as of the end of September totalled GBP18.5bn, comapred with GBP17.7bn as of 31 March 2013.

The Swiss structured product market Scoach has added a new issuer with the arrival of the Royal Bank of Canada and its affiliates, which operate under the EBC brand name, according to a statement released on 14 November. The Royal Bank of Canada is the largest bank in Canada by stock market capitalisation assets and one of the largest banks worldwide in terms of assets ad market capitalisation. RBC has stable and solid ratngs (Aa3 / AA- / AA); its capitalisation ratios are high and returns on owners’ equity total 19.7%. RBC is one of the largest diversified financial services companies in North America, and worldwide offers banking services to retail and corporate clients, wealth management services, insurance services, investors services, and investment banking services.

Bill Sung has resigned from his positoin as chief investment officer at Absolute Asia Asset Management, and will be leaving the firm at the end of the year, Citywire Global reports. Sung has already been replaced as CIO by François Théret, former head of global emerging market equities at Natixis Global Asset Management in Paris.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published a Discussion Paper setting out its initial views on the implementing measures it will have to develop for the new Market Abuse Regulation (MAR).MAR aims to enhance market integrity and investor protection. It will achieve this by updating and strengthening the existing market abuse framework, by extending its scope to new markets and trading strategies, and by introducing new requirements.The closing date for responses is Monday 27 January 2014.

Le segment des fonds Ucits alternatifs a enregistré une collecte nette de 3,2 milliards d’euros au troisième trimestre du côté des single managers, selon les statistiques communiquées par MondoAlternative. La collecte des fonds de fonds atteint de son côté 93 millions d’euros.Les actifs sous gestion de ces fonds totalisaient ainsi 109 milliards d’euros à fin septembre 2013, contre 103,7 milliards d’euros à fin juin 2013. Les stratégies actions long/short et Equity market neutral ont été les plus demandées, avec des collectes de respectivement 2,3 milliards d’euros et 986 millions d’euros. A fin septembre, les stratégies les plus importantes étaient le fixed income avec un encours de 30,3 milliards d’euros, le long/short equity avec 16,3 milliards d’euros et l’equity market neutral avec 9,6 milliards d’euros. Selon les données de MondoAlternative, on comptait fin août 2013 une douzaine de plateformes Ucits gérant plus de 11,4 milliards d’euros de fonds Ucits alternatifs. La plus structurée étant Universal Investment Platform qui gère 3,6 milliards d’euros, devant Merrill Lynch Investment Solutions Platform (1,9 milliard d’euros) et Schroder GAIA Platform (1,8 milliard d’euros). Les plateformes de fonds Ucits alternatifs ont enregistré sur les huit premiers mois de l’année une croissance de leurs actifs de 10,9%. La performance des single managers ressort à 0,94% au troisième trimestre, celle des fonds de fonds à 1,46%.

Les grands gestionnaires internationaux continuent de pousser leurs pions en Espagne et en Italie alors que les investisseurs souhaitent pouvoir accéder plus largement à des fonds externes, indique Cerulli dans la dernière livraison de «The Cerulli Edge-Europe Edition»."Les investisseurs n’ont jamais autant exigé de fonds externes», relève Barbara Wall, director chez Cerulli à propos du marché espagnol, pourtant plutôt étroit et qui n’a repris quelques couleurs que très récemment. «Des statistiques sur le secteur suggèrent que les fonds étrangers approchent la barre des 50 milliards d’euros, les investisseurs abandonnant les produits locaux pour s’intéresser aux marchés globaux et émergents, et aux fonds multi-classes d’actifs», indique Barbara Wall.Les gestionnaires non espagnols contrôlent environ 30% de l’ensemble du marché. Dans ce contexte, les groupes étrangers courtisent les conseillers financiers indépendants locaux. Avec des actifs conseillés de 15 milliards d’euros environ, les conseillers indépendants ont encore un peu de chemin à faire avant de pouvoir influencer dans des proportions significatives la distribution de fonds en Espagne, mais Cerulli estime que l’influence des conseillers est sous-estimée par le secteur et par les statistiques.Cerulli observe le même phénomène en Italie, avec l’ouverture de banques privées aux fonds externes et l’influence grandissante des conseillers indépendants. Les produits ainsi distribués en Italie sont surtout des produits d’allocation, de la performance absolue et plus récemment, des produits de rendement actions. Les véhicules alternatifs sont également recherchés, remarque Cerulli.

Vanguard Asset Management va réduire les totaux des frais sur encours (TFE ou TER en anglais) de 22 fonds domiciliés en Irlande. Ces changements vont affecter les classes de parts en euros, en dollars, en francs suisses et en yens d’une gamme de fonds actions et obligataires (liste disponible ici)En outre, le TFE de l’ETF Vanguard FTSE Emerging Market (coté à Londres, en Suisse, à Paris et à Amsterdam) sera ramené de 0,45 % à 0,29 %.Ces changements prendront effet le 3 décembre 2013.Au 31 octobre, Vanguard affichait un encours sous gestion de 67,7 milliards de dollars en Europe et récemment sa gamme d’ETF a déplassé les 3 milliards de dollars d’actifs.

Les prix à la consommation en zone ont enregistré leur plus faible progression en quatre ans au mois d’octobre. Selon Eurostat, la hausse des prix est de 0,7% sur un an. C’est la première fois depuis février 2010 que l’inflation passe sous la barre de 1%. Elle reste bien inférieure à l’objectif de la BCE, qui vise une inflation légèrement inférieure mais proche de 2%.

La Commission européenne a avalisé le projet de budget de la France pour 2014. Mais Bruxelles souligne que celui-ci n’offre aucune marge par rapport au respect des engagements français. «La Commission estime que le projet de budget est conforme aux règles du Pacte de stabilité et de croissance, sans toutefois de marge», écrit la Commission. Elle ajoute que les projets communiqués par la France pour conforter ses engagements ne comportent que «des progrès limités» sur le plan des réformes structurelles.

Le hedge fund de Paul Singer a indiqué détenir une participation directe et indirecte de 21,13% au capital du groupe allemand Celesio, sous le coup d’une OPA de l’américain McKesson. Le fonds d’arbitrage américain s'était également invité au capital de Kabel Deutschland lors de l’OPA du britannique Vodafone.

Le ministre de l’Economie et des Finances, Pierre Moscovici, a signé avec l’ambassadeur des Etats-Unis en France l’accord de mise en œuvre de la loi Fatca (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) visant à développer l’échange automatique d’informations comme nouveau standard mondial pour lutter contre la fraude fiscale internationale. Le ministère précise que « la France continuera d’œuvrer pour faire en sorte qu’un projet multilatéral et réciproque d’échange automatique d’informations, sur un champ de revenus et d’actifs financiers aussi large que Fatca, voie le jour au niveau européen et au niveau mondial ».

L’encours des fonds collectifs français a selon Europerformance - a SIX Company - bondi de 17,0 milliards d’euros le mois dernier à 773,7 milliards, sous l’effet conjugué d’une collecte nette de 5,6 milliards (dont 5,2 milliards sur les fonds monétaires et 1,3 milliard sur les fonds actions) et d’un effet marchés de 11,3 milliards (dont 7,3 milliards sur les OPCVM actions).

Le gouvernement du Liechtenstein va signer la Convention concernant l’assistance administrative mutuelle en matière fiscale, qui autorise les autorités fiscales de ses adhérents à demander à leurs homologues d’autres pays des informations sur leurs contribuables. Le Liechtenstein prévoit en outre d’adhérer au système automatique d'échange d’informations développé par l’OCDE, qui devrait entrer en vigueur fin 2015 ou début 2016. Avec ce système, toute personne physique ouvrant un compte bancaire dans un pays autre que le sien verra cette information automatiquement transmise aux services fiscaux de son pays d’origine.

La situation est très variable d'un pays à l'autre selon l'enquête de la Banque centrale européenne réalisée entre avril et septembre dernier

Le retour de l'activité française en zone de contraction au troisième trimestre s'est accompagné d'un reflux de l'inflation à 0,7% en octobre

Le discours accommodant prononcé hier soir par la future présidente de la Réserve fédérale devant la commission bancaire du Sénat américain, qui doit valider sa nomination, a permis au rendement des obligations du Trésor américain de reculer de 5 points de base, à 2,69%.