Dans un communiqué daté du 31 octobre, le «proxy advisor» Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) a indiqué que le conseil d’administration de sa maison-mère, MSCI Inc, l’a autorisé à explorer toutes les options stratégiques concernant son avenir et que cela pourrait déboucher sur une séparation totale des deux entités.

Spécialiste des gestionnaires «émergents», nouveaux entrants sur le marché, Global Prime Partners (GPP) a sélectionné BNY Mellon Broker-Dealer Services comme fournisseur de services de compensation et de conservation.BNY Mellon commencera la mise en œuvre de ce partenariat en apportant ses prestations auc clients de GPP dont les transactions sont réglées sur Euroclear. Ultérieurement, le service sera étendu à toutes les régions géographiques dans lesquelles GPP fournit des prestations de courtage principal à ses clients.

Selon L’Agefi qui cite des sources institutionnelles, ING a mandaté Lazard pour élargir à un ou plusieurs partenaires sa filiale française de capital-investissement ING Parcom Private Equity. Les contacts pris avec plusieurs investisseurs sont à un stade avancé, ajoute le quotidien. ING Parcom PE est détenu à 100% par Parcom Capital, entité qui porte les investissements du pôle assurance d’ING dans le non-coté. ING Parcom PE a la particularité de dépendre exclusivement de sa maison-mère. Or, le groupe doit notamment se séparer de ses activités d’assurance en échange de l’aide publique reçue pendant la crise.

Si les effectifs des entreprises du CAC 40 sont majoritairement installés hors de France, la crise n’a pas fondamentalement réduit le nombre de collaborateurs présents en France, selon une étude menée par le cabinet Ricol Lasteyrie, en partenariat avec Les Echos. Aujourd’hui, plus de deux salariés sur trois (69 %) des groupes du CAC 40 sont basés hors de France, selon les données des documents de référence à fin 2012. La moitié des entreprises affichent des effectifs rattachés à la France compris entre 20 % et 50 %, mais les différences sont notables d’une société à l’autre. Ainsi, quatre groupes comptent moins de 10 % de leurs salariés dans l’Hexagone : Danone, Kering (l’ex-PPR), ArcelorMittal et Publicis. A l’inverse, le segment des services aux collectivités comprenant EDF et GDF-Suez (respectivement 81 % et 50 % des effectifs en France) sont très franco-français. Ils sont, avec Orange (62 %), parmi les plus gros employeurs de l’Hexagone.

L’assureur français Axa va faire son entrée sur un marché colombien en plein développement, en reprenant 51% des activités «assurances» de Grupo Mercantil Colpatria, moyennant 672 milliards de pesos colombiens (259 millions d’euros).Colpatria Seguros, est le quatrième assureur colombien, avec une part de marché de 7%, indique Axa dans un communiqué publié le 11 novembre. Colpatria Seguros est présent à la fois en assurance dommages et en vie/épargne/retraite. Elle emploie 2400 personnes et distribue ses produits auprès de 1,3 million de clients via une stratégie multicanal.

Aberdeen AM France gère depuis cinq ans à Paris un OPCVM de multigestion alternative de type actions et dispose d'un fonds similaire "global" géré à Londres mais non commercialisé en France. En dépit de l'intérêt que suscitent ces fonds chez les concurrents, leurs encours sont faibles... Directrice générale déléguée d'Aberdeen France en charge des investissements, Sandra Craignou analyse les réticences des investisseurs, et les moyens que sa maison met en oeuvre pour les séduire à nouveau. Au passage, la responsable lève le voile sur les projets de sa maison dans l'Hexagone.

Le fournisseur de données financières FactSet a annoncé lintégration sur sa plate-forme des Market Vectors ETF de Van Eck. Les ETF et les indices Market Vectors seront disponibles sur SPAR (Style Performance and Risk) et FactSet Portfolio Analysis, un outil qui permet aux gestionnaires de portefeuille d'étudier la performance, la composition et les caractéristiques d’un portefeuille sur une base absolue ou par rapport à un indice.Dans un première phase seront intégrés les ETF obligataires de Van Eck couvrant le crédit international, en catégorie d’investissement et high yield, ainsi que les obligations mucinipales. Seront ensuite traités les ETF actions.

Le 7 novembre, Global X Funds a fait admettre à la négociation sur la plate-forme NYSE Arca le Global X Next Emerging & Frontier ETF (code mnémonique : EMFM) chargé à 0,58 %. Il réplique le Solactive Next Emerging & Frontier Index de l’allemand Solactive AG (base 100 pour le 22 octobre 2013).Les «next emerging markets» excluent les BRIC ainsi que les pays les plus développés parmi les émergents, à savoir actuellement la Corée du Sud et Taïwan. L’indice couvre ainsi 21 pays frontières et 14 pays émergents.Le sous-jacent est constitué soit d’actions ordinaires, soit d’ADR et de GDR d’une sélection d’entreprises du monde entier qui sont domiciliées dans ce pays, ou bien qui y ont leur cotation principale ou encore qui tirent au moins 50 % de leur chiffre d’affaires de ces pays. Les actions retenues sont sélectionnées parmi les plus grosses capitalisations en fonction du flottant, et leur pondération est ensuite fonction de la liquidité modifiée.

Delphi Fondene a fermé l’un de ses fonds actions domestiques, Delphi Vekst, compte tenu du désintérêt des investisseurs, rapporte Citywire Global. Le fonds, lancé en 1997, était géré par Håkon Hovengen Saetre. Il a été fermé fin octobre avec 75 millions de couronnes norvégiennes d’encours.

L’indice de référence HFRI des hedge funds a progressé de 1,5% au mois d’octobre, enregistrant ainsi sa dixième hausse des douze derniers mois, avec des contributions positives de l’ensemble des stratégies. Depuis le début de l’année, l’indice HFRI affiche une progression de 7,2%, la meilleure depuis 2009 sur dix mois.Les stratégies Equity Hedge et Event Driven ont continué de tirer les performances du secteur, avec des progressions de respectivement 1,8% et 1,5% sur un mois, et de 11,3% et 10% sur neuf mois. Les stratégies Macro ont mis fin à cinq mois de baisse avec un gain de 1,1%, ce qui a réduit le recul depuis le début de l’année à 0,9%. L’indice’ HFRI des fonds de hedge funds s’est également bien comporté, avec un gain de 1,5% en octobre, ce qui porte la performance des dix premiers mois de l’année à 6,6%.

Dirk von Verlsen, membre du directoire du colonais Flossbach von Storch (qui gérait plus de 12 milliards d’euros fin mai), a annoncé le recrutement de trois personnes pour renforcer la distribution wholesale et institutionnelle.Heike Ahlgrimm a été nommée director fund sales et sera responsable du suivi des banques, caisses d’épargne, Landesbanken, gestionnaires de fortune et gestionnaires de fonds de fonds pour le Nord et le Nord-Est de l’Allemagne. Elle était jusqu’à présent director, banks chez Invesco Asset Management.Peter Guntermann, devient director, institutional investors, et vient de Sal. Oppenheim où il a été chargé de clientèle senior et gérant de portefeuille senior pour la clientèle institutionnelle pendant quinze ans.Enfin, Sebastian Grund, qui était chef de département dans l’équipe account management grands comptes institutionnels chez Union Investment Institutional, est nommé lui aussi director, institutional investors.

A spokesperson for Fidelity Worldwide Investment has confirmed to finews.ch that Alfred Strebel, country head for Switzerland since 2007, will be leaving the business in 2014 to “take on other professional challenges” in asset management.His position will be taken over by Adam Lessing, head of Austria & Eastern Europe since 2010. Lessing will add these responsibilities as head for the Swiss market to his current role.

Rachel Lord, global head of corporate derivatives at Citigorup, has been recruited as head of iShares for the Europe/Middle East/Africa region, replacing Joe Linhares, who is returning to the United States as head of the Platinum Programme from BlackRock, Money Marketing reports.

The team responsible for liquidating the business bank Lehman Brothers has filed a lawsuit in New York bankruptcy court against Credit Suisse, according to the news agency Dow Jones. It accuses the bank of having inflated the losses undergone due to the bankruptcy of the US bank. The trustee is asking for the USD1.2bn sought by Credit Suisse in damages and interest to be lowered by more than USD1bn. He claims that the initial amount is exaggerated and that the claims of Credit Suisse are valid only for about USD75m. He also claims that Credit Suisse owed him CHF150m for international transactions.

Janet Squitieri, chief compliance officer and senior vice president for North America at HSBC Global Asset Management from August 2010 to September 2013, has been appointed as vice president, global head of compliance at Van Eck Global.In this role, she succeeds Joseph McBrien, who has been appointed as senior vice president & chief legal counsel.

The council of governors of the European Central Bank (ECB) has presented two candidates to take over as head of the future euro zone banking supervisory body, the French Danièle Nouy and the Dutch Jan Sijbrand, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reports. The ECB will ask the European parliament to select one of these two candidates, who are currently active as banking supervisors in their respective countries, the German newspaper continues.

The bond giant Pimco has seen net redemptions (outside the group) of EUR29bn in third quarter from its traditional bond products, results from its parent company, Allianz, show. One year ago, in the corresponding period, the group had posted net inflows of EUR30.9bn, Financial News reports. Assets under management outside the Pimco group totalled EUR83.9bn as of 30 September, compared with EUR85.6bn as of 31 December.

Global Prime Partners (GPP), a specialist in emerging market managers, new entrants on the market, has selected BNY Mellon Broker-Dealer Services to provide settlement and custody services.BNY Mellon will begin to initiate the partnership by providing its services to clients of GPP whose trades are processed by Euroclear. Later, the services will be extended to all geographical regions in which GPP provides prime brokerage services to its clients.

Adam Levinson, chief investment officer for Asia Macro funds at Fortress Investment Group, is in negotiations with his employer to launch his own firm, Hedge Week reports, citing Bloomberg. No decision has yet been taken, and the spinoff will not take place before early 2015, a source familiar with the matter says. It will be the first time that Fortress (USD58bn in assets) financed the company of one of its employees.

The fund selector Vasco Nuno Jesus has decided to leave the Portuguese group BPI Asset Management, after six years at the firm, Citywire Global reveals. He will leave the group on 11 November and has not yet revealed what he will do after his departure. BPI has assets under management of EUR18bn.

The HFRI benchmark index of hedge funds gained 1.5% in October, for its tenth gain in the past 12 months, with positive contributions from all strategies. Since the beginning of the year, the HFRI index has gained 7.2%, the best since 2009 over nine months. The Equity Hedge and Event-Driven strategies have continued to drive performance in the sector, with gains of 1.8% and 1.55%, respectively, on one month, and 11.3% and 10% on nine months. Macro strategies ended five months of losses with gains of 1.1%, bringing performance since the beginning of the year to 0.9%. The HFRI hedge fund index has also done well, with gains of 1.5% in October, bringing performance in the first nine months of the year to 6.6%.

The alternative ETF provider ProShares on 7 November announced the launch of a new ETF, the ProShares Investment Grade-Interest Rate Hedged, which is presented as the first investment-grade ETF to offer integrated hedging as interest rates rise. The new vehicle aims for a duration of zero via short-selling of Treasury futures. ProShares this year already launched a similar hedging strategy for high yield bonds.

Franklin Templeton acquired Ukrainian international bonds for a total of nearly USD5bn at the end of August, one fifth of the total international government debt from the country in circulation, the Financial Times reports. The investments were led by Michael Hasenstab, who was also the architect of the massive redemptions of Irish debt, which helped to calm the markets in the country in the wake of the financial crisis. This Irish bet paid off for the asset management firm. But the Ukrainian investment is potentially more risky, the FT comments.

In a statement dated 31 October, proxy advisor Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) announced that the board of directors at its parent company, MSCI Inc., has authorized it to explore all strategic options concerning its future, and that this may include a total separation of the two entities.

Oddo Asset Management has obtained permission to sell the Oddo Equity Large Cap Europe, a fund which invests in European large cap equities, on the Italian market, Bluerating reports. The number of funds from the French asset mangement firm licensed for sale in Italy thus totals 18.

Riding on the success of the WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund (ticker: DXJ), which has USD10.6bn in assets, largely due to USD9bn in inflows since the beginning of this year, Wisdomtree on 7 November launched the WisdomTree Korea Hedged Equity Fund (DXKW).The new ETF replicates the WisdomTree Korea Hedged Equity Growth Index; it invests in quality South Korean equities, but hedges currency risks against the won by shorting with futures contracts.The total expense ratio is 0.58%.

The financial data provider FactSet has announced that it has joined the Market Vectors ETF platform from Van Eck. Market Vectors ETFs and indices will be available on SPAR (Style Performance and Risk) and FactSheet Portfolio Analysis, a tool which allows portfolio managers to study the performance, composition and characteristics of a portfolio on an absolute basis or compared with an index. In an initial phase, bond ETFs from Van Eck covering international credit, investment grade, and high yield, will be integrated, as well as municipal bonds. Equity ETFs will be taken next.

On 7 November, Global X Funds listed the Global X Next Emerging 7 frontier ETF (ticker: EMFM) for trading on the NYSE Arca platform, with fees of 0.58%. It replicates the Solactive Next Emerging & Frontier Index from the German firm Solactive AG (basis of 100 for 22 October 2013).“Next emerging markets” exclude the BRIC countries, as well as the most developed emerging countries, which currently include South Korea and Taiwan. The index includes 21 frontier and 14 emerging countries.The underlying is composed of equities, ordinary shares, either ADR and GDR, from a selection of businesses worldwide which are domiciled in these countries, or which have their primary listing or derive more than 50% of their revenues from these countries. The equities selected have been chosen from among the largest caps on the basis of publicly-traded capital, and their weighting is then a function of liquidity.

Aberdeen AM France has had an equity type alternative multi-management mutual fund under management for five years, and has a similar “global” fund managed in London, but not on sale in France. Despite the interest for these funds by competitors, their assets are low... The deputy CEO of Aberdeen France in charge of investment, Sandra Craignou, analyzes investors' reticence, and the means that the firm is using to win them back.

Federal Finance, the asset management firm of French group Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, and SEB Asset Management group, an asset management affiliate of the Swedish bank SEB, have formed a partnership for cross-sales, Newsmanagers has learned. This agreement will allow the French structure to sell some of its funds in Sweden and the Scandinavian firm to distribute its products in France.The alliance has recently led to an investment by the SEB private bank in Luxembourg in the Schelcher Prince Convertibles fund, a fund from the asset management firm Schelcher Prince Gestion, which is controlled by Federal Finance, said Laurent Farcy-Briant, head of sales for France and French-speaking Switzerland at SEB, and Estelle Levy, Merger-Lévis, head of international development at Federal Finance.The fund is among the ones selected by the teams at SEB to be ‘pushed’ to private banking and institutional investor clients.Once the agreement was signed, the two banks undertook a sort of ‘due diligence’ of the other firm’s product range, in order to identify products that would be likely to interest them. At the conclusion of this analysis, SEB selected the Schelcher Prince bond strategy (and thus the Schelcher Prince Convertibles fund as well as the SP Convertibles Global Europe), and the IR variable rate funds from Federal Finance, a bond management with a socially responsible side.From Federal Finance, the expertise selected from SEB was in areas which distinguish the Scandinavian asset management firm: Scandinavian equities, equities from countries of Eastern Europe, and global equity quantitative management.In both cases, the partners have selected areas of expertise which they don’t have internally, and which offer some attraction in the current context. They will make products available to their private or institutional clients via multi-management or mandates. However, they are not considering selling products over their networks.The partnership, which has been called a “win-win” by SEB and Federal Finance, will be extended to other products as opportunities arise. It may also include joint sales or marketing efforts.