Solvay profite aussi de l'engouement pour les émissions de dette hybride
Le volume global de dette hybride émise par les entreprises a progressé de 73% cette année pour atteindre un record de 53,9 milliards de dollars
Le ministre des finances italien s’alarme de la hausse de l’euro
Interrogé par le quotidien britannique, Fabrizio Saccomanni met en garde contre les effets négatifs de la hausse de l’euro sur la fragile reprise de l’économie en Europe. Remarquant que la monnaie unique est désormais «la devise la plus forte au monde comparée au dollar, au yuan, à la livre sterling ou au franc suisse», il appelle la BCE à assouplir sa politique monétaire pour soulager les PME dans la région.
SAC Capital va payer une amende record dans une affaire de délit d’initié
Le fonds d’arbitrage américain, qui versera 1,8 milliard de dollars, sera aussi contraint de cesser son activité de conseil en investissement
Calpers a doublé le montant de ses bonus l’an dernier
Le fonds de pension californien a révélé hier avoir distribué à ses 130 cadres et employés 7,7 millions de dollars (5,7 millions d’euros) de bonus l’an dernier, soit plus du double des 3,6 millions versés l’année précédente. Le responsable des investissements Joe Dear a reçu à ce titre 321.750 dollars en plus de sa rémunération de base qui s’élève à un demi-million de dollars.
Le LSE propose son service de compensation actions à Singapour
Bloomberg croit savoir de sources proches que le London Stock Exchange négocie avec l’opérateur de la Bourse de Singapour SGX pour lui proposer sa technologie de compensation actions développée par MilleniumIT (acquis par le LSE en 2009). Aucun lien en capital n’est prévu, et l’accord ne couvrirait pas les produits dérivés mais uniquement les actions au comptant.
Les Etats-Unis et l’Union européenne à la table des négociations
La Commission européenne a indiqué que les Etats-Unis et l’Union européenne se retrouveront à Bruxelles du 11 au 15 novembre pour des négociations en vue de conclure le plus important accord de libre échange au monde. Des pourparlers initialement prévus début octobre mais repoussés en raison de la fermeture partielle des administrations fédérales américaines. La réunion suivante est prévue à Washington dans la semaine du 16 décembre.
Fiducial fusionne ses sociétés de gestion immobilière
Fiducial rapproche ses sociétés de gestion de SCPI et d’OPCI, Fiducial Gérance et Uffi Ream. L’ensemble fusionné prend la dénomination sociale de Fiducial Gérance et se transforme en SA à directoire et conseil de surveillance. «Avec 1,75 milliard d’euros d’actifs gérés, répartis sur 12 SCPI (près d’1,6 milliard d’euros), 6 groupements forestiers et la gestion du patrimoine français d’un fonds immobilier étranger, le nouvel ensemble devient l’un des principaux acteurs du marché des SCPI», souligne Fiducial.
Le pacte de compétitivité doit créer 30.000 emplois en 2013
Le pacte de compétitivité doit créer 30.000 emplois en 2013, a déclaré hier le Premier ministre sur la base d’une estimation de l’Insee à l’occasion du premier anniversaire de ce dispositif. Jean-Marc Ayrault a par ailleurs annoncé des mesures supplémentaires pour soutenir l’innovation, notamment le déblocage d’une enveloppe de 120 millions pour l’innovation non technologique comme le design.
Le PIB italien devrait croître de 0,7% en 2014
L’Italie devrait afficher une croissance modeste de 0,7% l’an prochain après une contraction de 1,8% en 2013, a estimé hier l’Istat, l’institut national de la statistique. L’organisme transalpin maintient ainsi sa projection pour 2014 mais a revu en baisse celle de 2013, puisqu’il prévoyait en mai une contraction de 1,4% du PIB cette année. Malgré cette amélioration relative, il anticipe une hausse du taux de chômage moyen à 12,4% en 2014 contre 12,1% cette année.
L'UMR teste avec succès le viager institutionnel
L’Union Mutualiste Retraite a procédé à soixante dix acquisitions en viager depuis l’ouverture de son fonds spécialisé d’après Philippe Rey, son directeur des investissements. Lancé en juin 2012 sous la forme d’une société par actions simplifiée unipersonnelle (SASU), ce fonds viager est ouvert uniquement aux adhérents de la caisse de retraite complémentaire. L’année dernière, sur les 10 000 personnes que nous avons ciblées parmi nos 150 000 pensionnés, nous avons reçu 300 manifestations d’intérêt qui ont abouti à 100 rendez-vous et au final une trentaine de biens ont été validés détaille Philippe Rey. Depuis, de nouvelles promesses d’achat ont été signées et le fonds compte désormais soixante dix biens en viager, valorisés vingt millions d’euros, en contrepartie desquels les signataires ont reçu dix millions d’euros. C’est une forme d’investissement sociétal qui permet à nos adhérents, pour beaucoup issus de l'éducation nationale de compléter leurs retraites explique le directeur des investissements de l’UMR. L’avantage pour le bénéficiaire étant que la caisse de retraite se montre moins stricte sur les conditions d'âge qu’un particulier, acceptant des dossiers à partir de 72-73 ans contre 80 ans dans les viagers de gré à gré classiques. L’institution nantaise cible un rendement de l’ordre de 3,5 à 4 % pour ce fonds, soit en-dessous de ses objectifs globaux,
SAC Capital Advisors transige au prix fort avec la justice
Le gestionnaire alternatif américain a convenu d’un accord avec les autorités selon lequel il versera une amende de 1,8 milliard de dollars pour mettre un terme aux poursuites concernant des soupçons de délit d’initiés. L’accord doit être approuvé par un tribunal et précise que SAC Capital Advisors doit mettre un terme à son activité de conseil en investissement. La somme à verser inclut 616 millions de dollars déjà versés cette année à la SEC.
Le LSE propose son service de compensation actions à Singapour
Bloomberg croit savoir de sources proches que le London Stock Exchange négocie avec l’opérateur de la Bourse de Singapour SGX pour lui proposer sa technologie de compensation actions développée par MilleniumIT (acquis par le LSE en 2009). Aucun lien en capital n’est prévu, et l’accord ne couvrirait pas les produits dérivés mais uniquement les actions au comptant.
04/11/2013
Goldman Sachs launches a social impact fund
Goldman Sachs is launching a USD250m “social impact” fund, the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing, to finance projects that bring both social benefits and financial returns, the Financial Times reports. The objective is to attract USD10bn in capital. Goldman Sachs states that its fund will be the first to allow businesses and high net worth individuals to invest directly in a portfolio of private projects.
04/11/2013
Four new distribution agreements in Italy for M&G
M&G Investments has signed distribution agreements in Italy with PPM Private Banking, Azimut and its three networks, Apogeo Consulting, AZ Investimenti, Azimut Consulenza sim –, Cariparma – Crédit Agricole and Mps Private Banking, Bluerating reports. The three new partners may offer their clients the 30 funds from the British firm licensed for sale in Italy. M&G has been present in Italy since 2010, and has assets under management there of USD6.6bn. The team of 12 people has recently seen the addition of Marta Moretti for sales support.
04/11/2013
Russell Investments recruits a manager in Italy
Russell Investments has recruited Luca Gianelle as client portfolio manager, in order to strengthen the multi-asset class team, which now has 38 specialists, Bluerating reports. Gianelle will be based in Milan, and will report to Rob Hall, head of client portfolio management. Gianelle joins from Anima, where he had been a member of the multi-management team, with responsibility for the management of funds of hedge funds.
04/11/2013
Franklin Templeton opens an office in Florence
Franklin Templeton is to open a new office in Florence on 6 November, Bluerating reports.
04/11/2013
Strong rise in assets at Berkshire Hathaway
For third quarter 2013, Berkshire Hathaway on 1 November announced distributable net profits of USD5.053bn, compared with USD3.920bn in the corresponding period of 2012. In the first nine months of the year, these profits total USD14.486m, compared with USD10.273m.
04/11/2013
Profits and assets up at Invesco
In July-September, Invesco Ltd has announced net profits payable to holders of ordinary hares of USD246m, compared with USD223.7m in second quarter, and USD182.7m in the corresponding period of 2012. In the first nine months of this year, net profits totalled USD652m, 42% more than the USD452m in January-September 2012.As of 30 September, total assets came to USD745.5bn, compared with USD705.6bn three months previously, and USD663bn as of the end of September 2012. In the first nine months of this year, Invesco has posted net subscriptions of USD29.2bn, of which USD20.7bn were for long-term funds, USD7.4bn for institutional money market funds, and USD1.1bn for Invesco PowerShares QQQ. Market effects were positive to the effects o fUSD51.6bn, while currency effects borught losses of USD2.7bn.By comparison, net subscriptions to long-term products and total net subscriptions were up by 168.8% and 180.8%, respectively.However, total net subscriptions of USD9.1bn in third quarter 2013 compare with net inflows of USD1.4bn in April-June 2013, and to net subscriptions of USD11.4bn in the corresponding period of last year.
04/11/2013
Gaw Capital closes a private equity fund with USD1bn
Gaw Capital has closed the private equity fund Gateway Real Estate Fund IV with USD1bn. The product, which has exceeded its fundraising objective (USD800m) will invest in real estate projects located in the Greater China region, Asian Investor reports. 40% of investors who participated in the fundraising originate from Asia, 30% from North America, and 30% from Europe.
04/11/2013
Seven banks suspected of manipulating local currencies
A pension fund based in Massachusetts has filed a lawsuit against seven major banks, including Barclays and Citigroup in a Manhattan court, Les Echos reports. The Haverhill Retirement System accused them of violating US antritrust law, reaching agreements to manipulate the WM/Reuters rate, which is used to determine prices on currency markets. These are published hourly for 160 currencies, and half-hourly for the 21 most popular currencies. The other firms cited in the lawsuit are Credit Suisse and UBS, JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). According to lawyers for the fund, who filed the suit in the name of other investors in similar circumstances, the alleged operations affected the currency market, as well as pensions or savings accounts which track global indices.
04/11/2013
“There are too many small players to make French asset management strong”
Becoming a point of reference in the market, participating in the consolidation movement and bringing out new talent: these are the ambitions that Didier Le Menestrel, chairman of Financière de l'Echiquier, holds for his asset management firm, in order to bring ambition to a market which lacks strength, he feels. To tell the trust, the firm has been pursuing this objective for a long time. It is now faced with the challence of continuing its development in terms of assets, which it is also attempting to do outside of France, in Italy, among other countries, where it has opened an office.
04/11/2013
DoubleLine launches bond fund with "Shiller" equity component
With the DoubleLine Shiller Enhanced CAPE, the US asset management firm DoubleLine on 31 October launched a fund managed by its CEO and CIO, Jeff Gundlach, as well as by Jeffrey Sherman, an asset allocation specialist. The product will actively invest 100% of its assets in debt instruments, but a part of these securities will be used as collateral against derivatives exposing the fund to the four most undervalued sectors of the US equity markets according to the cyclically adjusted price/earnings ratio (CAPE). The management of the fund will also incorporate the long-term value investment principles developed by Robert Shiller, winner of the 2013 Nobel prize in Economics.With this leverage, the managers will obtain exposures similar to the index and debt instruments. Each component may represent up to 100% of the net asset value of the fund. The objective is to outperform the Shiller Barclays CAPE® US Sector TR USD Index.Insofar as the derivative strategy will leave s substantial portion of assets in the fund available for other investments, DoubleLine will make an effort to manage debt securities in order to produce additional returns over the long term. Since these debt instruments may be similar to those in the DoubleLine Core Fixed Income Fund, DoubleLine is permitted to invest a part of assets in the new fnud in the existing DoubleLine Core Fixed Income Fund instead of investing them directly in a portfolio of debt instruments.The DoubleLine Shiller Enhanced CAPE is available in I-class shares (ticker DSEEX) for institutionals, and N shares (DSENX) for retail invetors. The total expense ratio is limited to 0.66% and 0.91%, respectively, while the minimal subscription is USD100,000 in the former and USD2,000 in the latter case.
04/11/2013
Amundi to integrate Amundi Patrimoine into its Luxembourg Sicav
Amundi is planning to add its diversified fund Amundi Patrimoine to its Luxembourg Sicav, in order to open it to global investors, Citywire Gobal reports. The fund, a French-registered FCP, is managed by Alain Pitous, chief investment officer. Amundi may also integrate a bond and currency fund into the Sicav.
04/11/2013
First investment for Social Impact Fonds from ABN Amro
ABN Amro has announced that the Social Impact Fonds, launched this year (see Newsmanagers on 26 March) has made its first investment, buying stakes in Nudge, a consumer platform specialised in sustainable and social development, with 30,000 subscribers, Fondsnieuws reports. The total investment and the size of the stake have not been revealed.
04/11/2013
Banco Popular has nearly EUR14bn in AUM
Funds People reports that counting EUR756m in wealth management, investment funds for EUR8.119bn and retirement savings plans for EUR5.122bn, Banco Popular as of the end of September had assets under management of USD13.998bn, which represents increases of 5%, 11.7%, and 4.2%, respectively, since the end of December.
04/11/2013
Spanish funds continue to post inflows
According to Ahorro Corporación, Otober was the eleventh consecutive months of net subscriptions for the Spanish fund management sector, which had not happened since 2005, Funds People reports. Net inflows totalled about EUR2bn, bringing the cumulative total since the beginning of the year to EUR17bn, and also corresponds to 73% of the increase in assets posted in January-October (USD24.2bn), for a total of USD146.57bn as of 31 October, according to figures form the Spanish asset management firm association Inverco.
04/11/2013
Santander AM leads for net subscriptions
According to statistics from the Spanish association of asset management firms, Inverco, Santander AM was in October once again the operator which posted the strongest net subscriptions, with EUR813.23m, Funds People reports. This total, combined with market effects, has allowed the asset management firm as of 31 October to post assets of EUR23.812bn, confirming its place as the top player in Spain.The second-largest player by net subscriptions was InverCaixa Gestión, with EUR469.01m, which with market effects gives it assets of EUR20.75bn, and thus brings it closer to BBVA AM, which attracted EUR350.5m, and finished October with assets under management of EUR20.89bn.
04/11/2013
New head for Germany and Austria at Oddo AM
Carsten Nerge, director of institutional distribution at Warburg Invest KAG in Hamburg since October 2010 after 10 years at ABN Amro AM and then BNPP IP, is joining Oddo Asset Management, Das Investment reports. Nerge will be respnsible for the activities at the French asset management firm serving Germany and Austria.
04/11/2013
Matthias Schellenberg joins board at UBS Germany
Matthias Schellenberg, who joined ING Investment Management on 1 January 2013 as head for Germany, Austria and Eastern Europe Global Asset Management at UBS, was on 1 November appointed as a managing board member at UBS Germany with responsibility for the global asset management unit.He joins a management team led by Axel Hörger. The other board members at UBS Germany are Martin Deckert, Carsten Dentler and Stefan Winter, a statement dated 31 October states.
04/11/2013
Neuberger Berman launches multi-strategy UCITS-compliant fund
The UCITS-compliant version of the Neuberger Berman Absolute Return Multi Strategy Fund (ARMS), launched in May 2012, is now available in a UCITS-compliant format, the US-based asset management firm announced in London on 31 October.As recently reported (see Newsmanagers of 15 October), this is a multi-manager fund, which aims for absolute returns with limited exposure to the market, through diversified allocation to proven hedge fund strategies.The UCITS-compliant version is exempt from the inconveniences of hedge funds, and offers daily liquidity, eliminates performance commissions at all levels, carries a limited total expense ratio, offers a high level of transparency, and contols on assets through the exclusive use of managed accounts.