La société de gestion alternative Chongyang Investment Management a enregistré une collecte de 1,4 milliard de yuan, soit quelque 230 millions de dollars, en l’espace de huit jours sur son dernier hedge fund, le Chongyang Hedge Fund No 1, rapporte Hedge Fund Intelligence.Ce fonds, le troisième proposé par Chongyang, vise un rendement annuel de 20%.

Tout récemment, Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) a signé un accord de partenariat avec Longchamp Asset Management, société de distribution de hedge funds coordonnés, et la Française AM. La très forte marque mondiale Morgan Stanley gagne de fait en visibilité en France, même si elle distribue déja des produits coordonnés dans le monde institutionnel. Sachant que la société ne compte pas s'arrêter là, Newsmanagers s’est entretenu avec Thomas Chaussier, son executive director, pour faire le point sur ses projets...

Deutsche Börse has announced that on 27 September, it admitted two new Irish-registered ETFs launched by db x-trackers (Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management) to trading. They are two physical replication equity products which carry the DR suffix. One of them, the db x-trackers MSCI Nordic Index UCITS ETF (DR), replicates the MSCI Nordic Total Return Net Index, while the other, db x-trackers MSCI Turkey Index UCITS ETF (DR), replicates the MSCI Turkey Total Return Net Index. The latter ETF focused on Turkish equities brings the number of db x-trackers products focused on emerging markets worldwide to 57.With these funds, the number of ETFs listed ont eh XTF segments of the Xetra electronic platform is increased to 1.031.CharacteristicsName: db x-trackers MSCI Nordic Index UCITS ETF (DR)ISIN code: IE00B9MRHC27Ticker: XDNOTotal expense ratio: 0.30%Name: db x-trackers MSCI Turkey Index UCITS ETF (DR)ISIN code: IE00B9L63S81Ticker: XDTKTotal expense ratio: 0.65%

The liquidation process for the open-ended real estate fund DEGI Europa (ISIN code: DE00098078000), initiated in October 2010, will be completed on 30 September 2013, and Commerzbank, the depository bank, will be taking over. However, Aberdeen will now pay EUR209.6m, or EUR8 per share, to invetors. According to Das Investment, that corresponds to 35% of remaining assets.Since October 2010, the fund has paid out EUR437.4m to shareholders from sales of assets totalling over EUR1bn, of which EUR665m went to pay off contracted credit.

BlackRock has announced the launch on BATS of a new iShares bond ETF to its range, the iShares Short Maturity Bond ETF (ticker: NEAR). It is an actively-managed fund, which aims to maximise returns through diversified allocation to bonds with short durations, largely investment grade.The objective is to reduce exposure to an increase in interest rates, by maintaining a duration of under 1 year.The ETF is managed by the short-duration bond management team at BlackRock, led by Thomas Musmanno, who is responsible for assets of EUR55.2bn in several products.CharacteristicsName: iShares Short Maturity Bond ETFTotal expense ratio: 0.25%

The alternative management firm Chongyang Investment Management has posted inflows of CNY1.4bn, or about USD230bn, in eight days to its most recent hedge fund, the Chongyang Hedge Fund No 1, Hedge Fund Intelligence reports. The fund, the third offered by Chongyang, is aiming for annual returns of 20%.

Comgest has renamed a Sharia product to make investors more comfortable with the product, according to Citywire. The Comgest Growth Europe Shariah (EUR7m in assets) has been renamed as Comgest Growth Europe S, Hala Fidel, co-manager of the fund with Laurent Dobler, says.

U.S. prime money market fund (MMF) exposure to eurozone banks increased for the second consecutive month, driven by rising allocations towards French banks, according to Fitch Ratings. As of end-August 2013, exposure to eurozone banks represented 15.8% of assets under management within Fitch’s sample of the top-10 U.S. prime MMFs. MMF allocations to French banks stood at 9.1% of assets, an 18% increase over the prior month. This allocation represents the highest level since end-August 2011, a period during which MMFs sharply reduced their exposure to eurozone banks amid intensifying concerns in the region. While the increase in eurozone allocations signals more positive investor sentiment towards the region, Fitch notes that MMF exposure to eurozone banks continues to be less than half of its May-2011 allocations.

In Europe, engagement is not a universally approved practice. Many institutional investors, including some of the largest, do not necessarily systematically engage with environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.A report which has recently been published by Eurosif («Shareholder Stewardship : European ESG Engagement Practice 2013") finds, however, that engagement practices are rising in Europe and that their contribution to the creation of value over the long term is increasingly visible. The dialogue of investors with businesses over ESG issues has the potential to create value and generate profits, by reducing risks and negative ESG externalities, encouraging better entrepreneurial practices, modifying ethical behaviour, and improving the reputation of businesses.In the past 10 years, assets which have been subject to an engagement policy based on ESG criteria has steadily increased, and totalled nearly EUR2trn at the end of 2011, according to the Eurosif reports, which covers 14 European countries. The report also finds that the growth of engagement does not only concern assets, but also countries and asset classes.In terms of the countries covered by the study, three of them stand out for strong or spectacular progress in engagement: Italy, where assets concerned have increased from slightly over EUR300m in 2009 to EUR18.5bn in 2011, Denmark which has gained 111.9%, to EUR187.7bn, and Spain, with gains of 88.8%, to over EUR11bn. Engagement, which has traditionally been confined to equities, is also opening to the corporate bond and real estate segments.

The French asset management firm AXA IM is planning to set up a trading desk in Hong Kong, Asian Investor reports. AXA IM is planning to improve proximity with client and counterparties, on a market in which it has posted significant growth in assets.

The Japanese Panasonic group will sell control of its medical equipment affiliate to the US investment fund KKR for over EUR1bn, the two groups announced in a statement released on 27 September. “Under the agreement concluded today, PHC Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the investment fund KKR, will buy all shares in Panasonic Healthcare, including intellectual property rights and assets affected, for a price of about JPY165bn (or EUR1.24bn),” a statement says. Panasonic will remain the indirect shareholder in its former affiliate, and will then acquire 205 of shares in PHC Holdings, in which KKR will hold 80%. The statement from the two groups does not state the price of the second operation. According to the economic newspaper Nikkei, Panasonic is expected to make JPY150bn, or EUR1.1bn, for the operation overall, which would mean that it would be effectively selling 80% of its medical equipment arm to KKR.

Axa is planning to reduce its stake in Axa Private Equity from 100% to 21%. Employees will acquire 46% of caital, and the remainder will go to other investors, Domnique Senequier, head of the structure, tells the Financial Times. Senequier will hold about 10% of capital, while Assurances du Crédit Mutuel will acquire about 13%, and high net worth French families will own about 20%. Axa Private equity will adopt a new name to be revealed on Monday.

The decision by the US Federal Reserve to maintain its emergency support for the economy, diplomatic initiatives dominating headlines about the Middle East and positive news on the macroeconomic front favoured appetite for risk on the part of investors during the fourth week of September. However, the outlook for a further impasse concerning the US debt ceiling in the past few days cooled investors’ enthusiasm.Overall, equity funds posted net outflows of USD1.54 billion during the week ending September 25, according to statistics from EPFR Global. Emerging market equity funds attracted more investors, while Europe equity funds took in fresh money for the 13th consecutive week, but at the same time, US equity funds posted outflows of over USD7bn.Bond funds collectively pulled in USD4.44 billion. Investors returned to emerging market bond funds for the first time since mid-May, and inflows to high yield bond funds totalled over USD5bn, a level not seen in over two months.Money market funds, for their part, finished the week to 25 September with inflows of USD15.88bn.

The index provider Stoxx on 26 September announced that it is modifying its accelerated rules for admission to indices, in order to better respond to exceptional market events in a more reactive and appropriate manner. According to the new rule, all eligible securities must have a ranking in the upper half of the index under consideration. In other words, securities which may be included in the index must be ranked in the top 25 places for an index composed of 50 shares. The rule is applicable immediately to all Stoxx indices which apply an accelerated admission procedure, which includes the EURO STOXX 50, STOXX Europe 50, STOXX Asia/Pacific 50 Index, STOXX Nordic 30, STOXX North Americas 50 and STOXX GLOBAL MAX TRADED 200 Index. All information on modifications to the composition of indices will continue to be published on a quarterly basis, Stoxx says.

The German auto maker Volkswagen has decided to no longer be listed on the London Stock Exchange from the end of October, according to a statement released on 27 September.Volkswagen has “asked for the listing of all ordinary shares and all preferential shares to be withdrawn from trading,” and that their listings be cancelled, a statement says. The withdrawal from the London stock exchange will take effect from 28 October. The last day of trading for Volkswagen shares on the London Stock Exchange will be Friday, 25 October.The group had been listed in London since 1988. In addition to its home stock market in Frankfurt, the group is also listed on several German regional stock markets, as well as the Zurich, Luxembourg and New York stock excchanges, in shares denominated in US dollars (ADR).

The index provider Stoxx before the weekend announced that it is launching an Asian index including the 50 companies which pay the highest dividends in the 50 member countries of the association of south-east Asian countries (ASEAN). The Stoxx Asean-Five Select Dividend 50 Index is the first index dedicated to equities of ASEAN countries. The index has been designed especially to serve for the construction of ETFs or other investable products. The five countries selected for the index are Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. In order to be eligible for the new index, a firm must be a part of the Stoxx Asia Total Market Index, with a daily trading volume of at leat USD1.5m over the three months prior to selection, and a distribution rate of 80% or less. REITs are exluded from the index and the maximal number of companies per index is limited to 15. The index is available in euros, US dollars, and yen. It is subject to quarterly rebalancing, with the annual review in March.

UK-based Standard Live Investments (SLI) has announced that it has recruited Virginia Devereux Wong as head of institutional wholesale in Asia. She will be based in Hong Kong, and will report to David Peng, head of Asia. The newly-created position for a head of institutional wholesale aims to develop private banking activities and wholesale distribution at SLI in Asia.Devereux Wong previously worked at Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM). She comes as an addition to a team constructed in July with the recruitment of Xiaosong Zhang and FeiFei Zhu as investment director and Asia business development manager, respectively. Chang had previously been head of China structured products at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, while Zhu had been vice president in the investment banking division of Nomura.

Recently, Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) has signed a partnership agreement with :Longchamp Asset Management, a UCITS hedge fund distribution company, and La Française AM. The very strong global brand Morgan Stanley gains visibility in France from these moves, where it already sells UCITS products in the institutional market. But the firm is not planning to stop there. Newsmanagers speaks with Thomas Chausser, its exeutive director, about its plans.

GLG Partners, an affiliate of Man Group, has recruited Henry Dixon, the founder of Matterley, as a manager in its British euqity team, Money Marketing reports. Two other people from Matterley will be joining GLG: Jack Barrett and Alice Sharp.

The London-based alternative management firm Stratton Street, a specialist in bonds, will at the end of September launch a UCITS version of its RMB-denominated bond fund, Hedge Fund Indelligence reports. The strategy, which was launched in 2007, is one of the best-performing in the world. Stratton Street say in its website that the fund has since its launch posted returns of 13%.

Liz Wright, strategic distribution manager at Barclays Wealth, is joining ETF Securities as UK IFA sales director to promote products from the ETP provider to British intermediaries, advisers and platforms, Fundweb reports. The objective is to make ETPs more popular with retail clients, where these products have hitherto been largely subscribed to by institutional investors.Wright will report to Frank Spiteri, head of retail distribution strategy.

The British RBS group has finally sold off branches of the Williams & Glyn’s bank to a consortium led by the private equity groups Corsair Capital and Centrebridge partners, Investment Week reports. The competing consortium of asset management firms including Schroders and Threadneedle, has thus failed in its bid to take over the 314 bank branches, which have been sold for a total of GBP600m. The winning consortium, which also includes the Church Commissioners for England and RIT Capital Partners, will buy a minority stae in Williams & Glyn’s following the listing of its activities in the next few months. RBS will sell its branches by 2014 as part of a restructuring plan required by the European Commission in exchange for a bailout of the banking group.

Octopus Investments has launched an online services portal aimed at venture capital structures (VCT). The portal will allow investors and advisers to track their investments in venture capital trusts, over a secure connection. Octopus, which has over GBP3bn in assets under management for British investors, is the largest purveyor of VCTs in the United Kingdom.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management would like to capture 10% of inflows to the UK fiduciary management market for its Global Portfolio Solutions unit (GPS), whose asets under management worldwide currently total USD22bn. That is the goal declared by Goldman Sachs in the British press (Newsmanagers of 28 August 2013). For a pension fund, fiduciary management involves a partial or total outsourcing of investment decisions to a third party, with the objective of better using the time of administrators, as well as to allow quicker decision-making and action. In the outsourcing chart, pension fund administrators remain entirely responsible for the decisions taken by their fiduciary manager. Goldman Sachs estimates that this young activity represents a future segment of the British pension fund market. According to a study by KPMG, British fiduciary management in 2012 represented a total of GBP23bn in asstes under management. Only 2.4% of retirement assets in the United Kingdom are outsourced entirely to a fiduciary manager.

On the basis of data from Thomson Reuters/Lipper, ETFGI at the end of last year counted a total of 3,367 institutional investors in 50 countries who had declared that they use ETFs and other ETPs, compared with 1,752 in 2005. The use of these products has increased at a CAGR of 6.9% per year over the five years to the end of 2012.These data are included in the new study “ETFGI Institutional Users of ETFs and ETPs 2012 report.”

After leaving BNL-BNP Paribas, Roberto Fredella is joining Azimut Wealth Management, Bluerating reports. Fredella was recruited as a senior adviser. Fredella was director of the private bank at BNL for 10 years, and in 2011 was appointed as head of key clients at the firm.

This Monday, the Source Nomura Modelled PERI UCITS ETF goes live on the London Stock Exchange where it will be traded in USD. The minimum investment is 1 share (approximately USD12,000 on launch date).This new Irish-registered ETF tracks the performance of the Nomura QES Modelled Private Equity Returns Index (Net) (“PERI”). PERI targets returns similar to the global buyout fund universe, on a committed capital basis, using a combination of equity sector indices and cash in major currencies.Source CEO Ted Hood was quoted as stressing that “for many investors, private equity is interesting but inaccessible.” And that this new product product ”is the first to provide exposure to PERI ‐ an accessible alternative to private equity ‐ in a robust, transparent ETF wrapper.”To determine its weekly sector and currency exposures, PERI uses a proprietary model developed by Quantitative Equity Strategies (QES) a specialist in liquid alternative investments, which utilises fund data and deal intelligence from private equity provider Preqin.Matthew Peakman, Managing Director, Head of Fund Derivatives Trading at Nomura, the index sponsor, stressed for his part that “Nomura has brought together the market leader in private equity data and an expert in financial modelling to create and offer this unique, liquid and investible index.”CharacteristicsName: Source Nomura Modelled PERI UCITS ETFIsin code: IE00B988TC33Management fee: 0.30% p.a.Index fee: 1% p.a. plus implementation costs (0.05% on notional equity sector transactions and 0.40% p.a. on the portion of the Reference Index allocated to equity sectors), included in index calculation

Le président de PAI Partners, Lionel Zinsou, indique dans un entretien aux Echos que son numéro deux, Michel Paris, prendra les rênes du fonds en 2015. «Michel Paris, avec qui je dirige le fonds en parfaite complémentarité depuis quatre ans et qui est une référence de toutes nos contreparties, clients, entreprises et investisseurs depuis trente ans, me succédera fin 2015. A cette date, je deviendrai président du conseil de surveillance», précise Lionel Zinsou qui indique par ailleurs que sa levée de fonds de 3 milliards d’euros est «parfaitement en ligne avec notre calendrier», après avoir franchi le milliard d’euros au début de l'été.

BlackRock a annoncé le lancement sur la plate-forme BATS d’un nouvel ETF obligataire d’IShares, le iShares Short Maturity Bond ETF (code mnémonique : NEAR). Il s’agit d’un fonds géré activement qui vise à maximiser les revenus grâce à une allocation diversifiée à des obligations à échéance courte, principalement de catégorie investissement.L’objectif consiste à diminuer l’exposition à une remontée des taux d’intérêt en préservant une duration inférieure à 1 an.Cet ETF est géré par l'équipe de gestion obligataire duration courte de BlackRock dirigée par Thomas Musmanno, responsable d’un encours de 55,2 milliards d’euros répartis sur plusieurs produits.CaractéristiquesDénomination : iShares Short Maturity Bond ETFTaux de frais sur encours : 0,25 %

Le salon Patrimonia, qui s’est tenu le 26 et 27 septembre à Lyon a soufflé ses 20 bougies cette année. Après plusieurs éditions marquées par un environnement de marché difficile, l’optimisme fait son retour, même si les différents acteurs de la gestion de patrimoine restent prudents, économie morose et changements réglementaires à venir restant toujours source d’inquiétude pour la profession en France. Mais la part des clients finaux des conseillers en gestion de patrimoine envisageant de prendre plus de risque progresse, comme l’indiquait récemment une étude de Morningstar (lire Newsmanagers du 18.09.2013). Ce début de retour vers les produits plus risqués, donc les actions, réjouit les sociétés de gestion présentes sur le salon. Pour s’adresser à la clientèle des CGPI, les différentes maison abordent des stratégies commerciales diverses. «Depuis deux ans, nous avons rationalisé notre approche commerciale. Nous nous focalisons aujourd’hui principalement sur notre produit d’appel IBRA – Invesco Balanced-Risk Allocation Fund, qui est un produit diversifié que nous commercialisons depuis le printemps 2011. La focalisation sur un produit permet de se spécialiser», explique Sébastien Garandeau, responsable du développement commercial chez Invesco, dédié au CGPI. Mais en ce moment, la société met également en avant les produits permettant de bénéficier des opportunités sur les actions européennes comme Invesco Action Euro. Cela étant, pour Invesco, il est aussi important d’assurer un service «après-vente» aux clients ayant vendu le fonds, notamment à travers des réunions et une information ciblée pour une clientèle qui représente 450 millions de dollars en France, par le biais de plateformes.L’importance d’un produit d’appel fort est également visible chez Amundi et sa filiale CPR Asset Management, dont le Comptoir CPR, qui s’adresse exclusivement aux conseillers en gestion de patrimoine, valorise commercialement Amundi Patrimoine, lancé en mai, et CPR Croissance Réactive. «Nous proposons des produits permettant d’avoir accès à l’allocation d’actifs qui contribue fortement à la performance», précise Roynel Vincent, responsable commercial CGPI chez CPR AM. Le Comptoir puisera également dans la vaste gamme du groupe Amundi, en poussant commercialement des fonds comme Amundi International Sicav, CPR Silver Age ainsi que les SCPI Rivoli Avenir Patrimoine ou Edissimo.Chez Pictet Asset Management, Hervé Thiard veut, pour sa part, continuer à répondre à la demande pour les fonds thématiques de sa gamme. Pour le managing directeur France du gestionnaire suisse, les CGP comme les banques privées aiment des fonds au contenu clair. «Beaucoup de conseillers veulent s'éloigner d’une approche allocation régionale classique et se tournent vers des produits transversaux». Il cite un intérêt pour les fonds Timber, Water ou Premium Brands, investi sur les grandes marques internationales. A part les fonds thématiques, Pictet mettra en avant le thème de la dette émergente ainsi que les actions émergentes à dividendes élevés, «protectrices dans un marché volatil», note Hervé Thiard.Dans la stratégie commerciale de Fidelity, les thèmes «porteurs» sont également mis à l’honneur. «Nous voulons proposer des thèmes porteurs qui permettent de faire comprendre les relais de croissance», souligne Cédric Michel, directeur commercial distribution. «Nous allons mettre en avant les fonds actions européennes, américaines et émergentes, que nous abordons à travers des thématiques comme la consommation dans les pays émergents. Sur les Etats-Unis, ce sera le thème de la réindustrialisation», ajoute-t-il, même si il souligne que le favori des conseillers reste le fonds patrimonial Fidelity Patrimoine.Pour accompagner l’intérêt grandissant pour les actions, notamment européennes et américaines, Philippe Cormon, directeur de la distribution Europe chez Edmond de Rothschild, mise sur les stratégies value. Seront principalement mis en avant le fonds EDR US Value and Yield. Sur le marché européen, les équipes commerciales pousseront EDR Europe Value. Sur la France c’est Tricolore Rendement qui sera mis en lumière. «Nous notons également un fort intérêt pour les fonds à thèmes tels que Global Healthcare ou Premium Sphere», ajoute Philippe Cormon.