P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Franklin Templeton Investments has announced the launch of the Templeton Asian Dividend Fund, managed by Mark Mobius, with Tom Wu as co-manager, Fundweb reports. It is a sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav Franklin Templeton Investment Funds (FTIF).The management team will use an unconstrained approach, with a long-term objective of investing in Asian securities which pay high dividends and have growth outlooks.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } In a world first, the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) has published its first report on the charitable activities of hedge funds. The 44-page document («Contributing to Communities») provides a detailed examination of all charitable activities by the sector, including campaigns organised by members of the sector and individual actions.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } As of 31 March 2013, assets under management at Natixis totalled EUR613bn (EUR287bn in the United States and EUR321bn in Europe), compared with a level of EUR591bn as of 31 December 2012, due to a net inflow of EUR3.1bn, currency and other effects of +EUR7.7bn, and a positive market effect of +EUR10.8bn, according to a statement released on 6 May.Net banking proceeds for asset management were up 1% compared with first quarter 2012, to EUR415m, supported by activities in the United States, while the context is more difficult in Europe. Net inflows excluding money market products totalled EUR4.5bn in Q1 2013, driven by highly dynamic activity in the retail segment in the United States, and in the institutional segment in Asia and the Middle East. In the United States, inflows were particularly dynamic at Loomis (+USD3.4bn, largely to bond products) and Harris Associates (+USD1.8bn, largely to equity products).

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The private equity investors Apollo Global Management in January-March 2013 posted a net profit of USD249m, more than double the total registered in the corresponding period of last year, on earnings which increased by 69% to UD1.31bn due to sales of stakes and an increase in revenues from management commissions, the Wall Street Journal reports.Leon Black, CEO, says that Apollo was a net vendor of assets, and is now harvesting profits on a buoyant market from past investments.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } In first quarter 2013, Amundi posted inflows of EUR11.1bn, making it the number 1 for inflows in Europe, Crédit Agricole announced on 7 May at the publication of its quarterly results. These very good returns allowed it to strengthen its market share, particularly in France, where they gained 2 percentage points compared with 31 December 2011, and now total 26.7% as of 31 March 2013.This strong level of inflows has been driven by institutional clients (+EUR10.7bn) and corporates (+EUR2.8bn). It concerns all asset classes, except for structured products. However, outflows are continuing from networks, with -EUR2.4bn for the quarter. Market and currency effects, for their part, total EUR7.7bn for the quarter, bringing assets under management to EUR746.2bn as of the end of March 2013. They are up 2.6% compared with 31 December 2012, and 8.3% year on year. Lastly, Amundi is continuing its strategy of strengthening its international presence, with offices opening in Taiwan and Sweden.Amundi maintained its profits at a high level in first quarter. Its net profits total EUR108m, while net profits for the part of the group total EUR79m. Net profits for the part of the group in first quarter 2013 are up by EUR6m compared with the first quarter of the previous year, not counting the sale of Hamilton Lane in first quarter 2012.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } John Matthews, who had been regional director for the Southeastern United States, has been promoted to director of the private wealth management unit at UBS for the Americas, Das Investment reports. He will be responsible for managing relationships with “super-rich” clients in North and South America.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The ETF specialist Christian Magoon is launching a new firm dedicated to the ETF universe, YieldShares, which will concentrate on the development and sales of funds with a marked orientation to income, a market niche which he feels is under-exploited, IndexUniverse reports. His first ETF, which is in the registration process, is the YieldShares High Income ETF, a fund which will invest in about 30 closed funds specialised in equities.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Axa yesterday released its quarterly results, reporting earnings up 3% to EUR28.9bn. Earnings from asset management, for their part, increased by 8% both at Axa IM and AllianceBernstein, largely due to an increase in management commissions related to an increase in assets under management at AXA IM and AllianceBernstein, as well as an increase in distribution commissions at AllianceBernstein.Net inflows totalled EUR8.4bn. In detail, it is distributed between EUR6.5bn at AXA IM and EUR1.9bn at AllianceBernstein, both of them primarily supported by bond products for institutional and retail investors, as well as by alternative products at AllianceBernstein, a statement says.Assets under management are up 2% compared with 31 December 2012. In addition to net inflows of EUR8.4bn, the favourable evolution of financial markets and a positive net currency effect contributed to this increase.The life insurance, savings and retirement unit saw its earnings increase by 4%, Net inflows have increased by EUR1.4bn to EUR3.5bn. Inflows to unit-linked policies have doubled to EUR1.4bn, and outflows have continued from general Savings funds, to -EUR1.6bn, Axa notes.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Citywire reports that the Italian multi-management specialist Kairos Partners is preparing to launch two alternative strategies in the form of UCITS funds, one based on international bonds, and the other investing in real assets. Licenses for the two products are still pending. According to Citywire, the launch is a first step towards diversification for the Sicav from Kairos Partners, which had previously been composed solely of sub-funds investing in equities.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } A vast majority of investors are betting on an increase in market returns in 2013, according to a global survey by Franklin Templeton of investor sentiment. In emerging markets, 66% anticipate an improvement in their local stock market, compared with 58% in developed countries. But this optimism has not driven investors to take more risk. 57% of respondents are planning to continue a more prudent investment strategy this year, the survey notes. Leading the cautious investors are young investors aged 25 to 34. They massively indicate that equities are not essential to meet their long-term investment objectives. “Compared with the other age groups surveyed, they are also the least likely to think that equities will outperform other asset classes, and the most likely to be cautious in 2013,” says Franklin Templeton. However, this age group also has the largest amount of asets currently invested abroad (on average 38%), and who appear most likely to invest abroad in the future. This trend can also be observed among investors generally, as 66% feel that better opportunities in terms of equities and bonds may be found outside their local market in 2013. In geographical terms, the majority of investors (28%) feel that Asian equity markets present the best opportunities in terms of returns. Although they are not yet ready to invest most of their assets abroad in 2013, investors are planning to place nearly 40% in foreign markets in the next 10 years, equally divided between developed and emerging markets. In France, three quarters of local investors are planning to invest in France in the next 12 months, compared with one quarter in other parts of Europe and Asia. Although they have the sentiment that opportunities for returns are better abroad, nearly half (46%) plan to invest only in France.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Between January and March, inflows of new capital to the financial services specialist Swissquote fell 55.1%, to CHF240.8m, according to a statement released on 6 May. Despite this decline, client deposits rose 7.4% in first quarter, to CHF9.1bn. Swissquote has also maintained its objectives of CHF1bn in new capital, and an increase of 5% to 10% in its number of clients in 2013. Client deposits rose 7.4% in first quarter, to CHF9.1bn. According to Swissquote, “reticence and uncertainty on the part of investors, who were highly sensitive in 2012, calmed in first quarter 2013,” as operating revenues rose 1.9%, and the number of accounts rose 1.4% year on year. In first quarter alone, the number of accounts increased by 1.4% to 203,005. Net profits at Swissquote were down 12.2% in first quarter, to CHF5.5bn, due to a slight increase in operating costs and a decline in revenues.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 6 May, Robeco Germany announced that in March it received a license from BaFin to release the fund of emerging market debt denominated in local currencies Robeco Emerging Lux-o-rente Local Currency D EUR. The Luxembourg-registered product, launched in the Netherlands on 12 December 2012, is now available in Germany.The management strategy deployed by the team led by Maurice Meijers is based on a quantitative model used since 1994 by the Robeco Lux-o-rente fund. The model aims to predict the evolution of interest rates on various bond markets.Adjustments of duration are carried out via interest rate swaps and futures on the most liquid bond markets in emerging countries (Brazil, Poland, Mexico, South Korea, Malaysia and South Africa). This allows to correct duration by +/- 3 years. The benchmark index, the JP Morgan GBI-EM Global Diversified Index, currently shows a duration of about 5 years.CharacteristicsName: Robeco Emerging Lux-o-rente Local Currency D EURISIN code: LU0862488169Front-end fee: maximum 3%Management commission (retail): 1.20%Service fee: 0.12%

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The 1,028th ETF to be listed on the XTF segment of the Xetra electronic platform has since 3 May been the db X-trackers II Australian Dollar Cash UCITS ETF, a Luxembourg-registered product which becomes the first to offer access to the money markets in Australian dollars, Deutsche Börse has announced. It replicates an index calculated by Deutsche Bank, the parent company of db x-trackers, via the Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM) unit.CharacteristicsName: db X-trackers II Australian Dollar Cash UCITS ETFISIN code: LU0482518031Benchmark index: Deutsche Bank Australia Overnight Money Market TRITotal expense ratio: 0.20%

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Canadian fund management firm Cordiant Capital Inc, a specialist in emerging markets, has completed the first closing for its fund Cordiant Emerging Loan Fund IV (CELF IV), with USD250m. CELF IV will award senior and subordinate loans at variable interest rates denominated in US dollars to businesses and projects in emerging markets, especially in Africa. FOR these specific transactions, CELF IV will act in partnership with international financial institutions and major commercial banks. The previous fund, Cordiant Emerging Loan Fund III LP, with a total of USD460m, has finished its investment phase, and is now managing redemptions to lenders. Assets under management at Cordiant total about USD2.5bn.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } According to sources familiar with the matter cited by Financial Times Fund Management (FTfm), the London-based alternative management firm Centaurus Capital will return their money to its external clients, and its assets will fall to about USD100m, from USD300m currently, USD1bn last year, and USD5bn in 2008.The founders, former traders from BNP Paribas, Bernard Oppetit and Randel Freeman, are hoping to be more confortable to concentrate on managing their own money instead. They will also be closing their Hong Kong office, as well as two funds with mediocre results, one of them an international risk arbitrage fund, the other focused on Asia.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Assets under management in the UK in March set a new record at GBP718.5bn, compared with GBP706.6bn in February 2013, and GBP615bn in March 2012, according to statistics published by the British investment management association (IMA). Retail net inflows in March totalled GBP787m, compared with GBP1.4bn in February, an GBP1.5bn in March 2013. In the first five days of April, net inflows totalled GBP347m, higher than monthly inflows in the twelve previous months. Net inflows to institutional investors totalled GBP391m, compared with GBP1.64bn the previous month. The IMA absolute return sector, which will be renamed as “Targeted Absolute Return,” in March posted retail net inflows of GBP334m, the highest since December 2009. They are followed by diversified 20-60% equity funds, with net inflows of GBP245m, global bonds (GBP220m), and the Global Equity Income sector (GBP150m).

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } On Monday morning, Lufthansa announced in a stock exchange release that the former chairman of its managing board (until 2010), the Austrian Wolfgang Mayrhuber, would be withdrawing his candidacy for the chair of the supervisory board at a general shareholders’ meeting on Tuesday, due to opposition from “influential shareholders” (being Union Investment, Franklin Templeton and the consultancy Institutional Shareholder Services, or ISS), the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. However, on Monday evening, Mayrhuber had ultimately once again become a candidate, after apparently accepting the conditions imposed by the recalcitrant shareholders. The first two had criticized the unfortunate strategic decisions taken by Mayrhuber at the time (2002-2010), when he was chairman of the managing board, while ISS faulted him for accepting six appointments as a director since quitting the operational management of the airline.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The direct bank Knab, which is controlled by the insurer Aegon, is planning to launch the Gemakbeleggen (invest easily) platform in the Netherlands this month, which allows clients to invest in about 200 investment funds and ETFs selected by three specialists, Sven Bouman, Martine Hafkamp, and Royce Tostrams, Fondsnieuws reports.Investors will receive discounts on funds intermediated by Knab. Clients will pay 0.5% per year for the service, plus EUR1 per order, but transactions will be free.René Frijters, director and founder of Knab, says that clients will receive an alert whenever funds need to be rebalanced for a portfolio to bring it into line with their risk profile.Among the products selected will be funds from major international providers such as BlackRock/iShares, BNP Paribas and DWS, as well as Netherlands-based managers such as Delta Lloyd, Kempen Capital Management and ING Investment Management.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Assets under management by UCITS-compliant hedge funds as of the end of first quarter 2013 totalled EUR96.1bn, compared with EUR82.4bn as of the end of December 2012, according to the most recent statistics from MondoAlternative. Of this total, EUR93.4bn are managed by single managers, and EUR2.7bn by funds of funds. With 19 new funds released on the market and 22 liquidations, the number of funds as of the end of March totalled 499, compared with 502 as of the end of December 2012.In the quarter under review, inflows for single managers totalled EUR7.3bn, while inflows to funds of funds represented EUR24bn. Hedge fund boutiques, which manage 18.5% of assets, had inflows of EUR256m in first quarter, compared with EUR643m for 2012 as a whole, while global asset managers attracted EUR7bn in assets, compared with EUR6.8bn in the year 2012.The global UCITS hedge fund index gained 1.44% in first quarter, while the fund of fund index, for its part, gained 2.18%. The best-performing strategy in the quarter was Long/Short Equity, with gains of 3.82%, followed by Relative Value (+1.79%), managed futures (+1.75%), and GTAA, for Global Tactical Asset Allocation (1.61%).

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As announced slightly over two weeks ago (see Newsmanagers of 18 April), the British firm Schroders has made an addition to its institutional product range in the area of insurance linked securities, with a 30% stake in the Swiss firm Secquaero Advisors (EUR215m in assets as of the end of March). Before the end of the year, the British asset management firm plans to offer German institutional investors a transparent, UCITS-compliant vehicle, invested in publicly-traded instruments, including catastrophe bonds (cat bonds) as well as insurance covering the risk of pandemics and automobile insurance.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The average coverage rate for liabilities of US corporate pension funds in the month of April fell 1.8 percentage points to a total of 80.8%, according to BNY Mellon Investment Strategy & Solutions Group. In the month under review, assets in pension funds increased 0.7% due to the good performance of the stock markets. Liabilities, for their part, posted an increase of 4%, while the discount rate fell by 25 basis points to 3.84% for businesses rated Aa.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } According to a European survey by the consultancy firm Roland Berger, distribution structures at fund management firms will suffer, because banks will increasingly limit the range of funds which they offer to clients, the Börsen-Zeitung reports. More than half of financial intermediaries hope to move to directed architecture, and the lists of recommended funds have already been reduced by half.Banks are increasingly frequently claiming commissions that figure in the hundreds of thousands of euros to list funds among their recommended products.

La collecte nette des banques du Liechtenstein s’est élevée l’an dernier à 13,2 milliards de francs suisses, soit près du double du montant enregistré l’année précédente, selon l’Autorité liechtensteinoise de surveillance des marchés financiers (FMA). A elle seule, LGT Group, banque détenue par la famille princière, a collecté 10,5 milliards de francs (+12%).Fin 2012, les banques du Liechtenstein administraient 184 milliards de francs, soit une hausse de 11% sur un an. Outre la collecte, cette progression s’explique aussi par l'évolution favorable du marché des actions, ainsi que les effets de change.Le bénéfice total des banques de la Principauté a bondi l’an dernier à 388 millions de francs suisses contre 122 millions de francs suisses en 2011.

D’après des proches du dossier cités par le Financial Times Fund Management (FTfm), le gestionnaire alternatif londonien Centaurus Capital va rembourser ses clients externes et son encours tombera à environ 100 millions de dollars contre 300 millions actuellement, 1 milliard l’an dernier 5 milliards en 2008.Les fondateurs, d’anciens traders de BNP Paribas, Bernard Oppetit et Randel Freeman, veulent pouvoir gérer à leur guise leur propre argent. Ils vont aussi fermer leur bureau de Hong-Kong ainsi que deux fonds aux résultats peu probants, l’un sur l’arbitrage des risques à l’international, l’autre sur l’Asie.

Le Portugal a ouvert un livre d’ordre en vue de l'émission de trois milliards d’euros d’obligations à 10 ans qui seraient mises à prix à 400-405 points de base au-dessus des mid-swaps, apprend-on mardi auprès d’une des banques chefs de file. La demande des investisseurs dépasse d’ores et déjà les quatre milliards d’euros. Ces obligations arriveront à maturité en février 2024.

Le groupe pétrolier et gazier basé à Denver et contrôlé par Warburg Pincus prépare une introduction en Bourse qui pourrait le valoriser à environ dix milliards de dollars, selon Reuters qui cite des sources proches. L’agence assure que le groupe a mandaté à ce sujet Barclays, JPMorgan et Citigroup.

Apollo Global Management a vu son résultat net économique bondir de 72% au premier trimestre, à 792,4 millions de dollars (1,89 dollar par titre), grâce à plusieurs plus-values de cession (LyondellBasell Industries, Charter Communications…). La valeur de ses fonds de private equity a grimpé de 14%.

Furn-Invest, la holding du groupe d’ameublement haut de gamme, cède 20% de son capital à Tamburi Investment Partners (TIP). Outre Roche Bobois, elle comprend également Cuir Center. Ses actionnaires majoritaires sont les familles Roche et Chouchan. TIP reprend la participation à des fonds gérés par Azulis Capital, Sigefi, BNP Paribas Développement et Natio Vie Développement.

Le loueur de voitures a annoncé que ses actionnaires ayant conclu son acquisition en 2005 auprès de Ford (avant une IPO l’année suivante) ont soldé leur part au capital. Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Carlyle et Bank of America Merrill Lynch ont ainsi cédé 50 millions de titres pour 1,24 milliard de dollars à Goldman Sachs, qui les remettra sur le marché.

Le régulateur vient de prononcer à l’encontre de la société Viveris Management une sanction pécuniaire de 200.000 euros pour atteinte à la bonne information des porteurs dans le cadre des investissements réalisés dans le secteur photovoltaïque, et défaillance des procédures de conformité et de contrôle interne.