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14/02/2013

Hedge funds make billions thanks to Japanese yen

Several macro hedge funds have made winning bets against the Japanese yen in the past few months, the Financial Times reports. Caxton Associates, the British-American fund managed by former Goldman Sachs partner Andrew Law, has gained 10% in the past three months, while Tudor Investment Corporation and Moore Capital have seen gains of 9% for their flagship funds.
14/02/2013

RepRisk teams up with AfU IR for sustainable development reporting

The Swiss firm RepRisk on 13 February announced that it has signed a cooperation agreement with the Frankfurt-based AfU Investor Research to launch a “sustainable development” investment fund filtering product.Analysis is based on a methodology which uses the RepRisk methodology for each business in the portfolio, to determine a sustainability rating which reflects the Reputation Risk Indiator (RRI) for the fund concerned. The rating is weighted according to the size of each position in the portfolio of the fund in quesiton.A joint study by RepRisk and AfU IR undertaken in 2012 found that conventional funds have ratings virtually as good as funds which are designed specifically to take environmental, social and governance issues into account.The new joint product, which is aimed at asset managers, private banks, institutional investors and consultants, will provide clients with the average RRI rating for positions in the fund and their long-term evolution, the distribution of positions in the portfolio between various risk classes, an analysis of the peer group, and a comparison with the five best and worst funds in the same risk category.
14/02/2013

Assets under management at Banque Cantonale Vaudoise

Assets under management at Banque Cantonale Vaudoise rose 6% in 3012, to CHF81.7bn, according to statistics released by the group on 14 February. Net inflows totalled CHF160m, due to an inflow of CHF1.2bn to onshore funds, and an expected withdrawal of CHF1bn from offshore funds.
14/02/2013

Credit Suisse launches a website for structured investments

Credit Suisse has launched an online resource for structured investment solutions, according to a statement released on 13 February. The website, aimed ta banks, external wealth managers and client advisers at the major bank, can trade structured products and custom securitised derivative products based on over 300 asets (equities, currencies and precious metals). The minimal investment for equity products is CHF20,000, and CHF50,000 for products related to currencies, the bank says.
14/02/2013

Revised law on collective investments comes into effect on 1 March

The Swiss Federal Council on 13 February announced that it has set the date of 1 March for the introduction of the revised law on collective investments, which also aims to guarantee access to the Swiss financial market to the European market. Switzerland urgently had to close loopholes in its regulations to prevent some financial actors restricting access to European markets. The European Union is planning to introduce the AIFM directive in July this year. The revised ordinance, which provides for a tax hike and fees charges by the financial regulator (Finma), will also cone into effect on 1 March. Reservations expressed by those affected have been taken into consideration, the government says. Two new clauses in the law will come into effect on 1 June. One of these concerns qualified investors. According to the definition adopted by Parliament, all parties who sign a wealth management contract are considered “qualified investors,” unless explicitly stated otherwise in writing. The law will only protect “unqualified” investors. The other clause related to key investor information. Investors will receive a written record of information exchanged when they subscribe to a fund.
14/02/2013

Record assets for Paris office of Franklin Templeton

Several asset management firms have had a highly positive quarter in terms of subscriptions. As of the end of December, the Paris office of Franklin Templeton returned to record asset levels of about USD4.5bn, with a very strong acceleration of inflows from 15 December on. This dynamic has continued in early 2013, the CEO of the firm, Dominique de Préneuf, has told Newsmanagers. The office in Paris opened in 1994 with USD230m (not including CBOs).In the coming months, Franklin Templeton is planning to highlight its Asian and European small and midcaps products, and European equities, with the Franklin European Growth and Franklin Mutual Euroland. The latter has the advantage for IFAs of being eligible for PEA savings plans. The firm also plans to promote three emerging market equity funds managed by the team led by Mark Mobius, Templeton Asian Growth, Templeton Frontier Markets, and Templeton Africa, all of which are particularly well-suited to platforms. “Of course, in fixed income, the Templeton Glboal Total Return fund, managed by another start of the group, Michael Hasenstab,” will be «pushed».
14/02/2013

Legg Mason confirms Joseph Sullivan as CEO

The board of directors of Legg Mason (USD654bn of AUM as of the end of January) on February 13 announced that it has appointed Joseph A. Sullivan president and chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors, effective immediately.Since October 1, 2012, Mr. Sullivan has served as Legg Mason’s interim CEO, after the departure of Mark Fetting. He joined Legg Mason in 2008 as senior executive vice president and chief administrative officer and more recently, served as head of global distribution.In addition, the board of directors announced that Dennis M. Kass, a veteran leader in the asset management industry, will join the Legg Mason board, effective April 1, 2013. Mr. Kass retired in 2012 as CEO of Jennison Associates, an asset management company wholly‐owned by Prudential Financial, Inc., having served in this position since 2003. Previously, he had spent more than a decade with JP Morgan’s Investment Management unit, culminating in the position of vice chairman of JP Morgan Fleming Asset Management.
14/02/2013

Morgan Stanley appoints Maximilien deWailly as head of MSREI In France

Morgan Stanley on 13 February announced the appointment of Maximilien de Wailly as Managing Director, to direct Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing (MSREI) in France, the real estate investment activity of Morgan Stanley IM on the French market. Before joining Morgan Stanley, de Wailly spent nine years (2004-2013) at RREEF Real Estate (Deutsche Bank), where he led real estate private equity fund activities investing in France. In this period, he was in charge of acquisitions and management of a portfolio of EUR4.5bn. He had previously worked at Morgan Stanley from 1999 to 2004. He was also chairman of the supervisory committee of the Le Printemps group. De Wailly will report directly to Brian Niles, head of MSREI Europe.
14/02/2013

Morningstar profits up 10% in 2012

From USD98.36m in 2011, net profits declared by Morningstar Inc rose to USD108.08m last year. That represents an increase of 9.9%, and profits per share totalled USD2.10, compared with USD1.92.Joe Mansueto, chairman & CEO, points out that for the past year as a whole, revenues grew organically by 5%, with Morningstar Direct and Morningstar Data driving this growth. As of 31 December, the group had USD321.4m in cash, compared with USD470.2m twelve months previously.Assets under management or advisement contracted, as predicted, by 31.4% year on year, to USD94.3bn for the investment advisory services unit, while they gained 26.2% to USD47.2bn for retirement solutions, and rose 51.6% for Morningstar Managed Portfolios. Lastly, Ibbotson Australia has gained 13.8% in assets under management or advisement, to USD3.3bn.
14/02/2013

Scor Global Investments wants to start out in third-party management

Scor Global Investments, the asset management unit of the Scor group, has launched a website independent of that of its parent company. Agefi Weekly reports that the tool is intended to help the company grow, as it is planning to develop third-party activities. So far, results remain modest, as the firm has posted inflows of slightly over EUR100m. Without setting an overly ambitious objective, François de Varenne, chairman of the board, sees bigger. “If, in three to five years, I have the equivalent of 10% of assets from the Scor group under management for third parties, which would be EUR1bn to EUR2bn, I would be delighted,” he says. At this stage, activities are concentrated on continental Europe. Scor GI is targeting private banks, family offices and large institutional investors as its first priority.
14/02/2013

AUM in Investment Solutions unit of BNP Paribas up 5.6% in 2012

The Investment Solutions unit of BNP Paribas last year posted a 5.6% increase in its assets under management compared with 31 December 2011, to EUR889bn (EUR842bn as of 31 December 2011). This increase is primarily due to favourable performance effects, driven by gains on the financial markets, particularly in second half. The firm recorded net outflows at -EUR6.1bn, penalised by the reinernalisation of a distribution contract by a fund management firm in third quarter. Excluding this effect, net inflows were +EUR5.2bn in 2012. Net inflows were positive to all professions in 2012, except asset management. Inflows to wealth management were good, particularly in the domestic and Asian markets, with good contributions from insurance outside France, particularly in Asia (Taiwan, South Korea), as well as from Personal Investors, particularly in Germany. Inflows to asset management in money market and bond funds, for their part, more than offset outflows from other asset classes. As of 31 December 2012, assets under management in Investment Solutions were distributed as follows: EUR405bn in asset management, EUR266bn in Wealth Management, EUR170bn in Insurance, EUR35bn in Personal Investors, and EUR13bn in Real Estate Services.
14/02/2013

Gregory Molinaro to leave CPR AM

Gregory Molinaro will be leaving CPR AM at the end of February, after more than seven years at the asset management firm, an affiliate of Amundi. The professional is head of the beta allocation unit, and manager of the growth range, which has more than EUR850m in assets overall. A reorganisation of the management team will be announced in a few days, but it already appears tha Mark Haddouk, head of balanced management, will take over management of the funds which Molinaro had been responsible for.
14/02/2013

Françoise Rochette joins Mandarine

Newsmanagers understands that Françoise Rochette, head of the asset allocation unit at Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (EdRAM), will in slightly over two months be joining French Boutique Mandarine Gestion, a firm for which she already externally manages asset allocation for the diversified FCP fund Mandarine Reflex (FR0010753608). The funds is officially managed by Marc Renaud and Joëlle Morlet-Selmer, with assets, according to Morningstar, of EUR195.05m as of 11 February.
14/02/2013

Investigation of SAC Capital extended

An investigation by the US authorities into suspected insider trading at the hedge fund management firm SAC Capital Advisors has been extended to take in 4 to 6 more stocks, the Financial Times reports, citing sources familiar with the mtter. The investigation is at a preliminary stage, and may not result in formal charges, the newspaper reports.
14/02/2013

Madoff victims to receive another USD505m

Irving picard, the court-appointed trustee for Bernard L. Madoff Inestment Securities, has asked a US Federal judge for permission to pay out another USD505m to victims of the fraud, the Wall Street Journal reports. If the judge grants the request, 2,178 investors will begin to receive checks totalling USD5.428bn, shortly after a hearing scheduled for 13 March. Of this total, more than 1,110 people will receive all of the principal they lost in the scandal. The payments will be up to USD458,000 per Madoff victim.
14/02/2013

Turgot AM launches a gay-friendly fund

With the Rainbow Fund, an international large cap equity fund, Turgot Asset Management is releasing what it claims is the first gay-friendly fund on 21 February. The portfolio will consist of companies whose range of goods and services is identifiably aimed at the gay population, and/or which have set up anti-discrimination measures, particularly with regards to the gay population. A study by Turgot Am finds that “companies which have signed an equality or sexual identity charter have considerably superior results, partly due to a more contented workforce.” The Rainbow Fund, created by Benoît Suquet at Coutainville Finances, is managed by Sandrine Cauvin and co-managed by Marion Casal. It invests with a bottom-up approach, selecting firms which offer prospects of growth. The fund is 60% to 100% exposed to international equities, and may be up to 20% exposed to emerging markets, and 20% to small and midcaps. The portfolio will include shares such as Barclays, Apple, Sodexo, Christian Dior, McDonalds, etc. Characteristics Name: Rainbow Fund ISIN code: FR0011343805 Management fees: 2.5% Benchmark index: MSCI World (dividends reinvested)
14/02/2013

Positive performance effects and inflows to French-registered equity funds

In January, according to the results of a Europerformance study of assets in French-registered funds, assets under management rose by +1.22%, bringing total assets under management to EUR773.3bn. This increase in assets is partly due to positive performance effects and significant net inflows, both to treasury and to equity funds. In the former case, net inflows totalled EUR1.8369trn, and in the latter, EUR1.4419bn. However, bond funds overall have seen net outflows. Redemptions totalled EUR333.4bn. In terms of returns, the equity category has gained an average of 2.25%, while bonds lost 0.44%. Only funds investing in convertible bonds posted average gains of 0.9%. For equity funds, most net inflows went to funds investing in Europe (+EUR112.97306bn), far outpacing international equity funds (EUR35.69249bn), and funds investing in the US Market (EUR15.14747bn). Due to positive returns for all three categories (+3.01% for European funds, +1.64% for international equity funds, and 2.36% for US funds), their respective assets have risen by 3.6%, 3.33%, and 4.61%.
14/02/2013

Hermann Pfeifer promoted at Lyxor Germany

Hermann Pfeifer, head of institutional ETF sales Germany & Austria at Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale) since 2011, and previously head of European fund sales (North) at db x-trackers (Deutscche Bank), has been promoted to the newly-created position of head of Lyxor ETF Germany, Austria & Eastern Europe.He is responsible for overseeing the development of Lyxor’s activities on the German, Austrian and Eastern European markets. Germany is one of the largest ETF markets for the French asset management firm, whose Frankfurt office has five employees.
14/02/2013

Sabadell seeking to pick up clients from competitors

Funds People reports that Sabadell is offering a 1.5% rebate on transfers made by clients of other asset management firms to its own funds and discretionary management until 30 June, on the condition that the transferred amount is over EUR6,000. The corresponding payment will be made in two stages, 50% on 31 January 2014, and the remainder one year later.
14/02/2013

Orix to take over Robeco

Fondsnieuws reports that the Japanese conglomerate Orix is about to announce its acquisition of the Netherlands-based Robeco. Only the details remain to be negotiated. It seems clear that Roderick Munsters will remain as CEO, and that Babobank, its current parent company, would continue to distribute Robeco funds in the Netherlands, according to sources familiar with the matter.Robeco is said to currently be preparing invitations to a press conference on the deal.Orix in 2010 acquired the majority of the US firm Mariner Investment Group, a hedge fund management firm with assets of USD12bn, while Robeco is far larger, with assets of EUR186bn as of the end of September 2012. At the end of the quarter on 31 December, Orix had already made 90% of its profit objectives for the fiscal year ending on 31 March, meaning that this objective has been revised up by 10%, to JPY110bn, up from JPY83.5bn for the twelve months to the end of March 2012.
14/02/2013

S&P DI offers a Sharia-compliant version of GIVI indices

S&P Dow Jones Indices reports that the range of S&P GIVI™ Shariah Indices which it is currently launching will be the first family of Sharia-compliant indices which combine low volatility and an alternative weighting schema, depending on the intrinsic value of the shares, rather than their capitalisation size.The first five Sharia-compliant indices, S&P GIVI Developed Shariah Index, S&P GIVI Emerging Shariah Index, S&P GIVI Europe Shariah Index, S&P GIVI Pan Asia Shariah Index et S&P GIVI United States Shariah Index, apply Sharia compatibility filters to shares from the S&P GIVI universe.
14/02/2013

Sweden's Coeli launches a Luxembourg-based asset management firm

The Swedish multi-management business Coeli has launched an asset management firm in Luxembourg, Coeli Asset Management. To head the new firm. Johan Lindberg has been recruited as CEO. He had previously been CEO of the Luxembourg-based company of BankInvesto. He has also worked as CEO of SEB Fund Services in Luxembourg. The Coeli office in Luxembourg will allow it to distribute its funds worldwide.
14/02/2013

Aberdeen AM réalise deux acquisitions

Le gérant britannique a annoncé le rachat de l’américain Artio Global Investors pour 175 millions de dollars. Spécialiste des taux, Artio gère environ 14 milliards de dollars d’actifs pour le compte d’une clientèle de particuliers et d’institutionnels. Aberdeen AM a aussi pris 50,1% de SVG Advisers, société de capital investissement britannique qui gère 4 milliards de livres, pour 17,5 millions de sterling. Cette expertise sera combinée avec celle d’Aberdeen pour donner naissance à un pôle private equity de 5 milliards d’encours.
14/02/2013

La zone euro s’enfonce davantage dans la récession

L'économie de la zone euro s’est enfoncée davantage qu’attendu dans la récession au quatrième trimestre 2012. Le produit intérieur brut (PIB) des Dix-Sept a reculé de 0,6% par rapport au troisième trimestre, a annoncé Eurostat, après une baisse de 0,1% sur juillet-septembre. L’année 2012 est la première durant laquelle la zone euro n’a enregistré aucun trimestre de croissance. L'économie allemande s’est contractée de 0,6% au quatrième trimestre, enregistrant sa plus mauvaise performance sur un trimestre depuis le point bas de la crise financière en 2009. En France aussi, le recul de 0,3% de l’activité au quatrième trimestre est supérieur aux attentes des économistes qui anticipaient en moyenne une contraction de 0,2%. La situation est plus critique encore dans les pays périphériques. L’Espagne a fait état il y a quinze jours d’une contraction de 0,7% de l’activité au quatrième trimestre. L'économie italienne s’est contractée de 0,9%, soit plus qu’attendu, au quatrième trimestre. Aux Pays-Bas, le PIB s’est contracté de 0,2% au quatrième trimestre, donnant une baisse annuelle de 0,9%, confirmant que le pays était en récession, la troisième depuis 2009. Le PIB de la Grèce s’est contracté de 6% en rythme annuel au quatrième trimestre 2012. L’activité économique au Portugal a reculé plus qu’attendu au quatrième trimestre, portant à 3,8% la baisse du PIB par rapport aux trois derniers mois de 2011.
Photo : Fotolia
14/02/2013

L’Isda décrète un événement de crédit sur SNS

A 14 voix contre une, celle de BoA Merrill, l’Isda a considéré que la nationalisation des dettes subordonnées de SNS Bank constitue un événement de crédit. L’association des professionnels des dérivés doit décider aujourd’hui combien d’enchères sur CDS elle tiendra. SNS est cependant une signature très peu traitée, et il existe un risque que le sous-jacent n’existe plus d’ici aux enchères.
14/02/2013

Changes : Berlin veut que le G20 suive le G7

Le G20 doit adopter le communiqué publié mardi par le G7 afin d’apaiser les tensions sur la question des taux de change, a déclaré un haut fonctionnaire du gouvernement allemand. Le G7 affirme que les politiques monétaires ne doivent pas avoir pour objet de dévaluer les devises, alors que le Japon prend depuis trois mois des mesures très accommodantes qui ont conduit à une forte dépréciation du yen.
14/02/2013

Crédit Agricole échappe à un procès outre-Atlantique

Un juge new-yorkais a rejeté la plainte d’Intesa Sanpaolo visant la banque française, au motif qu’elle avait été déposée un mois trop tard, au-delà d’un délai de cinq ans. La banque italienne estime avoir perdu 180 millions de dollars du fait du montage frauduleux par Calyon, aujourd’hui CA CIB, d’un produit structuré adossé à des créances hypothécaires (CDO, collaterized debt obligation).
14/02/2013

Legg Mason nomme son directeur général

La société de gestion américaine a nommé Joseph Sullivan au poste de président directeur général en remplacement de Mark Fetting, qui a démissionné sous la pression. Il détenait la fonction de PDG par intérim et de responsable des ventes depuis le 1er octobre 2012. Cette décision fait suite à un processus de recherche de cinq mois mené par Korn/Ferry International.
14/02/2013

Citic s’intéresse à l’alumine

Le groupe public chinois a acquis par le biais de sa filiale Citic Resources Holdings, une participation de 13% au capital du spécialiste australien de l’alumine, Alumina, pour 452 millions de dollars locaux, l’équivalent de près de 350 millions d’euros. Une opération réalisée par placement privé de nouveaux titres.
14/02/2013

BlackRock va proposer des ETFs avec des dates de maturité

Le principal gestionnaire mondial de fonds indiciels cotés va bientôt commercialiser une nouvelle série de fonds à taux fixe disposant d’une date de maturité, à l’image des obligations ordinaires. Ces nouveaux produits visent à simplifier la tâche des investisseurs institutionnels, a expliqué le président de BlackRock Robert Kapito.

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