Vanke et Sinopec Engineering redonnent des couleurs à la Bourse de Hong Kong
Le promoteur immobilier chinois prévoit de transférer ses actions de classe B à Hong Kong, alors que Sinopec a soumis une demande d'IPO de sa filiale
Fortress mise sur l'envolée des créances douteuses en Chine
Anticipant une forte hausse des prêts non performants en Chine, Fortress Investment Group serait en passe de racheter Fan Ya Tai, une société chinoise d’aide aux créanciers dans la gestion de créances douteuses, selon le journal qui cite des personnes proches des négociations. Les clients de la cible comprennent des prêteurs chinois mais aussi étrangers, tels que Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Le succès de l'émission de l'Irlande lui ouvre les portes de l'OMT
Dublin qui comptait émettre 2 milliards d'euros a finalement levé 2,5 milliards d'obligations avant un retour complet sur les marchés
L'Euribor est délaissé par certaines des banques qui aident à le déterminer
Rabobank a quitté le panel de l'indice de référence début janvier. La banque néerlandaise, qui peut craindre le coût de litiges potentiels, n'est pas la seule
Le panel de l'Euribor connait des défections
Rabobank a décidé de ne plus contribuer à la fixation du taux de référence. Il n’est pas le seul établissement dans ce cas alors que les enquêtes sur les manipulations de taux et la refonte de ces derniers par les régulateurs peuvent créer un risque juridique pour les contributeurs.
Egamo double de taille grâce à un mandat de 4 milliards d'euros
L'Union mutualiste retraite devient le premier client de la société de gestion de la MGEN, et peut-être bientôt son actionnaire
La Chine multiplie les mesures pour ranimer son marché actions
Le Shanghai Stock Exchange contraint les sociétés cotées à distribuer au moins 30% de leurs résultats nets sous forme de dividendes en numéraire
Jérôme Cahuzac au centre d’une enquête préliminaire
Une enquête préliminaire de police visant à déterminer si le ministre du Budget Jérôme Cahuzac a ou non détenu un compte en suisse afin de dissimuler des revenus au fisc a été ouverte par le parquet de Paris, a annoncé le bureau du procureur. Cette procédure fait suite à des articles du site Mediapart lui imputant la détention de ce compte jusqu’en 2010, sur la foi d’un témoignage et d’un enregistrement sonore de ce qui est présenté comme la voix de Jérôme Cahuzac.
Vienne envisage d'émettre des obligations à 70 ans
L’Autriche pourrait établir un record cette année en émettant une obligation souveraine à 70 ans, l'échéance la plus lointaine dans l’histoire de la zone euro, encouragée par le niveau élevé de la demande lors de son adjudication de titres à 50 ans. Une nouvelle loi autorisant l’Etat à émettre de la dette à échéances allant jusqu'à 70 ans entre en vigueur cette année. L’Autriche, dont la dette est notée AAA par Moody’s et Fitch, a placé 500 millions d’euros de sa plus longue échéance.
L’Irlande réussit sa première émission de l’année
Dublin a placé aujourd’hui avec succès 2,5 milliards d’euros d’obligations, réalisant ainsi le quart de son objectif de 10 milliards d’euros d’emprunts fixé pour 2013, dans la perspective d’une sortie du plan de sauvetage international initié en 2010. Le lancement du plan de financement pour 2013 s’est fait via la réouverture d’une ligne obligataire d'échéance 2017 ouverte en juillet dernier. La demande a été très élevée, totalisant plus de sept milliards d’euros. Ce facteur a permis à l’agence irlandaise de la dette de ramener le taux de rendement aux environs de 3,35% au lieu des 3,45% annoncés initialement.
L’AMF et l’ACP renforcent le contrôle de la commercialisation des produits financiers
Les régulateurs dénoncent des insuffisances en matière de recueil des informations relatives à la connaissance du client.
08/01/2013
MEAG recruits a CEO
Philipp Waldstein Wartenberg, who had been head of group strategic funding & portfolio at UniCredit in Milan since 2006, was on 1 December appointed as a managing director of MEAG (EUR24bn in assets), to be responsible for the portfolio management of securities, currencies and money market instruments.Meanwhile, MEAG, a joint venture of Munich Re and Ergo, has announced that its CEO, Dieter Wolf, 62, will be retiring on 31 March 2013.
08/01/2013
Strong sales for Union's institutional RE unit
Christoph Schumacher, one of Union Investment Institutional Property GmbH’s MDs, has announced that net subscriptions and subscription commitments from institutional clients to in-house real estate products (EUR3.5bn in assets) totalled over EUR1.5bn in 2012, compared with EUR1bn in 2011.The open-ended real estate funds reserved for institutional investors UniInstitutional European Real Estate and UniInstitutional German Real Estate attracted EUR620m. The second fund, launched on 17 October, was three times oversubscribed within the first five hours. It is a fund reserved for religious organisations, co-operative banks and foundations, with subscriptions limited to EUR2m per investor.Institutional real estate funds have also posted subscription commitments of EUR960m, of which EUR850m were for retirement schemes, banks and insurers, and EUR100m in additional new subscriptions to existing institutional funds.Lastly, Union last year launched the institutional infrastructure fund UniInstututional Erneuerbare Energien Sicav-SIF, which specialises in renewable energies, particularly wind, in Europe. The fund reached EUR48m at its first closing.
08/01/2013
BNY Mellon launches a central securities depository entity
BNY Mellon has received regulatory approval to launch a new Issuer Central Securities Depository (CSD) entity that will offer market participants enhanced interoperability and efficiency in the global post-trade arena.BNY Mellon CSD SA/NV will offer issuer, settlement and safekeeping services for the benefit of all market participants across Europe and the wider global marketplace.Incorporated in Belgium as a non-bank subsidiary of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, BNY Mellon CSD will be regulated by the National Bank of Belgium. Chris Prior-Willeard has been appointed CEO of the new entity; he brings over 30 years’ experience in the financial services industry, including a range of executive positions within BNY Mellon.
08/01/2013
Vanguard shatters inflows records
Vanguard last year destroyed the record in the asset management sector for net inflows, with USD141.4bn in 2012, Financial Times Fund Management reports, citing preliminary figures from the asset management firm. The previous record was set by JPMorgan in 2008 with USD129.6bn. Bill McNabb, CEO of Vanguard, admits that the low cost of funds from the firm has been “incredibly important” to the success of the firm, but that the “reputation and consistency” of the manager also counted.
08/01/2013
GIC to get a new chief investment officer in February
Lim Chow Kiat, deputy shop chief investment officer, will be promoted to group CIO of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) sovereign wealth fund, replacing Ng Kok Song, who will be retiring after 42 years as manager of the currency reserves of the city-state, on 1 February 2013. He had been group CIO since 2007.The new group CIO ill retain his responsibilities as chairman of GIC Asset Management until further notice.
08/01/2013
Three new members of AFG
The French financial management association AFG has announced in the most recent issue of its newsletter Gestion Info (December 2012, no. 7) that three firms have joined the professional association. They are Gemways Assets, Generali Investments Opéra and Tikehau Investment Management. The law firm Taj is joining the association as a corresponding member.
08/01/2013
BofA pays USD11.6bn to settle a lawsuit by Fannie Mae
Fannie Mae on January 7 announced a comprehensive resolution with Bank of America, including a USD10.3 billion agreement on existing and prospective repurchase requests on a specified population of loans and an additional payment of USD1.3 billion to address servicing issues. The agreement covers current and future repurchase obligations related to loans with an outstanding unpaid principal balance of USD297 billion as of November 30, 2012 that were originated between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2008. As part of the agreement, Bank of America will make a cash payment to Fannie Mae of USD3.55 billion. In addition, Bank of America will repurchase approximately 30,000 loans, which have the potential to cause significant future losses to Fannie Mae, paying par plus accrued interest, for an additional approximately USD6.75 billion, subject to certain adjustments. As a result of this resolution, the amount of Fannie Mae’s outstanding repurchase requests will decrease substantially in the first quarter of 2013.
08/01/2013
Inflows of over USD85bn for iShares ETPs
iShares has posted inflows of USD85.3bn on USD262.7bn in the ETP sector, iShares has announced in a statement released on 7 January.All regions of the world contributed to the growth of inflows at iShares. Inflows to US products represented a record USD61bn, beating a previous record of USD59.1bn set in 2007.In Europe, inflows totalled USD18.3bn, equivalent to 56% of subscriptions to European ETPs.iShares says that ETFs represented a preferred means of access to the bond market. Inflows to fixed income ETFs at iShares totalled USD28.8bn, representing 41% of all subscriptions to bond ETFs.As of 31 December 2012, assets under management at iShares totalled USD758.6bn.
08/01/2013
Coverage rate for pension funds continues to rise in December
The average coverage rate for the liabilities of US corporate pension funds rose 1.9 percentage points in the month of December, to a total of 7.63%, according to BNY Mellon. For the year as a whole, the coverage rate is up 1 percentage point. In the month under review, assets in pension funds rose 0.9% due to the strength of stock markets, while liabilities, for their part, were down 1.7%. The actualisation rate rose 13 basis points to 3.89% for companies rated Aa.
08/01/2013
Mandarine Europe Opportunités fund launched
Mandarine Gestion has announced that it is adding to its “Growth” unit with the launch of the Mandarine Europe Opportunités fund, which invests in European growth shares of all cap sizes. It is managed by Marie-Jeanne Missoffe, who joined the team led by Joëlle Morlet-Selmer and Diane Bruno from SPGP in late 2012 (see NewsManagers of 23 October, 2012). Mandarine Europe Opportunités is actively managed, and fully invested in equities (90% to 100%) without the constraint of a benchmark, sector or cap size. Within an investment universe of 250 shares, 50 to 60 are selected to construct the portfolio. Three perennial drivers of growth have been identified for stock-picking by the manager: innovation, leadership and geographical diversification. The sectoral and geographical structure of the portfolio are then adjusted according to a top-down analysis. The “Growth” unit at Mandarine Gestion now includes three funds specialised in growth equities: France, with Mandarine Opportunités, European Small and Mid caps with Mandarine Unique, and now Europe, with Mandarine Europe Opportunités. Characteristics ISIN code: FR0011351626 (R share class), FR0011352160 (I share class)Currency: EUR Minimal initial subscription: 1 share (R share class), EUR1m (I share class)
08/01/2013
Sarasin to publish 13 sustainability studies in 2013
In 2013, the sustainability analysis team at Sarasin will publish a detailed report every month including commentary on an economic theme or sector. Two publications will be released in January 2013: the sustainability of government borrowing, and tourism will be the first subjects treated.Among the subjects that will be addressed subsequently are communication technologies and consumer spending, water desalination, urban sustainability, sustainable investment in Brazil, and fracking.
08/01/2013
Cerberus fund sells most of it stake in Japanese Aozora bank
U.S. private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management plans to sell most of its 57.8% stake in Japanese lender Aozora Bank. It will keep 7.74% and thus remain the largest shareholder in the bank. The unit price for the 632.50 million shares (including a greenshoe option of 41.25 million shares) at which Cerberus is prepared to sell will be determined between 16 and 18 January, Aozora states in a document for investors. The sale will mark a significant reduction in the presence of the Cerberus fund in Japan, where it is also a shareholder in Seibu Holdings, a railway and hotel group.
08/01/2013
AWD will miss its 2012 objectives
The German affiliate of Swiss Life, AWD, which in November 2012 was renamed as Swiss Life Select, has missed its annual profit objectives by a wide margin. The specialist in financial advising “will not even achieve 10%” of its expected CHF50m to CHF60m profits, Focus magazine reported on 6 January.The magazine, which refers to sources familiar with the matter, cites poor results and provisions that AWD was forced to make to cover reimbursement for poor advising, particularly in Austria, as reasons. Another reason given is the departure of several advisers.Swiss Life in November announced at its investor day that it was reorganising distribution of financial products and changing the name of its German affiliate. This will lead to a fourth quarter charge of CHF576m. The name change will cost Swiss Life CHF94m. Amortisations total CHF96m for activities abandoned in Slovakia and Hungary. The remaining CHF386m is goodwill.
08/01/2013
Vacancies in Swiss finance are increasingly rare
Job vacancies in the finance sector in Switzerland are increasingly scarce. At the end of December 2012, 3,077 positions were vacant, as many as at the end of 2009. Free positions were down 7.1% compared with the beginning of the year. The decline is visible throughout all professions (banking, insurance, services companies). Finews reports that a growing number of positions are being awarded to young graduates and interns and that outsourcing is a trend which will be likely to last.
08/01/2013
Strong increase in assets at Fisch AM in 2012
As of the end of December 2012, assets under management by Fisch Asset Management totalled CHF7.3bn, compared with CHF5.2bn twelve months earlier, largely due to net subscriptions of CHF1.7bn, Fonds Professionell reports.
08/01/2013
Goldman and Perry to float a part of LEG on stock market
According to reports in Die Welt, the Whitehall fund from Goldman Sachs and the private equity investor Perry Capital are planning to launch part (probably one third) of the residential real estate firm LEG (91,000 housing units), which they acquired in 2008 from the German region of North Rhine/Westphalia for EUR3.4bn, of which EUR2.6bn were debt, on the German stock market. The IPO, planned for the first half of February, would be led by Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank.
08/01/2013
Appointments at Sanford C. Bernstein and AllianceBernstein
AllianceBernstein has announced that its affiliate Sanford C. Bernstein, a specialist in research and brokerage in equities, has recruited the global head of equities from Jefferies & Company, Jason Griffith, as global head of trading. He will report directly to Robert van Brugge, chairman & CEO of the firm.Meanwhile, following the resignation of Richard Haxe as co-head of the EMEA client group, AllianceBernstein has promoted Timothy Ryan as sole head of the EMEA client group. He had previously been CEO of AllianceBernstein Ltd and co-head of the EMEA client group. He will continue to report to Robert Keith, head of institutional and retail client services, sales and marketing.
08/01/2013
Philippe Loiseau appointed as COO of Edmond de Rothschild group
According to multiple sources, Philippe Loiseau yesterday became chief operating officer (COO) at the Edmond de Rothschild group, Agefi reports. For five years, he had served as director of resources at Société Générale Private Banking, after seven years at PwC as a consultant, and eight years at the BNP Paribas private bank. Lioseau will be based in Paris, and will oversee operations and IT systems for the entire French-Swiss group. He will be involved in the mutualisation or co-ordination of resources (including back office, middle office and IT activities) as part of a strategic plan for 2016 unveiled last month, the newspaper reports.
08/01/2013
New head of marketing at Pax World Management
The head of marketing at Eaton Vance, Judy May, has joined the SRI asset management firm Pax World Management as senior vice president of marketing. She will report to Joe Keefe, chairman & CEO.