Agefi reports that a Los Angeles federal judge yesterday issued a provisional ruling blocking the sale of TCW by Société Générale to Carlyle, following a lawsuit filed by the fund EIG Global Energy Partners. The fund claims that it would suffer damages for a common fund with TCW which competes with the product range from Carlyle, the newspaper explains.

In the first nine months of the year, the asset management business line at BNP Paribas posted net redemptions totalling an undisclosed amount. The bank, which is releasing its quarterly results this morning, has simply announced that “Asset Management’s asset inflows into money market and bond funds were more than offset by asset outflows in the other asset classes.” In first half, outflows from the business line already totalled EUR1.9bn, and in 2011, they totalled -EUR35.7bn for the year as a whole.Assets under management in asset management fell to EUR408bn.The other professions in the Investment Solutions unit (wealth management, insurance, and others), to which asset management belongs, have posted net subscriptions. Net asset inflows for the first nine months of the year totalled 0.9 billion euros and were penalised by a client’s (fund manager) decision in the third quarter to insource a distribution contract. Excluding this effect, net asset inflows were +12.2 billion euros for the first nine months of the year. Investment Solutions’ assets under management rose 5.2% compared to 31 December 2011 and 4.1% compared to 30 September 2011, to 886 billion euros (842 billion euros as at 31 December 2011).For the first nine months of the year, Investment Solutions’ revenues moved up 1.9% compared to the first nine months of 2011, the 6.0% drop in Wealth and Asset Management, a result of reduced managed assets in Asset Management, being offset by the 13.3% rise in revenues from Insurance (+5.8% at constant scope and exchange rates) and 5.1% revenue growth from Securities Services. Operating expenses edged up 2.0% compared to the first nine months of 2011, given business development investments in Insurance and Securities Services, but they were down 3.3% at Wealth and Asset Management due to the adjustment of costs to the new environment. The cost/income ratio was thus stable at 69.2% compared to the first nine months of 2011. Pre-tax income was 1,515 million euros, up 14.9%.

Activist investor Nelson Peltz has bought a 1 per cent stake in Danone, worth about EUR300m, according to people familiar with the situation cited by the Financial Times. He is expected today to call for the French food group to cut costs and be more disciplined with its use of cash.He is expected to call for moderate improvements, such as improving operating margins by 100 basis points to 15.1 per cent by 2015 and the return of all excess cash flow in the form of share buybacks.

Glenn Carlson will resign from his position as CEO of Brandes Investment Partners on 1 February, according to a letter sent to clients and obtained by MFWire. He will be replaced by Brent Woods, managing director of investments. Glenn Carlson will remain at Brandes as a senior partner and member of the investment supervisory board.

Greg Johnson, chairman and CEO of Franklin Resources, is in acquisition mode, Financial Times Fund Management reports. The goal is to strengthen the alternative management activity of the group, better known by the name Franklin Templeton Investments. Despite recent alternative acquisitions, Greg Johnson says that he would like to “have a more significant presence” at a time when he feels that institutional and retail demand for alternative management is increasing. The director would like to acquire a private equity firm in particular.

The Italian asset management firm Banca Generali has reported net inflows in third quarter of EUR174m, compared with EUR65m in the previous quarter, Investment Europe reports. Assets under management totalled EUR1.36bn as of 30 September. The firm, which has recruited 40 asset management professionals in the first nine months of the year, has announced that it is planning to continue to recruit staff in the next few months.

The former head of Asian bonds at First State Investments, Murray Collis, will join Standish Mellon Asset Management, AsianInvestor has learned. He may be responsible for establishing an Asian product range for the American bond specialist firm.

Syz & Co has announced the launch of Oyster Global High Dividend, a new sub-fund of its UCITS IV-compliant Luxembourg Sicav Oyster, investing in equities that pay a high dividend worldwide. The sub-fund will be managed by Roberto Magnatantini at SYZ Asset Management, and combined quantitative and fundamental analysis, with a particular emphasis on growth in dividends. “At a time when returns from dividends are often higher than bond returns, this type of strategy is increasingly attractive,” Syz&Co points out. For the moment, Oyster Global High Dividend is limited solely to institutional clients, but may soon be registered in several countries in Europe and Asia to become available to the public, a statement says. CharacteristicsUSD : LU0821216339, management commission 1.50%EUR : LU0821216685, management commission 1.50%CHF : LU0821216768, management commission 1.50%USD D : LU0821216412, management commission 1.50% Institutional share classes I USD : LU0821216842, management commission 0.75%I USD D : LU0821217063, management commission 0.75%I EUR : LU0821217147, management commission 0.75%I CHF : LU0821217220, management commission 0.75%

BlackRock has topped rankings of the 500 largest asset management firms worldwide undertaken by Towers Watson (as of 31 December 2011). Allianz, State Street Global, Vanguard and Fidelity follow it. The top French firm is BNP Paribas, in eighth place, followed by Amundi (12th) and Natixis (15th). Investment Europe has published the full list on its website.

The German energy market EEX, and its French counterpart Powernext, which are already co-shareholders in the European electricity trading market Epex-Spot, on 6 November announced that they are joining forces to create a pan-European natural gas market, based on a joint IT platform. In detail, EEX and Powernext will remain two distinct gas markets, and will not create a joint affiliate, a joint statement says, but the two groups will both offer their products on a joint Trayport platform, using the same technology used by Powernext since 2004. According to the two groups, the project will be completed in first quarter 2013, pending the necessary regulatory approval.

Following the recent launch of the CTA MS QTI UCITS Fund from Quest Partners (IE00B89MRY57, see Newsmanagers of 30 October), the FundLogic Alternatives platform from Morgan Stanley has accepted a global macro UCITS-compliant hedge fund from SLJ Macro Partners, the MS SLJ Macro UCITS Fund (IE00B7YD6N88), which applies the same strategy as the SLJ Macro Offshore Fund.While the MS QTI charges 1%, the SLJ Macro has a TER of 1.50%, and carries a performance commission of 20% with high watermark.

It has been a delicate period for active management in October. In the euro zone, only four asset management firms out of 18 did better than the market benchmark, the Eurostoxx Net Return, while in Europe, half of portfolios were outperformed by the Stoxx 600 net Return index. And the situation has not really changed within the Global Equities mandate, as eight firms out of 15 have done better than the Stoxx 600 NR – but with negative results.In detail, the month of October favoured value management. In the euro zone, Alliance Bernstein has gained 3.40%, followed by Mandarine Getion (+2.35%) and Somangest (+2.06%). Within the Europe mandate, the situation is similar. Value management is leading the pack. In addition to Dexia AM (+1.86%), in the top places are Bestinver (+1.56%), Alliance Bernstein (+1.52%) and Mandarine gestion (+1.43%). These portfolios are comfortably outperforming the index (+0.78%). In the Global Euqities mandate, the situation is slightly different: the best-performing portfolios are struggling to remain in positive territory. Petercm (-0.07%) is head of Swiss Life AM (-0.08%) and Alliance Bernstein (-0.32%). Value management has limited the damage, while the Stoxx 180 Net Return has lost 1.30%.

Funds People reports that iShares has registered 20 of its ETFs listed in Germany in Spain, bringing its product range on sale in the country to 155 products.Among the new arrivals are 19 physical replication ETFs based on sub-indices of the Stoxx Europe 600, and the twentieth is the UBS Commodity Swap ETF.

On 2 November the CNMV issued a sales license for the guaranteed fund BBVA Plan Rentas 2016, launched on 16 October, a bond product for which the subscriber will receive at maturity (on 27 October 2016) the capital invested in December 2012, plus fifteen quarterly payouts in the meanwhile, of a gross EUR58.20 per EUR10,000 invested, an annual rate of return of 2.302%.CharacteristicsName: BBVA Plan Rentas 2016 D, FIISIN code: ES0133767006Minimal subscription: EUR600Front-end fee: 5% from 27 December 2012 (or before, when assets total EUR20m), and until 26 October 2016Management commission: 0.02% until 26 December 2012, inclusive, then 1.7%Depository banking commission: 0.01% until 26 December 2012, inclusive, then 0.05%

The Börsen-Zeitung reports that the open-ended real estate fund KanAm grundinvest, which is in the process of liquidation, has succeeded in selling the former headquarters of Deutsche Bank in London to an Asian sovereign wealth fund. The sale took place above the purchase price, but the market value of the asset was not disclosed.The DEGI International fund from Aberdeen, meanwhile, a fund which is also in the process of liquidation, has sold a property in Canada to a local institutional investor, at a price below its most recent expert valuation.

The average coverage rate for liabilities of US corporate pension funds fell in October by 1.4 percentage points, to a total of 73.6%, according to estimates by BNY Mellon. In the month under review, a rally on international equity markets did not offset a decline in the US markets. Assets in pension funds fell by 0.7% in October, while liabilities, for their part, increased by 1.1%. The discount rate fell by six basis points to 3.72%, for business with an Aa rating.

Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee for the business interests of Bernard Madoff, has announced that he has recuperated or completed agreements to recuperate more than USD9.2bn of the USD17.3bn in principal lost by investors due to the fraud, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The Swiss asset management firm Bellevue Asset Management has announced the appointment of Heiko Ulmer as head of distribution in Germany. Bellevue is planning to meet increasing demand for investment products in the areas of “Health/biotechnologies, Africa and Entrepreneur,” the firm, a part of Bellevue Group, says in a statement published on 6 November. Ulmer previously worked for JP Morgan and UBS.

Credit Suisse is tightening its ties with Qatar Holding, one of the largest shareholders in the second-largest Swiss banking group. The two partners are founding Adventicum Capital Management, a joint venture active in institutional management. The firm will be based in Doha, and will commence its activities in early 2013. The new firm plans to offer institutional clients investment opportunities in the Middle East, Turkey and other new markets. Adventicum Capital Management is planning to open a second location outside the region during 2013, Credit Suisse announced on 6 November. The new firm will have a license from the Qatar Financial Centre. The creation of Adventicum represents a major step in the growth of Doha as a financial centre for the region, says Ahmad Al-Sayed, head of Qatar Holding, cited in the statement. With its expertise in institutional management and its experience in emerging markets, Credit Suisse represents the ideal partner, Al-Sayed continues. Adventicum will be led by Aladdin Hangari, director of Credit Suisse Qatar, and Martin Keller, head of the Asset Management activities of Credit Suisse in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The British Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) on 6 November opened a consultation which opens the way for infrastructure investments to double for pension funds of local councils. Investment in infrastructure, currently limited to 15%, may increase to 30%, according to proposals by the DCLG. According to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, the modification to the limit could allow for as much as GBP22bn to be injected into job-creating infrastructure projects.

Baptiste Janiaud, trésorier de Veolia Environnement dans un article paru dans Option Finance numéro 1193 : Sur quels supports placez-vous votre trésorerie? Nous disposons d’environ 4 milliards d’euros de trésorerie, que nous plaçons quasiment pour moitié dans des OPCVM monétaires. L’autre moitié se répartit entre les certificats de dépôts bancaires, à hauteur de 45%, et le solde entre des billets de trésorerie ainsi que des commercial papers étrangers. Cette dernière allocation, conçue comme un outil de diversification, est purement opportuniste. Sa part évolue donc en fonction des entreprises émettrices et des rendements offerts, pour des maturités allant de un à trois mois. Dans un contexte de taux bas, avez-vous modifié votre allocation afin de maximiser le rendement offert? Notre allocation n’a pas changé significativement au cours des derniers mois. Certes, les rendement offerts par les OPCVM monétaires ont diminué de plusieurs dizaines de points de base (pb). Mais cette tendance est avant tout liée à la baisse du taux de référence interbancaire, l’Eonia, qui est passé, depuis janvier, de 0.40% à 0.10 % environ. En effet, les spreads sont, quant à eux, restés stables, quand ils n’ont pas légèrement progressé. Certains OPCVM nous offrent ainsi des rendements à Eonia + 60pb, voire au-delà. Cette situation s’explique notamment par le fait que les gérants ont investi sur des titres de plus longue maturité, afin de bénéficier de taux plus élevés. En outre, ils ont diversifié leurs investissements en sélectionnant des profils dont la qualité de crédit se révèle légèrement inférieure pour obtenir du rendement. Au final, nous nous contentons des rémunérations actuelles, d’autant que nous nous appuyons sur un nombre limité d’OPCVM très liquides - cinq à six fonds, dont l’encours dépasse 5 milliards d’euros - , ce qui nous permet d’en sortir dès que nous le souhaitons. En raison de la concurrence bancaire pour attirer les dépôts, les placements bancaires sont-ils aujourd’hui plus intéressants que les OPCVM? La rémunération des dépôts bancaires est très hétérogène parmi les établissements européen. L'écart de rendement offert peut ainsi varier d’Eonia + 64 pb, soit une différence de 70 pb ! En moyenne, les OPCVM restent néanmoins plus avantageux. Au premier semestre, le rendement moyen de nos différents placements a atteint environ 1 %. Nous continuons toutefois à déposer des liquidités sur des comptes à terme ainsi qu'à souscrire à des certificats de dépôt car cette pratique s’inscrit dans le cadre de notre relation globale avec nos banques historiques. Mais, comme pour les OPCVM, nous choisissons des supports qui nous permettent de récupérer l’argent placé dès que nous le voulons.

Le gouvernement brésilien pourrait exclure jusqu’à 42 milliards de réaux (16 milliards d’euros) de dépenses publiques du calcul de l’excédent budgétaire primaire cette année, a indiqué le ministre des Finances Guido Mantega. Le recours à un ensemble de règles alternatives pour calculer cet indicateur devrait permettre à la présidente Dilma Rousseff de respecter son baromètre de discipline budgétaire.

Selon Bloomberg, le système de trading alternatif a déposé auprès de la Financial Services Authority une demande de licence pour obtenir le statut de plate-forme d’échange enregistrée. Actuellement considérée comme une MTF (Multilateral Trading Facility), la structure entend grâce à cette licence attirer des investisseurs particuliers et des gérants. Cela ferait de Bats Chi-X Europe la troisième place de marché au Royaume-Uni, derrière le LSE et ICAP Securities & Derivatives Exchange (ISDX).

Face à la crise de la zone euro, les institutions redoublent d’efforts pour assurer la pérennité de l’union monétaire. Le moment est venu de vous demander votre avis sur les directives établies pour réglementer le secteur financier.

Les entreprises françaises bénéficieront dès 2013 de la création d’un crédit d’impôt qui allègera de 20 milliards d’euros les coûts qu’elles supportent et les aidera à améliorer leur compétitivité internationale, a annoncé le Premier ministre, Jean-Marc Ayrault, lors d’une conférence de presse ce mardi. Ce crédit d’impôt sera financé à parité par une baisse des dépenses publiques et une hausse de la fiscalité indirecte, pour l’essentiel la TVA.

Elles bénéficieront dès 2013 de la création de ce crédit qui allègera de 20 milliards d’euros leurs charges et sera financé par une baisse des dépenses publiques et une hausse de deux taux de TVA.

IntercontinentalExchange a fait état d’un bénéfice net en baisse bien que supérieur aux attentes au troisième trimestre, à 131,1 millions de dollars. L’opérateur boursier a vanté sa discipline financière et son modèle opérationnel allégé malgré la baisse des contrats de gré à gré sur le gaz naturel et l’électricité aux Etats-Unis. ICE a selon le Financial Times obtenu l’approbation des autorités britanniques pour la négociation de CDS sur les dettes souveraines européennes.

Le courtier basé à St. Louis a conclu le rachat de KBW sur un niveau de valorisation de 575 millions de dollars. Stifel Financial versera 17,5 dollars par action, dont 10 dollars en numéraire et 7,5 dollars en action ordinaire Stifel. KBW, qui développe des activités de broker-dealer et de banque d’investissement, a publié une perte sur cinq des six derniers trimestres.

Le quotidien sud-coréen croit savoir que le ministère des Finances du pays discute avec des fonds souverains d’Arabie Saoudite, des Emirats arabes unis et du Koweït afin de mettre en œuvre un fonds de private equity de 500 milliards de wons (360 millions d’euros). Ce fonds serait destiné à soutenir le développement des sociétés sud-coréennes à travers le Moyen-Orient.

La réforme des marchés de capitaux promise par le gouvernement argentin visant à réduire l’influence de S&P, Moody’s et Fitch en introduisant davantage de concurrence entre les agences pourrait se traduire par l’entrée de l’agence chinoise Dagong qui crée actuellement une coentreprise avec une agence américaine et russe afin de constituer un pôle multilatéral indépendant, selon El Cronista Comercial.