Shortly after the entry of Federal Finance into the capital of the asset management firm one and a half years ago, Sébastien Barbe took over as CEO of Schelcher Prince Gestion. He discusses the recent changes at the firm, synergies realised with its major shareholder, which is preparing to increase its stake to 85% from this summer, and the advantages his firm presents. The director says the task now is to give the firm more visibility, particularly in the management of bond credit, among institutional investors.

In its comments to the Spanish Treasury about proposed new regulations for asset management firms, the professional association for the sector, Inverco, asks for the bill to impose less strict owners’ equity requrements than in the current version, and that it would reduce the minimal requirement for equity in the business from EUR300,000 to EUR125,000, Funds People reports.In addition, Inverco is seeking for graduated owners’ equity requirements depending on asset levels to be eliminated, and replaced by an increase of only 0.02% in the required regulatory capital depending on the volume of assets under management, if they are over EUR250m (the level set by the UCITS IV directive).The association recommends eliminating the requirements to increase regulatory capital when asset management firms sell their own products directly. It is also asking that assets which come from outsourcing agreements be deducted from the calculation of the total owners’ equity levels required.Lastly, Inverco suggests that the total amount of owners’ equity that should be required should not exceed EUR10m.According to the association’s calculations, Spanish asset management firms are facing capital requirements equivalent to 624% of those laid out by the UCITS IV directive.

The Financial Services Authority on 16 March announced that its CEO for the past five years, Hector Sants, has announced plans to leave his job at the end of June 2012, as he has completed his mission to deploy the necessary changes to apply the government’s plans to split the regulatory body into two agencies («twin peaks» scheme), one focused on prudential control, and one on “financial conduct,” to be known as the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The new structure will be operational from 2 April 2012, but the creation of the PRA and the FCA will legally come into effect only at the beginning of 2013, if the parliamentary process proceeds as expected.Following the departure of Sants, Andrew Bailey will succeed him as CEO of the Prudential Business Unit (PBU), which will become the PRA. Martin Wheatley will remain as head of the Conduct Business Unit (CBU), and will then become the CEO of the FCA. The two managers will report directly to Lord Adair Turner, chairman of the FSA.

The exchange-traded product (ETP) provider Source has announced the listing of its P-ETC Source Physical Gold fund on Xetra, denominated in euros. The listing comes in addition to existing listings in US dollars and pounds Sterling on the London stock exchange (LSE) and the Zurich stock market (SIX). It becomes the 264th ETC listed in Frankfurt. In 2011, the P-ETC Physical Gold fund attracted over USD1.2bn in net subscriptions, and saw trading volumes of over USD4bn on the London stock exchange (LSE), a statement says.

Apax Partners, the British LBP specialist cousin of its French counterpart, is to announce in the next 15 days that it has reached the midpoint in its fundraising objective of EUR9bn, or about EUR4.5bn, Les Echos reports, citing several sources. This announcement marks the end of the freeze on the European market, only a few weeks after Cinven reached 60% of its EUR3.5bn fundraising objective, and the ninth fund from BC Partners was closed with EUR6.5bn at the end of February.

With the PBP Fondos de Autor Selección Global, Popular Banca Privada is launching a fund of funds managed in a highly personalised manner, which is flexible and generates outperformance, for its high net worth clients, Funds People reports. The objective is to select a number of managers other than the asset management arms of banks, says Jordi Padilla, director of Popular Banca Privada Gestión.The portfolio will be 50% allocated to asset allocation managers such as Carmignac Gestion, Ethna, Ruffier, Longview, Pimco and Comgest, while 25% will go to equity managers such as those at Bestinver, Mandarine, Alken and Odey, and 25% will be exposed to bonds (Bluebay or Henderson), or to cash (minimum 3%).The fund will have 13 to 20 positions. Management commission will be 0.75%, and performance commission will be 9%.

After returns of 2.34% in January, the Dow Jones Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Index has posted gains of 1.61% in February, and has gained 3.98% in the first two months of the year. Only one of the ten sub-strategies of the fund shows losses: dedicated short bias, which lost 4.66% in February, after losing 7.58% in January, with cumulative losses of 11.88% in the first two months of the year. The two best performers in February were emerging markets (2.92%, compared with 3.75% in January), and long/short equity (2.64% compared with 3.91%).

Jean-Noel Roffiaen has left Financière de l’Echiquier slightly under two years after joning the firm, Citywire Global reports. He had been manager of the Echiquier Quatuor fund (EUR125m), which will now be managed by Jose Berros.

Janus Capital has recruited Carlo Roncalli, a sales executive at JP Morgan Asset Management, to strengthen its Italian team, Bluerating reports. Roncalli began in his new position at Janus, as sales director, on Monday, 12 March.

According to a study by Morgan Stanley, tracking error between US ETFs and their underlying indices averaged 0.52 percentage points in 2011, compared with 0.74% in 2010, and 1.25 points in 2009, the Börsen-Zeitung reports. Analysis shows that the proportion of funds with a low tracking error increased, while the number of products with a high tracking error fell. The study covered nearly all ETFs listed in the United States, excluding actively-managed products, products backed by physical commodities, and leveraged and short products.

Matthew Woodbridge, head of investment products at Chelsea Financial Services, will be leaving the firm to join Barclays Wealth, Money Marketing reports. Woodbridge will be leaving the firm on 5 April, to join Barclays Wealth as vice president. He will work with low-tax vehicles and structured products.

The Dutch insurer Achmea announced on Thursday that it has agreed to divest 51,128,190 shares in the UK asset manager F&C Asset Management plc, representing its entire shareholding of 9.6% of the outstanding share capital of the company. The sale is expected to be settled on 20 March, 2012."The sale is in line with Achmea’s de-risking policy and has no effect on Achmea’s relationship with F&C Asset Management as one of Achmea’s principal asset managers.», says the insurer in a press release.

Falling equity markets have resulted in a loss of NOK86bn, or 2.5% for the Government Pension Fund – Global (GPFG), the former Norwegian Oil Fund.Losses on equities totalled 8.8%, while the bond allcoation generated returns of 7%, due to the rising value of US, British and German bonds.Performance overall was 0.1 percentage points lower than those of the GPFG’s benchmark indices, says Yngve Slyngstad, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), the asset management firm of the Bank of Norway.Assets in the fund increased over the year by NOK234bn, to total NOK3,312bn as of the end of December, with postive forex effects of NOK49bn due to a falling Norwegian kroner. Inflows of capital from the Norwegian government totalled NOK271bn, the highest level since 2008. The portfolio was 58.7% invested in equities, 41% in bonds, and 0.3% in real estate.The GPFG states that assets whose management has been outsourced were reduced to NOK145bn from NOK283bn.

With the Luxembourg-registered fund of hedge funds Mirabaud Opportunities Emerging Markets, launched in late 21011, which has already raised USD100m in assets but does not yet have a sales license in France, the Swiss firm Mirabaud has released a product which “allies the theme of domestic consumer spending in emerging markets with active alternative management to reduce volatility, and to the concept of sharing,” Lionel Aeschlimann, a partner at Mirabaud and head of asset management at the firm, explains to Newsmanagers.The portfolio of the fund, including about 20 positions, is allocated to traditional funds and alternative managers (largely global emerging markets, tactical alpha and global macro strategies). In its selection process, the Swiss asset management firm has opted for a global environmental, social and governance (ESG) approach, based on a best-in-class design. Aeschlimann says that “one of the original qualities of the fund is that we have been able to get all the managers of underlying funds to agree to exclude business which are involved in the production of weapons.”Mirabaud has also given the fund a sharing dimension, which contributes to Interpeace, an NGO which acts to mediate conflicts, and deliberately maintains a low media profile. As Aeschlimann explains, with this fund, “it is not the client who makes the donation directly: the investor decides the percentage of the management commission and the performance commission which Mirabaud donates to Interpeace. And we also have share classes for clients who are not interested in this sharing concept.”

Selon nos informations, la Carpimko, Caisse Autonome de Retraite et de Prévoyance des Infirmiers, Masseurs- Kinésithérapeutes, Pédicures-Podologues, aurait sélectionné trois OPCI (OPCVM ouverts) dans le cadre de la diversification de sa poche immobilière, par le biais d’un appel d’offres mené en novembre 2011 avec l’aide du consultant Amadeis. Le montant total de cet investissement serait de l’ordre de 40 millions d’euros.

Le capital-risqueur Kleiner Perkins a l’intention de lancer un nouveau fonds de jeunes pousses spécialiste des technologiques, des start-up dans les technologies propres et des bio-sciences, indique The Wall Street Journal. Ce sera le quinzième fonds de Kleiner Perkins, qui vise, comme pour le quatorzième, un volume d’environ 650 millions de dollars, selon les proches du dossier.

Selon L’Agefi qui cite une information du Journal du Dimanche, Bain Capital et Lion Capital s’intéressent à l’opticien détenu par Bridgepoint et Apax malgré un prix d’environ 700 millions d’euros. Le journal indique que les candidats doivent faire à des conditions difficiles, et composer notamment avec Alain Afflelou.

Le Fonds Stratégique d’Investissement (FSI) et Areva ont conclu le 16 mars un contrat d’achat d’actions en vue de la reprise par le FSI de la participation d’Areva dans le groupe minier et métallurgique français Eramet représentant environ 26% du capital de cette société, au prix de 114 euros par action soit un montant total d’environ 776 millions d’euros. Cet accord fait suite à l’annonce le 27 décembre 2011 de l’entrée en négociations exclusives du FSI et d’Areva en vue de cette transaction.Simultanément, le FSI et les sociétés Sorame et CEIR (sociétés holding de la famille Duval) ont signé ce jour un accord sur les termes d’un pacte d’actionnaires concernant leurs participations respectives d’environ 26% et 37% au capital d’Eramet. En vertu de celui-ci, le FSI se substituerait à Areva au sein de l’action de concert avec Sorame et CEIR.La conclusion définitive de cet accord et de la transaction reste soumise à la confirmation par l’Autorité des Marchés Financiers qu’il n’est pas nécessaire pour les parties de déposer une offre publique portant sur les titres d’Eramet et à l’obtention des autorisations nécessaires en droit de la concurrence.

Avec le fonds luxembourgeois de fonds alternatifs Mirabaud Opportunities Emerging Markets lancé fin 2011 et qui a déjà levé 100 millions de dollars mais ne bénéficie pas d’un agrément de commercialisation en France, le suisse Mirabaud a sorti de sa nursery un produit à l’approche a priori contre-intuitive.Lionel Aeschlimann, associé de Mirabaud et patron de la gestion d’actifs, a en effet expliqué à Newsmanagers que ce fonds «allie la thématique de la consommation intérieure dans les pays émergents à une gestion active et alternative pour réduire la volatilité et à la notion de partage». Concrètement, le portefeuille d’une bonne vingtaine de lignes est alloué à des fonds traditionnels ainsi qu'à des gérants alternatifs (stratégies global emerging/alpha tactical et global macro, principalement), ces derniers étant certes destinés à générer de la performance mais -presque surtout- à réduire la volatilité.Dans sa sélection, le gestionnaire helvétique a opté pour une approche environnementale, sociale et de gouvernance globale, récusant la formule du «best-in-class». Et Lionel Aeschlimann précise qu’une «des originalités de ce produit tient au fait que nous sommes parvenus à faire accepter par tous les gérants des fonds sous-jacents qu’ils excluent les entreprises impliquées dans la production d’armements».En outre, Mirabaud a imparti à ce fonds une dimension de partage au profit d’Interpeace, une ONG dont l’action d’intermédiaire dans les conflits est volontairement peu médiatisée, comme l’explique son directeur général Scott M. Weber : il faut que les «locaux» s’approprient le processus de paix et Interpeace, soutenue par nombre de gouvernements occidentaux, les y aide sans chercher à s’en attribuer le crédit.Comme l’explique Lionel Aeschlimann, il est de l’intérêt des financiers que la paix et le progrès gagnent du terrain pour que les marchés se développement. De plus, avec ce fonds, «ce n’est pas le client qui opère directement le don : il décide du pourcentage de la commission de gestion et de celle de performance que Mirabaud reverse à Interpeace. Et nous avons aussi des classes de parts pour les clients que ce concept de partage n’intéresse pas». Il est prévu ainsi une reversion de 10 % des frais de gestion pour les classes de parts H/HO/C/CO et 50 % de la commission de performance qui est de 15 % pour les parts HO et de 10 % pour les parts CO (dans les deux cas avec high watermark).

Yves Maillot, directeur des investissements de Robeco Gestions

Matthieu Grouès, associé-gérant, responsable des gestions chez Lazard Frères

Valérie Perez, responsable changes en France chez Deutsche Bank

Vincent Guenzi, directeur de la stratégie chez Cholet-Dupont

Le groupe va créer une société commune avec RIT Capital Partners, une entité de la branche britannique des Rothschild

Comme Athènes avec Goldman Sachs, Rome a noué un swap avec Morgan Stanley qu'elle aurait débouclé début 2012 en versant une grosse somme à la banque

Les eurodéputés pourraient voter mercredi des assouplissements à Solvabilité 2 qui limiteraient la volatilité du cadre prudentiel applicable en 2014.

Tanguy Le Saout, chef de la recherche sur les marchés obligataires chez Pioneer Investments

Malgré le regain de confiance des marchés depuis début 2012, les secteurs immobiliers et bancaires tirent l'indice espagnol à la baisse

Leur débouclage devrait aboutir à une indemnisation des acheteurs au moins à 75% du pair

Leur débouclage devrait aboutir à une indemnisation des acheteurs au moins à 75% du pair