La banque d’investissement brésilienne BTG Pactual et la société de gestion chilienne Celfin Capital ont annoncé le 8 février avoir conclu un accord de fusion qui va donner naissance à un nouveau poids lourd de la gestion d’actifs en Amérique latine.Une fois la fusion effective, BTG Pactual affichera 69 milliards de dollars d’actifs sous gestion dans son pôle «asset management» et 28 milliards de dollars d’actifs sous gestion dans son pôle «wealth management». BTG sera désormais actif dans les trois pays où Celfin est déjà présent, à savoir le Chili, le Pérou et la Colombie. Le nouveau groupe se concentrera dans un premier temps sur ces marchés ainsi que le Brésil, l’Argentine et le Mexique étant les deux marchés où BTG Pactual envisage de poursuivre son développement.En Amérique latine, le secteur de la gestion d’actifs pèse environ 1.240 milliards de dollars.

Au terme d’un appel d’offres, Perial Asset Management a acheté l’immeuble de bureaux Etoile Pleyel (10.000 mètres carrés) de Saint-Denis à l’allemand Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investment pour 27 millions d’euros, plus un million d’euros en cas de retour à meilleure fortune. Ce prix est inférieur aux 31,5 millions d’euros de la dernière valeur d’expertise. La valeur de cet actif avait déjà été révisée à la baisse de 25 % il y a plus de dix-huit mois (lire Newsmanagers du 23 juillet 2010).D’autre part, les experts ont révisé à la baisse de 16 %, à 38,5 millions d’euros, leur estimation de l’immeuble Zoetermeer aux Pays-Bas.Ces deux éléments ont provoqué une révision à la baisse de la valeur liquidative de 0,57 euro de la part du fonds immobilier offert au public Morgan Stanley P2 Value* à compter du 8 février.(*) DE000A0F6G89

Au 31 janvier, la liquidité du fonds immobilier offert au public CS Euroreal* de l’allemand Credit Suisse Asset Management Immobilien se situait à 1,6 milliard d’euros soit 25,8 % de l’encours, ce qui signifie que, depuis le gel des remboursements le 19 mai 2010, elle a augmenté de 1,25 milliard d’euros grâce à la cession de 14 actifs. Toutes les ventes se sont effectuées à la valeur vénale, ou au dessus de cette dernière. D’autres immeubles d’une valeur de 850 millions d’euros sont actuellement en vente. Au 9 décembre, la liquidité était de 25 % avec 1,25 milliard d’euros (lire Newsmanagers du 13 décembre 2011).Cela devrait théoriquement permettre de remonter la liquidité à un niveau compatible avec une reprise des remboursements, d’autant que l’encours du fonds a diminué entre-temps (5,99 milliards d’euros fin 2011). Cependant, CSAM Immobilien indique avoir l’intention d’effectuer au plus tard en avril un sondage pour évaluer les sorties potentielles. La réouverture ne sera décidée que si le gestionnaire est convaincu que la situation du marché et la liquidité du fonds permettent de maintenir le guichet des rachats durablement ouvert. La date butoir pour une décision est le 18 mai 2012.(*)code Isin : DE0009805002

La Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLB) a vu son bénéfice net chuter de 86,2% l’an dernier à 15 millions de francs, selon un communiqué publié le 9 février. L'établissement indique avoir souffert du contexte difficile régnant sur les marchés.La collecte nette s’est élevée à seulement 0,6 milliard de francs, contre 2,7 milliards en 2010. Les actifs sous gestion s’inscrivaient à fin décembre à 48,1 milliards de francs, en recul de 3,4% sur un an.

Le new yorkais Global X Funds (1,4 milliard de dollars) a annoncé le 8 février le lancement du Global X Permanent ETF (acronyme sur NYSE Arca : PERM), un ETF diversifié «tous temps» investissant dans différentes classes d’actifs et censé générer des performances dans des environnements de croissance économique, de baisse des PIB, d’accélération ou de ralentissement de l’inflation. C’est un produit «market agnostic» dont les allocations-cibles sont de 25 % pour les actions, 25 % pour les obligations à court terme, 20 % pour l’or, 5 % pour l’argent (sous forme d’ETF ou ETC pour ces deux métaux précieuwx) et 25 % pour les obligations à long terme. Le PERM répliquera l’indice Solactive Permanent et sera chargé à 0,49 %.

Selon un communiqué diffusé le 9 février 2012, François Barthélémy est nommé directeur général de Primonial Asset Management avec pour responsabilités la stratégie et le développement, la direction de l’ensemble des activités de gestion et la charge de la plate-forme dédiée aux produits structurés. Il aurait rejoint le groupe Primonial à Paris en novembre 2011. François Barthélémy s’est associé en 2004 avec le gestionnaire britannique F&C pour créer F&C partners LLP, une maison spécialiste de la gestion de fonds pour le compte d’investisseurs institutionnels. Il y était co-gérant des fonds de hedge funds du groupe avec la responsabilité d’un encours de quelque deux milliards de dollars.

Aux normes comptables US-GAAP, le capital-investisseur KKR & Co a réalisé pour 2011 un bénéfice net de 1,9 million de dollars contre 333,2 millions tandis que le bénéfice économique net (ENI) ressortait à 750,9 millions de dollars contre 2.139,8 millions.Les actifs sous gestion au 31 décembre ressortaient à 59 milliards de dollars contre 58,72 milliards fin septembre et 61 milliards un an auparavant. Les encours générateurs de commissions (fee paying assets under management) se sont situés pour leur part à 46,4 milliards de dollars fin 2011 contre 46,2 milliards trois mois plus tôt et 46 milliards fin décembre 2010.

Le groupe Avenir Finance a réalisé en 2011 un chiffre d’affaires de 34,2 millions d’euros en forte hausse par rapport à 2010 (+27 %).Le pôle Gestion d’Actifs enregistre pour sa part un chiffre d’affaires de 20,6 millions d’euros, en forte hausse (+41%) par rapport à 2010.Malgré la baisse des marchés financiers, le pôle Gestion Privée réalise un chiffre d’affaires de 13,6 millions d’euros en hausse de 11% par rapport à 2010.

Les actifs gérés par le groupe canadien Manuvie (SFM ou la Société Financière Manuvie ou Manulife en anglais) ont augmenté de 1,7 milliard de dollars en 2011 pour s'établir à 178,1 milliards de dollars, a annoncé la société le 9 février dans un communiqué. Si l’on tient compte des actifs gérés du fonds général de Manuvie, l’encours affiche une progression de 2,3 milliards de dollars à 211,4 milliards de dollars.Aux Etats-Unis, les souscriptions des fonds communs de placement de John Hancock (« Fonds JH ») ont atteint 12,5 milliards de dollars américains pour l’exercice 2011, en hausse de 29 % par rapport aux 9,7 milliards de dollars enregistrés en 2010. Les fonds gérés de Fonds JH s’inscrivaient à 35,5 milliards de dollars américains au 31 décembre 2011, en hausse de 4 % par rapport à fin décembre 2010.Toujours aux Etats-Unis, le secteur des régimes de retraite de John Hancock a conservé sa position de tête sur le marché avec une part de marché de 21 % dans le segment des régimes comptant moins de 500 participants au 30 septembre 2011, soit une baisse de 3 points par rapport à la période correspondante de l’exercice précédent. Les fonds gérés de ce secteur de 62,8 milliards de dollars américains au 31 décembre 2011 ont reculé de 1 % par rapport au 31 décembre 2010, les souscriptions nettes positives ayant été plus que neutralisées par les rendements défavorables des placements en 2011. Le groupe a terminé l’exercice sur un résultat net de 129 millions de dollars, soit une amélioration de 1,8 milliard de dollars par rapport à 2010.

The Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual and the Chilean asset management firm Celfin Capital on 8 February announced that the two firms had signed a merger agreement to create a new heavyweight in Latin American asset management. Once the merger is complete, BTG Pactual will have USD69bn in assets under management in its asset management unit, and USD28bn in assets under management in its wealth management unit. BTG will now be active in the three countries where Celfin is already present: Chile, Peru and Colombia. The new group will focus initially on these markets, as well as Brazil, Argentina and Mexico, the two markets where BTG Pactual is planning to develop. In Latin America, the asset management sector has total assets under management of about USD1.24trn.

The Abu Dhabi sovereign fund, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, has appointed the former CEO of Carrefour Property, Pascal Duhamel, as its new head of real estate investments in Europe, Financial News reports.

The provider of services to fund managers Kneip on 9 February announced that it has completed the production and distribution of Key Investor Information Documents (KIID) and the submission of regulatory documents for Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB Publ (SEB). Kneip’s services apply to all mutual funds from SEB on the Swedish market and the international product hub, based in Luxembourg. SEB’s KIID documents have been translated and producted by Kneip in 12 languages (German, English, Danish, Spanish, Estonian, French, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Dutch, Norwegian and Swedish). Kneip then simultaneously released all the KIIDs over the SEB distribution network, which is present in 19 countries in the group’s target markets.

The Australian Macquarie group is planning to cease its structured product activities in Europe due to unfavourable market conditions, Investment Europe reports. The decision follows the departure of Todd Steinberg, global head of the structured products unit, who left the firm in September last year. The structured products unit, Macquarie Securities Group, has about 1,500 employees worldwide, with the European activities based largely in Frankfurt. Pending a final decision, Macquarie had last week already ceased to issue structured products in Europe.

JP Morgan reports, cited by l’Agefi, that US money market funds increased their banking assets in the euro zone in January, for the first time since April 2011. They took on USD27bn in euro zone banking sector debt for their portfolios last month, of which USD23bn were from French banks alone.

Joe Kawbabani, chief investment officer of MENA Equity investments of Franklin Templeton Investments Limited, has left the firm. The strategies will continue to be managed by a local portfolio management team at FTIMEL, and the asset manager does not anticipate any change in the investment philosophy, process, strategy or client service for clients investing in those strategies. Joe Kawbabani will be leaving the company to pursue other opportunities, he but will not be going to a competitor, adds Franklin Templeton.

The Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLB) has reported an 86.2% decline in its net profits last year to CHF15m, according to a statement released on 9 February. The firm says that it suffered from a difficult market environment. Net inflows totalled only CHF0.6bn, compared with CHF2.7bn in 2010. Assets under management as of the end of December totalled CHF48.1bn, down 3.4% year on year.

In 2011 the Asset Management unit at Credit Suisse Group had CHF 0.9 billion net asset outflows. In the fourth quarter of 2011, net outflows stood at CHF 9.6 billion in Asset Management.Asset Management reported income before taxes of CHF 87 million in 4Q11, down 52% compared to 4Q10 and 5% compared to 3Q11. Net revenues of CHF 455 million were down 26% from 4Q10 and 3% from 3Q11. Fee-based revenues were CHF 464 million, down 13% compared to 4Q10, and down 5% compared with 3Q11, reflecting lower asset management fees, lower performance fees and carried interest, partially offset by higher placement, transaction and other fees. Investment-related gains were CHF 6 million compared to gains of CHF 101 million in 4Q10 and losses of CHF 17 million in 3Q11. In 4Q11, realized and unrealized gains included revenues in the industrial and transportation sectors, partially offset by unrealized losses in the energy and commodities sector.Total operating expenses of CHF 368 million were down 16% compared to 4Q10 and 3% compared to 3Q11, reflecting lower compensation and benefits and lower general and administrative expenses.

UBS may integrate its proprietary equity trading activities into its asset management unit, the CFO at the Swiss group, Tom Narabil, has told Bloomberg. The plans may be put into action in the coming few quarters, and would affect about 50 employees.

DWS Investments has announced that it has recruited Luiz Riberio as director of Latin American equities. He had previously served in a similar position at ADIA (Abu Dhabi Investment Authority). Riberio will be based in São Paolo and will report to Andreas Römer, director of emerging markets at DWS. Following the appointment of Hian-Boon Tay, who had previously been at GIC (Government of Singapore Investment Corporation), Riberio is the second manager of a sovereign fund to join DWS in the space of a few months.

As of the end of December, assets in investments categorised by Ecoreporter as sustainable development had assets of EUR28.1bn, a contraction of 12% compared with the end of 2010, the Börsen-Zeitung reports. The number of these funds has also declined to 289 from 306 twelve months previously.

The Avenir Finance group in 2011 earned revenues of EUR34.2m, a strong increase compared with 2010 (+27%). The Asset Management unit, for its part, had earnings of EUR20.6m, up strongly (+41%) compared with 2010. Despite falling financial markets, the Private Management unit had earnings of EUR13.6m, up 11% compared with 2010.

By US-GAAP accounting standards, the private equity investor KKR & Co in 2011 earned net profits of USD1.9m, compared with USD33.2m, while economic net income (ENI) totalled USD750.9m compared with USD2.1398bn.Assets under management as of 31 December totalled USD59bn, compared with USD58.72bn as of the end of September and USD61bn one year previously. Fee-paying assets under management totalled USD46.4bn as of the end of 2011, compared with USD46.2bn three months earlier, and USD46bn as of the end of December 2010.

La Française AM on 9 February announced that it has acquired a 20% stake in the capital of OpenMind Asset Management, a new asset management firm specialised in absolute returns. Via its affiliate Nouvelles Expertise et Talents (NexT), La Française AM is continuing its policy of minority partnerships in firms founded by entrepreneurs hoping to develop new product ideas, approaches and distribution. So far, 20 participations totalling EUR7bn in assets under management have been created. The new asset management firm, which received a license in December from the AMF, was founded by Tristan Abet and Xavier Trilling. Abet was previously macro-strategist in charge of quantitative research at CA Cheuvreux, while Trilling was in sales of equities to institutionals, also at CA Cheuvreux. They have been joined by Fabien Georges, who had previously been a flexible diversified fund maanger at Avenir Finance.The management of OpenMind Asset Management is in line with the company’s name: its creators say that it has a truly open spirit. “The starting idea is simple: that open spirit has to be retained in order to earn returns. In our case, we want to understand what makes markets move, what they are playing at, and to help them in that direction in order to perform,” explains Trillint at a presentation.A first fund – OpenMind Alpha Sector (UCITS IV) – has already been launched, and its objective is to generate absolute returns by capturing sectoral trends in Europe. These trends, the result of sustained leadership of certain sectors compared with others, are, says Abet, a characteristic of European equity markets. The expertise of managers at OpenMind Asset Management is in identifying sectoral cycles, largely on the basis of valuation cycles.The OpenMind Alpha Sector fund has seed capital of EUR20m, of which EUR15m come from the incubation fund NexT Invest (Nouvelles Expertise et Talents), managed by La Française des Placements. The directors of OpenMind, who had already been closely involved in advising Europeaan investors, are planning to double the assets in OpenMind Alpha Sector in the next few months. Their inflow objective is EUR120m in the first fiscal year.Major characteristics of the fundISIN code: FR0011175660 (I share class) FR0011175678 (P share class)Front-end fee: 2%Management fee: 1.25% and 15% commission on performance exceeding the Eonia (I)2% and 15% commission on performance exceeding the Eonia (P)Minimal investment: EUR100,000

Assets under management by the Canadian Manuvie group (SFM, for Société Financière Manuvie) increased by USD1.7bn in 2011, to a total of USD178.1bn, the firm announced in a statement on 9 February. Taking into account assets under management in the general fund from Manuvie, assets are up by USD2.3bn to USD211.4bn. In the United States, subscriptions to mutual funds from John Hancock (“Fonds JH”) totalled USD12.5bn in the 2011 fiscal year, up 29% compared with USD9.7bn in 2010. Assets under management in Fonds JH totalled USD35.5bn as of 31 December 2011, up 4% compared with the end of December 2010. The retirement planning sector at John Hancock has retained its leading position on the market, with a market share of 21% in the segment for retirement regimes with under 500 members as of 30 September 2011, down 3 points compared with the corresponding period of the previous year. Assets under management in this sector totalled USD62.8bn as of 31 December 2011, down 1% compared with 31 Dcember 2010, with positive net subscriptions more than offset by unfavourable performance of investments in 2011. The group finished the fiscal year with net profits of USD129m, an improvement of USD1.8bn compared with 2010.

As of 31 January, the liquidity of the open-ended real estate fund CS Euroreal (ISIN code: DE0009805002) from the German firm Credit Suisse Asset Management Immobilien totalled EUR1.6bn, or 28.8% of assets, which means that, since redemptions were frozen on 19 May 2010, assets have increased by EUR1.25bn due to the sale of 14 properties. All sales were made at market value or above. Other properties valued at EUR850m are currently up for sale. As of 9 December, liquidity was 25%, at EUR1.25bn (see Newsmanagers of 13 December 2011).This should allow the fund to increase its liquidity to a level compatible with a reopening of redemptions, since assets have fallen meanwhile (to EUR5.99bn as of the end of 2011). However, CSAM Immobilien states that it is planning to undertake a survey in April at the latest to evaluate potential exits. The decision to reopen the fund to redemptions will be taken only if the asset management firm is convinced that the market situation and the liquidity of the fund will allow it to keep redemptions open for the long term. The deadline for a decision is 18 May 2012.

After a RFP, Perial Asset Management has acquired the office property Etoile Pleyel (10,000 suqre metres) in Saint-Denis from the German asset management firm Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investment, for EUR27m, plus an additional EUR1m if the performance of the property recovers. This price is EUR31.5m below its most recent expert valuation. The value of the property had already been revised downward by 25% more than 18 months ago (see Newsmanagers of 23 July 2010).Meanwhile, expertise have revised their estimate of the Zoetermeyer property in the Netherlands down by 16%, to EUR38.5m. These two factors have provoked a downward revision of the net asset value of shares in the open-ended real estate fund Morgan Stanley P2 Value (DE000A0F6G89) by EUR0.57 per share as of 8 February.

Via max.xs financial services, the Frankfurt-based asset management boutique First Private (born of the former Salomon Brothers KAG) is now offering to German retail investors the First Private Aktien Emerging Markets fund (DE000A0KFRW4, retail share class, and DE000A0KFRX, institutional share class), which brings together active selection of equities from emerging markets with risk management which has allowed the management team to reduce volatility by more than 25% compared with the benchmark index over the past three years. Since launch, the fund’s performance has been over 90%, with volatility far lower than the benchmark, max.xs reports.From a universe of about 1,500 emerging markets equities, the asset management team selects 40 to 80 of the most attractive shares after a fundamental analysis.

The New York-based firm Global X Funds (USD1.4bn in assets) on 8 February announced the launch of the Global X Permanent ETF (acronym on NYSE Arca: PERM), an all-weather diversified ETF investing in various asset classes, which aims to generate returns in environments of economic growth, falling GDP, and accelerating or slowing inflation. It is a market agnostic product, whose target allocations are 25% to equities, 25% to short-term bonds, 20% to gold, 5% to silver (in the form of ETF or ETC funds for the two precious metals), and 25% for long-term bonds. PERM will replicate the Solactive Permanent index, and will charge fees of 0.49%.

Cortal Consors has introduced a “job rating,” which evaluates the creation or destruction of jobs at companies present in 475 European equity funds. The funds are rated from 1 to 5, with a 5 rating for those which invest in companies which generate 175 jobs per year for every EUR1bn in market capitalisation. At DNCA Finance, for example, the Centifolia Europe and Europeana funds get ratings of 5. At the other extreme, a fund with a rating of 1 is composed of businesses which have reduced their employee numbers by more than 175 for every EUR1bn of market capitalisation. “We find that the best-rated funds delivered higher returns. Taking into account green and social criteria does not dent performance,” says Benoît Gommard, CEO of Cortal Consors France. He cites the fund Allianz Actions Euro Midcap, which has an overall “green and jobs” rating of 10 (out of 10) and has earned returns of 52.66% in the 3-year period to 31 January 2012.

The alternative management firm Moore Capital Management has invested USD800m in a hedge fund launched last year by two of its equity traders, Bloomberg reports. Jens-Peter Stein and Kornelius Klobucar, founders of Stone Milliner Asset Management AG, started up their hedge fund with assets of over USD1bn. Assets at Moore are in a managed account, Bloomberg states. Moore Capital, whose assets under management total about USD15bn, has often bet on traders who left the firm to found their own vehicle. Stone Milliner is a macro hedge fund which invests in interest rates, currencies, bonds and equities on the basis of macroeconomic trends.