Pour un montant non divulgué, la division gestion d’actifs de la Deutsche Bank acquiert le restant du capital de sa filiale commune avec UFG Asset Management, Deutsche UFG Capital Management. Lors de la création de cette coentreprise en 2008, le groupe allemand avait pris une participation de 40 % dans UFG Invest, filiale de gestion d’actifs du russe UFG AM.Deutsche UFG Capital Management affiche un encours de 370 millions d’euros et figure parmi les dix premières sociétés de gestion russes. Elle sera rattachée à DWS Investments, la filiale de fonds «retail» de la Deutsche Bank.Florian Fenner restera président de Deutsche UFG Asset Management et rejoint parallèlement le comité exécutif régional «Russie» de la Deutsche Bank.

Hyposwiss Private Bank lance Hyposwiss (Lux) Fund -African Dawn (USD). Géré activement, le fonds est investi dans des entreprises dont le siège social se trouve en Afrique ou domiciliées à l’extérieur mais opérant sur le continent noir. La gestion table sur un scénario optimiste pour l’Afrique en raison de plusieurs éléments, précise un communiqué. Il est question de la démographie du continent et le fait que ce sont des personnes jeunes, de mieux en mieux formées; de l’amélioration des données fondamentales, avec un endettement public restreint; de l’augmentation des flux de capitaux, notamment de l’investissement direct étranger en provenance de pays comme la Chine ou l’Inde, mais aussi de grandes entreprises telles Siemens et Nestlé; et enfin de l’apparition d’une nouvelle classe moyenne, suite au développement économique et à l’urbanisation; et cinquièmement, du développement des infrastructures.Caractéristiques : Code isin : LU0653670769Indicateur de référence : DJ African Titans 50

Les actifs sous gestion du groupe Julius Baer s’inscrivaient fin octobre à 166 milliards de francs suisses, un montant inchangé par rapport à fin juin 2011, a annoncé le groupe le 14 novembre dans un communiqué.Julius Baer précise que la collecte nette et un effet devise positif ont permis d’annuler l’impact négatif de l’évolution des marchés boursiers, notamment en Europe et en Asie. La collecte a progressé dans toutes les régions du monde, notamment dans les pays émergents, et dans les activités de banque privée en Suisse et en Allemagne. Le groupe précise qu’il n’a aucune exposition aux dettes souveraines grecque, italienne, espagnole, portugaise et irlandaise.

SYZ Asset Management, l’unité de gestion institutionnelle du groupe bancaire suisse SYZ & CO, complète son offre de gestion alternative avec le lancement d’une plateforme de «managed accounts», a annoncé la société le 10 novembre dans un communiqué. Cette nouvelle offre vient s’ajouter aux mandats alternatifs sur mesure et aux fonds de hedge funds. Selon Syz, la plateforme, issue d’une étroite collaboration entre SYZ Asset Management et UBS Investment Bank, présente «des avantages importants en termes de transparence, de gestion du risque et de reporting». Par rapport aux structures concurrentes, il s’agit en outre d’une plateforme intéressante pour les gestionnaires de hedge funds, car elle ne leur impose pas nécessairement de modification de fréquence de liquidité, ni de changement de «prime broker», ce qui leur permet ainsi de conserver la même stratégie que dans leur hedge fund originel, souligne le communiqué.Le rôle de SYZ Asset Management dans le fonctionnement de la plateforme sera multiple. Tout d’abord, la société sélectionnera et proposera des gestionnaires à inclure dans la plateforme. Elle gérera également les mandats alternatifs et autres véhicules d’investissement dont les actifs seront déposés sur la plateforme. Enfin, elle aura la possibilité de lancer des solutions d’investissement nouvelles utilisant les gérants de la plateforme. Un produit multi-gestionnaires original, combinant deux stratégies spécifiques, sera par ailleurs bientôt lancé.De son côté, UBS Investment Bank sera l’opérateur de cette plateforme de managed accounts. La collaboration entre SYZ Asset Management et UBS Investment Bank sera effective au début décembre 2011. Les produits issus ou construits à l’aide de la plateforme s’adresseront en priorité aux investisseurs institutionnels.

Les fonds obligataires en Europe ont accusé des rachats nets de 17,4 milliards d’euros en septembre, soit plus qu’en août où ils avaient déjà vu sortir 13 milliards d’euros, selon les dernières statistiques de Lipper. Dans le détail, les fonds dettes émergentes et les fonds obligations mondiales ont été les plus fortement touchés par le mouvement de défiance des investisseurs, avec une décollecte de respectivement 3,4 milliards et 3 milliards d’euros. Le «high yield» a vu sortir 5,9 milliards d’euros. Seules catégories à tirer leur épingle du jeu, les fonds obligations d’entreprises libellées en dollars et livres ont enregistré des souscriptions nettes de respectivement 840 millions et 500 millions d’euros.Les fonds actions ne sont pas en reste, mais ont finalement constaté un ralentissement de leurs rachats par rapport au mois précédent, à 21,2 milliards d’euros, contre 31,1 milliards en août. Au total, la décollecte des fonds «long terme» atteint les 46,2 milliards d’euros, contre 52,9 milliards en août. Si l’on ajoute les fonds monétaires, les rachats se montent à 60,7 milliards d’euros, soit le plus mauvais niveau depuis octobre 2008. Dans ce contexte, Prudential/M&G a enregistré la plus forte collecte (600 millions d’euros), devant Comgest (430 millions) et Threadneedle (370 millions).

Les "marchés frontières", cet ensemble de pays en plein essor sont encore largement méconnus de la majorité des investisseurs. Naturellement, ils suscitent des craintes de toute sorte de la part des investisseurs, tout en présentant un réel potentiel de performance, à l'image des... marchés émergents "classiques" à leurs débuts. Sven Richter, responsable des marchés frontières chez Renaissance Asset Managers revient pour Newsmanagers sur la valeur ajoutée de ces marchés qui trouvent selon lui tout à fait leur place dans une allocation.

A fin octobre, les actifs gérés par Franklin Templeton Investments (Franklin Resources) ressortaient à 694,1 milliards de dollars contre 659,9 milliards fin septembre et 664,3 milliards un an auparavant. Ils ont donc gonflé de 34,2 milliards de dollars ou de 5,2 % en octobre.Chez Invesco, les actifs gérés se sont accrus en un mois de 37,3 milliards de dollars ou de 6,2 % en octobre pour finir à 635,7 milliards de dollars.Les actifs actions de Franklin Templeton ont augmenté à 281,9 milliards de dollars contre 254,2 milliards un mois plus tôt tandis que ceux d’Invesco sont montés à 279,5 milliards de dollars contre 253,2 milliards fin septembre.

Russell Investments vient d’annoncer avoir sélectionné le fournisseur d’informations ESG (environnementales, sociales et de gouvernement d’entrepirse) Sustainalytics pour l’accompagner dans l’analyse de ses fonds et des portefeuilles de ses clients.Cette évolution permettra à Russell de développer ses services d’investissement pour la clientèle en quête d’une plus grande intégration des critères ESG dans leurs portefeuilles. Sustainalytics intègre entre 60 et 100 indicateurs de performance, pondérés en fonction du secteur industriel dans lesquels ils sont appliqués.

Capital Strategies Partners, MCH Investment Strategies and Selinca AV, all three Spanish securities agencies specialised in distribution of funds from independent asset management firms in Spain, have decided to create a third-party marketing (TPM) association, to promote asset management firms of this type, Funds People reports. The association will be operational in early 2012, and the promoters of the idea invite all independent managers with a “regulated” presence in Spain to join.

The platform, which is the result of close cooperation between Syz Asset Management and UBS Investment Bank, features substantial advantages in terms of transparency, risk management and reporting. As part of this cooperation, Syz Asset Management will select managers to be included on the platform and will manage investment mandates as well as other investment vehicles. Syz Asset Management selected the UBS platform for the flexibility it offers to hedge fund managers, its extensive reporting and highly sophisticated risk management. Compared with competing structures, it is a high

Hyposwiss Private Bank is launching the Hyposwiss (Lux) Fund – African Daws (USD). The fund will be actively managed, and will invest in businesses whose headquarters are in Africa, or which are domiciled outside the continent, but which operate there. Management will be based on an optimistic scenario for Africa, due to several factors, a statement says. These include the demography of the continent and the fact that there are a lot of young people, who are increasingly better-educated, improvement in fundamentals, with limited levels of public debt; increasing capital flows, particularly from foreign direct investment from countries such as China and India, and from large businesses such as Siemens and Nestlé; the appearance of a new middle class, in the wake of urban development and urbanisation; and the development of infrastructures. Characteristics ISIN code: LU0653670769 Benchmark: DJ African Titans 50

After five months in a row of withdrawals, equity funds on sale in Sweden have returned to net inflows. In October, they recorded net inflows of SEK5.5bn (EUR0.6bn), according to the most recent statistics from the Swedish investment fund association. But they remain negative, at -SEK60.2bn (-EUR6.62bn) since the beginning of the year. Balanced funds had net inflows of SEK1.4bn (EUR0.15bn). However, bond funds saw outflows of SEK5.4bn (EUR0.59bn), while money market funds had outflows of SEK2.6bn (EUR0.28bn), and hedge funds lost SEK0.1bn (EUR0.01bn). Overall, the fund industry in Sweden had outfows in October of SEK1.1bn (EUR0.12bn). Since the beginning of the year, these funds have seen outflows of SEK4.2bn (EUR0.46bn). As of the end of October, the Swedish fund sector represented assets of SEK1.804trn, of which SEK958bn were in equity funds (about EUR198.5bn and EUR105.4bn, respectively).

Facing the continuing Euro zone debt saga, investors have recently shown a preference for US equity and bond funds. In the week to 9 November, net inflows to these funds totalled USD11bn, according to statistics from the agency EPFR Global. Inflows to US equity funds alone totalled USD7.3bn, while large cap ETFs represented about 80% of this total. Another winner on turbulence in the European markets is emerging market equity funds, which have earned net inflows of USD2.1bn. Equity funds overall have posted a net inflow of USD9.59bn, while bond funds have earned net subscriptions totalled USD4.07bn.US money market funds, for their part, have attracted USD23.8bn, despite returns of only about 0.02%. European money market funds have also been popular.

The Hamburg-based Hansinvest Hanseatische Invesment GmbH (Signal Iduna bank) on 15 September launched the National-Bank Stiftungsfonds 1, which as its name indicates, is aimed at charities. Minimal subscription is set at EUR25,000, and management commission totals 1.01%. Front-end fee is 3%. The German-registered product (DE000A1H44D5), actively managed by the National-Bank of Essen, is composed of a core portfolio which invests in top-rated bonds, and which therefore present low levels of risk, and a satellite allocation to be placed in corporate bonds, Pfandbriefe and value equities. Risk management relies on a dynamic overlay. The management team is permitted to use derivatives. The fund will distribute dividends twice a year, and the recommended investment duration is over 3 years.

Russell Investments has announced that it has selected the environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) information provider Sustainalytics to assist it in the analysis of client funds and portfolios. The development will allow Russell to develop investment services for clients seeking increased integration of ESG criteria into their portfolios. Sustainalytics integrates 60 to 100 performmance indicators, weighted depending on the industrial sector in which they are applied.

EFG Financial Products (Europe) will very soon be opening a branch office in Paris, specialised in distribution of structured products from the EFG Financial Products group. The group, based in Zurich, has already opened a branch office in London, which will distribute the group’s structured products on the British market. EFG Financial Products (Europe) GmbH is a wholly-owned subsidiary of EFG Financial Products Holding AG. The Paris office of EFG Financial Products (Europe), which has been licensed for the French market since April 2011, offers investment services to its institutional clients. EFG Financial Products AG, the main operational section of the EFG Financial Products group, is the tenth-largest issuer of investment products on the Swiss stock exchange (SIX).

As of the end of October, assets under management by Franklin Templeton Investments (Franklin Resources) totalled USD694.1bn, compared with USD659.9bn as of the end of September, and USD664.3bn one year previously. Assets are thus up by USD34.2bn or 5.2% in October.At Invesco, assets under management increased in one month by USD37.3bn, or 6.2%, in October, to finish the month at USD635.7bn.Equity assets at Franklin Templeton increased yo USD281.9bn, compared with USD254.2bn one month earlier, while Invesco’s equity assets totalled USD279.5bn, compared with USD253.2bn as of the end of September.

Despite losses of EUR24m for the part of the group in third quarter, due to depreciation of Greek government debt, the “asset management, insurance and private banking” unit of Amundi has earned net profits for the part of the group of EUR766m in the first nine months of the year, down 32.4% compared with the first nine months of 2010. Excluding the impact of the European bailout plan for Greece, net profits for the part of the group totalled EUR479m for the quarter, and EUR1.35trn for the first nine months of this year, a statement from the firm says.

Amundi (including the asset management operations of BFT acquired on 1 July 2011) showed its good ability to adapt in a weakened environment, according to Crédit Agricole. Growth in new inflows continued in the institutional investor segment, with 7.7 billion euros in the first nine months of 2011, driven primarily by sovereign funds. Inflows from employee savings rose to a record high of 3.4 billion euros. These two segments partly offset outflows from the branch networks and third-party distributors, which amounted to 16.2 billion euros, including outflows of 8.1 billion euros from money market funds. Outflows from the corporate segment were 6.5 billion euros, including 7.2 billion euros from money market funds. Furthermore, the negative market and currency impact came to 19.3 billion euros in line with market trends since the beginning of the year. Net income for the asset management at Crédit Agricole was 324 million euros in the first nine months of 2011, up 5.1% compared to the same period one year ago. Revenues moved down 9.1% owing to the decline in performance-based commissions, while management fees proved resilient. Expenses fell by 4.9% (excluding restructuring costs in 2010), reflecting the full effect of synergies linked to CAAM-SGAM merger. The cost/income ratio was held down to a competitive 56.4%. In the third quarter, netincome was 79 million euros, registering a bigger decline of 32.2% compared with the second quarter of 2011. This downturn must be weighed against severe deterioration in the markets: the CAC 40 lost 25% in the third quarter alone, which cut into assets under management and performance-based commissions. To limit the impact, Amundi continued efforts to lower the breakeven point and reduced expenses by 13.5% between the second and third quarters of 2011.

The Swiss Federal financial market supervision authority, Finma, “has issued a clarification of the relationships between 20 Swiss banks with ‘politically exposed persons’ (PEP). In four cases, the Finma has initiated enforcement procedures,” a statement on money-laundering published on 10 November says. Finma, however, does not name the four incriminated institutions.

In third quarter 2011, operating profits from asset management at the Allianz group incrased by 3.1% compared with the corresponding period of last year, to EUR537m, while in the first nine months of the year, assets increased by 6% to over EUR1.59bn.However, the cost-income ratio for January-September deteriorated to 59.2%, from 57.8%.Assets as of 30 September reach a new record of EUR1.592trn, compared with EUR1.443trn one year previously. Of this total, assets managed for third parties represented EUR1.222trn, compared with EUR1.131trn.Overall, in July-September the Allianz group posted a net profit of EUR258m, compared with EUR1.3bn in third quarter 2010, a decline of 79.7% due to non-operational losses of EUR931m, largely on stakes in the financial sector and on the portfolio of Greek government debt. For the first three quarters of the year, net profits are down 44.3%, to EUR2.24bn.

Prospects for the asset management sector in China remain highly limited in the short-term, i.e. in the next six to twelve months, according to an annual study of China recently published by Cerulli (“Cerulli Quantitative Update: China 2011.”) In the longer term, however, it is an attractive proposition to be present on this market, whose contours remain somewhat undefined. Until 2015, assets under management in Chinese investment funds will grow by an average of 13.6% per year, to as much as RMB4.6trn, or about USD711.6bn. Last year, Cerulli predicted growth in assets to RMB5.3trn by 2014. A downward revision in outlooks is due to a downturn on Chinese stock markets, which provoked outflows from Chinese equity and bond funds, which represent 60% of the market. Investors attracted by the Chinese market should nonetheless bear in mind that the market is attractive for its potential. Chinese regulators are still in an experimental phase, and have not yet set final regulations for the asset management sector.

Assets under management at the Julius Baer group as of the end of October totalled CHF166bn, unchanged compared with the end of June 2011, the group announced in a statement on 14 November. Julius Baer states that net inflows had a positive effect, and offset the negative effect of the evolution of the markets, particularly in Europe and Asia. Inflows increased in all global regions, particularly emerging countries, and in private banking activities in Switzerland and Germany.

State Street on 10 November announced that it is extending its 13-year partnership with the Lufthansa German Airlines company, to offer securities lending for assets in various regions, with a total volume of EUR9bn in assets under custody. In 1998, State Street was selected by Lufthansa for a contract on securities custody and accounting services for the German fund KAG Spezialfonds. The mandate has since been extended to offer a range of services in several domiciles, such as investment compliance, performance analysis and risk analysis.

Nicolas Walewski is not highly optimistic about the investment theme “France.” “We are highly prudent about France,” the founder of the asset management firm Alken Asset Management, and manager of the Alken European Opportunities fund, announced on 10 November at an investor conference. “We have never had such a low exposure to France. We have no visibility on this market. In our investment choices, we need to focus on companies which do not depend on local financing,” Walewski added. Exposure to France totals about 10%, compared with an average of about 16%. However, exposure to British equities totals 36%. “The British economy isn’t doing much better, but the country has never been in default. Financing costs will remain lower,” Walewski predicts. As of 28 October, assets under management in the firm’s flagship fund, Alken European Opportunities, totalled about EUR1.93bn, compared with EUR2.64bn as of 30 June. Negative market effects are mostly to blame for this development. One client may have sought to liquidate an equities portfolio for about EUR130m, but assets under management remain highly stable since the beginning of the year, Isabel Ortega, head of clients, continues, adding that the fund has seen inflows in the tens of millions of euros since the beginning of the year.

Bond funds had greater outflows in September, increasing from -EUR13.0bn in August to -EUR17.4bn, according to Lipper. Emerging market debt (outflows of EUR3.4bn) and Global bonds (-EUR3.0bn) were the hardest hit, while different High Yield sectors of various currencies suffered again (redemptions of EUR5.9bn brought the total over the last four months to -EUR18.6bn). By contrast, corporate bonds denominated in USD and GBP picked themselves up off the canvas and pulled in EUR840m and EUR500m respectively.Equities were also badly hit, with redemptions of EUR21.2bn, which was nonetheless an improvement on last month. Long-term funds in Europe suffered redemptions of EUR46.2bn in September. The European industry as a whole suffered outflows of EUR60.7bn (the worst since Oct 2008).Prudential/M&G attracted the largest proportion of sales by one group (EUR600m), ahead of Comgest (EUR430m) and Threadneedle (EUR370m).

The Continental European Equity Fund (LU020915757), a sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav Henderson Horizon, has been renamed, under an application submitted on 7 October, to become the “Euroland Fund” (LU0011889846) as of 8 November, and at the same time the investment strategy of the manager is being changed. As the new name of the fund indicates, the portfolio will now focus on solid and undervalued equities from euro zone equities, rather than on continental Europe. The euro-denominated product will invest at least 75% in shares in businesses domiciled in the euro zone, or which realise most of their activities there. The benchmark index will now by the MSCI EMU Net Return Index, instead of the FTSE World Europe ex UK Index. The new manager is Nick Sheridan, who replaces Paul Casson. As of the end of September, assets in the fund, launched in July 1984, totalled EUR46.18m.

The board of supervisors (BoS) of the European Securities Markets Authority (ESMA) has elected Martin Wheatley, managing director, Conduct Business at the British FSA, as a member of its board. Wheatley replaces Alexander Justham, who was elected to the position in January, but who has recently left the FSA. Wheatley will become CEO of the Financial Conduct Authority. His term at the ESMA will run until July 2013. The board at the ESMA includes five members. In addition to its German chairman Karl-Burkhard Caspari, (BaFin), the board includes Jean Guill (CSSF), Raul Malmstein, of Estonia’s Finantsinspektsioon, Kurt Pribil (FMA, Austria) and Fernando Restoy (CNMV, Spain).

The asset management division of Deutsche Bank has acquired the remainder of capital in its joint venture with UFG Asset Management, Deutsche UFG Capital Management, for an undisclosed amount. At the creation of the joint venture in 2008, the German group bought a 40% stake in UFG Invest, the asset management affiliate of Russia’s UFG AM. Deutsche UFG Capital Management has assets of EUR370m, and is one of the top ten Russian asset management firms. It will become a part of DWS Investments, the retail fund affiliate of Deutsche Bank. Florian Fenner will remain as chairman of Deutsche UFG Asset Management, and will also join the regional executive board for Russia at Deutsche Bank

Ignis Asset Management has announced the appointment of Liisa Juntunen who will join Ignis’ distribution team in January 2012. She will take a leadership position in Ignis’ institutional business development team with a focus on consultant relations. With her experience she will also help to develop and position Ignis’ equity and real estate offerings. Liisa Juntunen has been responsible for marketing and sales, product development and consultant relations at AllianceBernstein since 2001 and has 17 years’ industry experience.She will report to Claude Chene, director and head of global distribution. The latter worked with Liisa Juntunen at AllianceBernstein prior to joining Ignis in October 2011.Ignis has made a number of senior appointments over the past 18 months and Liisa Juntunen’s appointment will help to further develop the company’s existing and future institutional offerings.