Adam Cordery, responsable des gestions crédit Europe chez Schroders

Dans un discours prononcé lors du centenaire de « L’Agefi », la ministre a réitéré les ambitions de la présidence française du G20

La Banque du Japon a maintenu sa politique monétaire, suggérant que la banque centrale prévoit toujours un rebond de la croissance après le décrochage observé au premier trimestre, conséquence du séisme qui a frappé le pays le 11 mars dernier. Contre toute attente, le vice-gouverneur Kiyohiko Nishimura, qui prônait un nouvel assouplissement monétaire via une extension du programme de rachat d’actifs, a renoncé à ce projet.

Les prix à la production ont progressé plus que prévu en avril par rapport à l’année précédente, portés par la hausse des prix de l'énergie et de l’alimentation, rapporte vendredi le Bureau fédéral des statistiques. Ce rythme de croissance des prix, de 6,4% en avril, avait déjà été observé en février. Il s’agit de la plus forte hausse enregistrée depuis octobre 2008 lorsque les prix avaient grimpé de 7,3%.

L’inflation en Inde pourrait descendre sous la barre des 8% en août ou en septembre si le pays bénéficie d’un climat favorable lors de la période des moussons, a déclaré vendredi le service national des statistiques TCA Anant. L’inflation a diminué à 8,66% en avril, mais les révisions importantes apportées à certaines données économiques récentes ainsi que la perspective d’une hausse des prix de l'énergie devraient pousser la banque centrale à rester sur une ligne orthodoxe et à relever ses taux en juin.

BlackRock va racheter à Bank of America la totalité des actions que cette dernière détenait encore dans son capital, soit 13,6 millions d’actions préférentielles convertibles pour environ 2,545 milliards de dollars ou 187,65 dollars par actions. Ce prix représente une décote de 3,6 % par rapport au cours moyen des 15 dernières séances. Les deux groupes précisent qu’ils continueront à collaborer malgré la fin de leurs relations capitalistiques.

Le fonds éponyme de John Paulson, dont les encours s'élèvent à environ 36 milliards de dollars, a pris une participation de l’ordre de 1 milliard de dollars dans le groupe Hewlett-Packard en acquérant 25 millions de titres de la société, selon l’agence Bloomberg.Paulson & Co a par ailleurs renforcé sa participation au capital de Transocean en achetant 17,3 millions titres de l’une des plus grandes sociétés de forage offshore du monde, mais dont le nom est aussi lié à la marée noire d’avril 2010 dans le Golfe du Mexique. Paulson a maintenu sa participation de 4,41 milliards de dollars dans le SPDR Gold Trust, tout en se renforçant dans plusieurs mines d’or sud-africaines.

The Swiss Julius Bär group on 20 May announced a reorganisation of its private banking activities in Switzerland, which had previously been under regional direction, and will now be led by Yves Robert-Charrue, who from 1 July 2011 will become the new CEO for Switzerland. His current position will be taken over from 1 September by Hans F. Lauber, formerly Chief Investment Officer (CIO) for the Winterthur group, and founder and CEO of Arecon Asset Management in Zurich.The new strategy was launched by the bank 18 months ago, to promote growth throughout the Swiss market, including the 16 regions of the country covered by private banking activities, in order to offer a fuller range of products and services to clients.Venkatraman Anantha-Nageswaran, Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Julius Bär, will be leaving the bank at the end of July, but will continue to be available to the group as an external consultant.

The management of the Swiss private bank Sarasin are pushing their majority shareholder, the Dutch firm Rabobank, to sell its stake in the bank as part of a management buyout for CHF3bn. «I make no secret of the fact that we would love to do an MBO,» Joachim Straehle, CEO of Sarasin, has told the Financial Times. He says that so far there have been no formal negotiations, but that there have been informal discussions. As part of an agreement, Straehle says that financing could come from the Middle East, Asia, and Switzerland, the FT adds.

Investec Asset Management has posted record net subscriptions of GBP7.4bn in the 12 months to the end of March 2011. The asset management firm has posted an increase in its assets under management to GBP59bn, also a record. Pre-tax operating profits rose 53%, to GBP127m.

Assets under management at Cazenove Capital Management as of 31 December last year totalled GBP15.4bn, largely due to net inflows of GBP600m (compared with GBP400m in 2009) in the wealth management unit (with assets of GBP11.1bn), but a slight net outflow from the investment funds unit (GBP4.3bn in assets, of which GBP3bn were invested in long-only funds). Net profits for the fiscal year were nonetheless down 37% to GBP11.3m, as performance commissions from hedge funds fell to GBP600,000 at the end of 2010, from GBP14.7m in 2009. Excluding performance commissions, profits rose 24% due to good results in the wealth management unit.

Agefi reports that the private equity fund KKR will spend EUR240m to acquire the German telephone operator Versatel. Apax Partners, with 41.7% of capital in the firm, as well as Cyrte and United Internet, who control 25% each, have agreed to sell their stakes for EUR5.50 each. Shareholders holding the remaining 3% will be offered EUR6.70 per share.

The fund that bears John Paulson’s name, with assets totalling USD36bn, has bought a stake in the Hewlett-Packard group, with an acquisition of 25 million shares in the firm for about USD1bn, the news agency Bloomberg reports. Paulson & Co has also enlarged its stake in the capital of Transocean, with an acquisition of 17.3 million shares in one of the world’s largest offshore drilling firms, whose name is still tainted by association with the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010. Paulson has maintained its stake of USD4.41bn in the SPDR Gold Trust, and strengthened its positions on several South African gold mines.

MoneyMarketing reports that Apollo and JP Morgan are planning to launch new products in the absolute return segment. Apollo has no vehicle of this type in its range, and JP Morgan offers only one.

The American management firm William Blair Investment Management has launched a fund dedicated to emerging markets equities that complies with the European UCITS directive, Citywire reports. The Luxembourg-domiciled fund, Emerging Leaders Growth Fund, managed by Todd McClone and Jeff Urbina, will invest in shares in emerging markets funds with potential for growth and higher than average profits. The firm currently manages USD2.5bn in assets for European institutional investors, and its range of UCITS-compliant funds now runs to five products, including the new strategy.

BlackRock has announced that it has agreed to repurchase Bank of America Corporation’s remaining ownership interest in BlackRock totaling 13,562,878 of its Series B convertible preferred shares for approximately USD2.545 billion, or USD187.65 per share. The shares will be retired following the close of the transaction which will be immediately accretive to earnings per share. In connection with the transaction, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and BlackRock have worked together to strengthen their enterprise-wide collaboration and enhance their ongoing strategic partnership, according to a press release.BlackRock intends to fund the purchase of the shares through available cash and a total of USD2.0 billion of commercial paper, medium-term and long-term debt. The purchase price represents a 3.6% discount to the average closing price for the immediately preceding 15 day trading period.

The 20 regional co-operative banks of the BPCE group have concluded a strategic reflection on their positioning for 2014, Les Echos reports. By the end of the year, they will be launching an “e-bank,” a new online banking site which will be oriented to sales advising, and will emphasize large businesses, private management, and banking-insurance. In order to develop its image as a private bank, communications from the business will be more targeted, and about 300 people will be trained or recruited to this end.

The Swiss UBP group (Union Bancaire Privée) has awarded Caceis a contract for administration of its Luxembourg and French fund ranges, Caceis announced in a statement on 19 May. Under the new partnership, which covers EUR7bn in assets in Luxembourg funds, and EUR550m in French funds, Caceis will provide a complete range of fund administration services, from its offices in Luxembourg and France. In the mid-term, UBP is planning to extends the partnership to other continental European markets.

Institutional investors whose allocation to emerging markets is over 5% should steer clear of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), and adopt a more diversified approach, similar to the approach they adopt for developed markets, according to a report by the consulting firm Cambridge Associates, cited by IPE.com. By adopting long-only strategies that focus on BRIC countries and multinational corporations, investors miss out on opportunities associated with small companies that are directly exposed to growth in emerging markets. The authors of the study also identify significant opportunities in private equity and hedge funds.

Rothschild & Cie Gestion, which has assets of EUR22bn under management, has received sales licenses for its major funds on the German, Spanish, Netherlands and Luxembourg markets. These will allow the French firm to enlarge its presence in Europe, which had previously been limited to Belgium and Switzerland.The asset management firm has defined a distinct strategy for each country.In Germany, the affiliate of the Rothschild & Cie Banque group will rely on the German independent distribution specialist max.xs financial services AG. Through this partnership, Rothschild & Cie Gestion will offer intermediaries and German institutional investors a range of six equities, convertible bonds and flexible management funds.The Spanish market has since September 2010 been handled by Philippe Louisadat, head of external distribution. The range on offer includes seven equities, bond, convertible and flexible management funds.The Netherlands and Luxembourg will be overseen by Valérie Kaliski, head of development for Benelux. She will soon be assisted by a local recruit, who will focus more particularly on the Dutch-speaking markets. The team will have a range of five equities, bond, convertible and flexible management funds to promote.

It was a family office in Hong Kong that provided the inspiration. That investor no longer has confidence in short-term US Treasury bonds, and now is seeking to invest in a vehicle with limited risk, says Don Amstad, director of international development for Asian bond products at Aberdeen. Hence the idea for a fund which would invest in Asian government bonds, with two particular characteristics: a short duration, in order to reduce risks related to inflation and tightening monetary policy, and exposure to currencies from Asia ex Japan, in order to benefit from the appreciation of Asian currencies. The Luxembourg-registered fund, launched in early March, Aberdeen Global – Asian Local Currency Short Duration Bond Fund (as the name is a little long, investors refer to it as the Aberdeen “shorty” fund), has already collected about USD127m in investments. On a visit to Paris on 19 May as part of a European road show, Amstad pointed out that the new “plain vanilla” short-term strategy, with limited credit and interest risks, and no equities risks, is attracting lively interest from investors seeking a less risky form of exposure to the theme of Asian growth. Amstad says the strategy is virtually unique on the market, and that Asian bonds represent an asset class in its own right, which deserves a core allocation in all international portfolios. Meanwhile, investors are continuing to underweight the region, and their exposures are all too often derived from bond indices which have limited exposure to Asia. “That’s a classic, but all too common mistake. Bond managers need to change their attitudes,” says Amstad, adding that there are many reasons to invest in Asia, such as the strength of economic growth, the solidity of balance sheets, and the size of the Asian economy, whose GDP now accounts for 27% to 28% of the global economy, and which will account for 49% by 2050. Amstad also argues that Asian currencies will inevitably rise, given the desire of governments in the region to stimulate domestic demand in order to depend on exports less, the need to combat inflation, and the “de-dollarisation” of the region. “The offshore renminbi market in Hong Kong is growing fast,” says Amstad; the portfolio of the “shorty” fund currently has 23% of its assets positioned on Chinese bonds. Amstad predicts that the Chinese currency will gain at least 5% this year. In addition to the arguments for Asia, Amstad points to Aberdeen’s expertise in the region. Assets under management in Asian bonds have increased from about USD6bn at the end of 2010 to about USD6.8bn as of the end of April. Of this total, closed funds account for slightly over USD3bn.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on 18 May announced that it has unanimously voted for stricter regulation of ratings agencies, in line with the Dodd-Franck law. However, the SEC proposal, which remains open for comments, does not include exhaustive treatment of conflicts of interest between ratings agencies and issuers.

State Street Global Advisors has announced the launch of eight new ETF funds on the XTF segment of Deutsche Börse, Das Investment reports. Of the new products, six ETFs cover emerging markets: SPDR MSCI Emerging Markets ETF, SPDR MSCI Emerging Markets Small Cap ETF, SPDR MSCI Asia ETF, SPDR MSCI Latin America ETF, SPDR MSCI EM Europe ETF and SPDR Barclays Capital Emerging Markets Local Bond ETF. Two other products are exposed to global markets: the ETF SPDR MSCI ACWI ETF and SPDR MSCI ACWI IMI ETF.

The former M&G star manager David Jane has launched the first fund from his new asset management boutique, the TM Darwin Multi Asset Fund, which will be a rival to the M&G Cautious Multi Asset fund, Investment Week reports. The fund will be managed by Thesis Unit Trust Management and advised by Darwin Property Investment Management, and will be dedicated to the UK retail market. The asset management firm is planning to launch a second fund in September, which will be a multi-asset class absolute return fund.

State Street Global Advisors annonce le lancement de huit nouveaux ETF sur le segment XTF de la Deutsche Börse, rapporte Das Investment. Six d’entre eux couvrent les marchés émergents (SPDR MSCI Emerging Markets ETF, SPDR MSCI Emerging Markets Small Cap ETF, SPDR MSCI Asia ETF, SPDR MSCI Latin America ETF, SPDR MSCI EM Europe ETF et SPDR Barclays Capital Emerging Markets Local Bond ETF) tandis que les deux derniers sont exposés aux marchés mondiaux (ETF SPDR MSCI ACWI ETF et SPDR MSCI ACWI IMI ETF).

Le groupe suisse Julius Bär a annoncé le 20 mai une réorganisation de ses activités de private banking en Suisse. Jusqu'à présent dirigées régionalement, elles seront désormais pilotées par Yves Robert-Charrue qui deviendra dès le 1er juillet 2011 le nouveau CEO Switzerland. Son poste actuel sera repris dès le 1er septembre par Hans F. Lauber, l’ancien Chief Investment Officer (CIO) du groupe Winterthur ainsi que fondateur et CEO d’Arecon Asset Management, à Zurich.La nouvelle stratégie a été lancée il y a 18 mois par la banque afin de promouvoir la croissance au niveau du marché suisse en réunissant, notamment, les seize régions couvertes par les activités de private banking dans le pays afin d’offrir une meilleure palette de produits et services à la clientèle.Par ailleurs, Venkatraman Anantha-Nageswaran, Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Julius Bär, quittera la banque fin juillet, mais reste disponible en tant que consultant externe.

Les dirigeants de la banque privée suisse Sarasin poussent leur actionnaire majoritaire, le néerlandais Rabobank, à vendre sa participation dans le cadre d’un rachat par le management de 3 milliards de francs suisses. «Je ne cache pas que nous adorerions faire un MBO», a déclaré Joachim Straehle, le directeur général de Sarasin, au Financial Times. Il précise qu’il n’y a eu pour le moment aucune négociation formelle, mais des discussions informelles.Dans le cadre d’un accord, Joachim Straehle indique qu’il pourrait trouver des financements du côté du Moyen-Orient de l’Asie et de la Suisse, ajoute le FT.

Rothschild & Cie Gestion, qui gère un encours de 22 milliards d’euros, vient d’obtenir les agréments pour la distribution de ses principaux fonds sur les marchés allemand, espagnol, néerlandais et luxembourgeois. Cela lui permet d’élargir sa présence européenne, qui se limitait jusqu’à présent à la Belgique et à la Suisse. Pour chaque pays, une stratégie différente a été définie. Ainsi, en Allemagne, la société de gestion du groupe Rothschild & Cie Banque s’appuie sur le spécialiste indépendant allemand de la distribution, max.xs financial services AG. Par le biais de ce partenariat, Rothschild & Cie Gestion propose aux intermédiaires et investisseurs institutionnels allemands une gamme de six fonds actions, obligations, convertibles et de gestion flexible. Le marché espagnol est quant à lui confié, depuis septembre 2010, à Philippe Louisadat, directeur, responsable de la distribution externe. La gamme proposée est composée de sept fonds actions, obligations, convertibles et de gestion flexible. Enfin, les Pays-Bas et le Luxembourg sont couverts par Valérie Kaliski, responsable du développement Benelux. Elle sera prochainement épaulée par une recrue locale qui sera chargée de couvrir plus particulièrement les marchés néerlandophones. L'équipe disposera d’une gamme de cinq fonds actions, obligations, convertibles et de gestion flexible.

La société de gestion américaine William Blair Investment Management vient de lancer un fonds dédié aux actions émergentes au format Ucits, rapporte Citywire.Piloté par Todd McClone et Jeff Urbina, le fonds domicilié au Luxembourg Emerging Leaders Growth Fund investira dans les titres de sociétés des marchés émergents disposant d’un potentiel de croissance et d’une rentabilité au-dessus de la moyenne. La société gère actuellement 2,5 milliards de dollars pour le compte d’institutions européennes, son offre de produits Ucits se montant désormais à cinq avec la dernière stratégie proposée.

Selon MoneyMarketing, Apollo et JP Morgan envisagent de lancer de nouveaux produits dans le segment de la performance absolue. Apollo n’a aucun véhicule de ce type dans sa gamme et JP Morgan n’en propose qu’un seul.