Entré en 2011 chez Deloitte où il avait été promu en 2009 associé et head of private client services pour Chypre, Theophanis Theophanous a été recruté comme managing director et ultra high net worth (UHNW) banker par Barclays Wealth.Il est subordonné à Stefanie Drews, head of UHNW & family offices, UK & EMEA. Basé à Londres, il sera également sous la responsabilité de Henry Fischel Bock, head du bureau de Londres pour l’international private bank, EMEA.Cette embauche vient compléter celle, récente, de Solomon Soquart, qui a quitté Citi Private Bank pour prendre la direction du strategic solutions group qui offre aux particuliers très haut de gamme (UHNW) l’accès aux produits et services de Barclays Capital et de Barclays Corporate.
Très peu de temps après avoir annoncé l’obtention de l’exclusivité de la distribution en Allemagne des fonds et mandats institutionnels du français Rothschild & Cie Gestion (lire notre article du 11 avril), max.xs a récidivé en signant un accord de coopération stratégique avec le gestionnaire d’actifs Kleinwort Benson Investors Dublin Ltd.Cet accord offre à Kleinwort Benson Investors un accès direct et complet aux CGPI et aux institutionnels allemands. Pour ce faire, le gestionnaire va solliciter l’agrément de commercialisation en Allemagne pour cinq produits phares. Il s’agira d’un fonds mondial d’actions à haut dividende, d’un fonds d’actions à haut dividende focalisé sur les marchés émergents, de deux fonds thématiques consacré l’un aux énergies alternatives et l’autre à l’eau ainsi que d’un fonds mondial «environnement».
Depuis le 1er avril, Alexander Raviol, associé de Lupus alpha, directeur du développement de produits dans le domaine de la performance absolue, responsable de la gestion des risques, ainsi que directeur de la qualité, est devenu le patron de l'équipe «performance absolue». Entré chez Lupus alpha en 2006, il remplace Ulf Becker, qui va quitter l’entreprise en septembre pour donner une nouvelle orientation à sa carrière, selon le communiqué du gestionnaire indépendant francfortois.Face à une demande croissante de la part des investisseurs institutionnels, dont le budget risques s’amenuise rapidement, Lupus alpha a décidé de renforcer son offre de produits de performance absolue. Elle passera ainsi ces prochains mois à 21 personnes, contre 15 actuellement.
Ulf Becker, le responsable des hedge funds de la société de gestion allemande Lupus Alpha, a quitté la structure, selon Financial News. Ses responsabilités ont été reprises par Alexander Raviol.
La société de gestion suédoise East Capital, spécialiste de l’Europe de l’Est et de la Russie, étoffe son équipe d’investissement dédiée à la Chine dans le sillage de l’acquisition l’an dernier d’AGI, une société de gestion également suédoise consacrée à l’Asie.Ainsi, en mars, le gestionnaire nordique a recruté Kristina Sandklef comme économiste macro pour l’Asie. Elle vient renforcer l’équipe d’investissement sur la Chine basée à Stockholm et dirigée par Gustav Rhenman, gérant principal des fonds East Capital China Fund et East Capital China East Asia Fund (les anciens fonds d’AGI). L’intéressée, qui parle couramment le mandarin, avait travaillé auparavant au siège des forces armées suédoises et chez Ericsson Consumer Lab en Chine et en Suède.East Capital prévoit par ailleurs de transférer deux analystes dédiés à la Chine à Shanghai en 2011. Le bureau, dirigé par Karine Hirn, co-fondatrice d’East Capital, a été créé en août 2010.
Selon les statistiques de l’association Inverco des sociétés de gestion, les fonds de pension individuels en Espagne (51,76 milliards d’euros répartis sur 1.258 produits) ont accusé en mars une perte moyenne de 0,25 % sur un an, bien que ceux en actions aient enregistré une performance de 4,47 %. Il est vrai que les fonds garantis ont subi une perte moyenne de 3,90 %...La performance annuelle pondérée de l’ensemble des fonds ressort à 0,23 % sur 5 ans, 1,31 % sur 10 ans et 3,55 % sur 15 ans.
Le Julius Baer Multibond - Emerging Markets Inflation Linked Bond Fund a été enregistré auprès de la CNMV, ce qui permet à Swiss & Global Asset Management de distribuer en Espagne ce fonds lancé le 17 décembre investi en obligations émergentes libellées en monnaies locales et indexées sur l’inflation (lire notre article du 25 janvier). A fin mars, ce produit coordonné affichait un encours de 167,8 millions d’euros.
Selon Funds People, Manuel San Salvador, qui a été pendant cinq ans (jusqu’en novembre 2010) administrateur délégué du Banco Urquijo (groupe Sabadell), a rejoint la banque d’investissement Lazard comme responsable pour l’Espagne de la nouvelle division européenne de gestion de fortune, de banque privée et de distribution de fonds.
Mencía Barreiros Juste, qui était depuis février 2007 directrice du marketing chez Schroders pour l’Espagne et le Portugal, rejoint le BBVA comme directrice du marketing et de la publicité pour les secteurs du wholesale banking et de la gestion d’actifs.
The Church of England, which has a portfolio of GBP5.3bn in assets managed by the Church Commissioners, has informed businesses in which it holds a stake that it will not be supporting pay scales in which high level directors receive bonuses four times larger than their annual salaries, the Financial Times reports. Ten major British companies are above this level currently.
Theophanis Thephanous, who in 2001 joined Deloitte, and in 2009 was promoted to head of private client services for Cyprus, has been recruited as managing director and ultra high net worth (UHNW) banker at Barclays Wealth.He will report to Stefanie Drews, head of UHNW & family offices, UK & EMEA. He will be based in London, and will also report to Henry Fischel Bock, head of the London office for international private banking, EMEA.The recruitment follows the recent appointment of Solomon Soquart, who left Citi Bank to become director of strategic solutions for the group, offering ultra-high net worth investors (UHNW) access to products and services from Barclays Capital and Barclays Corporate.
La Tribune reports that BNP Paribas has officially sold its stake of 33% in the Chinese management firm SYWG BNP Paribas AM to Mitsubishi UFG. The remaining 67% are held by Shenyin Wanguo Securities. The newspaper reports that the Chinese management firm’s market share remains below 1%.
La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild Banque has big plans for asset management in China. After an increase of the bank’s stake in the capital of Zhonghai Fund Management, from 15.4% to 25%, the bank has applied for an extension of its investment quots of USD600m from the Chinese authorities, La Tribune reports. It got USD100m in 2006. “We hope to get it this year,” Marc Samuel tells the newspaper.
Mirabaud has joined the Hedge Funds Standards Board (HFSB). The asset management firm has also signed up to the group’s principles for good practices in the hedge fund industry.
The Julius Baer Multibond – Emerging Markets Inflation Linked Bond Fund has been registered with the CNMV, which will allow Swiss & Global Asset Management to offer the fund, launched on 17 December, which invests in emerging markets inflation-linked bonds denominated in local currencies (see Newsmanagers of 25 January) for sale in Spain. As of the end of March, the UCITS III-compliant product had assets of EUR167.8bn.
As of the end of March, total assets under management in ETFs worldwide came to USD1.3394trn, compared with USD1.3674trn as of the end of February (see Newsmanagers of 10 March), and USD1.0819trn twelve months previously. As of the end of December, total assets stood at USD1.3313trn, according to statistics from BlackRock. The increase observed in first quarter came to 6.7%.Assets were managed in 2,605 ETF funds, listed 5,905 times, from 142 issuers, listed on 48 stock markets. One year earlier, there were 2,131 ETF funds listed 4,133 times, from 123 issuers, on 42 stock markets. In the first three months of the year, the number of ETFs increased by 5.9%, with 163 launmches and 18 mergers, compared with a 9.4% increase in the corresponding period of 2010 (193 launches and 10 closures).BlackRock says that seven providers have debuted on the ETF market in January-March, while 37 others are planning to launch their first ETFs in the near future.There are currently plans to launch 1,051 ETFs.Net subscriptions in first quarter for ETFs totalled USD41.4bn. Worldwide, iShares remains the largest provider, with 461 ETFs and assets of USD609.3bn, which corresponds to a market share of 43.5%. It is followed by State Street Global Advisors (118 ETFs, USD200.4bn and 14.3%), and Vanguard (66 products, USD164.7bn, and 11.8%). Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale) and db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank) are in fourth and fifth place, respectively, with USD54.5bn and USD51.8bn, and market shares of 3.9% and 3.7%.
In an internal document, UBS has described the operation of the Luxalpha Sicav, for which it was the depository, administrator and manager, an article in Les Echos reports. The newspaper says that the Operating Memorandum (OPMEM) for Luxalpha, the Sicav fund which had ties to the fraud scheme rigged up by Bernard Madoff, throws some light on the arrangements that upheld between the protagonists for the Luxembourg Sicav. The OPMEM clearly cites Bernard Madoff, who appears as a sub-depository of UBS Luxembourg.
From 1 April, Alexander Raviol, a partner at Lupus alpha, director of absolute return products development, head of risk management and director for quality control, has become head of the absolute return team. Raviol, who joined Lupus alpha in 2006, replaces Ulf Becker, who will be leaving the business in September for a change in career direction, according to a statement from the Frankfurt-based independent asset management firm.In response to rising demand from institutional investors, whose risk budgets are increasing rapidly, Lupus alpha has decided to add to its range of absolute return products. It will be growing the team to 21 people in the next few months, from 15 currently.
Ulf Becker, the head of hedge funds at the German management firm Lupus Alpha, has left the firm, Financial News reports. His responsibilities have been taken over by Alexander Raviol.
Very soon after announcing that it had obtained exclusive rights to distribute funds and institutional mandates for the French management firm Rothschild & Cie Gestion in Germany (see Newsmanagers of 11 April), max.xs announced that it had signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the asset management firm Kleinwort Benson Investors Dublin Ltd.The agreement gives Kleinwort Benson Investors direct and complete access to German IFAs and institutionals. To do this, the management firm will seek a sales license in Germany for five key products, which will include a global high dividend equities fund, a high dividend equities fund focused on emerging markets, two themed funds, one dedicated to alternative energies and one to water, and a global environment fund.
Asian Investor reports that BlackRock is in the process of building a team dedicated to strategy for the group in Asia-Pacific, and the creation of strategic initiatives to develop activities in the region. Terence Jen, who has been in charge of the new unit since August 2010, recruited Fiona Lau in Hong Kong in October, and has recently recruited Shuichi Adachi in Tokyo, both as vice presidents for corporate strategy.
East Capital, a Swedish asset manager specialised in Eastern Europe and Russia, has boosted its China investment team with the appointment of Kristina Sandklef as macro economist Asia, after the acquisition last year of a fund manager dedicated to Asia, AGI. Kristina Sandklef brings longstanding experience of working in China to East Capital’s existing five-strong dedicated China investment team based in Stockholm and headed by Gustav Rhenman, lead portfolio manager of the East Capital China Fund and the East Capital China East Asia Fund. East Capital will also relocate two China analysts to Shanghai in 2011 to enhance the China investment team’s local knowledge and insight. East Capital’s Shanghai office, headed by Karine Hirn, co-founder of East Capital, was established in August 2010.
Pimco is expanding its emerging market fixed income team through the hiring of three additional portfolio managers to enhance its expertise in emerging markets. Francesc Balcells, an executive vice president and portfolio manager, will join the firm in July. In addition to managing global emerging markets portfolios and contributing to the firm’s investment strategies, he will lead the local bonds and currency initiatives based in Munich. Francesc Balcells joins Pimco from Rogge Global Partners where he was head of emerging markets. In 2004-2005 he spent a year at Pimco on secondment from the International Monetary Fund where he worked earlier in his career. Isaac Meng, a senior vice president and portfolio manager, will join the firm in April, based in the Hong Kong office. He will specialize in macroeconomic and financial analysis of China and regional linkages integral to portfolio strategy. He was previously a director and senior financial economist at BNP Paribas, where he focused on China, including macroeconomics and equities.Javier Romo, a vice president and portfolio manager, will join the firm in May based in the Newport Beach office. He will focus on relative value analysis, trading and portfolio strategy for Latin American sovereign credit, foreign exchange, and local interest rate products. He was previously a vice president with Citigroup, where he focused on trading hard currency bonds and credit default swaps in Latin America.
According to reports in InvestmentNews, Ameriprise Financial is said to be about to acquire Grail Advisors, an asset management firm specialised in ETFs in the United States. That would make Ameriprise a major player in the ETF sector. The deal is said to be imminent.
The Global Wealth and Investment Management (GWIM) of BofA Merrill Lynch in first quarter 2011 posted one of its best quarterly results since its acquisition of Merrill Lynch.Net profits for the unit rose 22% in first quarter, to USD531bn, compared with USD431bn in first quarter 2010, on revenues up 11% year on year to USD4.5bn, largely due to a 6% rise in management commission revenues to USD1.5bn.Assets under management as of the end of March totalled USD664.4bn, compared with USD631.4bn one quarter earlier, but USD721bn at the end of first quarter 2010.At the end of first quarter 2011, the number of financial advisers at the firm totalled 15,695, while the total number of independent financial advisers totalled 17,201, both up 3% compared with first quarter 2010.
AllianceBernstein, the asset management company owned by Axa, has announced that Kurt Feuerman will join the firm’s equity investment management team as senior vice president and portfolio manager, US equities, on or shortly after May 31, 2011. Kurt Feuerman will join the firm from Caxton Associates, where he is currently a senior managing director and a US portfolio manager. On May 31, AllianceBernstein will also assumre the role of investment manager and trading advisor for several investment vehicles managed by Feuerman: Equity Growth, a long/short strategy, and Alpha Equity, a long-only strategy.
ProShares is launching ETFs providing magnified exposure to the high yield and investment grade corporate bond markets. ProShares Ultra High Yield seeks to provide 2x the daily performance of the Markit iBoxx $ Liquid High Yield Index, before fees and expenses. ProShares Ultra Investment Grade Corporate seeks to provide 2x the daily performance of the Markit iBoxx $ Liquid High Yield Index, before fees and expenses.
According to statistics from the Inverco association, management firms and individual pension funds in Spain (EUR51.76bn in assets in 1,258 products) in March saw average losses of 0.25% year on year, while equities products have earned returns of 4.47%. It is true that guaranteed funds have seen average losses of 3.90%. The weighted average for funds overall comes to 0.23% over 5 years, 1.31% over 10 years, and 3.55% over 15 years.
Mencia Berreiros Juste, who since February 2007 had been director of marketing for Spain and Portugal at Schroders, is joining BBVA as director of marketing and advertising for the wholesale banking and asset management sectors.
Funds People reports that Manuel San Salvador, who for five years, until November 2010, was deputy director of Banco Urquijo (Sabadell group), has joined the investment bank Lazard as head of the new European wealth management, private banking and fund distribution division for Spain.