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11/03/2011

Allianz Global Investors streamlines legal structures in Europe

In a continuation of its integration of its various entities in Europe (EUR400bn in assets) and a simplification of its structures, Allianz Global Investors (EUR1.5trn) on 10 March announced the absorption of Allianz Global Investors Deutschland GmbH, which includes all activities in the German market, into Allianz Global Investors Europe Holding GmbH by the end of the month.AllianzGI Product Solutions GmbH, which provides development and management of products, will be absorbed into Allianz Global Investors Europe GmbH, which will also take on Allianz Global Investors Advisory GmbH by the end of the year.Due to the increasing internationalisation of its activities and the forthcoming introduction of the UCITS IV directive, Allianz Global Investors has also decided to adopt a single title of «managing director» for all of its high-level directors in Europe. In addition, the board of directors of the German-registered management firm Allianz Global Investors Kapitalanlagegesellschaft has been increased to five members, in order to bring the affiliate into compliance with regulations.The list of managing directors at Allianz Global Investors Europe is as follows (EEC= European Executive Committee):Giovanni Bagiotti (EEC),Oliver Clasen,Jose Maria Concejo,Elizabeth Corley (EEC),Wolf Diederichs,James Dilworth (EEC),Franck Dixmier,Tomaso Giorgetti,Michel Haski (EEC),Martin Keil,Nina Klingspor;Claudia Kock,Michael Korn,Daniel Lehmann,Thomas Linker,Markus Lohmann,Fabrice Neyroumande,Michael Peters (EEC),Tobias Pross,Wolfgang Pütz (EEC),Livio Raimondi,Ernst Riegel,Nick Smithand Thomas Wiesemann (EEC).The board of directors at Allianz Global Investors KAG is composed of:James Dilworth (chairman)Andrew Bosomworth,Michael Hartmann,Daniel Lehmannand Andreas Utermann.
11/03/2011

Clariden Leu gets a new CEO

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Clariden Leu on 10 March announced the appointment of Olivier Jaquet, doctor of law, as CEO with immediate effect, specialised in tax and insurance law. The former CEO, Hans Nützi, will become senior advisor to the chairman of the board of directors at Clariden Leu, Peter Eckert, former CEO for insurance operations at the Zurich group. Eckert has spoken explicitly of a new growth phase, with a concentration on selected regions and client segments. Last year, assets under management at Clariden Leu fell from CHF103bn to CHF96bn.Jaquet began his career at SBS before joining Credit Suisse in 1999. Jaquet has served in various management roles in private banking and Winterthur Assurances, which was then owned by Credit Suisse. He was appointed CEO of the Credit Suisse trust in 2006. The Credit Suisse affiliate, founded in 1910, is active in the area of inheritance planning, and manages over USD100bn in assets.
11/03/2011

Mirabaud recruits a head for its alternative investment marketing unit

Bertrand Bricheux is joining Mirabaud to boost the marketing of alternative investments. He has been appointed head of hedge funds marketing and business development, with the task of seeing through the development strategy for funds of hedge funds and strengthening institutional distribution of the full Mirabaud product offering.As a specialist in the world of alternatives, Bertrand Bricheux has worked in hedge fund and fund of hedge fund marketing and distribution for a range of institutional investors, including Citigroup, UBP and Allianz Hedge Fund Partners, where he was a founding partner.
11/03/2011

FRR has earned 3% returns since 2004

The French pension fund Fonds de réserve pour les retraites (FRR)'s annualised performance net of expenses (determined as at 31st December 2010) since it commenced investment operations in June 2004 is +3%1. The Fund’s performance over the year 2010 is +4.2%.As at 31 December 2010, the FRR’s assets totalled 37 Bn euros : - performance assets represented 38.8% of net assets (of which 32.3% equities, 3.2% commodities, 2.1% real estate and 1.2% emerging markets debts); - liability hedging assets accounted for 61.2% of net assets. Pension reforms in 2010 clarified the FRR’s liabilities which now entail 14 annual payments of 2.1 billion euros to the Caisse d’amortissement de la dette sociale –CADES– (2011 to 2024) and confirmed the lump sum contribution owed by CNIEG to the CNAV in 2020. The FRR therefore adopted its strategic allocation plan on 13 December 2010 with a view to meeting its liabilities and achieving as high as possible a return on its investments by 2024. The search for performance will be driven by its assets (equities and bonds of developed and emerging economies, high yield bonds, real estate and commodities) which represent 40% of its portfolio (37.5 Bn euros) as at the beginning of March 2011.
11/03/2011

RidgeWorth to shutter three 130/30 funds

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Mutual Fund Wire reports that the board of trustees at RidgeWorth Funds last week granted its approval for the liquidation of three 130/30 funds. They are the RidgeWorth International Equity 130/30 fund (USD133.15m), Real Estate 130/30 (USD12.3m), and US Equity 130/30 (USD14.1m).
11/03/2011

GAM launches a “catbonds” fund

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } GAM has announced the launch of the GAM FCM Catastrophe Bond Fund, which offers investors a way to gain from natural disasters such as earthquakes or tornadoes. The investment firm has formed a partnership with Fermat Capital Management, a specialist in catbonds. Minimal subscription for the fund is USD25,000.
11/03/2011

Dexia AM launches Dexia Global Opportunities

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Dexia Asset Management has announced the launch of Dexia Global Opportunities, its 25th UCITS III-compliant hedge fund, with the objective of outperforming the Eonia over a recommended investment period of 3 years, with average volatility of about 6%. The mutual fund will rely on arbitrage strategies (long/short) and directional strategies (either long or short), investing in various asset classes (equities, fixed income, credit, currencies, commodities), either in European or international financial markets.
11/03/2011

Pension fund and BNY Mellon in disagreement

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to documents obtained by the Wall Street Journal under the California Public Records Act, the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association pension fund is accusing BNY Mellon, its custodian, of failing in its fiduciary duty by making money on currency transactions initiated to facilitate the fund’s investments in foreign securities. The bank contests the conclusion, and claims that it was acting as a counterparty for the fund and its managers.
11/03/2011

AMF issues a warning over activities of Altanus

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The French financial market watchdog, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), issued a warning on 10 March over the activities of the company Altanus Limited, whose headquarters are located in the Netherlands, and its websites, swissmoneyreport.net and smr-news.com.The firm sends faxes to machines at businesses, as well as the phone numbers of private individuals, entitled “Swiss Money Report,” which contain highly optimistic views of the financial situation of companies listed on foreign markets (with limited market capitalisation), and predicting potential returns on very large investments, with predictions that share prices will rise by more than 50% in the short term, and over 200% in the mid-term.The AMF has warned investors that “such potential gains also presuppose significant potential losses, which may be accompanies by very high price volatility.” The AMF also states that the Swiss Money Report mentions a conflict of interest, as the publishers of the Swiss Money Report reserve the right to buy or sell shares in the businesses contained in the reports at any time. As a result, “the AMF recommends a high level of caution on the part of investors, and in general, invites the public to examine suggested investments which promise high returns, and not to pass these on to others in any form.”
11/03/2011

Investment firms increase spending on lobbying

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } A wave of regulation now washing over the asset management industry in the wake of the financial crisis is leading major players in the United States, who are generally quiet in political matters, to make their voices heard, the Wall Street Journal reports. OpenSecrets.org reports that BlackRock spent nearly USD1.7bn on lobbying activities in 2010, compared with USD390,000 in 2009, and nothing in 2006. Fidelity Investments has increased its spending from 21% last year to USD3.5m. Legg Mason, for its part, spent USD1.07m last year, compared with USD580,000 in 2009. Vanguard Group spent USD1.2m last year, which remains stable compared with 2009, but more than double its lobbying spending in 2006.
11/03/2011

Parworld merges sub-funds

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } A reshuffle of the product offerings from BNP Paribas is continuing, Bluerating reports. This time, sub-funds of the Parworld Sicav will be involved in mergers.
11/03/2011

Pictet methodically develops its range of UCITS-compliant hedge funds

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The new range of UCITS-compliant hedge funds from Pictet will soon include a third product, with the release of the Callisto fund of funds (CTA, global macro and long/short equity), which received a license from the CSSF on 25 February (the fund is not yet licensed for sale in Switzerland or France). The fund (see Newsmanagers of 21 January) will be managed by Cristina Bangoli Mandic, who belongs to the team at Pictet Alternative Investments (PAI), led by Nicolas Campiche.Meanwhile, the absolute return market neutral fund specialised in China, Pictet Mandarin, launched on 1 October (see Newsmanagers of 27 September 2010 and 19 January 2011) has reached USD174m in assets, and has seen its first subscriptions from French institutional investors.The first product in the series, Corto Europe, launched on 12 April 2010 (see Newsmanagers of 7 April), now has EUR292m in assets, slightly less than one third of it sourced in France. One of the managers of the fund, Philippe Sarreau, initially estimated that the capacity of the fund would be about EUR250m. However, as the strategy’s limit is now about EUR700m, as the eligible investment universe has proven larger than expected, there is still about EUR240m in capacity available. The “model” fund registered in the Cayman Islands, Corto European (EUR171m), has seen much more limited subscriptions than its younger sibling which complies with UCITS III.
11/03/2011

Profits down at Azimut

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In 2010, the Italian management firm Azimut Holding earned consolidated net profits of EUR84.3m, down from the EUR118.2bn in profits it reported for 2009. Consolidated earnings, however, were up to EUR358.4m from EUR347.4m the previous year.
11/03/2011

Union Investment Real Estate plans to recruit for the French market

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } At the MIPIM conference in Cannes, Karl-Joseph Hermanns-Engel, a member of the executive board at Union Investment Real Estate (UIRE), announced on 10 March that the opening of an office in France at the beginning of this year (with the acquisition of Euragone, see Newsmanagers of 10 January) will allow the German real estate fund management firm easier access to regional markets such as Lyon, Lille and Marseilles, and thus to smaller properties (valued between EUR15m and EUR80m), which it is seeking for the portfolios of its institutional funds. In 2010, UIRE made EUR2.6bn in transactions, including 24 acquisitions for EUR1.6bn, and 17 sales (noticeably in Germany, London, Paris and Seoul), for EUR1bn. In 2011, the German management firm is planning to invest EUR1bn to EUR1.5bn, while also making sales, particularly in core European markets.
11/03/2011

Munich Re increases exposure to equities

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The 2010 annual report from Munich Re states that of an investment portfolio of EUR196bn as of the end of December, the proportion invested in bonds was down to 57.7% from 60% one year previously, while stocks, shares in equities funds and stakes in businesses totalled 4%, or 4.4% including derivatives, compared with 2.8% one year previously. Allocations to land and real estate, for their part, were down to 2.9% from 3%.
11/03/2011

Aviva Investors team scales up in Frankfurt

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As a part of the European expansion of Aviva Investors, which will soon involve the appointment of members of an ad-hoc executive committee to assist Jean-François Boulier, CEO of Aviva Investors Europe (see Newsmanagers of 10 March), the asset management firm is adding to its team in Germany.In Frankfurt, Aviva Investors already has two sales staff and one person for client service, and two real estate specialists. This year, two more team members will be recruited, one for institutional clients and one for distribution.The recruitment of one person in Sweden, from SEB, has also been announced. There are also plans to recruit in Denmark, and one person in the Netherlands in early June.
11/03/2011

Pioneer recruits a big name from Allianz Global Investors Europe

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of 1 April, Oliver Bilal, who was European head of institutional business development & consultant relations at Allianz Global Investors Europe GmbH, will be joining Pioneer Investments Germany as head of institutional distribution and wholesale. He will report to Evi Vogl, chairwoman of the executive board at Pioneer Investments Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH.
11/03/2011

Aviva Investors obtains a license in Taiwan

Aviva Investors has announced that it has received a Securities Investment Consulting Enterprise (SICE) licence for Taiwan from the Financial Supervisory Commission. The licence allows the asset manager to open its own subsidiary and offer a broad range of products in Taiwan to both retail and institutional clients. Since entering Taiwan market in 2008, the licence means that Aviva Investors will have an official presence in Taiwan that allows it to provide on the ground services to local distributors and clients. Aviva Investors has two segregated mandates - Global High Yield and Emerging Market Bonds - and 13 registered SICAV funds in Taiwan.Aviva Investors also recently received its Capital Markets Services licence in Fund Management for Singapore.
11/03/2011

Assets up at Legg Mason and Invesco

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Legg Mason has announced that its assets as of the end of February totalled USD672.7bn, compared with USD671.8bn two months earlier. Equities assets totalled USD188.7bn, compared with USD185.6bn at the end of January, and USD184.2bn at the end of December, while bond assets totalled Usd353.4bn, compared with USD352.9bn and USD355.8bn, respectively. Money market funds, meanwhile, were down to USD130.6bn, compared with USD133.3bn at the end of January, and USD131.8bn as of the end of December.The fund manager explains that its assets were set back by the exit of an Asian equities manager, which reduced the total by about USD2.2bn.At Invesco, total assets as of 28 February totalled USD641.1bn, compared with USD623.1bn one month earlier, and USD616.6bn as of the end of December, while equities products accounted for USD304bn, compared with USD300bn at the end of January, and USD294.1bn two months earlier. Assets in UIT ETF and passive funds totalled USD88.7bn, compared with USD85.5bn and USD80.8bn, respectively.February’s increases are due to market appreciation, institutional investment subscriptions, and appreciation of other currencies against the US dollar.
11/03/2011

Russell recruits a head of defined contribution from AllianceBernstein

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Richard Davies, senior managing director, defined contribution & sub-advisory relationships at AllianceBernstein, will be joining Russell Investments on 1 June as managing director, defined contribution. He will become the new head of Russell’s activities in the area of defined contributions, which as of the end of December represented USD67bn in advisory assets and USD20bn in assets under management worldwide.
11/03/2011

Franklin Templeton appoints a head of sales to RFAs

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Franklin Templeton has announced the appointment of Pierre Caramazza as head of sales to Registered Financial Advisers in the United States. Caramazza has several years of experience at the firm, most recently as head of the Fixed Income Product Management division.
11/03/2011

Former McKinsey partner testifies in Galleon trial

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Anil Kumar, a former partner at McKinsey, has testified in the trial of Raj Rajaratnam, the founder of Galleon, that he shared confidential client information with Rajaratnam, because he felt indebted due to personally receiving USD500,000 per year in consulting fees from him, the Financial Times reports. He told of how Rajaratnam advised him to open a Swiss bank account and an offshore account invested with Galleon, using the name of his housekeeper in order to avoid detection.
11/03/2011

Swedish investors pull out of equities funds in February

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In February, equities funds on sale in Sweden had net outflows of SEK9.3bn (about EUR1bn), according to the most recent statistics from the Swedish investment fund association (Fondbolagens Förening), which explains that the trend is due to geopolitical turmoil. The redemptions largely affected funds investing in Swedish equities (-SEK5.7bn). Bond funds also saw SEK2bn in outflows. Meanwhile, balanced funds had net inflows of SEK7bn, and money market funds took on SEK4.9bn. In February, total net sales of funds amounted to SEK 1.4 billion. As of the end of February, assets in funds on sale in Sweden totalled SEK1.92trn (EUR218bn), of which SEK1.144trn are still invested in equities funds.
11/03/2011

Deutsche Börse pourrait se laisser diluer au sein de Direct Edge

L’opérateur de la Bourse de Francfort pourrait solliciter des investisseurs bancaires afin de laisser diluer sa participation au capital de la plate-forme américaine. Cela afin d’atténuer les critiques potentielles des autorités de la concurrence aux Etats-Unis dans le cadre du projet de fusion entre Deutsche Börse et Nyse Euronext.
11/03/2011

Le FRR s’adapte à son nouveau modèle

Face à ses engagements envers la Cades, le fonds articule sa stratégie autour de deux poches, de couverture (60% de l’actif net) et de performance.

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