En 2010, Amundi a enregistré des souscriptions nettes de 1,2 milliard d’euros (y compris les activités de gestion d’actifs de la BFT), annonce le groupe Crédit Agricole à l’occasion de la publication de ses résultats annuels. Ce niveau s’explique notamment par des rachats nets de 13,1 milliards d’euros sur les actifs monétaires. Hors monétaire, la collecte s’élève à 14,3 milliards d’euros, tirée notamment par les fonds obligataires et les fonds garantis. «La résistance de la collecte s’accompagne du renforcement des positions sur la clientèle institutionnelle, notamment à l’international et la montée en puissance des ETF dont les encours s’établissent à 5,3 milliards d’euros à fin décembre 2010", souligne la banque verte. Les encours globaux progressent ainsi sur l’année de 3,2 % pour atteindre 710,3 milliards d’euros au 31 décembre 2010. A périmètre comparable, le produit net bancaire de la gestion d’actifs progresse de 6,3 % sur l’année pour s’établir à 1.517 millions d’euros (dont 356 millions d’euros au quatrième trimestre 2010). Hors coûts de restructuration et à périmètre comparable, les charges enregistrent une baisse de 1,5 % ce qui permet au résultat brut d’exploitation de progresser de 17,4 % sur un an à 691 millions d’euros (dont 157 millions d’euros au quatrième trimestre 2010). Hors charges de restructuration, le coefficient d’exploitation s’améliore de 4,3 points entre 2009 et 2010 pour s’établir à 54,4 % pour l’année 2010.Après la prise en compte de 81 millions d’euros de coûts de restructuration sur l’année 2010, dont 10 millions au quatrième trimestre, le résultat net du métier gestion d’actifs ressort à 406 millions d’euros. En part du Groupe, il s’élève à près de 299 millions d’euros sur l’année 2010 (+ 3,2 % sur un an à périmètre comparable), dont 73 millions d’euros au quatrième trimestre 2010. Les encours gérés de la totalité du pôle gestion d’actifs, assurances et banque privée dont Amundi fait partie s’élèvent à 1 057 milliards d’euros. Les encours gérés progressent de 26,3 % sur un an et de 5,0 % à périmètre comparable, c’est-à-dire en intégrant en 2009 les encours SGAM.

Legg Mason vient de signer un accord de distribution avec Allfunds en vertu duquel trois de ses fonds seront mis à la disposition du marché italien, rapporte Bluerating. Il s’agit du Legg Mason Permal Global Absolute Fund, du Legg Mason Western Asset Global Multi Strategy Fund et du Legg Mason Capital Management Opportunity Fund.

Le destin de Pioneer Investments, la société de gestion du groupe UniCredit, n’a pas encore été scellé et toutes les hypothèses restent ouvertes, indique Il Sole – 24 Ore. Un rapprochement italien avec Eurizon (Intesa Sanpaolo) est encore possible, mais dans le même temps le processus de sélection d’un partenaire industriel parmi les trois candidats étrangers (Amundi, Natixis et Resolution) se poursuit. Federico Ghizzoni, administrateur délégué d’UniCredit, a déclaré que les offres définitives devraient être présentées d’ici fin mars.

A fin janvier, l’encours d’Eaton Vance se situait à 191,74 milliards de dollars contre 185,24 milliards fin octobre et 161,58 milliards un an auparavant, dont 114,72 milliards contre respectivement 107,5 milliards et 98,46 milliards pour les produits actions.La hausse de 30,18 milliards de dollars sur un an des actifs sous gestion est attribuable à hauteur de 15,84 milliards de dollars à la hausse des marchés.Le bénéfice net du trimestre au 31 janvier est ressorti pour sa part à 59,28 millions de dollars contre 60,22 millions pour août-octobre et 51,54 millions pour la période correspondante de 2009/2010.

Les actifs des fonds d’investissement se sont accrus de 13,7% l’an dernier en Europe pour totaliser 8.025 milliards d’euros contre 7.061 milliards d’euros en 2009, selon les statistiques communiquées par l’Association européenne de la gestion d’actifs (Efama). Après un pic de 8.200 milliards d’euros en juin 2007, les actifs avaient chuté à environ 6.000 milliards d’euros début 2009 avant de se redresser par la suite.La collecte nette des fonds coordonnés s’est élevée à 166 milliards d’euros, contre 150 milliards d’euros l’année précédente. Cette évolution s’est produite malgré une décollecte nette de 126 milliards d’euros du côté des fonds monétaires. Les fonds dédiés ont drainé un montant record de 149 milliards d’euros tandis que les fonds immobiliers ont recueilli 5 milliards d’euros. Au total, la collecte nette des fonds Ucits et non-Ucits a représenté 335 milliards d’eruos en 2010, contre 190 milliards d’euros en 2009.La collecte nette des fonds coordonnés à long terme (c’est-à-dire sans tenir compte des fonds monétaires) a atteint l’an dernier 292 milliards d’euros contre 192 milliards d’euros en 2009.La collecte nette des fonds domiciliés au Luxembourg et en Irlande s’est élevée l’an dernier à 215 milliards d’euros, soit 50 milliards d’euros de plus que la collecte nette des fonds Ucits dans leur ensemble. La part de marché du Luxembourg et de l’Irlande dans le secteur des fonds coordonnés s’est ainsi accrue à 44,1% A noter que le Luxembourg et l’Irlande ont aussi capté 46% de la collecte nette dans les fonds dédiés.

Depuis le 23 février, HSBC Global Asset Management (Deutschland) commercialise en Allemagne deux fonds obligataires spécialistes des marchés émergents, des compartiments de la sicav luxembourgeoise HSBC Global Investment Funds (GIF).Il s’agit du HSBC GIF Global Emerging Markets Investment Grade Bond, disponible en version distribution (LU0563701886) et capitalisation (LU0563701886). Ce produit investit en obligations d’Etat et en obligations d’entreprises. L’indice de référence est composé à 50 % du JP Morgan GBI-Emerging Markets Global Diversified Investment Grade Index et à 50 % du JP Morgan EMBI Global Investment Grade Index.L’autre produit est le HSBC GIF Global Emerging Markets Corporate Debt, qui existe en parts de distribution (LU0404503517) ou de capitalisation (LU0404503350). Le portefeuille sera investi en obligations d’entreprises notées en catégorie d’investissement (investment grade) ou non et l’indice de référence est le JP Morgan Corporate Emerging Markets Bond Index - Diversified.Les deux fonds sont gérés par l'équipe de Guillermo Osses, head of emerging markets debt portfolio management.

RAB Capital va lancer un nouveau Ucits en utilisant la plate-forme SEB Prime Solutions de SEB Enskilda créée en septembre 2010. Le nouveau fonds réplique le long/short actions européennes Polaris Prime Europe de RAB. La société de gestion espère lever 100 millions d’euros pour ce produit.

André van den Heuvel, managing director de BlackRock, responsable des activités institutionnelles dans les pays du Benelux, va rejoindre ING Investment Management le 1er mai prochain en qualité de membre du management board responsable des activités de vente et de marketing pour l’ensemble de l’Europe.Il remplace à ce poste Michel van Elk qui, depuis novembre 2009, assumait ces fonctions parallèlement à ses responsabilités en tant que CEO d’ING IM Europe.

En 2010, Henderson a vu son bénéfice sous-jacent avant impôts augmenter de 37 % à 100,7 millions de livres, contre 73,7 millions en 2009, sur des revenus en hausse de 35 % à 487,9 millions de livres.Ses encours sur l’année ont progressé de 6 % à 61,6 milliards de livres, grâce à un effet marché et change positif de 5,1 milliards de livres. La société a en revanche accusé des rachats nets de 1,4 milliard de livres. Elle souligne néanmoins avoir enregistré des souscriptions nettes de 2 milliards de livres sur des produits fortement margés.Henderson affiche une marge d’exploitation de 30 %, en hausse de 9 % en raison de la hausse des marchés, des souscriptions sur les produits fortement margés, des bénéfices de l’acquisition de New Star et de la poursuite de la maîtrise des coûts.Dans son rapport 2010, Henderson évoque son projet d’acquisition de Gartmore, qui vient elle aussi de publier ses résultats. Cette dernière fait état de rachats nets de 7,2 milliards de livres sur 2010. Une hémorragie qu’elle peine à endiguer puisque en janvier elle enregistre des rachats nets de 390 millions de livres et de 402 millions au 18 février. Ses encours reculent ainsi de 22,2 milliards de livres en 2009 à 17,2 milliards en 2009.

Harewood Solutions (BNP Paribas CIB) a lancé le 22 février un fonds de rendement à destination des investisseurs britanniques, le IFSL Harewood US Enhanced Income Fund, structuré come un Oeic, rapporte Hedgeweek.Le fonds se propose de dégager une performance annuelle de 8% associée à une volatilité limitée par rapport à l’indice S&P Total Return. Les frais d’entrée ont été fixés à 1% maximum et la commission de gestion est de 0,75% par an.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Since 23 February, HSBC Global Asset Management (Deutschland) has been offering two bond funds specialised in emerging markets in Germany, both sub-funds of the Luxembourg Sicav HSBC Global Investment Funds (GIF).The funds are the HSBC GIF Global Emerging Markets Investment Grade Bond, available in a distribution (LU0563701886) and a capitalisation (LU0563701886) version. The product invests in government and corporate bonds. The benchmark index is composed 50% of the JP Morgan GBI-Emerging Markets Global Diversified Investment Grade Index, and 50% of the JP Morgan EMBI Global Investment Grade Index.The other product is the HSBC GIF Global Emerging Markets Corporate Debt fund, which exists in distribution (LU0404503517) and capitalisation (LU0404503350) shares. The portfolio will be invested in corporate bonds of investment grade or lower, and the benchmark index is the JP Morgan Corporate Emerging Markets Bond Index – Diversified.

RAB Capital is going to launch a new UCITS fund using SEB Enskilda’s SEB Prime Solutions. The fund replicates the established Polaris Prime Europe long/short equity fund. RAB expects to raise EUR100 million for the UCITS fund.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } SwissLife Banque Privée has announced the recruitment of three private bankers, Igor Boisson de Chazournes, Olivier de La Clergerie and Sabine Gressier, who will be responsible for assisting banking clients with the optimisation of their private and professional assets. They will report to Daniel Resta, director for private clients.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Swiss financial services provider Ceros Holding AG, of Lucerne, has acquired a majority stake in the Turkish brokerage firm Pozitif Menkul Degerler AS of Istanbul from Bank Pozitif AS, as of 22 February 2011. Pozitif Menkul Degerler offers securities services such as brokerage, asset management and research, Fonds Professionell reports.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }a:link { } GFM has launched Globalfunddata, a free platform offering quantitative data on over 34,000 funds (hedge funds, long-only funds, ETFs, and others). The platform, at www.globalfunddata.com, includes information on the strategy, manager, ISIN code, date of launch, fees, and more for each fund.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British commodities specialist ETF Securities is hoping to develop its activities in Asia this year, Asian Investor reports. The new head of Asian activities at ETF Securities, Nigel Phelan, would like to offer ETCs in Singapore and Hong Kong initially, followed by Shanghai. Phelan, currently based in Sydney, is planning to move to Hong Kong in second half 2011.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Euro securities department of Natixis has become the first client to use the new hedge fund services available on the FundSettle platform from Euroclear Bank, Hedgeweek reports. FundSettle offers order routing, settlement and clearance, and custody for about 300 fund administrators active in hedge funds.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } François Pérol, chairman of Natixis SA, on 23 February confirmed at a press conference that the group is interested in acquiring Pioneer, the asset management affiliate of UniCredit SpA, but declined to comment on the ongoing negotiations with the Italian bank.At a press conference in Milan, UniCredit announced that final bids for the affiliate should be submitted by the end of March.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Legg Mason has signed a distribution agreement with Allfunds, by which three of its funds will be made available on the Italian market, Bluerating reports. The funds are the Legg Mason Permal Global Absolute Fund, the Legg Mason Western Asset Global Multi Strategy Fund, and the Legg Mason Capital Management Opportunity Fund.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Hamburg-based developer ECE in January appointed Bärbel Schomberg, founder of the consulting firm Schomberg & Co (see Newsmanagers of 25 June 2010) as a member of its sustainable development council.The Hamburg firm is the first German real estate company to set up a board composed of outside independent experts in this area.Schomberg resigned for “personal reasons” from her positions as chairman of the executive board at Aberdeen Immobilien KAG and head of Continental Europe at Aberdeen Property Investors (see Newsmanagers of 2 March 2010), which some people connected with the serious troubles encountered by the DEGI funds.ECE, with the Technical University (TU) of Karlsruhe, has published a guide to sustainable shopping centres developed by ECE, and has already received a certification from Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen (DGNB), a German sustainable construction institute.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Thomas Rüschen, global head of asset finance & leasing (AFL) in the corporate & investment banking division of Deutsche Bank, will take over on 1 March as global director of key account management and director of distribution for Europe. In addition, given his experience in the area of assets with limited liquidity, he will also become head of DWS Access.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of the end of 2010, assets under management at MLP totalled a record EUR19.8bn, compared with EUR19.3bn as of the end of September, EUR12.8bn as of the end of 2009, and EUR11.4bn as of the end of 2008.The financial services provider also announced on 23 February that for the year 2010, it earned net profits of EUR34.1m for ongoing activities, compared with EUR24.2m the previous year, and EUR24.6m for 2008.Operating revenues fell by 2%, to EUR522.6m from EUR532.1m, but revenues from asset and wealth management increased 10%, to EUR78.5m, This sector of activities now represents 17% of the firm’s EUR472.2m in commission revenues, largely due to the majority holding in Feri.The board is planning to offer a dividend for 2010 up 20%, to EUR30 cents per share (from 25 cents). If the general shareholders’ meeting approves the recommendation, the dividend payout will total EUR32.4m, up from EUR27m, equivalent to 95% of net profits from ongoing operations.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } After a two year pause, Goldman Sachs AM is planning to increase its staff in India and to offer new products during the year, Asian Investor reports. GSAM (India) currently has a team of eight people in Mumbai, for research, deontology and administration. GSAM received an operating license for the Indian market in September 2008, and then built a team of 20 people, which has been subject to reductions since February 2009. Despite the decline in assets under management observed in the past 12 months, the head of Indian activities, Prashant Khemka, says the Indian market has considerable potential.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In 2010, Henderson saw an increase in its underlying pre-tax profits of 37%, to GBP100.7m, compared with GBP73.7m in 2009, on earnings up 35% to GBP485.9m. Assets increased over the year by 6%, to GBP61.6bn, due to positive market and currency effects of GBP5.1bn. However, the firm saw net redemptinos of GBP1.4bn. It says that it has nonetheless posted net subscriptions of GBP2bn to high-margin products. Henderson has a profit margin of 30%, up 9%, due to rising markets, subscriptions to high-margin profits, gains on the acquisition of New Star, and continued cost reduction measures. In its 2010 report, Henderson points to its ongoing acquisition of Gartmore, which has also recently published its results. Gartmore reports net redemptions of GBP7.2bn in 2010; it is having difficulty in stemming these outflows, as in January the firm saw net redemptions of GBP390m, and GBP402m to 18 February. Assets are down from GBP22.2bn in 2009 to GBP17.2bn in 2010.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Harewood Solutions (BNP Paribas CIB) on 22 February launched an income fund aimed at British investors, the IFSL Harewood US Enhanced Income Fund, which is structured as an OEIC vehicle, Hedgeweek reports. The fund aims to earn annual returns of 8% with lower volatility than the S&P Total Return index. Front-end fee is set at a maximum of 1%, and management commission is 0.75% per year.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The 2010 fiscal year brought an operating profit in Germany for Vontobel, the firm’s CEO, Herbert Scheidt, has announced. Large agreed investments in the group’s “second domestic market” have, however, not yet entirely recuperated, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports.In Germany, where the firm has recently opened branch offices in Frankfurt and Cologne, Vontobel manages over CHF1bn for retail clients.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } André van den Heuvel, managing director of BlackRock, head of institutional activities in Benelux, will join ING Investment Management on 1 May as a member of the management board, in charge of sales and marketing activities for Europe. In this position he replaces Michel van Elk, who since November 2009 has been serving in this role in addition to his reponsibilities as CEO of ING IM Europe.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of 31 December, assets under management at Banque Sarasin exceeded the objective of CHF100bn, set in 2006, with a total of CHF103.4bn, compared with CHF93.7bn in 2009, and CHF69.7bn in 2008. CHF13.4bn of the increase is due to net subscriptions, compared with CHF12.5bn in 2009. As in the previous year, (see Newsmanagers of 3 March 2010), Sarasin exceeded its goal for increase by net subscriptions, with a total of 14% over a goal of 10% for 2010. The Swiss affiliate of Rabobank also confirms that its goal for 2015 is assets under management of CHF150bn.As of 31 December 2010, total assets under management with a sustainable approach at the Sarasin group came to CHF13.4bn. The proportion these assets represent of total mandates managed by the Sarasin group (including internal investment funds) as of this date came to 30%.However, the cost-income ratio deteriorated slightly, to 77.6%, compared with 77.1%, which did not prevent consolidated net profits from increasing to CHF124.5m, from an adjusted level fo CHF121.7m (i.e. not including a depreciation for the firm’s stake in NZB Holding) in 2009, when declared profits totalled CHF51.5m.Net operating income for the private banking division rose to CHF94.5m from CHF31.2m, due to increases in assets, while operating income for the asset management, products & sales division increased 20%, to CHF60m. However, income for the trading & family offices division were penalised by declining profits from proprietary trading and cash transactions.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Assets in investment funds increased 13.7% last year in Europe, to total EUR8.025trn, compared with EUR7.061trn in 2009, according to statistics from the European fund and asset management association (EFAMA). Assets fell from a peak of EUR8.2trn in 2007, to about EUR6trn in early 2009, and have since recovered.Net inflows to UCITS funds totalled EUR166bn, compared with EUR150bn the previous year. This development came despite net outflows of EUR126bn from money market funds. Dedicated funds attracted a record EUR149bn, while real estate funds brought in EUR5bn. In total, net inflows to UCITS and non-UCITS funds totalled EUR335bn in 2010, compared with EUR190bn in 2009.Net inflows to long-term UCITS funds (not including money market funds) last year totalled EUR292bn, compared with EUR192bn in 2009.Net inflows to funds domiciled in Luxembourg and Ireland last year totalled EUR215bn, EUR50bn more than net inflows to UCITS funds overall. The market share for Luxembourg and Ireland in UCITS funds increased to 44.1%. Luxembourg and Ireland also captured 46% of net inflows to dedicated funds.

Pictet Asset Management, the institutional asset management arm of the Swiss private bank Pictet & Cie, has announced the appointment of Roman Gaiser as head of high yield and Andres Sanchez Balcazar as co-head of the global and regional bond team.Roman Gaiser was previously at Threadneedle Asset Management where he was senior portfolio manager and co-managed the EUR 3 billion Threadneedle European High Yield Bond franchise. He will join existing portfolio managers Alexander Baskov and Prashant Agarwal in the PAM Fixed Income team in April 2011.Andres Sanchez Balcazar joins from Western Asset Management (Legg Mason) where he was one of the senior portfolio managers responsible for global macro, asset and currency allocation. He will join in March 2011 as co-head of the global and regional bond team. The global and regional bond team currently manage CHF6bn of assets.PAM currently manages some CHF57bn of fixed income and money market assets.