On 3 September, Credit Suisse registered the Luxembourg fund CS ETF (Lux), with three sub-funds, in Spain. The sub-funds are MSCI Emerging Markets, MSCI EMU Large Cap, and MSCI EMU Mid Cap.

The Finles/IEX Hollandse Hedgefund Index of Dutch hedge funds finished the month of July at 110, giving it a gain of 0.2% for the month. Since 1 September, the index, which started on 1 January 2009 with a basket of 17 products, now includes 29 funds, with the addition of the Callanish Global Macro Fund. The 20th product, from 1 October, will be the Frog Fund. Only three funds in the index have earned returns equal to or greater than 10% since the beginning of the year: the HIQ Invest Market Neutral, with 10%; the QTYR Fund (16%), and the Trade Wind Equity Fund (23%).

The Lyxor Hedge Fund Index posted gains of 0.05% in August. As of 31 August, the index showed returns of +0.84% since the beginning of the year. For the month, the alternative strategies which performed best were the CTA Long Term Index (+3.86%), the Convertible Bonds & Volatility Arbitrage Index (+1.95%), and the L/S Equity Short Bias Index (+1.25%). However, the worst performers were the L/S Equity Long Bias Index (-1.48%) and the L/S Equity Statistical Arbitrage Index (-1.40%).

The finance ministers of the 27 EU member countries, meeting yesterday in Brussels, reached a minimal consensus on the question of taxation of banks, Agefi reports. The problem of double taxation remains as a stumbling-block. The UK government intends to tax not only establishments which are headquartered in the UK, but also “affiliates of foreign banks present in the City,” a British official said yesterday. For its part, “France is favourable to taxation of the parent company and its affiliates, but not branches in local locations,” explained the French minister of the economy, Christine Lagarde. French banks with offices in the City may thus be taxed twice: once in France for the group as a whole, and once on British affiliates of the same groups in the UK.

HSBC is continuing to add to its range of ETF products, with the launch of an ETF dedicated to the Pacific ex Japan region. The MSCI Pacific ex Japan ETF is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and brings the number of products of this type to 10, offering investors exposure to the performance of the MSCI Pacific ex Japan index, including developed markets in the region: Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Singapore.

As of 6 September, assets in the open-ended real estate fund Morgan Stanley P2 Value totalled EUR922.8m, compared with EUR1.67bn aat the time that redemptions were frozen at the end of October 2008. On Monday evening, the fund announced that a reexamination of the assets in the portfolio resulted in a downward revision of EUR185m, in addition to a EUR21m risk provision. This means that the net asset value (NAV) of the shares has been revised downward by about 18% since 31 August, to EUR29.83, compared with EUR36.48. When the fund reopens to redeptions in early November, it will presumably have a net asset value of EUR26.60 to EUR28.20. The P2 Value fund has increased its liquidity through a sale in the past few weeks of properties in the Netherlands (Hardwareweg and Soesterberg), in France (Arcueil), and in Singapore (Drycott Park). The sales have generated a net total of EUR85m in net proceeds. Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investment GmbH has also announced plans to reduce management commissions for the P2 Value fund by half, to cost, for the three years following the reopening of the fund to redemptions. Currently, the fund’s total expense ratio (TER) is 0.88%. The management firm has also announced that Marc Weinstock is joining the managing board. He was a member of the board at HS Real Estate until June, in charge of funds and participations. Silvia Schmitten-Walgenbach is also joining the board of directors. Since 2007, she has been a member of the management team at DEGI, which has in the meantime been acquired by Aberdeen Property Investors. Morgan Stanley REI states that it is seeking a chief financial officer. The CEO, Walter Klug, 62, who is in charge of strategy, marketing, distribution, and external relations, will be retiring in June 2011.

Amundi ETF announced on Tuesday, 7 September that it has listed 15 more ETFs on the Italian market, bringing the total number of products available on the Borsa Italiana to 60. The new products include: 6 equities ETFs, widening the geographical possibilities with AMUNDI ETF FTSE MIB, AMUNDI ETF S&P 500 and AMUNDI ETF NASDAQ-100. 8 bond ETFs replicating the EuroMTS Eurozone Government Broad indices, and allowing investors to adopt positions on interest rate curves in the Euro zone, with maturities ranging from 3 years to 15 years. Among the new ETFs is AMUNDI ETF EX AAA GOVT BOND EUROMTS, a product which offers exposure to a portfolio of bonds issued by governments of Euro zone member states with a rating of less than AAA or equivalent from the ratings agencies S&P, Moody’s and Fitch. 1 money market ETF, the AMUNDI ETF EONIA, which offers exposure to the reference rate for the Euro zone money markets.

Credit Suisse on 7 September announced the appointment of Osama Abbasi as chief executive officer fer the Asia-Pacific region. He becomes a member of the board at Credit Suisse Group AG and Credit Suisse AG. Abbasi will report directly to Brady Dougan, and will be in charge of deploying the bank’s strategy, with responsibility for performance on the level of the division as well as of the individual countries. The group has also announced that Kai Nargolwala has become chairman of Credit Suisse Asia-Pacific. The non-executive position is a newly-created one. In this role, Nargolwala will advise and support senior management in the region, including the new CEO, with emphasis on strategy and relations with major clients. Abbasi will continue to be based in Hong Kong, while Nargolwala will be transferred to Singapore. The two appointments will be effective from 1 October.

Asian Investor reports that Janus has created a position for a chief operating officer (COO) for the Asia-Pacific region, with the objective of providing better service to institutional clients. Janus has appointed a former BGI employee, Fred Horsey, to the position; he will have responsibility for operations, compliance, and client reporting, as well as coordination of regional responsibilities for strategy and product development.

Schroders announced on Tuesday, 7 September, that it has appointed Rory Bateman as head of European equities management. Bateman, who joined Schroders in early 2008, will continue to co-manage the major portfolios of European equities, and will oversee the research analyst team. He will report to Ken Lambden, global head of equities. The promotion follows the appointments a few months ago of Martin Skanberg as the manager of the Schroder ISF EURO Equity fund, and Jamie Lowry as manager of the Schroder ISF European Equity Alpha funds a few months ago.

Allianz Global Investments Europe, the European investment platform of Allianz Global Investors, which includes the French and Italian asset management firms, has added the bond management team of the Allianz Group, based in Zurich. The structure thus now includes 100 investment professionals, and manages EUR116bn, as of 30 June 2010, on behalf of institutional and private clients in Europe.

The Syz & Co group has launched Oyster LatAm Opportunities, a fund which invests in South American equities, and which will be managed by Moneda Asset Management SA in Chile, a specialist in Latin American investment. The fund will invest in companies of all cap sizes (from a minimum of USD100m in market capitalisation), and will concentrate on 60 to 100 positions throughout Latin America. The fund, which remains reserved for institutional clients, will soon be registered in several European countries, including Switzerland, which will make it possible to distribute the fund to retail clients like other Oyster sub-funds.

Nick Purves and Ian Lance will continue to be responsible for the management of the St. James’s Place Equity Income Unit Trust fund from St. James’s Place. The two managers recently left Schroders to join RWC Partners. After a rigorous study of the management process, the management firm has decided to continue to place their confidence in the team. Purves has managed the fund, which has more than GBP500m in assets, for more than seven years, a statement says.

fundstrategy reports that Marc Krombas, who managed a fund dedicated to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, left GLG Partners a few months ago. The firm has since recruited Mark Diab as equities portfolio manager for the MENA region. Krombas joined GLG last year when the British alternative management firm acquired Société Générale Asset Management UK, which launched the MENA fund in May 2008, as these markets showed little correlation with the turbulence which affected the financial markets of the developed world at that time. GLG has no comment on the reasons for the departure of Krombas, nor about his plans since then.

Money Marketing reports that HSBC has appointed Amy McNally as global marketing manager in the alternative management unit of HSBC Alternative Investments. McNally previously worked at Barclays Wealth as a product specialist in the alternative investment segment.

Financial News reports that the hedge fund firm CQS Management, based in London, has recruited Karyn Geringer and Andrew Hahn, two sales people who previously worked for GLG Partners, a rival of CQS whose sales team will soon be merged with Man Group.

A group of 30 pension funds is threatening to sue Henderson Group, if it fails to pay compensation for losses incurred by an infrastructure fund - the Henderson PFI Secondary Fund II -, which they claim was promoted as a low risk investment, writes IPE.com. The fund raised GBP575m from investors in 2005, but has since fallen in value by 60 per cent.

Jenny Buck, head of Schroders’ real estate multi-manager business, has resigned, says IPE.com. She will be replaced by Graeme Rutter and Rob Bingen.

Amundi announced on 7 September that its Luxembourg-registered Sharia-compliant Sicav CAAM Islamic is to be renamed as Amundi Islamic. Amundi is thus continuing its policy of changing the names of its products and expertise “to offer institutional clients and distributors a strong international brand.” The name change has been integrated into the prospectus for August 2010. The documentation (performance reports, etc.) will be available under the new name from 20 September, and available on the website www.amundi.com/lux

Lyxor launched on Tuesday its first ETFs exposed to the Australian and Canadian markets on Euronext Paris. The Lyxor ETF Australia (AU2 – LU0496786905) replicates the performance, both positive and negative, of the S&P ASX 200 index, which includes more than 80% of Australia’s market value, while the Lyxor ETF Canada (TSX – LU0496786731) tracks the peformance of the S&P TSX 60, which includes 73% of Canada’s overall market capitalisation.

SL Green Realty Corp, one of the largest owners of New York office property, has announced that it will sell a tower located at 19 West 44th Street in midtown Manhattan for USD123.2m to the German real estate fund management firm Deka Immobilien Investment, the Wall Street Journal reports. The sale of the second-class property comes at a price of USD422 per square foot, in a sign that the market is recovering. At its peak, the property was worth USD600, but at its worst, it could have been sold for USD325, says Dan Fasulo, managing director of Real Capital Analytics. SL Green purchased the property (292,000 square feet) in 2004 for USD67m.

The British Financial Services Authority (FSA) announced on 7 September that it has appointed Margaret Cole with immediate effect as a member of the board of the FSA and managing director in charge of law enforcement and financial crime. Cole, who joined the FSA in 2005, has contributed considerably to the success of the dissuasion strategy used by the market watchdog over the past three years.

Agefi reports that the ratings agency Moody’s is seeking to reformulate its evaluation of money market funds, and has launched a consultation until 5 November on a new method for rating them. The proposals would set up a 5-star rating system to rank the funds from strongest to weakest (from MF1+ to MF4), in place of the current 4-star system (Prime 1 to Prime 3, and “not Prime.”) Four evaluation criteria have been selected for the classification of money market funds in the new scale: underlying risk, short- and long-term liquidity profile, sensitivity of the fund to changes in interest rates, and finally, the potential availability of liquidity support from sponsors.

The Swisscanto group on 7 September announced that its assets under management had temporarily gone above the CHF60bn threshold during the 2009/2010 fiscal year at the end of June. However, the strong rise of the Swiss Franc has had a detrimental effect on the figures, reducing the value of CHF58.1bn, which is nonetheless an increase of about CHF0.7bn in one year. Swisscanto poitns out that low interest rates have led to major withdrawals of capital from money market funds, and a revaluation of equities, whereas the business is undervalued compared with the market. Institutional investments have nonetheless posted a net inflow of CHF1.3bn.

The former CEO of Fonditel (the investment fund management firm for the pension fund of the Telefónica group), who was fired from that position in February, has acquired a stake in the Spanish investment boutique Belgravia Capital, where he will also become executive chairman, Funds People reports. The CIO of Belgravia Capital is Carlos Cerezo, one of the founders of the firm, which has assets of EUR125m in the Beta and Delta Sicavs and the Epsilon fund.

AXA IM announced on Tuesday, 7 September that it has appointed Laurent Gueunier as head of AXA Structured Finance, the structured finance expertise centre of AXA Investment Managers, from 15 October 2010. Gueunier will join the executive board of AXA IM on that date, and will report to Dominique Carrel-Billiard, CEO of the firm, a statement says. Gueunier replaces Pierre-Emmanuel Juillard, who after 10 years at AXA IM, has chosen to continue his career in Asia, as a partner at Goldman Sachs, outside the asset management profession.

La boutique de gestion hambourgeoise Vilico Investment Service a entamé la commercialisation d’un fonds equity long/short market neutral visant une performance absolue de 5-7 % avec une volatilité ex-ante d’environ 6 %. Le VMP Euro Blue Alpha Return (VMP pour portefeuille à variance minimale), lancé le 16 août, investit en actions de l’Eurostoxx 50 et vend des futures sur ce même indice afin d’isoler l’alpha.CaractéristiquesDénomination : VMP EuroBlue Alpha ReturnIsin : LU0517686985Prix initial de la part : 50 eurosDroit d’entrée : 3 % maximumCommission de gestion : 1,20 %Commission de performance : 15 % avec high watermark

Au 6 septembre, l’encours du fonds immobilier offert au public Morgan Stanley P2 Value ressortait à 922,8 millions d’euros contre 1,67 milliard au moment du gel des remboursements fin octubre 2008. Lundi soir, le fonds a annoncé que le réexamen des actifs du portefeuille s’est traduit par une révision à la baisse de 185 millions d’euros, ce à quoi s’ajoute un montant de 21 millions d’euros de provisions pour risque. Dès lors la valeur liquidative (NAV) de la part a été révisée à la baisse d’environ 18 % depuis le 31 août, à 29,83 euros contre 36,48 euros. La reprise des remboursements prévue pour début novembre devrait s’effectuer avec une valeur liquidative de 26,60 à 28,20 euros.Le fonds P2 Value a augmenté sa liquidité grâce à la vente durant les dernières semaines d’actifs aux Pays-Bas (Hardwareweg et Soesterberg) en France (Arcueil) et à Singapour (Drycott Park). Ces cessions ont généré en net une recette de 85 millions d’euros.Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investment GmbH annonce aussi son intention de réduire de moitié la commission de gestion sur le fonds P2 Value, à ses frais, pendant les trois ans qui suivront la réouverture aux remboursements. Actuellement, le taux de frais sur encours (TER) se situe à 0,88 %.Enfin, le gestionnaire annonce que Marc Weinstock rejoint la direction générale. Il était jusqu’en juin membre du directoire de HSH Real Estate, responsable en particulier des fonds et des participations. De son côté, Silvi Schmitten-Walgenbach entre aussi à la direction générale. Depuis 2007 elle était membre de l'équipe dirigeant de DEGI, qui a entre-temps été achetée par Aberdeen Property Investors. Morgan Stanley REI indique être à la recherche d’un directuer financier. Quant au directeur général, Walter Klug (62 ans), qui est responsable de la stratégie, du marketing, de la distribution et des relations extérieures, il prendra sa retraite en juin 2011.

L’indice Finles/IEX Hollandse Hedgefund Index des hedge funds néerlandais est ressorti fin juillet à 110, marquant ainsi une progression de 0,2 % pour le mois. Depuis le 1er septembre, l’indice, qui avait débuté au 1er janvier 2009 avec un échantillon de 17 produits, en compte 29, avec l’ajout du Callanish Global Macro Fund. Le 20ème produit sera, à compter du 1er octobre, le Frog Fund.Seuls trois des hedge funds de l’indice affichent des performances égales ou supérieures à 10 % depuis le début de l’année : le HIQ Invest Market Neutral avec 10 %, le QTYR Fund (16 %) et le Trade Wind Equity Fund (23 %).

La CNMV a enregistré le 3 septembre les parts Participation P du fonds CPR Focus Inflation qui sera distribué en Espagne par Amundi Iberia. Le même jour, le régulateur espagnol a enregistré aussi les parts I, P et R des fonds CCR Flex Croissance et CCR Flex Patrimoine, dont le commercialisateur sera UBS Bank SA.