Launches of absolute return funds managed by traditional management firms or hedge funds have shown an unprecedented boom in the past 18 months, according to a study published on 1 September by Moody’s (“European Absolute-Return Funds: A Convergence of Two Worlds.”) The study finds that several factors contributed to this development, including the arrival of hedge funds on the market in UCITS format, as well as the continued preference of investors for liquid, non-benchmarked strategies and regulated vehicles. Moody’s finds that the European regulated absolute return market as of the end of March 2010 totalled about EUR78bn in assets under management, in 718 funds. The total amount of assets under management remains limited, but the number of strategies available is increasing rapidly.

The Belgian asset management firm Petercam Institutional Asset Management, which is on a drive to increase its commercial presence in France, has announced the recruitment of Thierry Minet as sales & account manager for France. Minet joins Ives Hup, who has been senior sales & account manager for France and Italy since 2004, and will assist him in his mission to develop Petercam Asset Management’s presence in France. Before joining Petercam, Thierry worked in asset management at Merrill Lynch and ING.

Old Mutual Asset Managers (OMAM) has announced the recruitment of Christine Johnson, a senior bond manager at Halbis Capital Management (HSBC group). She will collaborate with Stewart Cowley, head of fixed income, on several portfolios, and will take over from him as manager of the Dynamic Bond Fund (GBP30m in assets). OMAM also states that in May it recruited Bastian Wagner as a high-yield credit analyst. He previously held a similar position at Eaton Vance Management International.

Financial intermediary Altum Capital, based in Wiesbaden, on Wednesday announced the launch of the first sectoral fund on the German market to invest in shares in maritime transport companies. The product is entitled Plenum Maritime Fund, and will be managed by Plenum Investments (CHF1.2bn in assets). The manager, Håkon Håland, will select 30 to 40 positions from a universe of 500 commercial maritime transport firms, in all segments of the maritime transport and offshore industries. The accumulation fund is denominated in Euros, with daily liquidity, and will pay a quarterly coupon. Sales in Germany will be undertaken exclusively by Altum Capital. Characteristics Name: Plenum Maritime FundIsin : LI113842289Benchmark : Mar iXFront-end fee: Maximum 4.25% + 0.75% placement feeManagement commission: 1.75%Performance commission: 15% with high watermarkMinimal subscription: EUR1,000

In the 12 months to the end of June, taxable profits at the British firm Hargreaves Lansdown rose 18%, to GBP86.3m, from GBP73.1m in the previous period. Net inflows increased 65% in the period, to GBP3.3bn. Assets under administration increased 47% to GBP17.5bn.

With the recruitment of Carlos de Leon as portfolio manager, Allianz RCM is preparing to launch an OEIC Brazil fund in October, which will be co-managed by the Latin America specialist at Harbert Management Corporation, with Michael Konstantinov, CIO of Allianz RCM for global emerging markets, Investment Week reports. The fund may invest up to 30% of its assets in Latin American firms which earn a significant proportion of their earnings and profits in Brazil. Allianz RCM has also repositioned its Philippines fund, transforming it into an emerging Asia fund which will also absorb the Malaysia and Singapore funds.

Les Echos reports that Jules Kroll, 69, the eponymous founder of the economic intelligence group, is hoping to rival Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch, the three major ratings agencies which account for most of the market. “We need a credible alternative,” Kroll tells the Wall Street Journal. The US billionaire founded Kroll Bond Rating Agency last year. He has recently acquired a ratings boutique, Lace Financial, and has recruited several analysts, and is aiming to obtain new licenses and take a bite out of the three major ratings’ agencies, which have been under fire for the past two years.

Les Echos reports that the US Federal Reserve on Tuesday granted permission for the Chinese sovereign fund China Investment Corporation (CIC) to buy a 10% stake in the capital and voting rights of the US bank Morgan Stanley. The sovereign fund, which acquired 2.49% of ordinary shares in Morgan Stanley in 2009, injected owners’ equity into the bank in late 2007, with an investment of about USD5bn in convertible bonds. These bonds, converted on 17 August, will give CIC a stake of up to 9.9% in Morgan Stanley, on the condition that it remains a “passive investor.” To control over 5%, CIC is required to obtain permission from the Fed.

Landesbank Berlin Investment GmbH (LBB-Invest) on Wednesday announced the appointment with immediate effect of Andrea Daniela Bauer as a member of the executive board. Since 2006, Bauer was head of the capital markets division at Landesbank Berlin. In December, she will replace Joachim F. Mädler as chair of the executive board. Mädler will remain as an advisor to LBB-Invest, but will be retiring. The other two members of the executive board are Andreas Heß and Dyrk Vieten.

The German construction group Hochtief announced on Wednesday in a market statement that Southeastern Asset Management, based in Memphis (about USD5bn in assets) had notified it on 30 August that it controls over 5% of its capital, with 5.19%, since 26 August. The US manager previously held slightly over 3% of Hochtief.

Pending the approval of the Chinese regulatory authorities (CSRC), the Japanese firm Mitsubishi UFJ will acquire 33% of the joint venture SYWG BNP Paribas, for a total of USD50m, from the Caijing agency.Consulting firm Z-Ben says that the deal has the primary advantage that it will bring BNP Paribas into full compliance with Chinese regulations that forbid foreign firms from having more than one local joint venture, after the sale of its 49% stake in ABN Amro Teda to Manulife last November. The French group may now concentrate on the development of the former Fortis Haitong, which has recently been renamed HFT Fund Management.The valuation of SYWG BNP Paribas was complicated by erratic fluctuations in asset levels, which increased from CNY13bn at the end of June 2009 to CNY24bn at the end of December (due to money market funds), and then fell back to CNY10.4bn as of the end of June 2010.

Asian Investor reports that the Singapore sovereign fund GIC (Government of Singapore Investment Corporation) has recruited Kishore Gotety, previously of RREEF (Deutsche Bank) as country head for Indian real estate. The sovereign fund declined to comment on the appointment. Last year, the fund did announce its intention to increase its allocation to real estate. Assets under management at GIC total over USD100bn.

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has announced the appointment of Matthias Minor as its new head of corporate debt capital markets (DCM) Germany. He succeeds Roland Plan, who was head of DCM activities for Europe, including Germany, and who has been appointed country head of RBS for Switzerland. Minor, who joined RBS in 2002, will now report to Matt Carter, head of the origination team for investment grade European bonds.

The US firm Northern Trust, which has recently been issued a banking license by the Chinese banking and regulatory commission (CBRC), is now planning to apply for a qualified foreign institutional investor (QFII) quota, which it may use to buy A-class shares on behalf of its clients, Asian Investor reports. In the short-term, Northern Trust will continue to provide asset management services in Hong Kong. The team at the Beijing office has been strengthened with the transfer of client advisors previously located in Singapore.

Société Générale Private Banking on 1 September appointed Olivier Gougeon as CEO for private banking in the South Asian region, effective from 1 September. Gougeon will be based in Singapore, the regional headquarters for Société Générale Private Banking (Asia Pacific), where he replaces Pierre-F. Baer, who will soon be taking on new responsibilities within the Société Générale group. Gougeon becomes a member of the executive boards of the Asia Pacific private bank and the international head company. He will lead the Singapore office and continue the private bank’s development strtegy in the South Asian region, alongside Alex Fung, CEO of Société Générale Private Banking in Hong Kong, head of the Hong Kong and North Asia (ex China) region, and Patrick Dreyfuss, COO for private banking in the Asia-Pacific region. Since 2007, Gougeon has been director of the wealth engineering expertise centre and private banking fiduciary services. In this position he was based in London and responsible for a team of 240 experts covering 14 countries.

With the acquisition of the multi-management activities of the Royal Bank of Scotland earlier this year, Aberdeen Asset Management has set foot in the field of alternative management, via funds of hedge funds. Martin Gilbert, CEO of the Scottish asset management firm, says this is good, as investors want this type of management. But, he says, Aberdeen has no plans to move into direct alternative management, “as that would not align with out culture and our remuneration system based on team spirit.” In terms of acquisitions, Gilbert, who was in Paris on Wednesday, says the company is taking a break at the moment, after a relatively intense period. “We have a sufficiently large size – EUR200.9bn – and we are present in all the asset classes we want to be in,” he explains. This less aggressive attitude is also partly dictated by a regulatory environment which has changed very much recently, he adds. The Aberdeen CEO has called off plans for an acquisition in the United States, which had been a project for several years. But he now says that Aberdeen mostly needs to strengthen its capacities in distribution in North America, and not in management. The firm now estimates that it has everything which American investors need. Including international equities and emerging markets.

Gervais Williams, head of British small businesses at Gartmore, for the Gartmore Fledgling, Growth Opportunities, Irish Growth investment and Gartmore UK & Irish Smaller Companies Oeic trusts, has left the company, the website fundstrategy reported on Wednesday, 1 September. Williams is reaplced by Adam McConkey.

F&C Asset Management plc, the London Stock Exchange listed asset management group, has completed its acquisition of Thames River Capital. Following completion of the transaction, F&C has further strengthened its executive committee with two appointments. Charlie Porter, founder and chief executive of Thames River, joins the F&C executive committee with overall responsibility for the F&C group’s retail and wholesale fund business. In the enlarged group Thames River will focus on distribution to IFAs and wealth managers and F&C will concentrate on institutional distribution. Jeremy Charles, chief operating officer of Thames River, has also been appointed to the F&C executive committee with immediate effect. While remaining COO of Thames River Capital he has been given a group-wide brief, reporting to Alain Grisay, F&C’s Chief Executive, to implement changes to the enlarged group’s business model, with the objective of creating greater flexibility in its cost structure and to improve overall efficiency.

At an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on Wednesday morning, which voted 91.3% in favour of the acquisition of GLG Partners, Man Group Plc announced the appointment of Emmanuel (Manny) Roman to the newly-created position of chief operating officer, once the acquisition has been completed. He will also continue to serve as co-CEO of GLG Partners, with Noam Gottesman. Pierre Lagrange will remain senior managing director of GLG, in charge of investment and European long/short equity strategy. Gottesman will be head of global opportunity strategy for GLG. All three will report to Peter Clarke, CEO of Man.

Alistair Darling, l’ancien ministre des Finances travailliste du Royaume-Uni, a reconnu mercredi que la supertaxe sur les bonus des banquiers n’avait pas permis de modifier les comportements du secteur en matière de rémunérations, rapporte le Financial Times. Il estime peu probable que la taxe soit reconduite par le nouveau gouvernement de coalition.

A former hedge fund manager, Stephen Goldfield, was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with making a USD14m profit based on inside information allegedly passed to him by a friend James Self ahead of the takeover of MedImmune by AstraZeneca, says the Financial Times. Mr Self agreed to pay a fine of USD50,000. Mr Goldfield consented to an order to repay the USD14m profits plus USD2.7m interest, all but USD600,000 of which was waived in view of his sworn statements about his financial status.

As part of the New Deal strategic plan, Natixis began repositioning its private equity business toward third party asset management, which is planned to integrate Natixis’ Investment Solutions division. This activity combines venture capital, expansion capital and funds of funds, which until now were part of Natixis Private Equity. Dominique Sabassier is in charge of repositioning this activity toward third party asset management within Natixis’ Investment Solutions division. He will report to Pierre Servant, CEO of Investment Solutions and member of the Senior Management Committee of Natixis, and will become part of the Executive Committee of the division. At the same time, Natixis Asset Management is implementing a new investment organization and modifying the composition of its Executive Committee. Ibrahima Kobar and Emmanuel Bourdeix are appointed CIO fixed income and CIO equity, asset allocation and structured products, respectively in replacement of Dominique Sabassier who was deputy CEO in charge of investments. They will both report to Pascal Voisin, CEO, and become members of Natixis Asset Management’s Executive Committee which also comprises Philippe Zaouati, head of business development who is appointed deputy CEO, and Jean-François Baralon, head of finance and operations. Investment Solutions has combined all investment solutions business lines since August 2009, i.e. asset management, insurance and private banking. Natixis Global Asset Management has a multiboutique structure. It combines some twenty financial and real-estate management firms. Its distribution platform provides a strong presence in Europe, the United States, Asia-Pacific and the Middle-East. It is a global player with total assets under management of €532 bn at the end of June 2010. Natixis Asset Management is Natixis Global Asset Management’s European expert with total assets under management of €302 bn at the end of June 2010.

fundstrategy reports that the Irish firm Bloxham, a specialist in brokerage and wealth management, will launch an absolute return fund in UCITS III format, with the objective of earning returns of 8% to 10% per year. The Bloxham Midas global absolute fund will include 25 to 40 long and short positions. It will use the firm’s proprietary Midas analysis technique, which covers more than 2,000 shares and sectors worldwide. The fund, which will be launched in October, will be managed by a team of four people, led by Kevin McConnell, who is also director of strategy at Bloxham. Management fees are 1.5% per year for retail shares, with a performance commission of 10%.

The UK asset management firm Schroders on Wednesday announced the recruitment of Mario Pires, ex-head of sales for Portugal at Deutsche Asset Management Spain, as a member of its Iberian team (Spain and Portugal), led by Carla Bergareche. He will be based in Madrid, and will cooperate closely with Pedro Assis, deputy managing director of Schroders for Spain and Portugal, to develop the institutional client base in the two countries. It is a newly-created position, by which Schroders hopes to strengthen this distribution channel.

According to the most recent available figures, the number of signatories to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI) now come to over 800, more precisely 808, nearly 60 of whom are in France.The PRI program was launched in April 2006. In the space of four years, the Principles have become an increasingly widely regarded standard of reference for investors.

Taxation of the financial sector, including a potential tax on financial transactions, could raise tens of billions of Euros in added revenues, Agefi reports. The European Commission (EC) is successively examining taxation of banking activities, including new taxes already imposed in France, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, and taxes on financial transactions which European countries are not willing to commit to unilaterally. The EC says revenues from a banking tax would total EUR26bn per year for the 27 EU countries, with the widest application (taxation of all profits and remunerations). A tax on transactions would raise much larger sums than a banking tax, but Brussels admits that it is also more difficult to put in place, the newspaper notes. Revenues would vary from EUR145bn to EUR172bn per year, depending on the range of application (equities, bonds, derivatives). London would account for most of the revenues (over 70%).

Soucieuse de renforcer sa présence commerciale dans l’Hexagone, le gestionnaire belge Petercam Institutional Asset Management annonce le recrutement de Thierry Minet comme sales & account manager pour la France.L’impétrant rejoint Ives Hup, senior sales & account manager France et Italie depuis 2004, et l’épaulera dans sa mission d’assurer le développement commercial de Petercam Asset Management en France.Avant de rejoindre Petercam, Thierry Minet a travaillé dans la gestion d’actifs chez Merrill Lynch et chez ING.

L’agence de notation Fitch Ratings a annoncé le 1er septembre la confirmation de la notation «BBB+" de Oddo et Compagnie, assortie d’une perspective stable». Elle a également maintenue la notation «BBB+" de la Banque d’Orsay sous surveillance négative.Fitch souligne que l’acquisition par Oddo de la Banque d’Orsay annoncée le 31 août représente un apport d’actifs sous gestion de 2,5 milliards d’euros, soit l'équivalent d’au moins deux ans de croissance organique. L’agence estime par ailleurs que le profil de risque de Oddo ne sera pas significativement accentué par cette opération, d’autant plus que Oddo envisage de transférer dès que possible à des tiers les risques associés à l’activité d’arbitrage de la Banque d’Orsay.

Société Générale Private Banking a annoncé le 1er septembre la nomination d’Olivier Gougeon en qualité de directeur général de la banque privée pour la région sud-asiatique à compter du 1er septembre. Basé à Singapour, le siège régional de Société Générale Private Banking (Asie Pacifique), il remplace Pierre-F. Baer qui sera appelé prochainement à exercer de nouvelles fonctions au sein du groupe Société Générale. Olivier Gougeon devient membre des comités exécutifs de la banque privée en Asie-Pacifique et au siège international.Olivier Gougeon assurera la gestion du bureau de Singapour et poursuivra la stratégie de développement de la banque privée dans la région sud-asiatique aux côtés d’Alex Fung, directeur général de Société Générale Private Banking à Hong Kong, responsable des zones Hong-Kong et Nord-Asie (hors Chine) et de Patrick Dreyfuss, Directeur des Opérations de la banque privée pour la région Asie-Pacifique. Depuis 2007, Olivier Gougeon exerçait les fonctions de Directeur du centre d’expertise Ingénierie Patrimoniale et Services Fiduciaires de la banque privée, responsable depuis Londres d’une équipe de 240 experts dans ce domaine couvrant 14 pays.

As part of the New Deal strategic plan, Natixis began repositioning its private equity business toward third party asset management, which is planned to integrate Natixis’ Investment Solutions division. This activity combines venture capital, expansion capital and funds of funds, which until now were part of Natixis Private Equity. Dominique Sabassier is in charge of repositioning this activity toward third party asset management within Natixis’ Investment Solutions division. He will report to Pierre Servant, CEO of Investment Solutions and member of the Senior Management Committee of Natixis, and will become part of the Executive Committee of the division. At the same time, Natixis Asset Management is implementing a new investment organization and modifying the composition of its Executive Committee. Ibrahima Kobar and Emmanuel Bourdeix are appointed CIO fixed income and CIO equity, asset allocation and structured products, respectively in replacement of Dominique Sabassier who was deputy CEO in charge of investments. They will both report to Pascal Voisin, CEO, and become members of Natixis Asset Management’s Executive Committee which also comprises Philippe Zaouati, head of business development who is appointed deputy CEO, and Jean-François Baralon, head of finance and operations. Investment Solutions has combined all investment solutions business lines since August 2009, i.e. asset management, insurance and private banking. Natixis Global Asset Management has a multiboutique structure. It combines some twenty financial and real-estate management firms. Its distribution platform provides a strong presence in Europe, the United States, Asia-Pacific and the Middle-East. It is a global player with total assets under management of €532 bn at the end of June 2010. Natixis Asset Management is Natixis Global Asset Management’s European expert with total assets under management of €302 bn at the end of June 2010.