L’Agefi rapporte que l’entreprise d’investissement Global Equities a annoncé jeudi 20 mai avoir acquis d’un bloc majoritaire dans la société Eurotrading Capital Markets, un acteur qu’elle juge reconnu sur les métiers d’intermédiation et notamment les obligations. Une nouvelle entité baptisée Global Equities Capital Markets devrait voir le jour, précise le quotidien.

Lancé en janvier, le fonds Reyl Emerging Debt Opportunities affiche aujourd’hui quelque 70 millions de dollars d’encours, dont 30 millions d’amorçage. Raphael Kassin (ex ABN Amro puis Credit Suisse), le gérant, explique à Newsmanagers qu’il privilégie la dette des pays émergents libellée en monnaies fortes parce qu’il dispose de l’expertise nécessaire et que, de toutes façons, il n’est pas autorisé à investir davantage que 10 % en monnaies locales.Quoi qu’il en soit, souligne-t-il il convient d'être prudent, parce que les gouvernements peuvent contrôler le volume d'émission et les taux d’intérêt sur la dette en monnaies locales, comme la prouvé l’expérience chilienne lorsque le gouvernement de Santiago a jugé que le peso était trop fort. De toutes façons, le gérant préfère ne pas investir dans des pays où les fonds de pension sont obligés de souscrire aux emprunts d’Etat.En revanche, lorsqu’il s’agit d'émissions en monnaies internationales, les émetteurs sont tenus par un cahier des charges plus strict qu’ils ne peuvent aménager à leur guise et ils doivent de plus veiller à ne pas courir un risque réputationnel trop important.Actuellement, le fonds Reyl est investi en obligations gouvernementales ukrainiennes, philippines et vénézuéliennes, mais aussi en titres égyptiens ivoirien et argentins, le tout en dollars américains, parce que les emprunts en euros ne sont pas très liquides.Avant d’investir, Raphael Kassin analyse les fondamentaux macro-économiques et détermine si le pays émetteur est suffisamment solide pour pouvoir rembourser sa dette. Ensuite, il s’efforce de savoir si, en plus, les responsables politiques ont vraiment la volonté de rembourser. C’est la partie «top-down» du processus, qui s’accompagne ensuite d’une due diligence «bottom-up».L’univers investissable se situe à 30-40 pays, ce qui explique de Reyl peut se contenter d’une petite équipe pour ce fonds. Un gestionnaire de portefeuille est cependant en cours d’embauche pour seconder Raphael Kassin. Le travail consiste à sélectionner les pays attrayants pour un investissement puis à choisir les instruments offrant le rendement potentiel convenable, en se positionnant de manière adéquate sur la courbe des taux.Le fonds est disponible en classes de parts libellées en dollars, en euros et en «euro-hedged».

Le secteur de la gestion d’actifs ne s’attend pas à renouer avec les niveaux de croissance d’avant 2008, selon un sondage de Simcorp StrategyLab cité par le Financial Times Fund Management. Avant la crise, les taux de croissance des encours sous gestion et des bénéfices étaient de 15 à 20 %. Aujourd’hui, les sociétés de gestion attendent plutôt 5-10 %. Malgré tout, la moitié d’entre elles voient la croissance comme leur priorité.

Selon Investment Week, Investec Asset Management a fait état pour l’année au 31 mars d’une collecte nette de 4,7 milliards d’euros. Les actifs sous gestion se sont ainsi élevés au niveau record de 46 milliards d’euros.La demande a été particulièrement forte sur les actions internationales, les matières premières et le «fixed income».

Le britannique Standard Life Investments a annoncé qu’il avait remporté un mandat de gestion auprès de la municipalité d’Islington. Il s’agit de la gestion d’un portefeuille obligataire corporate d’un montant de 140 millions de livres.Les actifs seront intégrés dans le fonds phare de Standardj, le UK Corporate Bond Pooled Pension Fund (4 milliards de livres), piloté par Craig MacDonald, responsable de l’investment grade credit.Standard Life Investments gère plus d’une centaine de mandats pour le compte de fonds de pension de collectivités locales britanniques pour un montant cumulé de 4,6 milliards de livres.

Le gérant du Baillie Gifford High Yield Bond fund et co-gérant du Corporate Bond fund, Ben Thompson, quitte le groupe pour travailler en dehors du secteur des services financiers.Rob Baltzer et Donald Philips, gérants au sein de l'équipe fixed income de Baillie Gifford, reprendront le High Yield Bond fund le 18 juin, à l’occasion du départ de Ben Thompson.

Nuveen Investments a annoncé que sa filiale Winslow Capital Management désignera Michael Palmer en qualité de president et membre du comité exécutif de Winslow Capital. Michael Palmer travaillera en étroite collaboration avec le fondateur de la société, CEO et CIO Clark Winslow pour se concentrer sur les efforts de marketing et les services à la clientèle.Winslow Capital Mangement gère quelque 10 milliards de dollars d’actions de croissance large cap pour le compte de clients «retail» et institutionnels.

Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) a annoncé que Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners avait levé 585 millons de dollars pour Morgan Stanley Global Secondary Opportunities Fund, un fonds dédié à la prise de participations ddans des fonds de private equity sur le marché secondaire.

IndexIQ a annoncé mercredi le lancement d’un nouvel ETF spécialiste des petites capitalisations. Il s’agit du IQ Taiwan Small Cap ETF (acronyme TWON sur NYSE Arca), pour lequel les frais se montent au total à 0,91 %. Pour entrer dans l’indice sous-jacent du TWON, les valeurs doivent afficher notamment une capitalisation minimum de 150 millions de dollars américains durant les 90 séances précédentes et justifier d’un volume de transaction d’au moins 1 million de dollar par jour durant cette même période.

La société de gestion américaine Eaton Vance a fait savoir qu’elle avait mis en place une équipe de transition pour la distribution internationale et institutionnelle et les activités de services à la clientèle suite à la décision de Lisa Jones, qui assume actuellement ces fonctions, de quitter Eaton Vance à la fin du mois. L’intérim sera assuré par Niall Quinn, qui avait rejoint Eaton Vance début 2009 pour prendre la direction de Eaton Vance Management International à Londres. Niall Quinn est rattaché à Thomas Faus Jr, chairman et chief executive officer d’Eaton Vance Corp, et Matthew Witkos, President d’Eaton Vance Distributors.

Selon Standard & Poor’s, le secteur des financements structurés en Europe a traversé une période de grande faiblesse depuis l'éclatement de la crise financière. Toutefois, en termes absolus, la performance du secteur est demeurée vigoureuse, avec un taux de défaut cumulé de seulement 0,46% depuis la mi-2007 jusqu'à la fin du premier trimestre 2010, soit un montant de seulement 8,5 milliards d’euros sur un total de 1.859 milliards d’euros.Sur la période considérée, le taux de défaut sur les CDO est de 1,79% et il est même de 12,46% sur les CDO d’ABS mais il est de seulement 0,10% sur les CLO.

Selon les statistiques de l’association Efama des sociétés de gestion, les fonds européens ont enregistré pour mars des souscriptions nettes de 18 milliards d’euros contre 19,2 milliards pour février, ce qui porte le total pour le premier trimestre à 88,8 milliards. Cela posé, les fonds coordonnés de long terme (hors monétaires) ont attiré en mars 26,5 milliards d’euros contre 27,8 milliards d’euros en février, et le total des trois premiers mois ressort à 89 milliards d’euros. En revanche, les fonds monétaires coordonnés ont subi des sorties nettes de 18,3 milliards d’euros contre 16,3 milliards pour février, ce qui porte le total des remboursements nets du premier trimestre à 37,4 milliards d’euros.Pour l’ensemble des fonds coordonnés, la collecte nette s’inscrit ainsi à 8,2 milliards d’euros pour mars contre 11,5 milliards le mois précédent. Sur janvier-mars, les rentrées nettes se situent à 51,7 milliards d’euros.A fin mars, l’encours total des fonds s’inscrivait à 7.253 milliards d’euros, soit 3,6 % de plus que fin décembre, dont 5.499 milliards pour les fonds coordonnés (+ 3,7 %).

Agefi reports that, according to a preliminary report by the SEC on the sudden and precipitous fall on the equities markets in the United States on 6 May, in which the Dow Jones lost 9% of its value in the space of a few minutes, and then finished the day down 3.20%, the behaviour of ETF funds was worst affected, with 70% of total transaction cancellations related to these funds, and 60% of all losses. The regulator finds that 160 ETF funds temporarily lost 100% of their value. The newspaper notes that the SEC has found that the extensive use of passive management products by institutional investors as a way to acquire or unload large market exposures accentuated the pressure on ETFs.

The British asset management firm Standard Life Investments has announced that it has won a management mandate from the London borough of Islington. The mandate covers management of a corporate bond portfolio totalling GBP140m. The assets will be integrated into the flagship fund from Standard, the UK Corporate Bond Pooled Pension Fund (GBP4bn), managed by Craig MacDonald, head of investment grade credit. Standard Life Investments manages more than 100 mandates for pension funds and British local governments, totalling GBP4.6bn.

According to Financial News Online, the chief executive of GSA Capital, Joseph Novarro, has quit for the second time in a year. He had resigned in May last year but was persuaded to stay.

The manager of the Baillie Gifford High Yield Bond Fund and co-manager of the Corporate Bond Fund, Ben Thompson, is leaving the group to work outside the financial services sector. Rob Baltzer and Donald Philips, managers in the fixed income team at Baillie Gifford, will take over the management of the High Yield Bond Fund on 18 June when Thompson departs.

Union Investment (German co-operative banks), which claims to be the largest SRI management firm in Germany, with nearly EUR3bn in assets, has published its second annual survey of the perception of sustainable development by German institutional investors. The study was conducted in March and April 2010 by the research consultant Scheus Marktforschung, and covered 242 institutional investors (pension funds, insurers, and religious organisations), with total assets under management of EUR920bn. The survey finds that 68% of respondents had made ecological, social and ethical (ESG) investments in spring 2010, compared with 64% one year earlier. The percentage of sustainable investment in total portfolios had increased by 76% in one year. However, says Andreas Drechsler, a board member at Union Investment in charge of relations with institutional investors, professionals continue to have a highly contrasting relationship with SRI. Economic and ecological motivations play only a secondary role in the decision to make these investments (for 40%, compared with 50% of respondents in 2009). However, 74%, and 72% of respondents cite the improvement of their image or better prospects from a marketing and public relations standpoint. Though 74% of investors already positioned in SRI cite improvement of risk management as a reason for their investment, Union has also found some disillusionment among investors, which results in reduced outlooks for the next five years: this year, respondents are planning to increase SRI investments by 51% over the period, while in 2009, they were planning to increase it by 106%.

BaFin has issued a sales license for Germany to five French-registered funds from Métropole Gestion: Métropole Gestion, Métropole Euro, Métropole Frontière Europe and Métropole France, as well as a convertible product, Métropole Convertibles. Eric Boutchnei, deputy CEO and director of development, tells Newsmanagers that, in order to build a significant presence in the high-potential market which is Germany, Métropole Gestion has already recruited two people in Frankfurt: Markus Hampel, who already has 15 years of experience, and more recently, Letlef Lau, who comes from Munich, and has considerable experience in the institutional market. The new office, which also covers Austria and the German-speaking Swiss market, may eventually have a sales force of 4-5 people. Naturally, these would be experienced individuals with a good knowledge of local markets. Boutchnei says that Métropole Gestion will initially prioritise institutional investors and pension funds in Germany, as this category of clients is highly important for the French fund management firm. The sales force will aim to capture some of the private banking, multi-management and IFA networks market.

The former head of Fortis Investment Management for Germany and Austria, Hans-Jürgen Schäfer, has joined Warburg Invest as a member of the board of directors in charge of distribution and asset management. He will be responsible for developing sales of open-ended funds to retail clients.

According to a survey by the ratings agency Telos and the consulting firm Kommalpha of 150 institutional investors with EUR340bn in assets, 38% of respondents are planning to launch Spezialfonds this year, and 10% have not yet reached a decision, but are considering doing so after a year of abstinence. Responses vary from one category to another, with the most willing to make the move in the corporate, charity and banking categories (mainly savings and cooperative banks). Potential investors, however, nearly unanimously reject the idea of launching equities funds. They largely favour bond vehicles, followed by diversified funds. The major beneficiaries of this move (59%) will be asset management firms able to provide absolute return strategies.

Agefi reports that the United States financial regulation bill was passed yesterday evening, Thursday, 20 May, by the US Senate, by a suspenseful vote of 59 for and 39 against. The Senate bill must now be merged with the version of the bill passed last December by the House of Representatives. The two texts have some differences, and intense debate will therefore be likely to ensue between the upper and lower houses of the US legislature in an effort to arrive at a common synthesis. Issues up for debate will include regulation of derivative products and ratings agencies, the newspaper reports.

The British investment management association (IMA) remains highly sceptical of efforts to improve the regulatory framework for the asset management industry, Money Marketing reports. At a conference held by the Luxembourg investment fund association (ALFI), the IMA director of international relations, Jarkko Syyrila, claims that the changes are much more considerable than expected, and involve a major regulatory initiative which makes it impossible to precisely determine the interaction between the new regulations and the tax regulations in various member countries. Syyrila also claims that the planned AIFM directive will not only affect hedge funds and private equity, but also will interfere with the activities of all non-UCITS fund managers. “How will our international partners react to the doors of Europe closing like this, and what reprisals will come as a result? The risks are evident, and the question is how it will influence international distribution opportunities for European funds, including UCITS funds,” Syyrila says. He also raises the question of the responsibility of the depository, claiming that overly strict regulations in this area could spell the demise of many UCITS funds dedicated to emerging markets.

According to statistics from the Efama association of asset management firms, European funds in March posted net subscriptions of EUR18bn, compared with EUR19.2bn in February, bringing the total for first quarter to EUR88.8bn. Long-term UCITS funds (excluding money market funds) in March attracted EUR26.5bn, compared with EUR27.8bn in February, and the total for the first three months of the year comes to EUR89bn. However, UCITS money market funds saw net outflows of EUR18.3bn, compared with EUR16.3bn in February, bringing total net redemptions in first quarter to EUR37.4bn. For all UCITS funds, net inflows totalled EUR8.23bn in March, compared with EUR11.5bn the previous month. In January-March, net inflows totalled EUR51.7bn. As of the end of March, total assets in funds came to EUR7.253trn, 3.6% more than at the end of December, of which EUR5.499trn were in UCITS funds (+3.7%).

US asset management firm Eaton Vance announced that it has set up a transitional team for international and institutional distribution and client services activities, following a decision by Lisa Jones, who is now in charge of these activities, to leave the firm at the end of the month. The interim replacement for Jones will be Niall Quinn, who joined Eaton Vance at the beginning of 2009 to take over as director of Eaton Vance Management International in London. Quinn will report to Thomas Faus Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Eaton Vance Corp, and Matthew Witkos, President of Eaton Vance Distributors.

Nuveen Investments has announced that its affiliate, Winslow Capital Management, will appoint Michael Palmer as president and member of the executive board at Winslow Capital. Palmer will work in close collaboration with the founder of the firm, CEO and CIO Clark Winslow, and will concentrate on marketing and client services. Winslow Capital Management has about USD10bn in assets under management in large cap growth shares on behalf of retail and institutional clients.

The French association of asset managers (AFG) has issued a statement welcoming the “money market OPCVM” label in EU countries, but has expressed reticence about the details of the legislation proposed by the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR). The AFG expresses heartfelt regrets that the CESR has chosen to create two categories of OPCVM fund, “although it would have been better to allow product ranges to adapt to the needs of the various types of investors and to leave sufficient manoeuvering room to the manager to adapt to market conditions. The notion of ‘short-term’ is not the same for a retail investor, the treasurer of a business, a pension fund or an insurer,” the AFG explains in a statement. The association also regrets that the use of securities ratings as investment criteria has been made compulsory. Ratings, which are a useful decision-making tool for investors, by this measure becomes an extension of the regulator, and a regulatory constraint. It is not the mission or the area of expertise of ratings agencies to act in this capacity, and it is at least paradoxical from the point of view of the debates now underway to expect them to do so. The AFG claims that the required ratings level will tend to privilege government securities to the detriment of investments in corporate treasury issues from many companies, a “debatable orientation which is not highly favourable to good corporate financing.” Finally, the AFG finds it regrettable that the use of the term “constant net asset value” is allowed for some short-term money market OPCVM funds, though these funds are not guaranteed, as the CESR notes itself in its document.

Investment Week reports that Investec Asset Management had net inflows for the year to 31 March of EUR4.7bn. Assets under management totalled a record EUR46bn. Demand was particularly strong for global equities, commodities and fixed income.

Carmignac Gestion has registered six funds of its range in Sweden: Carmignac Patrimoine, Carmignac Investissement, Carmignac Sécurité, Carmignac Emergents, Carmignac Commodities and Carmignac Grande Europe. The firm’s report for first quarter 2010 states that the asset management firm is also now offering its entire product range in Singapore.

For the hedge fund industry, the financial crisis represents an unprecendented shake-up. The proportion of hedge funds with assets under management of over USD500m fell to 5% in 2009, from 18% the previous year, while the percentage of funds with less than USD20m in assets rose by more than 10% between 2008 and 2009, according to a new study by the financial research and consulting firm Celent (“Hedge Funds in Europe: Riders of the Storm.”) Celent estimates that 2010 will be the year of the comeback for hedge funds, and that by 2012, the number of hedge funds will again approach its 2007 peak. However, the average volume of assets under management will remain below what it had been before the crisis. The study finds that between 2004 and 2009, the percentage of hedge funds which chose to invest in Europe fell by about 10%. This decline means a more difficult environment for prime brokers, with consolidation to come, Celent predicts. To respond to the needs of hedge funds, brokers will need to have a more transparent and flexible approach than in the past. After a decline of moer than 20% in 2009, IT spending is expected to rise again this year, and will total about USD500m by 2015. Celent says new European legislation governing alternative management will result in the departure of many players in that industry. Of all funds with an office in the European Union, 10% may cease their activities as a result of high operational costs. Similarly, of funds with no office in Europe, nearly 20% may cease their activities, and 30% may call off plans to open a European office.

Credit Suisse held out a good week before following the example of KanAm and SEB AM, but the open-ended real estate fund CS Euroreal (EUR6.28bn in assets as of the end of March) is now suspending redemptions for an initial period of 3 months. On 12 May, though, Credit Suisse had stated that the pace of redemptions had slowed. The management firm has placed the blame for these redemptions clearly on net outflows triggered by the publication of proposed legislation for “the protection of investors and improvement of the functioning of capital markets” by the German federal finance minister on 3 May. From 1 October until the end of April, the CS Euroreal fund saw net subscriptions of EUR404m, but the trend was reversed following the publication of an early draft of the bill in the press. Credit Suisse emphasizes that the suspension of redemptions is exclusively due to liquidity considerations. It also states that net asset value will continue to be calculated on a daily basis and that subscriptions will continue to be possible. Including the CS Euroreal fund, about EUR16bn in assets have been frozen following the publication of the German draft bill, out of a total of EUR89.9bn in open-ended real estate funds. These funds saw EUR3.2bn in net subscriptions in first quarter, their best result in 7 years.