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11/05/2010

IFAs recommending exposure to Middle East and North Africa, according to Barings

A survey by Barings Asset Management of 33 independent financial advisers (IFA) conducted between 15 and 18 February has found that 67% of advisers say retail investors should expose their portfolios to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. 73% say the recommendation is driven by allocations to natural resources, while 55% explain it as related to an increase in infrastructure spending in the region, and 48% think investment in this region may be attractive as the presence of sovereign funds limits the need for external financing. In terms of allocation, Barings (which recently launched a fund dedicated to the MENA region) reports that 39% of IFAs estimate that retail investors should dedicate 5% of their portfolios to the region, in addition to their exposure to global emerging markets. 21% recommend a total exposure of 11% to 20%.
11/05/2010

Assets at Rathbones top GBP14bn

As of 31 March, assets under mangaement at Rathbones totalled GBP14.05bn, 7.3% higher than the GBP13.10bn recorded at the end of 2009. As of the end of March 2009, assets totalled GBP9.87bn. Susbcriptions in first quarter totalled GBP241m, while organic asset increases totalled GBP96m. Meanwhile, an agreement with Lloyds Banking Group signed in October 2009 (see Newsmanagers of 21 October 2009) has brought in GBP598m from 3,000 new clients.
11/05/2010

Skandia adds to UK sales staff

Skandia Investment Group (SIG) has appointed two new sales managers for the United Kingdom. Martin Canavan, previously of Aegon, will become head of fund sales for north England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Chris Nuttall, previously head of the broker desk at SIG, will supervise distribution in south and south-west England. SIG is seeking a third head for sales in London and the Midlands. Skandia is also adding to its staff for the German, Swiss and Austrian markets, with the recruitment of a head of sales for Berlin.
11/05/2010

Target-date funds should be more conservative after retirement

A study recently published by Russell Investments considers the question of the best investment strategy for target-date funds when they mature, entitled «The date debate : Should target date fund glide paths be managed «to» or «through» retirement?» The debate pits those who favour a static investment policy against those who tend to favour a management which continues to be active after the contract matures. Russell finds in favour of the former approach, on the grounds that during retirement years, a conservative allocation is more attractive in terms of the risk/return profile. According to the study, an allocation of 32% to equities at retirement time provides a 94% likelihood of capital preservation, while an allocation of 60% puts that probability at 88%.
11/05/2010

Helvetia Wealth buys J.D. Murphy

The Swiss wealth management firm Helvetia Wealth has announced the acquisition of the Irish boutique J.D. Murphy Investment Life & Pension Benefits, based in Kilkenny, and founded in 1969. The acquisition is the fifth external growth deal for Helvetia since the beginning of the year. The acquisition, whose details have not been disclosed, increases assets at Helvetia Wealth by CHF100m, to a total of CHF1.2bn.
11/05/2010

Bruellan and UK management firm Odey AM launch a joint venture

Agefi Switzerland report that Bruellan, a Swiss management firm specialised in wealth management, and Odey Asset Management, a reputable London-based asset management firm, have signed a partnership agreement. They will found a joint venture, Odey Bruellan, which will initially focus on the Swiss market. The goal is to better exploit the expertise of the two partners: Bruellan will benefit from the 30 years’ experience in asset management of its London-based partner, while Odey Asset Management may import the wealth management inflows of its Swiss partner to the United Kingdom. This is thus not a mere fund distribution agreement, the two parties point out. Bruellan clients will not be required to transfer their funds to Odey in order to benefit from British expertise. Though the partnership will nominally conclude in December 2010, the two firms may go further with the logic of the integration. Eventually, Odey may buy a stake in Bruellan, or even become a majority shareholder.
11/05/2010

AIFM vote postponed until 17 May

The European Parliament committee on economic and monetary affairs, which was slated to vote on 10 May on the draft AIFM directive, has decided to delay the vote by one week, until 17 May, to allow the legal affairs committee to deliver a more complete opinion. Many voices have been raised against the planned legislation in the past few days in the asset management and private equity industries.
11/05/2010

USD2.4bn in net inflows in first quarter in Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Investment Funds Association has announced that first quarter 2010 ended with net inflows of USD2.41bn, a 105.6% increase over fourth quarter 2009. In first quarter 2009, the association recorded net outflows of USD130.9bn. Equities funds represented 52% of gross sales for the quarter. In net, inflows to equities funds wre up 66.9% compared with fourth quarter 2009, at USD1.01bn. The new president of the association, Desmong Ng, has announced that the total number of people employed in asset management held stable at slightly over 30,700.
11/05/2010

Reyl AM registers Sicav fund with CNMV

On Friday, the CNMV accepted the registration of the Reyl (Lux) Global Funds Sicav and its six sub-funds, from the Swiss management firm Reyl Asset Management, an affiliate of the financial group Reyl & Cie. The Emerging Debt Opportunities, Emerging Markets Equities, Europe Low Vol, European Equities, European Opportunities and North American Equities are now available in Spain from Allfunds Bank.
11/05/2010

AIMA challenges US plans to require hedge fund registration

The international alternative management association AIMA has raised questions about plans currently under discussion in the US Senate to require foreign hedge fund managers to register in the United States, regardless of whether they are already registered and monitored by a supervisory authority outside the US. As foreign hedge fund managers are subject to requirements defined by the G20 and the United States, including reporting and information exchange requirements, there should be an exemption to prevent double registration, which would be a source of excessive administrative costs, the AIMA says in a statement.
11/05/2010

Ingenico in sustainable development offer

Ingenico France, the French affiliate of the payment solutions specialist Ingenico, is now offering its clients a complete solution for the collection and disposal of superannuated payment terminals. The offer applies to terminals for which the owners are responsible for disposal, including payment terminals sold before 13 August 2005, when new legal requirements came into effect. Ingenico France says in a statement that the firm is stepping “well beyond its legal obligations for the disposal of expired electrical and electronic equipment (DEEE).”
11/05/2010

AlphaClone launches ETF 100 service

The consulting firm AlphaClone LLC has made a new tool available online. The ETF 100 allows clients to follow the evolution of the portfolios of 100 managers who invest in ETFs. Currently, the portfolio, which replicates the portfolios of the best managers on the markets, is 40% positioned on ETF funds based on gold, 17% on emerging markets, and 7% each for precious metals, South Korea, India, South Africa, Taiwan, and the S&P 500.
11/05/2010

New head of marketing at Vanguard

Mutual Fund Wire reports that Mike Ma, chief business officer at the consulting firm Kasina, is leaving the business where he spent nine years to join Vanguard next month. He will serve as head of marketing in the retail marketing department.
11/05/2010

Henderson GI steps up development of institutional client base in France

After several years of presence in France with a distribution office in Paris, Henderson Global Investors (HGI) now has assets under management of over EUR1bn for clients served by the French office. In France, the clients of Henderson Global Investors continue to consist largely of funds of funds. “But we have diversified into institutionals, which now represent 20% to 30% of our clients, compared with 20% for private banks,” says Patricia Kaveh, director of development for Henderson Global Investors in France, Monaco and Geneva. At the end of May, a new recruit from OFI AM will join the HGI sales team in Paris. “This person will clearly have an institutional client bias, and will help us to strengthen our market share in this target area,” says Kaveh. So far, the first months of this year have proved promising for HGI, Kaveh says. Net subscriptions in France have totalled EUR200m since the beginning of 2010. In 2009, HGI posted net inflows of EUR100m in France.
11/05/2010

Fidelity appoints two heirs apparent to Ed Johnson III

Fidelity has clarified the question of who will succeed Edward C. Johnson III, with the appointment of two people to work directly under the orders of the president & CEO. The management firm has recruited Ronald P. O’Hanley, president and CEO of BNY Mellon Asset Management, as director of asset management and corporate services, while Abigail Johnson, president of personal & workplace investing, and also Johnson’s daughter, is promoted to the head of all distribution channels, and also becomes president of institutional services, the Wall Street Journal reports. Jacques Perold will retain his position as head of the mutual fund management firm, Fidelity Management & Research Co. At BNY Mellon AM, the position left vacant by O’Hanley will be occupied in the interim by Jonathan Little, vice chairman, and Mitchell Harris, head of the currencies and bonds division.
11/05/2010

Legg Mason spends USD200m on rationalisation of activities

For the fourth quarter of its fiscal year, ending on 31 March, Legg Mason has announced net profits of USD63.6m, compared with USD44.9m in October-December, and a loss of USD330.2m in the corresponding period of last year. For the fiscal year as a whole, net profits totalled USD204.4m, compared with losses of USD2bn due to impairment charges and bailouts of money market funds. Assets as of the end of March totalled USD684.5bn, compared with USD681.6bn as of the end of December, and USD632.4bn one year previously. Net redemptions in the period were down to USD82bn from USD158.9bn, and market effects were positive to the tune of USD134.1bn, compared with negative market effects of USD157.7bn in 2008-2009. Mark R. Fetting, chairman & CEO, also announced that Legg Mason, which has Usd1bn in cash, is planning to rationalise its activities, and will spend USD190m to USD210m on the project over 18 months, to result in sustainable savings of USD130m-USD150m per year, and a 6-8% improvement in profit margins by the end of the 2011-2012 fiscal year.
11/05/2010

Skandia confie un mandat à une gérante d'Aegon

Selon Investment Week, Skandia a retiré l’un de ses plus gros mandats à Lazard pour le confier à Audrey Ryan de Aegon.Le mandat de 130 millions de livres qui porte sur les actions britanniques couvre une série de fonds dont le Global Dynamic Equity (850 millions de livres) et la palette de fonds à objectifs de risque. Le mandat était précédemment sous la responsabilité d’Alain Custis qui gère notamment le Lazard UK Alpha fund (288 millions de livres). Skandia précise que ce changement n’est pas lié à des résultats sous-performants de la part de Lazard mais à une volonté d’avoir un gérant plus pragmatique et flexible dans un marché beaucoup plus volatil. Skandia connaît bien Audrey Ryan, qui gère déjà des parties d’un certain nombre de fonds maison.
11/05/2010

Credit Suisse acquires Prime Fund Solutions

Fortis Bank Nederland has sold its Prime Fund Solutions (PFS) division, a specialist in hedge fund accounting and administration, to Credit Suisse, in a deal which allows the Swiss group to add to both the equities branch of its investment bank and its activities serving hedge funds, says Philip Vasan, head of prime services. The acquisition price has not been disclosed.
11/05/2010

Pimco has stopped buying Spanish bonds

Bill Gross (Pimco), Edouard Carmignac (Carmignac Patrimoine), Fidelity, DWS (Deutsche Bank), Investec and several other major international managers have not been buying up any more Spanish bonds for some time. The funds which are beginning to turn their backs on Spanish bonds already hold 17.3% of the country’s public debt, Expansión points out. The newspaper adds that managers are explaining that their abstinence is due to an increase in volatility and not by a risk of default.
11/05/2010

Rathbone UTM launches two multi-asset class funds

Money Marketing reports that Rathbone Uni Trust Management, an affiliate of Rathbone Brothers, has opened its total return and growth strategy portfolios, multi-asset class funds which are managed by David Coombs, to IFAs. The former portfolio aims to outperform the Libor 6-month by 200 basis points with volatility one third of the MSCI World in pounds Sterling, while the latter aims to beat the consumer price index by 500 basis points, with volatility equivalent to two thirds of that of the MSCI World index in pounds Sterling.
11/05/2010

Credit Suisse Euroreal spared from redemptions

Credit Suisse (Deutschland) announced on Friday that, so far, the open-ended real estate fund CS Euroreal (EUR6.28bn in assets as of the end of March) has not suffered from the massive redemptions which have affected other products such as the SEB Immoinvest and KanAm grundinvest funds (see Newsmanagers of 10 May). Following net subscriptions in the first four months of the year, outflows in the week after the publication of a draft law on real estate funds were limited to EUR80m, or 1.27% of assets.
11/05/2010

Morgan Stanley RE freezes subscriptions to P2 Value

On Monday, the German management firm Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investments GmbH announced that it is also suspending subscriptions to its open-ended real estate fund P2 Value (EUR1.45bn), from which redemptions are already frozen until 30 October. The decision is explicitly tied to the fact that the value of several properties in the portfolio will probably need to be revised downward, and to recent regulatory developments (including a proposal to require advance notice for redemption, require a minimal investment period, and impose a 10% downward adjustment to asset valuations).
11/05/2010

HSBC Trinkaus launches a new rotation fund

On Monday, HSBC Global Asset Management (Deutschland) GmbH announced that it has extended its range of rotation funds with the addition of the HSBC Trinkaus Global Country Rotation (DE0009757310), which was born from a change in the management concept of the HSBC Trinkaus Top Europa (launched on 2 March 1998), and managed, like the HSBC Trinkaus Sector Rotation fund, by Babak Kiam. However, though the Sector Rotation fund is long only, the new product is a long/short, multi-asset class product which focuses on country indices and does not prioritise individual stock-picking. Exposure to market risk may not exceed 200% of the portfolio, excluding derivatives. Characteristics Name: HSBC Trinkaus Global Country Rotation ISIN: DE0009757310 Front-end fee: 5% Management commission: 1.25% Performance commission: 20% of performance exceeding the MSCI-World-Total-Return-Index in Euros
11/05/2010

EDRIM launches an emerging markets flexible fund

Edmond de Rothschild Investment Managers (Edrim)on 10 May announced the launch of a flexible fund, entitled Multiflex Emerging, which aims to participate in the dynamism of emerging markets, while at the end of each year, ensuring the protection of at least 80% of capital invested, compared with its level at the end of the previous calendar year. The fund relies on two approaches which provide exposure to emerging markets while strongly lowering volatility compared with direct investment: on the one hand, multi-management through diversification, and on the other, the MultiFlex process, with a graduated allocation mechanism that increases exposures to markets when they rise, and reduces allocations when they fall. The fund’s allocation is divided into dynamisation and a protection portions. The former is the major source of returns for the portfolio, and takes advantage of investment opportunities on emerging markets through a selection of the best managers specialised in these markets, chosen by Edmond de Rothschild Investment Managers. The protection portion is used for risk management. It is composed of Euro zone government bonds with the highest ratings as direct investments, and money market instruments.
11/05/2010

Optima Fund Management takes on a new partner

The US management firm Optima Fund Management (USD3.5bn in assets under management) has announced the recruitment of Rachel Minard to the newly-created position of Partner and Managing Director. Minard, who has more than 18 years’ experience in hedge fund sales and marketing, will be responsible for developing relations with institutional clients.
10/05/2010

Souscriptions nettes pour SEB Wealth Management

La division Wealth Management de la banque suédoise SEB, regroupant les clients institutionnels et la banque privée, a vu ses encours augmenter de 2 % au premier trimestre 2010 à 1.300 milliards de couronnes suédoises (132 milliards d’euros environ). Cela est dû notamment à des souscriptions nettes de 19 milliards de couronnes, dont 14 milliards auprès de la clientèle institutionnelle. Le bénéfice d’exploitation ressort à 360 millions de couronnes, en repli de 10 % par rapport aux 402 millions du quatrième trimestre 2004, mais en hausse de 75 % par rapport au premier trimestre 2009.
10/05/2010
Fonds

Le Santander change la plupart des fonds sous-jacents du Superselección

Depuis le 3 mai, Santander Asset Management a changé la composition du portefeuille de son fonds garanti Supersellección (320 millions d’euros). Par ailleurs, la commission de gestion est majorée à 1,66 % contre 1,61 %, indique Funds People.Seul le fonds BL Global Bond Cap de Banque du Luxembourg est maintenu dans la sélection, avec une pondération de 4,42 %. Les six autres gérants sont nouveaux par rapport à la liste de l’an dernier. Pour l’obligataire, il s’agit de BlackRock (BGF Euro Bond Fund, 27,1 %) et de Parvest (Euro Bond, 18,8 %). Pour les actions, Santander AM a retenu le Metzler European Growth (10,7 %), le Meridian Funds European Value de MFS (14,23 %), l’Alger American Asset Growth (4,5 %) et le Allianz US Equity (20,5 %).
Fonds
10/05/2010

Popular Gestión va se renforcer à l'international

Miguel Colombás, directeur général, annonce dans Expansión que Popular Gestión (7,6 milliards d’euros, en comptant Popular Gestión Privada) a l’intention de s'établir à Luxembourg lorsque la directive OPCVM IV entrera en vigueur (en 2011) et de se faire enregistrer par les principales plates-formes de fonds en Espagne. D’autre part, la société de gestion souhaite gagner des clients parmi les investisseurs institutionnels.Rafael Hurtado, directeur des investissements, indique pour sa part que Popular Gestión va renforcer son effectif, qui est de 22 professionnels de l’investissement sur un effectif de 53 collaborateurs. Cet effort va se focaliser sur les fonds diversifiés et la sélection active, avec un focus spécial sur les fonds de fonds.

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