Recherche
S'abonner
Connexion
Asset Management
Accueil Asset Management Actualités
03/07/2009

HDF Finance : Gilles du Fretay prend du recul

Gilles du Fretay abandonne la présidence du directoire de HDF Finance et devient président du conseil de surveillance. Il est remplacé dans ses fonctions par Christian de Juniac, qui était jusqu'à présent président du conseil de surveillance.Ce tour de passe-passe s’explique par le fait que Gilles du Fretay, âgé de plus de 65 ans, a décidé de prendre des responsabilités moins exécutives. HDF Finance avait adopté une structure à directoire et conseil de surveillance tout récemment.
03/07/2009

Inverco lance une plate-forme pour promouvoir les fonds

Ángel Martínez Aldama, directeur général de l’association espagnole Inverco des sociétés de gestion, dirige le projet Observatorio Inverco, une plate-forme qui aura pour mission de rapprocher les particuliers du secteur du placement collectif, fonds d’investissement et fonds de pension.Ce chantier comportera l’organisation de journées d’information et de cycles de formation destinés aux petits porteurs ainsi que la fourniture d’information à valeur ajoutée (notes de conjoncture et de marchés) ainsi qu’une participation «active» aux forums de l’investissement. Il existe d’ores et déjà pour toutes ces initiatives le site Internet à l’adresse http://www.observatorioinverco.es/.L’observatoire aura aussi pour mission le suivi des grandes tendances d’allocation d’actifs des épargnants ainsi que la réalisation d'études sur la perception des sociétés de gestion par le public. Cela se concrétisera sous la forme d’un baromètre semestriel.Les animateurs du projet, autour d'Ángel Martínez Aldama, sont Juan Cotorruelo (BBVA AM), Carmen Giménez (Invercaixa), Javier Mazarredo (Santander AM), Carmen Ortiz (Popular Gestión), Gonzalo Rengifo (Pictet) et Fernando Triano (Gesmadrid).
03/07/2009

Forum Finance Group se renforce

Selon L’Agefi suisse, la société de gestion genevoise Forum Finance Group va incorporer du sang neuf en se rapprochant d’une société de gestion de fortune IWM, créée en 2000 à Genève par le biais d’une fusion par absorption entre les deux sociétés anonymes, conclue le 22 juin. Les clients de IWM sont ainsi repris automatiquement par les banques dépositaires au nom de Forum Finance Group, ce qui évite de faire signer un nouveau contrat à chaque client.
03/07/2009

Arrow Hedge confie un mandat à RBC Dexia

RBC Dexia Investor Services annonce avoir été sélectrionné comme prestataire de services de relations avec les actionnaires par le gestionnaire alternatif Arrow Hedge Partners pour une gamme de single hedge funds et de fonds de hedge funds au Canada.
03/07/2009

Reinet se renforce dans le private equity

Selon L’Agefi suisse, la société d’investissement Reinet Investments SCA, qui est basée et cotée à Luxembourg, a acquis en avril dernier, à travers son fonds fermé Reinet Fund SCA FIS, les affaires de merchant banking de Lehman Brothers Holdings à New York et Londres. Reinet, qui résulte d’un spin-off de Compagnie Financière Richemont, a ainsi gagné l’accès à une équipe expérimentée de gérants d’actifs dans le private equity pour un montant modeste.
03/07/2009

HSBC avait prévenu ses clients des risques liés aux titres étrangers

La division de gestion de fortune du groupe britannique HSBC, basée à Genève, avait averti en septembre 2008 ses clients que la détention de titres de certains pays étrangers pouvait impliquer la levée du secret bancaire, indique Le Temps. Le quotidien a révélé mardi que Credit Suisse venait d’émettre une mise en garde similaire.
03/07/2009

Gottex décroche un mandat de Nestlé

Le gérant de fonds de hedge funds Gottex, basé à Lausanne, vient de décrocher un important mandat de la part Nestlé Capital Advisers, société chargée de la gestion de la caisse de pension du géant mondial de l’industrie alimentaire Nestlé, indique Le Temps. Le mandat porte sur des fonds de hedge funds qui doivent suivre deux stratégies : event driven et relative value.
03/07/2009
Fonds

Harcourt lance un fonds "recovery"

Le gestionnaire alternatif suisse Harcourt Investment Consulting AG (Harcourt, 4 milliards de dollars d’encours) annonce avoir lancé le 1er juillet le fonds de hedge funds diversifié Belmont (Lux) Recovery, qui se spécialisera sur le crédit et des actifs accidentés (distressed). L’objectif est une surperformance annuelle stable de 800 points de base par rapport au Libor net de frais, avec un ratio de Sharpe de l’ordre de 1,4. Le Belmont Recovery sera investi dans 15 à 20 fonds
Fonds
03/07/2009

BNY Mellon AS obtient de nouveaux mandats

BNY Mellon Asset Servicing indique avoir obtenu le contrat de conservation, de comptabilité et d’administration de mutual funds de Cullen Funds Trust et d’administration de hedge funds pour Schafer Cullen. Les actifs gérés par ces fonds représentent environ 500 millions de dollars.
03/07/2009

Anglican church pension fund in the red

The Church of England has announced that an examination of its financial situation as of 31 December 2008 has found a deficit of GBP352m, compared with GBP141m as of the end of 2006. The deterioration si due to an overall decline in the value of shares in 2008 and to diminishing returns on government bonds used to calculate the liabilities for the Funded Clergy Pension Scheme. The audit has also found that if the situation remains unchanged until the end of 2009, contribution rates will have to be increased significantly.
03/07/2009

Skandia releases two passive funds to retail investors

“In response to demand on the part of financial advisors,” Skandia has released two passive funds for retail investors, the Skandia UK Index and Skandia Gilt. The products, which had already existed for several years as mandates, will now be available via the Investment Solutions platform from Skandia, life insurance and pension fund product ranges, and directly, from Skandia Investment Management Ltd. In general, Skandia is planning to increase the proportion of passively-managed products in its range. The Skandia UK Index fund has been managed since 2004 by Barclays Global Investors (BGI), while the Skandia Gilt has been managed by Panayotis Ferenedinos at BlackRock since 2002.
03/07/2009

France lags in carbon funds and micro-finance

According to Pierre Bollon, of the French association of asset managers (AFG), who was speaking at the Europlace forum, France is far from being ridiculous in terms of SRI. However, the country is a laggard in respect to its European neighbours, especially Luxembourg, in terms of carbon and micro-finance funds.Pierre Ducret, director of banking services at Caisse des Dépôts, points out that there are legal hindrances to create vehicles that would be allowed to purchase carbon credits. He also suggests that French asset managers should be encouraged to promoted environmental funds. Jean-Luc Perron, managing director of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Microfinance Foundation, points out that less than 1% of funds financing micro-finance institutions are domiciled in France, vs 30% in Luxembourg. This has to do with regulations that makes impossible to set up pure microfinance funds in Paris.
03/07/2009

Marshals seize Madoff apartment

Federal marshals took possession of Bernard Madoff’s USD7 million Manhattan penthouse on Thursday in a move that forced his wife to move elsewhere, says the Wall Street Journal. Proceeds from a sale of the property and its contents could be used to help reimburse those who lost money investing with Mr. Madoff.
03/07/2009

Madoff kickbacks alleged to Sonja Kohn

According to The Wall Street Journal, US, UK and Austrian prosecutors believe that Sonja Kohn, who was chairwoman of Austria’s Bank Medici AG, was paid more than USD40 million in kickbacks to funnel billions of dollars of investments to Bernard Madoff. In exchange for the kickbacks, prosecutors allege, Ms. Kohn turned three Bank Medici funds into «feeder funds» that supplied Mr. Madoff.
03/07/2009

Lupus alpha launches an absolute return fund

The independent management firm Lupus alpha has announced the launch on 2 June of the absolute return fund Lupus alpha LS Duration Corporates Invest, its second bond product. The fund, which complies with UCITS III, combines a long/short concept for the duration of the investments with a passive corporate bond investment strategy. The goal is to take advantage of the potential performance of corporate bonds while protecting investors against interest rate risks. The active management of investments for their duration (-6/+6 years) makes it possible to generate performance even when the bond market is falling, says Ralf Lochmüller, chairman of the partners’ committee at Lupus alpha. The goal in the mid-term is to outperform the Euribor 6 month by 250 basis points, with volatility of 5%. The fund is managed by Egbert Sauer, a partner at Lupus alpha and director of bond management. The new fund has been created in cooperation with State Street Global Advisors, who are in charge of the passive replication of more than 1,000 investment grade corporate bonds of the iBoxx € Corporates index. Lupus alpoha states that it already manages nearly EUR1bn in duration strategies, of which nearly EUR250m are for the new strategy, using corporate bonds as an underlying. Characteristics: Name Lupus alpha LS Duration Corporates Invest ISIN Code DE000A0RDTA6 Initial value of shares EUR100 Front-end fee 4% maximum Management fee 0.75% Performance commission 15% on performance exceeding the Euribor 6-month +250bp with high watermark Withdrawal penalty 1% except on the 15th and the last day of each month
03/07/2009

Funds die like flies

Professionals expect that as much as one fifth of the total 6,276 funds (at end-2008) registered for sale in Germany will be shut down, and that even ETFs will suffer, Die Welt reports. Over the first four months of this year, 131 funds have disappeared and experts reckon that the all-time high of 2003 (347 closures or mergers) will be matched. As far as the twelve bigger fund companies are concerned, half of their 3,500 funds show AUM under EUR50m. Universal Investment shows the biggest proportion of dwarf-funds (see table) but this company actually established a platform for smaller wealth managers, which means that the break-even point should be considerably lower than EUR50m. Fund management company AUR in Germany EUR millions Number of funds Number of funds < EUR50m Total DWS/db x-trackers 127.452 463 948 Deka 102.417 161 384 Union Investment 77.604 34 164 Allianz Global Investors 73.645 287 596 Barclays Global Investors 17.913 44 81 Oppenheim Group 9.910 144 204 Pioneer 9.539 115 364 Universal Investment 9.063 170 205 Franklin Templeton 8.591 25 69 Fidelity 7.075 37 229 Frankfurt Trust 6.526 82 97 UBS Group 4.249 18 145
03/07/2009

Gottex wins a mandate from Nestlé

The manager of the fund of hedge funds Gottex, based in Lausanne, has won a major mandate from Nestlé Capital Advisers, the firm in charge of the management of the pension fund for the global food industry giant Nestlé, Le Temps reports. The mandate covers funds of hedge funds following two strategies: event driven and relative value.
03/07/2009

Harcourt launches a recovery fund

The Swiss alternative management firm Harcourt Investment Consulting AG (Harcourt, USD4bn in assets) has announced the launch on 1 July of the diversified fund of hedge funds Belmont (Lux) Recovery, which will specialise in distressed credit. The objective is to provice stabel annual outperformance 800 basis points above the Libor after fees, with a Sharpe ratio of about 1.4. The Belmont Recovery will be invested in 15 to 20 funds.
03/07/2009

Arrow Hedge awards a mandate to RBC Dexia

RBC Dexia Investor Services has announced that it has been selected as a provider of shareholder relations services by the alternative management firm Arrow Hedge Partners, for a range of single hedge funds and funds of hedge funds in Canada.
03/07/2009

Inverco launches a platform to promote funds

Ángel Martínez Aldama, CEO of the Spanish Inverco association of management firm, is in charge of the Obervatorio Inverco project, a platform which will aim to serve retail investors in the collective investment, investment funds, and pension fund sectors. The program will include information days and training courses for small investors as well as added-value information (conjuncture and market notes), along with an active participation in the investment forums. There is a website for the initiative at http://www.observatorioinverco.es/.
03/07/2009

BNY Mellon AS wins two mandates

BNY Mellon Asset Servicing has announced that it has been awarded mandates for custody, accounting and administration of mutual funds from Cullen Funds Trust, and the administrion of hedge funds from Schafer Cullen. Assets managed by these funds represent about USD500m.
03/07/2009

FRR withdraws a mandate from Robeco Institutional AM

The French national pension fund, the Fonds de réserve pour les retraites (FRR), on Thursday announced that it has withdrawn a mandate from Robeco Institutional Asset Management, awarded in November 2005 for a duration of four years, which covered a portfolio of government bonds and credit denominated in Euros (EUR1.475bn as of 29 May). The withdrawal of the mandate is said to be the result of “continued unsatisfactory financial performance” compared with objectives and the benchmark.
03/07/2009

Parisian market actors sign SRI charter

The French association of asset managers (AFG), the French association of institutional investors (AF2I), the French federation of insurance companies (FFSA), the French bankign federation (FBF) and Paris Europlace on Thursday evening signed a responsible investment (SRI) charter at the Paris Europlace financial sector conference. Representatives of institutional investors, asset management firms and banking and financial businesses pledged to follow three major principles: develop SRI; develop extra-financial information about businesses, and to favour dialogue between issuers and investors; and to favour long-term financing.
03/07/2009

Nikko Asset Management bien convoité

Selon le quotidien japonais Asahi cité par l’Agefi, Sumitomo Mitsui FinancialGroup (SMFG) «souhaiterait acquérir une part du capital de Nikko Asset Management après que Sumitomo Trust and Banking a racheté le gestionnaire d’actifs auprès de Citigroup, pour plus de 100 milliards de de yens (près de 750 millions d’euros)».
03/07/2009

Nikko Asset Management finds interested potential buyers

According to the Japanese newspaper Asahi, cited by L’Agefi, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) “is seeking to acquire a stake in the capital of Nikko Asset Management, after Sumitomo Trust and Banking bought the asset management business from Citigroup for more than JPY100bn (nearly EUR750m).”
03/07/2009

Sweden will prioritise HF directive

According to les Echos, Sweden, which chairs the EU since July 1st, has decided that the draft directive on hedge funds will be one of its priorities for the coming six months.Stockholm aims to find an agreement among all 27 member states by the end of this year, in order to bring about the definitive adoption of the text by mid-2010, after successful negotiations with the EP.
03/07/2009

Credit Suisse rebuilds transition management team

In May 2008, Credit Suisse closed its transition management operations in Europe, and concentrated these activities in New York. Now, the firm has recruited Steve Webster, who was previously head of transition management at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), to head a transition management team, with several recruitments to come, Professional Pensions reports. Webster has also confirmed that Charlie Schaffer from Merrill Lynch has been appointed managing director and co-head of transition management for the United States.
03/07/2009

GAM applies for single hedge fund distributor status

Nora O’Mahony, head of product development at GAM, has told Citywire that the manager has obtained clarification from HMRC (the British tax authorities) about the tax status of leveraged derivatives in offshore funds. As a result, GAM will seek to benefit from the preferential tax status of a “fund distributor,” which will apply to the Global Macro Hedge and GAM Delphic funds, as well as to some of its externally-managed hedge funds.
03/07/2009

Alan Porter promoted at Martin Currie

Martin Currie has promoted Alan Porter to co-manager of its retail fund Martin Currie Global (GBP35m) and Martin Currie Global Alpha (GBP23m), effective from 1 July. Porter joined Martin Currie in September 2008, as a senior member of the global equities team. Martin Currie is a management firm specialised in the active management of equities, based in Edinburgh (GBP9.2bn).
03/07/2009

Hewitt purchases BodeHewitt

Hewitt Associates has purchased from HypoVereinsbank the remaining 73 % of pensions consultant BodeHewitt it didn’t own for an undisclosed sum. The company will be merged with Hewitt Germany.

Sujets d'actualité

Tous les sujets