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19/06/2009

Serge Ledermann rejoint la banque Heritage

Selon L’Agefi suisse, Serge Ledermann, l’ancien associé de Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch, dirigera dès le 15 juillet le département d’asset management d’Heritage et siègera au comité exécutif. L’arrivée de Serge Ledermann confirme la confiance en l’avenir d’Heritage, après le recrutement de Roland Knecht en tant que responsable du private banking et des projets en Europe de l’Est, au Proche Orient, en Asie et en Amérique latine. Les avoirs sous gestion de Heritage s’élevaient fin 2008 à 5,2 milliards de francs contre 4,3 fin 2007.
19/06/2009

La Commerzbank vendrait sa gestion de fortune

Une porte-parole de la Commerzbank a refusé jeudi de commenter les rumeurs persistantes selon lesquelles la banque allemande vendrait ses filiales Commerzbank (Schweiz) et Dresdner Bank (Schweiz), se retirant ainsi que marché de la gestion de fortune au profit des particuliers allemands, indique la Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Ces deux entités affichent respectivement 4,5 milliards et 9,4 milliards de francs suisse d’encours. Le plus gros gestionnaire de fortune allemand en Suisse est la Deutsche Bank, avec 40 milliards de francs.
19/06/2009

KKR pourrait renoncer à se coter à New York

La société américaine de private equity KKR envisage d’annuler son projet de s’introduire sur la Bourse de New York, affirment des sources proches du dossier citées par le Financial Times. KKR prévoyait de fusionner ses activités avec KKR Private Equity Investors, coté sur Euronext, et d’introduire le tout sur le New York Stock Exchange.
19/06/2009

L’activité de trading de Madoff renaît de ses cendres

L’activité de market making de Bernard Madoff, qui a fonctionné pendant des années en parallèle au plan Ponzi, a été relancée sous le nom de Surge Trading, rapporte le Financial Times. L’entité sera dirigée par Frank Petrilli, l’ancien directeur général de TD Waterhouse, et deviendra un market maker en actions cotées sur le Nasdaq et le NYSE. La société n’a aucune intention de raviver l’activité d’investissement de Madoff, qui était en fait une fraude.
19/06/2009

BNY Mellon rachète ses préférentielles au Trésor

Bank of New York Mellon a annoncé jeudi avoir racheté pour presque 3,04 milliards de dollars les 3 millions d’actions préférentielles que le Trésor des Etats-Unis avait acquises en octobre 2008 dans le programme TARP. Cela représente la valeur liquidative des titres plus 36,25 millions de dollars de dividendes échéant au Trésor mais non versés par BNY Mellon. Cette opération se solde pour BNY Mellon par une charge exceptionnelle après impôt de 197 millions de dollars au titre du deuxième trimestre.Par ailleurs, BNY Mellon a indiqué qu’elle envisage de notifier au Trésor son intention d’acquérir "à une juste valeur de marché» l’option d’achat que détient le gouvernement américain sur 14,5 millions d’actions ordinaires du groupe.
19/06/2009
Fonds

Les fonds à horizon sous le feu de la critique

Jeudi, les fonds à horizon ont essuyé un tir de barrage à cause de leurs mauvaises performances récentes lors d’une audition organisée par la SEC et le Département du Travail. En effet, des fonds à 2010 ont perdu 22,5 % en 2008, d’après Morningstar, d’autres avec pour échéance les années 2011 à 2015 accusant des chutes de 28 %. Le Putnam RetirementReady 2010 Fund, très conservateur, a perdu 26 %, alors que l’un des plus agressifs, le T. Rowe Price Retirement 2010 Fund perdait 27 %.Selon The Wall Street Journal, le problème est devenu d’autant plus critique que, depuis 2006, les employeurs sont encouragés à faire adhérer automatiquement leurs salariés à des plans d'épargne 401(k) et investir leurs contributions dans ce type de fonds. Les encours se situaient à 164 milliards de dollars fin 2008 contre 71 milliards en 2005. Les représentants des gestionnaires ont défendu ce type de produit, soulignant qu’ils ont en général généré les performances attendues. Et John Ameriks, de Vanguard Group, a souligné que les fonds à horizon ne sont pas destinés à être sans risque ou a fournir un montant garanti de retraite.
Fonds
19/06/2009

Julius Baer veut coter en Bourse Artio

Selon Fundstrategy, Julius Baer prévoit de coter sur le New York Exchange Artio Global Investors, une filiale anciennement connue sous le nom de Julius Baer Americas, en fin d’année, en fonction des conditions de marché.
19/06/2009

Stanford arrested by US authorities

Sir Allen Stanford, the Texas billionaire accused of an USD8bn fraud, was arrested on Thursday evening in Richmond, Virginia, by federal law enforcement officials, the Financial Times reports. Stanford will be brought before a court on Friday morning to respond criminal charges.
19/06/2009

Carmignac increases exposure to India

The investment committee at Carmignac Gestion has recently decided to increase the exposure to India for several funds, Citywire reports. Managers at the firm are enthusiastic about recent political developments in the country.
19/06/2009

Thomas Romig joins Union Investment

Citywire reports that Thomas Romig, recently appointed director of funds of funds at Allianz Global Investors, will be joining Union Investment, which is seeking to rebuild its multi-management activities.
19/06/2009

All Edhec hedge fund strategy indexes show growth in May

The thirteen hedge fund strategies monitored by EDHEC have all posted positive results for May, with the best returns for convertible arbitrage (6.09%) and long/short equity (5.65%).Since the beginning of the year, only dedicated short bias and CTA Global are still showing losses, of 6.8% and 1.5%, respectively. The two categories of hedge funds which have posted the best results are convertible arbitrage (21.6%) and emerging markets (17.2%).In terms of annualised average performance since January 2001, the best-performing strategy is emerging markets (11.3%), ahead of distressed securities (9.5%). No strategy shows negative performance over this period.
19/06/2009

Investors called on to protect rights of indigenous peoples

The research firm Eiris, the Centre for Australian Research (CAER) and Survival International have announced in a statement that they are supporting a program which aims to “facilitate engagement between investors and businesses in which they invest, to promote and respect the rights of indigenous peoples worldwide.” The initiative follows a recent Eiris study of the challenges and opportunities which major businesses are facing in regions of the world where the rights of indigenous peoples are threatened. Bob Walker, VP Sustainability at Ethical Funds of Canada, claims that risks of opposition by indigenous peoples to specific projects of are real for investors. But the businesses, he says, have a real opportunity to seize by contributing to economic and community development in regions where they are present.
19/06/2009

Investors not interested enough in emerging markets, says Hexam

Investors’ exposure to emerging markets is too low, according to Bryan Collings, managing partner at Hexam Capital Partners, an asset management boutique based in London and specialised in emerging markets, partly owned by Ignis Asset Management. “In the United Kingdom, investors tipycally hold no more than 5% in emerging markets. Emerging markets have the majority of the world’s growth, the world’s land, the world’s resources, 80% of the world’s population and the world’s savings with about 75% of global foreign exchange reserves,» he explains in a newsletter. «It makes no sense to have so low an allocation to such a large and important part of the world.» He points out that the International Monetary Fund predicts that developed economies will contract by 2% in 2009, while emerging economies will grow by 3.3%, at constant exchange rates. In the emerging world, Bryan Collings estimates that the markets that will perform best are those whose fundamentals remain intact. He mentions China, Brazil and Russia, which he says are intrinsically “safer” than the developed world.
19/06/2009

Bramdean board of directors replaced

Vincent Tchenguiz has ousted the board of directors at Bramdean Alternatives, which may be the prelude to a liquidation of assets, the Financial Times reports. The real estate entrepreneur was supported by Man Group, Progressive Asset Management and Brit Insurance, among others. In total, 56% of shareholders voted in favour of the replacement of the directors.
19/06/2009

Heavy pension cut for a banker

Fred Goodwin, former head of RBS, has agreed to a reduction of his pension, La Tribune reports. His annual benefits will be reduced from GBP703,000 to GBP212,500.
19/06/2009

Commerzbank to sell wealth management operations

A spokesperson for Commerzbank on Thursday refused to comment on persistent rumours that the German bank may be preparing to sell its affiliates Commerzbank (Schweiz) and Dresdner Bank (Schweiz), pulling out of the wealth management market serving German retail clients, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. The two entities have CHF4.5bn and CHF9.4bn in assets under management, respectively. The largest German wealth manager in Switzerland is Deutsche Bank, with CHF40bn.
19/06/2009

Fitch emphasizes financial health of asset management firms

Fitch Ratings has updated its ratings methodology for asset management firms, following the recent financial crisis. The goal is to “reflect the evolution of the asset management sector and the lessons learned from recent events on the markets.”The ratings agency will now place the emphasis on the financial condition and “sustainability” of asset management firms. A bad rating for this criterion will result in a low overall rating. Fitch points out that the crisis has put an end to rapid growth in the asset management sector, which at its peak had USD70trn. Assets fell by about 20-25% in 2008. “As a result, the viability of many asset managers’ business models is under pressure (…). In such an environment, which is expected to last, evaluating the vulnerability of an asset management firm has never been as important,” says Aymeric Poizot, head of EMEA funds at Fitch’s Asset Manager Rating Group.The revised methodology also gives increased weight to governance, organisation and participants in the management firm, and the integration of risk management into portfolio management.Fitch has also unified its ratings scales for Asset Manager Ratings. All managers rated by the agency (traditional managers, fund of hedge fund managers, CDO managers and real estate managers) will now be rated from “M1” to “M5,” with “M1” the highest rating on the scale.
19/06/2009

Madoff trading activity rises from the ashes

The market making activities of Bernard Madoff, which operated for years alongside his Ponzi scheme, have been relaunched under the name Surge Trading, the Financial Times reports. The entity will be directed by Frank Petrilli, former CEO of TD Waterhouse, and will become an equities market maker listed on the NASDAQ and the NYSE. The firm has no intention of reviving Madoff’s investment activities, which were in fact a fraud.
19/06/2009

JPMAM releases five bond funds

JP Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM) on Thursday announced the release in Germany of five bond funds, three of them government bond funds launched on 20 February, and two corporate bond funds launched on 27 February. All of them are sub-funds of the Luxembourg Sicav JPMorgan Funds. In addition to the JPM Euro Government Bond Fund, launched in April 2008, the US manager now offers the JPM Global Bond Fund, the JPM Euro Government Short Duration Bond Fund, and the JPM Global Government Short Duration Bond Fund. The funds are managed by David Tan under the responsibility of the global CIO, fixed income and forex, Bob Michele.JPMAM is also offering the JPM Global Corporate Bond Fund and the JPM Euro Curprorate Bond Fund, managed by Lisa Coleman, head of global credit. The actively-managed funds invest in investment grade bonds and avoid all investment in ABS, MBS, and CDOs.
19/06/2009

Madoff: Geneva Partners presses criminal charges against a Santander affiliate

L’Agefi Switzerland reports that Franck Berlamont, head of the wealth management firm Geneva Partners, on 9 March filed criminal charges against Optimal Investment Services, an affiliate of the Spanish bank Santander. Geneva Partners accuses Optimal Investment Services of securities fraud with the objective of financial gain, says Carlo Lombardini, counsel for Mr. Berlamont, confirming reports published on Thursday in Le Temps. The independent wealth management firm had placed a part of the assets of its clients in funds designed by Optimal Investment Services (OIS). In total, Optimal Investment Services placed over USD3bn (CFH3.25bn) with Bernard Madoff. In January, Santander agreed to pay USD235m to clients, to settle suits filed by the court-appointed liquidator for Madoff’s assets, Irving Picard. But this offer, limited to account-holders at the Spanish bank, did not include institutions which had money invested with Optimal Investment Services.
19/06/2009

CAAM to charge commissions on money market funds

Crédit Agricole Asset Management is reportedly planning to charge performance commissions for traditional money market funds aimed at institutional investors of about 50% on the outperformance over the Eonia. To offset the poor performance of money market investments, portfolios will take on short-term bonds, as some enhenced money market Sicav funds were doing before the crisis.
19/06/2009

Erste Sparinvest launches a fund to protect against inflation

The asset management firm for Erste Bank and the Austrian savings banks, Erste Sparinvest (EUR23.2bn in assets) ,on Thursday announced the launch on 1 July of a fund which aims to protect investors against possible increases in inflation. The product, the Espa Inflation Protect 2014, will invest exclusively in inflation-indexed bonds of the best quality (German and French government bonds). At maturity, in five years’ time, the investor will receive all initial capital, plus a real return which as of 29 May 2009 totalled 1.2%. Subscriptions will close on 30 June, but investors may subscribe after that date. Details Name: Espa Inflation Protect 2014 ISIN Code AT0000A0DNZ4 (distribution) AT0000A0DP03 (capitalisation) Maturity 1 July 2009- 30 June 2014 Initial value EUR100 as of 1 July 2009 Front-end fee 2.00% Management commission 0.40% Exit fee 0.25% (contributed to the fund)
19/06/2009

Target-date funds sustain criticism

On Thursday, target-date funds sustained a barrage of criticism due to their poor performance recently, at a hearing organised by the SEC and the US Department of Labour. Funds which mature in 2010 lost 22.5% in 2008, according to Morningstar, while others which mature in 2011 to 2015 lost as much as 28%. The highly conservative Putnam RetirementReady 2010 Fund lost 26%, while one of the most aggressive funds, the T. Rowe Price Retirement 2010 Fund, lost 27%.According to the Wall Street Journal, the problem has become quite critical because, since 2006, employers have been encouraged to automatically sign their employees up for 401(k) savings plans and invest their contributions in funds of this type. Assets totalled USD164bn at the end of 2008, compared with USD71bn in 2005.Representatives of the asset management firms defended products of this type, pointing out that in general, they have generated the expected returns. John Ameriks of Vanguard Group pointed out that target-date funds are not inteded to be risk-free or to provide a guaranteed amount for retirement.
19/06/2009

Près d’un milliard d’euros de perdus pour les fonds immobiliers en 2008

Selon la dernière «Etude en bref» : «Les fonds immobiliers français " de l’Institut de l’Epargne Immobilère et Foncière, les OPCVM immobiliers ont enregistré une décollecte de 888 millions d’euros en 2008. Ce chiffre est à rapprocher de la capitalisation globale de l’ensemble de ces fonds, qui l’an dernier, s’élevait à 2,542 milliards d’euros.
19/06/2009

SEC may require hedge funds to register

Mary Schapiro, chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, announced on Wednesday that the agency is still studying a law that would require hedge funds to register with the regulator, the Wall Street Journal reports. The proposal is not part of Barack Obama’s proposed legislation.
19/06/2009

Madoff: Fingers pointed at French asset managers

Les Echos reports that some impatient investors, seeing that lawsuits against the Swiss firm UBS, depository for the Luxembourg Sicav Luxalpha, are proving fruitless, are turning against their intermediaries. Several claims have already been heard in court. Crédit Mutuel, Dexia, Natixis and BNP Paribas have already been named in lawsuits.
19/06/2009

China ready to invest in hedge funds

Sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp (CIC) is planning to invest USD500m in the hedge fund division of Blackstone Group, which manages about USD26bn, the Wall Street Journal reports. On Tuesday, the CIC made its first real estate investment, placing AUD200m with Goodman Group. The CIC also invested USD3.2bn in a USD4bn fund managed by J.C. Flowers & Co, which aims to exploit opportunities in the financial sector.
19/06/2009

KKR may call off plans for New York IPO

The US private equity firm KKR is considering cancelling plans for an initial offering on the New York stock exchange, according to people familiar with the matter cited by the Financial Times. KKR had planned to merge its activities with KKR Private Equity Investors, listed on Euronext, and to list the merged entity on the New York Stock Exchange.

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