Les dirigeants de KIA (Kuwait Investment Authority) ont accordé un entretien au quotidien en marge de la célébration à Londres des soixante ans du fonds souverain. Le Royaume-Uni, et particulièrement le secteur des infrastructures, constitue une priorité. Ce secteur bénéficie selon le directeur général Bader al-Saad «l’un des meilleurs environnements au monde». Le fonds est en quête d’opportunités pour des investissements au sein de secteurs très réglementés dans des actifs déjà existants générant des liquidités. KIA pourrait consacrer à ce thème d’investissement jusqu’à 5 milliards de dollars au cours des 3 à 5 prochaines années.

Les entreprises japonaises affichent une confiance retrouvée et projettent d'augmenter leurs investissements de 5,5% sur l'année fiscale

Alors que Standard Chartered déplace de Londres à Hong Kong son responsable mondial, Deutsche Bank installe un coffre fort d’or à Singapour

L'Isda estime que ces opérations ont pesé à hauteur de 4.100 milliards de dollars en 2012 sur les CDS, dont les encours ont chuté de 12,7%

Les liquidités représentent désormais 6,5% des portefeuilles des panélistes selon les prévisions de juillet contre 4,6% auparavant

Les gestions sont nombreuses à s’alléger en actions, qui ne pèsent plus que 50% du portefeuille (-1 point)

Les gestions ont revu leurs prévisions à la baisse après le recul des Bourses en juin. L’EuroStoxx devrait rebondir le plus au second semestre

Selon l'AMF, la société héritière de SGAM se serait retrouvée en situation de conflit d'intérêts dans la gestion d'un fonds contenant des CDO

Société Générale Gestion risque 300.000 euros d’amende pour conflit d’intérêts : elle était collateral manager d’un fonds dont elle assurait aussi la gestion.

Deutsche Bank estime que la hausse des taux d'intérêt ne devrait pas compromettre le redressement amorcé aux Etats-Unis

Les économistes assurent que les perspectives économiques sont un peu meilleures dans la zone

Les économistes assurent que les perspectives économiques sont un peu meilleures dans la zone

Christophe Aubin, directeur adjoint des investissements de Crédit Agricole Assurances à l’occasion d’une conférence organisée par Aberdeen sur la prime de liquidité : La direction des investissements groupe investit sur l’ensemble du spectre des actifs de diversification avec une préférence pour l’immobilier prime et la gestion alternative, dont les portefeuilles peuvent être liquidés sur une période de 6 mois et un an. Le groupe privilégie les fonds de fonds multigérants et multistratégies ainsi que les comptes gérés. En termes de stratégie, nous nous positionnons sur l’arbitrage (futures).

La consommation des ménages français en biens a augmenté de 0,5% en mai par rapport au mois précédent du fait d’un rebond des achats alimentaires, selon les données publiées vendredi par l’Insee. La baisse du mois d’avril a été révisée à -0,5% contre -0,3% annoncé auparavant. L’Insee fait état d’une hausse de 0,4% des dépenses en bien durables le mois dernier, après +1,3% en avril, due notamment à l’automobile (+0,9% après +2,0%). Les achats en équipement du logement ont en revanche baissé légèrement (-0,1% après +0,4%). Après une forte hausse en mars (+2,6%) et une chute en avril (-3,4%), la consommation en produits alimentaires a rebondi de 1,4% en mai.

Le représentant du collège de l’Autorité des marchés financiers a requis ce matin une amende «supérieure ou égale» à 300.000 euros à l’encontre de Société Générale Gestion pour des manquements dans la gestion d’un fonds commun de placement en 2010. Le régulateur reproche à la filiale d’Amundi un conflit d’intérêt lié à sa double casquette de gestionnaire de SG Prudence PEA et de «collateral manager» d’une tranche de CDO (collateralized debt oglibations) logée dans ce fonds. En outre, la société n’aurait pas valorisé de façon «précise et indépendante» ces CDO et des swaps de performance et elle n’aurait pas informé les porteurs de parts du «caractère structurellement baissier de la valeur du FCP». Société Générale Gestion invoque une situation héritée de SGAM, lors de la création d’Amundi, et rejette les accusations, estimant qu’il n’y a «pas de profits, pas de préjudice, pas d’intention».

Carlyle Group et TPG Capital figurent parmi les sociétés de capital-investissement qui convoitent MoneyGram International, le numéro deux mondial du transfert d’argent. Bain Capital et GTCR participent aussi à la procédure d’enchères orchestrée par Bank of America.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The Spanish asset management firm Bestinver (Acciona group) has decided to open a commercial representative and analytical office in London. The new office comes in addition to two other existing analysis and investment centres in Madrid and Shanghai. In the next two years, the MD and star manager at the asset management firm, Francisco García Paramés, will personally direct the London office, dedicating most of his time to analysis.From the point of view of sales activity, the decision marks a new step in the geographical diversification strategy for Bestinver investors. “This strategy, initiated four years ago, means that today, one third of total assets are of international origin, which guarantees better stability in our investments,” Beltrán Parages Reverter, director of sales at Bestinver Gestión, says in a statement.In terms of asset management, the London office will primarily allow Bestinver to be closer to companies in which it invests, and more generally to improve its access to information about businesses “which are, or which may be investment targets. London is the main European financial and investment centre, and we think that this location will help us in our management activity, since 80% of the wealth managed by the Bestinver group is invested in European businesses,” says Reverter.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Pending the approval of the regulatory authorities, John Misselbrook has been appointed as interim CEO of Aviva Investors (GBP274bn as of the end of December 2012), replacing Paul Abberley, who becomes head of investments, effective immediately.Misselbrook had previously been non-executive director of Aviva Investors, and he has served in operational management roles in the financial services sector, including as COO of Barings.

Christian Dargnat, freshly elected as president of EFAMA, the European Fund and Asset Management Association, and also CEO of BNP Paribas Asset Management, has described to Newsmanagers the four priorities which will guide his two-year term, and that will be soon introduced to the board at the association.The first point is that asset management must appear as a long-term investment. “Today, we have an image problem with regulators and politicians. Asset managers are placed in a category with bankers and insurers. But we are different,” says Dargnat, at the Fund Forum International in Monaco. “We need long-term investment, and if there is an industry which can do that, it’s asset management,” he adds. He points out that in France, life insurance has hitherto served in this role. In order to achieve this mission, the EFAMA president would like to use three techniques: integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria, with the ambition of finding a common definition of socially responsible investment for Europe, the creation of a long-term investment fund under UCITS 6, and the establishment of portable pensions.The second priority for Dargnat is to “demonstrate to our fellow citizens that asset management delivers added value.” He says that “if you want growth, you have to restart investments, you need savings.” Asset management comes to the rescue again. “Regulators are spending their time punishing us and considering us as bankers. We need to show them that thanks to the savings we capture, we are at the service of the economy,” he says.Pedagogy is a third core priority of the new EFAMA president. This means highlighting the interests of clients, restoring their trust and bringing them closer to professionals. That must involve a simplification of the message, as the client does not necessarily need to know everything that is under the hood of a fund. More concretely, he points to initiatives in Sweden and Italy, where the asset management professional associations send representatives to school to explain what the profession is.Lastly, Dargnat would like to make the voice of EFAMA better heard, at a time when regulations affecting asset management are increasing at a frenetic pace. To do that, he sees a need for more unity and the addition of more members, in order to strengthen the resources of the association.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } According to fondweb.de, Franklin Templeton has decided to close its equity product Templeton Frontier Markets Fund, managed by Mark Mobius snce 14 October 2008, to new investors from 28 June, 2013. Current shareholders will be allowed to continue to invest. The soft closing aims to protect performance for existing subscribers, to allow the management team to continue to deploy a value strategy. As of 31 March, the Luxembourg-registered fund had assets of USD1.836bn.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The US firm First Trust Advisors is continuing its offensive in Europe. After launching its first three ETFs in April this year (see Newsmanagers of 11 April 2013), First Trust is planning to offer two new products in the AlphaDEX range, one of them dedicated to the euro zone, and the other to international high dividends equities, by September or slightly later, Martin Molère, head of sales at First Trust for continental Europe, has told Newsmanagers. The dividend ETF will offer quarterly liquidity. The ETFs already launched by First Trust, which are domiciled in Ireland and listed in London, are currently available in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and France. Switzerland and Benelux are expected to follow. All ETFs listed use the exclusive AlphaDEX methodology from First Trust, which is designed to select a combination of growth equities and attractive fundamental value. This methodology selects equities from a base universe, and separates them into growth and value categories. The weighting of equities held in ETFs is not based on market capitalisation, but on their AlphaDEX scores. The scores for growth equities are based on three measurements: price appreciation over three, six and twelve months, growth in sales, and their price/sale ratio. The scores for value equities are also based on three measurements: the book price/value ratio, their price/cash flow ratio, and returns on assets. As of 21 June, ETFs under management had USD12bn in assets, compared with USD8.1bn at the beginning of the year. Of this total, the AlphaDEX range currently represents USD5.8bn.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Since the beginning of the year, the Vice Fund, which invests in shares in the alcohol, tobacco, weapons and gambling sectors, may have underperformed the S&P 500, with gains of only 9.47%, compared with 11.5% for the flagship indicator of the US market. But, El Confidencial remarks, over three years, the product from the asset management firm USA Mutuals has beaten the S&P 500, with gains of 16.5% compared with 10.6%.By way of illustration, an investment of USD10,000 in 2002 in the fund would as of 31 March 2013 have been worth USD27,691 for the Vice fund, compared with USD21,229 for the S&P 500.The Vice Fund is 15.6% invested in Altria, 5.6% in Philip Morris, and 4.7% in Lorillard, for tobacco, and 4.1% each in Las Vegas Sands and Galaxy Entertainment, for gambling.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Insight Investment has recruited Philip Anker as global head of distribution, a new position arising from the firm’s desire to develop its activities internationally, Investment Week reports. The current head of distribution, Sarah Aitken, is leaving his job, but the recruitment is not directly related to his departure, as the new position has global reach. Anker, who previously worked at Paloma Partners, a US multi-strategy hedge fund, will be based in London and will join the management bodies at the firm.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The asset management firm Assénagon which already has a presence in Munich and Luxembourg, on 27 June announced that it has opened a representative office in Zurich in order to increase its presence on the Swiss market and to be closer to its institutional clients. The Swiss market will be served by Viktor Senn and Nestor Wildhaber, both of whom were previously at UniCredit in Switzerland, a statement from the firm says. Assets under management at Assénagon total EUR11bn.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; direction: ltr; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); }P.western { font-family: «Times New Roman»,serif; font-size: 12pt; }P.cjk { font-family: «WenQuanYi Micro Hei"; font-size: 12pt; }P.ctl { font-family: «Lohit Hindi"; font-size: 12pt; }A:link { } From hedge funds such as those from Bridgewater Associates and AQR Capital Management to mutual funds and pension funds, products which apply risk parity strategies have been severely affected by the current turmoil on the markets, the Wall Street Journal observes. Risk parity managers use leverage to increase returns on bond investments, in order to make them more closely resemble equity investments.In addition, equities have fallen at the same time as bonds after the Fed suggested that it may slow its quantitative easing policy. To make the situation worse, commodities and inflation-linked securities, which are largely used by risk parity managers, have also seen heavy losses due to the decline of inflationary expectations.According to Morningstar, risk parity mutual funds have seen average losses of 6.75%, while a composite index of 60% S&P 500 and 40% Barclays US Aggregate Bond Index made 6.76%. Risk parity funds often aim to beat a 60/40 benchmark.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } According to El Confidencial, the chairman of Inmobiliaria Colonial, Juan José Bruguera, and deputy director Pere Viñolas are seeking to avoid the Spanish real estate firm being required to accept a bid from the chairman of OHL, Juan Miguel Villar Mir, who, with Mexican billionarire Mariasun Aramburuzabala and the Colombian family Santo Domingo, is offering to inject EUR750m to recapitalise the business, which is burdened with a debt of EUR4bn. To achieve that, Colonial is offering the 57% stake which it holds in the French publicly-traded firm Société Foncière Lyonnaise (SFL) to the Government Pension Fund-Global (GPFG), the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund managed by Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM).

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Dirk de Vlaam, head of marketing & sales at Franklin Templeton for the Netherlands, has told Fondsnieuws that the asset management firm is now offering two share classes with no commissions in the Netherlands, to comply with new regulations that forbid commissions.The “z” share class has been available since last year, and is aimed at financial advisers who do not pass through a platform and who order shares directly from Franklin Templeton. The formula is available from EUR5,000.Franklin Templeton is now launching “w” shares, which are aimed more particularly at banks and wealth managers, with the minimal subscription in this case set at EUR3m.Currently, 26 funds are available in “w” shares, and 36 in “z” shares.

The Asian asset management affiliate of Prudential in the United Kingdom and sister company of M&G, Eastspring Investments, is preparing to open an office in London after settling in Luxembourg in April this year. The objective is to set out to conquer European clients. Despite the European origins of its parent company, 90% of clients of the Hong Kong and Singapore-based firm are Asian.In order to develop in Europe, Eastspring Investments has not needed to create ad-hoc products. The Asian firm has already had a Luxembourg Sicav since the mid-2000s. It has been used to serve Asian clients, the UCITS format being an effective passport in this market. In addition to a track record of several years, the Sicav with 45 sub-funds already has assets of USD20bn, while the firm has nearly USD100bn in assets under management (of which 60% are managed for its parent company, 33% for retail and 7% for institutional clients).Development in Europe (and the United States), however, were preceded by a rebranding of the Asian asset management affiliate of Prudential. The firm, which is present in 11 Asian countries, had been using a variety of different names related to its parent company. The decision was taken in February this year to unify these and to select a single brand, Eastspring Investments.“The choice of a brand was a major step in our international development process,” Guy Strapp, the new CEO of Eastspring Investments, says at the Fund Forum International in Monaco. Two other reasons are cited as reasons for the timing of the new location in Europe: the need to have a sufficiently long track record for European investors, and the maturity of the market towards investments in Asia.In Europe, the main target countries are the Nordics, with the registration of the Sicav in Sweden, these countries are more sensitive than others to investment in emerging markets. For France, as for Germany and Italy, some hurdles still need to be cleared. Nonethtless, Strapp is planning to move step by step and gradually build a presence in Europe. Although he remains discreet about objectives, he does not conceal his admiration for the success of sister company M&G in Europe...

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; direction: ltr; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); }P.western { font-family: «Times New Roman»,serif; font-size: 12pt; }P.cjk { font-family: «WenQuanYi Micro Hei"; font-size: 12pt; }P.ctl { font-family: «Lohit Hindi"; font-size: 12pt; }A:link { } The CNMV has issued a sales license for Spain to Legg Mason Global AM for the equity funds Legg Mason Clearbridge Tactical Dividend Income and Legg Mason ClearBridge US Equity Income and for the bond fund Legg Mason Brandywine Income Optimiser.Funds People notes that, according to Bernardo Rivero de Aguilar, co-head of sales at Legg Mason for Spain, the three products have in common the characteristic of delivering regular income, “but not at any price.”

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; direction: ltr; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); }P.western { font-family: «Times New Roman»,serif; font-size: 12pt; }P.cjk { font-family: «WenQuanYi Micro Hei"; font-size: 12pt; }P.ctl { font-family: «Lohit Hindi"; font-size: 12pt; }A:link { } Citigroup and HSBC have received permission to sell local funds in China, a breakthrough at a time when foreign bankers are usually excluded from the domestic retail market, the Financial Times reports. The two banks will now be able to offer funds designed by local asset management firms for retail, corporate and institutional investors. Other foreign banks, such as Standard Chartered and Bank of East Asia, have also applied for licenses to sell local funds.