ING a lancé au début de cette année le fonds ING (L) Liquid Euribor 3M, qui affiche, à ce jour, un encours de 207 millions d’euros. Il s’agit essentiellement de sommes qui ont été investies par des investisseurs déjà clients de la société dans le cadre de leur allocation d’actifs. Le fonds est toutefois entré en phase active de commercialisation et, interrogé par Newsmanagers, Vincent Juvyns, client portfolio manager chez ING IM, table sur des actifs sous gestion de 500 millions d’euros pour la fin de l’année. Compte tenu de la présence en portefeuille de papiers notés Investment Grade - A3/P3/F3 short term - 5 % actuellement -, soit des titres en dessous de ce qu’impose la réglementation, l’OPCVM n’est pas classé fonds monétaire classique (Money Market Funds) mais peut être considéré, selon Vincent Juvyns, comme un fonds «cash equivalent». Et ce d’autant qu'à titre de sécurité, pour les titres affichant la notation minimum, l’exposition du portefeuille ne peut excéder 1 % par émetteurs (et 10% par émetteurs souverain). ING (L) Liquid Euribor 3M a pour objectif de réaliser une performance égale à celle de l’euribor 3 mois sur une période de trois mois.Dans la gamme, le fonds devra trouver sa place à côté, notamment, du fonds monétaire vedette (Short-Term Money Market Funds) de ING IM, ING (L) Liquid euro, qui pèse 4,4 milliards d’euros sur les 8 milliards d’encours que représente cette classe d’actifs chez le gérant batave.Caractéristiques : Code ISIN : LU0396758384 (Part A) /LU0396758541(Part B) /LU0396758897 (Part C)/LU0396759192 (Part E)
Les performances de la chambre de compensation LCH.Clearnet ont déçu, avec une croissance des revenus limitée à 2%, des charges en hausse de 8% et un résultat opérationnel en recul de 13% à 92,8 millions de livres, rapporte L’Agefi. La déception des marchés a fait chuter de 3,95% le cours du London Stock Exchange (LSE), témoignant des doutes que suscite le rachat de 60% par la bourse de Londres du capital de la chambre de compensation. Le prix est jugé très élevé par certains. La bourse de Londres a obtenu de ramener son offre à 15 euros mais ce rabais de 25% ne règle pas tous les problèmes. Le LSE cherche d’ailleurs aujourd’hui à associer la Bourse de Singapour à son offre. Selon de bons connaisseurs du dossier, les synergies ne justifieraient pas le prix payé.
Le nouveau patron de Man Group, Emmanuel Roman, va annoncer une vaste réorganisation de la direction du groupe de hedge funds après sa prise de fonctions le 28 février, rapporte le Financial Times. Ce remaniement, qui doit renforcer le pouvoir du CEO, va conduire à un quasi-doublement de la taille du comité exécutif, lequel se réunira désormais toutes les semaines au lieu de chaque mois. Les détails des changements ont été annoncés au personnel senior dans une note lue par le Financial Times.
L’an dernier, outre-Manche, plus d’une centaine de fonds ouverts ont été soit fusionnés soit liquidés, de nombreuses sociétés de gestion ayant profité de l’entrée en vigueur le 1er janvier 2013 de la réglementation RDR pour rationaliser leurs gammes de produits, rapporte Investment Week.La grande majorité des fonds fusionnés ou liquidés l’an dernier ont sous-performé le rendement moyen des fonds dans leurs secteurs resppectifs sur un an, trois ans et cinq ans.Le rendement moyen des 15 fonds fermés l’an dernier dans le secteur «Global» de l’association des gestionnaires britanniques (IMA) s’inscrivait par exemple à 0,11% sur trois ans, nettement en retrait par rapport au rendement moyen du secteur de 30,11% sur la même période, selon les données de Lipper.Les statistiques de Lipper montrent aussi que certains fonds ont été liquidés alors qu’ils avaient pourtant enregistré des performances parfois exceptionnelles sur trois ans. Ainsi, le Majedie Asset UK Opportunites fund, qui a été fermé en décembre dernier en raison du recul des actifs sous gestion en dessous de la barre des 20 millions de livres. Il affichait pourtant une performance de plus de 83% sur trois ans, à comparer à 42,07% pour l’indice du secteur, IMA UK All Companies.
JO Hambro Capital Management envisage de lancer un fonds d’actions internationales small cap hors Etats-Unis qui sera géré par Robert Cresci qui vient de rejoindre la société en provenance de Harding Loevner, rapporte Investment Week.Le fonds, qui devrait être lancé un peu plus tard dans l’année, comprendra entre 70 et 80 lignes de petites capitalisations internationales de qualité sélectionnées tant dans les pays développés que dans les pays émergents.
Brookfield Asset Management a recruté Niel Thassim au poste de directeur private funds Asie. Il sera basé à Hong Kong, précise Asian Investor. La société de gestion devrait procéder au cours des prochains mois à une série de recrutements pour étoffer son équipe locale. Niel Thassim était jusqu'à présent managing director chez RREEF, où il était head of Asia-Pacific real estate business au sein de la filiale de Deutsche Bank.
Le fonds souverain du Qatar aurait engagé des négociations avec le numéro deux du secteur bancaire russe, VTB, coté en Russie et à Londres, rapporte The Telegraph.Les Qatariens envisageraient d’investir entre 3 milliards et 3,5 milliards de dollars dans le géant bancaire.
Le groupe Credit Suisse a vendu sa participation dans le fondsd’infrastructures de Global Infrastructure Partners à Lexington Partners, rapporte l’agence Bloomberg sur la base de sources bien informées.La transaction devrait être bouclée d’ici à la fin mars. Les actifs de la banque suisse dans ce fonds sont estimés à environ 590 millions de dollars.Avec cette cession d’actifs périphériques, Credit Suisse souhaite poursuivre le renforcement de ses fonds propres dans le cadre de son programme de restrucruration et afin de respecter les exigences de Bâle III.
Désormais, les équipes obligataire mondial et obligataire émergents du genevois Lombard Odier Investment Managers (LOIM) seront fusionnées sous la direction unique de Gregor MacIntosh. Cette démarche répond à l’objectif d’accéder à des sources de revenus plus larges et de diminuer la corrélation dans la prise de risque, tout cela pour générer davantage de surperformance, indique LOIM.Au 31 décembre, l’encours obligataire de LOIM se situait à 13,5 milliards de francs suisses, dont environ 750 millions en dette émergente. Sur les 13,5 milliards du total, entre 15 et 20 % sont investis en crédit et, sur les 750 millions de dette émergente, quelque 650 millions le sont en devises locales et le reliquat en monnaies dites fortes.Parallèlement, LOIM indique avoir recruté Salman Ahmed comme stratégiste de marché. L’intéressé justifie de neuf ans d’expérience en tant que professionnel de l’investissement, en dernier lieu comme head of global macro chez EDF Trading.. Auparavant, il a été «global economist» chez Goldman Sachs International. L’encours total de Lombard Odier Investment Managers à fin décembre se situait à 38 milliards de francs suisses.
Jörg Howe, a spokesman for Daimler, on Sunday told the news agency dpa, relayed by Handelsblatt, that the auto maker is refusing to give in to the asset management firms DWS (Deutsche Bank) and Union Investment (co-operative banks), which are asking it to drop out of Formula 1 car racing.The asset management firms claim that Formula 1 is both too costly and counter-productive in terms of image, with Grand Prix races being run in countries that are criticized for their violations of human rights.
JO Hambro Capital Management is planning to launch a fund of international ex-US small cap equities, which will be managed by Robert Cresci, who has recently joined the firm from Harding Loevner, Investment Week reports. The fund, which will be launched later this year, will have 60 to 80 positions on selected, high quality international small cap equities from both developed and emerging countries.
Last year in the UK, more than 100 open-ended funds were either merged or liquidated, as many asset management firm took the occasion of the introduction of RDR legislation on 1 January to rationalise their product ranges, Investment Week reports. The vast majority of funds which were merged or liquidated last year fell short of the average returns for funds in their respective sectors over one, three and five years. The average returns for 15 closed funds last year in the “Global” sector of the British Investment Management Association (IMA), for example, was 0.11% over three years, well below the average returns for the sector of 30.11% over the same period, according to Lipper data. Lipper statistics also reveal that some funds were liquidated at a time when they were bringing in sometimes exceptional returns over three years. The Majedie Asset UK Opportunities fund was closed in December last year due to a decline in assets under management below the GBP20m threshold. The fund had earned returns of over 83% over three years, compared with 42.07% for the IMA UK All Companies index of the sector.
Nigel Bolton, head of the European equity team at BlackRock, has agreed to accept the role of chief investment officer (CIO) of International Fundamental Equity (FE) within the Alpha Strategies group led globally by Quintin Price, according to a statement.Nigel Bolton’s expanded role will cover the EMEA and Asia Pacific regions, where he will work closely with his counterpart Chris Leavy, CIO of Fundamental Equity Americas. He remains head of the European equity Team and retains his portfolio management responsibilities.
Threadneedle Investments on Friday confirmed that, effective 1 March 2013, Campbell Fleming will become chief executive officer and Crispin Henderson will become vice chairman of Global Asset Management for Ameriprise Financial, the parent company of Threadneedle. In their new roles, both Fleming and Henderson will report to Ted Truscott, CEO of Global Asset Management for Ameriprise. Threadneedle announced the CEO succession, subject to FSA approval, on 12 December 2012.
The new head of Man Group, Emmanuel Roman, will announce a vast reshuffle of management at the hedge fund group, after he begins on 28 February, the Financial Times reports. The changes, which will strengthen the power of the CEO, will result in a virtual doubling of the size of the executive committee, which will now meet every week instead of every month. The details of the changes were announced to senior staff in a memo seen by the Financial Times.
The institutional asset management firm Fundo has been granted a license by the Swiss federal financial market regulator, Finma, to operate as a manager of collective investments, Agefi Switzerland reports. Fundo, based in Lausanne and Zurich, is an institutional asset management firm, which positions itself as a manager of pension funds, in order to help them achieve major objectives, such as capital preservation and payment of benefits. By taking this step in its development, Fundo joins a close circle of 100 wealth management firms which are licensed for this activity in Switzerland.
Marco De Filippi has recently left Azimut, where he was head of sales for wealth management, to join Valeur, a Swiss wealth management firm, where he becomes network manager, Bluerating reports.
Funds People relays reports in Reuters that the Japanese firm Orix is to acquire the asset management firm Robeco (EUR188bn in assets) from Rabobank for EUR2.3bn in cash and equity, and that an announcement of the deal may come early this week.
Henrik Lumbholdt, who for the past seven years had been chief strategist at BBVA Asset Management, has left the business and founded his own consulting firm, Inside Economics, Funds People reports.The departure of Lumbholdt conincides with a decision by BBVA AM to restructure its asset allocation and strategy division, which will be enlarged, and whose director has not yet been appointed. That person will take over duties previously held by Lumbholdt.
Gonzalo Antón Suanzes, founder of Altae Banco Privado (the private bank of Caja Madrid) and then deputy CEO and head of sales at Bankia Banca Privada, has been recruited as head of sales for the private banking division of Bankinter, Funds People reports.Suanzes will report directly to Adela Martín, CEO of the Bankinter private bank. He will work to make the private banking unit the third-largest player in the Spanish market, bringing in EUR5bn in three years, for a total of EUR20bn in assets.
During the second week of February EPFR global-tracked bond gunds outgained equity funds for the first time since early December.Overall bond funds, which had a record setting year last year, took in USD2.58 billion during the week ending February 13 versus USD1.81 billion for Equity Funds. The check in the recent rotation in favor of Equity Funds did not, however, drive retail investors back to their default position – redemptions – during most of 2012. Instead Retail investors committed fresh money for the sixth straight week, the longest such run since 1Q11.Investors retained their enthusiasm for diversified exposure to emerging markets debt and equity. For the seventh consecutive week both emerging markets bond and EM equity funds took in over USD1 billion.The exodus from Europe bond funds was broadly based, with only Switzerland and Denmark Bond Funds swimming against the tide. Sweden bond funds, which have enjoyed sustained inflows since 3Q12, posted their biggest weekly outflow since the current financial crisis began.
The global and emerging market bond teams at the Geneva-based Lombard Odier Investment Managers (LOIM) will now be merged, and will be led solely by Gregor MacIntosh. The move comes with the aim of gaining access to larger sources of revenues, and reducing correlations in risk-taking, in order to generate more outperformance, LOIM says.As of 31 December, bond assets at LOIM totalled CHF13.5bn, of which about CHF750m are emerging market debt. Of this CHF13.5bn total, 15% to 20% is invested in credit, and of the CHF750m in emerging market ddebt, about CHF650m are in local currencies, while the remainder is in strong currencies.Meanwhile, LOIM also announces that it has recruited Salman Ahmed as a market strategist. Ahmed has nine years of experience as an investment professionals, most recently as head of global macro at EDF Trading. He had previously been a global economist at Goldman Sachs International.Total assets at Lombard Odier Investment Managers as of the end of December were CHF38bn.
The Credit Suisse group has sold its stake in the Global Infrastructure Partners infrastructure fund to Lexington Partners, the Bloomberg news agency reports, citing well-informed sources. The transaction would be completed by the end of March. The assets of the Swiss bank in the fund are estimated at about USD590m. With the sale of these peripheral assets, Credit Suisse is planning to continue to strengthen its owners’ equity levels as part of its restructuring programme, and to meet Basel III requirements.
In the wake of the publication of details of the way that the FTT will function by the European Commission, the British Investment Management Association (IMA) has been critical of the new tax, although the United Kingdom will not directly be involved in the initiative. According to the professional association, British investors will be affected by the tax when they invest in shares which are available in countries that are applying the FTT, or when they make trades with counterparties in those countries. “It is important to ensure that the tax is not applied several times to each transaction when intermediaries are involved,” the IMA says in a statement.
Jérôme Blanc, head of development, admits that it will be hard to make a mid-sized boutique like Financière de l’Echiquier (EUR6bn including EUR800m at Acropole) grow outside France. But, he tells Funds People, the firm has strengths, with products that offer good returns and low volatility.In fact, 30% of assets already come from abroad, largely from Belgium. The asset managemment firm has good prospects in Italy, and the firm will also work to grow in Switzerland and Germany. In Spain, Financière de l’Echiquier may finish 2013 with EUR100m in assets, up from EUR80m currently.The international sales team, based in Paris, has one person dedicated to Germany, two for Italy, one for Belgium, and one for Spain and Switzerland.
Old Mutual is planning a partial IPO for its US asset management firm, Financial Times Fund Management report. “We are exploring a partial IPO and are not planning to give up control,” says Patrick Bowes, head of communications at Old Mutual.
In March, SAC Capital will redeem USD600m to clients who asked to withdraw before the deadline of 14 February, and another USD1bn by the end of the year, to investors who have requested redemption of their shares; in total, that will represent USD1.7bn, or more than one quarter of the USD6bn SAC has under management for external clients, the Wall Street Journal reports.These withdrawals appear to have been triggered by a Federal investigation into six former SAC employees for insider trading. The alternative asset management firm also announced in November that it could be facing a civil lawsuit by regulators. SAC claims, however, that the firm and its founder, Steven A. Cohen, acted appropriately and are cooperating with investigators.
One third of businesses which have developed a presence on social networks (Facebook page, Twitter account, etc.) are planning to step up their efforts in this area, according to a new study by CCM Benchmark of social networks. More than half of these businesses are planning to recruit for conception, moderation and production of content in the next 12 months. But due to a diversification of efforts in Community Management activities, 10% of businesses, primarily the larger ones, are planning to outsource these functions. The production of content appears to be the most relevant means to increase the effectiveness of presences on social networks for 46% of businesses surveyed. “Businesses would like to bring more relevance and reactiveness to their interactions with communities, as well as the production of content dedicated to these resources, particularly with additions to teams dedicated to Community Management,” says Alexandre Voirin, an analyst at CCM Benchmark.
To settle a lawsuit, the pension fund for public employees in the Netherlands ABP (EUR291bn), a few days before a hearing scheduled for 4 March before a New Jersey court, obtained an agreement from the US pharmaceuticals company Merck to pay it USD215m, or EUR161m, Fondsnieuws reports.For the past five years, ABP had accused Merck of publishing the results of clinical trials which lasted two years, and which demonstrated that the anti-cholesterol medication Cytorin delivered no statistical advantage in the treatment of arterial sclerosis compared with the generic product Cimvastatin too late. These results lost investors money.The Dutch pension fund led a class action lawsuit in which it teamed up with the Jacksonville Police and Fire Retirement System, the General Retirement System of the City of Detroit and International Fund Management.Overall, the class action lawsuit will cost Merck USD688m, or EUR517m, to settle.
On 15 February, CPR Asset Management announced the recruitment of Hubert Segura as head of sales for real estate via CPR Le Comptoir outlets. Since 2010, Segura had been director of development for Référence Pierre, an IFA brand from Izimmo. Le Comptoir par CPR will include a selection of SCPI funds managed by Amundi Immobilier as part of its “core” product offering, in order to better meet the needs of independent financial advisers and their wealth management clients. In addition to access to well-known SCPI funds (such as Rivoli Avenir Patrimoine or Edissimmo), Segura will participate in the commercial development of new-generation OPCI Funds such as Opcimmo.