Les montants collectés des FIP et des FCPI auprès des particuliers soumis à l’impôt de solidarité sur la fortune ont reculé de 20% en 2012. Les associations professionnelles s’inquiètent également de la baisse du montant moyen levé, qui menace la viabilité des équipes de gestion.

Le fonds souverain chinois CIC serait intéressé par les ressources canadiennes ainsi que par des investissements en infrastructures dans le pays, indique le China Securities Journal qui cite le dirigeant canadien du fonds, Felix Chee. « Les investissements doivent être réalisés au bon moment, au bon prix pour les meilleurs actifs » précise-t-il ainsi. CIC détient déjà 17% de Teck Resources.

Une série de blocages de fusions et acquisitions entre des sociétés chinoises et américaines, dont la dernière étant la cession avortée de Hawker Beechcraft à une société chinoise pour des raisons de « sécurité nationale », jetterait de l’huile sur le feu des relations commerciales déjà extrêmement tendues entre la première et la deuxième puissance mondiale, selon le journal.

Dans un entretien accordéau journal, David Miles, membre du comité de politique monétaire (MPC) de la Banque d’Angleterre (BoE), indique que l’économie britannique «n’est pas dans un état aussi bon que ce que j’avais espéré il y a environ un an». Et d’ajouter que si le MPC estime à sa prochaine réunion que l’inflation sera sous les 2%, «alors ce sera une raison de pratiquer une politique monétaire plus accommodante».

Le texte prévoit l'imposition des plus-values sur les cessions d'entreprises en 2012 à un taux forfaitaire de 24%, contre 19% actuellement

Les Européens se donnent toute une année avec une échéance au 1er janvier 2014 pour mettre en place les capacités de supervision de la BCE

Le sommet a prévu une année pour fixer les capacités de supervision de la BCE et laissé en suspens la rétroactivité de l’intervention du MES dans la recapitalisation des banques espagnoles.

Subissant la défiance des investisseurs, le gestionnaire britannique a enregistré des retraits nets pour 2,2 milliards de dollars au trimestre écoulé

Moody's a dégradé la note de dix provinces à des niveaux proches du défaut sélectif après le remboursement en pesos d’obligations libellées en dollars

Swiss Re a annoncé le 19 octobre que Guido Fürer, actuellement Head Chief Investment Officer, a été nommé Group Chief Investment Officer du réassureur et entre au Comité exécutif au 1er novembre 2012. Il succède à David Blumer, qui a décidé de quitter la société.John R. Dacey, Head Group Strategy & Strategic Investments de Swiss Re, est aussi nommé au Group Executive Committee, à la même date. John R. Dacey sera aussi président d’Admin Re.

The Luxembourg Sicav Alma Capital Investment Funds (an affiliate of the French firm Alma Capital), which already has a sub-fund with USD23m managed by Shenkman Capital Management since the end of 2011 (see Newsmanagers of 16 December 2011), has added a new UCITS IV-compliant managed by the US firm DoubleLine, led by Jeff Gundlach, entitled Alma DoubleLine Core Plus Bond. The fund will open for subscriptions on 22 October.The fund will invest in a wide range of bond and mortgage-backed securities (MBS), a market in which the managers at DoubleLine (USD45bn in assets) are specialised, and which accounts for slightly over one third of assets for the strategy, government bonds, and corporate bonds from the US and other developed and emerging countries.With the new fund, which will have about 330 positions, DoubleLine will provide European investors with a choice of management similar to its Core Plus strategy (nearly USD3bn), which it already offers to US clients in the form of mandates or mutual funds, with the Aston Core Plus (USD169.8m) fund and a RiverNorth fund, Loren Fleckenstein, a research analyst at the US firm, explains to Newsmanagers.The strategy combines dynamic allocation on the basis of fundamental analysis of the various sectors with rigorous stock-picking. The idea is to construct a portfolio which “performs” well in all market situations, while, according to Gundlach, “you can only make money in bonds slowly, while you may lose it very fast.” DoubleLine “endeavours to take less risks for the same amount of returns.”So far, the fund is licensed only in Luxembourg, in institutional share classes. CharacteristicsName: Alma DoubleLine Core Plus BondISIN code:Institutional share class USD: LU0842072844Institutional share class EUR hedged: LU0842072927Management commission: 0.85%

Anne Boyon Fuster, Responsable de la coordination et du développement de l'épargne salariale, Total lors d’une table ronde organisée par amLeague et Newsmanagers : « Chez nous, c’est clairement une gestion qui est très actions, beaucoup plus que la moyenne du marché. Sur les portefeuilles, les trois quarts des avoirs sont placés sur le fonds d’actionnariat. Ce ne sont même pas des actions, c’est l’action Total. Cela laisse 25 % pour autre chose. C’est important même si en proportion, ce n’est pas énorme. Nous avons aussi du travail pour essayer de sortir les salariés de l’action Total mais il n’est pas très facile de dire qu’il ne faut pas acheter de l’action Total. On essaie d’avoir ce langage et de les emmener dans le Perco dont nous disposons. Nous n’avons pas de gestion très typée entre la gestion très active et la gestion très benchmarkée. Cela dépend vraiment des fonds. Sur l’Europe, nous avons une gestion très active et la gérante regarde à peine son benchmark. Le benchmark est pour le salarié une référence, cela va lui donner un point de comparaison. Mais il y a de vrais paris de gestion. Après, le gérant gagne ou perd. Il se trouve que notre gérante gagne plutôt, donc tout va bien. Mais nous avons d’autres fonds où au contraire nous avons une gestion très benchmarkée, à mon avis trop, alors même que le gérant a des marges de manoeuvre. Cela dépend aussi du mandat que nous confions. Si on l’enferme dans quelque chose de très fermé, il ne faut pas lui reprocher ses résultats. En revanche, si on lui donne de la marge de manoeuvre et qu’il ne l’utilise pas, on est moins gentil avec lui. »

Selon nos informations, le Groupe Malakoff Médéric a apporté 25 millions d’euros au lancement du fonds Convertibles ISR qui sera géré par les équipes d’UBI en France avec une sélection d'émetteurs orientée par l’analyse ISR de Fédéris Gestion d’Actifs. Fédéris Gestion d’Actifs est une société de gestion du Groupe Malakoff Médéric, gérant 26 Milliards d’euros d’actifs au 30 juin 2012. Convertibles Europe Responsable, lancé le 28 septembre 2012, cherche à faire bénéficier les investisseurs du couple rendement/risque attractif des obligations convertibles européennes. La sélection des obligations convertibles répond également aux critères environnementaux, sociaux et de gouvernance (ESG) avec l’objectif de bénéficier d’un portefeuille ayant une notation ISR supérieure à celle de son indice de référence, l’indice UBS Global Convertibles Indices Europe Hedged (EUR). Le Fonds est géré par l'équipe obligations convertibles d’UBI, société de gestion membre du groupe Union Bancaire Privée. Cette équipe gère à ce jour plus de 1,3 milliards d’euros d’encours sur cette thématique. Il s’appuie également sur l’expertise d’analyse ISR de Fédéris Gestion d’Actifs, le partenaire choisi par UBI. Fédéris Gestion d’Actifs, qui gère des fonds ISR depuis 2000, a développé sa propre matrice d’analyse utilisant les données extra financières de Vigéo, Eiris et Ethifinance et portant sur un univers de 1700 valeurs (actions, obligations d'État et d’entreprises). La gestion du fonds est fondamentale et discrétionnaire. Le fonds investit au minimum les deux tiers de ses actifs dans des obligations convertibles et assimilées. La fourchette de sensibilité globale du fonds aux taux d’intérêt est comprise entre 0 et 6. L’exposition maximale aux marchés d’actions peut atteindre 100% de l’actif net avec une exposition moyenne comprise entre 10% et 60%. La performance du fonds pourra être comparée à la performance de l’indice UBS Global Convertibles Indices Europe Hedged (EUR) qui est calculée coupons et/ou dividendes réinvestis. Philippe Aurain, Directeur Général et Responsable des Gestions chez Fédéris Gestion d’Actifs, ajoute : « Avec ce fonds pour lequel nous allons appliquer notre expertise ISR aux obligations convertibles, Fédéris Gestion d’Actifs confirme son objectif d'étendre l’ISR à toutes les classes d’actifs ».

From USD13.77bn as of the end of 2011, the US bond management firm Muzinich & Co has increased its assets to USD19.5bn as of the end of September, including USD10.6bn for its UCITS-compliant funds, which posted net inflows of USD3.5bn in the first nine months of the year. According to the local MD, Eric Pictet, the Paris office contributed more than USD1bn to these net subscriptions.In general, 90% to 92% of assets at the group come from European clients.More than half of inflows this year have been for the Short Duration High Yield fund, launched on 4 October 2010, which has USD5.1bn in assets, and alone has attracted USD2.5bn in net new money, the manager, David Bowen, has explained at a presentation in Paris.Currently, the portfolio of the fund includes 170 holdings and 135 issuers, with a an average duration to worst (DTW) of 1.3 years (the average DTW for the high yield market is closer to 3.8 years). The fund thus, with a sacrifice of 1.5 percentage points in return, shortens duration by 2 1/2 years.

The Global Wealth Management unit at Morgan Stanley has posted pre-tax profits of USD239m, compared with USD356m in third quarter 2011, according to figures released on 18 October. Net proceeds in the quarter remained stabley at USD3.3bn, compared with USD3.2bn previously. Inflows for the quarter totalled USD7.5bn, and assets generating commissions as of the end of September totalled USD556m, equivalent to 31% of total client assets. In asset management, pre-tax profits totalled USD198m, compared with a loss of USD118m in third quarter 2011. Net proceeds in third quarter 2012 totalled USD631m, compared with USD205m one year previously. Assets under management or supervision by the Asset Management unit as of the end of September totalled USD331bn, compared with USD268bn one year previously. Net inflows totalled USD10.8bn in the quarter, compared with net outflows of USD5.8bn n third quarter 2011. Morgan Stanley has also reported a loss for the part of the group of USD1bn, compared with a profit of USD2.2bn one year previously.

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) has named Cheryl Eason as its chief financial officer (CFO), a newly created position to oversee the financial and risk management operations of the USD243 billion Pension Fund. Cheryl Eason worked most recently as vice president, Financial and Plan Board Services for the British Columbia Pension Corporation, one of the largest pension benefit administrators in Canada, and the largest in British Columbia.

The Carlyle group on 18 October announced that it has concluded its acquisition of Getty Images, a global leader in the image, film, music and online services markets. As part of a transaction valued at USD3.3bn, the Carlyle group has acquired a majority stake in the firm Getty Images. Mark Getty, co-founder and president of Getty Images, and his family, have deployed virtually all of their shares as part of the acquisition. The management team at Getty Images, and its CEO, Jonathan Klein, have also invested a significant amount in shares in the firm.

For third quarter 2012, Blackstone has posted net economic profit of USD621.75m, its best result since its initial public offering, compared with a net economic loss of USD380m in Q3-11, bringing the total for the first nine months of the year to USD1.32bn, also a new record, compared with USD1.07bn, an increase of 24%.By US-GAAP accounting standard, net profits of USD128.82m in third quarter compared with a loss of USD274.57m in the corresponding period of last year, while profits on which dividends are payable total USD189.63m, compared with USD125.74m, bringing the total for January-September to USD540.16m (+4%).Assets under management totalled USD204.55bn as of the end of September, up 30% year on year. Stephen A. Schwarzmann, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, says that gross organic inflows in the past twelve months under review totalled USD38bn, and that Blackstone has returned USD14bn to investors. All investment activities show good performance in third quarer, with 7% for private equity and 5% for real estate. The hedge fund solutions operation has posted a net inflow of USD1.7bn for July-September.

Torbjörn Olofsson is leaving the board at Brummer & Partners, and his position as a manager at Nektar Asset Management, one of the affiliates of the Swedish asset management firms, where he had spent 13 years. Olofsson had been manager of the Nektar Special Opportunity fund between 2009 and 2011.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management is launching the JPM Italy Flexible Bond Fund, a fund primarily investing in Italian government bonds, in Italy, the Italian website Fondionline reports. The management of the fund will be undertaken by the Global Fixed Income team. The launch of the fund was inspired by the observation that Italians have a high propensity to invest in their own country’s debt. The objective of the fund is to allow subscribers to earn additional gross annual returns of about 2% over the Italian government bond index over 1-3 years. The stable portion of the portfolio is invested in CCT as well as BTP bonds, and the manager may invest in other strategies within the global bond domain which bet on duration, the interest rate curve, currencies, and differentials between various countries and sectors.

Of 13 hedge fund strategies monitored by the Edhec-Risk Institute, only CTA global and dedicated short bias show losses in September, with -1.05% and -3.86%, respectively. The two best performers were distressed securities (1.71%) and emerging markets (2.76%).Since the beginning of this year, the disparity is large between losses of 14.7% for dedicated short bias, and gains of 8.5% for distressed securities.

Assets under management at Jupiter Fund Management have increased in third quarter to GBP25bn, from GBP23.3bn as of the end of June 2012, according to statistics released on 18 October by the asset management firm. Two factors explain this development: net inflows, which have totalled GBP579m in the three months to the end of September, largely thanks to subscriptions to open-ended funds (nearly GBP800m), and positive market effects, which represented over GBP1bn. Jupiter states, however, that inflows were slowed by the loss of a British equities mandate, and by the liquidation of a private client portfolio which had already been cut back in first quarter.

The alternative management specialist Man Group has finished third quarter with outflows of USD2.2bn, an increase from USD1.4bn observed in second quarter. This development is due to redemptions which affected long-only products from GLG as well as institutional funds of funds. However, assets under management at Man increased 14% in third quarter, to USD60bn, due to the acquisition of FRM, which represented additional assets of USD8.3bn. GLG hedge funds posted net outflows of USD400m, which were offset by positive market and currency effects.

Mergers and acquisitions in the financial services sector in Europe increased sharpyl in second quarter 2012, according to PwC. The most recent edition of the PwC study “Sharing Deal Insight” reveals that merger and acquisition activities rose 31% to EUR12.7bn in second quarter 2012, compared with EUR9.7bn in the previous quarter, nearly double the EUR6.7bn posted in second quarter 2011. The number of deals also saw its first increase in two years, and includes several cross-border deals. The total value of transactions in first half 2012 came to USD22.4bn, an increase of 36% compared with EUR16.5bn year on year. The most activity was in the United Kingdom, with 48 transactions, compared with 33 in first quarter 2012. This is followed by Russia, with 21 deals (compared with 16 in first quarter), of which 12 are related to the banking sector, Spain, with 12 transactions (12 in first quarter), and Italy, with 12 transactions (3 in first quarter).

As of the end of September, assets in UCITS-compliant hedge funds totalled EUR134.15bn, 4% more than at the end of June, and 18.5% more than at the end of December, according to figures from the Swiss firm Alix Capital. The top three managers of UCITS-compliant single hedge funds have posted even larger increases in their assets, with 43.6% for Standard Life Investment, 29% for GAM, and 63.9% for M&G.The 20 largest fund houses have a combined total of EUR68.4bn in assets under management, equivalent to 51% of the total.Overall, Alix Capital has counted 17 launches of single strategy hedge funds in third quarter, which brings the total to 791 products, 33% of which are managed in the United Kingdom, 27% in the United States, and 20% in France, with the same amount in Germany, although 46.1% of these funds are domiciled in Luxembourg.For the first time, Alix Capital has taken into account UCITS-compliant hedge fund platforms, whose assets have increased by 14.3% since the beginning of the year, to EUR9.3bn. The largest actor in this segment is DB Platinum, with EUR2.1bn in assets.The report points out that Credit Suisse is the largest manager of UCITS-compliant funds of hedge funds, with EUR550m, 56% more than at the end of 2011.

The quality of credit from European businesses has continued to deteriorate in third quarter, as 26% of businesses in the region have a negative outlook, compared with a median of 23% in the past five years, according to estimates by Standard & Poor’s. The default rate for businesses over a twelve-month period is expected to rise slightly, to 6.3% as of the end of June 2013. The deterioration is more marked in globalised sectors of activity (technologies, metallurgy/mining). Sectors such as transport and tourism are more exposed to local conditions, particularly in peripheral countries of the euro zone. The next monetary easing measures by the ECB are expected to support liquidity and access to corporate financing, particularly in the case of refinancing on the bond markets.

With the Multi-Asset Income Fund (20 managers) and Multi-Asset Growth Fund (55 managers), Russell Investments is launching a product for investors seeking to ensure themselves a stable income in retirement, on the one hand, and a product for those seeking the performance of the equity markets with only two thirds of the volatility of that asset class, on the other.The Multi-Asset Income Fund has the Bank of England prime rate plus 400 basis points as its benchmark/target, with a management commission of 1.50% for the A share class, and 0.75% for the C share class. The Multi-Asset Growth Fund has the British consumer price index plus 450 basis points as its benchmark/target. Management commissions are also 1.50% for the A share class and 0.75% for the C share class.

Standard Life Investments has launched a European corporate debt fund which will follow the principles of socially responsible investment, Citywire reports. The Luxembourg fund, European Corporate Bond Sustainable and Responsible Investing Fund, will be managed by Samantha Lamb, with the support of Craig McDonald.

Edoma Partners, the hedge fund founded in 2010 by the former Goldman Sachs manager Pierre-Henri Flamand, has lost two of its partners, Olivier Haslam and Casper Lund, the news agency Bloomberg reports. In the past twelve months, the London-based hedge fund has seen its assets halved, to USD1.17bn, according to a statement released to clients and obtained by Bloomberg.. The fund, which relies on an event-driven strategy, has lost 6.9% since its launch in November 2010, while event-driven hedge funds have gained an average of 4.6% in the same period.