Durant la semaine au 27 avril, le ralentissement de la croissance américaine et les problèmes récurrents des emprunteurs périphériques de la zone euro n’ont pas beaucoup freiné l’activité des investisseurs. Selon EPFR Global, la plupart des différentes catégories de fonds ont enregistré des souscriptions nettes, avec notamment 3,04 milliards de dollars à destination des fonds obligataires, 7,89 milliards pour les fonds actions et près de 21 milliards de dollars –du jamais depuis vingt semaines- pour les fonds monétaires.Les fonds dédiés aux actions émergentes ont encore drainé 1,8 milliard de dollars fin avril si bien que la décollecte nette depuis le début de l’année a été ramenée à 7,4 milliards de dollars. La collecte nette des seuls fonds actions asiatiques hors Japon ont attiré près de 3 milliards de dollars. Parmi les pays des BRIC, l’intérêt pour la Russie ne se dément pas si bien que la collecte nette des fonds d’actions russes depuis le début de l’année atteint plus de 4,5 milliards de dollars. Les inquiétudes relatives au dollar et à l’inflation ont continué d’influencer les flux, avec un intérêt tout particulier pour les fonds dédiés à l’or et aux métaux précieux au sein des fonds du secteur des matières premières qui, sur la base du rythme de souscriptions enregistrées depuis le début de l’année, pourraient battre cette année le record enregistré l’an dernier de 32 milliards de dollars. On observe en outre que les fonds obligataires des marchés émergents investis en devises locales ont enregistré une collecte nette de 403,7 millions de dollars, soit plus de dix fois le montant de la collecte des fonds obligataires en devises fortes. L’encours de ces fonds s’inscrit désormais à 52,8 milliards de dollars, dépassant ainsi le montant des actifs obligataires invesetis dans les devises fortes (49,2 milliards de dollars).

Dow Jones Indexes a annoncé que son indice The Global Dow, qui mesure la performance des 150 plus grandes capitalisations au monde, sera l’indice de référence de l’ETF SPDR® Global Dow de State Street Global Advisors.

Le 3 mai, le groupe Julius Baer (267 milliards de francs suisses d’encours fin décembre) a annoncé avoir acquis, pour un montant non divulgué, 30 % du premier gestionnaire de fortune indépendant du Brésil, GPS, qui coiffe GPS Planejamento Financeiro Ltda. et CFO Administração de Recursos Ltda. GPS, qui emploie 84 personnes, affiche un encours de 8,5 milliards de reals ou 5 milliards de dollars. La société a été créée en 1999 par José Eduardo Martins, Marco Belda et Roberto Rudge. Les neuf associés actuels continueront de diriger l’activité de manière indépendante avec la même équipe et maintiendront la stratégie mise en œuvre jusqu'à présent. Julius Baer sera représenté par deux personnes au conseil d’administration.Le holding qui contrôle GPS est Pulsar Invest, qui comporte également une division de private equity et de corporate finance au travers de sa marque Green Capital qui ne fait pas partie du partenariat conclu avec Julius Baer.

Société Générale Private Banking vient de nommer Philippe Boutron en qualité de regional chief investment officer pour le Moyen-Orient. Basé à Dubaï, il sera rattaché à Eddy Abramo, chief executive officer de Société Générale Private Banking (Middle East). Agé de 40 ans, Philippe Boutron avait intégré le groupe Société Générale en 1993 en tant que responsable marketing et développement commercial au sein du réseau de banque de détail. En 1999, il rejoint Société Générale Asset Management comme gérant de portefeuilles, en charge de la clientèle fortunée du réseau France de Société Générale. Il rejoint Société Générale Private Banking en 2005 en tant que chargé du processus d’investissement et de l’offre de gestion avant d’être nommé responsable de la stratégie d’investissement de la banque privée en 2008. Dans le cadre de ses nouvelles fonctions, Philippe Boutron aura pour mission de gérer la mise en oeuvre de la stratégie d’investissement de la banque privée ; il supervisera le comité d’allocation d’actifs local et assurera la gestion et le développement de l’offre de produits et services destinée aux clients privés du Moyen-Orient.

Le néerlandais Spyker Cars a annoncé que le gestionnaire Gemini basé aux Bahamas lui a accordé un crédit de 30 millions sur six mois à 7 % pour lui permettre de redémarrer l’activité du suédois Saab, rapporte le Handelsblatt.Parallèlement, le CEO de Spyker, Victor Muller, recherche en Chine des investisseurs «robustes» qui pourraient prendre des parts de Saab. Ces pourparlers devraient se conclure à brève échéance.

Dow Jones Indexes has announced that its Global Dow index, which measures the performance of the 150 largest corporations in the world by market capitalisation, will serve as the benchmark index for the SPDR® Global Dow ETF from State Street Global Advisors.

Following an agreement between the US based asset management firms Brandes Investment Partners and Sparinvest of Denmark earlier this year (see Newsmanagers of 13/01/2011), a new fund has been born. The two value style investment specialists announced on Monday, 2 May that they have launched the Sparinvest – Corporate Value Bonds fund, which will be jointly managed by the two firms. North American bond issuers will be selected by San Diego based Brandes, while Danish Sparinvest will select issuers from the rest of the world. The fund’s portfolio will include 80 to 120 bonds. Characteristics ISIN code (R share class): LU0620744002ISIN code (I (EUR) share class): LU0620744770 Management fees for R share class (private clients): 1% Management fees for I share class (institutional): 0.55% Front-end fee: up to 2% for R share class; 0% for I share class Exit fees: 0% for both share classes

From 2 May until, probably, 24 June, Union Investment is offering the UniGarant: Emerging Markets (2018) fund for sale in Germany. The product will be launched on 30 June, and will mature on 22 June 2018.As its name indicates, the product is a fund which guarantees 100% of initial capital at maturity, minus a front-end fee of 4%, and a share of the average evolution of a basket of indices of equities from BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China), Latin America, and Asia. Early withdrawals are possible, but the guarantee does not apply in this case, and a 2% penalty will be charged and transfered to the fund.Union Investment (co-operative banks) is the German leader in guaranteed funds, with about 80 funds and assets as of the end of February of EUR16.6bn in this segment.CharacteristicsName: UniGarant: Emerging Markets (2018)ISIN code: LU0595487439Front-end fee: 4%Management commission: 1% (maximum 1.5%)

During the week ending 27 April, a slowdown in US growth and continuing problems with sovereign borrowers on the periphery of the Euro zone showed little sign of dampening investors’ activities. According to EPFR Global, most fund categories posted net subscriptions, with USD3.04bn flowing into bond funds, USD7.89bn into equities funds, and nearly USD21bn – a level not observed for 20 weeks – into money market funds.Funds dedicated to emerging markets equities attracted USD1.8bn as of the end of April, though net outflows since the beginning of the year totalled USD7.4bn. Net inflows to Asia ex Japan equities ran to nearly USD3bn.Among the BRIC countries, interest in Russia has not let up, and net inflows to Russian equities funds since the beginning of the year have totalled over USD4.5bn.Concerns about the US dollar and inflation have continued to influence flows, with a particular interest being accorded to funds dedicated to gold and precious metals in the commodities sector, where, given the pace of subscriptions since the beginning of the year, assets may beat the all-time record set last year of USD32bn.Bond and emerging markets funds invested in local currencies have also posted a net inflows of USD403.7m, more than ten times higher than the inflows to funds of bonds denominated in major currencies. Assets in these funds now total USD52.8bn, higher than the total major currency bond assets (USD49.2bn).

Société Générale Private Banking has appointed Philippe Boutron as regional chief investment officer for the Middle East. Boutron will be based in Dubai, and will report to Eddy Abramo, chief executive officer of Société Générale Private Banking (Middle East). Boutron, 40, joined Société Générale in 1993 as head of marketing and commercial development for the retail bank.

As of the end of December, DekaBank Luxembourg (EUR720m in assets, of which EUR680m are in the form of Deka funds) acquired LBBW Lux and WestLB International. Now that the German savings banks are the sole shareholders in DekaBank, they have asked their central asset management firm to also acquire LB Lux, an affiliate of BayernLB, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports.As the Landesbanken have received government assistance, Brussels is requiring them to sell off their affiliates, and the savings banks would like to avoid letting these lucrative private banks be acquired by their competitors.The idea is to construct a credible private banking unit in Luxembourg, where the German savings banks could serve high net worth clients who remain sceptical of their professionalism in Germany. Commissions would be shared 50/50.

Currently, EUR28bn are invested in open-ended real estate funds in Germany whose redemptions are suspended. And in 2010, German real estate funds saw average losses of 2.7%. The best of them, the Inter Immoprofil from iii, earned only 3.6%, Die Welt reports.By comparison, Swiss real estate funds (CHF24.9bn, or EUR19.3bn in total assets), in which Germans are easily able to acquire shares, look like a field of dreams: in 2010, they generated returns of over 10%. There is, however, evidently currency risk.Nonetheless, unlike German real estate funds, Swiss funds invest primarily in Switzerland, not abroad, and they have a lot of residential properties on their books, which are less vulnerable than office properties to fluctuations in conjuncture.In addition, since its beginnings in 1938, Switzerland has adopted well-adapted legislation in this area. Shares in real estate funds may be redeemed only once per year on a set date, with an advance notice of at least one year. In addition, funds may issue shares only if they need capital in order to acquire a property.

In its latest weekly newsletter, TrimTabs shows a marked optimism about US equities. The research agency says that it is optimistic (“100% long”), wher eit had previous been cautiously optimistic (“50% long”), largely due to a strong increase in equity purchases last week totalling USD35.1bn, the highest level since September 2008.In April, TrimTabs remarks, acquisitions (including acquisitions of businesses paid in cash and equity buyback operations), totalling USD55.5bn, were USD31.8bn larger in volume than sales deals (sales and insider sale operations), which totalled a net USD23.7bn.TrimTabs also points to two other factors favourable to US equities: purchases of Treasury bonds this week by the Federal Reserve, and favourable demand indicators. However, TrimTabs points out, rising inflation in a slow economic context means that optimism must be limited at this time.

The independent company Assya compagnie financière on 2 May announced at a presentation of its annual results that it is expecting to take a major step in its development with the integration not only of an independent investment business based in Greece, Eurocorp Securities, but also with the opening of two new affiliates dedicated to wealth management in Geneva and Monaco.The new development brings a significant extension of the group’s perimeter in first half 2011, which now includes Asset Management activities, with nearly EUR350m in assets under management, and a position in the major asset management markets, the group says in a statement.Last year, net profits for the part of the group totalled EUR3.3m, compared with a negative bottom line of EUR9.1m the previous year. Capital gains from sales of the companies of the Privera group (which were non-strategic participations), associated with the revaluation of real estate assets held by the group, totalling EUR10.2m overall, make a full contribution to this result, the statement says. The firm also states that it is planning to “continue its external growth strategy, seize opportunities to create value around financial services, and to bring independent actors into its federation built around its planned expansion.”

On 3 May, the Julius Baer group (CHF267bn in assets as of the end of December) announced that it has acquired a 30% stake in the largest independent wealth management firm in Brazil, GPS, which is the parent company of GPS Planejamento Financeiro Ltda. and CFO Administração de Recursos Ltda., for an undisclosed amount.GPS, which has 84 employees, has assets of BRL8.5bn, or USD5bn. The firm was founded in 1999 by José Eduardo Martins, Marco Belda and Roberto Rudge. The nine current partners at the firm will continue to direct its activities independently, with the same team, and will maintain the strategy employed thus far. Julius Baer will be represented by two members on the board of directors.The holding company which controls GPS and Pulsar Invest, which also includes a private equity and corporate finance division, via its Green Capital brand, that is not part of the partnership structured with Julius Baer.

The Dutch automotive firm Spyker Cars has announced that the asset management firm Gemini, based in the Bahamas, has lent it EUR30m for six months at 7%, to allow it to restart the activities of the Swedish car company Saab, Handelsblatt reports.Meanwhile, the CEO of Spyker, Victor Muller, is seeking “robust” investors in China who may be inclined to buy stakes in Saab. Talks are expected to conclude soon.

47% of hedge funds and 45% of investment bankers feel that working conditions and outlooks are worse in the United Kingdom than in other jurisdictions, according to a survey of over 9,000 members of the CFA Society of the United Kingdom, relayed by Financial Times Fund Management.

Uwe Diehl, who was most recently country head Germany at Lombard Odier, after previously serving as director of distribution at Henderson Global Investors, on 1 May joined Axa Investment Managers Germany as head of wholesale/retail distribution for Germany and Austria. He replaces Bernard Klocke, who has left the business after seven years there.

UBS Global Asset Management has recruited Clemens Bertram as head of distribution partners for Germany.In this position he will actually be responsible for all wholesale activities of the Swiss asset management firm on the German market, which corresponds to the experience he has been able to build up during his four years at Schroder Investment Management Germany as head of key accounts & insurances, and previously five years as head of key accounts, private banks and insurers at BlackRock (and Merrill Lynch) Germany.Bertram will report locally to Andreas Varnavides, CEO Global Asset Management Germany & Eastern Europe, and functionally to Rob Lay, head of distribution partners Europe & Middle East.

Audley Capital, the London hedge fund run by Julian Treger, is to open up its flagship fund to new investments after withdrawals from long-term investors over the past few months, according to the Financial Times. The USD750m European Opportunities fund returned 140 per cent in 2009 and 100 per cent last year. Audley is also considering changing the liquidity terms on the fund.

The first annual “national retirement planning day” (Giornata Nazionale della Previdenza) will be held in Milan, in the Piazza Affari (at the Borsa Italiana), on 4 and 5 May. The event will be the first major professional conference for actors in retirement planning, held jointly by the research institute Itinerari Previdenziali, Borsa Italiana, and the consultant Prometeia. The two major sponsors are Intesa Sanpaolo and ENI.The event will bring together four public insitutions, including Covip and the INPS (the pension fund and social retirement plan supervisory authorities, respectively), as well as 18 privatised retirement organisms, 18 pension funds, four health industry funds, and 35 banks, asset management and retirement planning firms. Among the asset management firms to be present are Aberdeen, Arca SGR, Axa IM, BNP Paribas IP, Carmignac Gestion, Eurizon Capital, JP Morgan AM, Lyxor AM, Man Investments, and State Street Global Advisors (SSgA).The program includes 3 institutional conferences and 23 seminar sessions. In order to get the younger generation involved in retirement planning issues, the event will be broadcast live to six Italian universities (Venice, Turin, Bologna, Rome, Naples, and Catania), where viewers in the audience will be able to address questions to the speakers.

The Belgian asset management firm Petercam has licensed the Real Estate Europe Dividend sub-fund of its Belgian Sicav Petercam B Fund, which invests in equities in the real estate sector which offer higher than average dividends, with the goal of generating gross returns of 6.75%, in France.A few months after its launch in late 2010, the non-benchmarked sub-fund, co-managed by Olivier Hertoghe and Damien Marichal, has assets of EUR75m. It will be closed to new subscriptions when it reached EUR150m, as its investment universe is limited.Initially, the managers targeted “promising” markets for dividends, which included France, Belgium and the Netherlands, but they have subsequently found investment ideas in Germany, which has become a major country for the fund, as well as Italy and Switzerland. The portfolio now consists of 30 positions. It is not wholly invested, and the liquidity quotient, though it has been reduced, remains high at 10%.

The French affiliate of ING Investment Management (ING IM) has reported a net inflow of EUR300m in first quarter. Assets under management in France thus totalled EUR2.9bn as of 31 March this year, compared with EUR2.7bn as of the end of December. The difference takes into account a negative market effect of EUR100m. This result is “highly satisfactory,” says Thierry Rigoulet, CEO of ING Investment Management in France, who is still aiming for assets of about EUR5bn in the mid-term.French investors, 50% of whom are funds of funds and private banks, and 50% institutional investors, largely went for High Dividend trategies dedicated to Euro zone equities. Emerging market debt attracted EUR50m, while the remaining EUR100m went to a dedicated diversified fund and a contrarian opportunistic management fund.In a context in which investors are continuing to privilege the quest for returns, ING IM France has obtained a license from the AMF to release a strategy dedicated to European high yield bonds for sale in France.

La Bourse des métaux de Chicago a relevé vendredi ses marges initiale et de maintenance de 13,16% pour les positions spéculatives. En réaction, les futures sur l’argent ont chuté hier un moment de 13%. La décision, la deuxième en une semaine, contraint les traders à mobiliser plus de cash.

Même si elle n'a rien à voir avec la proposition de rachat de Nyse Euronext, elle remet au goût du jour le défi concurrentiel du groupe américain

La Bourse des métaux de Chicago a relevé ses marges de 13,16% pour les positions spéculatives faisant chuter les futures

Athènes espère aussi obtenir un nouveau rééchelonnement des 110 milliards d'aide de l'Union européenne et du FMI

Timothy Geithner a repoussé au 2 août la date à laquelle il estime être dans l'incapacité de rembourser les obligations arrivant à maturité

Le hedge fund londonien Audley Capital, dirigé par l’activiste sud-africain Julian Treger, va selon le quotidien permettre à de nouveaux investisseurs d’entrer au sein de son fonds vedette European Opportunities, dont l’actif s’élève à 750 millions de dollars. Une initiative inspirée par le retrait de certains clients de long terme au cours des derniers mois. Le fonds a affiché des performances de 140% en 2009 et de 100% l’an passé.

Les citoyens britanniques qui possèdent des milliards de livres dans des comptes non déclarés au fisc logés dans des banques suisses devront s’acquitter d’une taxe de 50% selon un accord qui aurait été passé, selon le quotidien, entre les autorités des deux pays et pourrait être annoncé au cours du mois. L’Etat britannique compte ainsi récolter quelque trois milliards de livres qui s’ajouteront au paiement d’une taxe rétroactive.