In the first two months of this year, Mandarine Gestion has taken on a net total of EUR150m in subscriptions, which is a good sign, barring any bad surprises, for the firm’s ambitions to attract EUR600m in subscriptions this year, after EUR500m in 2010 (see Newsmanagers of 11 February). Net profits last year totalled about EUR5m, as in 2009.Assets as of the end of February, at the end of three years in business, totalled EUR1.785bn, compared with “over EUR1.6bn” one month ago, of which 5% are from Germany, and 15% from French-speaking Switzerland.Marc Renaud, chairman and founder of the management firm, has unveiled the firm’s international distribution plans. In Germany, the firm’s “second domestic market,” the Frankfurt office, led by Andreas Krebs, concentrates on institutional clients, private banking and funds of funds; it may eventually take on recruitments, once it tops EUR100m in assets.Mandarine has also signed a distribution agreement for Austria with Tury Investment. The “minority” partner with whom the firm was in talks a month ago to invest in the Spanish and Italian markets is UFG-LFP, which controls 15% of Mandarine Gestion, and will distribute the Mandarine Valeur fund (about EUR1.2bn in assets) in these countries, as well as the Luxembourg-registered smidcaps fund Mandarine Unique, launched in March 2010, which has already received EUR40m in subscriptions in France and Germany. The Luxembourg vehicle may also be used to sell UCITS-compliant products in Asia or elsewhere in the world.The objective for 2011 is to bring in 30% to 35% of inflows from abroad, compared with one quarter in 2010, says Rémi Leservoisier, deputy CEO. To accompany this overall increase in assets, the firm, which has 19 employees, has recruited Mélanie Pauchard, who joins Yann Baudin in marketing, and further recruitments are planned for the legal department as well as the middle office (one for each unit).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Lyle LaMothe is leaving his position as head of Merrill Lynch US Wealth Management, an internal memo obtained by Financial News reveals. A successor has not yet been appointed.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } At a press conference organised by Reuters on Monday, 7 March, Financière de l’Echiquier admitted that it has received enquiries from companies throughout the world (United States, Great Britain, and elsewhere), but stated that the candidates under study for potential acquisitions are exclusively French, Agefi reports. As Didier le Menestrel last year told Newsmanagers (see article on 15 February 2010), a logic of complementarity is now necessary for operations of this type in areas of specialised expertise or activity.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The management firm Rivoli Fund Management has announced that it topped EUR500m in assets in 2010 (EUR510m, to be exact). Inflows from France and abroad from all types of clients (institutionals, family offices, IFAs, etc.) were largely concentrated on the equities fund Rivoli Equity Fund and the bond fund Rivoli Long Short Bond Fund. As of the end of 2010, the first fund had nearly EUR200m in assets under management (with returns of 17.45% year on year), while the second had assets of EUR100m (with gains of 11.17%). As Newsmanagers reported on 14 October 2010, Rivoli Fund Management, which is planning to continue its development in the IFA segment, is planning to recruit two new specialist partners for its marketing and sales team to serve these clients.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The alternative management firm Ciam (Charity Investment Asset Management) was founded by three women, Catherine Berjal, Anne-Sophie d’Andlau and Frédérique Barnier-Bouchet, La Tribune reports. The firm, which received a license from the AMF in late 2009, is specialised in merger and acquisition arbitrage, and only trades on operations of over USD500m. The portfolio at Ciam totals USD40m, and the managers are aiming for eventual assets of USD700m.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 7 February, Bank of America announced that Stuart Hendel has been recruited as managing director and head of global prime brokerage. He will join BofA in June, and will be based in New York. He will report to Tom Patrick and Mike Stewart, co-heads of global equities. The global futures & derivatives clearing services group will be placed under the joint responsibility of Hendel and Denis Manelski, who will remain as head of global short rates trading. Since 2009, Hendel has been head of global prime services at UBS, following his return from Morgan Stanley in 2007 as global head of prime brokerage. In 2004, he joined the hedge fund firm Eton Park. According to the Wall Street Journal, two partners of Hendel also left UBS on Monday: Jonathan Yalmokas, U.S. head of prime-brokerage sales, and Charlotte Burkeman, European head of prime brokerage.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) announced on Monday, 7 March that it has appointed Matt Christensen as director of socially responsible investment, from 2 May 2011. Christensen will be based in Paris, and will report to Christophe Coquema, a member of the board at AXA IM, director of Markets & Investment Strategy.Before joining AXA IM, Christensen was executive director of Eurosif, a European think tank in the area of socially responsible investment, which works with 85 member businesses representing EUR1trn in assets under management.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 3 March, Global X Funds (USD1.5bn in assets as of the end of February) launched what it claims is the first ETF in the world to track the Argentinian market. The product is the Global X FTSE Argentina 20 ETF, acronym ARGT. The new product charges fees of 0.75%.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 3 March, Invesco PowerShares launched what it claims is the first ETF of senior bank loans (see Newsmanagers of 3 March). The product, the PowerShares Senior Loan Portfolio (US73936Q7694, acronym BKLN), charges a management commission of 0.75%. The product replicates the S&P/LSTA U.S. Leveraged Loan 100 Index, and will invest at least 80% of its portfolio in assets drawn from this benchmark. It is authorised to invest up to 20% in closed funds, which in turn will invest in senior loans and other liquid instruments such as high yield bonds.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } After registering the Global Credit sub-fund of its Luxembourg Sicav ACPI Luxembourg Fund, an absolute return product, in Spain in April 2010, the British asset management firm ACPI Investment Managers (USD2.75bn in assets) has received permission from the CNMV to sell three sub-funds of its Irish Sicav ACPI Global Ucits Fund in the country. The products are two emerging markets bond funds, ACPI Emerging Markets Fixed Income UCITS and ACPI Global Fixed Income UCITS, and an international equities product, ACPI Global Equity UCITS.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } William Lowndes has resigned from his position as head of distribution for Asia at Threadneedle Asset Mangaement, Asian Investor reports. A replacement will soon be appointed. Lowndes is seeking a new employer in the Hong Kong area, in asset management or private banking, Asian Investor reports.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Francesco de Ferrari, managing director and CEO of Credit Suisse Private Banking Italy, will begin on 1 August 2011 as head of market area for Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. He will report to Marcel Kreis, head of private banking Asia Pacific, and will be based in Singapore.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Peter Siber, head of credit advisory & structuring at the Zurich headquarters of Bank Julius Baer, has been appointed as chief risk officer for Asia and the Middle East, effective immediately. He will be based in Singapore, and will report regionally to Thomas R. Meier, CEO Asia & Middle East, and functionally to Bernhard Hodler, group chief risk officer. Bank Julius Baer has over 500 employees in Asia and the Middle East.

Aberdeen Asset Management has been appointed to manage a Nordic property portfolio of a total value of EUR537million. Portfolio properties are mainly located in Denmark, Sweden and Finland and consists of retail and residential properties. The portfolio was previously managed by Danish property asset manager, Property Group.The take-on of this portfolio comes a week after Aberdeen in Sweden was chosen to manage distressed assets to the value of EUR308 million on behalf of Danish financial institutions. With the addition of these two portfolios, the asset manager in the Nordics has grown its property assets under management by EUR846 million to EUR9.9 billion.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The wealth management firm VCH Vermögensverwaltung, a member of the Altira group, on 23 February announced the launch of a Luxembourg-registered fund, whose management will be contracted out to Hauck & Aufhäuser Investmentgesellschaft, where it will be managed by a former DWS manager, Jens Schleuniger (see Newsmanagers of 25 January 2011). The product is an equities fund specialised in firms whose headquarters are located in Africa, primarily in South Africa, Egypt, Mauritius, Nigeria, Morocco, and Kenya. A significant portion of the portfolio will be placed in companies of the commodities sector in the broader senst (prospecting, refining, transformation, sales).CharacteristicsName: VCH AfricaISIN code: LU0563445195Front-end fee: 5%Management commission: 0.40%Depository banking commission (Hauck & Aufhäuser Banquiers Luxembourg S.A.): 0.10%Advising commission: 1.45%Performance commission: 10%, with high watermarkMinimal subscription: EUR500

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In January 2011, the German asset management industry posted net subscriptions of EUR6.62bn, compared with EUR6.56bn in December, and EUR13.51bn one year previously, according to figured published on 7 march by the German BVI association of asset management firms. These results are due to institutional funds, which attracted EUR5.6bn, open-ended real estate funds, which raised EUR599m, and mandates, which brought in EUR360m. Open-ended securities funds attracted only EUR65.6m, as bond products saw net outflows of over EUR1.62bn.Among the major asset management firms, Allianz Global Investors (AGI) saw net redemptions of EUR786.8m, while Deka (savings banks) and Union Investment (co-operative banks) posted redemptions of EUR513.2m and EUR123.6m, respectively. The DWS/DB Advisors/DB Group (Deutsche Bank) family, however, posted net inflows of EUR541m.Except ETFlab (Deka), which saw net outflows of EUR470m, ETF specialists took on net subscriptions: EUR349.4m for BlackRock (iShares), EUR78.7m for ComStage (Commerzbank), and EUR349.9m for db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to a study by Cerulli Associates, cited by Financial Times Fund Managemnet, absolute return funds are “a myth.” The report finds that no absolute return strategy has been able to preserve capital in all market conditions, and that returns were more or less in line with their underlying markets, although volatility was lower.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Schroders has announced a hard closure of its US Mid Cap fund to subscriptions from 1 April, as its assets now exceed USD4.5bn, Investment Week reports. Schroders estimates that above this level it would not be possible to earn satisfactory returns. The product, managed by Jerry Jones, had already been provisionally closed in December. The fund was launched in April 2005, and has earned returns over three years of 44.3%.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Wall Street Journal reports that potential jurors for the trial of the hedge fund Galleon and its founder, Raj Rajaratnam, on insider trading charges, are being asked about their feelings towards Wall Street directors and the US financial crisis, in order to determine whether they are likely to be prejudiced or to retain their ability to judge the case impartially.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The ratings agency Moody’s on Monday announced that it has downgraded the sovereign rating for Greece from “Ba1” to “B1,” a downgrade of three places, with a negative outlook. The agency cites risks to the enactment of budgetary reforms, and restructuring of the country’s debt.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Duemme SGR, the asset management firm of the Italian Banca Esperia group, has launched the Duemme CoCo Credit Fund, an Italian-registered hedge fund which invests in “coco,” or contingent convertible bank bonds, which are transformed into equities when the bank is in difficulty. For the fund, the Italian firm has formed a partnership with the British firm Algebris Investments.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Barclays Capital is launching two new OEIC funds exposed to the FTSE 100, Investment Week reports. They are the IFSL Barclays FTSE 100 Trend fund, which aims to bring investors positive returns tied to the FTSE 100 Trend Total Return index, and a defensive version of the fund, which offers protection for 80% of invested capital.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 7 March, Skandia Investment Group (SIG) announced the launch of the Skandia Asian Equity Fund, a UCITS-compliant product, which will be managed by the high-conviction management firm MIR (USD1.4bn in assets as of the end of June 2010), which for nearly two years has managed the Asian equities allocation from the Skandia Global Dynamic Equity Fund (GBP1bn in assets as of the end of December 2010), managed by François Zagame.MIR will use a value and momentum management style with a process that allies quantitative and qualitative management, applied to a highly diversified portfolio of 60 to 100 Asian equities (ex Japan). The benchmark index is the MSCI Asia Pacific Ex Japan GDP Index, which is weighted according to the GDP of the countries concerned.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In January, retail net subscriptions to funds domiciled in the United Kingdom totalled GBP891m, less than half the monthly average for the past twelve months of GBP2bn, according to statistics from the Investment Management Association (IMA). Institutional funds saw net outflows of GBP1.18bn.As of the end of January, assets in retail funds domiciled in the United Kingdom totalled GBP569.3bn, compared with GBP468.9bn one year earlier, while for funds domiciled abroad, assets totalled GBP26.8bn, compared with GBP23.9bn as of the end of January 2010. In January, these funds posted net inflows of GBP292.3m, compared with net redemptions of GBP134m for the corresponding month of last year.Net subscriptions to equities funds totalled Gbp534m, compared with an average of GBP624m for the past twelve months, while balanced funds totalled GBP231m, for an average of GBP299m, and bond funds fell to their lowest level since October 2008, at GBP37m, whereas the average over the past twelve months was GBP584m.

Le nombre de paris à la hausse touche un niveau jamais atteint, ce qui laisse supposer que le prix record de l’été 2008 pourrait être battu

Alors que l’instabilité en Libye pousse les cours vers le haut, les opérateurs prennent position sur les marchés à terme pour une poursuite du mouvement.

Des sources concordantes évoquent le lancement d’un fonds de 10 milliards de dollars abondé par les pouvoirs publics russes

Créée en 2008, la société, dont les actifs s’élevaient à 1,8 milliard d’euros à fin 2010, mise sur son développement commercial à l’international

Les opérations à long terme (LTRO) seront allouées fin avril, mai et juin à une moyenne des taux des opérations principales (MRO) de la banque centrale

En cas de hausse en avril de 25 pb du taux de refinancement de la BCE à 1,25%, les appels d’offres à 3 mois (LTRO) de janvier, février et mars seront effectués à un taux supérieur à 1%, le taux de prêt étant la moyenne du refi au cours de leur durée de vie.