p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Funds People reports that Groupama Asset Management has decided to end the exposure of its money market fund Groupama Eonia to debt from peripheral countries of the Euro zone. The exposure to “PIGS” will mature at the end of February, and will not be renewed. The fund (EUR850m) will then be a solely “core” product. As of 17 January, 46% of the portfolio was invested in A-rated, and 27% in AA-rated securities.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Deka Immobilien announced on 25 January that it has sold the office building Carrea in Munich (11,2000 square metres ) to Competo Bestandsfonds Plus. The property was acquired for the open-ended real estate fund Deka ImmobilienEuropa in 2003.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Credit Suisse Germany has managed to sell the Schloss Arkaden building in Brunswick (55,481 square metres) to the Deka ImmobilienEuropa fund at a price above the EUR228.3m it was most recently valued at. It is the fourth consecutive sale of a property from the CS Euroreal fund (which has been closed to redemptions for 8 months) at a price higher than its market value; the previous one was the sale at the end of December of a 9,764 square metre building located at Quai Galliéni in Suresnes to the French real estate fund Viveris REIM. The market value of that property was EUR61.8m. Previously, in mid-December, Allianz Real Estate acquired two properties in Paris, also above their market value.After these four sales, gross liquidity in the CS Euroreal fund represented EUR1.03bn, of which EUR1.01bn were available for potential redemptions, which comes to 16.7% of assets (EUR6.05bn as of the end of December). Since the suspension of redemptions on 19 May 2010, net liquidity in the fund has increased by EUR727m, or 11.9 percentage points.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In second half 2010, the number of people holding shares in equities funds, diversified funds or both categories of funds in Germany fell by about 140,000 compared with first half, at slightly under 5.97 million, or 9.2% of the population, according to an NFO Infratest survey for the Deutsches Aktien Institut (DAI). Compared with the 2001 record, the total is down by 3.8 million, or 38.9%, but it remains 3.7 million people, or 158.6%, higher than in 1997.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } A survey by Expansión of major international investors reveals that foreigners are not enthusiastic about the idea of buying stakes in Spanish savings banks. They would like to have a say in matters at the target firms, and therefore would expect seats on the boards of directors, or else they would buy the assets only at a considerable markdown.Among the firms which are potentially interested, but who are awaiting more clarification from the Spanish government, are investors such as Carval, Varde, Fortress, Cerberus, Apollo (which is setting up a team in Spain under the name Lapithus), TPG, Macquarie, Och-Ziff, Lone Star, and Patron.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Manuel Cereijo has been appointed as director of the new family office division that Popular Banca Privada has created for high net worth clients with financial assets of over EUR10m, Funds People reports. The new service will cover all of Spain, and Banco Popular has made a pledge to its 100 current clients to maintain a maximum of 20 clients per adviser.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BNY Mellon on 25 January announced the appointment of Eleni Wang as head of client management for the Asia Pacific region, replacing Jai Arya, who has recently been promoted to director of the newly-created sovereign institutions group. Wang was previously managing partner of the alternative management firm Adept Capital Partners, where she was head of strategy and development.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British management firm ETF Securities (ETFS, USD26.4bn in assets) has announced that it has recently received validation of its passport for the European community, which will allow it to establish operations in Spain, where it is planning to sell over 200 exchange-traded products (ETP), including commodities (ETC) and other currency products, Funds People reports. Luis Puertas, head at the firm for the Iberian peninsula and Latin America, says that ETFS products will be available in Spain via the Bankinter, Renta 4, Inversis and GVC Gaesco platforms.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Spanish securities commission (CNMV) says that it is expecting changes “in the short to mid-term” in the structure of at least 7 out of the 24 asset management firms in which the savings banks hold stakes, Cinco Días reports. 17 out of the 45 savings banks in the country are expected to disappear. Experts say that in order to be viable, a management firm needs at least EUR500m in assets; however, in December, this was true at only 40% of them.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The co-founders of Verus Chartered Financial Planners, Paul Lothian and Jonathan Gibson, are entering the wealth management business. The financial advisers have teamed up with the Aberdeen accounting firm Anderson, Anderson & Brown, to create the dedicated wealth management entity A2+B Wealth. As its name indicates, the new firm is planning to concentrate on high net worth clients, to whom it will offer long-term management relying on modelling tools and the A2+B Wealthcare white label platform.

F&C Asset Management on January 25 updated the market on its assets under management and business flows and responded to the letter from Sherborne Investors - which holds a 17.5 stake in the company and wants to oust its chairman - dated 19 January 2011.“Sherborne appears to have misunderstood the economics of and rationale for the REIT Asset Management and Thames River Capital acquisitions”, F&C writes in a press release. “REIT and Thames River have accelerated the improvement in average fee margins and have contributed to the increased proportion of revenues derived from non‐insurance clients. Both acquisitions have enhanced the group’s product range and investment expertise and have helped strengthen the group’s management team. Both acquisitions were executed at attractive profit multiples which were significantly lower than those implied by recent transactions in the sector such as RBC’s acquisition of Bluebay and Henderson’s proposed acquisition of Gartmore”, according to the UK fund manager.In addition, F&C poses a number of questions “it considers critically important that Sherborne answers in advance of the general meeting it has requisitioned for 3 February to allow shareholders to consider all the facts before voting”. “Will Mr. Bramson’s executive chairmanship of Nautilus, a US based manufacturer of gym equipment, the share price of which has fallen c.75 per cent. since Sherborne acquired its c.20 per cent interest, together with his other responsibilities, allow him to carry out properly his proposed role as Chairman of F&C?”, asks F&C.Alain Grisay, chief executive of F&C, also commented: “After years of outflows and the ownership uncertainty of 2007‐2009, 2010 was a turning point for F&C with three year investment track records rebuilt, strong consultant support and a return to net inflows ex. insurance assets. The combination of positive headline flows from institutional clients, coupled with improving fee margins are tangible signs that our strategy is working”.The group’s assets under management (AUM) ended the year at GBP105.8 billion, vs GBP97.8 billion at the en of 2009. Net business flows (excluding insurance) were positive in Q4 2010 and for the full‐year after four years of net outflows (GBP272m).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Matthias Danne, a board member at DekaBank, is satisfied with the compromise between coalition parties over regulations applicable to open-ended real estate funds. In his opinion, the number of providers of these funds aimed at retail investors will fall below ten, from 14 currently.Deka is the leader in this market segment, with assets of about EUR22bn. Net subscriptions to the group’s real estate funds represented EUR1.6bn in 2010, of which EUR1.1bn were for the three products aimed at retail clients (Deka-ImmobilienEuropa, Deka-ImmobilienGlobal and WestInvest InterSelect), while the remaining EUR500m went to institutional funds.In 2010, Deka Immobilien bought 27 properties for EUR2.4bn, and sold 16 properties for EUR800m. In 2011, the management firm is planning to acquire more small properties for its institutional funds. The largest deal last year was the acquistion of the office property Chevron House in Singapore for EUR300m.

La banque centrale a procédé à un nouveau tour de vis monétaire de 25 points de base, portant son taux de refinancement à 6,5 %

44 sociétés ont vu le jour en 2010, correspondant à une création nette de 25 entreprises. Leur nombre s’élevait à 592 à fin décembre, contre 571 et 567 en 2008 et 2009, selon les chiffres de l’AFG. L’an passé, les encours gérés par le secteur ont crû de 1,7% à 2.656 milliards d’euros.

44 sociétés ont vu le jour l'an dernier, pour 25 créations nettes. Leur nombre s’élevait à 592 à fin 2010, selon les chiffres de l’AFG

La société de gestion alternative, qui vise 3 milliards d’euros d’actifs d’ici fin 2013, mise sur le développement des mandats dédiés

Même si les ventes commencent à repartir, gonflées par les saisies, les prix ont encore baissé en novembre 2010

La nouvelle législation instaure une durée minimale de détention pour les investisseurs institutionnels

L’institution recommande cependant des mesures politiques dans les économies avancées et en développement pour assurer une croissance durable

Le président américain a proposé un gel partiel des dépenses sur 5 ans afin de réduire le déficit de 400 milliards de dollars en 10 ans

Le quotidien avance que le fonds américain de garantie des dépôts bancaires pourrait annoncer aujourd’hui qu’un groupe d’investisseurs emmené par Colony Capital s’est vu attribuer la gestion de deux portefeuilles de créances hypothécaires commerciales et résidentielles hérités de banques en faillite et d’un montant de 820 millions de dollars.

Signe fort de confiance dans la pérennité de la zone euro, la demande pour la dette à 5 ans du Fonds de stabilité a atteint 45 milliards

Le Fonds européen de stabilité financière a levé hier 5 milliards d’euros de dette à 5 ans. L'émission inaugurale a attiré une demande record de 45 milliards.

Le marché des appels d’offres est toujours porté par la contribution du Fonds de réserve pour les retraites

30 % des transactions notées par l'agence, contre une fourchette de 40 à 50 % préalablement indiquée, risquent d'être rétrogradées

Crédit Agricole Private Equity (CAPE) pourrait encaisser à terme jusqu’à 100 millions de dollars provenant de l’acquisition de l’américain BioVex (biotech spécialisée dans le traitement du cancer) par son compatriote Amgen. La transaction s’est effectuée sur une base d’un milliard de dollars: 425 millions payables immédiatement et jusqu’à 575 millions en fonction de l’obtention d’autorisations et de la réalisation d’objectifs commerciaux par BioVex. Entré au capital de la société en 2003, CAPE en détient près de 10% à ce jour.

Le gestionnaire d’actifs a dégagé au quatrième trimestre un bénéfice (hors exceptionnels) de 670 millions de dollars (3,42 dollars par action), en hausse de 77% par rapport à la période comparable de 2009. Les revenus ont dans le même temps bondi de 61%, à 2,49 milliards de dollars. Les commissions de performance des fonds alternatifs ont totalisé 326 millions de dollars, contre 125 millions un an plus tôt.

La société néerlandaise de capital-investissement AlpInvest Partners a convié la presse ce matin à 9h30 à Amsterdam pour une mise au point concernant la revue stratégique en cours. Carlyle est pressenti pour négocier le rachat, mais aucun détail n’a été fourni.

L’émission obligataire à 5 ans inaugurale du Fonds européen de stabilité financière (EFSF), qui rentre dans le cadre du financement de sa contribution au plan d’aide à l’Irlande, a été plébiscitée par les marchés. «Le carnet d’ordres a atteint un record de 45 milliards d’euros avec plus de 500 ordres », précise Frédéric Gabizon, responsable dettes souveraines chez HSBC France, qui fait partie avec SG CIB et Citi du syndicat bancaire organisant l’émission. Le banquier ajoute que la fourchette de marge à l’émission indicative a été abaissée de 8-10 pb au dessus des taux mid-swaps à 6-8 pb et qu’il y a de fortes chances que la dette sorte sur la partie basse de la fourchette et soit placée pour un montant de 5 milliards. Sur le marché des taux, le taux du Bund à 10 ans se détendait ce matin de 3 pb à 3,11%.

L’organisme a relevé sa prévision de croissance du produit intérieur brut mondial à 4,4% pour 2011, contre 4,2% dans sa précédente estimation d’octobre. La prévision est relevée de 2,2% à 2,5% pour les pays développés grâce aux Etats-Unis où la croissance attendrait 3% contre 2,3% auparavant, tandis que l’estimation reste inchangée à 1,5% pour la zone euro.