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11/01/2011

SSgA boucle l’acquisition de BIAM

State Street Global Advisors, la division de State Street Corporation spécialisée dans la gestion d’actifs, vient de boucler l’acquisition de Bank of Ireland Asset Management (BIAM) annoncée en octobre 2010, pour environ 57 millions d’euros (lire article du 25 octobre 2010)."Cette acquisition apporte à State Street de nouveaux clients et employés basés à Dublin et des actifs gérés couvrant la gestion actions fondamentale, les taux, le monétaire, l’allocation d’actifs, l’immobilier et fonds de gestion équilibrés. Le montant total des actifs sous gestion de BIAM au 31 décembre 2010 est estimé à environ 26 milliards d’euros. L’acquisition permet en outre à SSgA d’améliorer la gamme de solutions en gestion d’investissements et d’accroitre globalement sa présence en Irlande où l’entreprise sert les investisseurs institutionnels depuis 15 ans. La nouvelle entité, State Street Global Advisors Ireland Limited, devient le dixième centre d’investissement international de SSgA gérant les actifs de nos clients», précise un communiqué de presse.
11/01/2011
Fonds

East Capital renomme les fonds d’AGI

La société de gestion suédoise East Capital vient de renommer les deux fonds gérés par Asia Growth Investors, une société de gestion spécialisée sur l’Asie – également basée à Stockholm - qu’elle a acquise l’année dernière (lire article du 17 juin 2010). Ainsi, depuis le 1er janvier, le fonds AGI China East Asia Fund est devenu East Capital China East Asia Fund, tandis que l’AGI China Fund a adopté le nom d’East Capital China Fund. Ce changement de noms n’a aucun impact sur la stratégie d’investissement des fonds, qui reste la même, précise Karine Hirn, de East Capital, sur le site Internet de la société de gestion nordique. Les deux fonds sont exposés à la Chine, le China East Asia Fund ayant un univers un peu plus large que l’autre. Les produits sont gérés par la même équipe, qui vient néanmoins d’être renforcée.
Fonds
11/01/2011
Fonds

Les fonds garantis ont drainé en net 2,1 milliards d'euros en 2010

Malgré une perte moyenne de 0,9 %, selon Ahorro Corporación, les fonds garantis espagnols ont été avec 2,1 milliards d’euros la seule catégorie, à côté des fonds d’actions (500 millions), à enregistrer des souscriptions nettes en 2010, rapporte Cinco Días. Et, sur les 124 nouveaux fonds lancés en Espagne l’an dernier, 61 ont été des produits garantis (lire notre article du 5 janvier).L’encours des fonds garantis s’est accru de 1,6 milliard d’euros pour ressortir en fin d’année à 48,5 milliards d’euros. Parallèlement, les actifs gérés par les fonds obligataires ont chuté sur l’ensemble de l’année de 27,5 milliards d’euros (dont 20,9 milliards de sorties nettes), pour revenir au 31 décembre à 52,6 milliards d’euros.
Fonds
11/01/2011

European insurance supervisory body holds first meeting

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The new European regulatory body for the insurance and pension fund sectors (EIOPA, formerily CEIOPS), which on 10 January held its first meeting, is planning to quadruple its staff (currently 28) by 2013, and to supervise the enactment of Solvency II standards, Les Echos reports. The name of the president of the agency will be revealed in the next few days.
11/01/2011

Axa IM develops a real estate risk index

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } A survey conducted by Schleus Marktforschung between 20 November and 10 December, which spoke to 156 institutional investors with total assets of EUR156bn, has provided Axa Investment Managers Germany with knowledge with which it has developed a real estate risk index that will now be regularly calculated, on a scale from 0 for no risk to 100 for maximal risk. In its first edition, the risk level stands at 38.The first survey has also found that institutional investors have widely differing conceptions of the concept of risk. Frank Richter, head of institutional business Germany & Austria at Axa IM, says that nearly one quarter of respondents say the largest risk is losing assets or revenues, while 18% say that it is failing to achieve objectives, and 16% say risk is largely a measure of chance. However, 47% of specialists surveyed say that direct investment in real estate carries low or very low risk, while 23% say so for indirect investment in real estate. Axa IM says that this reflects current problems for open-ended real estate funds, many of which are now closed to redemptions (with assets of about EUR25bn), in liquidation (three funds), and/or have been forced to announce depreciation in the value of shares.
11/01/2011

Funds avoid crisis-stricken countries in Euro zone

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Johannes Müller, a bond expert at DWS (Deutsche Bank), says that the fund management firm of the Deutsche Bank group has long had a rule against investment in Portuguese bonds, and that it now prefers short-term bonds issued by Greece to Portuguese government bonds, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. Union Investment (German co-operative banks), for its part, states that it has taken the occasion of low yields and high prices to reduce its exposure to Portuguese mid- and long-term bonds.At Pimco, Andrew Balls, head of portfolio management for Europe, says that the firm is concerned for the wider Euro zone, beyond the next six to twelve months, because some states may have difficulty in adhering to their multiple-year long austerity programmes. If one or more Euro zone countries is late in its repayments, it could trigger a banking crisis for all of Europe.Schroders says that it is extremely pudent: the British asset management firm is overweight in bunds, underweight in French government debt, and has no exposure to government bonds from peripheral countries of the Euro zone, according to David Scammel, a manager of British and European bond funds.
11/01/2011

Bordier & Cie granted a banking license in Singapore

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Swiss private bank Bordier & Cie has opened an affiliate in Singapore, Le Temps reports. It will be led by Evrad Bordier, a partner since 1 January, who will be based in Singapore. The location on Monday received its merchant banking license from the regulatory authority, the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Personnel will be increased to 20 people by the end of the year. Bordier & Cie, whose assets under management total about CHF9.5bn, is planning to have CHF1bn in assets under management at the affiliate by the end of its first year of operations. To achieve this goal, the bank will offer clients of Bordier International Bank & Trust (BIBT), an entity domiciled in the Turk and Caicos Islands, a British territory in the Caribbean, specialised in offshore private management, the opportunity to transfer their assets, which total nearly CHF500m.
11/01/2011

Acacia Inversión granted fund management firm license

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Acacia Inversión, founded in 1997 as a portfolio management firm, has become the first operator to be issued a fund management license in 2011, Funds People reports. It already offers its high net worth private clients four profiled funds: Acacia Bonomix (75% bonds, 25% equities), Globalmix Mixto Renta Variable (50/50), Reinverplus Renta Variable (100% equities) and Acacia Premium Renta Variable Global (100% global equities).
11/01/2011

Guaranteed funds attracted a net total of EUR2.1bn in 2010

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Despite average losses of 0.9%, according to Ahorro Corporación, Spanish guaranteed funds, with EUR2.1bn, were the only category aside from equities funds (EUR500m), to post net subscriptions in 2010, Cinco Días reports. And of the 124 new funds launched in Spain last year, 61 were guaranteed products.Assets in guaranteed funds increased by EUR1.6bn to total EUR48.5bn as of the end of the year. Meanwhile, assets managed by bond funds fell over the year as a whole by EUR27.5bn (of which EUR20.9bn were net outflows), to a total of EUR52.6bn as of 31 December.
11/01/2011

Number of ETFs in Europe tripled during the crisis

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } At the beginning of 2007, ETFs in Europe had assets under management of EUR103bn. As of the end of September 2010, assets totalled EUR232bn, according to data from Global ETF Research and BlackRock, Expansión reports. In the same period, the number of funds tripled, from 500 to 1,500 products. The three largest operators in Europe are iShares (BlackRock), with a market share of 32.7%, Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale), with 16.6%, and db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank), with 15.7%.
11/01/2011

Funds managed by banks underperform

Funds managed by banks and insurance companies generally underperform those operated by independent asset managers across Europe, according to data compiled for Financial Times Fund Management by Lipper.However, in some countries, such as France, pure asset managers are over-represented at both extremes of the performance scale, suggesting they are taking more risk than their banking and insurance counterparts.
11/01/2011

Real estate funds: performance will remain modest in 2011

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to a Handelsblatt survey of Commerz Real, Deka Immobilien, RREEF (Deutsche Bank) and Union Investment Real Estate (UIRE), with a total of EUR52bn in assets for their real estate open-ended funds, a major increase in performance compared with 2010 is not to be expected in 2011. Gains as of the end of November varied from 1.3% for Westinvest (Deka) to 3.3% for the hausInvest fund from Commerz Real, well below the usual 4% to 5%. This is due to high levels of liquidity, at 20% to 34% for UIRE, and 20% for funds from RREEF and Deka, which reduces performance. The hausInvest fund has only 15% cash, which boosted returns.Some real estate funds are seeking to reduce their liquidity by investing, but the competition drives up the prices of good quality commercial properties. UIRE was therefore not able to spend all of its investment budget of EUR1.2bn for 2010, and RREEF is expecting only EUR500m in investments this year, compared with EUR800m last year.Net subscriptions in 2010 are estimated to have totalled over EUR1bn at RREEF and Deka, and EUR1.5bn at UIRE, but hausInvest saw net outflows of EUR1.4bn in January-November.
11/01/2011

Pimco Europe and db x-trackers together attract all of subscriptions

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In January-November 2010, German open-ended funds, excluding real estate, attracted net subscriptions of EUR21.21bn, less than the total for Pimco Europe, of the Allianz Global Investors (AGI) group (with EUR17.73bn), combined with that of db x-trackers, the ETP provider from Deutsche Bank (with EUR5.8bn), according to statistics from the German BVI association of asset management firms.Two groups had net outflows: Deka (savings banks), which had net redemptions of EUR5.45bn, and Union Investment (co-operative banks), with net outflows of EUR2.68bn.Among the other major firms, the AGI ensemble has net subscriptions of EUR14.36bn, and the DWS/DB Advisors/Deutsche Bank family has EUR2.89bn.For ETFs, excluding db x-trackers (and Lyxor, which does not make its figures public), BlackRock, with its iShares products, attracted over EUR1.16bn, while Commerz Derivative Funds solutions, with ComStage, attracted EUR684.3m. However, ETFlab (Deka) saw net outflows of nearly EUR200m.
11/01/2011

Net inflows to asset management firms nearly doubled in January-November 2010

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to the most recent statistics from the German BVI association of asset management firms, net subscriptions in the first eleven months of the year totalled nearly EUR80.86bn, compared with more than EUR43.57bn in the corresponding period of last year.However, the 85.5% increase conceals a major transformation in the distribution between the various classes of contributions. Open-ended funds in January-November 2010 attracted about EUR22.58bn, compared with EUR2.83bn for the corresponding period in 2009, while net inflows to institutional funds (Spezialfonds) increased to EUR61.12vn from EUR21.87bn. But net inflows to mandates of EUR18.87bn in the first eleven months of 2009 were transformed into net outflows last year of EUR2.84bn.In total, assets (open-ended funds, institutional funds and mandates) as of the end of November were down to EUR1.8235trn, from EUR1.8251trn one months earlier, and up compared with the EUR1.6899trn recorded on 30 November 2009. As of the end of November 2010, open-ended funds represented EUR701.11bn, while institutional funds came in with EUR808.83bn, and mandates measured EUR313.56bn.
11/01/2011

Henderson granted a license in Germany for Credit Alpha Fund

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 4 January, BaFin issued a sales license for Germany to the British-registered Credit Alpha fund, a sub-fund of the Henderson Strategic Investment Funds, launched on 16 April 2010. The fund invests in corporate bonds, ABS, preferential equities, equities, collateralised credits in CDS, and other derivatives. The fund is available in US dollar and euro shares, all of which are hedged for currency risks. Characteristics Names: Henderson Credit Alpha Fund A USD (hedged) Acc. ; Henderson Credit Alpha Fund A EUR (hedged) Acc.ISIN codes: GB00B603K666 (shares in dollars) ; GB00B630QF50 (shares in euros)Front-end fee: 5%Management commission: 1.5%depository banking commission (RBS): 0.30%Performance commission: 20% of quarterly outperformance of the Libor GBP 3-month, with high watermark Account maintenance fee: 0.18%Minimal subscription: USD1,500 or EUR1,500
11/01/2011

Aviva Investors builds presence in Asia

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } After launching a real estate unit two years ago, the British Aviva Investors group has recruited Manish Singhai and Kevin Talbot to develop its Asian equities and bond activities from Singapore, Aviva Investors reports. Singhai has been appointed chief investment officer for equities, while Talbot joins the group as chief investment officer for fixed income. Singhai, who spent 10 years at AllianceBernstein, in 2008 launched a market neutral hedge fund dedicated to Asia ex Japan, Arjava Capital, which has recently been closed. Talbot previously worked at ANZ Private Bank in Singapore.
11/01/2011

Morgan Stanley spins off proprietary trading unit

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }Morgan Stanley has announced that it has reached an agreement with the employees of its in-house quantitative proprietary trading unit Process Driven Trading (PDT), whereby PDT employees will acquire certain assets from Morgan Stanley and launch an independent advisory firm at the end of 2012. Morgan Stanley will have the option to acquire a preferred stake in the new entity, to be known as PDT Advisors. It is expected the full PDT team, which comprises approximately 60 employees globally, will join the independent firm.During the two-year transition period, PDT will remain a part of Morgan Stanley and continue to manage Firm capital as it has historically. PDT will also build out its infrastructure and its third-party investment business during this period.
11/01/2011

Harbinger analyst to launch his own firm

Lawrence M. Clark Jr left Harbinger Capital Partners where he was a senior analyst and a partner to launch his own hedge fund, The Wall Street Journal writes. This departure comes as Harbinger in recent years has evolved from a diversified hedge-fund firm to one which looks more like a private-equity firm. Assets have declined from about USD26 billion in 2008 to USD6.4 billion in November.
11/01/2011

SG Private Banking interested in wealth management in North America

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Agefi reports that Société Générale Private Banking is planning to open a long-term location in the United States. The bank is finalising plans for a brokerage and banking services platform based in New York, and aimed at US domestic high net worth clients. “Pending approval from the necessary authorities, we are hoping to begin our activities in the next few months,” says Daniel Truchi, director of the platform, cited by the newspaper. The platform will be complementary with the activities of Rockefeller Financial Services, a management firm dedicated to family offices based in New York and in which the bank has controlled a 37% stake since 2008.
11/01/2011

Fidelity renews its contract with BP America

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Fidelity Investments has announced that it has renewed its contract with BP America, an affiliate of the BP group, for a 5-year term. Under the contract, the management firm will continue to provide services to the corporate retirement savings plan for the business for a total of 95,000 employees.
11/01/2011

Blake Grossman leaves BlackRock

In an internal memo signed by CEO Larry Fink which has been confirmed by sources familiar with the matter, BlackRock has announced the departure of Blake Grossman, who had been vice-chairman for slightly over a year, since the acquisition by BlackRock of Barclays Global Investors (BGI), which Grossman had led. The acquisition of BGI for USD15.2bn was concluded in December 2009 (see Newsmanagers of 2 December 2009).Grossman is not expected to be replaced as BlackRock vice president. However, on 10 January, Grossman’s name was still on the list of members of the global executive committee.p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }
11/01/2011

Morningstar parts with Tao Huang

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Tao Huang, COO for Morningstar since 1990, will be leaving the company at the end of January. He is also leaving his position as head of IT, corporate sales and the affiliate Logical Information Machines (LIM), acquired in 2009.Morningstar says that Huang will not be replaced as COO. Responsibility for IT will be taken over by Jow Mansueto, chairman and CEO, while corporate sales will be overseen by Scott Cooley, CFO, and LIM will be moved into the data division of Morningstar, led by Elizabeth Kircher.
11/01/2011

Invesco Perpetual launches an Asian income equities fund

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Fundstrategy reports that Invesco Perpetual is planning to launch an income fund focused on Asian equities. The fund, managed by Stuart Parks and Tim Dickson, will invest largely in Asia and Australia (ex Japan). The fund aims for returns from dividends equivalent to 120% of the MSCI Asia Pacific ex Japan index.
11/01/2011

East Capital renames AGI funds

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Swedish asset management firm East Capital has renamed two funds managed by Asia Growth Investors, an asset manager specialised in Asia, also based in Stockholm, which it acquired last year (see Newsmanagers of 17 June 2010). From 1 January, the AGI China East Asia Fund has become the East Capital China East Asia Fund, while the AGI China Fund becomes known as the East Capital China Fund. The change of names has no impact on the investment strategy of the funds, which remains the same, says Karine Hirn of East Capital on the website of the Scandinavian asset management firm. The two funds are exposed to China, where the China East Asia Fund has a slightly broader universe than the other fund. The products are managed by the same team, which has recently been enlarged.
11/01/2011

Raiffeisen launches a tracker fund with Pictet

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Raifeissen Switzerland, which for several years has been partnered with Vontobel for the management and distribution of investment funds, has selected the private bank Pictet & Cie to launch its first tracker fund, due to the size of its portfolio of assets managed in this area, totalling CHF22bn. The Swiss equities segment was selected by the partner banks. Their choice fell on the SPI index of 220 shares. The partners are planning to launch a similar fund in mid-2011. Meanwhile, Raifeissen is planning to raise CHF10m for its Swiss fund.
11/01/2011

Société Générale Securities Services appoints a deputy director of emerging markets

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Société Générale Securities Services (SGSS) has announced the appointment of Philippe Huerre as deputy director of emerging markets. He will work in close collaboration with Ramy Bourgi, director of emerging markets. Huerre, who since 2004 had been director of retail client custody services at SGSS, will aim to “consolidate the leading position of SGSS in emerging markets, where SGSS provides securities services to domestic and international investors,” a statement says. In 2010, SGSS extended its geographical presence into the Gulf states, through a commercial agreement with the National Bank of Abu Dhabi.
11/01/2011

ICI unveils plan for liquidity bank

The Investment Company Institute presented regulators with a proposal that would form a liquidity bank to help stabilize money-market funds during a market panic, according to The Wall Street Journal. The proposed bank wouldn’t backstop a fund that collapsed on its own. Instead, it would seek to prevent the damage from spreading to other funds.
11/01/2011

SEC charges hedge fund

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed civil charges against the co-founder of hedge fund Trivium Capital Management and three others persons, accusing them of trading on inside information regarding Google and other companies as part of its investigation into Galleon Group, the Financial Times writes.The US regulator alleged that Trivium, its co-founder Robert Feinblatt and analyst Jeffrey Yokuty made USD15m in profits by trading ahead of Google and Polycom’s earnings reports and before private equity takeovers of Hilton and Kronos were announced.
11/01/2011

BNY Mellon AM launches Latin American infrastructure strategy in France

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As reported by Newsmanagers on 29 November 2010, BNY Mellon Asset Management announced on Monday, 10 January that it has launched its BNY Mellon Latin America Infrastructure fund, a sub-fund of the BNY Mellon Global Funds Sicav, managed by the BNY Mellon ARX Investments team based in Rio de Janeiro, in France. BNY Mellon Latin America Infrastructure, which is aimed at retail and institutional investors, will invest in companies active in sectors related to infrastucture, such as equipment, transport, steel, telecommunications and energy, and in the key regions of Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Peru. The fund is composed of a concentrated portfolio of 35-50 equities. Characteristics ISIN code: EUR (A) shares: IE00B45KKV37EUR © shares: IE00B3VB9Y99Management fee: A shares: 2%C shares: 1%Minimal subscription: A shares: EUR5000C shares: EUR5m
11/01/2011

Hermès/LVMH: minority shareholder defence organisation will appeal AMF decision

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The French Association for the Defence of Minority Shareholders (ADAM) will appeal a decision by the French financial market regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), to grant a special dispensation to the usual takeover regulations for family shareholders in Hermès defending themselves against LVMH. Colette Neuville, president of ADAM, has told Reuters that she will file the appeal by Monday, 17 January. The appeal does not come as a surprise, as the ADAM president had already stated on several occasions that she opposed any exceptions under the law. “The appeal will be filed within six days, as regulations stipulate,” says Neuville, adding that the six-day period counts from last Thursday, when the AMF granted its clearance to Hermès. Neuville, who challenges the “reclassification” arguments used by the AMF, claims that the case “poses the problem of the value of regulated information” published by the Hermès directors, who had always claimed in the documents they supplied to the regulator and to the market that there were no shareholders who singularly or collectively controlled the capital of the company.

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