Le pôle gestion d’actifs du groupe bancaire américain Wells Fargo propose désormais un fonds d’actions dédié aux marchés émergents sous la forme d’une sicav luxembourgeoise, selon Investment Week.Le Wells Capital Management (WCM) Emerging Markets Equity fund est un portefeuille de 80 à 150 valeurs géré par Jerry Zhang. Il dispose d’un historique de performance de treize ans et affiche une performance annuelle de 11% depuis 1997, à comparer à un rendement de 7,5% pour l’indice de référence, le MSCI Emerging Markets Free index. Selon Jerry Zhang, il n’est pas trop tard pour s’intéresser aux marchés émergents même s’ils ont progressé l’an dernier de 74%, selon les données de Bloomberg. Les statistiques d’EPFR font état d’une collecte nette de 45 milliards de dollars depuis le début de l’année.

Le munichois TMW Pramerica Property Investment GmbH a annoncé le 28 septembre que la valeur liquidative des parts de son fonds immobilier offert au public TMW Immobilien Fonds (dont le gel des remboursements a été prorogé le 15 septembre) a été révisée à la baisse de 61 cents, à 50,48 euros, ce qui représente une dépréciation de 1,19 %.Cette mesure a été rendue nécessaire par une nouvelle expertise sur la valeur de l’immeuble Concord Terrace situé à Sunrise en Floride. Cet actif, précédemment valorisé à 10,6 millions de dollars, figure désormais dans les livres pour 0 euro, faute d’avoir trouvé des locataires.L’immeuble avait été loué en 2006 à Nortel Networks jusqu'à mars 2017. Mais, entre-temps, Nortel a fait faillite et a libéré les locaux au 31 octobre 2009, en pleine crise du marché de l’immobilier dans le Sud de la Floride.

Selon les informations de Die Welt, la crise qui a provoqué la suspension lundi des remboursements par le fonds de fonds immobilier Premium Management Immobilien-Anlagen (PMIA) d’Allianz Global Investors (AGI) est imputable à la Commerzbank, qui a l’exclusivité de la distribution de ce fonds et qui a décidé jeudi d’en abaisser la note à «inintéressant».De plus, elle préconise à ses clients de transférer leurs avoirs aux deux fonds immobiliers offerts au public de sa filiale Commerz Real, en faisant miroiter un droit d’entrée réduit à 3 % au lieu de 5 %. En un jour, cela a provoqué des sorties de plus de 520 millions d’euros pour le PMIA.De plus, ce fonds de fonds était aussi investi dans les deux fonds immobiliers de Commerz Real. Avant la suspension des remboursements, la ligne de 216 millions d’euros dans le hausInvest europa a pu être liquidée, mais Commerz Real a refusé de rembourser plus de 40 millions d’euros sur le hausInvest global.

Le 28 septembre, iShares (BlackRock) a fait admettre à la négociation sur le segment XTF de la plate-forme électronique Xetra trois nouveaux ETF d’actions de droit allemand qui portent à 707 le nombre de ces produits cotés à Francfort.Les deux premiers, chargés à 0,59 % répliquent les indices MSCI Australie (DE000A1C2Y78) et MSCI Canada (DE000A1C2Y86). Le troisième, sur le MSCI Afrique du Sud (DE000A1C2Y94) affiche une commission de gestion de 0,74 %.

UBS a annoncé le 28 septembre la nomination d’Alex Wilmot-Sitwell comme Co-Chairman et Co-CEO de la région Asie-Pacifique. Il dirigera cette région en commun avec Chi-Won Yoon, son actuel Chairman et CEO.Alex Wilmot-Sitwell prendra ses nouvelles fonctions le 1er novembre et travaillera à Hong kong. Carsten Kengeter, actuel Co-CEO UBS Investment Bank, devient l’unique responsable d’Investment Bank.

Selon l’Agefi qui reprend les propos de Douglas Wurth, le directeur de la banque privée de JPMorgan Chase à Bloomberg, l’objectif pour l'établissement est de multiplier par trois ses actifs en banque privée en Asie dans les 5 prochaines années. La banque compte également gonfler ses effectifs de 40% notamment en Chine et en Inde.

Le fonds souverain singapourien GIC, chargé d’investir les énormes réserves en devises étrangères de la cité-Etat, a indiqué le 27 septembre, à l’occasion de la publication de son rapport annuel, que son taux de rentabilité sur ses investissements a grimpé à 7,1% sur l’exercice 2009/2010 (clos fin mars), contre 5,7% l’année précédente. Sur l’exercice 2007/08, soit avant la crise financière mondiale, le GIC avait affiché un taux de rentabilité de 7,8%. GIC souligne qu’il continuera à se recentrer sur l’Asie, où la croissance économique devrait dépasser celle des marchés développés au cours des dix prochaines années.Ng Kok Song, responsable des investissements du groupe, a précisé dans la presse locale que GIC conserverait ses participations de 3,8% dans Citigroup et de 6,4% dans UBS.

La gamme BlackRock Strategic Funds (BSF) s’enrichit de deux fonds coordonnés market neutral de performance absolue, le BSF European Diversified Equity Absolute Return Fund (ISIN LU0525202155) et le BSF European Opportunities Absolute Return Fund (ISIN LU0525201009). Ils sont gérés par Simon Weinberger et Rob Fisher, d’un côté, par Carl Lee et David Tovey, de l’autre.Le premier affiche entre 1.500 et 2.000 lignes «long» et «short» (synthétiques, pour ces dernières), choisies parmi les petites et grandes capitalisations européennes selon la stratégie de l’European Scientific Investment Team de BlackRock qui allie une méthode quantitative à des éléments sur le moral du marché.Le European Opportunities applique la stratégie de l’European Specialist Equity Team. Il se focalise pour sa part sur les petites et moyennes capitalisations choisies par un processus de sélection de valeurs (bottom ump) en fonction d’un cadre thématique comme le changement des habitudes de la vie quotidienne, les changements démographiques ou économiques, des thèmes de marché ou les gains de productivité.

Le gestionnaire de fonds Northern Trust a annoncé la migration des hedge funds, fonds de fonds et fonds autonomes offshores gérés par Signina Capital AG, société de gestion indépendante suisse, vers le Luxembourg. Signina Capital a récemment fait appel aux services de gestion de fonds de Northern Trust, notamment pour ses solutions d’administration de fonds et le service Hedge Fund Monitor, qui permet aux clients de suivre et d’analyser en temps réel leurs placements dans des fonds alternatifs."Dans le domaine des hedge funds, nous constatons un intérêt croissant en faveur du lancement de fonds UCITS et non-UCITS dans des juridictions telles que le Luxembourg et l’Irlande», déclare Ian Headon, directeur du développement de produit de la division hedge funds et fonds de fonds spéculatifs en EMEA pour Northern Trust.

Selon Expansión relayé par Funds People, Axa Investment Managers s’est séparée la semaine dernière d’Iñigo Bilbao-Goyoaga, qui était son directeur pour l’Espagne et le Portugal depuis 2002. Le gestionnaire, dont la succursale espagnole emploie quatre gérants et affiche un encours de 585 millions d’euros fin août, a lancé un appel à candidatures à l’intérieur comme à l’extérieur du groupe. Le successeur d’Iñigo Bilbao-Guyoaga sera amené à développer l’activité en Amérique latine.Depuis le début de l’année, Axa IM a enregistré des souscriptions nettes de 260 millions d’euros en Espagne.

L’espagnol Allfunds Bank (Santander et Intesa Sanpaolo) a lancé le 21 septembre «Islamic Services Unit», une plate-forme B2B entièrement automatisée de fonds qui est pour l’instant la seule à être complètement conforme à la loi islamique (charia), ce qui est certifié par une fatwa signé de quatre membres du Sharia Board d’Amanie Dubai. Allfunds Bank propose déjà plus de 80 fonds conformes à la charia de 15 promoteurs basés au Luxembourg, en Irlande, aux Emirats arabes unis et en Arabie saoudite.Parallèlement, Allfunds Bank élargit ses services de recherche aux fonds islamiques pour faciliter à ses clients la sélection de fonds islamiques. Cela se traduira par le lancement d’un site Internet dédié fournissant une information complète sur ces fonds.

Au 1er septembre, l’indice Finles/IEX des hedge funds néerlandais s’est inscrit à 110,34 contre 110 fin juillet, gagnant 0,31 % en août après 0,2 % en juillet (lire notre dépêche du 8 septembre). Depuis le début de l’année, l’indice accuse une perte de 0,29 %.L’indice comprend depuis le 1er septembre le Callanish Global Macro Fund, mais le Robeco All Weather Equity Fund a été «arrêté» en septembre. Au 1er octobre, le Frog Fund sera intégré tant dans l’indice Finles/AEX des hedge funds néerlandais que dans l’indice Hollandse hedge fund 25.Sur les huit premiers mois de l’année, les hedge funds néerlandais affichant les meilleures performances sont DQS Absolute Return Fund, Finles Liquid Macro Fund, World View Global Macro Fund, VOC capital Commodity Alpha Fund et Fonds Bloemendaal.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to Expansión, cited by Funds People, Axa Investment Managers last week fired Iñigo Bilbao-Goyoaga, who had been its head for Spain and Portugal since 2002. The fund management firm, whose Spanish office employs four portfolio managers and has assets under management of EUR585m as of the end of August, has launched an internal and external search for candidates to replace Bilbao-Goyoaga. His successor will also be responsible for developing activities in Latin America. Since the beginning of the year, Axa IM has posted net subscriptions of EUR260m in Spain.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Spanish Allfunds Bank (Santander and Intesa Sanpaolo) on 21 September launched its Islamic Services Unit, a completely automatised B2B fund platform, which so far is the only one to be completely compliant with Sharia Islamic law, and certified by a fatwa signed by four members of the Sharia Board of Amanie Dubai. Allfunds Bank offers over 80 Sharia-compliant funds from 15 providers based in Luxembourg, Ireland, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, Allfunds Bank is also extending its Islamic fund research services, to better assist its clients to select Islamic funds. This will involve the launch of a website dedicated to providing complete information about these funds.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } It’s “a real trend,” according to the CEO of Novethic, Anne-Cathering Jusson-Traore, who on 28 September presented the second edition of the SRI Label, for management firms which this year confirmed their interest in the label for funds whose management systematically take into account environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria and which meet high standards for transparency. The management firms which received the label last year all used the label in at least one communication, saus Husson-Traore, who says the number of applicants increased 50% in 2010. The range of funds with SRI labels has also widened. It now includes 50 more funds from 32 management firms, compared with 25 in 2009. The 142 funds to receive the label represent EUR22.7bn, or 54% of assets in SRI funds on sale in France as of the end of June 2010. In terms of asset classes, there are 91 equities funds, 24 bond funds, 17 money market funds, and 10 diversified funds. Among the 182 funds for which an application was submitted are all the funds which received labels in 2009, except four funds which have since been closed. With more than 80 new applications, the interest of management firms in the label is clear. Many of them applied with more funds than in 2009, and Amundi, the management firm for the LCL and Crédit Agricole groups, which did not apply in 2009, has requested the label for all of its retail SRI funds.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) announced on 24 September that it has selected the management firm Smith, Graham & Co to assist it in the management of MBS (mortgage-backed securities) for the US Department of the Treasury. As an agent of the US Treasury, SSgA manages a portfolio of about USD180bn in MBS issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Smith, Graham will provide expertise in the areas of portfolio analysis and reporting.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } State Street Corporation on 28 September announced that it has extended its mandate with Lloyds Banking Group. The mandate now includes the provision of custody services, fund accounting, financial reporting, and clearing for three SICAVs containing 27 Luxembourg-domiciled funds. The funds are currently valued at nearly EUR2.4bn in assets. As a part of the extension of the mandate, ten Lloyds TSB employees will join State Street in November.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Munich-based TMW Pramerica Property Investment GmbH on 28 September announced that the net asset value of shares in its open-ended real estate fund TMW Immobilien Fonds (whose redemption freeze has just been extended on 15 September) has been revised downward by 61 cents, to EUR50.48, a depreciation of 1.19%. The move was rendered necessary by a new expert opinion on the value of the Concord Terrace building, located in Sunrise, Florida. The property, previously valued at USD10.6m, is now listed on the books with a value of EUR0, as it has failed to attract tenants. The property was leased in 2006 to Nortel Networks, until March 2017. But since then, Nortel has gone bankrupt, and vacated the premises on 31 October 2009, at the hight of the real estate crisis in south Florida.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 28 September, iShares (BlackRock) admitted three new German-registered equities ETFs to trading on the XTF segment of the Xetra electronic platform, bringing the number of products listed in Frankfurt to 707. The first two, which charge fees of 0.59%, replicate the MSCI Australia (DE000A1C2Y78) and MSCI Canada (DE000A1C2Y86). The third, based on the MSCI South Africa (DE000A1C2Y94), carries a management commission of 0.74%.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Facing a fall in total assets to USD21bn, from USD40bn in 2008 (and to USD17bn compared with USD35bn for hedge funds alone), D.E. Shaw & Co has decided to lay off 150 people, about 10% of its staff, the Wall Street Journal reports.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } CDC Climat, an affiliate of the Caisse des Dépôts dedicated to fighting climate change, has founded a management affiliate, CDCClimat Asset Management, Les Echos reports. The firm will manage a EUR60m mandate for its parent company, with the objective of preventing the emission of at least 7 million tons of CO2. The management team includes Guido Schmidt-Traub, who has been recruited for the position, a former partner at the Swiss law firm South Pole Carbon, and Marianne Paris, in charge of governance at publicly-traded companies in which CDC already holds stakes.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } “After 9 months of enforced holiday,” Christian Bito, former managing partner at Rothschild & Cie Gestion, has obtained a license from the AMF for his new management firm, CBT Gestion, which he is founding with Vladimir Danesi, former head of multi-management at Rothschild & Cie Gestion, and Jean-Luc Fargin, former treasurer of the Pasteur institute, who is administrative and financial head of the new firm. Due to the particular expertise of its founders, CBT Gestion will aim to provide traditional multi-management products, with adequate liquidity and diversification, with specific solutions in the area of portfolio risk profile control. The range will be aimed at CIFs (investment advisers), in the form of funds or mandates, and at financial institutions. “Our plans will initialls concern diversified management, wealth style, and Euro zone, PEA eligible equities portfolios,” says Bito, president and CEO of the new firm. Bito, who has developed a management technique based on risk levels (volatility), explains that the formula “allows for better adaptation of products to the expectations of investors. In particular, taking into account the expectations and behaviour of the markets gives high performance results on turbulent markets which need perhaps a few more years to stabilise.”

The asset management firm Ecofi Investments, an affiliate of the Crédit Coopératif group, has acquired a 58% stake in the capital of Financière de Champlain, a firm specialised in sustainable development, for an undisclosed amount. The shares were acquired from two “sleeping” partners, former employees of the small firm, who had been seeking to exit for some time already, each of whom represented 17% of capital, and a group of shareholders. Jean-François Descaves, president and founder of Champlain, has sold 17%, to allow Ecofi a majority stake. But he retains a 34% interest in the capital, alongside employees who control 8%, and will remain as chairman of the firm.The deal comes as Financière de Champlain has seen a decrease of EUR200m in its assets in one year, to EUR95m currently. However, Descaves refuses to call it a “bailout,” and insists that the firm has been profitable every year since 2004, and that it will be profitable in 2010. “We could very well have continued to survive as an independent,” he says. However, as Descaves admits, joining Ecofi will provide Financière de Champlain with the means to develop, and to reach new clients in the institutional investor category, which makes up most of Ecofi’s client base. The complementarity in terms of management is also another powerful argument for the operation.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In a letter to subscribers, Threadneedle has announced that it has been granted permission by the FSA to propose to an extraordinary general shareholders’ meeting which will be held on 20 October at the Menzies Hotel Swindon, at 1:30 pm local time, that the management firm be authorised to use serivatives and futures transactions for its UK Accelerando fund, which will not alter the fund’s performance objective or investment policy, while better allowing it to hedge risks for a portfolio which will remain concentrated and focused on British equities. According to information obtained by Newsmanagers, the letter includes not only a request for permission to change the name to UK Extended Alpha Fund, but also a request for permission to end the limited issue status for the shares. Threadneedle’s proposals require a majority of at least 75% of votes cast.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of 30 September 2010, assets under management at Man Group are expected to total USD39.5bn, compared with USD38.5bn as of the end of June. This total, however, compares with a level of USD44bn at the end of September 2009, according to provisional figures published on 28 September. The British management firm has also reported a reduction in net outflows in the second quarter of the year to USD0.6bn, which reflects an increase in inflows due to institutional mandates and an increase in demand for onshore regulated products. There was a positive investment movement of USD0.8bn in the second quarter of the fiscal year. Pre-tax profits for the half ending on 30 September are expected to total USD215m, compared with USD292m for the corresponding period of last year. Net revenues from commissions fell to USD205m from USD245m, due to a reduction in average assets during the period. Net revenues from performance commissions fell to USD10m from USD47m, as most AHL products were above the high watermark. The regulatory capital surplus totalled over USD1.5bn, with USD2.5bn in liquidity, though this regulatory capital surplus is expected to shrink to about USD300m with the completion of the acquisition of GLG, expected to go through on 12 October.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } UBS on 28 September announced that it has appointed Alex Wilmot-Sitwell as co-chairman and co-CEO for the Asia-Pacific region. He will jointly direct the region with Chi-Won Yoon, current chairman and CEO. Wilmot-Sitwell will take up his new position from 1 November, and will work in Hong Kong. Carsten Kengeter, current co-CEO of UBS Investment Bank, becomes the sole head of the Investment Bank.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Paris Europlace, which has sought to extend its governance structures to a new generation of actors on the financial markets, on 27 September held the first meeting of its new Management Committee, chaired by Vivien Levy-Garboua, advisor to the chairman of BNP Paribas. The Management Committee will become a central organ, alongside the newly-created colleges of Businesses and Investors. It has redefined its missions in light of the work accomplished in the past year, and has set a new strategic objective, as France prepares to take over presidency of the G20. The missions defined by the new Management Committee are focused on three areas: aligning the visions of market actors (investors, issuers, bankers, cities and regions, and regulators) around a shared project and a collective dynamic, federating and coordinating market projects, and being a presence in proposals to the Paris Europlace Orientation Council and the High Market Committee (HCP). “Our strategy for this renewed and youthful committee is to put the Paris market and the financial power of the Euro zone at the service of economic actors and collective platforms. It is a good sign that the major market actors, such as Banco Santander, Commerzbank, Eurazeo, Goldman Sachs, Saint Gobain, … have joined Paris Europlace, confirming the vitality and necessity of its collective action,” Levy-Garboua says in a statement dated 28 September. The new members of the Management Committee are:- Stéphane Austry, legal partner, CMS Francis Lefebvre- Frédéric Bedin, president, Croissance Plus- Dominique Cerruti, deputy CEO, Nyse Euronext- Fabrice Demarigny, partner, Mazars- Sylvain de Forges, deputy CEO, AG2R- Stéphane Pallez, deputy CFO, France Telecom- Gilles Saint-Marc, lawyer, Gide Loyrette Nouel- Hervé Schricke, vice president, Association Française des Investisseurs en Capital (Afic)

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British management firm Cazenove is planning to reopen its absolute return fund, Absolute UK Dynamic, which has recovered after several difficult months, next year, Investment Week reports. The fund, launched on 7 September 2009, was closed one week later after inflows of GBP130m. This year, net redemptions reduced assets in the fund to GBP69m, in the wake of the departure of Neil Pegrum in April. According to the fund’s manager, Paul Marriage, the product has in the past few months got back on course to meet its objective of annual returns of 10%, with performance of 1% in July, 2.2% in August, and 1% in September. Over the past three months, the fund shows gains of 2.5%, compared with an average of 1% for the sector (Morningstar). But for the year to 13 September, the fund shows losses of 5.9%, compared with gains of 3.5% for the IMA Absolute Return sector.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The HSBC group is extending its range of ETF products with the launch of an ETF proviging exposure to the far east. The HSBC MSCI EM Far East ETF, which has total TER of 0.6%, replicates the MSCI EM Far East index, which itself includes the market performance of the largest Chinese businesses, based on the markets of Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Thailand. The new ETF is listed on the London stock exchange, in pounds Sterling and US dollars (ISIN : IE00B5LP3W10).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of 1 September, the Finles/IEX index of Dutch hedge funds came out at 110.34, compared with 110 at the end of July, for an increase of 0.31% in August, following gains of 0.2% in July (see Newsmanagers of 8 September). Since the beginning of the year, the index has lost 0.29%. Since 1 September, the index includes the Callanish Global Macro Fund, but the Robeco All Weather Equity Fund was “halted” in September. As of 1 October, the Frog Fund will be added to the Finles/AEX index of Dutch hedge funds, and to the Hollandse hedge fund 25 index. In the first eight months of the year, the Dutch hedge funds showing the best returns are the DQS Absolute Return Fund, Finles Liquid Macro Fund, World View Global Macro Fund, VOC capital Commodity Alpha Fund and Fonds Bloemendaal.