SEI a annoncé le 6 avril une nouvelle offre relative au traitement des «side pockets» constituées pendant la crise financière en raison de problèmes de liquidité sur les marchés. SEI a mis en place un certain de fonctionnalités automatisées qui reprennent les meilleures pratiques observées chez la clientèle des gérants.

Dreyfus Corporation, qui appartient à BNY Mellon Asset Management, vient d’annoncer le lancement d’un mutual fund, le Dreyfus Dynamic Alternatives Fund, qui propose aux investisseurs une large gamme d’expositions à des stratégies de hedge funds.

Samsung Securities se propose de distribuer les hedge funds et les fonds de hedge funds de Man Investments auprès d’une clientèle d’investisseurs coréens qualifiés, selon Asian Investor. La société pourrait également conseiller le groupe britannique sur l’utilisation de tels produits dans des offres groupées.Les produits de Man sont en cours d’agrément auprès des autorités financières sud-coréennes qui toutefois n’autorisent pas les hedge funds offshore mais sont prêts à accepter les hedge funds qui n’utilisent pas de levier. Cela dit, les autorités sud-coréennes envisageraient par ailleurs d'étudier une libéralisation du secteur des hedge funds.

JO Hambro Investment Management envisage de commercialiser sa stratégie de performance absolue, le Waverton UK Absolute Oeic, auprès de fournisseurs de fonds de hedge funds, selon Investment Week.La société est actuellement en discussion avec des gérants de fonds de fonds et des bases de données pour positionner ce véhicule qui pèse 77,3 millions de livres.JO Hambro estime qu’il y une pénurie de choix sur les produits de qualité parmi les véhicules au format OPCVM III et que sa stratégie de performance absolue devrait s’imposer dans un tel environnement.

Suite à la récente reprise des marchés financiers, la tendance de sortie des marchés actions se poursuit, selon l’enquête Mercer «European Asset Allocation Survey 2010" qui porte sur plus de 1000 fonds de pension et institutions de retraite européens gérant plus de 500 milliards d’euros.Cette tendance est plus particulièrement marqué pour les régimes matures tels que ceux à prestations définies britanniques pour lesquels l’allocation en actions est passée de 54% en 2009 à 50% en 2010. En Irlande, celle-ci a baissé de 60% à 59%, et de 28% à 23% aux Pays-Bas. Cette tendance va certainement se poursuivre avec 29% des plans de retraite britanniques et 35% des autres plans européens, qui prévoient une plus forte réduction de leur allocation en actions domestiques.En ce qui concerne les actions internationales, plus de 20% des plans de retraite britanniques et 33% des autres plans européens prévoient également leur réduction.« La diversification internationale des actifs des plans de retraite est justifié, mais il existe un danger à simplement réduire l’allocation en actions domestiques pour substituer un autre type de risque avec l’augmentation de l’exposition aux devises étrangères. De nombreux régimes couvrent tout ou partie de leur exposition aux devises étrangères et la volatilité observée sur les marchés de devises a incité beaucoup de fonds de pension et institutions de retraite à revoir leurs pratiques actuelles », indique Crispin Lace, Consultant senior au sein de l’activité Conseil en investissement de Mercer.Bien que les obligations continuent d’être la classe d’actifs dominante dans la plupart des portefeuilles des fonds des pays européens, on a constaté un changement marqué depuis l’enquête 2009. Par exemple, suite à la reprise significative des marchés actions, il y a dorénavant davantage (12% net) de plans de retraite britanniques qui prévoient d’augmenter leur exposition aux obligations d’Etat alors qu’en 2009 il y avait davantage (6% net) de ces plans qui envisageaient de la baisser. La tendance s’est également inversée pour les obligations privées avec seulement 16% des plans britanniques prévoyant d’augmenter leur exposition contre 27% l’an dernier.L’investissement dans des classes d’actifs non traditionnelles reste fort avec des augmentations observées en Grande-Bretagne et en Irlande (de 6% à 9% pour ces deux pays en 2010) et en Suisse (de 19% à 23%). Au Royaume-Uni, les plans de retraite ont plutôt privilégié les hedges funds, les mandats de gestion tactique d’allocation d’actifs (GTAA) et les actions non cotées avec 4% à 9% des régimes ayant une exposition à l’une ou l’autre de ces classes d’actifs dans leur allocation stratégique. Dans le reste de l’Europe, les plans de retraite ont préféré les fonds de hedge funds (8% des régimes), les obligations à haut rendement (8%) et les fonds de fonds d’actions non cotées (6,6%).On remarque également que les fonds de pension cherchent à bénéficier des opportunités de croissance des économies des pays émergents. Au moins 16% des plans de retraite ont cherché à s’exposer à la dette des pays émergents et à d’autres actifs similaires plutôt qu’aux actions des pays émergents.

Selon la Tribune, le fonds d’investissement privé Brysam Global Partners L.P., l’un des principaux actionnaires de la banque russe Vozrojdenie (« Renaissance »), a cédé la part de 9,88 % qu’il avait acquise en juin 2008, à JP Morgan International Consumer Holding Inc.La capitalisation boursière de la banque s'élève à 890 millions de dollars, note le quotidien qui précise que 24 % de Vozrojdenie appartiennent à des investisseurs étrangers, dont JPMorgan.

Selon L’Agefi suisse qui cite un entretien accordé au Handelszeitung, Eric Syz, general manager de la Banque Syz & Co affirme que «les managers de hedge funds londoniens s’intéressent à la Suisse et ils vont se baser ici ces prochaines années». Cataldo Castagna, partenaire et directeur de l’Asset Management chez Ernst & Young Suisse estime que le nombre de hedge funds va doubler ces prochaines années en Suisse. Le secteur des hedge funds en Suisse emploie quelque 5000 personnes.

Mardi, l’Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) a annoncé le recrutement d’Eli Koen et de Mathieu Nègre en tant que coresponsables des marchés actions Europe émergente. Tous deux viennent de Fortis Investments, qui se trouve être l’ancienne maison de Richard Wohanka, nouveau CEO de la gestion d’actifs et de la gestion alternative du groupe suisse. Eli Koen dispose d’une expérience de dix-sept ans sur le marché actions turc, et Mathieu Nègre est spécialisé depuis 2001 dans la gestion des fonds Europe émergente.Richard Wohanka souligne que la plupart des investisseurs institutionnels étant sous-investis dans les actions et les obligations émergentes, l’UBP a décidé de renforcer ses capacités et sa gamme de fonds dans ces segments.

Pictet will on 12 April launch its first UCITS III-compliant long/short equities fund, the Luxembourg-registered Corto Europe, which will be managed with a process and philosophy similar to that of the Pictet Corto European Ltd (EUR230m), registered in the Cayman Islands. A license for the fund was issued by the CSSF on 17 March. The capacity of the fund, which will offer weekly liquidity (with 5 working days’ advance notice) will be limited to a nominal EUR250m, due to the fact that market exposure will be about 1.9 times, including leverage and the short positions, explains Philippe Sarreau, one of the managers of the fund. The objective will be to earn returns of about 15-20%, with volatility of 7-8%, half the level of the benchmark index (MSCI Europe TR). For retail investors (P-class shares), management fees will total 1.60%, while administration and custody fees will total 0.40%. Performance commission is 20%, with high watermark. The Pictet Corto Europe will use the Euro as its currency of reference, with share classes hedged in US dollars and Siwss francs. Under normal market conditions, the fund will have 60 to 80 long positions, and 50 to 70 short positions. The long positions will range form 1% to 5%, while the short ones will be between 1% and 3%. While the original fund, with monthly liquidity, was launched on 1 August 2006, and is now 80% a province of US investors, the new UCITS III-compliant version targets more specifically European clients.

Aviva Investors is continuing the redeployment of its development unit (see Newsmanagers of 6 April) with the appointment of two directors who will supervise the activities of all development teams in Europe in the strategic client segments (financial institutions, institutional investors, and Aviva). Gabriele Miodini, based in Italy, is appointed as a director and head of financial institutions for Europe. He will be largely responsible for forming relationships with the major financial and banking institutions and private banks, as well as with retail distribution platforms throughout Europe. Véronique Cherret, based in France, is appointed as a director and head of institutional investors for the United Kingdom and Europe. Her mission will be primarily to establish relations with pension funds, insurance companies, and retirement establishments.

HSBC Global Asset Management is planning to launch an emerging markets absolute return fund toward the end of the month, Investment Week reports. The Luxembourg-domiciled fund, HSBC GIF GEM Equity Alpha Fund, will offer daily liquidity, and will have an annual performance objective of 10-15%, with volatility of 10% and limited market correlation. The new vehicle, which will comply with the UCITS III directive, joins the range of international investment funds from HSBC, which last month announced the launch of a European absolute return fund (see Newsmanagers of 19 March 2010).

HSBC Global Asset Management has appointed Alex Letchfield as chief investment officer for UK private clients, Fund Strategy reports. Lethfield will succeed Jim Dunsford, who will concentrate on the management of the HSBC GIF Global Macro fund. Letchfield joined the group in 1993, and since late 2000 has been head of UK equities for British private clients.

Plans for Schroders’ development still revolve around organic growth, says the Financial Times Fund Management. The asset manager has more than GBP1bn of surplus capital in its war chest, triggering speculation that it would buy other fund management businesses. But so far the group has stayed away from acquisition. Separately, about 12 per cent of Schroders’ total assets under management are generated by the Americas, a figure Alan Brown, CIO, is keen to boost.

CB Richard Ellis Investors (CBRE) has announced the launch of the second Property Authorised Investment Fund (PAIF) on the British market, Fund Strategy reports. The first fund of this type was offered a few weeks ago by Clavis Walden (Piccadilly UK Commercial Property Income Fund) PAIF funds are the open-ended equivalent of REITs. The target investors for the vehicle are pension funds, but retail investors will also have access, via a feeder fund of the same name, available on the major platforms.

Some of the world’s biggest banks, including Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, are fighting Lehman Brothers’ plan to spin off an asset management unit known as Legacy Asset Management, says Financial News Online.The banks say the proposal, which Lehman will use to repay creditors, is being rushed and appears to be unfair to certain Lehman creditors.

In a statement, BNP Paribas Investment Partners (BNP Paribas IP) and Fortis Investment Management (Fortis IM) on Tuesday announced that they have finalised the merger of their respective holding companies as of 1 April 2010. The combined entity will now operate under a single brand name: BNP Paribas Investment Partners. On paper, the integration of Fortis Investments makes BNP Paribas IP the fifth-largest asset management firm in Europe, and 11th worldwide, with EUR530bn in assets under management and advised as of the end of 2009. In detail, BNP Paribas IP now has 60 investment centres, each of which is responsible for managing an asset class or a specific type of product, and about 1,200 investment professionals, a statement says. With this multi-boutique model, which allies a large-scale asset management provider with specialist partners, BNPP IP extending its geographical coverage into other markets, such as Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. Meanwhile, BNPP IP is strengthening its presence on emerging markets, particularly in Asia, which the firm places at the core of its growth strategy, through a strong local presence and a range of investment solutions.

The coverage ratio for US pension funds improved further in March, to 88.1%, a gain of 2.8 percentage points, according to monthly statistics from BNY Mellon Asset Management.

BNP Paribas on 6 April announced the appointment of Laurence Pessez as deputy head for social and environmental responsibility (RSE). She will be largely responsible for overseeing deployment of a global RSE strategy and for elaborating an environmental policy for the group. Pessez, who joined the BNP Paribas group in 2002 as director of communications for BNP Paribas Assurance, has since 2006 served as director of communication and social and environmental responsibility at BNP Paribas Assurance. She will report directly to Jean Clamon, deputy CEO and member of the executive board at BNP Paribas, a statement says.

Agefi Switzerland reports that nearly 1,000 employees of HSBC Private Bank will be moving in mid-June from the several various buildings that the bank occupied in Geneva into a single international business centre in Blandonnet, located immediately next to Cointrin airport. The front office will continue to be based on the banks of Lake Leman. Following the integration of HSBC Guyerzeller Bank AG and Guyerzeller Trust Company AG, the bank has 1,375 employees in Geneva, and a total of 1,774 in Switzerland (including 358 in Zurich and 41 in Lugano).

According to the quarterly report from the CNMV, Spanish fund management firms last year posted net profits of EUR243m, compared with EUR503m in 2008, and revenues from commissiosn fell 26% to EUR1.7bn, even though assets remained virtually unchanged, compared with a decline of 27% in 2008. Management commissions fell to an average of 0.82%, compared with 1.1%. Meanwhile, the report states that 31 management firms (compared with 34 in 2008), out of a total of 108, lost money last year.

Four client advisors from Sal. Oppenheim, specialised in wealth management, will be joining Credit Suisse in Berlin, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. Three of them joined the Swiss firm on 1 April, while the fourth will follow on 1 July. The Berlin office will then include 17 people, to serve as many as possible of the approximately 7,500 high net worth and ultra-high net worth private clients in the German capital. In total, Credit Suisse has about 500 people in 13 locations in Germany, including 150 client advisors.

Tim Geithner, US Treasury secretary, this week made a fresh plea to European governments not to “discriminate” against US fund managers as they negotiate new rules for the hedge fund and private equity industries in an April 5 letter to Alistair Darling, Chancellor, that was obtained by the Financial Times. The letter was also sent to the finance ministers of Germany, France and Spain.

In its report on the situation of the market, the CNMV estimates that real estate funds have the most unfavourable outlooks of all categories of investment funds, and that “it is unlikely” that their situation will improve substantially until the Spanish real estate sector begins to recover, Expansión reports. In 2009, assets in real estate funds fell 12.7%, while the number of subscribers contracted by 14.2%, to 83,583. The number of funds decreased by one, to eight. Assets under management as of the end of December totalled EUR6.46bn, of which 72.6% was in funds which were undergoing liquidation or which had frozen or delayed redemptions. Real estate funds lost an average of 9.3% last year.

Funds People reports that between 15 January and 26 March, the CNMV registered 26 new funds, compared with 23 in first quarter 2009, and 44 in the first three months of 2008. More than half of these new products (14) are guaranteed funds. The most active management firm was BBVA Asset Management, which launched five guaranteed funds, one bond fund, and one diversified fund. The CNMV says that it has registered three new Spanish-registered hedge funds: Altex Activist, Capitrade Systematic Global Futures, and Arcano Credit Fund.

Rothschild & Cie is creating a new vehicle, Five Arrows Principal Investment, with EUR584m in assets, for direct investment of owners’ equity (EUR20m to EUR60m) in mid-sized companies in Western Europe, Agefi reports. In sectoral terms, the firm claims to be generalist, although real estate and highly specialised sectors are excluded. The team, which will include 11 people, and which will eventually also feature a 12th, will be based half in Paris and half in London, the newspaper adds.

According to the annual survey by Credit Suisse of institutional investors with about USD1trn invested in hedge funds (Hedge Fund Investor Survey), assets in hedge funds may total USD1.97trn by the end of the year, up from USD1.64trn at the end of 2009. About 9 percentage points, or EUR148bn, of this 20% increase would come from new subscriptions, while the remaining 11% would result from positive market effects. These estimates are in line with those of hedge fund managers, whose estimates were surveyed last month in the Global Hedge Fund Manager Survey from Credit Suisse. In both surveys, two thirds of respondents predict that investors who agree to longer lock-ups of their investments would benefit from reduced commissions. The two favourite strategies of these investors are global macro (67% of respondents are planning to increase their allocation to these funds), and event-driven, with 62% of respondents planning to increase their exposure. Geographically, 61% of investors are planning to increase their allocations to Asia-Pacific funds. The two favourite formats of subscribers are managed accounts and UCITS III hedge funds, with 39% and 38% of respondents, respectively, planning to increase their allocations to these products. Lastly, Credit Suisse states that 94% of investors say they have benefited from a higher level of transparency in the past 18 months than in the past about positions in portfolios.

On Tuesday, Deutsche Bank announced that, following the completion of its acquisition of Sal. Oppenheim, it will be centralizing its private equity fund of fund activities within its asset management division. The new entity, DB Private Equity, will include the private equity group of the private wealth management (PWM) division, the secondary private equity team from the affiliate RREEF, and lastly, Sal. Oppenheim Private Equity Partners (SOPEP). Assets in the new entity will total about EUR6bn. The global head of DB Private Equity will be Chris Minter, managing director of Deutsche Bank, who will report to Kevin Parker, global head of Deutsche Asset Management and a member of the executive committee group at Deutsche Bank. Rolf Wickenkamp, who was until recently a partner at SOPEP, has been appointed vice chairman of DB Private Equity.

The German-registered asset management firm Maintrust KAG mbH (EUR1.8bn in assets as of the end of March), an affiliate of Nomura since 1991, has adopted the name Nomura Asset Management Deutschland KAG, or NAM Deutschland. The change will favour cross-selling and the opening of new distribution channels. Open-ended funds from the firm which use the prefix “MAT” will soon be changing names. Nomura (EUR173bn in assets as of the end of December), which relies on Maintrust’s expertise in the specialist bond fund segment and for custom solutions in Germany, is planning to extend the range of products available from its German affiliate into Asian products and other international funds.

Agefi Switzerland reports that Lombard Odier has received a license from the Russian central bank, which will allow it to open a branch office there. Michael Kuenzi, who set up the private management unit of UBS in Russia before joining Lombard Odier last year, has been appointed to represent the Geneva-based bank locally. The process is continuing, the bank says, but it declines to name a date for the opening of the future Moscow office. Lombard Odier is aiming for USD20bn in assets held by Russians in Russia, Alexander Kotcoubey, executive vice president, has told Bloomberg.