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11/03/2010

Les entreprises veulent préserver leurs actionnaires

Selon Les Echos, les entreprises du CAC 40 devraient verser environ 35,5 milliards d’euros à leurs actionnaires, un montant comparable à celui de l’an dernier, témoignant de la volonté des entreprises de choyer leurs actionnaires même si les bénéfices sont en recul. Le taux de distribution sur les bénéfices récurrents devrait atteindre 56 %, selon les prévisions du consensus FactSet, retraitées par PrimeView, contre une moyenne historique de 42 %.
11/03/2010

Bel exercice 2009 pour la gestion d'actifs du Crédit Mutuel Arkéa

En 2009, rapporte l’Agefi, le produit net bancaire (PNB) du Crédit Mutuel Arkéa s’est élevé à 1,35 milliard d’euros, en progression de 25% par rapport à 2008. Le résultat brut d’exploitation a doublé (à 376 millions), tandis que le résultat d’exploitation et le résultat net part du groupe ont été multipliés par cinq en passant de 200 et 154 millions respectivement. L’assurance et la gestion d’actifs, à travers Suravenir et Federal Finance, ont apporté une forte contribution aux résultats du groupe. Le bénéfice du pôle a progressé de 18%. A 111 millions d’euros, il dépasse de trois millions le précédent record, établi en 2007, précise le quotidien.
11/03/2010

Allianz France et l'IDI signent la cession d'AGF Private Equity

L’Agefi rapporte qu’Allianz France et l’IDI ont annoncé, mercredi 10 mars, la signature de l’accord de cession de 100% d’AGF Private Equity à l’IDI. Cet accord intervient après approbation des comités consultatifs des investisseurs des fonds gérés par AGF Private Equity et consultation des organes sociaux des entités concernées, précise le quotidien.
10/03/2010

Bramdean Alternatives se tourne vers le private equity

Le board du Bramdean Alternatives investment trust (Bral) se propose de renommer le trust Aberdeen Private Equity, suite à l’acquisition de ce portefeuille par Aberdeen en novembre dernier, selon Fund Strategy.La modification reflètera le nouvel objectif d’investissement du trust, les fonds de private equity. Précédemment, le fonds de hedge funds investissait dans les actions, les hedge funds et les classes d’actifs spécialisées.
10/03/2010

European ETF market remains dominated by iShares, Lyxor and db x-trackers

As of the end of February, European ETF funds had gained USD2.2bn compared with the end of January, to a total of USD220.1bn, which nonetheless remains 3% lower than the USD226.9bn in assets as of the end of December, according to statistics compiled by BlackRock. There were 901 ETF funds in Europe, compared with 807 in the United States, 72 more than at the end of last year, after 72 new product launches. Net subscriptions in the first two months of 2010 totalled USD8.7bn, of which USD2.1bn were for European equities funds, USD1.2bn for bond funds, and USD1.4bn for emerging markets equities ETFs. iShares (BlackRock) remains the largest provider by far, with 172 products and USD81.7bn, which corresponds to a market share of 37.1%. Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale) holds second place, with a market share of 20%, assets of USD44bn, and 127 ETF products. db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank), with 118 funds and USD35.9bn in assets, has a market share of 16.3%. The other actors share the remaining 26.7%. The next two asset management firms in the rankings are Credit Suisse with 4.6% of the market, and Zurick Kantonal Bank, with 3.2%. EasyETF and Amundi Investment are in seventh and eighth place, with 2.6% and 2.3% of the European market, respectively.
10/03/2010

Nikko AM to release a green fund in Asia

Nikko Asset Management is planning to release its green fund, Nikko Am World Bank Green Fund, to investors in Asia outside Japan, following the launch of a UCITS-compliant version for European and Middle Eastern clients, Asian Investor reports. The time frame has not yet been definitively set, but the fund may be registered in Singapore and Hong Kong, and will be made available largely to institutional clients.
10/03/2010

VP Bank returns to profitability

The Liechtenstein banking group Verwaltungs- und Privat-Bank AG (VP Bank) announced on 9 March that last year it earned net profits of CHF59.8m, following losses of CHF80.3m in 2008. But VP Bank still saw outflows from its funds last year. Total net outflows came to CHF1.1bn, following CHF1.3bn in 2008. Assets under management totalled CHF29.5bn as of the end of 2009, after CHF29.5bn as of the end of 2008. The board of directors will propose the AGM to pay a dividend of CHF3.50 per share, compared with CHF2.50, and CHF0.35 (CHF0.25) per nominative share.
10/03/2010

Brown Brothers Harriman recruits an ETF specialist

On Thursday, Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH) announced that at the end of September it recruited Shawn McNinch, senior vice president, who has now been appointed as global ETF product & sales head. McNinch was previously senior principal in the product strategy group at iShares, before the ETF management firm was acquired by BlackRock. He will now be in charge of directing global product servicing, development, and advising on new products. BBH points out in a statement that it is the third-largest custodian in the United States, and that it works with eight ETF issuers worldwide, including three of the five largest ETF issuers in the United States. Total assets in custody at BBH totalled USD2.3trn as of 31 December.
10/03/2010

F&C Asset Management may make a bid for C-Quadrat

F&C Asset Management has been granted permission to make an offer to acquire the Austrian firm C-Quadrat. On 12 February, ÜBK, the Austrian antitrust authority, suspended F&C, which failed to submit its bid within the required deadline. F&C may now continue its negotiations with C-Quadrat, which may result in a bid at EUR12.50 per share.
10/03/2010

Lazard Frères Gestion has European ambitions

Lazard Frères Gestion (LFG), which has already been present in Brussels for three years, is planning to open an office in Switzerland this year, Agefi reports. Then, the French firm will move in on other markets it considers promising, starting with Spain, followed by Italy and Germany. Lazard Frères Gestion, which focuses primarily on private banking clients with more than EUR1m in assets, and on advising institutional clients who are off the beaten track of calls for tenders, is not concerned about overlapping with the US affiliate Lazard Asset Management (LAM), the newspaper reports. As of the end of 2009, the firm had EUR9.2bn in assets (+15%), and now already has over EUR10bn. Inflows were EUR972m last year, excluding mandates, and are expected to total EUR1.1bn this year, largely thanks to the IFA segment, which the firm entered one year ago.
10/03/2010

Groupama AM to open its first Luxembourg Sicav

Groupama Asset Management is this year preparing to create its first Luxembourg Sicav. The aim is to reach a client base of European distributors, including private banks and multi-management. With this in mind, the Sicav will include largely the French management firm’s “typical” strategies, especially those of the absolute return unit. “Our ambition is to have 3 to 4 sub-funds fairly quickly,” says Jean-Marie Catala, director of development. Previously, the international expansion of Groupama AM was undertaken via the French product range, often alongside growth for its parent company abroad. But Catala admits that, in order to go further, the Luxembourg Sicav is a necessary step. “The most effective administrative shell for European distribution is the Luxembourg structure, which is ten years ahead of its rivals,” he says. He adds that the creation of the fund is being undertaken in anticipation of the passage of the UCITS IV directive in 2012. “We will then have two years of track record,” he points out. Currently, EUR7bn, or 8% of Groupama AM’s assets (EUR88,8bn) are managed for foreign clients. The firm has a particularly strong presence in Italy, via its affiliate Groupama Sgr, since late 2006, and in Spain the firm has been present since 2008 via an affiliate created there.
10/03/2010

Spanish fund management firms prefer Luxembourg

A growing number of Spanish asset management firms are founding Luxembourg structures, not only to sell their funds in other countries, but also to distribute their products in Spain, particularly to institutional and high net worth private clients, since Luxembourg has no withholding tax, unlike Spain, Cotizalia points out. Santander Asset Management and BBVA Asset Management have already set up structures of this kind, and A&G (EFG group) is in the process of creating an ad-hoc structure in the Grand Duchy.
10/03/2010

UBS to launch an electronic trading platform

UBS has announced that it has submitted an application to the FSA, the British market authority, to create an electronic trading platform for European equities markets (MTF), Agefi reports. The new platform is one in a series from financial establishments seeking to develop electronic trading platforms. For the moment, the newspaper notes, UBS will have to wait for the regulatory environment, and in particular for the MiFID directive to be overhauled. The creation of an MTF such as the planned UBS platform offers a higher level of available liquidity and improves most-market transparency, the newspaper adds. UBS also guarantees that it will provide added liquidity to its clients if necessary.
10/03/2010

Son of Emilio Botín creates boutique Renta Markets

With his partner José Rodriguez, former head of trading at Bankers Trust, the youngest son of Emilio Botín (president of Santander), emilio Botín O’Shea, has created the investment boutique Renta Markets, which will specialise in money markets, derivatives, and capital markets, serving institutional investor clients, Cotizalia reports. The Spanish brokerage firm Renta 4 owns a 35% stake in the new venture, and will provide the IT platform and act as broker for the transactions of Renta Markets.
10/03/2010

Hedge funds attract investment in January

In January, hedge funds attracted an estimated total of USD7.1bn in investment, according to Hedge Week, citing data from Trim Tabs Investment Research and BarclayHedge. This is a development worth noting, as the first month of the year normally involves outflows due to redemptions. Assets in hedge funds totalled USD1.5trn as of the end of January, a 23.6% increase compared with their levels in April 2009. Distressed equities in January saw their largest inflows and best returns (1.8%). Multi-strategy funds, meanwhile, had their largest outflows, while long-only equities earned the most mediocre results.
10/03/2010

Global ETF assets rise back above USD1trn

Following a 5% decline in January, to USD984bn, total assets in ETF funds worldwide, as calculated by BlackRock, increased to USD1.0015trn as of the end of February. Compared with the end of December, assets under management as of 28 February were still down 3.3%. As of the end of February, BlackRock counted 2,090 ETF funds listed 3,997 times, compared with 2,053 ETF funds listed 3,928 times as of the end fo January. Since the beginning of the year, the number of products increased by 7.3%, compared with 143 new product launches. There are currently plans to launch 840 more ETF products in the next few months. The top three providers of these funds remain unchanged: iShares (BlackRock) remains the largest, with 437 funds and USD471.9bn, corresponding to a market share of 47.1%. State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) is in second place, with 107 products and USD144.5bn, and a 14.4% market share. Vanguard ranks third with USD95.4bn in 47 funds, which represents a market share of 9.5%. The fourth and fifth-largest providers are Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale), with a market share of 4.5%, and db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank) with a market share of 3.6%.
10/03/2010

Hedge funds gain 0.96% in February

The Hennessee hedge fund index gained 0.96% in February, which brings performance in the first two months of the year to 0.42%, compared with a 0.95% decline for the S&P 500 index. “Hedge funds have outperformed equities since the beginning of the year. Despite lower returns in February, most hedge funds have been in positive territory since the beginning of the year, due to their capacity to limit losses during the selloff in January,” asid Lee Hennessee, managing principal of Hennessee Group.
10/03/2010

Eaton Vance recruits head of development from GSAM

The Dutchman Pepijn Heins, who was previously executive director, institutional business development at Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) in London, has been recruited by the American firm Eaton Vance Management International as business development director. He will be in charge of development and relationship management for major institutional clients in Northern Europe, and will report to Niall Quinn, managing director of Eaton Vance Management International.
10/03/2010

Gartmore assets under management up 19% in 2009

Assets under management at Gartmore gained 19% last year, to GBP22.2bn, largely through net inflows of GBP485m to mutual funds. Net inflows totalled GBP252m, while the previous year saw net outflows of GBP4.87bn. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) totalled GBP54.8m, compared with GBP90.2m the previous year. Gartmore states that alternative management earned net returns of 19.1%, and that 72% of mutual funds outperformed their benchmarks over a three-year period.
10/03/2010

Bramdean Alternatives turns to private equity

The board at Bramdean Alternatives investment trust (BRAL) is considering renaming the trust as Aberdeen Private Equity, following the acquisition of the portfolio by Aberdeen last November, Fund Strategy reports. The modification will reflect the trust’s new investment target: private equity funds. Previously, the fund of hedge funds invested in equities, hedge funds, and specialty asset classes.
10/03/2010

Aviva Investors recruits a head for bond analysis team

Aviva Investors has appointed Jiten Joshi as head of its bond analysis team, which now has six members. The new recruit will analyse investment grade and high yield rated bonds, and will work with his team to elaborate absolute return strategies. Joshi, who will be based in London, was previously director of special situations at Pali Capital.
10/03/2010

AGI penalised by net outflows from money market funds in 2009

In January and February 2010, Allianz Global Investors (AGI) earned net subscriptions in Germany of over EUR7bn, of which EUR2.8bn were for open-ended funds, and EUR4.2bn for institutional products. However, in 2009, the asset management firm earned only EUR4.2bn in net subscriptions, only thanks to EUR6bn in inflows to institutional funds (compared with EUR8bn in 2008), while open-ended funds saw net outflows of EUR1.8bn, largely due to EUR4.4bn in net redemptions from money market funds (compared with EUR6bn in 2008). Equities funds saw net inflows of only EUR0.5bn, while bond funds attracted EUR1.6bn, says James Dilworth, CEO of the firm since October of last year. In 2008, AGI Deutschland saw net outflows of EUR0.5bn from equities funds, and net subscriptions to bond funds totalled EUR3.1bn. As of the end of December, AGI Germany had assets under management and administration of EUR328bn, compared with EUR259bn at the end of 2008, and EUR290bn at the end of 2007. Thomas Wiesemann, chief market officer at AGI Europe and co-CEO of AGI KAG, says the integration of cominvest is now nearly complete. As a part of this process, the combined product range has been reduced by 118 funds, and 100 other funds will be merged this year. The management firm says that about one third each of overall sales of AGI funds pass through the Allianz network, Commerzbank, and external distributors. Institutional assets represent two thirds of the total, but only one third of profits.
10/03/2010

Filip Weintraub leaves Skagen

Kristian Falnes is replacing Filip Weintraub, who has chosen to pursue investments in a different setting after nine years at the helm of Skagen Global. Filip Weintraub will remain a shareholder in Skagen AS and set aside time so that he can be available for the company going forward. In the coming months he will also work with Kristian Falnes to ensure a smooth transition of the lead portfolio manager responsibility for Skagen Global. Torkell Eide and Chris-Tommy Simonsen will continue to work on the team with Kristian Falnes. Kristian Falnes started as portfolio manager for Skagen Vekst in 1997, and was given sole responsibility for the fund in 2000. He continues as investment director, and will receive additional administrative support from Managing Director Harald Espedal. Beate Bredesen, who has 13 years experience in investment management, will take over as the lead portfolio manager for Skagen Vekst. She has been with the asset manager since 2004 and has worked on Skagen Vekst since 2006 with Kristian Falnes.
10/03/2010

Julius Baer appoints David Lim as head of private banking for South-East Asia

Julius Baer has appointed David Lim from 1 February as head of its private bank in South-East Asia. Lim was already deputy CEO of the private banking activity and head of investment finance in Singapore. In his new position, he replaces Wilfried Kofmehl, who will now concentrate on relations with high-priority clients, Finance Asia reports.
10/03/2010

Galleon scandal: prosecutors hired eavesdroppers

Franz Tudor, who was a trader at the alternative management firm Schottenfeld Group, and who has confessed to complicity in fraudulent trading of securities in the Galleon scandal, has admitted that last year he used registration material supplied by the prosecutor’s office and the FBI in an effort to entrap two of his friends and colleagues also implicated in the scandal, the Wall Street Journal reports. In the Galleon insider trading case, there are a total of 21 suspects, at least eight of whom have admitted guilt and are cooperating with the authorities against their co-defendants.

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