JP Morgan Asset Management France a terminé 2009 avec un encours de l’ordre de 4 milliards d’euros contre 3,7 milliards un an auparavant. Les souscriptions se sont surtout concentrées sur le quatrième trimestre, avec un succès commercial centré sur les obligations convertibles mondiales, les marchés émergents ainsi que, dans une moindre mesure, sur les actions américaines, a indiqué à Newsmanagers Karine Szenberg, directeur général. Les souscriptions nettes ont porté sur 40 millions d’euros. Pour 2010, l’antenne parisienne du gestionnaire américain compte mettre l’accent sur les produits spécialistes des actifs «réels» comme les infrastructures et l’immobilier européen. Elle souhaite mettre aussi en exergue la dette émergente, avec un fonds géré par Pierre-Yves Barreau (lire notre dépêche du 28 août), sans négliger les actions émergentes.
Selon Les Echos, AXA Investment Managers va décliner son offre autour de nouvelles marques. La société devrait ainsi lancer des produits d’actions internationales sous la marque AXA Framlington. La promotion de sept marques fortes : AXA Fixed Income pour les obligations, AXA Rosenberg et AXA Framlington pour les actions, et enfin AXA Funds of Hedge Funds, AXA Private Equity, AXA Real Estate, AXA Structured Finance pour l’alternatif, constitue d’ailleurs un des axes de communication du groupe autour de ses expertises. La société de gestion va également mettre en place une nouvelle organisation commerciale afin de renforcer sa proximité avec les clients.
Apollo Management lance un fonds immobilier Asie Pacifique, avec un encours compris entre 500 millions et 1 milliard de dollars, pour cibler des biens immobiliers en difficulté dans la région, rapporte le Financial Times. Le fonds sera géré depuis Hong Kong par une équipe dirigée par Grant Kelley, qui était directeur général de Colony Capital Asia jusqu’à il y a un an.
Dans un avis de lundi, la Deutsche Börse indique avoir reçu le 29 janvier la notification que Fidelity Investment Trust a franchi le 27 janvier le seuil des 3 % dans son capital. Le gestionnaire détenait à cette date 3,02 % des droits de vote, soit près de 5,9 millions d’actions.
Selon les statistiques du Sustainable Business Institute (SBI) d’Oestrich-Winkel, le nombre de fonds «développement durable» dans l’espace germanophone a augmenté en 2009 de 14 % à un total de 313 produits, rapporte la Börsen-Zeitung. L’encours a pour sa part bondi en avant de 43 % à environ 30 milliards d’euros après s'être contracté de 38 % en 2008.
Après une chute de son encours à 8 milliards d’euros contre 15,6 milliards en 2008, Franklin Templeton Investments a enregistré pour 2009 une remontée de l’actif de ses fonds offerts au public en Allemagne à 10,2 milliards d’euros, indique le directeur général de la filiale locale, Reinhard Berben. Cette hausse est surtout due à l'évolution positive des marchés. Les souscriptions se sont concentrées sur le second semestre, mais, en net, le gestionnaire a encore accusé de légères sorties.
Lundi, Munich Ré a annoncé que Berkshire Hathaway, la société de portefeuille de Warren Buffet, a augmenté sa participation dans son capital à 3,278 % le 22 janvier contre 3,08 %. Compte tenu des options qui peuvent être exercées jusqu'à au 11 mars au travers d’OBH Inc et de National Indemnity Co, Berkshire Hathaway pourrait monter à 5,224 % du réassureur allemand. Le 17 janvier, Munich Ré avait annoncé que Warren Buffet avait franchi le seuil des 3 % et détenait 3,045 % des droits de vote (lire notre dépêche du 18 janvier).
BNY Mellon Asset Management International Limited vient d’obtenir, de la part du régulateur chinois, le statut d’investisseur institutionnel étranger qualifié (qualified foreign institutional investor). La société de gestion attend maintenant l’aval de la State Administration of Foreign Exchange (Safe) pour un quota d’investissement initial. Cela lui permettra d’investir dans des bons du Trésor libellés en renminbi et des actions A cotées à Shanghai et Shenzen pour le compte d’investisseurs étrangers.
On Friday, BlackRock announced the appointment of Kendrick R. Wilson III as vice chairman and member of the office of the chairman. He will develop client relations and work with the executive team on organizational and professional development projects. Wilson, who joins the firm this Monday, was previously an advisor to the US Treasury, from August 2008 to January 2009. Previous to that, he held management positions at Goldman Sachs and Lazard Frères & Co.
Société Générale Asset Managment (SGAM), which has merged with Crédit Agricole Asset Management (CAAM) to create Amundi, has inherited only two of the seats on the new firm’s executive board, although its parent company, Société Générale, controls 25% of shares in the firm, the Financial Times reports. The dominance of CAAM, which holds 83% of board seats and top positions, is a sign that Crédit Agricole is not afraid to impose its own vision on the firm. Frédéric Loerznini, an analyst at Morningstar, observes that “these people have been making acquisitions for 15 yeas, so now they are very confident.” Crédit Agricole does not want to repeat the mistakes it has made in previous acquisitions, as in 1995, when too many key positions were left to former Indosuez staff. Another analyst points out that the weak representation of SGAM on the executive board confirms that the valuation was “generous” when the decision was made that a 25% stake in Amundi would go to Société Générale.
Advisor Perspectives, an electronic newsletter for independent financial advisers, in December published a study which suggests that Morningstar star ratings, which are based on past returns, are not that valuable for predicting performance in the future. Moreover, many funds with five-star ratings are likely to underperform compared with their counterparts. The Wall Street Journal cites several more studies which cast doubt on the value of past performance as a predictor, and on the abilities of fund managers to predict their future results.
Agefi Switzerland reports that a Pricewaterhouse Coopers study has found that assets under management at Swiss banks in October 2009 had fallen back to their 2005 levels. They totalled CHF4.264trn, compared with CHF3.847trn. In detail, more than half of assets were in offshore accounts. Cross-border activities are facing several potential difficulties (fiscal, political, and legal), which will require Swiss banks to adapt, which will be costly, or else to choose to abandon offshore management, and accept a decline in their earnings.
The Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) on 29 January published a peer review of its recommendations for European Union legislation to simplify notification procedures for mutual funds. Seven of the 13 recommendations of the CESR are put forward as key recommendations. It appears that only five countries will apply all of the recommendations: Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy, Luxembourg, and Norway. Additionally, four countries will partially apply the recommendations, meaning that they apply all recommendations, but only partially adhere to one of them: these countries are Hungary, Portugal, Romania, and Sweden. All other countries, including France, have not applied one or more of the key recommendations.
In the United States, half of all assets in ETF funds come from retail clients, while in Europe the proportion is closer to 10% or USD350bn and USD22bn, respectively, the Financial Times reports. This is due to the fact that US financial advisors are paid for their advising services, while European advisers make their money through kickbacks from funds, and there are no kickbacks from ETF funds. The situation is developing in the United Kingdom with the entry into force of retail distribution review (RDR), which will require advisers to declare whether they are genuinely independent or not. But these regulations will only come into force in 2012.
Pending approval by the 2010 general shareholders’ meeting, to be held on 26 April, the management of the closed Taiwan Fund (USD302bn) will be contracted out to the Scottish management firm Martin Currie. The Taiwan equities product will be managed by Chris Ruffle, director, with the assistance of nine analysts specialized in China, based in Shanghai. The Taiwan Fund states that it will pay a commission to Martin Currie of 0.90% on the first USD150m in assets, and then of 0.80% on the following USD150m, and 0.70% for all assets above this limit. The Taiwan Fund was previously managed by HABC Global Asset Management (Taiwan) Limited. Martin Currie has announced for its part that it has closed its Taiwan Opportunities Fund to new subscriptions, effective from 29 January. Assets in the fund have increased from USD88m at the beginning of 2009 to USD206m as of 31 December. Calvert Asset Management has also awarded Martin Currie the management of a USD150m global equities mandate.
At the invitation of Pioneer (UniCredit), three American winners of the Nobel prize, Eric Maskin (2007), Michael Spence (2001) and Robert Merton (1997), on Wednesday and Thursday held debates in a palace near London, before an audience of European finance industry figures, on the future evolution of the architecture of the global financial system, Die Welt reports. Spence recommends that a stricter separation be drawn between banks and hedge funds, while Merton calls for increased risk controls, and says a central government authority needs to be created to monitor all risks. Maskin recommends that the use of derivatives, which distribute these risks potentially infinitely, should be limited, and adds that the use of CDS should also be limited.
According to a study by bfinance, fixed management fees in alternative management have declined by about 20%. The widely-followed 2/20 fee model (fees representing 2% of assets under management, and a performance commission of 20%) is now being replaced by the following conditions: management fees of 100-150 basis points, compared with 150-200 before the crisis, and performance commissions of 15-20%, rather than 20%. Some stability may also be observed in the levels of these fees: there is a slightly downward trend in equities, but a slightly upward trend in fixed income.
The ethical fund Prime Values Green from the Swiss management firm Dr. Höller is now available in Germany. The fund is 100% invested in equities, and applies an ethical filter in the selection of its investments, most of which are in the renewable energies, water treatment and drinking water production sectors. The filter relies on an internal selection program as well as an ethical committee composed of individuals external to the management firm. Subscription fees are 4%, and the fund charges annual management fees of 1.5%.
The Italian investment bank Banca Leonardo is shutting down its private equity operations, it has announced in a statement dedicated to the firm’s 2009 results. According to the Financial Times, it is writing down the value of its holdings by EUR70m. Banca Leonardo has also announced net profits of about EUR175m for the year, and operating revenues of EUR60m. Net subscriptions totalled EUR900m. Assets under management total EUR8.9bn.
State Street on Friday, 29 November, announced the results of its “Private Equity Indexsm” as of 30 September 2009. The index has earned returns of 5.83%, a slight increase compared with second quarter 2009. Since its inception, the internal rate of return (IRR) for the index comes to 10.03%, an increase of 95 basis points over its level as of the previous quarter.
On Wednesday, SEC commissioners voted three to two to pass a requirement that publicly-traded businesses provide more information about their impact on climate change. The Wall Street Journal reports that the new rules will be good news for investors and for well-governed companies. Matthew W. Patsky, CEO of Trillium Asset Management Corp, says the regulations will make it easier to value all businesses, some of which do not have as much of an established track record as may be imagined. John Wilson, head of corporate governance at the pension fund TIAA-CREF, shares this opinion.
Der Spiegel relays reports in Handelsblatt that the German hedge fund manager Florian Homm and several of his former partners have been accused by the New York prosecutor’s office of defrauding investors in the hedge fund operated by Homm of several million US dollars, and of having caused losses totalling nearly USD200m. The accused are rumoured to have driven up the price of shares which were then resold to funds at an inflated price. Homm disappeared more than two years ago.
Following the departure of Dan Draper, who has left London to return to the United States, Isabelle Bourcier, global head of ETF products at Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale), has told Newsmanagers that she will be temporarily taking over responsibility for global ETF sales. The position will be filled most likely by an internal promotion in a short time, as Draper must complete a gardening leave. Draper’s other part-time responsibility, UK sales, has been taken over by Claus Hein, who will combine this responsibility with his position as head of Lyxor ETF for Scandinavia and Latin America.
The number of pension schemes looking to invest money with hedge funds doubled during 2009, according to investment consultancies. Pension fund trustees scrabble to find high-performing investment strategies to help recoup losses suffered in 2008.
The German firm Deka Immobilien announced on Friday that it has acquired two logistical centres in Italy, each of which has 50,000 square metres of space, one of them located near Milan, and one in the Veneto region, in the centre of a rectangle formed by the four cities of Venice, Verona, Bologna, and Padua. The EUR60m investment will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund Deka-ImmobilieEuropa.
Of the seven funds registered by the CNMV since the beginning of this year, six are guaranteed products, of which three are bond products (one from BBVA, and two from Caixa Terassa, while three are equities products, from Caja Segovia, Caja Canarias and Caja España, Cinco Días reports. A new wave of guaranteed funds is to be anticipated, as 270 guaranteed funds will mature by the end of December, with assets of about EUR16bn: banks will not want to lose these clients, and this type of product is profitable for them.
A controversy has pitted government against opposition over whether the Federal finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU), should pay EUR1.5m to an informer who is offering to sell data obtained by clearly illegal means about the identities of 1,500 German citizens who hold bank accounts in Switzerland, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zonntagszeitung reports. The SPD claims that the minister should buy the information, regardless of the opinion of CDU and FDP voters, while several experts within the governing coalition are recommending that the minister not buy the stolen data, which would be rewarding theft. The five names provided as a sample to the authorities may, however, result in the recovery of over EUR1m in taxes each.