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18/09/2009

Four more management firms pledge not to use placement agencies

The Wall Street Journal reports that seven management firms have now signed up to the code of conduct laid out by Andrew Cuomo, attorney general of New York. The four new firms are HM Capital Partners, Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, Access Capital Partners, and Falconhead Capital, which will now no longer make use of placement agencies. As a result of the legal investigation into the “pay-to-play” scandal, these firms have agreed to pay USD4.5m into the New York State Common Retirement Fund. In total, the seven management firms will pay USD56.5m to the pension fund.
18/09/2009

FTSE removes Iceland from its indexes

FTSE has removed Iceland from the investable universe that make up its indices following the fall in its financial markets after the collapse of its three main banks, says the Financial Times. It is the first time the global equity index provider has taken a country off its lists since it established its global equity index series in September 2003.
18/09/2009

Assets up at Legg Mason

Legg Mason has announced that its assets under management had increased by about USD693bn as of 31 August, a 5% increase over 30 June, the Wall Street Journal reports. This reflects rises on the markets and slowing redemptions. Meanwhile, Bill Miller, the emblematic manager at Legg Mason, has announced that he is considering ending his career at the asset management firm after 27 years of employment there.
18/09/2009

KKR enters capital of Kodak

For USD400m, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) has obtained options on 20% of capital in Eastman Kodak, and high-yield bonds which pay more than 10% per year, as well as two seats on the board of directors at the business, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. Kodak, for its part, is planning to issue convertible bonds to institutional investors to raise USD300m.
18/09/2009

CESR launches consultation on UCITS-compliant funds

As part of its revision of the UCITS directive, the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) is launching a consultation on level 2 measures in mergers of UCITS funds, master-feeder structures, and notification procedures for cross-border distribution of UCITS funds. The consultation will be open until 17 November. Two other UCITS consultations are open until 30 October, one on the European passport for management firms, and the second on the details of the required fund documentation, which would present Key Investor Information (KII) for UCITS funds to investors. The document would replace the fund prospectus.
18/09/2009

SEC regulates ratings agencies

On its website, La Tribune reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will take measures to create a stricter regulatory framework for ratings agencies such as Moody’s Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s, which are accused of having played a major role in the financial crisis by granting high ratings to high-risk products. The agencies will be required to increase transparency and will now have the right to demand detailed information about certain products. Other measures will aim to encourage competition between the ratings agencies and avoid conflicts of interest.
18/09/2009

Bonuses: Bank of America directors may be sued by New York attorney general

Les Echos reports that, following a subpoena on the five members of the audit committee at Bank of America, the New York attorney general’s office may file lawsuits against the top directors of Bank of America over bonuses paid to these directors ahead of the firm’s merger with Merrill Lynch at the end of 2008.
18/09/2009

French Parliament approves sukuk legislation

Les Echos reports that the French Parliament on 17 September passed a bill which would adapt the fiscal regime to allow for the issue of fiancial instruments that comply with Islamic law, including “sukuks,” bonds which respect the principles of Sharia, which do not allow for the payment of interests. The legislation is closely supported by Christine Lagarde, who wants to see France catch up with the UK in this area.
18/09/2009

BBVA sells branch locations to RREEF

According to reports in Expansión, the BBVA will sell 80% of its 1,350 branches in Spain, which it decided to sell off a year ago, to RREEF Alternative Investment (a fund from Deutsche Bank), for EUR1.2bn. The operation, which is known internally under the name “Proyecto Árbol,” will be a sale & lease-back deal. The US-based fund Area will be the junior partner of RREEF in the transaction. Expansión states that RREEF may also acquire the remaining 200 branches in the next two to three weeks, for EUR400m, but the financing for these acquisitions has yet to be secured. One of the unique characteristics of the operation is that BBVA will be able, within the overall agreement, to change the branches it occupies depending on the market situation, which would make it possible to restructure the network.
18/09/2009

Fund administration mandate for Citi

Citi announced on 16 September that the alternative management specialist Twin Haven Capital partners has awarded it a mandate to provide middle and back office administrative services, including debt administration. The portfolio of assets under administration totals USD65bn.
18/09/2009

Deloitte makes additions to dedicated hedge fund team

The Deloiitte group announced on 16 September that Ellen Schubert and Ray Iler would join the hedge fund team within the Asset Management Services practice. Ten partners from Deloitte have joined the hedge fund team, meanwhile. Schubert joined Deloitte on 1 September in the newly-created position of chief adviser within the Asset Management Services practice. She was previously managing director and global head of the Fixed Income Hedge Fund Business activity at UBS Investment Bank. Iler joined Deloitte in July of this year, and will be in charge of questions related to auditing, taxation, and advising. He was previously CFO of Quadrise Canada, a firm specialised in oil and gas technologies.
18/09/2009

Martin Currie wins a mandate from Indiana PERF

The Indiana Public Employees’ Retirement Fund has allocated Martin Currie Investment Management a mandate for USD210bn in global equities ex US, which will be managed by James Fairweather, CIO and head of global equities. The Scottish management firm says that it has obtained new global equities and global equities ex US mandates worth USD900bn since the beginning of the year. Global equities represent 23% of assets at Martin Currie (USD16.3bn).
18/09/2009

Jupiter to distribute its funds via deVere & Partners

Jupiter Asset Management has announced a strategic alliance with deVere & Partners, an independent financial consultancy. Under the agreement, deVere & Partners will offer both the Jupiter Global Fund Sicav and the Jupiter Merlin Sicav, comprising 11 sub-funds, through its network of 350 consultants, who operate from 40 offices around the world. The UK asset manager will potentially have access to 50,000 clients in over 100 countries.Kevin Scott, executive director, international at Jupiter AM, says: «deVere offers significant potentiel for Jupiter to develop both brand awareness and sales internationally».
18/09/2009

ETFS chooses BNY Mellon AS

BNY Mellon Asset Servicing has announced that it has been granted a servicing mandate from ETF Securities for its Physical Swiss Gold Shares ETF. The mandate includes trustee services, accounting, and fund administration, as well as settlement.
18/09/2009

DJE Kapital reopens its real estate fund

From 18 September, DJE Kapital is reopening its DJE Real Estate fund to redemptions; they had been frozen since the end of October 2008. The unique feature of this product, compared with German-registered funds which were frozen at the same time, is that it is a fund of funds, and DJE Kapital says that most of the target funds it invests in have now reopened their redemptions. In addition, the fund is registered in Luxembourg (launched on 5 July 2004), with assets currently totalling USD796.65m. The fund has lost 5.26% since the beginning of the year, but has earned 12.10% in the past five years, or 2.31% per year. Ulrich Kaffarnik, CEO of DJE Investment SA, states that it has been possible to increase the liquidity of the fund in the past few months, and the cash reserves are now at considerable levels. In addition to this, the fund’s portfolio has been reprofiled, which has increased the agility with which the management team may profit from opportunities for returns on situations in a difficult market. The fund has withdrawn its investments from open-ended and semi-institutional real estate funds which had a low liquidity level during the crisis, in order to take up positions on shares in realty firms, realty sector equities funds and well-rated bonds, says Jens Ehrhardt, chairman of the managing board at DJE Kapital.
18/09/2009

M&G recruits sales personnel

M&G Investments has announced that on 1 September it recruited Alexander Müller has relationship manager for German banks, and that on 1 June it recruited Sultan Deniz as sales support for the banking sales team. They join the distribution team led by Marcus Perschke, who is also in charge of the banking sales force. Müller joins from the wealth management arm of Citibank, while Deniz had been in sales at Schroder Investment Management GmbH since early October 2008.
18/09/2009

Hedge funds: fewer liquidations, and lower commissions

In second quarter, Hedge Fund Research (HFR) reports 292 liquidations of hedge funds, compared with 376 between January and March, while the number of new funds launched totalled 182 compared with 148, the Wall Street Journal reports. Meanwhile, the crisis has taken its toll on performance commissions, which have been in decline for three quarters in a row, and averaged 19.18% in second quarter, compared with 19.34% in first quarter.
18/09/2009

Profits down at Temasek

In the fiscal year ending on 31 March, net profits for the severeign fund Temasek Holdings fell to SGD6bn, from SGD18bn the previous year. Ho Ching, CEO of the fund and wife of the prime minister, says that the fund “did not expect the rapidity and ferocity of the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression.” Assets as of the end of March totalled SGD130bn, compared with a peak of SGD185bn twelve months earlier, but had risen back to SGD172bn as of the end of July. In the 2008-2009 fiscal year, Temasek sold assets worth SGD16bn and made investments worth SGD9bn, of which SGD3bn were participations in capital increase operations at businesses including Standard Chartered, DBS group Holdings and CapitaLand. Among the assets that were sold, a 3.9% stake in Bank of America and a 2% stake in Barclays led to significant capital losses. The average annual performance of the fund since its creation in 1974 fell to 16%, compared with 18% as of the end of March 2008.
17/09/2009

Net redemptions from hedge funds slow

According to statistics from Lipper Tass reported by Hedge Week, hedge funds in second quarter experienced net outflows of USD45.74bn, 61% less than in January-March. In the twelve months to the end of June, net redemptions totalled EUR327.02bn. All strategies except emerging markets, global macro and managed futures underwent net redemptions in second quarter. Outflows totalled 4.24% of assets as they stood at the beginning of the quarter, following 9.57% outflows in first quarter. However, due to positive market effects, assets as of the end of June totalled USD1.21trn, compared with USD1.18trn at the end of March.
17/09/2009

Partners Group soft-closes a real estate fund

Partners Group on Wednesday announced the soft-closing of the Partners Group Real Estate 2008 fund with EUR275m. About 40% of this amount has already been invested. The Swiss alternative management firm points out that the secondary market in particular has good potential currently, due to the short supply of capital. One of the transactions realised is a secondary investment in eight buildings in China, and Partners Group has managed to obtain a 50% discount on the value of these properties, as the vendor was in need of liquidity.
17/09/2009

MAS may toughen hedge fund regulations

The central bank of Singapore, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), has held a consultation with local hedge fund managers over a potential reinforcement of regulations applicable to the “exempt” sector. Funds are not currently required to have a full capital market license when they have less than 30 financially qualified investors, the Financial Times reports. Professionals estimate that managing a hedge fund in Singapore costs half as much as it does in Hong Kong and only a third of what it would cost in London. The MAS, which is clearly responding to international pressure to toughen its regulations, states that as of the end of 2008, there were 350 hedge funds in Singapore, with assets of about USD42bn.
17/09/2009

BlackRock s'installe à Santiago

Armando Senra, directeur général de BlackRock pour la péninsule ibérique et l’Amérique latine, a annoncé à Economía y Negocios Online, relayé opar Funds People, que le gestionnaire américain va ouvrir un bureau au Chili, le «fer de lance» de l’activité institutionnelle au Pérou et en Colombie ainsi que pour la distribution en Argentine et en Uruguay. De fait, BlackRock profite de la structure dont dispose Barclays Global Investors (BGI) au Chili, où est déjà commercialisée la gamme d’ETF iShares.
17/09/2009
Fonds

Partners Group boucle un fonds immobilier

Partners Group a annoncé mercredi le closing du fonds Partners Group Real Estate 2008 à 275 millions d’euros. Quelque 40 % de ce montant sont d’ores et déjà investis. Le gestionnaire alternatif Suisse souligne que le marché secondaire offre en particulier un bon potentiel actuellement, compte tenu de la pénurie de capitaux. L’une des transactions réalisées porte sur un investissement secondaire dans huit immeubles en Chine et Partners Group a pu obtenir une ristourne de 50 % sur la valeur de ces actifs, le vendeur étant pressé d’obtenir des liquidités.
Fonds
17/09/2009

Aragon signe l'acquisition de MLP Vienne

Conformément à l’accord conclu début août avec MLP, le prestataire allemand de services financiers Aragon AG (3,2 milliards d’euros sous administration) a signé mercredi l’acte d’acquisition du viennois MLP Finanzdienstleistungen AG, sous réserve des autorisations nécessaires de l’Autorité autrichienne de surveillance des marchés financiers (FMA). Le montant de la transaction, qui sera fixé au moment où toutes les valorisations auront été achevées, devrait se situer entre 2,5 millions et 5 millions d’euros, payables sur plusieurs années.MLP Autriche gérait au 31 décembre 2008 des encours de 81,8 millions et emploie actuellement environ 59 conseillers et compte environ 15.000 clients. Les charges de restructuration pour MLP Autriche seront prises en charge par MLP Allemagne.
17/09/2009

La Caixa recrute Pablo Forero

Pablo Forero, directeur général de la gestion d’actifs chez J.P. Morgan, a été recruté par La Caix comme sous-directeur général de la gestion d’actifs de La Caixa, rapporte Funds People. L’intéressé, placé à la charnière entre La Caixa et sa société de gestion, Invercaixa, sera subordonné à Tomás Munies, l’un des quatre directeurs généraux adjoints exécutifs de la caisse d'épargne catalane.
17/09/2009
Fonds

Baisse des remboursements nets pour les hedge funds

Selon les statistiques de Lipper Tass relayées par Hedge Week, les hedge funds ont accusé au deuxième trimestre des sorties nettes de 45,74 milliards de dollars, soit 61 % de moins qu’en janvier-mars. Sur les douze mois à fin juin, les remboursements nets ont représenté 327,02 milliards d’euros. Toutes les stratégies sauf les marchés émergents, le global macro et les managed futures ont subi des rachats nets au deuxième trimestre. Les sorties ont représenté 4,24 % de l’encours du début de trimestre, après 9,57 % en janvier-mars.Cependant, compte tenu de l’effet de marché positif, les encours à fin juin ressortaient à 1,21 billion de dollars contre 1,18 billion fin mars.
Fonds
17/09/2009

L'encours de M&B Capital Partners a fondu de 80 %

L’affaire Madoff aura coûté en un an environ 80 % de son encours à M&B Capital Advisers, la société de Javier Botín (le fils du président du Santander) et de Guillermo Morenés (le gendre du même), rapporte Expansión. Actuellement, M&B ne représente plus que 200 millions d’euros, parce que deux de ses principaux hedge funds, Tukan et Summa, sont en liquidation tandis que deux autyres, LIF US Equities et Landmark ont aussi été «madoffés». Mais les autres fonds affichent des performances voisines de 10 % depuis le début de l’année.M&B a réduit son effectif de 25 % et ne commercialise plus depuis un an de produits auprès des investisseurs institutionnels.
17/09/2009

Le suisse Valartis acquiert Hypo Investment Bank

Selon L’Agefi suisse, le groupe Valartis acquiert Hypo Investment Bank (Liechtenstein)AG pour un montant non divulgué. La banque étend ainsi considérablement ses activités de private banking et porte ses actifs sous gestion à quelque 6 milliards de francs. Forte de 50 collaborateurs, cette banque privée du Liechtenstein, une filiale de Vorarlberger Landes- und Hypothekenbank AG, Bregenz, gère environ 4 500 clients fortunés. Créée en 1998 avec une licence de banque universelle, Hypo Investment Bank (Liechtenstein) AG propose des services de private banking à une clientèle essentiellement internationale. Elle gérait à mi-2009 des actifs à hauteur de 1,6 milliard de francs.
17/09/2009

Rumeurs d’offre de Deutsche Borse sur le LSE

Selon Les Echos, des rumeurs ont fait état d’une nouvelle approche de Deutsche Börse sur le London Stock Exchange (LSE). Du coup, les cours du LSE ont flambé jusqu'à faire gagner à l’action plus de 12% sur des volumes extrêmement étoffés. Contactés par le quotidien, les deux entreprises de marché n’ont pas souhaité commenter la rumeur. Néanmoins, deux sources proches du dossier, l’une à Londres, l’autre à Francfort, considèrent qu’elle est probablement dénuée de fondement.

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