La Société Générale vient d’annoncer le lancement d’une nouvelle famille de Turbos, et complète ainsi sa palette de produits à levier destinés aux Day traders ou aux investisseurs actif en Bourse. Ces derniers ont le choix entre les Turbos, avec échéance et sans seuil de sécurité, pour un effet de levier jusqu’à 40 / 50 fois les mouvements de l’indice CAC 40, et les Turbos Infinis sans échéance et avec un seuil de sécurité, pour un effet levier / risque plus modéré.

La société Southeastern Asset Management a annoncé à l’AMF détenir 6,02% du capital d’Accor et 5,13% des droits de vote, rapporte La Tribune. La société se présente comme «conseil en investissements», mais ne précise pas pour le compte de qui elle agit. Ces derniers jours, le fonds d’investissement Colony s’est aussi renforcé dans le capital d’Accor.

One William Street Capital Management vient de nommer Kathleen Riorda au poste de managing director et responsable du développement, selon Hedge Week. Kathleen Riorda a une vingtaine d’années d’expérience dans la gestion alternative. Elle était dernièrement responsable mondiale client solutions chez JP Morgan Alternative Asset Management. One William Street Capital Management, qui est une société spécialiste de la titrisation, affiche un encours sous gestion de 1,25 milliard de dollars.

Pictet complète son offre de gestion actions américaines par le lancement du fonds Pictet US Equity Value Selection. Lancé en partenariat avec la société de gestion américaine Westwood, basée à Dallas, le fonds est géré en délégation par l'équipe de Susan Byrne. Le produit est spécialisé dans les sociétés sous-valorisées par le marché et présentant néanmoins des rendements des fonds propres en progression, des bilans en progression, une forte génération de free cash flow et des résultats pouvant faire mieux que les attentes du marché. Dénomination PF(LUX)-US Equity Value Selection Code ISIN LU 04 07 23 34 01 Droits d’entrée Max. 5% Frais de gestion 1,20 % pour les particuliers; 0,60 % pour les institutionnels Minimum de souscription Pour les particuliers : aucun Pour la part institutionnelle : 1 million de dollars

JPMorgan Chase a dégagé au deuxième trimestre un résultat net de 352 millions de dollars, en recul de 11% par rapport au deuxième trimestre 2008, en raison notamment d’une augmentation des provisions pour pertes sur crédits. On observe toutefois que par rapport au premier trimestre de l’année, le résultat trimestriel marque un gain de 128 millions de dollars ou 57%, en raison entre autres d’une hausse des commissions et de l’amélioration des conditions de marchés. Le bénéfice net trimestriel du groupe ressort à 2,72 milliards de dollars contre deux milliards un an auparavant. Toutefois le bénéfice par action recule à 28 cents contre 53 cents, conséquence d’une augmentation du flottant.Le produit net de la gestion d’actifs s’est inscrit à 1,98 milliards de dollars, en recul de 4% d’une année sur l’autre. Le produit net en Private Bank marque un recul de 10% à 640 millions de dollars. Le produit net du pôle institutionnel s’est accru de 3% à 487 millions de dollars alors que pour le pôle retail, le produit net accuse un repli de 16% à 411 millions de dollars. Le produit des activités de Private Wealth Management s’est lui replié de 6% à 334 millions de dollars.Les actifs sous gestion se sont établis à 1.200 milliards de dollars, en recul de 1% d’une année sur l’autre. Durant le trimestre sous revue, la collecte nette s’est élevée à 3 milliards de dollars et à 125 milliards de dollars sur la période de douze mois au 30 juin 2009. Le ROE s’est établi à 20% au deuxième trimestre contre 13% un trimestre plus tôt et 31% un an plus tôt.

Michael Myrtetus et Douglas Borthwick, deux anciens traders de Morgan Stanley, viennent de créer une boutique de gestion alternative, Cinneas Foreign Exchange, spécialisée dans le négoce des devises, selon Hedge Week."Nous pensons qu’un portefeuille diversifié géré activement peut s’adapter et se développer au gré des changements de marché. Notre approche mêle les analyses économique, fondamentale et technique pour identifier les opportunités de trading, avec l’objectif de produire des rendements non corrélés», explique Douglas Borthwick. L’investissement minimum a été fixé à 5.000 dollars sans période de lock-up. Les commissions de surperformance s'élèvent à 20% des bénéfices avec effet de cliquet et les frais de gestion ont été fixés à 2% sur une base mensuelle.

Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (Edram) is launching Saint-Honoré Global Convertibles, an international convertible bond fund whose objective is to profit from potential recovery on the equities markets, with lower volatility. The management of the fund is independent of benchmark indexes. The fund will invest at least 50% of its net assets in investment-grade issued, and will have a high level of geographical diversification.Management of the fund will concentrate on mixed convertible bonds, with a total target delta of 20% to 60% for the fund. Exposure to emerging markets will represent a maximum of 40% of net assets. Saint-Honoré Global Convertibles will also have a systematic currency hedging policy, and at least 80% of its portfolio will be hedged. Characteristics:Fund name: Saint-Honoré Global ConvertiblesISIN code:A share class: FR0010773036E share class: FR0010782367I share class: FR0010782391 R share class: FR0010782417 Front-end fees: 3% maximum Management fees:- Fixed:A share class: 1.40% max TTCE share class: 2.00% max TTCI share class: 0.85% max TTCR share class: 0.95% max TTC- Variable: A, I and E share classes: 15% of performance exceeding the benchmark indexMinimum initial subscription: EUR500,000 for I and R share classesOne share for A and E share classes

Nordea Investment Funds has announced that the North American Growth Fund, a sub-fund of its Luxembourg Sicav, had USD160m in assets as of 1 July, on the first anniversary of its management being outsourced to Aletheia Research & Management Inc. As of 22 May, the fund had USD93.6m in assets (see Newsmanagers of 27 May).Year to date, the fund’s performance totals 27.66%, compared with 11.53% for the Russell 1000 Growth. Over the last 12 months, the fund has lost 20.02%, compared with 24.50% for the index.

Sir David Walker was appointed by the British government this February to revise the country’s corporate governance regulations in the wake of the financial crisis, particularly in the banking sector. In his recommendations, presented on 16 July, Walker proposes substantial modifications to the functioning of boards of directors, with a strengthened role for non-executive directors in the processes of risk control and of determining pay scales. “These proposals aim to improve the professionalism and diligence of boards of directors in banking, by strengthening the importance of challenge on the board. If this means that boards will function in a less collegial manner than in the past, this will be a modest price to pay for improved governance,” Walker says in a statement. Among the 39 recommendations set out in the report is the idea of giving more power to risk committees; the chairmanship of this committee should be assigned to a non-executive. The committee would be in charge of examining and, if necessary, blocking, major transactions planned by the firm. The prerogatives of the remunerations committee could also be enlarged: the committee could consider all remunerations at a business and also oversee pay scales for operational directors who are not board members. Bonuses paid to operational directors at the top of the pay scale would be required to include a “significant” variable component. Non-executive members of the board, whose powers would be extended, would also spend more time at work: Walker suggests that their work time should be increased by as much as 50%. the report also proposes that management firms should be more concretely involved in businesses they invest in, and that in particular, they should divulge their voting policies under a “comply or explain” principle. The publication of the report marks the beginning of a consultation period which will extend until 1 October. Walker, who hopes to be able to present his final report in November 2009, suggests that the recommendations be integrated into the “Combined Code on corporate Governance,” which is currently under revision.

The creators of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) have published two documents to favour the integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues into the private equity investment process. The documents were composed by a consulting committee composed of major institutional investors, funds of funds and private equity firms. On the basis of a series of case studies (including Actis, Blue Wolf Capital Management, Doughty Hanson, KKR, Permira and Robeco), the authors demonstrate how improved management of ESG questions make it possible to earn higher returns.

Les Echos reports that Citi and Bank of America have signed secret agreements with their regulator, by which they agree to correct certain weaknesses in their governance or risk management, or else face penalties. The pacts, which the English-language financial media has begun to report, were kept secret in order not to set back financial institutions in their restructuring efforts. If the banks do not succeed in keeping their promises to the authorities, they may face financial penalties, or as an ultimate sanction, they may face cease and desist orders which would put an end to their activities.

Invesco has announced the appointment of Bernhard Langer as Chief Investment Officer at Invesco Global Quantitative Equity. He will be responsible for quantitative management worldwide for the entire equities product range. This is a first for Invesco, which previously has never included such a position within the group. Langer has been at Invesco since 1994, first as a portfolio manager, then as chief investment officer for European and non-American quantitative management products. 50 experts at Invesco Global Quantitative Equity manage more than USD32bn in assets for institutional investors and private clients.

For an undisclosed amount, Kas Bank NV has purchased Deutsche Postbank Privat Investment KAG (PPI), an affiliate of Deutsche Postbank specialised in the administration of open-ended funds. The transfer will take place at the end of July. The approximately 20 employees of PPI in Bonn will become part of Postbank. Albert Röell, chairman of the managing board at Kas Bank, says the operation will allow his firm to continue its expansion in Europe on the institutional market in Germany. Since July 2008, the affiliate KAS Investment Servicing GmbH in Wiesbaden has offered fund administration services to pension funds and insurance companies. Postbank, for its part, says the transaction will allow it to concentrate on the management and distribution of funds.

Standard Life Investments (SLI) has appointed Michael Geier investment director for Germany and Austria in its European Business Development Team. He will be in charge of developing relations with retail clients and large investors in the two countries. From 2006 to 2008, Geier directed open-ended fund activities at ABN Amro Deutschland for Germany, Luxembourg, Austria, and Switzerland, after six years as director of distribution at Mellon Global Investments for Germany and Luxembourg. Geier will be based in Frankfurt, and will report to Phil Barker, head of European business development.

Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM) has selected BNY Mellon Asset Servicing as provider of administration, accounting, custody and transfer agency services for its range of Xmtch ETF products, which replicate broad equities and bond indexes (see Newsmamagers of 6 July). The products will initially be traded on the Swiss stock exchange (SIX) and several cross listings are planned for other markets in Europe in the near future.

AmpegaGerling on Thursday announced the launch of two German-registered funds of ETFs, Gerling Portfolio Multi ETF Strategie and Gerling Portfolio Global ETF Aktien, which combine investments in ETFs with a wealth management approach. The former fund invests in ETFs in all equities, bond and alternative asset classes, while the latter fund is specialised in equities, and is based on the principle of minimal variance.The funds were in fact launched on 21 January 2000 and 24 January 2001, but were since reoriented to invest only in ETF funds, on 1 May 2009. As of the end of May, the funds had respective assets of EUR5.45m and EUR6.66m.Backtesting reveals that the Multi ETF Strategy would have earned 6% annual performance between January 1994 and December 2008; it shows no losses in the past 5 years. The Global ETF Aktien would have earned 43% outperformance between January 2000 and December 2008, compared with the MSCI World index. Characteristics Name Gerling Portfolio Multi ETF Strategie Gerling Portfolio Global ETF Aktien ISIN code DE000A0NGJ69 DE0009847350 Front-end fee 3.00% 3.00% Management commission 1.00% 1.00%

Since Thursday, Union Investment (German co-operative banks) has been offering the Luxembourg-registered fund UniEuroRenta Corporates 40 (2014) for sale in Germany. The product is a target-date fund which invests primarily in corporate bonds whose maturities are set at 31 October 2014. At least 51% of the portfolio will be invested in European corporate bonds, while the number of positions is limited to 40 investment grade issues, and no single position may represent more than 5% of total assets. The management team is authorised to place up to 10% of the fund in government bonds or bond issues with government guarantees. Bonds will ideally be retained until maturity, except in case of deterioration, when the manager will be allowed to underweight the bonds in question. A 1% penalty will be charged for early withdrawal from the fund. Characteristics Name UniEuroRenta Corporates 40 (2014) ISIN Code LU0420444829 Front-end fee 3.00% Management fee 0.60% Depository banking commission 0.05% Minimal subscription 1 share

HFM Week reports that the Partners II fund from the US-based fund of hedge fund management firm and incubator Weston Capital Management has provided the seed capital to start up Sagil Capital, a fund management firm based in London which employs arbitrage, relative value and directional strategies for long/short funds specialised in Latin America. The founders of Sagil Capital are Adrian Landgrebe, Bradford Jones and Mark Hendricks, all three of whom are former partners at Rand Merchant Bank.

L’Echo reports that the OECD on Thursday removed Belgium from its “grey list” of tax havens. The Belgian finance minister, Didier Reynders, has signed the twelfth convention for exchange of tax information between Belgium and other countries. Belgium has signed information-sharing protocols with Luxembourg and Singapore, and a double-taxation agreement with the Isle of Man.

Swiss fund management firm Fisch Asset Management is releasing the Fisch CB Sustainable Fund, its sustainable development convertible bond fund. Sustainable development research is provided by Banque Sarasin. Management includes ecological and social criteria, says Kurt Fisch, founder of the asset management firm. The fund, registered in Luxembourg and compliant with the UCITS III directive, was launched on 18 May and is aimed at retail and institutional investors. The portfolio includes 50 to 70 positions, and shares are available in Euros or Swiss francs. A class of shares in US dollars is also planned. Characteristics Name FISCH CB Sustainable Fund HAE FISCH CB Sustainable Fund HA ISIN LU0428953425 LU0428953342 Currency EUR CHF Initial subscription EUR2,500 CHF2,500 Management fees 1.50% 1.50% Front-end fee 0.00–3.00% 0.00–3.00% Sales license D, LU CH, A in progess D, LU CH, A in progress Manager 1 Roland Hotz Roland Hotz Manager 2 Klaus Göggelmann Klaus Göggelmann

Groupama Asset management has registered two socially responsible investment funds with the CNMV, the Euro Capital Durable (Euro zone equities) and the Credit Euro ISR (investment grade bonds), Funds People reports.

For EUR42m, Deka Immobilien Investment has acquired a logistical centre constructed on 84.400 square metres in Waalwijk, the Netherlands (Northern Brabant region), for its open-ended real estate fund Deka-ImmobilienFonds. The halls, with a total area of 55,000 square metres, are leased in their entirety to Syncreon Netherlands.

As its Italian parent company Mediolanum is already doing, the Spanish firm Fibanc-Mediolanum will outsource the management of a good part of its locally-registered funds (EUR550m in assets) to Tre Capital Partners, which belongs to its founder and president Carlos Tusquets, ABC reports, relayed by Funds People. Currently, the funds are managed by GesFibanc, which will transfer six of its partners to Trea (whose management team has nine members). GesFibanc will retain its brand name and the funds under their current names.

The Swiss financial group Syz & Co has bought a 50% stake in the asset management firm of the Spanish N+1 group to create a joint venture with assets of EUR245m, which manages 20 Sicavs or mandates and two investment funds. In addition, Cinco Días reports, the new entity, N+1 SYZ Gestión, advises two hedge fund management firms.

Alastair Seymour, head of Henderson for the Iberian peninsula, says that Henderson New Star has begun the process to register its product range with the Portuguese securities commission, the CMVM, Funds People reports. The British management firm is planning to set up an office in Portugal by the end of summer, in order to attack the Latin American markets in fourth quarter.

Banque Sarasin has been offering the Sarasin Sustainable Equity – Real Estate Global since 10 July. The product is “the first fund in the world to invest in shares in sustainable real estate firms,” claims the Swiss firm. The Luxembourg-registered product (LU 0288928376) is in fact a new version of the Sarasin Real Estate Equity - IIID (EUR), which has been reoriented. The widely diversified fund invests worldwide according to social and environmental criteria, in publicly-traded firms of the real estate sector and closed real estate funds.The Sarasin Sustainable Equity - Real Estate Global, managed by Jake Ferguson of Sarasin & Partners, combines the expertise of analysis and sustainability specialists at Sarasin Sustainable Investment in Basel with the experience of real estate experts at Sarasin & Partners in London. The latter firm has been managing real estate investments since 1994 and as of 10 July 2009 administered CHF364m in this sector.

Currently, there are 657 ETF funds on sale in Europe, and this number is expected to reach 1,000 by next year. There is an anarchic proliferation of products underway, and the heads of iShares Germany (Dirk Klee) and ETFlab (Andreas Fehrenbach) are concerned that the market will suffer the same fate as the certificate market, which imploded after the spectacular collapse of Lehman, Die Welt reports. Thorsten Michalik, head of x-trackers (Deutsche Bank) does not share this pessimism, due to the fact that certificates were sold by advisors at banks, who earned high commissions on them. This is not the case for ETFs, which advisors are thus not promoting. Retail investors who buy into the products themselves will not go in search of incomprehensible products such as the DJ EuroStoxx 50 BuyWrite ETF, which combines an investment in the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 with the sale of a call on the same index.Die Welt also reports that db x-trackers is planning to extend its range of ETFs to 200 products next year, up from 113 currently.

According to Lipper FMI, net subscriptions for European funds reached EUR32.1bn in May, which is the highest inflow since October 2007, Handelsblatt reports. The main contributors to these inflows have been equity funds, with EUR16.2bn, and corporate bond funds with EUR8.9bn, their best mark over the last four years.Diana Mackay, who is head of Lipper FMI, expects net inflows to reach EUR80-100bn this year, but warns that any bad news could jeopardize this projection.

The Credit Suisse/Tremont index of more than 5,000 hedge funds worldwide shows performance in June of 0.43%, following gains of 4.06% the previous month. This brings performance in first half to 7.18%.Only two strategies remain in the red for January-June: dedicated short bias, with losses of 10.81%, and managed futures, which have lost 7.43%. Meanwhile, four strategies show gains of over 10% in the first ten months of the year: fixed income arbitrage, with returns of 11.82%, multi-strategies (12.29%), emerging markets (13.21%), and convertible arbitrage (23.95%).Oliver Schupp, chairman of Credit Suisse Index, says 87% of gains realised since the beginning of the year were made in second quarter.

Nearly 90% (to be precise, 88%) of 7,400 defined-benefit pension programs in the UK are in the red, at a time when the markets continue to be under pressure. According to the most recent statistics from the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), the coverage deficit for British pension funds at the end of June totalled GBP200.1bn (compared with GBP179.3bn at the end of May), while in June 2007, the balance of assets against liabilities was positive by more than GBP100bn. In June 2008, pension funds still had a positive balance of GBP13bn.In this environment, many firms are shutting down plans which offer defined benefits and are instead offering far less generous programs to new employees. According to the PPF, the total positive balance for programs with a surplus has fallen to GBP15.7bn, from GBP17.5bn in May 2009, while the cumulative deficit for programs with a negative balance totals GBP215.8bn, compared with GBP196.8bn at the end of May.