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02/07/2009

Fusion des banques Shinsei et Aozora

Selon la Tribune, les banques japonaises à capitaux américains, Shinsei Bank et Aozora Bank, ont annoncé leur fusion hier. De quoi former la sixième banque du pays et disposer de 18.000 milliards de yens (133,5 milliards d’euros) d’actifs. Une aide publique pour cette banque n’est pas exclue par son futur dirigeant, compte tenu de ses pertes dans la crise des subprimes
02/07/2009

Deka Immobilien rationalises product range

On 1 October, DekaBank will reduce the number of open-ended real funds it offers from six to four, with the merger of the Deka-Immobilien Fonds (about EUR2.5bn in assets) into the Deka ImmobilienEuropa (EUR7.3bn), and of the WestInvest 1 (EUR1.7bn) into the WestInvest InterSelect (EUR3bn). The Deka-ImmobilienEuropa and WestInvest InterSelect funds will retain their names and ISIN codes, respectively (DE0009809566 and DE0009801423). The merger has been approved by BaFin. Matthias Danne, board member, has emphasized that the creation of two large European funds, one of which will be even larger than the hausInvest fund from Commerz Real (EUR9bn), will make it possible to diversify the portfolios. The funds will “at least temporarily” have a large portion of their assets invested in Germany. Deka Immobilien Investment and WestInvest had EUR12.34bn and EUR5.49bn in assets under management, respectively, at the end of May, in three open-ended real estate funds each. Total assets are over EUR19bn.
02/07/2009

Avana launches its first two products based on ETFs

In six months, Götz Kirchhoff has founded a new asset management firm, Avana Invest, built up a partnershipwith Lyxor Asset Management and Société Générale Securities Services KAG (see Newsmanagers of 2 February and 5 March), and, since Wednesday, launched two new asset management products based on ETFs.The former co-head of Indexchange introduced the Avana IndexTrend Europa Dynamic and Avana Indextrend Europa Control funds. The former invests in European equities ETFs which replicate the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 and its sub-indices, while the second focuses on ETFs which track German and European bond indexes.The two products use a trend-follower model to strongly reduce maximal draw-down (MDD). They may be invested anywhere between 0% and 100%. If there is a sell signal, the management team may invest in money market ETFs and other appropriate instruments; they are also permitted to invest in short ETFs. Backtesting reveals that the investment process would have generated net outperformance of the Dow Jones Stoxx 600, Kirchhoff says. Characteristics Name Avana IndexTrend Europa Dynamic Avana IndexTrend Europa Control ISIN Code DE000A0RHDB9 DE000A0RHDC7 Front-end fee 5% maximum 3% maximum Management fees 1.20% 0.60% Performance commission 15.00% 5.00% Minimal subscription None/ EUR10m for institutional share class None/ EUR10m for institutional share class
02/07/2009

Morgan Stanley P2 Value fund misses its deadline

German asset management firm Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investment has announced that it will not be technically capable of meeting a deadline set on 1 July for a complete special audit by independent experts of the portfolio of its open-ended retail real estate fund Morgan Stanley P2 Value. However, the audit will be completed very shortly, and the manager will announce the results soon thereafter.As of 31 March, assets in the fund totalled EUR1.91bn, and the value of 40 properties in the portfolio had a market value of about EUR2.28bn, of which EUR657.3m correspond to properties owned directly.
02/07/2009

KanAm US-grundinvest posts performance of 4.4%

After returns of 6.3% in the fiscal year ending in March 2008, the German open-ended real estate fund KanAm US-grundinvest has posted gains of 4.4% in US dollars and of 23.9% in Euros for the year to the end of March 2009. It is the only German real estate fund to be denominated in US dollars. Its assets totalled USD626m as of 2 June. KanAm is proposing to distribute an unchanged dividend of USD2.20 per share for the fund, whose redemptions were frozen in late October. The occupancy rate for properties in its portfolio rose in the past year to 98.2% from 91.1%. Due to the difficult situation prevailing on the markets, the KanAm US-grundinvest made only two investments in the past year. The fund, focused on US real estate, bought Denbury Park II in Plano, near Dallas, and increased its stake in the Evening Star Building in Washington, D.C. from 80% to 95%.
02/07/2009

La Caixa founds fund for high net worth clients

The private banking division of La Caixa has raised EUR350m from high net worth clients for the Albus fund, for which minimal subscription is EUR1m, Expansión reports. Initally, 90% of assets will be invested in corporate bonds, and 10% in “very carefully selected” equities.
02/07/2009

Fund assets decline in June

As of 30 June, assets in securities funds on sale in Spain totalled EUR160.65bn, a decline once again after two months of slight increases, which themselves followed a series of 23 months of larger or smaller contractions. According to the Inverco association, the decline in June measures EUR1.27bn, or 0.8%. Net outflows totalled EUR1.74bn in June, compared with EUR1.19bn in May. They have totalled EUR8.92bn since the beginning of the year. Among the top ten management firms by asset volumes, only three have posted net subscriptions in June: Invercaixa Gestión, with EUR17.77m, Popular Gestión with EUR1.91m, and Ibercaja Gestión with EUR67.14m. The two heavyweights in the sector have seen very heavy net outflows: BBVA Asset Management (EUR32.92bnin assets) has seen net redemptions of EUR290.92bn, while Santander Gestión de Activos (EUR29.79bn) has seen outflows of EUR805.16m. Ahorro Corporación and Barclays Wealth Management have seen redemptions of EUR214.05m and EUR164.61m, respectively.
02/07/2009

Assets in Luxembourg funds increase in May

In May, collective investment organisms and specialised investment funds domiciled in Luxembourg have posted net subscriptions of EUR8.081bn. With the addition of positive market effects of EUR18.256bn, the industry has seen its total net assets increase by 1.65%, to EUR1.619269trn as of the end of May. In the past twelve months, net asset volume is down 18.91%.
02/07/2009

Franklin buys stake in Deutsche Borse

On Wednesday, Deutsche Börse announced in a market statement that on 26 June, it received notification from Franklin Mutual Advisors that the latter investor had acquired a 3.01% stake in its capital. This gives the US management firm slightly over 5.87 million voting rights.
02/07/2009

Win Bischoff may become Lloyds chief

The former president of the American bank Citigroup, Win Bischoff, 67, may become president of Lloyds Banking Group, La Tribune reports, citing the Financial Times.
02/07/2009

SEC may reward fraud whistleblowers

David Kotz, chief inspector at the SEC, who is now conducting an enquiry into the US regulator’s failure to prevent the Madoff fraud, says that individuals who blow the whistle on illegal activities should receive a reward. This approach, he says, had a positive effect in cases at the Justice Department.
02/07/2009

Banks: risk of distortion of competition

The daily edition of L’Agefi reports that plans on the part of European governments to support their banks are meeting with skepticism on the part of the French banking federation (FBF) due to risks that they may distort competition in France. In the firing line is the ING group, via its affiliate ING Direct, which has recently launched a free current account.
02/07/2009

Pay scales for some bank chiefs under observation

La Tribune reports that the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) yesterday voted in favour of a proposal to give shareholders an opportunity to vote on pay scales for chiefs of banks which received TARP assistance and have not yet paid it off.
02/07/2009

Evidence to charge Mrs Madoff lacking

Federal investigators have concluded for now there is no physical evidence that Ruth Madoff, the wife of Bernard Madoff, actively participated in or concealed her husband’s fraud, according to two people familiar with the matter cited by the Wall Street Journal. Without new disclosures or incriminating testimony from witnesses, the 68-year-old Mrs. Madoff won’t be criminally charged.
02/07/2009

Inverco appoints two new chiefs

The AGM of Inverco, the Spanish association of management firms, has elected Eugenio Yurrita, of BBVA Asset Management, as the new president of the group of collective investment institutions, replacing Asunción Ortega of Invercaixa Gestión.Meanwhile, Santiago Arans, from Bansabadell Pensiones, has been elected president of the group of pension funds, replacing Dolores Ybarra, of Santander Pensiones.
02/07/2009

Sal. Oppenheim recruits in distribution

Georges-Emmanuel Rosmade has joined the commercial distribution direction of Sal. Oppenheim (France) as head of investor relations. He will report to Bruno Zaraya. Since September 2007, Rosmade had been head of training at Master Finance & Stratégie de Sciences Po (Paris).
02/07/2009

New CEO at Capital Z Asset Management

Hedge Week reports that Capital Z Asset Management has appointed James M. Marrone as chief executive officer from 1 August. Marrone will retain his current responsibilities (development and chief marketing officer). He will succeed Christianna Wood, who has announced her resignation, effective 31 July, to pursue other interests.
02/07/2009

Institutional investor confidence index shows increase

The global investor confidence index published by State Street shows an increase in June of 7.0 points, to 115.5 points, compared with a corrected level of 108.5 for May. In Europe, the confidence of institutional investors rose by 9.1 points, to 95.0 points. The increase is as significant in North American, where the regional index rose 6.2 points to 113.6. Appetite for risk fell, however, in Asia, where the index fell by 1.3 point to 92.1 points, from a corrected level of 23.4 in May.
02/07/2009

Commerz Real invests in Helsinki

The real estate management firm Commerz Real (Commerzbank group) is investing for the first time in Finland, with the purchase of the Swing Life Science Center in Helsinki (32,100 square metres) for about EUR124m. The vendor of the property is the Etera Mutual Pension Insurance Company; it will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund hausInvest europs, whose portfolio (EUR9.48bn) is now 6% invested in northern Europe.
02/07/2009

Private bank profits at one quarter of former levels

According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers study of global wealth management, in 2007, eight publicly traded Swiss banks earned average pre-tax margins on assets under management of 45 basis points. One year later, the average is only 12 basis points, virtually a quarter of their previous levels.
02/07/2009

Germany challenges UK over regulations

Les Echos reports that the German finance minister, Peer Steinbrück, has expressed displeasure with the British government for listening to calls from the City to return to pre-crisis regulations. Steinbrück says that in Brussels two weeks ago, at the most recent meeting of the European Council, the United Kingdom blocked new safeguards proposed by Germany and France. The City, which represents a significant economic presence in the UK, is seeking to preserve its competitive advantage over other financial centres, he says. However, Steinbrück is pleased with reforms being undertaken in the United States.
02/07/2009

Nordea teams up with Vegagest

Nordea Investment Funds, an originally Scandinavian asset management firm based in Luxembourg, has entered into a strategic partnership with the Italian asset management firm Vegagest, which manages EUR2.4bn (as of 31 December 2008). The two actors will create a new entity which will manage and distribute funds on the Italian market. This will allow Nordea (EUR126bn in assets) to develop in Italy, where it has been present for five years via a representative office. For its part, the small independent firm Vegagest gains the support of a larger actor.
02/07/2009

BofA having a difficult time finding a buyer for asset management division

Potential buyers have lost interest in the asset management activities of Bank of America since BlackRock decided to pay Usd13.5bn for Barclays Global Investors, sources familiar with the matter say. To bring about a quicker sale, BofA may split Columbia into two entities, and sell of its money market fund activities separately. The bank had no comment on the reports.
02/07/2009

Stanford Financial CFO will plead guilty

James Davis, chief financial officer at Stanford Financial, who is accused of orchestrating a USD7bn fraud, will plead guilty to three charges against him, his lawyer has told the Financial Times.
02/07/2009

Banca Generali extends its offerings with products from five management firms

As a part of its open architecture strategy, Banca Generali has announced that it has signed agreements with five international asset management firms: BlackRock, Crédit Agricole AM, Invesco, Morgan Stanley and Vontobel. Each asset manager will manage a sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav BG Selection, from BG Investment Luxembourg SA, the Luxembourg asset management firm from Banca Generali. Three of the funds will be managed with flexible allocations (BlackRock - Global Maps, CAAM – Momentum, Morgan Stanley - Active Allocation), while two will be invested in equities (Invesco - Asia Global Opportunities, in Asian markets, and Vontobel - Global Elite, in global equities). The five sub-funds come in addition to the 14 existing products in the Generali Sicav. Other agreements will be announced in the coming months, bringing the number of sub-funds outsourced to third party asset management firms to nine. The Luxembourg management firms of the Generali group and Banca Generali will soon be combined to create Generali Investment Managers, an entity which will be 51% controlled by Banca Generali.
02/07/2009

Philip Levinson joins Blackstone

Blackstone has appointed Philip Levinson as managing director, from 6 July. Levinson will be responsible for development of new products for institutional investors in the Asia-Pacific region. Levinson was previously at RREEF, the platform from Deutsche Asset Management dedicated to private equity, infrastructure and international real estate.
02/07/2009

Sal. Oppenheim renforce sa distribution

Georges-Emmanuel Rosmade rejoint la direction commerciale distribution de Sal. Oppenheim (France) en tant que responsable des relations investisseurs, sous la responsabilité de Bruno Zaraya. Depuis septembre 2007, Georges-Emmanuel Rosmade était responsable pédagogique du Master Finance & Stratégie de Sciences Po (Paris).
02/07/2009

BofA peine à vendre sa division asset management

L’activité de gestion d’actifs de Bank of America ne suscite plus l’engouement de la part des acheteurs potentiels, maintenant que BlackRock s’est décidé à payer 13,5 milliards de dollars pour Barclays Global Investors, indiquent des sources proches du dossier. . Pour relancer la vente, BofA pourrait diviser Columbia en deux entités et vendre son activité de fonds monétaires à part. La banque n’a pas souhaité commenter ces informations.
02/07/2009

Le CFO de Stanford Financial va plaider coupable

James Davis, le chief financial officer de Stanford Financial accusé d’avoir orchestré une fraude de 7 milliards de dollars, va plaider coupable pour trois chefs d’accusations portés contre lui, a indiqué son avocat au Financial Times.

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