Recherche
S'abonner
Connexion
Asset Management
Accueil Asset Management Actualités
22/06/2009

John Bennett joins Gartmore

Roger Guy and Guillaume Rambourg will hand over most of their responsibilities in retail fund management at Gartmore to John Bennett, who has been recruited from GAM, where he was manager of the Star Continental European Equity Fund. Bennett, who will begin in his new role in early 2010, will be in charge of the European Select Opportunties Fund (GBP1.5bn); he will also be in charge of developing a range of pan-European products. He will report to Dominic Rossi, CIO of Gartmore, MoneyMarketing reports. Guy and Rambourg, for their part, will apparently remain at Gartmore, and will continue to manage the long/short European Absolute Return fund, launched in January, and three institutional hedge funds.
22/06/2009

JPMorgan out to unseat M&G as number one provider of fixed income products

JPMorgan Asset Management has ambitions to overtake M&G as the leading provider of fixed income products in the United Kingdom in the next 5 to 6 years, says Jasper Berens, head of UK sales at the management firm. JPMorgan AM has recently recruited Bob Michele from Schroders as head of its fixed income management.
22/06/2009

Strategic cooperation agreement between SEB Fund Services and EFA

SEB Fund Services S.A., the Luxembourg-based affiliate of the Swedish firm Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB, announced on Friday, 19 June that it has decided to outsource its fund administration services in Luxembourg to European Fund Administration (EFA). The agreement includes the outsourcing to EFA of valuation, accounting, transfer agency, risk monitoring and compliance, support, and distribution of funds. Migration of funds from SEB Fund Services to the administration and accounting platform of EFA has now been completed after a four-month process. It included assets totalling EUR1.6bn, and a diversified range of 59 products, from the simple (SICAV & FCP - Part I) to the more complex, including hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, Private Equity and Emerging Markets products.
22/06/2009

Banque Sarasin opens in Vienna

Swiss-based Banque Sarasin is opening a rep office in the 1st district of Vienna. The firm says it considers Vienna an attractive market in private banking. “Representatives in Vienna will not only serve high net worth private clients in Austria, but will also bring the Sarasin group closer to growth markets in central and eastern Europe,” says Fidelis M. Götz, head of Private Banking.
22/06/2009

Jean-Baptiste de Franssu elected president of Efama

Jean-Baptiste de Franssu, CEO of Invesco Europe, has been elected president of EFAMA (European Fund and Asset Management) for a two-year term. He succeeds Mathias Bauer, CEO of Raiffeisen Capital in Vienna. Claude Kremer, chairman of the Luxembourg investment fund association, has been appointed vice-president of EFAMA. The election took place on 19 June in Athens at the association’s general assembly.
22/06/2009

Candover sells Wood Mackenzie

Candover Investments PLC on Friday announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Candover Partners Ltd., will sell the research and consulting firm Wood Mackenzie to Charterhouse Capital Partners, in a deal that values the business at GBP553m. The firm’s investment in Wood Mackenzie generated an IRR of 56%.
22/06/2009

Allen Stanford faces criminal charges

The US Department of Justice announced on Friday that it is pressing criminal charges against the financier R. Allen Stanford, who was arrested on Thursday. The authorities are also filing charges against four people accused of acting as his accomplices, and against Leroy King, chairman of the Financial Services Regulatory Commission (FSRC) of Antigua and Barbuda. The Wall Street Journal reports that the defendants are accused of operating a Ponzi scheme totalling USD7bn. The criminal charges come in addition to a civil suit filed by the SEC. King is accused of accepting USD100,000 in bribes to provide false information to the SEC, in his official capacity as a regulator.
22/06/2009

Hedge Funds Boost Profile in Lobbying

Many hedge funds were relieved last week when the Obama administration’s financial overhaul plan included no big surprises or threats to their industry. It isn’t clear exactly why hedge funds escaped their worst fears. But maybe one explanation is that they have been spending a lot more time and money in Washington during the past few years. According to The Wall Street Journal, in 2008, major hedge funds and their trade groups spent USD6.1m lobbying Washington, up from USD4.2 million in 2007, which is about seven times the USD897,000 average from 2003 to 2006. The growth rate in hedge-fund lobbying far exceeds the 38% increase for the overall financial-services industry between 2006 and 2008, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
22/06/2009

Germany beats Luxembourg for subscriptions

For a long time, German asset management firms based in Luxembourg have attracted far higher subscriptions than their counterparts based in Germany. But, according to a study by Kommalpha, German products earned EUR3.91bn in subscriptions in January-April, while their Luxembourg rivals saw redemptions of EUR3.22bn.The situation is all the more remarkable since the two management firms with the best results in the first four months of the year are the Luxembourg firms db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank) and Pimco (Allianz Global Investors), with respective net subscriptions of EUR2.72bn and EUR1.6bn. They are followed by Deka and ETFlab (an affiliate of Deka), with EUR.37bn and EUR1.07bn, and then by DWS Luxembourg (Deutsche Bank) with nearly EUR1bn.However, four of the five companies showing the largest redemptions are based in Luxembourg also: IFM (EUR2.19bn), Deka Luxembourg (EUR1.76bn), AGI Luxembourg (EUR1.44bn), and Union Investment Luxembourg (EUR1.22bn). Only the fifth place in this list is a German firm: AGI (EUR0.73bn).
22/06/2009

Fidelity closes private equity division

Fidelity Investments on Friday announced that it will be closing its private equity division by the end of July. The division was set up two years ago, but is now encountering difficulties in raising capital due to the crisis, the Wall Street Journal reports. The division had USD500m, contributed by Fidelity more than by subscribers, and has investments in four companies.
22/06/2009

Carmignac Gestion in excellent health

La Tribune reports that since January, Carmignac Gestion has received EUR5bn in investments, and now has EUR20bn in assets under management. In 2008, the firm received EUR3.1bn, largely for actively-managed funds. Specifically, Garmignac Patrimoine, the firm’s flagship fund, contributed significantly to this increase in assets, and has grown from EUR5.2bn at the end of 2008 to EUR10bn as of the end of May, the newspaper stated. The fund “has received a lot of investments from baby-boomers who are seeking to keep their savings safe,” says Eric Le Coz, director of product development at Carmignac Gestion, cited by La Tribune. This fund is not the only one, the newspaper adds, pointing out that the Carmignac Emerging Discovery fund, which invests in emerging markets small and midcaps, has gained 56.61% since the beginning of the year. The diversified range was also spared from the exodus of clients last year, even though performance was less good for these products. Funds have been selling well in the eight countries where Carmignac is present (Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Luxembourg, and Switzerland). The management firm is planning to continue its development: an analyst and a bond manager have recently been added to the team of 15 at the firm. In terms of international development, distribution of products from Carmignac Gestion on the British market has also now commenced. In Asia, Hong Kong and Singapore are two markets the firm hopes to enter soon.
22/06/2009

Major hedge funds among buyers of Lehman debt

The Financial Times reports that among those who bought Lehman debt at a heavy discount were several of the largest hedge funds, including Elliott Associates, Paulson & Co, King Street and Centerbridge Partners. But the investment does not mean easy money. It will take years to regain any value, which means that investors will have to pay high legal costs and patiently wait for the courts to reach their verdicts. According to official documents, Elliott, King Street and Paulson hold USD12.5bn in Lehman debt.
22/06/2009

Portfolio of Morgan Stanley P2 Value to be audited

The investment committee for the open-ended real estate fund Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investment P2 Value announced on Friday that it has resolved to audit the entirety of the properties in the portfolio of the fund on 1 July. The move comes at a time of turbulence on the real estate market and as redemptions, which were suspended in October, are expected to reopen, says Walter Klug , CEO of Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investment GmbH. The results of the audit will be published in short order once it is completed.
22/06/2009

Swiss-US agreement depends on attitude of IRS

The Times reports that an agreement reached Thursday between Switzerland and the United States over information sharing about billions of dollars which US citizens have accumulated in secret Swiss bank accounts may not be ratified by the Swiss parliament if the US tax authorities, the Inland Revenue Service (IRS) do not call off civil lawsuits against UBS to obtain the names of 52,000 US clients with offshore bank accounts.
22/06/2009

Short-selling: IOSCO publishes principles

The international organisation of securities commissions (IOSCO) has published its definitive reports on regulation of short-selling, which lays out four general principles for effective regulation of these activities.The technical committee of IOSCO recommends that short-selling should be subject to “appropriate controls” to minimise potential risks that may affect the normal functioning and stability of the financial markets, and also recommends a reporting system, affective compliance mechanisms, and that exceptions be made for certain types of transactions.Regulation of Short Selling - Final Report
22/06/2009

New manager for Gartmore European Selected Opportunities

Citywire reports that Roger Guy and Guillaume Rambourg will no longer be responsible for management of the flagship fund Gartmore European Selected Opportunities (GBP1.5bn) after the end of the year, and will instead concentrate on hedge fund mandates and absolute returns. The management firm has recruited John Bennett from GAM to manage the fund, as well as the Gartmore Sicav Continental European.
22/06/2009

Cazenove launches an absolute performance fund

Cazenove has placed the hedge fund managers Neil Pegrum and Paul Marriage in charge of its second absolute return fund for retail investors, the Cazenove Absolute UK Dynamic, which will be managed with the same strategy as the hedge fund which Pegrum launched in May 2005, Investment Week reports. The objective will be annual performance of over 10% in the mid-term; Pegrum’s fund has delivered annualised performance of 15.97%, compared with 1.12% for the FTSE All-Share index. The Cazenove product, with 30-50 positions, will focus on UK small and midcaps using a bottom-up approach, and short-selling will be undertaken using CFDs.The first absolute return fund from Cazenove, the UK Absolute Target, is managed by Tim Russell, and has attracted about GBP245m since July 2008.
22/06/2009

Henderson New Star trims product range

Investment Week reports that Henderson New Star will merge the Equity Income Fund, managed by Graham Kitchen and Andrew Jones with the Higher Income Fund, managed by the same duo, to form a GBP250m product, Investment Week reports. The New Star Hidden Value (GBP13m) and Select Opportunities (GBP31m) funds will be absorbed by the UK Alpha Fund to create a GBP202m fund.
22/06/2009

Hedge funds ally against planned directive

BlackRock, Brevan Howard, CQS, DE Shaw, Fauchier Partners, Lansdowne Partners, Man Group and Marshall Wace have formed a steering committee to spearhead a lobbying campaign against a planned European directive to regulate hedge funds. The committee is being led by the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), the Sunday Times reports. Hedge funds in the alliance have GBP120bn in assets.
22/06/2009

Fund Forum: Attendance down 20%

Fund Forum International is opening its doors on Monday in Monaco. ICBI, the organizer of the event, reports that 800 participants from 38 countries are attending this year, while there were 1,000 participants last year. This fall in attendance is hardly surprising given the crisis. However, ICBI points out that the quality of participants has remained high, ant that six professional organisations are present, including EFAMA (Europe), ALFI (Luxembourg), AFG (France), SFA (Switzerland), IFIA (Ireland) and KFIA (Hong Kong). The first Fund Forum was held in July 1990.
19/06/2009
Fonds

Les fonds à horizon sous le feu de la critique

Jeudi, les fonds à horizon ont essuyé un tir de barrage à cause de leurs mauvaises performances récentes lors d’une audition organisée par la SEC et le Département du Travail. En effet, des fonds à 2010 ont perdu 22,5 % en 2008, d’après Morningstar, d’autres avec pour échéance les années 2011 à 2015 accusant des chutes de 28 %. Le Putnam RetirementReady 2010 Fund, très conservateur, a perdu 26 %, alors que l’un des plus agressifs, le T. Rowe Price Retirement 2010 Fund perdait 27 %.Selon The Wall Street Journal, le problème est devenu d’autant plus critique que, depuis 2006, les employeurs sont encouragés à faire adhérer automatiquement leurs salariés à des plans d'épargne 401(k) et investir leurs contributions dans ce type de fonds. Les encours se situaient à 164 milliards de dollars fin 2008 contre 71 milliards en 2005. Les représentants des gestionnaires ont défendu ce type de produit, soulignant qu’ils ont en général généré les performances attendues. Et John Ameriks, de Vanguard Group, a souligné que les fonds à horizon ne sont pas destinés à être sans risque ou a fournir un montant garanti de retraite.
Fonds
19/06/2009

Julius Baer veut coter en Bourse Artio

Selon Fundstrategy, Julius Baer prévoit de coter sur le New York Exchange Artio Global Investors, une filiale anciennement connue sous le nom de Julius Baer Americas, en fin d’année, en fonction des conditions de marché.
19/06/2009

KKR pourrait renoncer à se coter à New York

La société américaine de private equity KKR envisage d’annuler son projet de s’introduire sur la Bourse de New York, affirment des sources proches du dossier citées par le Financial Times. KKR prévoyait de fusionner ses activités avec KKR Private Equity Investors, coté sur Euronext, et d’introduire le tout sur le New York Stock Exchange.
19/06/2009

L’activité de trading de Madoff renaît de ses cendres

L’activité de market making de Bernard Madoff, qui a fonctionné pendant des années en parallèle au plan Ponzi, a été relancée sous le nom de Surge Trading, rapporte le Financial Times. L’entité sera dirigée par Frank Petrilli, l’ancien directeur général de TD Waterhouse, et deviendra un market maker en actions cotées sur le Nasdaq et le NYSE. La société n’a aucune intention de raviver l’activité d’investissement de Madoff, qui était en fait une fraude.

Sujets d'actualité

Tous les sujets