UBS a entamé une réduction d’environ un tiers de son effectif en Espagne, dans le cadre de son plan de réduction mondial des effectifs de 8700 emplois dans le monde, selon Cotizalia. Le nombre de collaborateurs licenciés serait compris entre 105 et 120 personnes, sur un effectif total de la filiale de 320 personnes, selon différentes sources et en l’absence de confirmation d’UBS. La réduction concernerait surtout la banque privée et la gestion de patrimoine, tandis que la banque d’investissement, plus rentable, serait moins touchée. UBS va également fermer sa succursale de Marbella.

Epsilon Gestión Alternativa, qui a obtenu son agrément d’exploitation de la CNMV en septembre et dont la marque commerciale est BrightGate Capital, est sur le point d’obtenir le feu vert du régulateur espagnol pour le lancement de son premier fonds de hedge funds, le BrightGate Absolute Return, dont Permal, filiale de Legg Mason, sera le conseiller, rapporte Funds People. L’objectif de performance se situe dans une fourchette de 8-12 % avec une volatilité annuelle de 5-7 %. La commission de gestion se situe à 2,25 % et Epsilon ne facture pas de commission de performance. Ce fonds permettra aux souscripteurs d’accéder à plus de 60 gestionnaires et à huit stratégies (Systematic, Discretionary, Event Driven, Fixed Income Developed Markets, Fixed Income Emerging Markets, Fixed Income Hedge, Relative Value Arbitrage, Natural Resources).

Trois fonds d’ «investissement libre» de BBVA figurent en tête du classement des fonds espagnols pour le premier trimestre 2009, indique Funds People. Le fonds Accurate Global Assets, de Próxima Alfa a progressé de 7,79% ; BBVA & Partners Retorno Absoluto, de BBVA & Partners, de 4,36%: et BBVA Codespa Microfinanzas, de BBVA AM, de 1,58%. Toutefois ces fonds risquent de connaître un avenir incertain, BBVA ayant décidé de liquider une partie de son activité de gestion alternative.

La société de gestion d’actifs Fonditel a embauché comme directeur des investissements Jaime Martínez Gómez, précédemment responsable de l’allocation d’actifs des fonds mixtes et de pensions de Santander AM, selon Funds People citant le journal Negocio. Fonditel, qui gère un encours de 357 millions d’euros à la fin mars 2009, a connu une année 2008 difficile : ses deux fonds vedettes Fonditel Velociraptor et Fonditel Albatros ont chuté respectivement de 35% et de 28% l’an dernier.

A l’issue d’un sondage auprès de 150 investisseurs institutionnels, consultants en investissements, gérants de hedge funds ou de fonds de hedge funds ainsi que d’experts du secteur dans le monde entier, Bank of New York Mellon et Casey Quirk estiment que l’encours des hedge funds va atteindre un étiage d’environ 1 billion de dollars cette année contre 1,9 billion fin 2007. Par la suite, avec une hausse des marchés et quelque 800 milliards de dollars de souscriptions nettes, le total des actifs sous gestion pourrait atteindre 2,6 billions de dollars pour 2013.L'étude ?The Hedge Fund of Tomorrow: Building an Enduring Firm? montre que les investisseurs institutionnels ont été à l’origine de moins de 20 % des remboursements supportés par les hedge funds en 2008-2009 et les fonds de pension aux Etats-Unis devraient être les principaux pourvoyeurs de souscriptions entre 2010 et 2013, devant les établissements britanniques et d’Europe septentrionale. Les particuliers haut de gamme pourraient contribuer jusqu'à hauteur de 60 % aux souscriptions nettes durant cette période, mais leur retour vers les hedge funds dépendra des conditions de marché et de la performance de ces fonds.D’après BNY Mellon et Casey Quirk, les fonds de hedge funds consolideront leur place de principal canal de distribution pour les hedge funds en captant presque 60 % des souscriptions nettes entre 2010 et 2013 parce qu’ils continueront à offrir des services que la plupart des investisseurs auront des difficultés à répliquer pour leur propre compte, comme la sélection de gérants et la due diligence.Enfin, l'étude montre que le secteur des hedge funds traverse une crise de transformation et doit remédier aux principales déficiences de ses business models et de ses méthodes d’exploitation. De la sorte, les hedge funds vont se reposer davantage sur les tierces parties pour une variété croissance de services administratifs. Les administrateurs de fonds devraient jouer un rôle plus important dans l’activité des hedge funds, ce qui exigera une plus grande intégration des activités de service aux hedge funds dans les plates-formes traditionnelles de conservation.

State Street Corporation lance l"Investment Analytics DashboardSM, un nouveau tableau de bord d"analyse des investissements de State Street, offrant aux investisseurs institutionnels une approche à la fois graphique et interactive pour suivre les risques, les rendements et les données comptables sous-tendant l"analyse de leur portefeuille d"investissements, tant publics que privés. Ce tableau de bord constitue une nouvelle fonctionnalité intégrée à l"offre de services et à la base de données du groupe Investment Analytics de State Street.

Morningstar a calculé que son Morningstar 1000 Hedge Fund Index a marqué pour mars une hausse de 2,1 % pendant que le Morningstar MSCI Asset-Weighted Hedge Fund Composite Index progressait de 0,1 %. Sur l’ensemble du premier trimestre, le premier accuse un tassement de 0,1 % tandis que le second affiche une performance de 0,5 %. Pour mars, les indices Morningstar MSCI Emerging Markets et Morningstar Emerging Markets Hedge Fund ont enregistré des hausses respectivements de 4,2 % et 6,2 %.

Alors qu’en février seules quatre stratégies de hedge funds sur les treize suivies par l’Edhec avaient affiché une performance, en mars elles étaient devenues onze sur treize, les deux dans le rouge étant celle des marchés à terme (CTA global) avec une perte de 1,64 % et celle des ventes à découvert (4,62 %). La stratégie arbitrage de convertibles a signé son quatrième mois consécutif de résultats positifs avec un gain de 2,58 % et une performance de 9,4 % pour l’ensemble du premier trimestre. Seul la stratégie CTA global accuse une perte (2,1 %) pour janvier-mars.

Selon les milieux gouvernementaux allemands, le capital-investisseur Cerberus, principal actionnaire de Chrysler, s’intéresse à OPEL, filiale de General Motors, rapporte le Handelsblatt. Le CEO de Cerberus, John Snow, a pris contact avec le ministère fédéral des Finances pour s’enquérir des conditions d'éventuelles aides publiques en cas d’acquisition. Cependant les milieux financiers sont sceptiques, parce Cerberus a déjà beaucoup à faire pour sauver Chrysler.

Pour 2008, après un prélèvement de 22 millions d’euros sur les réserves, la banque privée Bankhaus Lampe, qui appartient à la famille Oetker, affiche un bénéfice au bilan de 10 millions d’euros. Elle a donc accusé une perte de 12 millions d’euros imputable à l’augmentation des charges liée à des embauches, à l’ouverture de trois nouvelles succursales et à la dépréciation sur la participation de 6 % dans Aareal Bank au niveau du cours boursier de fin décembre. Pour 2007, Lampe avait affiché un bénéfice net de 21,5 millions d’euros (lire notre dépêche du 17 avril 2008). Pour 2009, Bankhaus Lampe a l’intention de filialiser l’activité family office de sa filiale Lampe Corporate Finance.

Dorénavant, les «centres financiers» et la force de vente mobile de la Deutsche Postbank commercialiseront trois fonds de droit britannique de M&G Investments, le M&G Global Basics Fund, le M&G Global Leaders Fund et le M&G European Corporate Bond Fund. Le gestionnaire d’actifs britannique devient ainsi le cinquième partenaire privilégié (preferred partner) de la banque allemande en matière de distribution de fonds d’investissement, aux côtés de DWS Investment (Deutsche Bank), Credit Suisse, Allianz Global Investors et Fidelity Investments.

Fondsprofessionell indique que la banque M.M. Warburg a certes acheté Bankhaus Wölbern, mais que cette transaction ne comprend pas l’acquisition de Wölbern Invest, promoteur et gestionnaire de fonds fermés. L’information a été confirmée par Heinrich Maria Schulte, qui était propriétaire de Bankhaus Wölbern et reste propriétaire de Wölbern Invest, une société de gestion créée par une scission intervenue en avril 2007.

In a letter sent on Monday to the chairman of the European Commission, the Socialist bloc in the European parliament claims that a draft European directive on hedge funds, which is up for a vote on 29 April, is ?ineffective? and ?full of loopholes,? Les Echos reports. The major fault with the bill pointed out by Socialists is that it singles out hedge fund managers, who would be required to register, rather than the funds themselves.

Artemis Investment Management will launch its first fund in four years on 5 May, entitled Artemis Strategic Asset Fund. It is a retail multi-asset class product (equities, bonds, commodities, currencies, and cash), long and short, bottom-up and top-down, and compliant with UCITS III, managed by William Littlewood, who was initially a long-only manager, before moving into hedge fund management. The planned allocation will initially be 45% cash, 20% short positions on British and US government bonds, 25% currencies, 15% commodities, 5% corporate bonds, 5% short positions on equities, and 35% on equities (25% British equities, and 10% international equities).

With the addition of the seven new ETF funds launched by iShares (see Newsmanagers of 21 April), the number of ETF products listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) now comes to 207. The issuers are Deutsche Bank, ETF Securities, Invesco Powershare, iShares (Barclays Global Investors), and Lyxor (Société Générale). Aside from the new iShares products, the LSE lists 78 ETFs based on equities indexes, 21 products that reproduce bond indices, 41 emerging markets ETFs, and 53 funds which cover a wide range of sectors and asset classes such as real estate, private equity, and commodities. In addition to this, there are 7 management style-oriented ETFs. The LSE also lists 123 ETCs and one ETN.Since the beginning of the year, 18 new products have been admitted to trading, the LSE Group states. By comparison, Frankfurt now lists 442 ETFs and 136 ETCs.

David Gait and Jonathan Asante are the managers of the new Global Emerging Markets Sustainability fund launched by First State in the United Kingdom, which will subsequently be made available in continental Europe, Investment Week reports. The portfolio will include 50 to 60 positions, and half of the equities included in the fund will be equivalent to those included in the Asia Pacific Sustainability fund (GBP51m). The benchmark is the MSCI Emerging Markets Free Index. Front-end fee and management commission are set at 4% and 1.55%, respectively, with a minimal subscription of GBP1,000.

BNY Mellon Asset Management has launched a strategic fund which will invest in bonds worldwide, with a net performance objective of 5.3% at launch. The product is managed by Standish, an affiliate of BNY Mellon in the United States, Money Marketing reports. The two managers of the fund will be David Leduc, global head of fixed income fund management and senior portfolio manager, and Tom Fahey. The management firm will comply with standards established by the Investment Management Association (IMA) for funds of the sterling strategic bond category, with at least 80% of assets denominated in pounds sterling or invested in assets whose currency risks against the pound sterling are hedged for.

Morningstar has calculated that its Morningstar 1000 Hedge Fund Index has posted an increase of 2.1% in March, while the Morningstar MSCI Asset-Weighted Hedge Fund Composite Index was up 0.1%. For first quarter as a whole, the former index has fallen 0.1%, while the latter has gained 0.5%.In March, the Morningstar MSCI Emerging Markets and Morningstar Emerging Markets Hedge Fund indexes have posted respective gains of 4.2% and 6.2%.

On the basis of a survey of 150 institutional investors, investment consultants, hedge fund and fund of hedge fund managers and experts on the industry worldwide, Bank of New York Mellon and Casey Quirk estimate that assets in hedge funds will reach a low point of about USD1trn this year, down from USD1.9trn at the end of 2007. Then, as the markets begin to rise and approximately USD800bn in net subscriptions roll in, total assets under management may rise to USD2.6trn in 2013.

In 2008, after a withdrawal of EUR22m from reserves, the private bank Bankhaus Lampe, which is owned by the Oetker family, has posted profits of EUR10m on its balance sheet. It thus has lost a total of EUR12m fur to increased expenses related to recruitments, the opening of three new branch offices, and a depreciation in the value of its 6% stake in Aareal Bank compared with its share price at the end of December. In 2007, Lampe posted net profits of EUR21.5m (see Newsmanagers of 17 April 2008).For 2009, Bankhaus Lampe is planning to bring on board the family offices of its affiliate Lampe Corporate Finance as part of the parent company.

For first quarter 2009, State Street has posted profits of USD1.02 per share, compared with USD0.54 in October-December 2008, and USD1.35 per share in the corresponding period of last year. Earnings totalled USD2bn, compared with USD2.67bn last quarter, and USD2.58bn in January-March 2008.As of the end of March, assets under administration and management were down by 24% and 29% on one year, respectively, to USD11.337bn and USD1.395bn.

In first quarter, the Bank of New York Mellon has seen a decline in its assets under management to USD881bn, a fall of 20% in one year and of 5% compared with the previous quarter. In the first three months of the year, the bank has seen net redemptions of USD12bn, largely due to redemptions from government money market funds.

S&P states that over the five-year period to end-2008, its S&P 500 index has lost 18.8% but outperformed 71.9% of actively managed US large cap funds. The same pattern applies to small caps, emerging markets and bonds.

According to Steve Rodosky, head of Treasury and derivatives trading at Pimco Treasuries purchases thorough the Fed have helped improve credit markets and there are signs that the markets have started to «operate more normally.»

By US-GAAP accounting standards, BlackRock has posted a fall of 65% in its net profits to USD84m, or USD0.62 per hsare in January-March, on earnings down 25% to USD987m. As of 31 March, assets totalled USD1.283bn, which represents a 2% decline from the end of December, and a 6% decline compared with the end of first quarter 2008.The firm’s chairman and CEO, Laurence Fink, points out that net subscriptions nonetheless totalled USD5.6bn in January-March, and USD138bn in the twelve months to the end of March. This organic growth more than compensated for negative market and currency effects of USD29.4bn and USD219.1bn, respectively. BlackRock has posted net inflows in the first three months of the year of USD21.3bn on products and long-term advising mandates (of which USD18.8bn come from institutional investors, and USD3.3bn from high net worth private clients), while cash management products suffered net outflows of USD15.7bn. Fink also states that personnel at the hedge fund management firm R3 Capital Partners (USD1.5bn in investments in credit), led by Rick Rieder, have agreed to join BlackRock.

In 2008, Unigestion, a firm specialised in equities management, hedge funds, and private equity, suffered from the downturn on the markets, like many others, but it registered net subscriptions of EUR250m. At the end of 2008, assets totalled EUR6.8bn.Against this background, and thanks to owners’ equity of EUR100m, Unigestion is still in «plan mode,? says Jean-François Hirschel, managing director and head of marketing. The general idea is to take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves, both on the markets, with new products, and on the labour markets, with recruitments, and in the asset management sector, with, why not, an acquisition to add to the firm’s capacities. The firm is also seeking a replacement for Kostas Iordanidis, who joined the firm last September as managing director in charge of hedge fund activities.

In Geneva, the Bank of China has appointed Daniel Penseyres as CEO of BOC (Suisse) Fund Management SA. Penseyres will continue in his role as director of the fund selection and alternative investment division, l’Agefi Switzerland reports. The management firm has also hired Fulvio Maccarone as head of global equities. Since 2004, he has been a partner at the London-based BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd, an alternative management firm, where he managed a long/short equities portfolio.Bank of China (Suisse) SA has appointed Fatima Al Arabi (formerly of BNP Paribas) as head of institutional clients for the Middle East, and has also recruited Mohamad Bleik (co-head private bakning GCC0; Teresa Cheung-Constantin (senior private banker); Jean-Pierre De Barro (head of sales); Julien Froidevaux (head of independent managers department); Jose Luis Piccinini (head of institutional clients - Latin America); Daniel Alexander Rieber (senior private banker - Latin America).

Analysts are reacting with skepticism to reports that UBS is seeking to sell of its hedge fund activities in the immediate future, Handelsblatt reports. In theory, a sale of the alternative and quantitative investments (A&Q) division (USD39bn in assets) is conceivable, since the bank is seeking to isolate it to prevent it contaminating the future of its traditional management activities. But such a sale would not decisively strengthen the bank’s position in terms of its capital base, and potential buyers for such a high-risk activity are not numerous.

The ?financial centres? and mobile sales personnel of Deutsche Postbank will now carry three British-registered funds from M&G Investments, the M&G Global Basics Fund, M&G Global Leaders Fund, and M&G European Corporate Bond Fund. The British asset management firm thus becomes the fifth preferred partner of the German bank in distribution of investment funds, alongside DWS Investment (Deutsche Bank), Credit Suisse, Allianz Global Investors, and Fidelity Investments.

Fondsprofessionell reports that the M.M. Warburg private bank has indeed acquired Bankhaus Wölbern, but that the deal does not include Wölbern Invest, a promoter and manager of closed-ended investment funds. The reports were confirmed by Heinrich Maria Schulte, who was the owner of Bankhaus Wölbern and remains the owner of Wölbern Invest, a management firm created in a spinoff from the bank in April 2007.