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27/03/2009

Ecureuil/banque Populaire : nouvelle plainte contre F. Pérol

Selon Le Monde, l’association Contribuables associés, à Paris, a porté plainte contre François Pérol, ancien conseiller à l’Elysée pour #prise illégale d’intérêt#. Le 18 mars, l’association Anticor avait déjà engagé une première action juridique, également pour #prise illégale d’intérêt#, rappelle le site internet du quotidien du soir.
27/03/2009

Royaume-Uni - 3i s?attend à de nouvelles dépréciations

Michael Queen, le nouveau directeur général de 3i, a prévenu qu"il était à prévoir de nouvelles dépréciations sur le portefeuille du groupe de private equity au dernier trimestre, rapporte le Financial Times. La société s"est fixé comme objectif de réduire sa dette nette de 1 milliard de livres sur les 12 à 15 prochains mois.
27/03/2009

France - GDF-Suez : les dirigeants renoncent à leurs stock-options

Selon Les Echos, le PDG du groupe, Gérard Mestrallet, et le vice-président, Jean-François Cirelli, ont décidé hier de renoncer à leurs stock-options. Les deux dirigeants ont visiblement décidé de calmer le jeu, compte tenu du climat politique et de l'émotion en interne.
27/03/2009

United Kingdom - Man Group launches a hedge fund platform

Man Group has announced that it is launching an open architecture hedge fund platform which will be available to retail and institutional investors via managed accounts. The new service will use the infrastructure of the firm’s affiliate RMF, the expertise of its affiliate Glenwood in manager selection, and the expertise of Man Group in the area of managed accounts. It will be possible to invest via the integrated platform in hedge funds via funds of funds or custom subscriptions.John Rowsell, CIO of Glenwood, will be the managing director of the platform, while Herbert Item, CIO of RMF, will become CIO. Both will continue to report directly to Peter Clarke, CEO of Man Group.
27/03/2009

World - Institutional investors not giving up on hedge funds

The fifth State Street survey of hedge fund investments by institutional investors (whose total assets represent more than USD1trn) finds that the turbulence on the financial markets has not led to major changes in the allocation of institutional assets. In addition, although the survey finds a slight reduction in total allocation to hedge funds, the majority of managers surveyed said they intend to increase or maintain their current allocations in the segment in the next twelve months.The result of the survey show a slight decline in total allocations to hedge funds, as the proportion of institutionals which allocated more than 5% of their portfolios to hedge funds totalled 68% in 2007 and 51% last year. However, most institutionals were planning to increase (49%) or maintain (31%) their allocations to hedge funds this year. Capital used to finance these new positions in hedge funds will come 80% from allocations to equities, unlike in 2007, when 39% were planning to take the money for these investments from allocations to bonds.
27/03/2009

United Kingdom - Man Group results contract

A few days before the end of its fiscal year (31 March), Man Group has announced that its profits before taxes and one-time charges will total USD1.2bn, compared with USD2.1bn the previous year, but that the board is planning to maintain the final dividend at 24.8 cents per share, bringing the total for the year to an unchanged 44 cents per share. Assets contracted to USD47.7bn, from USD53.3bn at the end of December, and USD74.6bn one year previously. At the end of March, assets managed for retail investors totalled USD28.4bn, while institutional assets totalled USD19.3bn.In the first eleven months of the year, the performance of AHL funds totalled 14.4%, while RMF funds lost 13.1%; the HFR index of funds of hedge funds, for its part, fell in the same period by 17.5%, the management firm points out. Performance effects wiped out USD6.1bn, while negative currency effects took another USD6.5bn.Net subscriptions from retail investors, at USD2bn, were not sufficient to compensate for net redemptions of USD4.2bn to institutional investors.
27/03/2009

Luxembourg - JPMAM launches five bond funds

JPMorgan Asset Management is launching the Luxembourg funds Global Government Short Duration Bond, Euro Government Short Duration Bond, Global Government Bond, European Corporate Bond, and Global Corporate Bond. Investment Week reports that the three government bond funds will be managed by David Tan, head of international rates, and that the two products focused on corporate bonds will be managed by Lisa Coleman, global head of corporates. The two managers were recruited by Schroders last year.
27/03/2009

Spain - Banco Madrid contracted to manage a Sicav fund from Rham Bhavani

The Indian-Spanish billionaire Rham Bhavani has decided to reassign the managemetn of one of his Sicav funds, Inversiones Casa Kishoo, which had assets of EUR3m at the end of 2008 and which was previously managed by Fiban Gestión, to Banco Madrid Gestión de Activos, Funds People reports. Banif (Santander group) manages two other Sicav funds for Bhavani (Laxmi and Bombay Investment Office, EUR93m and EUR16m), while one other fund is mandated to Bankinter (Kalyani, EUR25m).
27/03/2009

Spain - Fund outflows continue in March

According to initial estimates by VDOS Stochastics as of 20 March, total assets in securities funds on sale in Spain total EUR169.76bn, which would represent a decline of barely 0.65%. Funds People reports that for the most part, the decline in assets under management is imputable to net redemptions of EUR1.1bn, EUR200m less than in February.
27/03/2009

Germany - H&A invests in Cazenove Germany

According to reports in the Börsen-Zeitung, the private bank Hauck & Aufhäuser (H&A) will buy a stake in the German affiliate of Cazenove, to add abilities in investment banking to its wealth management services for retail and enterprise clients.
27/03/2009

United States - Fund managers interested in toxic assets

BlackRock, Pimco (Allianz) and Legg Mason are some of the fund managers planning to participate in the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility or TALF program with the launch of closed-end funds, the Wall Street Journal reports. T. Rowe Price Group, Fidelity Investments and Franklin Resources are also studying the possibility. BlackRock in January already launched a product which may serve as a template, the BlackRock Fixed Income Value Opportunities Fund or Fivo, reserved for high net worth investors (at least USD1.5m), with a minimal subscription of USD25,000. Distressed debt closed funds launched during the credit crisis by Pimco and BlackRock were not successful: The Pimco Income Opportunity and the BlackRock Fixed Income Value Opportunities funds, launched in November 2007 and January 2008, respectively, have both lost 40%, and attracted only USD205m and USD75m in investments.
27/03/2009

United States - Times are tough for hedge fund managers

According to Alpha magazine, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, eight hedge fund managers lost a total of USD6.2bn of their personal wealth last year, while they made USD3bn in 2007. Among the managers in question are big names like T. Boone Pickens (BP Capital Management), who lost USD450m, Carl Icahn (Icahn Enterprises, USD400m), Kenneth Griffin (Citadel Investment Group, USD2bn), Edward Lampert (ESL Partners, USD1bn), and Steven Cohen (SAC Capital Advisors, USD750m). The other three are Jeffrey Gendell (USD625m), Stephen Mande (Lone Pine Capital, USD550m), and David Tepper (Appaloosa Management, USD425m).
27/03/2009

United Kingdom - Man Group makes changes to improve transparency

To respond to investors’ concerns about risk management and transparency in the light of the Madoff scandal, Man Group is bringing together its three lines of fund of funds into a single activity. The integration of RMF, Glenwood and MGS (see article elsewhere) will create a fund of hedge fund platform with USD20bn in assets.Peter Clarke, CEO of Man Group, says the firm, which had USD360m of exposure to Madoff, is still studying its legal options.
27/03/2009

France - GI Forum: Each institutional has its own SRI

In matters of socially responsible investment (SRI), the French association of institutional investors (AF2i) doesn’t want to be prescriptive. ?Our association brings together very different investors, who exist in diverse professional environments. We do not want to create a charter which would come in addition to the ones which already exist,? explains Jean-Claude Guimiot, a board member at AF2i, and also deputy CEO of Agrica Epargne, at a conference organised for the GI Forum.However, the AF2i would like to draw its members’ attention to the need for them to practice responsible investment. But it leaves them some latitude. ?I estimate that there are as many visions of SRI as there are people,? says Guimiot, in an interview with Newsmanagers. ?So there is no single method for all institutional investors,? he continues. Guimiot argues that management firms will need to get used to SRI criteria being set by institutionals.
27/03/2009

Germany - Heavy redemptions in February

After net subscriptions of EUR16bn in January, German funds in February suffered net redemptions of EUR6bn, of which EUR4.4bn came from open-ended funds, the BVI association of asset management firms reports. Among open-ended funds, products specialised in equities saw net outflows of EUR2.89bn, of which EUR1.7bn came from ETFs, while bond funds saw net redemptions of EUR1.93bn. However, hybrid products (especially convertible bonds) attracted EUR1.03bn, and hedge funds received EUR304m.
27/03/2009

France - BNY to sell US equities

The new Paris office of BNY Mellon Asset Management will begin offering US equities products from May, Ignites Europe reports. Anne-Laure Frischlander, managing director and head of French activities at BNY Mellon AM, estimates that French investors, who are currently 60% invested in cash, will begin returning to equities in late June.
27/03/2009

United Kingdom - HSBC bails out money market funds

HSBC has lent financial support to several of its money market funds, Ignites Europe reports in its 26 March edition. The bank took the ?commercial decision? to inject USD687bn into a number of its money market funds in October 2008.
27/03/2009

United Kingdom - 3i predicts further write-downs

Michael Queen, the new CEO of 3i, has warned that further write-downs are to be expected on the group’s private equity portfolio in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year, the Financial Times reports. The firm has set itself the goal of reducing its net debt to GBP1bn in the next 12 to 15 months.
27/03/2009

Switzerland - AIG Private Equity trading 87% below value of its assets

The list of catastrophes is growing at AIG. The Swiss management firm AIG Private Equity Ltd, which is 41% owned by AIG, and which pays management commissions to AIG on investments in private equity funds, is trading 87% below its net asset value, the Wall Street Journal reports. The problem is that the firm, founded in 1999 by AIG Private Bank Switzerland, has suffered a significant depreciation of its portfolio invested in private equity funds managed by Terra Firma Capital Partners, Blackstone, Carlyle and CVC Capital Partners. Currently, AIG Private Equity Ltd is selling the assets to reduce its debt.
27/03/2009

Austria - Salus Alpha launches a hedge fund that replicates an absolute performance fund

The Austrian alternative management firm Salus Alpha has announced the launch of Salus Alpha Multi Style, which replicates the ABRX (Absolute Return Index) from its affiliate Alterantive-Index GmbH, a multiple manager, multiple strategy index, which in 2008 outperformed the FTSE Hedge Index Euro by 20.11 points, and the CSFB/Tremont index by 27.78 points (with losses of only 0.67% last year). The objective is to generate performance of 8-10% per year with low volatility. Until 1 April, Salus Alpha will charge no front-end fee.
27/03/2009

United Kingdom - Julius Baer launches an agriculture fund

Julius Baer has announced the launch of an agriculture and commodities fund in the United Kingdom, which will be invested 75% in equities and 25% in indexes and commodities. The product will be co-managed by Sabre Mayhugh and Belinda Cavazos at Wellington Management, where assets in agricultural portfolios total about USD1bn.The Julius Baer Agriculture Fund is a replica of an existing Luxembourg fund launched in June 2008; management commission is 1.6%.
27/03/2009

Spain - Mutuactivos launches its first Spanish equities fund

Mutuactivos, the fund management affiliate of Mutua Madrileña, has launched Mutuafondo España, its first fund to invest primarily in Spanish equities, although its portfolio may include up to 25% Portuguese equities, Cinco Días reports. Management commission is limited to 0.5%, says Juan Aznar, CEO of Mutuactivos.
27/03/2009

World - Regulations will kill off hedge funds, says Man

Toughening regulation of hedge funds will eliminate some, and cause attrition from the sector, according to Peter Clarke, CEO of Man Group, the Financial Times reports. The smallest hedge fund managers, who lack the means to adapt to increased demands of regulators, will be the hardest-hit.
27/03/2009

United States - Stanford head cooperating with SEC

An investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into fraud at the Stanford companies is gaining pace, thanks to the cooperation of James Davis, CFO for the group, the Financial Times reports. Davis has spent the last two days with the SEC, the FBI, and the Justice Department.

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