Selon La Tribune, le bureau de gestion de la dette britannique n’est parvenu qu'à placer pour 1,63 milliard de livres de «gilts» mercredi alors qu’il ambitionnait d’en vendre pour 1,75 milliard. Cette situation ne s'était pas produite depuis 2002, souligne le quotidien.

Pearl Group a différé le paiement de 33 millions de livres d"intérêts sur une partie de ses obligations, provoquant la colère des détenteurs de ces titres dont certains sont des gérants de valeurs britanniques bien connus, rapporte le Financial Times. Cela concerne l"émission obligataire de 500 millions de livres de Resolution avant son acquisition par Pearl.

Sir Sandy Crombie, l"architecte de la démutualisation de Standard Life, s"apprête à quitter l"entreprise dont il est directeur général, rapporte le Financial Times. L"assureur va commencer à chercher un successeur, mais n"a pas précisé la date du départ de Sir Sandy.

Selon la Tribune, une trentaine de groupe français, dont dix-huit du CAC 40, pourraient être confrontés à des difficultés juridiques aux Etats-Unis. Parmi ces groupes, Areva, Accor, Atos Origin, Bouygues, Eiffage, EDF, Pernod Ricard, Suez Environnement, PPR ou Vivendi ont été l’objet de programme d’ADR non sponsorisés, titres qui peuvent être négociés contre leur gré à Wall street. Un certain nombre de ces sociétés pourraient faire l’objet de #class actions# car #l’existence d’un programme d’ADR (?) expose les émetteurs étrangers à des actions judiciaires fondées sur la violation de normes américaines#, avertit le quotidien financier.

Selon le Financial Times, le pôle gestion de taux de Citigroup, fixed income investment management (FIIM), espère lever 250 millions de dollars pour un nouveau fonds qui sera investi dans la dette sous-évaluée des banques.

A l’occasion de la présentation à Paris de ses 13 ETF actions cotés sur NextTrack (lire par ailleurs), ETF Securities (ETFS) a indiqué que sa plate-forme est la première en Europe à fonctionner selon le modèle de gestion de #troisième génération# faisant appel à plusieurs contreparties interchangeables pour les contrats de swap.Selon le gestionnaire britannique, cela permet une réplication plus stable et plus précise des performances de l"indice ainsi qu’une limitation des risques associés à l"utilisation d"une seule contrepartie. De plus, sur les plans du coût de transaction et de la liquidité, cette formule permet des progrès grâce à la concurrence entre les multiples teneurs de marchés/contreparties des swaps.

Selon l’Agefi, comme en témoigne le succès rencontré par l'émission, mardi, d’obligations convertibles en actions d’ArcelorMittal, les opérations pourraient se multiplier, les gérants étant à nouveau prêts à se positionner sur ce type d’actifs.

Selon Le Temps, les défis planétaires et l"impact de la promotion des technologies vertes par Barack Obama devraient favoriser le développement des placements durables dans les prochaines années. Aujourd"hui, le premier marché pour l"ISR est l"Europe, mais Matt Christensen, directeur d"Eurosif, le Forum européen pour l"investissement socialement responsable (ISR), estime que les Etats-Unis rattraperont rapidement leur retard. «L"arrivée du président Barack Obama et les volets environnementaux de son plan de relance changent la pensée dans le pays. Les institutionnels perdent leur malaise à parler d"environnement et de social.»

Selon La Tribune, Nyse-Euronext a annoncé son intention d’améliorer la transparence et l’efficience du marché des warrants et ds certificats. Parmi les principales réformes annoncées, «la disparition des seuils de réservation qui suspendaient toute transaction et la garantie pour l’investisseur d’une exécution de ses ordres au meilleur prix», relève notamment le quotidien.

Ce n’est pas la crise pour tout le monde. Alors que près de 30 % des hedge funds ont disparu en 2008 et que les encours ont fondu comme neige eu soleil, certains grands gérants de fonds alternatifs peuvent se réjouir. Selon le classement annuel établi par Alpha Magazine, les 25 gérants de hedge funds les mieux rémunérés ont gagné l’année dernière 11,6 milliards de dollars, soit leur troisième meilleure année sur huit années de classement. Ce montant représente une moyenne de 464 millions de dollars par gérant. Dans le top 5 des grands gagnants du classement, on retrouve à la première place James Simons (Renaissance Technologies Corp.) avec une rémunération de 2,5 milliards de dollars, suivi de John Paulson (Paulson & Co., 2 milliards de dollars), John Arnold (Centaurus Energy, 1,5 milliards), George Soros (Soros Fund Management, 1,1 milliard) et Raymond Dalio (Bridgewater Associates, 780 millions).

Le montant des sorties dans le private equity est tombé à moins de 250 millions de livres pour la première fois depuis 1992 sur les trois premiers mois de l"année, rapporte le Financial Times, citant une étude du Centre for Management Buy-Out Research (CMBOR) de Nottingham University. Depuis le début de l"année, on recense uniquement 51 sorties.

En refusant la politique à taux zéro, la BCE maintient des conditions de financement à court terme plus élevées qu’elles ne le sont dans les autres zones monétaires. En ne procédant pas à des achats fermes de dettes, la BCE ne fait pas baisser les taux d’intérêt à long terme, contrairement à ce à quoi s’attachent la BoE, la Fed et la BNS. Enfin, si les liquidités supplémentaires qui sont injectées sur le marché interbancaire font bien enfler la base monétaire, elles ne conduisent pas à une baisse significative des taux de marché. On voit alors sans surprise que la courbe swap en euro est toujours de 35pb supérieure à la courbe swap en dollars. Les conséquences immédiates pour la zone euro de cette politique sont doubles.

The European equities management team at Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management, led by Philippe Lecocq under the responsibility of Bruno Vanier, director of equities management, consists of ten managers, one management assistant, and one analyst. As of 30 January 2009, it managed nearly EUR5bn in assets, and has recently been strengthened by the arrival of Olivier Huet, who will join the two managers specialised in large caps. Since October 2000, Huet has been an equities manager at OFI Asset Management.The European large caps equities team manages the Europe Rendement, Saint-Honoré Europe Synergie, Selective Recovery Europe, and Saint-Honoré Euro Opportunités funds. It also participates in the management of the Ecosphere Europe and Selective Recovery funds.

For 2008, profits at AWD Holding AG totalled EUR2.1m, compared with EUR55.2m the previous year (a fall of 96.2%), while pre-tax profits fell 73.7% to EUR22.7m, on earnings down ?only? 11.8% to EUR633m. The financial services provider, which is now owned by Swiss Life, will not distribute a dividend. The number of advisors has fallen 4.7% in one year to 6,009.

According to Lipper, assets under management in European ETF funds increased last year by 17.05%, to EUR108.42bn, while assets in equities ETFs, the most common type of ETF fund, increased by only 0.07%. However, ?other asset class? categories saw an increase of 130.16% to their assets, thanks in part to the success of come strategies such as short-selling, Funds People reports.

Franklin Resources, better known under the brand name Franklin Templeton Investments, has announced that it has increased its stake in Algebra Capital (Dubai), in which it purchased a 25% stake in September 2007, to 40%. In addition, William Y Yun, executive vice president of alternative strategies at Franklin Templeton, will become the director of Algebra Capital, alongside two other representatives of the American management firm. The operation will strengthen Franklin Templeton’s presence in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region. The two partners have already launched five MENA equities funds. Franklin Templeton is planning to continue its cooperation with Algebra to develop products.

Liontrust Asset Management (GBP1.9bn as of 23 March) on Tuesday announced the recruitment of five partners from the European bonds team at Ilex Asset Management, and the takeover of a long/short credit fund from Ilex (Ilex Credit Fund, GBP41m), domiciled in the Cayman Islands. The firm’s CIO, Simon Thorp, senior portfolio manager James Sclater, the co-heads of research, Paul Owens and Quentin Peacock, and the COO, Gareth Roblin, will all join Liontrust.Liontrust has also announced that Jeremy Lang and William Pattisson, who managed three funds, will be leaving the firm on 15 April. They will be replaced by Gary West, James Inglis-Jones, Anthony Cross, and Julian Fosh, who were recruited by Lang and Pattisson (whose B-class shares in the firm will be repurchased by Liontrust). West and Inglis-Jones will take over the management of the Liontrust First Income and Liontrust First Large Cap funds, while Cross and Fosh will manage the Liontrust First Growth Fund. The appointments will take effect on 25 March.

Satisfaction all round. The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) has welcomed the initiative by the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSC) to create an improved framework and harmonize regulations governing short-selling activities. The professional association is particularly pleased with the IOSC’s recognition of the role played by short-selling in capital markets. It also agrees that it is necessary to introduce some discipline in the settlement of short-selling transactions, particularly in the case of uncompleted transactions.

Dedicated funds have become significantly less popular since last autumn. For the year 2008 as a whole, net inflows were down 25% to EUR8.32bn, according to data reported by the professional federation for closed funds (VGF, for Verband Geschlossene Fonds). Though funds invested in life insurance or private equity are down by 58% to EUR359m and 60% to EUR742m, funds invested in aerospace are up 165% to EUR703m. The two largest positions, real estate and maritime, are down by 26% to EUR3.05bn, and 22% to EUR2.48bn, respectively. IFA networks and banks last year accumulated a market share of 81% in the distribution of dedicated funds.

Prudential Asset Management has announced that it has reduced its staff by slightly under one quarter in Hong Kong, while Singapore staff has been reduced by 8%. The manager disputes reports in Asian Investor, which cited rumours that the firm had cut 10 out of 20 jobs in Hong Kong, and that one third of staff had been laid off on 20 March (which would amount to more than 20 layoffs).

Schroders announced on Tuesday that it has ?relaunched? a treasury, or ?liquidity? fund in Germany, under the name Euro Government Liquidity. The product is a sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav Schroder ISF, which was previously not available on the German market, where the SISF Global Government Bond platform is not available.Management commissions have been reduced to 0.15% for institutionals and 0.40% for retail investors, while front-end fees now total a maximum of 3% and 5%, respectively. As of 28 February, assets in the product total EUR9.7m. In its new form, the compartment was launched on 19 December 2008.The fund is managed by David Scammell, head of UK & European interest rate strategies.

On Tuesday, Deutsche Börse announced the addition of six new ETF funds, based on the Eurogov German government bond indexes (see Newsmanagers of 24 March), bringing the number of products listed on the XTF segment of the Xetra electronic trading platform to 426. The management firm also states that, in order to be included in the composition of the Eurogov indexes, bond issues must measure at least EUR4bn.The Eurogov indexes are calculated by the Market Data & Analytics division, which produces a total of more than 2,600 indexes, which serve as the underlying for assets totalling approximately EUR12.8bn.

Mandarine Gestin, the management firm founded by Marc Renaud, is launching a socially responsible investment fund, Mandarine Engagements. It is managed by Patrick Savadoux, a specialist in SRI management, who has recently joined the firm, after spending several years at Natixis AM.The new fund invests in Euro zone businesses of all cap sizes which satisfy environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria. Savadoux’s method is to apply an SRI filter beforehand. In other words, the 700 companies in the investment universe are filtered for selected ESG criteria, to leave only 150. Financial analysis comes as a second phase after this. Lastly, Savadoux chooses 50 businesses for his portfolio (currently 40).?This is not a best in class fund,? says Savadoux, who claims that method is nothing but index-based management in disguise. Some sectors are absent from the portfolio, such as the automotive sector at present, for ?social? reasons. The Mandarine manager no longer invests in some sectors by conviction, such as tobacco and nuclear, although these areas are not subject to a systematic exclusion.On the other hand, certain themes may be preferred at certain times. Currently, the environment is one such theme. The manager says 2009 will be the year of governance and social awareness. However, the fund remains ?generalist,? and maintains an equal weighting of its six ESG criteria: human rights, social engagement, environment, governance, client/supplier relations, and human resources.The fund is aimed at all types of clients: institutionals, of course, and employee savings, but also independent financial advisors, in whom Renaud sees a growing appetite for SRI.Currently, the fund has assets of EUR1.85m. The goal is to bring in EUR50m to EUR100m for this SRI theme, once equities, now close to zero, bounce back, says Renaud. When the horizon brightens somewhat, an employee partnership fund will also be launched.Mandarine Engagements joins three other funds from Mandarine, each managed by a different specialist. The firm is neglecting to integrate SRI into the management of its other products even though Renaud admits that ESG criteria are gradually gaining importance in the analysis of businesses.As of 31 December, Mandarine managed EUR251m, slightly more than the seed money it received at launch (EUR270m), even though the firm has received investments of EUR170m. ?The year 2008 was frustrating,? admits Renaud, ?but we are not worried about the future, thanks to owners’ equity of EUR4.8m.?

Aon Consulting on Tuesday announced that it will be extending its range of services for trustees and employers, to offer an integrated retirement solution, Aon Pension Solution, which combines asset and liability management for pension funds. The product will be launched in July 2009, and has been developed in cooperation with Russell Investments.

Mellon Transition Management (MTM), an affiliate of BNY Mellon, on Tuesday announced the recruitment of Tim Wilkinson and the team of six people he leads. The seven new arrivals, who all join the firm from Citi Transition Management, the transition management activity from Citigroup Markets, will be based in London, and will strengthen an operation which already has 50 employees worldwide.Tim Wilkinson was managing director at Citi, where he was responsible for Asia-Pacific and the Europe-Middle East-Africa (EMEA) region. At MTM, he becomes managing director for the EMEA region.

French authorities are investigating funds with ties to the Madoff fraud case, the International Herald Tribune reports on 22 March. The Journal du Dimanche reports that one of these investigations concerns BNP Paribas. According to the French newspaper, the investigations are seeking to determine whether the bank deceived some investors with the subscription documentation for the fund.

Frank Dornseifer, legal director of the German alternative investment association (BAI), says the G20 summit in London will result in stricter regulation of hedge funds in the EU, but, even if the proposals of the European Commission are adopted, German chancellor Angela Merkel will not obtain complete and systematic control of all the financial markets, products and market actors, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. Dornseifer points out that not all hedge funds are alike, and that one third of them use no leverage.

On Wall Street, shares in management firms gained ground after the announcement of the Geithner toxic asset buyback program, from which these firms would be the primary beneficiaries. Two management firms specialised in bonds, Pimco (Allianz group) and BlackRock, have already announced that they will participate in the plan, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. Bill Gross, one of the heads of strategy at Pimco, says this is the first political initiative to remedy the crisis which will benefit all parties concerned. Laurence Fink, CEO of BlackRock, states that although the Geithner plan is not a panacea, it will at least have the positive effect of removing some excess supply from the market.

A spokesperson for Legg Mason has confirmed to Pensions & Investments that its affiliate, Western Asset Management (Wamco) has reduced its personnel by about 100 people, or 10%. The job cuts are largely in administrative services and operations. As of 31 December, assets at Wamco were down 13% compared with the end of September, at USD513bn, and down 19% over one year.

The government plan to buy up toxic assets from banks will require companies such as Citigroup, Bank of America and Wells Fargo to write down large amounts on their loans, which will require them to raise more capital, according to directors in the sector and analysts cited by the Financial Times.