Après quatre ans d’absence sur le marché obligataire, la Grèce doit placer aujourd’hui 2,5 milliards d’euros d’obligations à cinq ans. Si les économistes soulignent les progrès réalisés, ils insistent aussi sur le défi que représente la diminution du ratio d’endettement dans les années à venir.

Les émissions corporates en devises «dures» ont plus que triplé entre 2009 et 2013 pour atteindre près de 300 milliards de dollars

Athènes lance aujourd'hui une émission à cinq ans à hauteur de 2,5 milliards d'euros. La maîtrise de son ratio d'endettement relève de l'acrobatie

Les émissions corporates en devises «dures» (dollars, euros...) ont plus que triplé entre 2009 et 2013 pour atteindre près de 300 milliards de dollars, souligne le FMI dans son rapport de stabilité financière, avec les risques de change induits en cas de correction des devises locales.

Le volume des transactions a chuté de 11% à 323.500 m2 à la fin du mois de mars, alors que les autres capitales européennes affichent des hausses

Avant sa fusion juridique avec Allianz GI Europe, la structure française enrichit son expertise dans les produits de crédit

Pro BTP est en train de mettre en place un portefeuille d’infrastructures d’un montant global de 100 millions d’euros. « Nous sommes en cours de sélection et les souscriptions dans les fonds d’infrastructures devraient être effectuées d’ici la fin de l’année, la phase d’investissement étant naturellement plus longue, explique Véronique Leroux, Directeur général adjoint administratif et financier. Ce type d’investissement nous intéresse car il permet d'être en adéquation avec nos engagements longs et il nous apporte une couverture contre l’inflation pour l’ensemble de notre portefeuille. Cet investissement prend du temps car nous souhaitons mettre en place une diversification satisfaisante ». Pro BTP a en effet décidé d’investir entre 10 à 15 millions d’euros dans chaque fonds d’infrastructures. Ces derniers incluent différents projets comme le financement des énergies renouvelables (parcs d'éoliennes, photovoltaïque) ou encore du transport et du traitement des déchets. De manière globale, l’institution privilégie tous les projets qui contribuent à faire travailler le secteur du BTP.

Vinci Immobilier et SFR ont conclu avec Crédit Agricole Assurances, via sa filiale Predica, et avec Aviva France pour ses sociétés Aviva Vie et Afer Immo, la vente du Campus SFR situé à Saint-Denis, selon un communiqué. Le montant de la transaction atteint 680 millions d’euros. La vente de cet ensemble immobilier, d’une superficie totale de 134.000 mètres carrés, dont 74.000 m2 livrés en décembre, et loué en totalité à SFR pour une durée de 12 ans fermes, fait suite à des négociations engagées depuis juillet 2013. Il s’agit de la plus grande opération de bureaux du secteur privé en cours de réalisation en Ile de France. La transaction comprend une vente en l’état futur d’achèvement (Vefa) pour la tranche 2 de 60.000 m2 qui sera livrée fin 2015.

BNP Paribas Investment Partners envisage d’ouvrir une société de gestion au Mexique en 2014, a indiqué lors d’un point presse à Singapour Ligia Torres, sa patronne de l’Asie-Pacifique et des marchés émergents, citée par Bloomberg. Le pôle de gestion d’actifs de BNP Paribas envisage aussi de lancer des activités en Colombie et au Pérou.

Le député Christian Eckert intègre le nouveau gouvernement de Manuel Valls. Il a été nommé secrétaire d’Etat au Budget. Fleur Pellerin, auparavant à l’Economie numérique, s’occupera désormais du Commerce extérieur, de la Promotion du tourisme et des Français de l'étranger. Frédéric Cuvillier reste secrétaire d’Etat aux Transports. Harlem Désir intègre le gouvernement avec les Affaires européennes. Au total, le gouvernement de Manuel Valls compte 14 secrétaires d’Etat en plus des 16 ministres.

«La stabilité financière mondiale s’améliore (...) mais il est trop tôt pour crier victoire», résume José Vinals, directeur du département des marchés financiers du Fonds monétaire international, dans le rapport semestriel de stabilité financière de l’institution. Le FMI met notamment en garde contre le «fardeau» grandissant des créances douteuses dans la zone euro à l’heure où le secteur financier européen est soumis à un examen de santé. «Les banques dans les pays en difficulté de la zone euro restent plombées par un stock important et grandissant de créances douteuses, résultant du poids de la dette au sein des entreprises et du ralentissement économique», indique le FMI. Ce stock a doublé depuis 2009 et s'élève aujourd’hui à «plus de 800 milliards de dollars» sur l’ensemble de la zone euro, calcule le Fonds.

Il fait partie des quatorze secrétaires d'État qui ont été nommés ce mercredi.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Natixis Global Asset Management will launch a concentrated global equity fund, in order to develop its product range based in the United Kingdom, Investment Week reports. The French asset management firm is in advanced talks with its Chicago-based affiliate, Harris Associates, to launch an OEIC fund in second half 2014. If it obtains permission, the product will be the fourth in its British range. Natixis GAM is also seeking to increase staff in London by at least 25% this year.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }The Danish financial market authority,Finanstilsynet, has laid out ten initiatives to reduce costs andimprove returns at asset management firms.The proposals for directors are asfollows:Focus to reduce variable costsSet cost objectives against thecompetitionSeek to better use economies ofscaleAdopt a critical approach whenselecting an adviserHave a solid procedure forselecting an adviserHave performance objectivesagainst the competitionReact fast to poor performanceDetermine a response to poorperformanceConsider passive management as analternative to active management with poor performanceEvaluate the quality of advisingin the investment process.The Danish authority adds that it hasfound that all asset managemnt firms studied respected several of theten points, but that none respected all of them.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) has established a new ad-hoc group responsible for investigating hedge fund activities. The SEC investigation will focus on communications of hedge funds to their clients, the valuation of their assets, and information they offered clients, Opalesque reports. The creation of the group appears to be a result of weak results from hedge fund visits initiated under the Dodd-Frank law. The market authority is planning to recruit more specialists in the valuation of level 3 assets held by hedge funds, as these assets are often very difficult to evaluate due to their low levels of liquidity.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The performance of hedge fund manager John Paulson (USD21bn in assets under management) ended March in negative territory, largely affected by losses on the gold market, sources cited by the news agency Reuters reports. The Paulson Advantage Plus fund lost 7.4% last month, which drove performance since the beginning of the year to +2.6%. The Paulson Enhanced Fund, for its part, lost 6% for the month, resulting in returns of 2.4% since the beginning of the year. The Paulson Credit Fund lost 2.5% in March, while the Paulson Recovery Fund lost 0.5%, and the two strategies showed gains of 5% since the beginning of the year.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The wealth management firm Evercore Wealth Management has announced that it is opening an office in Tampa, Florida, which will aim to assist high net worth clients in Florida and the south-eastern United States. The firm has also recruited three new partners from GenSpring Family Offices and its affiliated company, SinTrust Bank.

BFT Gestion is coming out of the shadows. The French asset management firm known for fixed income and cash management, which had previously lived in the shadow of its parent company, Amundi, now has new ambitions. It has two goals: to develop into other asset classes and to extend its client base.At the end of 2013, BFT Gestion had EUR19.4bn in assets under management, “doubling assets in the space of ten years,” says Stefan Narbutas, CEO. Over the years, the money market specialist has accelerated its diversification to become a multi-asset class manager. However, money markets continue to account for most of it assets under management (around 80%) and the weight of other asset classes is more modest: EUR2.5bn for credit as of the end of February EUR1.5bn in total return, and EUR600m in European equities and convertibles.“Our ambition is to intensify the development of our credit, equity and total return management,” says Narbutas. The asset management firm is planning to redouble its efforts in equities. “By the end of 2016, we want to increase European value equity management over EUR1.5bn in assets in 2016,” Narbutas says. This would be triple the EUR600m in assets under management as of the end of February.Meanwhile, although only 4 of the 14 OPCVM funds of the range have assets of over EUR1bn, the asset management firm is hoping to significantly increase the size of its funds. “We want to double the number of OPCVM funds whose assets are over EUR500m by the end of 2016,” the CEO points out. Lastly, BFT Gestion is not planning to leave money market management behind. The asset management firm will be converting a dedicated fund into an open-ended fund, bringing the number of money market funds in the range to 3.In order to accelerate its development, BFT Gestion is planning to set out to conquer new client segments. This need becomes imperious as institutionals represent 70% of clients and assets. In France, the priority is therefore private clients via external distribution. These clients represented only 3% of assets as of the end of 2013. The objective of BFT Gestion is to increase the percentage of clients coming from external distribution to 10% by the end of 2016.The asset management firm has set itself a second development goal: to conquer international institutional investors. “Our intention is not to set out on the quest ourselves,” says Narbutas. “However, Amundi has all the necessary resources.” With this in mind, BFT Gestion on 15 April 2013 launched the Amundi Fund Absolute Global Dividend fund, which is focused on futures on dividends, and housed in the Luxembourg Sicav from Amundi, Amundi Funds. “This fund is registered in 30 countries, and we can now sell it abroad,” says Narbutas. “Being domiciled in Luxembourg is an important advantage for selling products internationally.”

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Bank of New York Mellon has had to face the anger of its shareholders over costs, profitability and management pay scales at its annual meeting, but Gerald Hassell, its chairman and CEO, rejected calls to sell the group’s asset management business, the Financial Times reports. The head told investors that such a sale had been considered. “We’ve done the math, we’ve done it several times, we continue to look at it,” he said.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } After regrouping its asset management and private banking activities in 2012, the Berenberg group is now backtracking. After the departure of Markus Taubert, who had been director of the unit, the two activities are now divided into two again. The position of director of asset management has been assigned to Tindaro Siragusano, while Peter Raskin becomes head of private banking.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The German asset management firm Metzler Asset Management has lost the emerging market equity specialist manager Simone Beer, Citywire reports. Beer, who had worked at Metzler for seven years, had managed the group’s fund of Russian equities since its launch in August 2010. She has been replaced by Christian Geier, who had worked with Beer in the team dedicated to eastern European equities. The Metzler Russia fund lost 19.6% in the three years to February 2014, as the benchmark index of the fund, RTS CR, lost 19.88% in the same period.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Michael Kollo, the head of quantitative research and risks at Renaissance Asset Managers, has left the firm, Investment Week reports. He joined the firm in 2012.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Old Mutual Wealth is currently in talks with Woodford Investment Management to assign the star manager Neil Woodford a mandate for the WealthSelect proposition, Citywire reports. Woodford, former star manager at Invesco Perpetual, joined Oakley Capital to found his own asset management firm, Woodford Investment Management, whose official launch is expected during the month of May. A spokesperson for Old Mutual Wealth has confirmed to Citywre that prelimary talks with Woodford Investment Management are in progress. If the talks are successful, they would not be the first for Woodford. The manager last week won a mandate for GBP3.65bn from St James Place.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British asset management firm Close Brothers Asset Management has added to its equity team with the recruitment of five analysts, Fundweb reports. The new recruitments come as additions to the expertise at the company in the consumer, health, financial, energy, base materials and utility sectors.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Morten Spenner, CEO of International Asset Management, left the firm last month, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing a spokesperson. He is still working there as a consultant. IAM, one of the oldest hedge fund firms based in London, has assets under management and advising of USD3bn.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Swiss private bank Pictet is planning to develop its wealth management activities in London, and would like to recruit five to 10 private bankers for that purpose in the next few months, the news agency Reuters reports. The bak currently employs over 200 people in London, where it has recently moved to Mayfair. Personnel at Pictet in London are mostly involved in asset management activities.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Odey Asset Management is adding to its research teams. The British hedge fund has recruited Simon Schafer, a former analyst at Goldman Sachs specialised in tech businesses, eFinancial News reports, citing a source familiar with the matter. Schafer had previously worked at Goldman Sachs since 2001, and had covered stocks such as Ericsson, Nokia and Infineon. Odey AM, which has USD12.2bn asset under management, makes its second heavyweight recruitment after the arrival of Didier Scemema last month, former head of research dedicated to European tech businesses at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } At least two London pension funds have confirmed their desire to create a collective investment vehicle (CIV) which would allow them to reduce costs and increase their returns, the website IPE reports. Two local utility funds, Borough of Waltham Forest and Wandsworth Borough Council, have agreed to finance the creation of the collective vehicle. With this in mind, the pension funds will found an ad-hoc company in which they will be shareholders (ACS), which will also take the form of a tax-transparent fund. According to the pension funds, the CIV structure permits potential savings of GBP20m, for assets under management of only GBP5bn. This estimate is based on portfolios currently held by pension funds, and initially only establishes that most investment mandates at the new structure will be passive mandates.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (EdRAM) at the end of 2013 launched a return strategy entitled Edmond de Rothschild Fund – Income Fund. The new income fund prefers a bottom-up approach based on stock-picking using a combination of 2 flagship expertise from Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management: European equity management, and management of corprorate debt. It aims for regular distribution of income and capital appreciation, with a mid- to long-term horizon. Under current market conditions, the fund aims to distribute annual income of 5%. The fund concentrates its investments with at least 50% of assets in European corporate bonds, regardless of rating and size. The equity sub-fund, for its part, will represent 0% to 50%, with an invetment universe composed primarily of stocks of the Stoxx 600 index. The fund aims for businesses with attractive returns, and offers access to a wide range of investments representing about 1000 issuers and a wide range of businesses. Under current market conditions, the fund aims to distribute annual income of 5%. Main characteristics of the fund ISIN codes Class A: LU0992632538 Class B: LU0992632611 Class Ia: LU0992632371 Class Id: LU0992632454 Distribution of returns: Classes A and Ia: Capitalisation; Class B and Id: Distribution Subscription fees: Max 4.5% Subscription fee (to Luxembourg regulator): Class A and B: 0.05% Class Ia and Id: 0.01% Total fees: class A and B: Max 1.30%; Class Ia and Id: Max 1.65% Conversion fee: Max 0.5% Exit fee: N/A Subscribers concerned: Class A and B: All subscribers to Class Ia and Id: Institutionals Minimal initial subscription: Class A and B: 1 share Class Ia and Id: EUR500,000

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Lyxor hedge fund index lost 0.91% in March, but in the first three months of the year, the performance of the barometer of the hedge fund sector remains slightly positive, with a gain of 0.53%. In the month under review, most strategies showed losses, with the exception of credit (+1.1%) and global macro (+0.6%). In the first three months of the year, the best returns were for the L/S Credit Arbitrage (+2.69%), Convertible Bonds and Volatility Arbitrage (+2.58%), and Fixed Income Arbitrage (+2.44%). However, the Lyxor CTA Long Term index lost 4.22% in first quarter.