Le gestionnaire alternatif espagnol BrigthGate Capital a recruté Ana Fernández Garrido, qui était spécialiste de la vente de dérivés d’action chez UBS à Londres, comme membre de son équipe de vente institutionnelle et auprès des particuliers, rapporte Funds People.BrightGate travaille actuellement au lancement d’un fonds obligataire «buy & hold» au Luxembourg durant le deuxième trimestre. La société, dirigée par José Brujó, Bertrand de Montauzon et Jacobo Arteaga, distribue actuellement le BrightGate Absolute Return, un fonds de fonds Permal AM.
Selon fondnieuws, la société de gestion Capital@Work 4,6 milliards d’euros d’encours), filiale de l’assureur luxembourgeois Foyer, a recruté Michael Zandbergen comme client relationship manager pour les Pays-Bas. Il était en dernier lieu banquier privé chez Staal Bankiers.
Hengistbury Investment Partners, la société de hedge funds créée par l’ancien associé fondateur de TCI Stuart Powers, a fermé son fonds vedette aux nouveaux investisseurs après que ce dernier ait atteint 750 millions de dollars, rapporte le Financial Times. Il s’agit d’une exception notable dans un secteur morose de la gestion alternative. La société aurait dégagé 22 % en 2012 pour les investisseurs.
Highbridge Capital, la société de hedge funds détenue par JPMorgan Asset Management, a levé le plus gros fonds investi dans de la dette mezzanine d’entreprises depuis la crise financière, rapporte le Financial Times. Highbridge Mezzanine Partners Fund II a été bouclé avec 5 milliards de dollars. La moitié du portefeuille sera investie dans le financement de rachats d’entreprises par des sociétés de private equity et l’autre dans le financement direct d’entreprises.
Thierry Derez, le PDG de Covéa a proposé aux conseils d’administration de ses mutuelles MMA, Maaf et GMF une refonte de l’organisation avec la création de nouvelles directions intégrées, rapporte L’Agefi. L’idée est avant tout de maîtriser les coûts, mais aussi de s’adapter aux mutations technologiques du secteur et à la concurrence toujours plus vive des bancassureurs. Le groupe veut trouver de nouveaux champs de mutualisation dans les 5 à 7 ans à venir entre ses trois enseignes, et réduire le coût des projets d’investissement, notamment sur l ‘informatique. Car MMA, Maaf et GMF utilisent encore des systèmes différents.
Réunica a décidé vendredi de s’unir à AG2R La Mondiale, rapporte L’Agefi. Selon Jean-Marc Robinet, directeur général de Réunica, le nouvel ensemble totalisera 25 milliards d’euros de cotisations annuelles. D’une part 16 milliards en assurance retraite (8 milliards venus de Réunica et un peu plus de 8 milliards d’AG2R La Mondiale), soit 25% du marché, et d’autre part 9 milliards en assurance de personnes où Réunica pesait seulement 700 millions. L’ensemble aura 4 milliards d’euros de fonds propres en assurances de personnes et comptera 10.000 salariés.Réunica a enfin l’assurance de préserver ses marques et ses institutions de prévoyance. Le nouvel ensemble sera tout de même rebaptisé et devra arrêter sa gouvernance d’ici à 2015, année effective de la fusion. Celle-ci doit d’abord être entérinée à l’intérieur de chaque groupe, précise le quotidien.
Après avoir étudié les dossiers de candidature pendant six mois, Réunica, le quatrième groupe de protection sociale, a annoncé le 15 mars qu’il avait choisi de se marier avec AG2R La Mondiale, rapporte Les Echos. Le rapprochement ne sera cependant pas effectif avant janvier 2015, celui-ci devant être préalablement soumis aux fédérations Agirc et Arcco, au Centre technique des institutions de prévoyance (CTIP) ainsi qu'à l’autorité de la concurrence. Apicil et Malakoff Médéric, qui avaient également déposé un dossier, n’ont pas été retenus pour ce projet de rapprochement.
Dans une note interne, UBS annonce qu’Axel Kilian, du pôle banque d’investissement à Londres, est depuis le 11 mars Market Gead UHNW Germany avec sous ses ordres Christian Henke, head of UHNW Germany International et Franz Angermann, head of UHNW Germany Domestic, rapporte finews.ch. Axel Kilian est subordonné pour sa part à Axel Hörger, head WM Germany & Austria, et à Eva Lindholm, head UHNW Europe.Par ailleurs, Michel Frey, desk head Northern Europe & Swiss Clients chez UBS à Singapour, est nommé head UHNW Monaco et head UHNW Central and Eastern Europe & Turkey (CEET) Monaco. Concernant la France, Helena Jevans Silva est promue head UHNW France International, alors qu’elle était desk head Portugal à Genève.Pour Londres, la nouvelle head global family office United Kingdom sera Susan Ward, qui arrivera en mai de chez JPMorgan.Enfin, Simon Leaver,devient senior relationship manger dans l’équipe des clients particuliers très haut de gamme. Il était jusqu’à présent dans le pôle banque d’investissement.
Pour occuper le poste nouvellement créé de head wholesale clients Switzerland/EMEA au sein de la division Asset Management Core Investment, le Credit Suisse a recruté Anton Commissaris, qui sera basé à Zurich et subordonné à Martin Keller, rapporte finews.ch.L’intéressé, qui sera plus particulièrement chargé des relations avec les banques, les assurances et les partenaires qui distribuent les fonds Credit Suisse, avait déjà travaillé dans le groupe, en dernier lieu comme head, private banking advisory group, avant d’être transféré en 2011 chez Aberdeen Asset Management lorsque le Credit Suisse avait cédé une partie de ses activités de gestion d’actifs à la firme écossaise. Il y était responsable du business development pour la Suisse chez Aberdeen.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The strong rise of stock markets worldwide in mid-March favoured US and Japanese equity funds and high dividend equities, to the detriment of European and emerging market equities. In the week ending on 13 March, Chinese equity funds posted levels of redemptions not seen for more than five years ,while US equity funds attracted more than USD10bn, and Japanese equity funds attracted nearly USD2bn, according to estimates by EPFR Global.In the area of Japanese equity funds, the rise in inflows is partly due to improved coverage of Japanese funds, the CEO of EPFR Global, Ian Wilson, says. “However, in terms of the flows expressed as a percentage of assets under management, the week under review has been the best on record since third quarter 2011,” he continues. Investors reacted well to the objectives announced by the new Japanese government to boost imports and domestic consumption through a devaluation of the yen and slightly higher inflation.Overall, equity funds posted net inflows of USD14.1bn in the week under review, while bond funds finished the week with a positive bottom line of USD30.3bn. Meanwhile, money market funds posted a net outflow of USD7.1bn.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } ETFs dedicated to equities that pay high dividends have posted massive inflows in the past few days, at a time when the bond market appears to be overvalued in many places, IndexUniverse reports. On Wednesday last week, the Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF posted a 20% increase in its assets, to USD6.26bn, while the iShares High Dividend Equity Fund attracted USD281m, to USD2.85bn. More generally, the attraction of high-dividend equities has brought inflows to various strategies of over USD60bn in the past twelve months.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Fundweb reports that Fidelity Worldwide Investment has reduced the management commission on the Fidelity China Special Situations investment trust, managed by Anthony Bolton, from 1.5% to 1.2%, in order to preserve the competitiveness of the product.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Morgan Stanley may acquire the remainder of its joint venture in wealth management with Citigroup as soon as next month, now that the bank has received approval from the Federal Reserve for its plans for its proprietary capital, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing a source familiar with the matter.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Fondsnieuws reports that the asset management firm Capital@Work (EUR4.6bn in assets), an affiliate of the Hamburg-based firm Foyer, has recruited Michael Zandbergen as client relationship manager for the Netherlands. He had most recently been a private banker at Staal Bankiers.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The Spanish hedge fund management firm BrightGate Capital has recruited Ana Fernández Garrido, who had been a specialist in the sale of equity derivatives at UBS in London, as a member of its institutional and retail sales team, Funds People reports.BrightGate is currently working to launch a buy & hold bond fund in Luxembourg in second quarter. The firm, led by José Brujó, Bertrand de Montauzon and Jacobo Arteaga, currently offers the BrightGate Absolute Return, a fund of Permal AM funds.
At the helm of Dorval Finance, Louis Bert is an adept in flexible management, whose advantages he enumerates. It is good for managing the risk it authorises, which is winning over a growing number of institutional invetors, who already represent 40% of assets under management by the asset management firm. In troubled times, the attraction of flexibility is apparent to the head, but not only that. In the period of sustained rising stock markets which Bert is convinced we have entered, flexibility can be an offensive weapon.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The chairman of the Chinese market regulator (CSRC), Guo Shuqing, will be leaving his job to become governor of the province of Shandong, Asian Investor reports. A period of uncertainty may therefore take place for the asset management sector, which is concerned about future market reforms planned by Guo. The head of research at Z-Ben Advisors, Zhang HowHow, nonetheless claims that it is not customary in China to rapidly modify major orientations following a change of leadership. In other words, though the departure of Guo is a certainty, the CSRC may be expected to maintain its orientation in reforms.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Some financial advisers have told the Wall Street Journal that they were going to stop using the Fidelity Investments trading platform to buy ETFs, due to the high fees at sale. The asset management firm on Wednesday announced that it would be offering 65 iShares (BlackRock) ETFs without charging transaction commissions, extending a previous agreement concerning 30 ETFs. But Fidelity charges additional fees of USD7.95 per transaction to investors who sell their ETFs within 30 days, and to financial advisers who do so within 60 days. Advisers also complain that Fidelity has replaced 10 iShares ETFs with no commissions which had previously been available. The WSJ claims the episode represents a further setback for Fidelity which has missed out on the ETF boom of recent years.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Assogestioni, the Italian association of asset managers, is predicting that in the next few years, about EUR5bn in real estate assets will be returned to the market in Italy. A high number of closed, publicly-traded real estate funds will be maturing, and will therefore need to manage the asset liquidation phase. Due to the current economic conjuncture, it is likely that the excess supply this will create will not be absorbed efficiently by the market, Assogetioni predicts. That may have negative effects on the final returns for the funds, and on the value of redemptions on capital invested, it warns. As a result, the association has written and sent a position paper to regulatory authorities in the country on managing the liquidation phase for real estate funds aimed at retail investors. The objective is to discern an operational solution for the entire sector, and measures which may be adopted by each actor.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The Dow Jones Credit Suisse hedge fund index has gained 0.24% in the month of February, and 2.30% since the beginning of the year, according to figures published in March by Credit Suisse and S&P Dow Jones Indices. Five of the 13 strategies making up the index were oriented downward in the month under review, including dedicated short bias strategies (-1.65%) and equity market neutral (-1.28%). However, emerging market and fixed income arbitrage strategies both have posted gains of 0.49%, while event-driven has posted returns of 0.46%.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Bonuses in the hedge fund sector rose 31% last year, at a time when fixed salaries rose by 4%, according to the 2013 Hedge Fund Compensation Report. The average total compensation is up 15% to USD314,000.The size of the fund is not necessarily a guarantee of better performance, since smaller firms generally outperformed larger companies. However, the study finds a significant correlation between the profitability of the fund and the size of the bonus. “Employees at the best-performing funds were rewarded with average bonuses of slightly over USD200,000,” says David Kochanek, editor of the 2013 edition of the report.Recruitments have remained roughly at the same levels as last year, with 24% of firms reporting recruitments to the research departments, 20% to operational positions, and 12% to legal departments.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Invesco is planning to add to its range of Powershares ETFs in the United Kingdom, with the launch of bond products based on smart indices, Citywire Wealth Manager reports. The group, which already has 15 equity ETFs listed in London, is seeking to launch a high yield ETF. The range will be designed in partnership with Research Affiliates (RAFI).
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to a survey by FinEx, which at the end of February launched the first ETF of Russian bonds on the main market in London, 38% of the 144 European pension funds surveyed are planning to increase their investments in ETF shares this year, while 17% say they are planning to increase the allocation by more than 10%, FundsEurope reports. When asked about their predictions for the next three years, 42% of directors surveyed say they would like to increase their exposure to ETFs.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to a jury of European ecological and consumer organisations which has organised a competition to find the most dangerous financial products in Europe, funds which “speculate on food” received 71.4% of votes in category 2, while products that damage the environment for the poor and third parties took second place, according to the website dangerous-finance.eu, led by the German Sven Giegold, Green MEP. This includes the category of products such as the tracker fund DB Platinum Agriculture Euro from the Deutsche Bank group, as well as, in second place, the RBS Sands TR Equity Index Certificate, WDS Go Uranium Exploration Index Certificate, and Solit2 Gold & Silver.Funds of this type are potentially damaging to the environment and the poorest populations in the world, since it channels a large volume of capital to the commodity futures market, and may have a negative effect on the price of basic commodities.In category 1, 46.8% of votes went to CDS of public debt as the most dangerous products for consumers and investors, followed by credit cards with very high interest rates, loans in currencies payable at final maturity, and reversible convertible bonds.According to the website, these products could be forbidden by the banking supervisory authorities (EBA), the financial supervisory authority (ESMA) or insurance authorities (EIOPA), which since their creation have been authorised to ban such products. This authorisation has not yet really been used, since a prohibition on naked shorts was achieved with a specific law.
L’assureur allemand Allianz prévoit des bénéfices net stables ou en légère augmentation en 2013, ainsi qu’en 2014, selon son rapport annuel publié le 15 mars.Par ailleurs, le groupe indique que son bénéfice opérationnel devrait augmenter en 2014 par rapport à 2013, année où il devrait atteindre 9,2 milliards d’euros, à 500 millions d’euros près. En annonçant ses résultats annuels en février, l’assureur s'était seulement dit «prudemment optimiste» pour 2013 et avait formulé une prévision de bénéfice d’exploitation annuel compris entre 8,7 et 9,7 milliards d’euros, soit 9,2 milliards d’euros en moyenne. Cette prévision est confirmée dans le rapport annuel mais le groupe va plus loin en évoquant son bénéfice net. «En principe, mais aussi vu les incertitudes inhérentes évoquées, nous ne donnons pas de prévision précise de bénéfice net. Cependant, comme nos prévisions ne présument aucune perturbation majeure sur les marchés de capitaux, nous attendons un bénéfice net stable ou en légère augmentation pour 2013", indique le rapport annuel. En 2012, Allianz a réalisé 5,2 milliards d’euros de bénéfice net et 9,5 milliards de bénéfice d’expoitation.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Italian asset management firm Azimut has created an office of the director of sales, led by Paolo Martini and Silvano Bramati, who have been appointed as head of sales and co-head of sales, Bluerating reports. Martini joined Azimut in 2007, and currently serves as head of marketing and wealth management, while Bramati has been part of the group since 2000, and has always worked with the Azimut Conzulenza network.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The hedge fund management firm SAC Capital Advisors has received from the SEC an administrative fine totalling a record USD616m to settle two insider trading cases.In the case concerning shares in Elan and Wyeth, which resulted in a settlement of USD602m, CR Intrinsic, an affiliate of SAC Capital, made gains or avoided losses of USD275m, and would have been exposed to fines of USD1.1bn, if the case had gone to court.In the second case, concerning shares in Dell and Nvidia, Sigma Capital Management, another affiliate of SAC Capital, made illicit gains, or avoided losses totalling USD6.5bn. The administrative fine for the case is USD14m.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Hengistbury Investment Partners, the hedge fund firm founded by the former TCI partner Stuart Powers, has soft closed its flagship fund to new investors, with USD750m in assets, the Financial Times reports. This is a notable exception in the otherwise morose alternative management industry. The firm earned 22% for investors in 2012.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The Edhec Risk Institute will offer 30 smart beta indices on a dedicated internet platform free of charge, undercutting providers of commercial indices, Financial Times Fund Management reports. The indices will be unveiled at a conference held by the institute in London, which opens on 26 March.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Deutsche Bank on Friday announced that the US asset management firm Waddell & Reed Investment Management has sold off 5.78 million preferential shares in Volkswagen, which had been placed on an accelerated bookbuilding at EUR158 per share, Die Welt reports.Preferential shares in Volkswagen lost 3.1% in trading on Friday, to EUR159.55. The shares sold represented 3.4% of preferential capital in Volkswagen, and the deal totalled EUR914m.The largest shareholders in Volkswagen are the Porsche holding company (50.7%), the German province of Lower Saxony (20%) and the Emirate of Qatar (17%).