Comme annoncé par Newsmanagers le 08/03/2012, la direction de Société Générale Private Banking a subi cette année une réorganisation. C’est dans ce cadre que la nomination d’Yves Thieffry en tant que directeur général de Société Générale Private Banking (Suisse) vient d'être annoncée par la société. L’intéressé est responsable de la gestion et du développement des activités de Société Générale Private Banking (Suisse) et de ses filiales.Yves Thieffry succède à Guillaume Lejoindre, nommé président du conseil d’administration de Société Générale Private Banking (Suisse) SA en remplacement de Jean-François Mazaud, directeur de la ligne métier de banque privée du groupe Société Générale, qui reste membre du conseil d’administration en tant que vice-président de Société Générale Private Banking (Suisse).

Le groupe bancaire zurichois EFG International lance le processus d’introduction à la Bourse suisse de son unité dédiée aux produits d’investissement structurés. Le prix de souscription des actions est compris entre 40 et 50 francs, avec un premier jour de cotation le 19 octobre.L’opération de placement d’EFG Financial Products, annoncée le 25 septembre, devrait apporter entre 51 et 64 millions de francs à EFG International. En cas d’activation totale de l’option de surallocation, le montant devrait atteindre une fourchette oscillant entre 63 et 78 millions, a indiqué le 8 octobre l’entreprise dans un communiqué. Le produit n’aura aucune incidence sur le bénéfice d’EFG International dans la mesure où l’entité placée en Bourse continuera d'être pleinement consolidée au sein du groupe, précise le communiqué. Les fonds propres seront au passage améliorés, avec un ratio BRI du capital total augmentant à 17% environ. Une fois l’introduction en Bourse sous toit, EFG International contrôlera encore au moins 20% du capital d’EFG Financial Products Holding, contre quelque 58% actuellement. La participation demeurera bloquée dans un délai de douze mois à compter du premier jour de négoce. L’opération porte sur une offre de base de 2.937.137 actions nominatives au maximum. EFG International vendra au plus 1.270.472 des titres existants qu’il détient. Les souscripteurs pourraient profiter d’une surallocation de 293.713 actions au maximum, une option à exercer dans les 30 jours après le 19 octobre. La constitution du livre d’ordres débute ce lundi pour s’achever le 18 octobre à midi. Le prix d'émission sera arrêté le vendredi 19 octobre avant l’ouverture du marché. La capitalisation initiale devrait se situer entre 267 et 333 millions de francs, avec un flottant de 44%, ou 49% avec l’option de surallocation.

Nicolas Samaran, membre senior du groupe spécialisé dans la structuration et le financement de produits basés en Suisse de Man Investments, a été recruté comme responsable des supports d’investissements et des stratégies produits, head of investment content, par Source (11,5 milliards d’euros d’encours à fin septembre). Il sera subordonné à Peter Thompson, responsable de la distribution et de la stratégie.

Rathbone Brothers a fait l’acquisition de 19,9 % de Vision Independent Financial Planning, une société de conseil financier et la société sœur de cette dernière, Castle Investment Solutions pour 2 millions de livres. Le spécialiste de la gestion de fortune prévoit de racheter la totalité de deux entités d’ici à 2015, indique Investment Week.

Pour 348 millions de livres, le Norwegian Governement Pension Fund - Global (GPFG) a acheté le 6 octobre 50 % du centre commercial Meadowhall de 141.000 mètres carrés (situé à 5 km de Sheffield) à une coentreprise de London & Stamford Properties et de Green Park Investments. Cela valorise l’actif total à 1.525 millions de livres, dette incluse.

Le groupe Paradigm envisage de lancer au Royaume-Uni une activité de gestion d’actifs qui devrait loger l’offre de fonds de Paradigm, des services de gestion de fonds discrétionnaire ainsi que des portefeuilles modèles.La société est actuellement en train de recruter une équipe d’investissement qui pilotera les mandats de fonds tiers.

Selon Hedge Week, Bryan, Garnier Asset Management (BGAM) vient de créer la sicav à compartiments Bryan Garnier Umbrella Fund Sicav à Malte, un support conforme à la directive OPCVM IV et géré par BGAM à Paris. Cette plate-forme vise à introduire des hedge funds américains dans l’univers OPCVM.Le premier fonds accueilli sur cette plate-forme est un fonds equity long/short de Madison Street Partners (175 millions de dollars).

Fidelity Worldwide Investments se propose de fusionner deux fonds de multigestion, le Fidelity MultiManager Balanced Portfolio et le Fidelity MultiManager Income Porfolio, rapporte Fund Web.Plus précisément, le premier fonds, dont les actifs sous gestion s'élèvent à 3 millions de livres, sera intégré dans le second dont les actifs sous gestion s'élèvent à 106 millions de livres. Le véhicule issu de la fusion changera d’indice de référence. Il prendra celui déjà utilisé par le Fidelity MultiAsset Strategic fund qui est constitué d’une exposition à 50% aux actifs de croissance (actions, matières premières et immobilier) et à 50% à des actifs value (obligations). La fusion doit encore être approuvée par les actionnaires et l’autorité de tutelle.

Natixis Global Asset Management a recruté deux personnes pour son pôle produits internationaux, rapporte Investment Europe. James Beaumont vient de Standard Life Investment et il est nommé head of product consulting and solutions, durable portfolio consultant. Catherine Morat vient de Wellington Management. Elle devient responsable de l’équipe marketing produits. Ils seront basés à Londres

Teresa Poy, qui était directrice de la conformité pour l’Europe et l’Amérique du Nord chez TT International, rejoint Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) comme chief compliance officer. Elle sera surbordonnée à Paul Sweeney, head of legal & regulatory affairs. Teresa Poy est diplômée de criminologie de l’Université Victoria de Wellington (Nouvelle-Zélande).

Le spécialiste mondial des services BNY Mellon a été mandaté par Allianz Global Services (AGI) pour la fourniture de services de gestion des données et de comptabilité pour des mandats discrétionnaires pilotés par AGI.AGI gère quelque 300 milliards d’euros de fonds retail, de fonds dédiés et de mandats discrétionnaires. Ces mandats discrétionnaires, qui comprennent des portefeuilles internationaux logeant des titres et des dérivés, seront pris en charge par BNY Mellon Service Kapitalanlage-Gesellschaft mbH.

Janus Capital International Limited, la branche internationale de Janus Capital Group, vient d’ouvrir un bureau de représentation à Dubaï et de nommer Meshal Jaber Al Faras en tant que responsable du Moyen-Orient.Ce dernier était précédemment responsable de GCC Business Development chez Royal Capital à Abu Dhabi. Il a aussi été administrateur chez Natixis Global Asociates.Le bureau de Dubaï, le cinquième ouvert en 2012, servira les clients et prospects de Janus au Moyen-Orient.

Le fonds de pension des salaries de la Banque de Legnano (Fondo Pensione per il Personale della Banca di Legnano) indique avoir confié à RBC Investor Services un mandat de conservation, de valorisation des portefeuilles et de banque dépositaire.

Lyxor AM réduit pour la troisième fois en moins de deux mois les frais de gestion de son ETF monétaire, le Lyxor ETF Euro Cash, à 0,065 %. La société avait déjà abaissé la commission de 0,15 % à 0,085 % le 1er août, et à 0,075 % le 3 septembre.

Le 15 novembre, le groupe suédois spécialisé dans l’assurance Länsförsäkringar externalisera la gestion de ses fonds de fonds à Alfred Berg, la filiale nordique de BNP Paribas. Cela représente un encours de 4,8 milliards de couronnes. L’équipe des taux et de l’allocation d’actifs, dirigée par Stefan Gothenby, sera responsable de la gestion de ces fonds.

PriorNilsson Fonder, société de gestion suédoise gérant deux hedge funds, lance un fonds d’actions suédoises, rapporte Fondbranschen. Le gestionnaire espère attirer les investisseurs grâce à une gestion active et des frais concurrentiels (1 % de frais de gestion).

State Street Global Advisors a nommé Jacqueline Pang head of capital markets pour son activité pour SPDR ETF. Basée à Hong Kong, l’intéressée aura pour mission de diriger les activités liés aux marchés des capitaux pour les ETF de SSgA en Asie Pacifique.

Lyxor is for the third time in less than two months reducing management fees on its money market ETF, the Lyxor ETF Euro Cash, to 0.065%. The firm had already lowered its commission by 0.15% to 0.085% on 1 August, and to 0.075% on 3 September.

In January-August, asset management firms belonging to the German BVI association for the sector posted net subscriptions of EUR7.85bn for their security funds. With EUR12.35bn going to Pimco, the Allianz Asset Management group alone posted inflows of EUR15.41bn.The other big winner in the first two thirds of the year is Union Investment (Co-operative banks), with net subscriptions of EUR2.37bn.However, the other two top actors in the sector show outflows, with net redemptions of EUR3.57bn for Deka (savings banks) and EUR3.82bn for Deutsche Bank.ETFs posted outflows, aside from products from ETFlab (Deka group), which posted net inflows of EUR427.6m: the other three major promoters belonging to the BVI have seen outflows of more than EUR800m each: EUR879.7m from iShares (BlackRok), EUR807.8m from db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank), and EUR802.2m from ComStage (Commerzbank).

As of the end of August, assets under management by companies belonging to the German BVI trade group totalled a new record of EUR1.93698trn, compared with EUR1.92624trn as of the end of July, and EUR1.76221trn one year previously.Net subscriptions totalled EUR4.39bn in August, compared with EUR6.69bn the previous month, to a total of EUR48.99bn in the first eight months of the year, compared with EUR13.13bn in January-August 2011.However, in the first eight months of the year, open-ended equity funds underwent net outflows of EUR5.9bn, while net redemptions total EUR3.72bn for garanteed funds and EUR1.73bn for money market funds. Open-ended bond funds, however, benefited from net subscriptions of EUR18.44bn.Institutional funds had inflows of a net EUR40.375bn, compared with EUR20.379bn for the corresponding period of last year. Mandates managed outside funds underwent net redemptions of EUR1.81bn in January-August, compared with EUR3.64bn in the first eight months of 2011.

If the ETF price war kicked off in the United States by management commissions being cut at Vanguard (which has also negotiated a reduction in index costs by leaving MSCI) ever crosses the Atlantic, it will be at the initiative of BlackRock, which is now in a comfortable position with MSCI, says Detlef Glow, of Lipper, cited in Handelsblatt. And if BlackRock manages to get MSCI to lower its prices, all European promoters who use indices from this provider will profit.However, there should be few illusions: retail investors in ETFs in Europe should hardly hope to profit in the near future from the price war now raging in the United States. Even if promoters manage to get a reduction in the fees charged by purveyors of indices, retail investors may never profit at all, as promoters are not obliged to pass on cost savings.

The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite hedge fund index has gained 1.1% in the month of September, putting gains for third quarter at 2.9%, according to statistics from HFR.In the first nine months of the year, the index shows gains of 4.7%.In September, strategies related to equities generally progressed well, with the HFRI equity hedge index showing gains of 1.94%, and positive contributions from both growth and value strategies. The HFRI emerging markets index, for its part, earned returns of 3.1% in September.The Lyxor hedge fund index, for its part, has posted gains of 0.2% in September, while 11 Lyxor strategy indices finished the month with gains.

The British Financial Services Authority (FSA) is planning to require of fund managers that information on absolute return funds contain warnings about the risks related to these funds, when their presentation implies that there are guaranteed returns or protection of capital, even though this is not necessarily the case.In its most recent quarterly consultation, published just before the weekend, the FSA announces that it would like to introduce additional information on absolute return and total return funds. “We have already in the past presented absolute return funds as a subject of potential concern, pointing out that clients may interpret the terms ‘absolute return’ and ‘total return’ as a guarantee of positive returns on their investments. We would like it to be absolutely clear to investors that their capital is at risk in these funds,” the FSA states.

On August 20th, Russell Investments announced that its full suite of 25 US domiciled, passively managed ETFs would be liquidated by October 9th (see Newsmanagers of August), but the company on October 5th gave a new closure date for the Russell Low P/E ETF and Russell Small Cap Contrarian ETF. Actually, the Russell Low P/E ETF was closed to new investment October 4, 2012 and October 4, 2012 was the last day the Russell Low P/E ETF was traded on the NYSE Arca. The Russell Small Cap Contrarian ETF was closed to new investment effective on October 5th, which has been the last day the Russell Small Cap Contrarian ETF has been trading on NASDAQ. The new closure dates are the result of the in-kind redemption of all outstanding shares of these funds. Unless there is an earlier redemption of all of the outstanding shares of any of the remaining 23 funds, those funds will be closed to new investment on October 9, 2012. The last day of trading for the remaining funds will be October 16, 2012 and full liquidation of those Funds is intended to be completed by October 24, 2012.

On 12 October, the German firm MainFirst Asset Management will launch its first bond fund, an emerging market corporate debt fund domiciled in Luxembourg, the MainFirst Emerging Markets Corporate Bond Fund Balanced. The product has received a sales license from BaFin (Germany), FMA (Austria) and Finma (Switzerland).The portfolio, managed by Thomas Rutz and Cornel Bruhin, will invest in corporate bonds from Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. The fund will be “balanced,” because it will invest in high yield securities as well as in quality investment grade bonds, and because the weighting per country will be limited, as will be the weight of each holding (3%).Currency risks are hedged for all currencies, US dollars, euros or Swiss francs.CharacteristicsName: MainFirst Emerging Markets Corporate Bond Fund BalancedISIN codesRetailA shares (in USD) : LU0816909013A1 shares (in CHF) : LU0816909286A2 shares (in EUR) : LU0816909369Minimal subscription: USD/CHF/EUR2,500Management commission: 1.2%InstitutionalC shares (USD) : LU0816909955C1 shares (CHF) : LU0816910292C2 shares (EUR) : LU0816910375Minimal subscription: USD/CHF/EUR500,000Management commission: 0.8%

As announced by Newsmanagers on 3 August 2012, the management of Société Générale Private Banking has this year undergone a reorganisation. As a part of this process, the appointment of Yves Thieffry as CEO of Société Générale Private Banking (Switzerland) has recently been announced by the firm. Thieffry is responsible for the management and development of Societe Generale Private Banking (Suisse) SA and its subsidiaries. Yves Thieffry succeeds Guillaume Lejoindre, who becomes chairman of the board of directors of Société Générale Private Banking (Switerland) SA, replacing Jean-François Mazaud, head of the Société Générale Private Banking, who remains a member of the board of director in Switzerland and becomes its vice president.

The Zurich-based banking group EFG International is launching an IPO process on the Swiss stock exchange for its unit dedicated to structured investment products. The subscription price for equities will total between CHF40 and CHF50, with the first day of listing scheduled for 19 October.The placement operation for EFG Financial Products, announced on 25 Sptember, will bring in CHF51m to CHF64m for EFG International. If the full greenshoe option is activated, the total will be in a range from CHF63m to CHF78m, the company announced in a statement on 8 October.The proceeds will have no impact on profits at EFG International, insofar as the entity placed on the stock market will continue to be fully consolidated within the group, a statement says. Tier 1 equity will be improved with the move, with a BRI total capital ratio up to about 17%.Once the IPO is complete, EFG International will still control at least 20% of capital in EFG Financial Products Holding, compared with about 58% currently. The stake will continue to be locked in for a 12-month period starting from the first day of trading.The deal is based on a basic offering of a maximum of 2,937,137 shares. EFG International will sell 1,270,472 at most of the existing shares it holds. Subscribers may profit from a greenshoe option of 293,713 shares at most, within 30 days from 19 October.The bookbuilding began on Monday, and will complete on 18 October at noon. The issue price will be set on Friday, 19 October, before the market opens. The initial capitalisation will total between CHF267m and CHF333m, with a float of 44%, or 49% with the greenshoe option.

The Julius Baer private bank on 9 October released an informational supplement on the integration of wealth management activities of Merrill Lynch outside the United States. Baer states that 80% of assets under management related to this transaction will have been transferred by the end of 2013.At an investor day in London, Julius Baer will also announce that job cuts related to the operation will represent 15% to 18% of staff, and that the cost-income ratio for international wealth management (IWM) activities will come in at about 70%.The impact of the transaction on per-share profits is expected to be neutral in 2014, but to favour an increase of 15% in 2015.As of the end of August 2012, assets under management at Julius Baer total CHF184bn, up CHF14bn, or 8%, compared with the end of December 2011.

According to Swiss-based Alix Capital, UCITS-compliant hedge funds in September posted average performance as measured by the global UCITS Alternative Index of 0.29%, following a gain of 0.18% in August. In the first nine months of the year, it shows gains of 0.98%. The index of UCITS-compliant funds of hedge funds gained 0.11%, following 0.12% the previous month, but it shows losses of 1.36% in the first nine months of this year.Of the eleven strategies measured by sub-indices, four show losses for last month, with losses of 2.39% for commodities and 0.98% for CTAs. The best returns in September were for emerging markets (+1.78%).In January-September, the two heaviest losses were for CTAs (-1.85%) and commodities (-1.74%), with the strongest gains for fixed income with 3.77%, followed by emerging markets (+2.67%).

The global default rate for speculative-grade debt increased 0.1 percentage point during the third quarter to 3 percent in September, the highest level in almost two years, according to Moody’s Investors Service. U.S. junk-rated defaults increased to 3.5 percent in September from a 3.2 percent rate in the second quarter. In Europe, the pace of high-yield defaults fell to 2.6 percent last month from 2.8 percent in the second quarter, Moody’s said. High-yield global corporate defaults will end 2012 unchanged at 3 percent, before decreasing to 2.9 percent by September 2013, according to Moody’s. Since the beginning of the year, 46 companies defaulted, compared with 17 in the corresponding period of 2011.