Recherche
S'abonner
Connexion
Asset Management
Accueil Asset Management Actualités
06/06/2012

Bob Doll va se retirer de chez BlackRock

Pension & Investments a eu connaissance d’une note interneselon laquelle Bob Doll, directeur gérant exécutif et stratégiste en chef de BlackRock, annonce qu’il va quitter ses fonctions fin juin, afin de consacrer davantage de temps à sa famille, sa foi et ses «intérêts philanthropiques», rapporte Funds People. La gestion des fonds BlackRock Large Cap Core Fund, Large Cap Growth Fund et Large Cap Value Fund passera à Chris Leavy, le CIO actions, qui aura comme co-gérant Peter Stournaras.Bob Doll restera jusqu'à fin décembre comme conseiller de Chris Leavy. En revanche, BlackRock n’a pas encore déterminé qui succédera à Bob Doll comme chef stratégiste.
06/06/2012

Advize.fr étoffe l'offre d'assurance vie sur internet

Thomas Morand, un ancien du Crédit Lyonnais et de Morgan Stanley, et Nicolas Marchandise, ex-OFI AM, lancent Advize.fr, une compagnie dédiée à la distribution d’assurance vie sur internet, rapporte L’Agefi. Détenu à 51% par le groupe Premium (propriétaire du courtier vie-épargne Arca Patrimoine) et à 5% par l’investisseur individuel Nicolas Klugman - le solde étant dans les mains des deux fondateurs, la société a deux partenaires. Generali, via sa filiale e-Cie Vie, a conçu le produit tandis que Morningstar assure la sélection des fonds. Opérationnel à compter du 12 juin prochain, Advize vise 8.000 contrats dès la première année et 10.000 contrats supplémentaires l’année suivante.
06/06/2012

Sallfort recrute chez Clariden Leu

Sallfort Privatbank a nommé Mike Baur responsable de ses activités de private banking. Mike Baur, qui prendra ses fonctions début octobre, intègre également la direction de l’établissement. Mike Baur était dernièrement responsable du private banking Suisse de Clariden Leu, filiale de Credit Suisse.
06/06/2012
Fonds

BNP Paribas WM va commercialiser le fonds Exane Cristal en Espagne

Exane Asset Management a passé un accord avec BNP Paribas Wealth Management, qui va commercialiser le fonds de fonds long-short market neutral actions européennes Exane Cristal, lancé il y a un an et enregistré auprès de la CNMV fin 2011, rapporte Funds People.Ce produit à liquidité journalière est le «clone parfait» du Pleiade 5 lancé en 2007. Il investit lui aussi exclusivement dans des fonds Exane et vise une performance absolue (300 à 500 points de base au-dessus de l’Eonia) ainsi qu’une volatilité inférieure à 5 %.
Fonds
06/06/2012
Fonds

Syz enregistre deux fonds Oyster supplémentaires en Espagne

Le groupe suisse Syz & Co aannoncé avoir obtenu récemment l’agrément pour la commercialisation en Espagne des compartiments Global High Yield et European Selection de sa sicav Oyster, rapporte Funds People. Le premier est géré par Seix Investment, le second par Eric Bendahan. Oyster propose désormais 23 stratégies aux professionnels espagnols.
Fonds
06/06/2012

DJ Credit Suisse hedge fund index down 1.50% in May

The Dow Jones Credit Suisse hedge fund index finished the month of May down 1.50%, with most strategies in the index posting negative results. Since the beginning of the year, the index shows a gain of 0.88%. Among the heaviest losses in the month under review are long/short equity strategies, with a loss of 5.08%, after a loss of 0.63% in April; emerging markets, with -2.23%, after -0.35% in April, and event-driven, with -2.25%, following -0.64%. The only exception is managed futures, which earned gains fo 3.52%, after 0.12% in April. Since the beginning of the year, managed futures have posted returns of 3.13%, exceeded only by convertibles arbitrage strategy, which earned gains of 4.79% in the first five months of the year, but which lost 1.06% in May.
06/06/2012

AFG speaks out against competitive distortions

The French asset management sector is going to face intensified competition, on the one hand from the “consumer-oriented” financial industry (banks and insurers) and market-oriented banks (investment and financial banks), due to new regulatory requirements, such as Basel III and Solvency II, which these competitors will be required to comply with, and on the other hand from management or fund domicile centres in Europe and internationally, the French financial management association (AFG) warns in an editorial in its annual report, published this Tuesday.In order to remain competitive, the French asset management sector needs balanced European regulation including packaged retail investment products (PRIPs), and an application of European directives by various countries “with strict competitive equality.”In addition, the AFG recommends that European react even more forcefully than it is now to the US authorities on the subject of regulations outside European territory, such as the Dodd-Frank Act, the Volcker Rule and FATCA, which will be likely to affect French asset management firms. The AFG warns that Europe will have to learn how use legislation as a competitive weapon on behalf of industries under its control.The association has also called for encouragement of long-term savings with regulatory and tax incentives. “The longer-term savings are and the more they are invested in equities, the lower taxes should be.”
06/06/2012

Exane Cristal to be released in Spain by BNP

Exane Asset Management has signed an agreement with BNP Paribas Wealth Management, which will offer the long/short market neutral European equity fund Exane Cristal fund of funds for sale in Spain. The fund was launched a year ago, and was registered with the CNMV in late 2011, Funds People reports.The product, with daily liquidity, is an “exact clone” of the Pleiade 5 fund, launched in 2007. It also invests exclusively in Exane funds, and aims for absolute returns (300 to 500 basis points above the Eonia) and volatility of less than 5%.
06/06/2012

Syz registers two more Oyster funds in Spain

The Swiss group Syz & Co has announced that it has recently received permission to release the Global High Yield and European Selection sub-funds of its Oyster Sicav in Spain, Funds People reports. The former fund is managed by Seix Investmnts, while the latter is managed by Eric Bendahan. Oyster now offers 23 strategies to Spanish professionals.
06/06/2012

Renta 4 absorbs its Minerva fund of funds into a hedge fund

On 1 June, the CNMV issued permission for the asset management firm Renta 4 and the Spanish arm of BNP Paribas Securities Services, as depository, to undertake a merger by absorption of the fund of funds Renta 4 Minerva into the Spanish-registered hedge fund Swing Trading KA’U Value, a specialist in long/short equities and relative value. As of the end of April, Minerva had only EUR1m, and Swing Trading Ka’U had assets of EUR1.3m, Funds People reports.
06/06/2012

Oregon pension fund turns to Asia

The investment board of the Oregon state public pension fund has pledged USD225m for a second Asian fund managed by the private equity group KKR. The Oregon fund had previously invested USD110m in the first Asian fund managed by KKR in 2007. The second Asian fund from KKR will concentrate its investments on consumer goods, the manufacturing and healthcare industries, and infrastructure projects in emerging and developed Asian markets.
06/06/2012

Final closing of Siparex MidCap II at EUR130m

Siparex on 5 June announced the final closing of its Siparex MidCap II fund at EUR130m. Idinvest Partners and a Canadian investor were the final additions to the initial circle of investors announced in January with EUR120m in total. The final size of the fund exceeds the previous record (EUR124m) and is at the top of the target range. Siparex MidCap II has the suport of the Crédit Agricole group (Crédit Agricole Centre Est and Predica, loyal subscribers to Siparex, and the seven regional banks of the Crédit Agricole group: Champagne Bourgogne, Franche Comté, Nord Est, Sud Rhône Alpes, Loire Haute Loire, Ile de France and Atlantique Vendée), the largest investor in the vehicle, for a total of EUR40m. This engagement includes a commercial partnership to increase opportunities to assist businesses in the region. Among the other major subscribers to Siparex MidCap II are Siparex Associés, sponsor of the Siparex fund, CDC Enterprises via the France Investissement programme, which it leads on behalf of the FSI and family offices (with a total of EUR30m). Siparex MidCap II aims to participate in private equity and transmission operations, at independent, growing businesses valued at between EUR10m and EUR40m, for a total of 20 investments of EUR2m, EUR5m or EUR10m. The first investments are in the process of being finalised.
06/06/2012

Former Madoff employee pleads guilty

Craig Kugel, the son of David L. Kugel, a former Madoff trader, has admitted to completing false documents claiming that individuals were on the payroll of the fraudster when they did not work for the company, and of having failed to declare personal spending related to a business credit card as income, the Wall Street Journal reports. These individuals received salary and benefits but were not real employees. Kugel, however, denied any involvement in the fraud.
06/06/2012

Bob Doll to retire at BlackRock

Pension & Investments reports that it has obtained a copy of an internal memo stating that Bob Doll, executive managing director and chief strategist at BlackRock, has announced that he will be retiring at the end of June, to dedicate more time to his family, his faith and “philanthropic interests,” Funds People reports. The management of the BlackRock Large Cap Core Fund, Large Cap Growth Fund and Large Cap Value Fund will now be taken over by Chris Leavy, CIO for equities, whose co-manager will be Peter Sournaras. Doll will remain until the end of December as adviser to Leavy. However, BlackRock has not yet determined who will succeed Doll as chief strategist.
06/06/2012

Profits down at Carmignac in 2011

In the 2011 fiscal year, consolidated net profits at Carmignac Gestion have fallen to EUR281.71m, from EUR478.32m in 2010, a contraction of 41.1%.Assets as of 31 December, for their part, totalled EUR45bn, compared with EUR55bn. The French asset management firm has seen net redemptions of EUR6.98bn, compared with EUR16.9bn in net subscriptions in 2010.The AGM on 31 May resolved to distribute a dividend for 2011 of EUR130 per share, unchanged compared with the 2010 dividend.
06/06/2012

Acropole holds out in crisis

Assets under management at Acropole Asset Management as of the end of May totalled EUR700m, compared with about EUR750m at the end of December 2011. The firm states that it has not seen redemptions in the past few months. A decline in assets compared with the end of 2011 is largely due to significant market effects.The new volatility long/short fund, launched in November Acropole Vol Opportunities (see Newsmanagers of 31 October 2011), managed by Brice Perrin, has now attracted about EUR25m in investments, without seed money.At a breakfast seminar, Emmanuel Martin, director of management at Acropole AM, claimed that convertibles in the midcaps segment are still sensibly priced.“The markdown is less extreme than at the end of 2011, but it is about 5% in annual terms,” says Martin, adding that the pricing of large cap convertibles is currently in line with their value.
06/06/2012

Franklin sets up a RE-law department with François Verdot

The law firm Franklin is continuing its development with the creation of a real estate practice, bringing the number of lawyers on its staff to slightly over 50. François Verdot, previously at the law firm Salans, is joining the law firm with a team of specialists, including Jérémy Chiche and Laurence d’Orso, as “Of Counsels,” and Jérémy Goldblum et Laurence Yamnaine. With more than 15 years of experience in property law, Verdot is aiming to offer an international quality standard service in five areas: Asset Management, Private Equity Real Estate, Corporate Real Estate Service, Legal Actions and Real Estate Auditing.
06/06/2012

BNP Paribas Real Estate continues international development in Turkey

BNP Paribas Real Estate in 5 June announced that it has signed a partnership in Turkey with the Kuzey Bati company. The contract between the two groups covers trading, advising expertise and real estate property management. The BNP Paribas group is already present in Turkey via the TEB bank, at the head of a network of about 500 branches, with about 10,000 employees, with which BNP Paribas Real Estate is hoping to develop major synergies.
06/06/2012

BNP Paribas RE sells a real estate portfolio in Germany

The German real estate investment firm Alstria Office Reit-EG Has acquired the “Dive Portfolio,” which includes five properties located in Dusseldorf, Frankfurt and Hamburg, BNP Paribas Real Estate announced on 5 June. The transaction was undertaken by BNP Paribas Real Estate Germany under an exclusive mandate. The acquisition price was about EUR90m.
06/06/2012

BlackRock creates a real estate securities unit

Mark Howard-Johnson, CIO of Building & Land Technology, and previously global head & CIO of Reit management at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, is joining BlackRock as global head of real estate securities management. He becomes head of the global real estate securities, an investment platform which has recently been created to draw the benefits of the long experience of the asset management firm in the area of real estate investment and fundamental equity.By the end of the year, Howard-Johnson will have constructed a global team of six investment professionals who will work in close collaboration with the research teams at BlackRock in the areas of real estate, and with other investment specialists at the group.Jack Chandler, global head of real estate, says that BlackRock is already the largest asset management firm in the Reit segment, and may soon offer institutional and retail clients actively-managed products.
06/06/2012

Strong start for Oddo AM in 2012

In the first four months of this year, Oddo Asset Management has posted net subscriptions of EUR225m, largely to Oddo Rendement 2017 (EUR330m in inflows), despite EUR300m in institutional redemptions, which largely penalised equity products.As of the end of March, assets totalled about EUR12bn, compared with EUR11.22bn as of the end of 2011.Currently, the asset management firm in in the sales process with Oddo Haut Rendement 2017, the “little brother” of Oddo rendement 2017,” which is focused on high yield investments (see Newsmanagers of 10 May).In an environment of considerable uncertainty, the balanced model portfolio at Oddo AM has about 50% money markets, where recent profit-taking on US equities has been reinvested, until risk is taken on again after visibility improves. Mirela Agache-Durand, head of diversified and multi-management, explains.In the mid-term, after the end of June, Oddo AM intends to selectively position itself on emerging markets and euro zone equities (where the bad news is virtually all priced in), and to return to emerging market debt denominated in strong currencies (“no debt from virtuous countries”), to increase exposure to credit, “a good substitute for equities,” and convertibles. Agache-Durand is also planning to selective return to some public debt, such as Italian 2-year bonds, which pay returns of 4.5%, putting the attraction of high yield bonds in perspective...
06/06/2012

Brevan Howard launches a high yield fund

The alternative asset management firm Brevan Howard Capital Management, which manages over USD34bn in assets, is launching a fund dedicated to high yield, which will be managed by David Warren, Absolute Return reports. Warren manages about USD4bn in corporate credit and ABS at DW Investment Managements in New York, a firm which works exclusively with Brevan Howard.
06/06/2012

Partners Group invests in a wind farm in Thailand

The Swiss asset management firm Partners Group is investing an undisclosed amount in Thailand on behalf of its clients, in Wind Energy Holdings, a wind energy project, the firm announced in a statement on 5 June. The business includes two neighbouring wind arms, located in Korat province, one of the windiest regions of the country.
06/06/2012

Another promotion for Alex Friedman at UBS WM

Alexander S. Friedman, who is already chief investment officer at UBS Wealth Management (UBS WM) since 1 March, after several years of service as chief financial officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has been appointed as «global» CIO for wealth management at the UBS group, according to an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg and relayed by finews. With this appointment, Friedman becomes responsible for investments and analysis in all regions of the world, where previously he had been responsible for all regions except the American continent. The appointment of Friedman has been approved by Jürg Zeltner, CEO of UBS Wealth Management, and Robert J. McCann, CEO of UBS Group Americas.Mike Ryan will remain as director of research for wealth management in the Americas, where he will also be chief investment strategist. Anthony Roth, director of wealth management strategy, will take over as head of asset allocation and portfolio structuring for the Americas. They will both report to Friedman, and regionally, to Bill Carroll, head of investment solutions for the Americas.Andreas Höfert, who will continue to serve as CIO for Europe, becomes also chief economist for the Americas.
06/06/2012

Sallfort recruits from Clariden Leu

Sallfort Privatbank has appointed Mike Baur as head of private banking activities. Baur, who will begin in his new role in early October, will also join the board at the firm. Baur had most recently been head of private banking for Switzerland at Calriden Leu, an affiliate of Credit Suisse.
06/06/2012

Fund managers' association founded in China

After more than a year of preparation, the China Fund Association (CFA) has officially been founded. Fund management firms, custodians, distributors and settlement specialists have been invited to the first annual general meeting of the association, which will be held over two days, beginning on 5 June.Fund management firms must pay a registration fee of CNY100,000, and annually, a 0.2% portion of their profits from the previous year, with a floor of CNY20,000 and a ceiling of CNY600,000, Z-Ben Advisors states.The presidency of the CFA will be held by Sun Jiw, former director of fund supervision at the Chinese securities commission (CSRC), while Fan Yonghong, former CEO of China AMC, will probably be the vice-president. Appointments will be made by the CSRC.
06/06/2012

Sabadell takes control of CAM and Gestimed

Gestora de Fonds del Mediterraneo (Gestimed), the asset management firm for Caja de Ahorros del Mediterraneo (Banca CAM), on 1 June filed that all of its capital is now controlled by Banco de Sabadell, which has acquired CAM, the CNMV announced on 4 June. Sabadell also becomes owner of Gestión de Activos del Mediterraneo, the depository for Gestimed funds.The transaction brings assets at Gestimed, totalling EUR410m, within the perimeter of the asset management firm Bansabadell Inversión, whose assets under maangement now total EUR4.148bn (as of the end of May), in addition to which EUR1bn are under management in the real estate fund Sabadell BS Inmobiliario. This is not enough for Bansabedell to overtake Ahorro Corporación (EUR4.665bn) to become the seventh-largest Spanish asset management firm by assets in securities funds.Meanwhile, the number of Bansabadell Sicav funds has increased to 43, including the four Gestimed funds, Funds People reports, not counting the EUR872m in the 134 Sicav funds from Urquijo Gestión, also an affiliate of Sabadell.
06/06/2012

Assets in Luxembourg funds up 0.4% in April

As of 30 April, total assets in collective investment organisms and specialised investment funds (FIS or SIFs in English) in Luxembourg totalled EUR2.2256trn, an increase of 0.38% compared with the end of March, when the level was 0.64% up compared with the end of February, according to the Luxembourg financial sector supervision commission (CSSF). In the twelve months to the end of April, assets under management increased 1.38% compared with a total of EUR2.1954trn as of 30 april 2011. The increase of EUR8.39bn in April is due to positive market effects totalling EUR4.03bn, and net subscriptions of EUR4.36bn.

Sujets d'actualité

Tous les sujets