Jay Rosoff a rejoint Thesis Fund Management, société de gestion commercialisant le fonds Thesis Flexible Fund. Il sera directeur de la distribution pour ce produit. Jay Rosoff occupait jusqu’en 2010 le poste de national sales manager au sein d’Allianz Global Investors aux Etats-Unis.

Le banquier Pascal Quiry vient de quitter BNP Paribas pour lancer un fonds d’investissement, rapporte Les Echos. Collaborateur de Paribas depuis 1986, il était ces cinq dernières années responsable des équipes d’exécution sur les fusions-acquisitions Europe et Amériques de la banque. Il était aussi membre du comité de direction international. L’objectif de la petite société de gestion qu’il est en train de monter - et qui devrait être opérationnelle en fin d’année -est d’investir dans des blocs de sociétés cotées jugées sous-évaluées, pour les détenir à long terme. Une équipe de trois ou quatre personnes est en cours de recrutement.

BNY Mellon annonce avoir été sélectionné par pour lui fournir des services d’administration, de comptabilité et de conservation pour 14 ETF de la gamme, qui totalisent plus de 500 millions de dollars.

Les gestionnaires d’actifs Waddell & Reed, BlackRock et Norges Bank Investment Management ont acquis auprès de CVC Capital une part au capital du circuit automobile qui prépare une IPO à Singapour pour 1,6 milliard de dollars, rapporte L’Agefi qui cite une information de Reuters. La part de CVC est ainsi passée selon cette source de 63,4% à 40%.

Selon une étude PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) reprise par L’Agefi, les fonds d’investissement disposent d’une manne financière de 60 milliards d’euros destinés à être investis dans les actifs jugés non stratégiques des banques en Europe. Ces dernières sont contraintes de réduire leur bilan, tandis que leurs portefeuilles d’actifs non stratégiques dépasseraient actuellement 2.500 milliards d’euros, soit 6% de l’ensemble de leurs actifs. Se basant sur un sondage réalisé auprès d’une cinquantaine d’acteurs composés de banques d’investissement, de hedge funds et de fonds de capital investissement, les investisseurs continuent majoritairement à s’intéresser aux prêts décotés, la moitié de l'échantillon ayant investi plus de 75% de leur fonds dans ce type d’actifs en 2011. Cela dit, l’appétit pour les prêts non décotés, un marché estimé à 1.700 milliards d’euros au sein des banques européennes, s’accroît ainsi que pour de nouvelles catégories d’investisseurs, visant des rendements plus stables issus d’actifs de plus longue maturité.

A fin décembre 2011, les actifs sous gestion de BNP Paribas (Suisse) s'élevaient à 37,4 milliards de francs, en baisse de 9%. La banque a réalisé en 2011 un bénéfice net avant impôts de 414 millions de francs, en hausse de 14% sur un an. Les revenus ont en revanche baissé de 12% pour s’inscrire à 1 milliard de francs. Le résultat d’exploitation a progressé de 16% par rapport à 2010 pour s’établir à 428 millions, grâce à une diminution des frais de gestion (-3%) et des plus-values sur des cessions d’immeubles.

Les actifs sous gestion de la banque privée suisse Espirito Santo sont restés quasi inchangés l’an dernier à 4,7 milliards de francs suisses, pratiquement inchangés par rapport à l’année précédente, malgré une hausse du nombre de nouveaux clients. La collecte nette a été entravée par une évolution défavorable des marchés et des monnaies et s’est élevée à 190 millions de francs suisses, ce qui a fait baisser les actifs sous gestion de 1,6%.Le résultat net s’est réduit de 28% à 4,6 millions de francs suisses en raison principalement des coûts liés aux risques de crédit.

Selon le Financial Times, Credit Suisse étudierait la cession de JO Hambro Investment Management, son activité de gestion privée au Royaume-Uni. Une source proche du dossier a confirmé que la vente était à l'étude, même si aucune décision n’a encore été prise.

EFG International a accepté de céder à son principal actionnaire, la banque suisse EFG Bank European Financial Group basée à Genève, la totalité de son autocontrôle, soit environ 7 % de son capital, au prix de 7,43 francs suisses par action, sous réserve du droit de préemption des autres actionnaires habilités.Si elle acquiert la totalité des 10,2 millions d’actions en autocontrôle, EFG Bank European Financial Group portera sa participation dans EFG International à 56 %, contre 49 % actuellement."Sur le plan de la gestion, cette opération confère à EFG International une assise solidifiée pour se développer et elle renforce sa capacité à cibler la réalisation de ses objectifs à moyen terme, à travers une croissance disciplinée et rentable (…)», explique un communiqué. «La cession des actions d’autocontrôle élimine en outre un facteur d’incertitude. Enfin, elle met en évidence l’engagement de son principal actionnaire envers EFG International (…)».

Swiss Fund Platform, qui se présente comme la première plateforme suisse et indépendante de distribution de fonds à destination des gestionnaires de fortune, a annoncé le 21 mai le lancement de ses activités. «Les gestionnaires de fortune peuvent à tout moment consulter les conditions de négoce et obtenir rapidement des rapports détaillés sur leurs produits afin de travailler dans la plus grande transparence possible. Tout risque de conflit d’intérêt doit en effet être minimisé», précise Michael Däppen, Managing Director, cité dans le communiqué. La plate-forme dispose déjà de 1000 fonds émis par 18 prestataires, entre autres Man Investments, Bank Vontobel, Lombard Odier, Skandia ou Banque Cantonale Vaudoise BCV. De plus petits émetteurs, tels Anaxis ou Plenum Investments, sont également de la partie.

Quelques semaines à peine après SEB Asset Management, qui a annoncé le 7 mai la liquidation du fonds immobilier offert au public SEB ImmoInvest, l’allemand Credit Suisse Asset Management Immobilien n’a pas été en mesure le 21 mai de faire face aux demandes de remboursement de parts du CS Euroreal (6 milliards d’euros, comme l’ImmoInvest). Ce fonds lancé le 6 avril 1992 sera donc liquidé d’ici au 30 avril 2017. Le gestionnaire prévoit des versements semestriels, le premier devant intervenir dans le courant du second semestre 2012, au plus tard avec celui du dividende en décembre.CSAM Immobilien précise que les demandes de remboursement concernant l’Euroreal (dont les sorties étaient gelées depuis deux ans) ont été supérieures aux liquidités disponibles de 1,6 milliard d’euros (soit 27 % de l’encours), dont 1,25 milliard provenant de souscriptions ainsi que de cessions d’actifs qui ont toutes été effectuées au minimum à la valeur vénale.

Le 21 mai, le gestionnaire écossais Martin Currie a annoncé l’ouverture aux investisseurs de la version OPCVM IV de sa stratégie Asian Long Term Unconstrained (ALTU), sous la forme d’un compartiment de sa sicav luxembourgeoise Martin Currie Global Funds. Il est disponible en parts libellées en dollars, en livres et en euros.Le Martin Currie GF – Asia Long Term Unconstrained Fund est géré par Jason McCay et Andrew Graham, qui sont déjà chargés des 441 millions de dollars de la stratégie ALTU. Le portefeuille «sans restrictions» (unconstrained) comportera entre 20 et 30 lignes et sera géré dans une optique de performance absolue sur le long terme, avec l’objectif de minimiser les coûts de transaction et de limiter la volatilité.Les gérants accorderont en particulier une grande importance à la transparence de la comptabilité et à la bonne gouvernance des entreprises sélectionnées.

Investec Asset Management a atteint 61,5 milliards de livres d’encours à fin mars, grâce notamment à des souscriptions nettes de 5,2 milliards de livres durant l’exercice 2011-2012, rapporte Investment Europe. Sur les trois dernières années, les rentrées nettes ont été en moyenne supérieures à 5 milliards de livres.

Barclays a annoncé le 21 mai la cession de sa participation de 19,6% au capital du groupe BlackRock. Une part estimée à un peu plus de 6 milliards de dollars. BlackRock achètera une partie du bloc, pour un montant d’un milliard de dollars. Barclays était entré au capital de BlackRock en juin 2009, lors de la cession de sa filiale Global Investors. Dans un article daté de ce jour, L’Agefi rappelle que l’environnement réglementaire peut expliquer cette opération. En effet, selon les nouvelles règles de Bâle 3, qui entreront en vigueur à partir de 2013, les participations minoritaires, notamment dans les sociétés de gestion, exigeront davantage de fonds propres. En outre, le titre BlackRock subit la volatilité des marchés actions, un phénomène qui affecte mécaniquement les finances de la banque. Céder une telle participation devrait donc à la fois rassurer les actionnaires de Barclays et renforcer les ratios de fonds propres réglementaires de la banque sous Bâle 3.

Paul Manduca, le créateur de Threadneedle, serait pressenti pour prendre les rênes du groupe britannique Prudential, qui, outre l’assurance, a aussi des activités de gestion d’actifs logées au sein de M&G, rapporte The Telegraph. Paul Manduca prendrait la succession de Harvey McGrath.Ces derniers jours, le nom de Paul Manduca aurait été transmis à l’Autorité des marchés britannique (FSA) qui doit s’assurer que l’impétrant dispose des «compétences appropriées» pour diriger l’un des plus importants groupes financiers britanniques.Prudential pourrait annoncer cette nomination dans les tout prochains jours. Paul Manduca devrait alors abandonner ses fonctions de chairman chez Aon pour prendre la direction de Prudential dans le courant de l'été.

According to a survey on German institutional funds (Spezialfonds) by the Kommalpha and Telos agencies, obtained in advance of its release by the Börsen-Zeitung, more than one in two institutional investors is disposed to change its asset mangement firm in the next twelve months. One year ago, in the previous edition of the survey, only one in three institutional managers said it was considering changing managers.

On 21 May, the Scottish asset management firm Martin Currie announced that it is opening the UCITS IV-compliant version of its Asian Long Term Unconstrained (ALTU) strategy to investors, in the form of a sub-fund of its Luxemborg Sicav Martin Currie Global Funds. It will be available in share classes denominated in US dollars, pounds sterling and euros.The Martin Currie GF – Asia Long Term Unconstrained Fund is managed by Jason McCay and Andrew Graham, who are already responsible for USD441m in the ALTU strategy. The unconstrained portfolio will have 20 to 30 holdings, and will be managed with a long-term absolute return approach, and the objective of minimising transaction costs and limiting volatility.The managers will place particular emphasis on the transparency of books and good governance at businesses selected.

Since its launch in May 2011, the PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF has seen inflows of about USD1.6bn, more than any of the 400 other funds launched last year, and it has gained 9.5%, compared with losses of 0.7% for the S&P 500 in the same period, the Wall Street Journal reports. This appears to reinforce the argument that solid shares outperform without causing the wrenching ups and downs that many investors consider unnecessary punishment. But some indices already show that the tide may already have turned against the fund: its lead on the larger market has fallen in the past three to four months.

The banker Pascal Quiry has left BNP Paribas to launch an investment fund, Les Echos reports. Quiry, who has been a partner at Paribas since 1986, had for the past five years been in charge of execution teams in European and American mergers and acquisitions at the bank. He was also a member of the international board of directors. The objective of the small asset management firm which he is in the process of founding, and which is expected to be up and running by the end of the year, is to invest in blocs of shares in businesses which are considered undervalued, for the long term. A team of three to four people is in the process of being recruited.

Frédéric Lasserre and Christophe Cordonnier, two former managing directors of commodity market activities at Société Générale, have announced the launch of Belaco Capital, a commodity investment fund which will be managed in Paris. The official launch date for the fund is set for 4th quarter 2012. Lasserre built and led the research and strategy teams at Société Générale, while Cordonnier, who has worked with him for the past 15 years, set up and led the sales and commodity structuring teams at Société Générale, a statement says. They will be joined by François Beuzelin, who has spent 12 years at Société Générale, where he had been director of trading activities for metals, before working on an investment fund for the past 2 years.

AXA Investment Managers has announced the launch of a series of innovative corporate bond strategies. ‘SmartBeta’ strategies have been designed specifically for investors seeking low-cost credit exposure without the drawbacks of market capitalisation weighted index-based strategies. AXA IM’s SmartBeta strategies take an active approach to define the investment universe and therefore aim for a more attractive risk/return profile than that offered by passive index tracking strategies.Tim Gardener, Global Head of Consultant Relations, AXA IM commented: «We have seen significant interest from institutional investors and their consultants, who want a more intelligent and pragmatic approach to capture the market return within the corporate bond segment. SmartBeta offers a middle ground for those clients looking to harvest the return of the market whilst still avoiding the inefficiencies of a purely passive approach. It is a strategy that is designed with the aim of protecting portfolios from both systemic and event risk and to deliver a less volatile return."AXA Fixed Income’s Portfolio Manager Analysts begin by using a number of rules based and fundamental filters to arrive at the investible universe of bonds. The portfolio is then constructed to achieve an optimal level of diversification such that it is not unduly exposed to a tail risk at a stock, sector or country level. Using relative value analysis, those bonds that are deemed to be best value are purchased and equally weighted in the portfolio. Given that the purchase price of a bond is critical to overall return of a buy and hold strategy, this approach maximises the beta of the portfolio over the medium term.AXA IM’s approach boasts two differentiating features: it optimizes purchase costs by striving for best execution and also rebalances investments more optimally than standard index funds. Unlike with a purely passive approach in which the evolution of the index dictates the buying and selling of bonds potentially leading to overweighting the most indebted issuers, AXA IM’s approach strives to ensure that poorly valued or ‘at risk’ bonds are not purchased. In addition, regular monitoring by the AXA Fixed Income team aims to ensure that diversification and credit worthiness of the portfolio is maintained as the SmartBeta strategy rests on the premise that a bond held to maturity delivers its beta in full provided it does not default even partially.SmartBeta strategies will be managed by senior portfolio managers within AXA IM’s Fixed Income expertise. Mark Benstead, who is Head of AXA Fixed income for UK and Asia, will be responsible for managing SmartBeta portfolios across the sterling denominated corporate bond market. Anne Velot, Head of Continental Credit will manage European SmartBeta strategies, and Nicole Montoya, Head of Global Credit and Money Market will manage the strategy across the global universe of corporate bonds.The SmartBeta strategies will be managed by senior portfolio managers in the bond management team at AXA IM. Mark Benstead, head of credit in the United Kingdom, will manage the SmartBeta Sterling portfolios; Anne Veelot, head of credit for continental Europe, will be in charge of euro SmartBeta strategies, while Nicole Montoya, head of global credit and money markets, will manage global credit strategies.

The Environmental Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has issued a call for the creation of a genuine global environmental governance body in a statement which will be presented on Tuesday, addressed to the Rio+20 summit. If a genuine global environmental governance body is not created to further sustainable development objectives, with the power to take decisions and require adherence to them, future generations will be endangered, says Françoise Vilain, rapporteure for the statement to be released today. One month ahead of the UN summit scheduled for 20-22 June in Rio.

Following its launch in France, Germany and the United Kingdom in January 2012, Closing Circle (www.closingcircle.com) is now open for business in all European countries, and aims to become the largest investment and merger and acquisition social network in Europe, the firm announced in a statement released on 21 May. “I am very proud of the growth of our member base. Closing Circle is continuing to attract the interest of professionals and investment and M&A firms, and we are signing up new members every day,” says David Chouraqui, founder of Closing Circle, cited in a statement. “Our members are private equity firms, family offices, institutional investors, funds of funds, M&A advisers, financial banks, financial and strategic consulting firms. All are established businesses with a solid trading record.” Firms such as Apax Partners, KPMG, The Gores Group, Riverside Europe Partners, Lincoln International, European Capital, Bryan, Garnier & Co, Qualium Investissement, Better Capital, Bencis Capital Partners, BlackFin, Verdoso, Apposite Capital, Arcano Corporate Finance, da vinci Capital, Easton Corporate Finance, Mountain Cleantech, Mayland, Izurium Capital, M&A International, Serena Capital, GEREJE Corporate Finance, Aloe Private Equity, Vulcain, AEC Partners, Ohana & Co, Consulnor, HDR Partners, Nordic Corporate Finance, Phidelphi Corporate Finance and many others have already signed up for Closing Circle.

Man Group (59bn of AUM) has agreed to acquire the entire issued share capital of FRM Holdings Limited, a global hedge fund research and investment specialist with funds under management of approximately USD8billion. Man will integrate FRM with its multi-manager business. Man and FRM’s combined multi-manager business will have total funds under management of approximately USD19 billion. The combined business will trade under the FRM brand and will be led by Luke Ellis, chief executive of Man Multi-Manager and previously managing director of FRM. Blaine Tomlinson, founder of FRM, will become non-executive chairman of the combined business.The contingent consideration to be paid over three years comprises a maximum of USD82.8 million in cash, net of total net assets acquired (subject to post-closing balance sheet adjustments) and dependent on asset retention a 47.5% share of performance fees attributable to FRM’s existing funds under managementover three years, subject to a cap.The deal is expected to be completed before the end of Q3 2012.

The post-2008 influx of institutional money into hedge funds has resulted in a marked increase in the global industry’s operational sophistication and transparency to investors, according to a new report by KPMG and the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA). The report, entitled “The Evolution of an Industry”, is based on a survey of 150 hedge fund management firms globally with more than USD550bn in combined assets under management. It found that hedge fund management firms have increased their operational infrastructure in areas like investor transparency and regulatory compliance as allocations from institutional investors have increased. Seventy-six per cent of respondents have observed an increase in investment by pension funds since 2008, while institutional investors as a whole, including funds of funds, accounted for a clear majority (57%) of assets under management. The report finds that the increase in institutional investment has led to more thorough due diligence and greater demands by investors for transparency, with 90% of respondents reporting an increased demand for due diligence since 2008. Eighty-four per cent of all respondents indicated they had increased transparency to investors since 2008, which is reflected by the fact that the majority of firms have taken on multiple members of staff to respond to these increased investor demands.

A growing number of institutional investors are using ETFs to facilitate their management practices, including liquidity management, according to a study published by Greenwich Associates. The study, sponsored by iShares, finds that a significant number of institutional investors use ETFs to improve the liquidity of their portfolios. “Liquidity has become a governance issue since the outbreak of the financial crisis. Institutional investors have learned their lessons from this period to develop effective liquidity solutions. From this point of view, ETFs can represent a useful tool,” the study finds.

Sales of pension funds in Europe could be compromised if the sector is included in the PRIPs (Packaged Retail Investment Products) directive, Financial Times Fund Management suggests. The Association of British Insurers is preoccupied by a proposed rule that individuals would be required to seek independent advice before subscribing to any fund. That would hamper the long-awaited introduction of a British proposed regulation which would ensure that employees automatically join corporate pension funds, FT FM reports.

As of the end of December 2011, assets under management at BNP Paribas (Switzerland) totalled CHF37.4bn, down 9%. The bank earned pre-tax profits in 2011 of CHF414m, up 14% year on year. Revenues, however, were down 12% to CHF1bn. Operating profits rose 16% compared with 2010 to a total of CHF428m, due to a reduction in management fees (-3%) and capital gains on the sale of real estate properties.

Swiss Fund Platform, which claims to be the first Swiss independent fund distribution platform aimed at wealth managers, on 21 May announced the launch of its activities. “Wealth managers can consult the trading conditions at any time and rapidly receive detailed reports on their products in order to work with as much transparency as possible. All risks of conflict of interest must be minimised,” says Michael Däppen, Managing Director, in a statement. The platform already has 100 funds issued by 18 providers, including Man Investments, Bank Vontobel, Lombard Odier, Skandia and Banque Cantonale Vaudoise BCV. In addition to these, small investors such as Anaxis and Plenum Investments are also represented.

Assets under management at the Swiss private bank Espirito Santo remained virtually unchanged last year at CHF4.7bn, virtually unchanged compared with the previous year, despite an increase in the number of new clients. Net inflows were hindered by unfavourable evolution of the markets and currencies, and totalled CHF190m, which drove down assets under management by 1.6%. Net profits fell 28% to CHF4.6m, largely due to costs related to credit risks.