The British firm M&G has announced that it would like to close four unit trusts from the range on offer from Prudential as part of a rationalisation of its product range, FundWeb reports. The closures proposed will affect the Prudential European Tracker trust, the Prudential Ethical trust, the Prudential (Invesco Perpetual) Managed trust and the Prudential Managed Funds Tracker trust. The planned closures will be put into effect form 8 June. Clients will be allowed to transfer their investments to equivalent vehicles from M&G.
Thomas Richter, CEO of the German BVI association of asset management firms, on Friday welcomed the terms of a tax agreement between Germany and the United States which makes German institutional funds exempt from income tax withholding in the United States if the fund is held exclusively by one or more German pension funds or retirement entities.Under the new version of the double taxation treaty between Germany and the United States, pension funds and contractual trust arrangements domiciled in Germany are considered pension funds.This rule will benefit assets by about EUR20bn, according to BVI estimates.
The Asset Management unit at JP Morgan Chase has seen net redemptions in the first three months of this year of USD8bn, according to quarterly results from the US bank published on Friday. This is due to net outflows of USD25bn from money market products, which were not wholly offset by USD17bn in net subscriptions to long-term products (i.e. excluding money markets).In the past twelve moths, however, asset management at JP Morgan Chase has seen net inflows of USD45bn.As of the end of March, assets under management at the bank totalled USD1.4trn, an increase of 4% compared with the previous year. Assets under administration total USD2trn, an increase of 6%.Net earnings totalled USD2.4bn, a decline of USD36m, or 1%, compared with the previous year. Net profits are down 17% to USD386m.
The reporter for the AMF College has fined the GSD Gestion company EUR500,000, its chairman and CEO, Jacques Gautier EUR100,000, and its CEO, Thierry Gautier, EUR50,000, Agefi reports. The fine also carries a reprimand. The parties are accused of failing to respect their professional obligations in the sale of EMTN, whose value collapsed when the Icelandic bank Landsbanki went bankrupt in 2008.
Long-term funds in the United States in first quarter attracted a net total of USD106.3bn, according to the most recent mutual fund statistics from Morningstar.US equity funds continued to lose ground, with net outflows in the quarter of USD20.9bn for large cap funds.However, mid-term bond funds and high yield bond funds in first quarter posted total net inflows of USD304.4bn.Money market funds, for their part, have posted net redemptions totalling USD114bn in first quarter, a level not seen since second quarter 2010.
Les actifs sous gestion de Franklin Templeton s’inscrivaient fin mars 2012 à 725,7 milliards de dollars contre 727,4 milliards de dollars au 29 février 2012 et 670, 3 milliards de dollars à fin décembre 2011, selon un communiqué publié par la société. A fin mars 2011, les actifs sous gestion atteignaient 703,5 milliards de dollars.Les actifs sous gestion des fonds actions s’élevaient fin mars à 299,9 milliards de dollars contre 270, 2 milliards de dollars fin décembre mais 308,9 milliards de dollars à fin mars 2011.Du côté obligataire, les actifs sous gestion s’établissaient fin mars à 316,5 milliards de dollars contre 297,7 milliards de dollars fin décembre et 275,2 milliards de dollars un an plus tôt.
Julian Robertson of Tiger Management will support the new hedge fund managed by Knut Kjær former head of the Norwegian sovereign fund, the Financial Times reports. Last year, the hedge fund acquired Trient, an asset management firm, with Dag Løtveit, former head of strategic allocation for Norges Bank Investment Management. Tiger has invested in the capital of the new Trient fund in exchange for a share in the revenues.
Switzerland is preparing to impose tougher regulations on its hedge fund sector, and may become one of the strictest countries in this area, the Financial Times reports. The rules would affect Swiss investors, who are major clients of the global hedge fund industry. Foreign asset management firms who do not comply with the new requirements could be required to refund billions of Swiss francs. The rules, which have been proposed by the Federal Council and must now be debated by the Swiss parliament, aim to bring Switzerland into compliance with European hedge fund regulations, and to go beyond those regulations in some areas.
In March and early April, the Swiss group UBS has recruited 12 brokers from Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Finews reports. These brokers join the firm along with the assets of their clients, totalling about USD2bn. As of the end of 2011, the wealth management unit at UBS was the fourth-largest broker in the United States, with 7,000 advisers and assets under management totalling USD754bn.
As of the end of March, assets under management by Invesco and Legg Mason respectively totalled USD672.8bn and USD643.3bn, compared with USD667.6bn and USD638bn one month earlier, while assets at Franklin Templeton and AllianceBernstein were down to USD725.7bn from USD727.4bn, and to USD419bn from USD424 bn.However, all of the major asset management firms as of the end of first quarter posted a higher level of assets than as of 31 December 2011. The largest increase in absolute terms is USD55.4bn for Franklin Templeton, followed by Invesco (USD47.5bn), Legg Mason (USD16.3bn) and AllianceBernstein (USD13bn).
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday, 12 April announced that Goldman Sachs will be required to pay a fine of USD22m. The fine from the US regulator is for inadequately segregating analysts and traders from clients. USD11m will be payable to the SEC, while the other USD11m will go to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Hedgeweek reports.
The Bundesbank on 13 April announced that it has sold the Exaclibur portfolio of securitisations, which it inherited from Lehman Brothers and had an initial value of EUR2.16bn (senior debt), to the private equity invetor Lone Star. The residual nominal value of the portfolio was EUR1.4bn, and the German central bank has declined to provide other financial details about the transaction.The Bundesbank claims that it is now realistic to suppose that all of the securities taken on board by the Eurosystem in 2008 following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers may now be liquidated by the end of this year. Due to a gradual sale policy, the corresponding reserves have been reduced already, from EUR5.7bn as of the end of 2008 to EUR2.2bn as of the end of 2010, and EUR0.95bn as of the end of 2011.
According to sources familiar with the matter cited by Financial Times Deutschland, Anshu Jain, future co-chairman of the board at Deutsche Bank from May, is planning to reshuffle the bank, merging the remaining asset management unit into the investment bank. Asset management last year missed its pre-tax profit target of EUR1bn by EUR233m. Once non-DWS activities in Germany and Europe have been sold off, assets will drop to EUR165bn, from EUR540bn. The premise of the investment banking/asset management merger is the appointment of the investment banker Michele Faissola as head of asset management, and the transfer of db x-trackers (ETFs) from investment banking to asset management.
The head of the independent asset management firm Jupiter Asset Management, Edward Bonham-Carter, discusses its strategy and development plans with Newsmanagers. With about GBP23bn in assets under management, Jupiter is looking to continue its development, but at its own pace. In addition to the British market, where the firm is hoping to attract investments from more high-end clients, the two major areas of growth for Jupiter are continental Europe and, more recently, Asia.
The British asset management firm Scottish Widows Investment Partnership will be laying off 23 staff from its team dedicated to equities, as part of a reorganisation of the GBP54bn activity.The equities unit will now be refocused on active and quantitative management, and some strategies will become passive. “In the asset management sector, we are seeing a widening gap between equity investors seeking high alpha solutions, and those who prefer a lower-risk strategy using a quantitative approach,” a statement explains.Andrew November, director of equities at SWIP, has appointed the team which will be in charge of this new equities strategy. Will Low will continue to serve as head of global equities, which now includes British small caps, publicly-traded real estate and absolute returns. Tony Whalley will continue to direct the equities dealing team, and Anne Fraser will be head of governance.Sean Phayre will remain as director of the quantitative equities team, which is part of the Investment Solutions unit.SWIP states that it has initiated the transition of some funds to the new equity strategy. This process will take a few months, and will result in the closure of some small regional equity funds and funds whose small size renders them economically unviable.
According to the quarterly newsletter from the CNMV, the total volume of illiquid assets in Spanish funds as of the end of 2011 was EUR7.5bn, which represents 5.6% of total assets, whereas that percentage was 7.4% as of the end of 2010. Funds People states that the amount has been reduced by EUR3bn in absolute terms. Compared with 2009, when the total was EUR14.9bn, the volume of illiquid assets has been halved.
The British asset management firm Ashmore, a specialist in emerging markets, has seen a 9.1% increase in its assets in the third quarter of its fiscal year, to USD65.9bn. The firm has posted subscriptions in overlay, external debt, local currencies, corporate debt and multi-strategy themes, and redemptions from equities and multi-debt themes.
The Italian insurance regulator (ISVAP) and the pension fund surveillance authority (COVIP) may disappear, Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. The idea is to transfer the competences of the two authorities to the Bank of Italy, which would become the single regulatory authority for operator stability (banks, insurance and the finance sector). Consob (the market watchdog) and the antitrust agency would also see their resources related to transparency and market competition strengthened.
Le fonds de pension de Total en Belgique finalise la sélection d’un gérant pour un mandat de 20 millions d’euros sur les convertibles avec un style de gestion passive. Le fonds de pension s’appuie sur le consultant bfinance et devrait annoncer le nom du lauréat fin avril. Philippe Lamy, le directeur de la gestion du fonds de pension a déclaré vouloir investir jusqu'à 30 millions d’euros à terme sur les convertibles, en réduisant son exposition sur les actions et certains segments obligataires. Il est également prévu de poursuivre la diversification du portefeuille et de rechercher des sources de rendements plus importants. Dans un troisième temps, il s’agira de remettre en concurrence les gérants avec lesquels le fonds travaille déjà sur d’autres classes d’actifs. La situation de Dexia est notamment suivie avec une extrême attention. L’allocation d’actifs (400 millions d’euros au total) est la suivante : 57% en obligations, 33% en actions et 10% en immobilier. Total Belgique a retenu BNP Paribas IP sur les actions et les taux, Aberdeen AM uniquement sur les taux, PIMCO sur les obligations d’entreprises, Dexia AM sur les actions, Blackfriars AM sur les actions émergentes, en particulier sur l’Asie et Petercam sur l’immobilier.
Le rapporteur du Collège de l’AMF a requis 500.000 euros d’amende à l’encontre de la société GSD Gestion, 100.000 euros à l’encontre de son PDG, Jacques Gautier et 50.000 euros à l’encontre de son DG Thierry Gautier. L’amende serait assortie de blâme. Il leur est notamment reproché de n’avoir pas respecté leurs obligations professionnelles lors de la vente d’EMTN dont la valeur a fondu avec la faillite de la banque islandaise Landsbanki en 2008.
La famille Glazer chercherait à lever 600 millions de livres, l’équivalent de près de 730 millions d’euros, en mettant 25% à 30% du club de football britannique à la Bourse de Singapour, ce qui le valoriserait jusqu'à deux milliards de livres, a rapporté dimanche le Sunday Times. Ce projet a déjà été étudié par le passé.
Le quotidien avance que la «griffe française glam-rock» est «en passe de réussir sa conquête de l’Ouest» par le biais, outre des ouvertures de boutiques outre-Atlantique, de l’entrée à son capital du fonds américain TA Associates. Ce dernier prendra 30% du capital, une opération valorisant la société fondée, détenue et dirigée par Thierry Gillier à 380 millions d’euros.
Reuters croit savoir que la société américaine de private equity entend récolter début mai à l’occasion de son introduction en Bourse entre 701,5 et 762,5 millions de dollars. Ce qui représente une mise sur le marché de 11% du capital, à raison de 30,5 millions de titres écoulés au sein d’une fourchette indicative attendue de 23 à 25 dollars.
Le groupe australien Dexus Property Group a indiqué avoir cédé à des entités du fonds Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII 65 de ses actifs immobiliers industriels pour 770 millions de dollars. Le groupe australien entend procéder à un rachat de titres grâce au produit de cette vente. Blackstone de son côté a d’ores et déjà récolté plus de 10 milliards de dollars pour son nouveau fonds dédié à l’immobilier.
A la grande satisfaction du FMI, la banque centrale chinoise a annoncé ce week-end le doublement de la bande de fluctuation du yuan. Une première depuis 2007.
Le journal dominical britannique, qui ne cite pas ses sources, avance que la société américaine de private equity travaille avec un conseiller à une opération de rachat et de fusion des activités de diamant de BHP Billiton et de Rio Tinto. Les deux groupes miniers souhaitent se défaire de cette activité jugée non stratégique.
Le quotidien croit savoir que «l’étau judiciaire se resserre autour d’UBS France». La banque suisse subit en effet l’ouverture d’une information judiciaire pour «démarchage bancaire et financier par personne non habilitée et blanchiment (de fraude fiscale et de fonds obtenus à l’aide de démarchage illicite) commis en bande organisée». Le parquet et l’ACP étudient depuis plus d’un an les méthodes de la banque.
Le courtier du Crédit Agricole inaugure aujourd’hui une plateforme de négociation d’actions européennes, baptisée Blink MTF. Elle permettra de négocier 1.700 titres au sein de 14 marchés. Un outil destiné uniquement aux clients institutionnels et particuliers, dans l’espoir de les rassurer. Blink MTF exclut en effet ainsi les équipes de trading pour compte propre des banques et le trading à haute-fréquence, ce dernier étant découragé par la grille tarifaire selon Ian Peacock, responsable mondial des services d’exécution de Cheuvreux. Le quotidien souligne que ce «high frequency trading» suscite ainsi une nouvelle fois une initiative faisant la preuve des sentiments partagés à son égard.