KBL Richelieu Gestion a décidé de faire évoluer le positionnement de son fonds KBL Richelieu Valeur 25. Jusqu’ici, la performance de ce produit reposait au minimum à 75% sur celle des marchés monétaires et à 25% maximum sur celle des marchés actions. La contribution des marchés monétaires étant modeste, la poche réservée aux produits monétaires a été ouverte aux autres produits de taux et, notamment, aux obligations privées émises en euro, précise la société de gestion. En dépit de l’augmentation du profil de risque du fonds, l’allocation reste toutefois guidée par la recherche d’une faible volatilité. L’exposition de l’OPCVM aux titres de créance dits spéculatifs («high yield») ou qui ne bénéficient pas de notation («non ratés») ne pourra excéder 25% de l’actif. Ce changement dans la gestion s’accompagne d’une nouvelle appellation : KBL Richelieu Valeur 25 devient KBL Richelieu Valeur.

Alors que la Commission européenne envisage d’instaurer des quotas de femmes dans les conseils d’administration, seulement 15,1 % en moyenne des personnes présentes dans le tout premier cercle des instances dirigeantes en 2011 sont des femmes. C’est ce que révèle le dernier baromètre de Capitalcom, indicateur qui intègre la part des femmes dans les conseils d’administration ou dans les comités exécutifs / comités de direction du CAC 40. Ce baromètre constate toutefois que si la proportion de femmes est encore faible dans les plus hautes sphères des entreprises, la situation a évolué au cours des dernières années, dans le bon sens. La part des femmes dans ce tout premier cercle n'était que de 6,1% en 2007. Selon Capitalcom, la réglementation relative au taux de mixité dans les conseils, votée en janvier 2011, a fortement contribué à l’évolution de cette tendance entre 2010 et 1011, les entreprises l’ayant anticipée.En 2011, les entreprises qui comptaient le plus de femmes dans le premier cercle étaient Publicis (33,3%), Société Générale (27,6%) et Accor (23,6%).

Le fournisseur indépendant d’analyses financières Morningstar a annoncé le 6 mars le lancement d’un nouveau centre d’information sur les investissements alternatifs dans le cadre de plusieurs améliorations apportées à son site MorningstarAdvisor.com, sa plate-forme d’information à destination des conseillers financiers.

Le projet d’introduction de l’actionnariat salarié à la Poste, dont les modalités doivent être approuvées par le conseil d’administration de l’entreprise publique demain, serait quasiment bouclé, rapporte Les Echos. Selon le quotidien, la part du capital de l’opérateur postal qui sera proposée aux salariés sera de 2,99%. Le seuil des 3% ne sera pas franchi, car cela entraînerait la création au conseil d’administration (CA) d’un siège de représentant des actionnaires salariés et nécessiterait de modifier la loi de février 2010, qui fixe notamment la composition du CA de La Poste. La direction du groupe aurait toutefois indiqué aux syndicats qu’un représentant des actionnaires salariés serait accueilli au conseil sous le statut d’"invité permanent». Ce représentant n’aurait pas de droit de vote.

Henderson Global Investors a indiqué que les actifs sous gestion de son pôle immobilier, Henderson Property, avaient augmenté de 600 millions de livres en 2011 pour atteindre 12,4 milliards de livres.La collecte s’est élevée l’an dernier à 1 milliard de livres. Le Royaume-Uni, l’Allemagne et les Etats-Unis ont encore produit l’an dernier de solides performances et devraient constituer à nouveau une part importante du portefeuille en 2012. A côté des marchés de croissance asiatique, Henderson Property va continuer d’explorer les possibilités d’investissement dans les pays scandinaves. En France, les actifs sous gestion s'élèvent à 761 millions d’euros.

Cazenove Capital envisage de lancer un fonds de revenu européen qui sera géré par Chris Rice, patron des actions paneuropéennes, rapporte Money Marketing.Le fonds, qui devrait être proposé aux investisseurs en mai, visera un rendement supérieur à l’indice FTSE World Europe. Le fonds investira dans un portefeuille «relativement concentré» de 30 à 50 valeurs européennes, sur la base d’une approche cyclique pour la construction du portefeuille.

Responsable mondial de la gestion de portefeuille et gérant d’un fonds de fonds chez HSBC Alternative Investments Limited (HAIL), Tim Gascoigne a jeté l'éponge le mois dernier, a indiqué la banque en début de semaine, rapporte l’agence Reuters.Ce départ inattendu fait suite à la décision de la banque de fusionner ses activités de gestion discrétionnaire et de conseil. Les fonctions assumées par Tim Gascoigne ont été reprises par Faraz Sultan, qui dirige le conseil et qui sera désormais responsable des activités fusionnées discrétionnaires et de conseil. Les actifs sous gestion de HAIL s'élèvent à 7,8 milliards de dollars, y compris les fonds de fonds, le private equity et l’immobilier. Les actifs du fonds de fonds géré par Tim Gascoigne s’inscrivaient à 2,4 milliards de dollars. Tim Gascoigne avait la responsabilité d’environ 4 milliards de dollars d’investissements alternatifs sur les 38 milliards de dollars gérés par HSBC dans ce pôle.

John Foo, ancien gérant de portefeuille de FrontPoint Partners, va prochainement lancer un hedge fund long/short, rapporte Asian Investor. Le nouveau véhicule, qui sera doté au départ de 20 millions de dollars d’actifs, devrait être proposé à compter du 20 mars.Le Kingsmead Asian Alpha Opportunities Fund utilisera une approche tactique de stock-picking «event-driven» pour sa stratégie asiatique hors Japon qui sera pilotée de Singapour. La capacité du fonds est de 500 millions de dollars. Pour les premiers investisseurs dans le fonds, les frais de gestion ont été fixés à 1% et les commissions de performance à 10%. Une fois atteinte la barre des 100 millions de dollars d’actifs sous gestion, les tarifs seront de respectivement 1,5% et 15%.

Dai Xianghong, président du Fonds de la Sécurité sociale chinoise (NCSSF), a annoncé que la performance de ce fonds pour 2011 est ressortie à 8,5 % en 2011. Z-Ben Advisors note que ce résultat est inférieur à la moyenne de 9,17 % annuels enregistrée pour la période 2001-2010, mais qu’il est en forte augmentation par rapport aux 4,2 % de 2010.

A la faveur d’un MBO, le suisse EFG International a vendu le reliquat de sa participation dans Marble Bar Asset Management (MBAM) à l'équipe dirigeant de cette dernière pour 28,8 millions de francs suisse. Cette transaction, qui doit être finalisée avant le 30 juin, se solde pour EFG par une plus-value d’environ 7 millions de francs suisse. Elle parachève la transfert de MBAM au management de cette dernière, processus engagé en juillet 2010 et reflète l’intention d’EFG de réorienter ses activités en privilégiant le pôle banque privée.

Le groupe bancaire britannique HSBC a annoncé le 7 mars dans un communiqué la vente de ses activités d’assurance dans quatre pays pour un total de 914 millions de dollars (695,5 millions d’euros), en deux opérations distinctes, au français AXA et à l’australien QBE. Ces transactions «nous permettront de concentrer notre capital et nos ressources à la croissance de nos activités de coeur, dont le développement de nos capacités de gestion de patrimoine», a déclaré le PDG du groupe bancaire, Stuart Gulliver, cité dans le communiqué.HSBC Insurance (Asie), HSBC Insurance (Singapour) et HSBC Seguros, toutes trois filiales de HSBC, vont vendre à AXA leurs portefeuilles d’assurance dommages à Hong Kong, Singapour et au Mexique, pour quelque 494 millions de dollars en numéraire, précise la banque. HSBC a également décidé de vendre ses activités d’assurance dommages en Argentine à QBE Insurance. Selon cet accord distinct, le groupe australien va aussi acheter Hang Seng General Insurance (Hong Kong), filiale de la banque Hang Seng Bank, basée à Hong Kong et détenue à 62% par HSBC. Pour ces deux acquisitions, QBE versera 420 millions de dollars.

The British government is planning to lower its marginal income tax rate, currently set at 50%, to replace it with a wealth tax to be determined, Les Echos reports. Conservatives are seeking not to penalise the middle class, while remaining attractive to foreign high net worth investors.

The Austrian firm Absolute Portfolio Management (APM) has announced that it has been granted a sales license for Germany and Austria for the Liechtenstein-registered UCITS fund APM Asian Quality Bond Fund, which relies on the expertise of the Singapore-based asset management firm Lion Global Investors (LGI, USD22bn in assets, of which USD10.5bn are in Asian bonds), part of the Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) group.As its name indicates, the bond product, managed by Veronica Ng and now on offer to German, Austrian and Swiss institutional investors, focuses on Asian high quality bonds (with top ratings). The objective is to generate annual returns of 4% to 5% over three to five years.In order to achieve this result, the management team is investing in a portfolio of investment-grade bonds in US dollars from Asian, corporate and sovereign issuers (excluding Japan and Russia). The fund may also invest in bonds denominated in local currencies, such as the yuan, which offer potential for appreciation.The APM Asian Quality Bund Fund may also subscribe to primary local debt issues which are generally unavailable to retail investors.CharacteristicsName: APM Asian Quality Bond FundISIN codes:LI0141834411 (USD, institutional)LI0141834437 (USD, retail)LI0141834445 (EUR, institutional)LI0141834452 (EUR, retail)Front-end fee: maximum 5%Management commission:0.90% (institutional shares)1.25% (retail shares)

In order to meet high levels of demand from hedge funds, asset managers and various operators seeking a European small and midcap equities index which is highly liquid and rapidly tradeable, Russell Investments is launching the Russell Europe SMID 300 Index, which will be eligible to be used as the basis for investable products (ETFs, OTC swaps and other structured products).The index, which includes 300 highly liquid assets from the developed markets of Europe, has been developed after detailed consultations with several financial institutions, including Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and UBS.

European family offices want to continue to invest in real estate, but if possible, at lower fee levels, with better returns. With this in mind, a group entitled FORE, for Family Office Real Estate, will soon be launching a platform to allow family offices to invest collectively and directly in commercial real estate, Investment Europe reports. The European market represents about EUR115bn, in which family offices are among the largest actors. The partners at FORE are Basil Demeroutis, previously a partner art Capricorn Investment Group, a family office whose assets under management total over USD4.5bn, and Peter Dave, active in the management of commercial real estate for over 30 years.

Dai Xianghong, chairman of the Chinese social security fund (NCSSF), has announced that the performance of the fund in 2011 came out at 8.5% in 2011. Z-Ben Advisors notes that these results are below the 9.17% annual average for the period 2001-2010, but that it is a strong increase compared with 4.2% in 2010.

The Swiss national bank (BNS) will this Tuesday unveil a report detailing the findings of an investigation by the independent consultant KPMG into financial transactions conducted by members of its board. According to the newspaper Tages Anzeiger, citing statements from an insider, the 5 directors still serving on the board have not committed any violations, and this is especially true of interim chairman Thomas Jordan. The newspaper, however, says there were “sensitive” but not illegal transactions. According to the new, stricter rules adopted by the BNS, these transactions would no longer be allowed today. The newspaper adds that the former chairman, Philipp Hildebrand, who resigned, cannot be accused of any illegal acts.

John Foo, former portfolio manager at FrontPoint Partners, will soon launch a long/short hedge fund, Asian Investor reports. The new vehicle, which will have starting assets of USD20m, will be on sale from 20 March. The Kinsmead Asian Alpha Opportunities Fund will use an event-driven tactical stock-picking approach for its Asia ex Japan strategy, which will be managed from Singapore. The capacity of the fund is USD500m. For the first investors in the fund, management fees have been set at 1%, and performance commissions art 10%. Once USD100m in assets under management have been reached, the fees will be 1.5% and 15%, respectively.

After barely three and a half years, Lehman Brothers on Tuesday exited from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection under US bankruptcy law, the Financial Times reports. But the firm no longer has any connection with what brought down the business in September 2008, and there remain many lawsuits against the defunct investment bank, related in particular to the bankruptcy of its British affiliate, and lawsuits seeking several billions of dollars from JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup.The Lehman bankruptcy will have made USD550m for the hedge fund manager Paulson, however. Other winners out of the business will be the lawyers and other specialists who made USD1.6bn, of which USD512m went to the law firm Alvarez & Marsal, a specialist in restructuring.

R. Allen Stanford was on Tuesday found guilty of orchestrating a Ponzi plan worth USD7.1bn, the Wall Street Journal reports. At the conclusion of a criminal trial that lasted nearly three years, a jury of eight men and four women found the defendant guilty of 13 counts out of 14 against him, for fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and obstructing law enforcement. He faces a sentence of up to 230 years in prison. Stanford’s lawyers have told journalists that they will appeal the verdict.

Following a filing by UBS, an examining chamber at the Paris court of appeals has ordered the judge, Renaud Van Ruymbeke, to deepen his consideration of the role of BNP Paribas in subscriptions to Madoff funds, Les Echos reports. “The responsibility of Bernard Madoff does not rule out the hypothesis of fraudulent behaviour by intermediaries such as BNP,” the judges of the examining chamber note. They have therefore instructed Van Ruymbeke to continue his investigation into activities in the British Virgin Islands, Switzerland and Luxembourg, where funds managed by Madoff were domiciled.

The Swiss bank UBP has launched in France the UBAM – Europe Equity Dividend+ fund, a fund which invests in shares in European businesses which pay stable dividends, and which includes a put strategy to profit from volatility. The product, launched on 15 December 2011, is designed to benefit of an equities market “that is expected to oscillate between -15% and +15% per year over the next three years,” says Dominique Leprévots, chairman of the board at UBI, the French arm of UBP, which unveiled the product on Tuesday. “To this end, it is essential to focus on the quality of businesses and also to use equities more for the revenues that they can generate, than for the gains. The portfolio will thus invest in equities from large European companies with a defensive profile which pay consistent dividends and generate stable returns of 5% per year,” explains the director. “In addition, we want to profit from volatility. To do that, we sell calls on equities that we have in the portfolio, which can also earn 5%. This systematic call sale strategy aims to limit losses in phases of falling markets, but on the other hand partly limits thee gains when the shares rise. The portfolio thus aims for gross returns of 10% per year. The fund is managed by a team in London led by Rob Jones and Scott Meech, co-heads of European equities, who have both been fund managers at Threadneedle. It also includes two option hedging experts. The fund, which was originally created for institutional investors, to whom, of course, the fund is aimed, will also be made available to individuals, largely via platforms. Assets total about EUR50m, though it has the capacity for up to EUR500m. Name of the fund: SICAV UBAM Name of sub-fund: UBAM – Europe Equity Dividend + Legal format: Umbrella fund, UCITS, domiciled in Luxembourg ISIN code: AC : LU0717718067 ; IC : LU0717719891

KBL Richelieu Gestion has decided to alter the positioning of its KBL Richelieu Valeur 25 fund. The performance of the LBK Richelieu Valeur 25 fund had previously been based at least 75% on that of money markets, and up to 25% on that of equities markets. As the contribution of money markets was modest, the money market allocation has been opened to other fixed income products, and particularly private bonds issued in euros, the asset management firm states. Despite an increase in the risk profile for the fund, allocation continues to be guided by the search for low volatility. Exposure of the fund to high yield or unrated debt may not exceed 25% of assets. This change in management has also brought a new name for the fund: KBL Richelieu Valeur 25 is now known as KBL Richelieu Valeur.

The Axe France building (22,000 square metres in the 13th district of Paris) has been sold for EUR166m by the open-ended real estate fund Deka-Immobilien Global to a group of French investors advised by DTZ Asset Management.The property was acquired in 2001 by the German asset management company; it was repositioned in 2010 to be more suitable for institutional investors seeking core property investments, which put it in line to benefit from the present taste for this category, and to earn gains (undisclosed).

According to a survey undertaken in August and September 2011 by Northern Trust, with the assistance of Greenwich Associates (Customized Beta: Changing Perspectives on Passive Investing”), institutional investors worldwide who are increasingly preferring passive strategies are also increasingly interested in custom indices to help them achieve their performance objectives.Of 121 institutional investors surveyed (with a total of over USD500bn in assets), 40% estimate that “custom beta” plays a major role in their portfolio construction models, while 51% say they are disposed to study the possibility of using custom indices to achieve their objectives, but only 22% have already evaluated this method.For respondents, the custom beta approach presents two major advantages: an improvement in the risk/reward ratio, on the one hand, and increased diversification on the other.Additionally, the advantages of customised beta are perceived differently in different regions. European institutional investors see it as a way to increase transparency and to more easily reach objectives for socially responsible investment.For Asian investors, they provide a way to increase the efficiency of portfolios by eliminating methodological biases and weighting of traditional indices.In North America, respondents estimate that custom beta is primarily a good way to achieve exposure to new markets.

In a difficult global economic climate, merger and acquisition operations involving at least one Chinese actors are showing signs of resistance, with a record number of 5364 transactions in 2011, a 5% increase compared with the previous year. Activities are characterised by solid growth in mergers and acquisitions by Chinese businesses locally and abroad, and an increase in the unit sized of investments in private equity. More precisely, operations undertaken by China abroad have increased by 10% to an annual record of 207 transactions, representing USD42.9bn, a volume 12% above 2010. Although these operations are on all continents, investments by China abroad have increased particularly sharply in Europe, with 44 operations announced in 2011, compard with 25 in 2010. In addition to the natural resources sector, which remains attractive, the sectors targeted in Europe are industry and consumer products. In 2011, of the 16 transactions abroad with a value of over USD1bn undertaken by Chinese buyers, 14 were in the resources and energy sectors. There has been a growing interest on the part of China in the consumer and industrial product sectors, in a sign of the gradual evolution of the country to a consumer-driven economy. Chinese privately-owned SMEs, facing difficulties in mobilising funds under toughened budgetary policies and uncertainty on the markets, have been turning to private equity funds, which are playing a stronger role in the economy. The Chinese government, aware of this situation, is strengthening its support of the private equity sector.

iShares, the exchange-traded fund (ETF) platform from BlackRock, has released an educational tool to evalute exchange-traded products. The “Know Your ETP” tool aims to allow professional investors to obtain key information about products of this type. Know Your ETP is available as an interactive questionnaire via which investors may get information about an ETP from any provider, a statement says. The interactive questionnaire is available online, at http://uk.ishares.com/en/pc.

In an MBO deal, the Swiss firm EFG International has sold the remainder of its stake in Marble Bar Asset Management (MBAM) to the management team at the firm for CHF28.8m. The transaction, which will be completed by 30 June, will bring gains for EFG of about CHF7m. It completes the transfer of MBAM to the management of the firm, a process begun in July 2010, which reflects EFG’s intention to reorient its activities to privilege the private banking operation.

If they had EUR50,000, 60% of Germans interviewed by TNS Infratest on behalf of Axa Investment Managers in September 2011 said they would chose to invest it, but only 4% of those would invest it in shares in investment funds. Among those who already hold shares in investment funds, only 13% would opt for further investments of this type, compared with 24% in the last survey in 2010.The top criteria for investment most frequently cited are security and availability. 21% of Germans are in favour of putting it in a short-term account, and 27% would opt for a longer-term savings account.Karin Kleinemas, head of marketing at Axa IM for Northern Europe, says the problem is that in Germany funds are “sold,” but they are not “bought.” In addition, three quarters of Germans do not know that the assets in investment funds are cordoned off, so that they would be protected if a promoter goes bankrupt.

The Canadian asset management firm Manulife Asset Management has announced the appointment of Laurence Wee as head of institutional sales for South Asia. Lee, previously at Tokio Marine, who began in his new position in February, is based in Singapore. He replaces Caleb Wong, who left the firm on 3 January this year. Manulife AM is seeking to double its assets under management in the next five years, to bring them to USD80bn. Assets under management at Manulife AM as of 31 December 2011 totalled USd208bn, of which USD44bn are in the Asia-Pacific region, with USD34bn invested in bonds, and USD10bn in equities.