Agefi reports that the court-appointed trustee for the M-Invest fund, a “feeder fund” for the fraud orchestrated by Bernard Madoff, are seeking USD900m from the auditing firm Ernst & Young, which it accuses of negligence in audits undertaken between 2003 and 2007. The M-Invest fund was created by Union Bancaire Privée, the newspaper notes.

In two years, guaranteed funds in Spain have taken on more than EUR10bn, and have doubled their market share to 26.6% from 13.4%, Expansión reports. They have dethroned short-duration bond funds as the largest category of funds by asset volume, with EUR34.4bn in assets under management.This total may increase further, as some products are generating returns of over 4% per year due to the debt crisis. But that is a double-edged sword, since these funds hold EUR25bn in Greek, Spanish and Italian public debt.The strongest inflows for guaranteed products have been for InverCaixa, with net subscriptions of EUR3.5bn since the beginning of this year, following EUR2bn in 2010, while in second, third and fourth place are Santander (EUR1.15bn), Bankia (EUR750m) and Banca Civica (EUR400m).

As part of measures by the new Italian government, a new stamp duty on securities will be introduced, Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. It will apply to all financial instruments, including funds (except pension funds). The duty will be proportional to the value of financial instruments. The proposed legislation, which is being debated by Parliament, proposes a rate of 0.1% per year in 2012 and 0.15% from 2013.

Graham Tuckwell, founder, largest shareholder and president of ETF Securities, has put his company up for sale for about EUR1bn, Investment Week reports, echoing reports in the Financial Times. The founder of the firm has retained Goldman Sachs to sell the firm. Asset management firms and capital management groups are reportedly on the list of potential buyers. Their bids are to be submitted before Christmas. In early December, assets under management at ETF Securities totalled USD28.2bn, of which USD17.7bn, or 63% of total assets, are invested in physical precious metals.

The flormer global head of ETF research at BlackRock, Deborah Fuhr, did not ultimately join Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London as head of Global Delta One strategy, as previously announced (Newsmanagers of 12 August 2011).According to the Reuters news agency, Fuhr never began work at the US group, and has not given any reasons for her decision. According to sources familiar with the matter, differences in point of view between Fuhr and BofA Merrill Lynch about the perimeter of its activities are said to be the cause of the disaffection. For several weeks, Fuhr has been presenting herself in public as an independent ETF expert.Fuhr has not yet decided what direction she will give to her career, and has told Reuters that she will be taking some time to think before accepting a new position.

On 1 November, Russell Investments opened a branch office in Frankfurt, on Bockenheimer Landstraße. The two people in the office, Sebastian Hofmann-Wether, director, and Philip Hofmann, have now moved into the Opernturm skyscraper and in early January will welcome a new sales representative. There are no plans for the new office to employ portfolio managers: it will be dedicated exclusively to distribution of all of the products of the Russell range (indices, funds, execution, consulting, etc).The new location is intended to bring Russell Investments closer to its German-speaking clients, particularly in Germany and Austria.

Carlos Böhles has been recruited as head of institutional business for Germany and Austria at Schroders. Böhles will report to Achim Küssner, CEO of Schroder Investment Management GmbH, and will oversee a team of four people who will soon be strengthened with the addition of a senior sales officer.Before joining Schroders, Böhles spend seven years as director of European equity at Merrill Lynch International Bank Limited in Frankfurt.Böhles replaces Robert Schlichting, who was recruited in 2007, and who according to reports in the local press, appears to have been dismissed with effect from 31 December; he has already left the business.

On 5 December, Stoxx Ltd unveiled its new product, the STOXX Europe Maximum Dividend 40 Index. As its name indicates, the index includes 40 European shares, selected on the basis of their high dividend returns and their liquidity, with a weight limited to 10% for each position.In order to be included in the index, companies must belong to the Stoxx Europe 600 and pay dividends in the upcoming quarter, have a minimal market capitalisation of EUR1bn, and daily trading volume of at least EUR4bn in the three months preceding selection.With this new product, Stoxx is providing the markets with an underlying for new ETFs and other investable supports. The index will be calculated in short, net return and gross return versions. It will be available in euros and US dollars, with backtesting to 20 March 2000.

In November, average on-book trades for ETFs on the European markets of NYSE Euronext fell further to 10,965, from 11,250 in October, 13,070 in September and 14,658 in August. This remains higher than the 14.2% observed in November 2010.Averag daily trading volumes have fallen to EUR405.8m, compared with EUR433.6m the previous month. Volumes were EUR558m in September and EUR618.2m in August. Compared with November 2010, they are down 8.4%. In the first eleven months of the year, however, trading volumes have increased 24.7%.NYSE Euronext also reports that block trading totalled EUR975m in November, compared with EUR1.1bn in October 2011, and EUR352.7m in the corresponding month of last year.In November, the European markets of NYSE Euronext included 694 listings of 596 ETF products, up from 593 one month earlier.The average spread in November came to 40.2 basis points, compared with 36.3 in October, 38.83 in September, and 28.5 in August.

The SIX Swiss Exchange on 5 December announced that it has added a new issuer in the ETF segment: Ossiam. The affiliate of Natixis Global Asset Management is listing five Exchange-Traded Funds (ETF) on the Swiss stock exchange, SIX says in a statement. The ETFs are based on European and U.S. indices. The segment now includes 753 ETF funds.

John Paulson lost more money in November, the Financial Times reports. Advantage Plus, th flagship fund from Paulson, is down 2.6% in the month, and has lost 46% since the beginning of the year, according to investors. The Advantage fund, which uses the same strategy, but without leverage, has lost about one third of its value this year.

Public awareness is there: actively-employed French citizens know that the reforms being passed do not resolve the problems in the long term. Though a slight majority consider the 2010 reforms necessary to preserve the French system of distribution of assets, two thirds feel that it is inadequate to preserve the system sustainably, according to the Deloitte study “The French and retirement,” undertaken by Harris Interactive. The survey was undertaken between 28 September 2011 and 11 October 2011, and covered a sample of 2,000 French respondents aged over 25, composed of 18% pensioners and 82% actively-employed persons. Actively-employed respondents have also taken on board the increase in the retirement age to 66, and are aware of the importance of preparing for their retirement (57%).Concerns about retirement are equally substantial. 55% of the actively employed say they are worried or very worried by the issue of retirement, with 72% very worried or worried about preparing for it. As to the retirement age, 81% say they are concerned, an opinion shared by all age groups.Although a lack of money is the major obstacle to putting aside savings for retirement, a high majority of actively-employed people are aware of the need to personally finance a future complementary source of income (83%). Actively-employed persons are preparing or planning to prepare for their retirement before the age of 50.The need for information remains, as two actively-employed respondents out of three consider the level of information insufficient, both about their future situation and about the means to prepare for it. More than 75% have no or little idea about the future level of income they will receive at retirement, and more than 50% of these have at least a vague idea, which overestimates that amount. Four actively-employed respondents out of ten have no confidence in any public or private institutional source. Obligatory retirement organisms are viewed as the most reliable source, but only for about one in three actively-employed respondents. In this situation, pension funds and the Internet are preferred sources of information for research, with the Internet the information channel used by more than four out of ten actively-employed respondents.58% of actively-employed respondents are setting aside savings when they can, and 25% are planning to do so. 42% of the youngest of them (25-34) are already preparing. More than half of assets are being directed primarily to traditional products (savings accounts and life insurance), which offer flexibility and security for their savings efforts and retirement. Existing dedicated retirement savings products are not preferred as they do not satisfy all the concerns of French clients, either for the long term (retirement) or the short term (helping loved ones, covering health-care costs). This situation is all the more regrettable as retirement is now the number one savings priority for the French.

TCW, a US asset management affiliate of Société Générale (which controls 80%, while Amundi owns 20%), may be sold by SocGen, Bloomberg reported last week. According to La Tribune, Morgan Stanley has received five or six offers for the asset management firm.According to reports in the newspaper, the head of TCW, Marc Stern, is seeking an alliance with a private equity fund for a management buy-out (MBO). The newspaper names JC Flowers & Co and KKR.

On the Bank of America Merrill Lynch UCITS-compliant fund platform, German retail and institutional clients now have access to three long/short funds managed by Perella Weinberg Partners, TT Financials and Westchester, respectively, Das Investment reports. Minimal subscription is set at USD1,000.The funds are the Perella Weinberg Partners Sustainable Resources Long-Short Ucits Fund, managed by Rod Parsley and Douglas Millet, the TT Financials Long-Short Ucits Fund, managed by Mark Eady, and the Westchester Merger Arbitrage Ucits Fund, managed by Roy D. Behren and Michael T. Shannon.

The asset management firm Muzinich & Co is planning to launch a long/short fund in the month of February 2012, Citywire reports.The Hedge Yield fund, domiciled in Ireland, will be managed by Clinton Comeaux and Jason Horowitz.

On 18 December, Deka will launch the Deka-Deutschland Balance fund, which will invest in German government equities and governement bonds, with a weekly computer-assisted rebalancing that aims to optimise allocation to the two types of assets.The new product is a German-specialist version of the Deka-Euroland Balance fund, launched in July 2003, which as of the end of November 2011 had earned average annual returns of over 4%. For the Deutschland Balance fund, Deka is aiming for returns higher than those of the German bond market.According to the manager of the fund, Thorsten Rühl, German equities are currently attractively priced, and Federal bonds («bunds») are considered a refuge asset.The new fund is in a “conservative” positioning: in a “neutral” position, the portfolio would be composed of 15% equities and 85% bonds. Depending on the state of the markets, the equity allocation may vary from 0 to 30%, while the bond allocation will range form 50% to 100%. In extreme situations, the fund may invest up to 50% in time deposits.CharacteristicsName: Deka-Deutschland BalanceISIN codes:ClassicFonds (CF) version: DE000DK2CFB1TradingFonds (TF) version: DE000DK2CFC9Management commission: 0.85% (CF)1.20% (TF)Administrative commission: 0.16% (CF and TF)

From 1 January 2012, First State will limit access to seven of its emerging markets funds, which have posted significant inflows of subscriptions. This will be achieved through an across-the-board mandatory penalty of 4% on inflows coming either directly from investors, or indirectly, via platform.The measure will apply to the following sub-funds of the First State Investments ICVC range: First State Asia Pacific Sustainability, First State Indian Subcontinent, First State Global Emerging Markets Sustainability, First State Latin America and First State Greater China Growth.However, the fee will not apply to the First State Asia Pacific Leaders and First State Global Emerging Markets Leaders funds.First State is also temporarily suspending subscriptions to the First State Hong Kong Growth Fund and First State Indian Subcontinent Fund, sub-funds of First State Global Umbrella Fund PLC.

The European financial and asset management association (EFAMA), in cooperation with Swift, on 5 December released its most recent report on the evolution of automatisation and standardisation of orders received from transfer agents in Luxembourg and Ireland in first half 2011.The ISO message standard continues to gain ground with a penetration rate of 37.3% in second quarter, compared with 35.4% the previous year, to the detriment of transfers via proprietary systems. Luxembourg has a rate of over 50%.The automatisation ratio for the two major order processing centres now totals 75.1%, compared with 74.8% one year earlier.The total number of orders processed by transfer agents in first half totalled 13.2 million. This figure represents a monthly volume of 2.2 million, up 16% compared with first half 2010.

Skandia Investment Group’s (SIG) portfolio manager Lee Freeman-Shor is bringing back Wellington Management fund manager Dirk Enderlein into his Skandia European Best Ideas Fund (EBI) after a two year break.Dirk Enderlein left EBI following his move from RCM to Wellington some two years ago. Since then he’s been establishing in his activities with the US fund management giant.Now after two years, Dirk Enderlein has agreed to run a EUR34m mandate from Lee Freeman-Shor who regards Dirk Enderlein as Europe’s premier growth manager.Given that Lee Freeman-Shor currently has ten managers he has therefore decided to remove incumbent manager James Buckley.

Barclays Capital is planning to launch an onshore version of its Radar fund in February 2012, Investment Week reports. The absolute return fund replicates the investment strategy of the UCITS-compliant fund, domiciled in Ireland and launched in February 2009.The co-managers of the offshore portfolio, Jason Smith and Ian Mizrahi, will also manage the new fund, which will concentrate on indices of international equity markets, government bonds, commodities and currencies.

The British asset management firm MA Funds has recruited the former CEO of Witan Trust, Robert Edwards Clarke, as chief financial officer for the group and chief operating officer, effective immediately.Tony Moore, the current CFO, will be resigning from his responsibilities in parallel with the recruitment, but will remain to ensure a smooth transfer of his responsibilities until 2012. John Graham, who is leaving his position as chief operating officer, but who will remain to ensure a smooth transition, will do the same.Assets under management at MAM Funds totalled GBP1.68bn as of the end of June 2011.

Pre-tax profits for the asset management firm Aberdeen Asset Management have increased 44% in the year to 30 September, to a total of GBP301.9m, compared with GBP210m, Earnings are up 23%, to EUR784m, largely due to growth in high-margin activities.Assets under management, however, have fallen to GBP169.9bn as of the end of September, compared with GBP178.7bn one year earlier. AUM increased during a good part of the year, but events in the past few months have led to a reduction in assets of about 5%. For the year as a whole, Aberdeen has reported a net outflows of EUR1.7bn.Equity funds have attracted GBP9bn, but alternative strategies, bond and money market funds have finished the period with outflows of GBP3.2bn, GBP4.8bn, and GBP2.1bn, respectively.

Graham Tuckwell, founder, largest shareholder and president of ETF Securities, has retained Goldman Sachs to sell the company, according to reports in the Financial Times. The structure had USD28.2bn in assets under management as of the beginning of December, of which 63% were in products backed by physical precious metals. The value of the firm is estimated at about GBP1bn, according to the FT.

As part of measures by the new Italian government, a new stamp duty on securities will be introduced, Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. It will apply to all financial instruments, including funds (except pension funds). The duty will be proportional to the value of financial instruments. The proposed legislation, which is being debated by Parliament, proposes a rate of 0.1% per year in 2012 and 0.15% from 2013.

Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP), the asset management affiliate of Lloyds Banking Group, is launching the SWIP Foundation Growth fund, a tracker fund which replicates the FTSE All-Share index, with a management commission of 0.07%, and a total expense ratio of 0.11%, making it the most inexpensive retail fund ever offered on the British market, the Financial Times repoorts.The most inexpensive fund previously available on the British market had been the MoneyBuilder from Fidelity, with a TER of 0.27%, while the Scottish Widow All-Share charges 0.36%.Vanguard is offering British investors an All-Share fund with a TER of 0.15%, but until recently, that fund had been available only with a minimal investment of GBP100,000. The Vanguard and SWIP tracker funds are now available on the Vantage fund platform from Hargreaves Lansdown, with an initial subscription of at least GBP1,000, and GBP50 per month. Eleven other low-cost funds from Vanguard are now available on Vantage, with total TER rates ranging from 0.25% to 0.30%.

State Street Corporation has been selected by Fundsmith LLP to provide fund administration and custody services and shareholder services to its new UCITS IV-compliant Luxembourg-registered feeder fund.State Street has provided the Fundsmith Equity Fund EIOC with securities custody, fund accounting, and depository services, as well as processing of portfolio transactions, since the launch of the fund in the United Kingdom in November 2010.

Avis de pré information: Gestion d’actifs de la Caisse des dépôts pour le compte du régime d’allocations viagères des gérants de débits de tabac (Ravgdt). Mise en place et la gestion de deux FCP. Le montant global des encours est de l’ordre de 350 millions d’EUR. Il s’agit d’un marché à bons de commande multi-attributaires. Pour lire l’avis complet: cliquez ici

Le programme d’austérité annoncé dimanche par le Premier ministre a contribué à la détente record enregistrée sur les rendements italiens hier, en marge du sommet franco-allemand. Au passage, l’Italie a annoncé la mise en place de garanties pour la dette de ses banques.

L'activité représentera 37 % des revenus du repreneur, l'australien UGL. Le prix d'acquisition est inférieur à la dette de la cible

Le programme doit permettre d'atteindre l'équilibre budgétaire en 2013 en faisant des économies mais aussi en soutenant la croissance