Pimco on 14 November announced the launch of the Pimco GIS Credit Absolute Return fund, aimed at investors seeking a diversified strategy focused on absolute returns with no benchmark. The fund has an “all-terrain” investment style, has considerable freedom in terms of the financial instruments to be integrated into its portfolio, and is managed by Mark Kiesel, Managing Director and Head of corporate debt portfolios. The fund combines long-term strategic investments and more short-term tactical opportunities in order to offer positive returns regardless of the market environment. It is designed to allow investors to diversify their bond portfolio without exposing themselves to risks that Pimco estimates are inherent to indices. The fund will be based on the expertise of Pimco in the area of credit, its proven investment process, research capacity and risk management techniques, in order to offer a strategy focused on absolute returns to investors seeking alternatives to long-only traditional funds. “The Pimco investment process orients our macroeconomic scenario, and allows us to identify risk factors in various bond markets,” says Kiesel. “We complement this top-down approach with a rigorous bottom-up analysis which aims to obtain the best long and short positions in each segment of the bond market: investment grade credit, high yield bonds, emerging market credit, bank loans, and municipal and convertible bonds.” The fund comes as an addition to the Global Investor Series (GIS) from Pimco, which complies with UCITS regulations. The range, registered in Dublin, now has 45 sub-funds, representing EUR57bn in asstes under management as of 30 June 2011. In addition to daily liquidity, the funds offer investors a way to expose their portfolios to a wide range of asset classes, ranging from global and regional traditional bond funds, to credit portfolios, to alternative and asset allocation solutions. The funds are available in several share classes denominated in several currencies, depending on the needs of the client. Institutional share classes in the funds will be available for sale under the ticker code PIMCIUA.

The German asset management firm Deka Immobilien has announced that it has resold the logistics property Myren 6 & 8 (15,000 square metres), located in Huddinge near Stockholm, “at a profit.” The property is wholly leased to Posten Sverige AB and was purchased for about EUR35m by the British asset management firm Rockspring Property Investment Managers.Myren 6 & 8 were acquired in 2004 for an institutional real estate fund from Deka.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc, the portfolio company for Warren Buffett, on 14 November announced that it has acquired 5.4% of International Business Machines Corp (IBM), for a total of USD10.7bn, the Wall Street Journal reports.The investment at current market prices represents USD12bn, thus Berkshire Hathaway has already made gains of 12%. After State Street, Berkshire Hathaway was the second-largest shareholder in IBM as of 30 September. The buyer had begun to amass shares since March, twice receiving confidential treatment from the SEC.Since the beginning of this year, the share price for IBM has increased by 28%, while the S&P 500 index was flat. With an investment in IBM, Buffett breaks with his longstanding aversion to the technology sector.

Norges Bank Investment Management, which manages the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global, and Axa Real Estate Investment Managers, acting on behalf of Axa France Insurance Companies, has announced that their Paris office joint venture partnership has exchanged contracts to acquire by the end of the year a portfolio of prime Paris offices for EUR290 million (excluding transfer taxes), reflecting a passing cap rate of 6.0%. This second acquisition by the JV has been negotiated off market and comprises three office properties, with some retail units on ground floors: two in Paris and one in Boulogne-Billancourt, in the Western Business District of Paris. The details of the assets are as follows: 28 – 32 Victor Hugo – Paris 16 – A prime office asset located in the heart of the Paris central business district in the immediate vicinity of Place de l’Etoile. It has a total GLA of approximately 9,500 sqm, of which 900 sqm of retail, arranged over five basement levels, a ground floor and seven upper levels. The property is fully let. 99 Avenue de France – Paris 13 – Located in the Rive Gauche business area in the 13th district of Paris, the asset has a total GLA of approximately 14,300 sqm, of which 4,600 sqm of retail, arranged over two basement levels, a ground floor and eight upper levels. It is fully let. Le Prélude – Boulogne-Billancourt – A headquarter office building located within Boulogne-Billancourt, in the established Western Business District of Paris. It has a total GLA of approximately 8,200 sqm arranged over three basement levels, a ground floor and six upper levels. It is fully let to a single strong covenant tenant. The JV between Norges Bank and Axa Real Estate was launched in August 2011 to target co-investment opportunities in the Paris office market.

NewAlpha Asset Management, an affiliate of IFO AM specialised in the incubation of management firms in the inception phase, has signed its seventeenth incubation partnership with the Heieck Siebrecht Capital Advisors company, via an investment of USD40m in the asset manager’s flagship fund. HSCA AG, based in Zurich, is an independent company founded in 2009 by Frank Siebrecht and Stefan Heieck. Siebrecht and Heieck had a total of over 26 years of experience in German and European equities. Siebrecht was an equities analyst at Deutsche Bank for 9 years, before spending three years at Absolute Capital Management, where he was co-manager of the Absolute Capital Germany fund. Heieck was in equity sales at DG Financial Markets, and then at ManFirst Capital, before joining Absolute Capital Management to co-manage Absolute Capital Germany. Heieck Siebrecht Capital Advisors uses an absolute return strategy on European equities with a particular focus on German, Swiss and Austrian large and midcaps. HSCA also includes in its investment universe European rivals to their German counterparts.

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) has announced the appointment of Carol Baldwin Moody as senior portfolio manager for investment compliance and operational risk. As the head of CalPERS new Investment Compliance function, she will be responsible for developing, implementing and monitoring investment management compliance and operational risk programs and policies. Moody comes to CalPERS from Wilmington Trust, where she was senior vice president and chief risk officer.

The US investment firm Evercore Partners Inc has bought a 45% stake in Evercore Investment Management LLC (24 employtees, USD3.5bn in assets) for about USD45m in cash. The transaction will be closed by the end of the year.The founders and employees of the firm will retain the remaining 55%. Alain De Coster, Laurence Russian and Guilherme Ribeiro do Valle, the founders, will remain as heads of ABS IM, and will sign long-term employment contracts. They will invest a large part of the proceeds of the sale in products managed by ABS.

The French entrepreneurial asset management firm IT Asset Management (about EUR150m in assets) has recruited Ines Thibault as head of sales for France. She had previously been head of sales at Algofi.Pierre Nicolle, an intern sales assistant, has been recruited as a salesperson for France. He joined the asset management firm in December 2009, after being responsible for development of major accounts at a finance specialist IT services company. He will be in charge of monitoring and distribution of funds in France to institutional clients and independent financial advisers.IT Asset Management is also adding to its sales drive in Europe, with the registration of the IT Funds Info Tech fund in Spain, and a new sales partner in the United Kingdom, Gemini Investment Management.

At the end of last month, assets under management by Legg Mason totalled USD628.7bn, compared with USD611.8bn as of 30 September. This level remains well below USD662.5bn at the end of June, and USD671.8bn as of 31 December 2010.Among its long-term assets, the equity allocation increased to USD159.4bn as of the end of October, from USD144.9bn at the end of September (it totalled USD184.2bn as of the end of last year), while bond products totalled USD359bn as of 31 October, compared with USD355.5bn one month previously, and USd355.8bn as of 31 December 2010.Assets in money market funds were down to USD110bn, from USD111.4bn as of 30 September. As of the end of 2010, these asstes totalled USD131.8bn.

The secretary general of the French financial market regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) on 14 November announced that it has opened an investigation of the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s, after the firm announced that it had released a message to several of its subscribers in error stating that the credit rating for France had been downgraded (see Newsmanagers of 14 November). The AMF has also contacted the European Securities Markets Authority (ESMA), in its role as controller of the professional responsibilities of ratings agencies.

At the conclusion of a four-year investment period for its Asia Opportunity Fund III (USD3bn), LaSalle Investment Management (USD45bn) has decided to redeem the USD600m which could not be invested to clients, Asian Investor reports. The asset management firm invested USD1bn before the 2008 crisis, and USD1.4bn more recently.

Asian institutional investors (outside Japan) are tending to increase the proportion of their assets which they outsource to third-party management firms. According to Cerulli, about EUR1.07trn will be available to these third-party managers by the end of 2011, which represents 11.4% of total investible assets in the region. A previous estimate by Cerulli finds only 10% of assets in this category.Investible assets are expected to increase to USD13.6trn by 2015 (from USD8.6trn at the end of 2010). Of this total, 12.7% will be outsourced in 2015. «The scale of the outsourcing varies between various types of institution. For example, the proportion of assets outsourced by Asian pension funds has increased faster than average, with an increase of 18.7% in 2010, compared with 10.8% in 2006,” says Ken Yap, head of Asia-Pacific research at Cerulli. However, businesses, commercial banks and insurers still prefer to manage most of their capital internally. The Cerulli study finds, however, that central banks and quasi-governmental organisations are now tending to replace pension funds as the main source of institutional assets. Deepening competition for pension fund mandates may be a partial explanation for this development, the study funds. In geographical terms, outsourcing opportunities will continue to be concetrated on Northern Asia, particularly China, with an increase in investible assets to USD767bn by 2015, from USD452.8bn as of the end of 2010. Hong Kong and Korea have the highest proportions, with percentages of assets outsourced of 35.6% and 15.4%, respectively. In 2015, these percentages are expected to reach 38.3% and 17.3%, respectively. In Singapore, however, the outsourcing rate is expected to fall further, as sovereign entities, such as the sovereign funds Temasek and CIC, increasingly make use of their in-house expertise to manage nearly all of their investments.

The Swiss banking group Syz & Co on 14 November announced the launch of the Global high Yield sub-fund of its Luxembourg Sicav Oyster, with eight share classes (in US dollars and hedged for currency risks in euros, Swiss francs and Singapore dollars).The management of the global high yield bond product, which is currently reserved for institutional clients, will be outsourced to the US management boutique Seix Investment Advisors. The fund will soon be registered for sale to retail clients in several European and Asian countries, Syz states.The Oyster Global High Yield fund reproduces the strategy and investment philosophy of the unconstratined high yield strategy from Seix, which Syz says generated about twice as much returns as its peer group over five years. Concentrating on liquid bonds and limiting risks by avoiding bankruptcies, the portfolio of the Global High Yield fund is composed of a portfolio of 80 to 100 positions.ISIN codes:OYSTER Global High Yield USD LU0688633410OYSTER Global High Yield EUR-hedged LU0688633683OYSTER Global High Yield CHF-hedged LU0688633501OYSTER Global High Yield SGD-hedged LU0688633766OYSTER Global High Yield I USD LU0688633840OYSTER Global High Yield I EUR-hedged LU0688634061OYSTER Global High Yield I CHF-hedged LU0688633923OYSTER Global High Yield I SGD-hedged LU0688634228

In a 13F filing to the SEC, Paulson & Co has declared assets of USD20.7bn as of the end of September, compared with USD29.1bn three months earlier, the Wall Street Journal reports, adding that the declaration does not necessarily include all assets at the alternative asset management firm.In third quarter, Paulson & Co reduced its stake in the SPDR Gold Trust ETF, in which it was the largest shareholder as of the end of June with 31.5 million shares, by one third. That may be a sign that John Paulson has found an exposure to gold through futures and other products which do not necessarily need to be declared.Paulson & Co has also reduced its stake in Citigroup by more than 10 million shares, to 25.1 million shares as of the end of September. The firm has also liquidated its positions in NYSE Euronext and JP Morgan Chase, but increased its stake in Bank of America by 6.5% to 64.3 million shares. It has also acquired shares in Capital One Financial and reduced its allocation to Hewlett-Packard by 35%.

The first ETF to replicate the performance of social media companies will be launched this Tuesday in the United States, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Global X Social Media ETF, from the Global X Funds company, will track 25 companies. It will have a strong exposure to Chinese internet companies.

A new study by the CFA Institute (“An Examination of Transparency in European Bond Markets”) recommends that post-trade transparency requirements on bond markets be more carefully defined. Investors would thus have improved access to information about prices, and competition would be strengthened, while liquidity would be protected. The report analyses the current situation in terms of transparency on European bond markets, based on the example of Italy, the largest bond market in Europe, and the United States. Italy is now one of the few countries in Europe to have made bond transaction reporting obligatory, while the United States have imposed the transparency requirement since 2002, with the introduction of the TRACE system (Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine). Analysis of these two examples reveals the costs and benefits of increased transparency for investors. At the same time, a recent survey by the CFA Institute of its European members finds that 76% of respondents estimate that profits due to increased transparency on alternative trading platforms offset the costs On the basis of these findings, the CFA Institute recommends that public reporting requirements for bond transactions be introduced throughout the European Union, as a part of the MiFID II regulations. Post-trade transparency requirements should first be calibrated to take into account the size and liquidity of the bond issue. More precisely, it should be possible to shift reporting on major transactions to allow market actors to hedge their positions. That would dissipate some fears about the unuseful exposure of the broker-dealer, which could potentially damage liquidity. The new requirements would then need to be put in place gradually. Market operators need time to adjust their procedures to a new requiremnt. A gradual approach would also reduce the risk of a temporary liquidity shock. Lastly, the authorities need to set minimal standards for the content and format of post-trade transaction data. Investors need to have access to precise and coherent information on bond transactions in order to facilitate the investment decision process. It is essential to have coherent standards for transaction reporting in order to facilitate the consolidation of post-trade data and allow investors to have a wider view of bond market transactions.

Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) has announced the recruitment of Georgia Marshall as head of European research. Marshall is currently regional head of corporate governance at Aviva Investors. She will begin in her new role in January 2012, in London. Marshall will oversee the ISS research teams based in London, Brussels and Paris, covering the United Kingdom and continental Europe.

The British asset management firm Legal & General has approached the Cofunds platform with an offer to acquire the activity, in which it already holds a 25% stake, the Sunday Telegraph reports in its 13 November issue. The private equity firm Bridgepoint is also reported to have expressed an interest even before Legal & General made its bid. In addition to Legal & General, the Cofunds shareholders include the IT provider IFDS (24%) th US investment firm Newhouse Capital (18%), the British firms Threadneedle and Jupiter (20% and 10%, respectively), and Prudential (3%). On Monday afternoon, Cofunds denied that it planned to sell the activity.

Henderson Global Investors has teamed up with Sesame Bankhall Group to launch an investment company entitled Optimum Investment Management Limited, Investment Week reports. The joint venture will offer advisers access to an investment solution managed by the multi-management team at Henderson.

The commodities investment pioneer Jim Rogers is now taking a tour of Australia to find investors interested in a project to raise AUD350m (EUR262m) for investments to focus on agricultural land in the northern part of New South Wales, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports.The concept is based on predictions that inflation will increase and demand for agricultural products from Asia will provoke a rise in the price of investments of this type. The farmers will be maintained in charge of their operations.The new fund advised by Rogers will be known as Laguna Bay Pastoral Company. Laguna Bay as the support of the investment bank Morgan Stanley.

The average number of on-book trades on ETFs on European markets of NYSE Euronext in October fell to 11,250, from 13,070 in September, and 14,658 in August. In the first ten months of the year, the rate of increase has slowed to 26.1%, from 26.6% in January-September.The average on-book daily trading volume came to EUR433.8m last month, compared with EUR558m in September, and EUR618.2m in August. In January-October, the annual increase came to 32%.The European listings on NYSE Euronext as of the end of October included 593 ETF funds listed a total of 691 times. Since the beginning of this year, there have been 153 fund launches, of which 125 were primary listings, and 28 were secondary listings. In October, 14 ETFs were newly added to trading, of which 6 were from SPDR (SSgA), 5 from RBS Market Access, and 3 from Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale).The average spread for all ETFs in October totalled 36.3 basis points, compared with 38.83 in September, and 28.5 in August.

Overall, open-ended funds in Germany, excluding real estate funds, have seen net outflows of EUR8.43bn in January-September, the German BVI association of asset management firms reports.Aside from Allianz Global Investors, which has taken on EUR1.49bn due to net subscriptions of EUR5.73bn at its affiliate Pimco Europe, all the major asset management firms have seen net outflows in the first three quarters of the year: redemptions have totalled EUR7.53bn for Deka (savings banks), EUR3.54bn for the DWS/DB Advisors/DB family (Deutsche Bank), and EUR1.52bn for Union Investment (co-operative banks).ETF promoters, excepting ETFlab (Deka), which has seen net outflows of EUR1.09bn, have posted net subscriptions, including BlackRock (for its iShares products), which have attracted over UER7.55bn, db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank), with EUR1.3bn, and ComStage (Commerzbank) with EUR279m.Open-ended funds overall saw net outflows of EUR2.77bn, which brings net outflows to EUR3.94bn in third quarter, and EUR7.55bn in the first nine months of the year. In the first three quarters of 2010, these funds attracted a further EUR18.91bn.German asset management overall has seen net subscriptions of EUR10.75bn in January-September, thanks to EUR20.08bn in inflows to institutional funds. These last two figures compare with EUR83.41bn and EUR42.93bn, respectively.Mandates managed outside funds, which represented EUR278.18bn as of the end of September, posted net inflows in the first nine months of the year of EUR1.79bn, despite net inflows of EUR1.85bn in September.

Le conseil d’administration d’UBS a nommé, avec effet immédiat, Sergio P. Ermotti CEO du groupe, fonction qu’il occupait par intérim depuis le 24 septembre 2011. La décision du conseil d’administration de confier la responsabilité de CEO du groupe à Sergio P. Ermotti a été prise à l’issue d’un processus d'évaluation approfondi, a indiqué le 15 novembre la banque dans un communiqué. Par ailleurs, le président du conseil d’administration Kaspar Villiger a décidé d’accélérer le changement de direction à la tête d’UBS et de ne pas se présenter à sa propre succession lors de l’assemblée générale du 3 mai 2012. Après son élection au sein du conseil d’administration lors de la prochaine assemblée générale, Axel Weber, qui devait être nommé vice-président du conseil, doit prendre la succession de Kaspar Villiger en tant que président du conseil d’administration.Le conseil d’administration et le directoire d’UBS ont en outre finalisé les plans relatifs au nouveau positionnement de la banque et le conseil d’administration a fixé la stratégie d’UBS. Sergio Dans ses nouvelles fonctions, Sergio P. Ermotti est chargé de mettre en oeuvre la nouvelle stratégie. «Elle se concentre sur nos activités de gestion de fortune leader sur le marché et sur notre position de principale banque universelle de Suisse», indique Sergio P. Ermotti, cité dans le communiqué. Les détails de la nouvelle stratégie seront présentés lors de l’UBS Investor Day qui se tiendra le 17 novembre 2011 à New York.

Le groupe bancaire helvétique Syz & Co a annoncé le 14 novembre le lancement du compartiment Global High Yield de sa sicav luxembourgeoise Oyster, avec huit classes de parts (en dollars et parts couvertes du risque de change en euros, francs suisses et dollars de Singapour)*.La gestion de ce produit «mondial» d’obligations à haut rendement, actuellement réservé à une clientèle institutionnelle, est déléguée à la boutique américaine Seix Investment Advisors. Le fonds sera prochainement enregistré pour une commercialisation auprès des particuliers dans plusieurs pays européens et asiatiques, précise Syz.Le Oyster Global High Yield reproduit la stratégie et la philosophie de placement de la stratégie «haut rendement non contraintes» de Seix, dont Syz indique qu’elle a généré environ le double de la rentabilité de son groupe de référence sur cinq ans. Se concentrant sur les obligations liquides et sur la limitation du risque par l’évitement des faillites, le portefeuille du Global High Yield est constitué d’un portefeuille de 80 à 110 lignes.* Codes Isin OYSTER Global High Yield USD LU0688633410OYSTER Global High Yield EUR-hedged LU0688633683OYSTER Global High Yield CHF-hedged LU0688633501OYSTER Global High Yield SGD-hedged LU0688633766OYSTER Global High Yield I USD LU0688633840OYSTER Global High Yield I EUR-hedged LU0688634061OYSTER Global High Yield I CHF-hedged LU0688633923OYSTER Global High Yield I SGD-hedged LU0688634228

Alain Meyer a rejoint l’équipe commerciale internationale d’Oddo Asset Management et devient directeur de la clientèle institutionnelle pour la Suisse, le premier marché hors de France de l'établissement, selon un communiqué. Le nouveau promu sera basé au sein du bureau de représentation d’Oddo AM à Zurich, et aura pour principale mission de développer la clientèle institutionnelle Suisse allemande. Avant de rejoindre Oddo Asset Management, Alain Meyer travaillait au sein de l’équipe institutionnelle pour la Suisse alémanique et l’Allemagne chez Wellington Management à Londres (2009-2011).

Barclays Private Equity (BPE) sort officiellement du giron de la banque britannique Barclays et devient Equistone Partners Europe après son rachat par son équipe dirigeante, rapporte L’Agefi. L’ancienne direction à trois têtes du groupe fait place à un management board de quatre sièges à la tête duquel un managing partner - le Français Guillaume Jacqueau - occupe la fonction exécutive. Le britannique Owen Clarke devient chief investment officer - un poste nouveau en l’occurrence - et l’ancien codirecteur de BPE, Gonzague de Blignières, reste membre du conseil de surveillance et du comité d’investissement. Le capital d’Equistone est désormais détenu à 100% par ses 36 associés européens, précise le quotidien.

Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) vient d’annoncer le recrutement de Georgina Marshall en qualité de responsable de la recherche européenne. Georgina Marshall est actuellement responsable régionale du gouvernement d’entreprise chez Aviva Investors. Elle prendra ses nouvelles fonctions en janvier 2012 à Londres.Georgina Marshall pilotera les équipes de recherche d’ISS basées à Londres, Bruxelles et Paris couvrant le Royaume-Uni et l’Europe continentale.

Les luxembourgeois veNova SA et Axxion SA (3 milliards d’euros) ont lancé le compartiment Globalyze Fund – Globalyze QuantValue* qui investit dans les actions des 25 meilleures sociétés identifiées par le programme informatique Globalyze Top Value d’analyse fondamentale mis au point par Norbert Lohrke.La sélection s’effectue en fonction du potentiel de hausse du cours et la vente d’un titre lorsque le cours-cible est atteint.* Code Isin : LU0690028625

Le président de Prigest SA a sa réponse. Dans un courrier envoyé par un conseil de la société Dexia SA et daté du 9 novembre, l’établissement franco-belge est revenu sur les lettres - au nombre de six - que Christian Cambier a envoyé à Pierre Mariani, administrateur délégué de l'établissement franco-belge et qui reprenaient, entre autres, les fautes et les manquements du management (lire Newsmanagers du 21/10/2011). Dans sa réponse, Dexia SA se dit société anonyme de droit belge obéissant de fait en matière d’obligations d’informations au droit belge et non français. De fait, tandis que Christian Cambier l’avait demandé, «aucune des opérations envisagées par Dexia SA ne requiert en droit belge la tenue d’une assemblée générale des actionnaires». En outre, alors que le président de Prigest SA avait aussi abordé la question d’un possible délit d’initié, l’établissement a notamment indiqué que c’est la FSMA, le régulateur belge, qui est responsable du contrôle du respect de la règlementation en matière d’abus de marché et de délit d’initié. Pour ce qui la concerne, «Dexia se conforme à ses obligations en la matière». Pour conclure, l'établissement rappelle également qu’il n’est pas impliquée ni directement, ni indirectement dans d’éventuels accords ou arrangements particuliers entre les Etats belge ou français et certains actionnaires de référence. Dexia SA ajoute n’avoir connaissance d’aucun arrangement de ce type. Enfin, la société invite Christian Cambier à s’enquérir auprès de certains actionnaires tels que la Caisse des dépôts et consignations de leurs intentions, n’étant pas davantage informée sur ce sujet.

Le gestionnaire entrepreneurial français IT Asset Management (environ 150 millions d’euros d’encours) a recruté Inès Thibault comme responsable commerciale France, Elle était précédemment directrice commerciale d’Algofi.D’autre part, Pierre Nicolle a été recruté comme commercial France. Il avait rejoint le gestionnaire en décembre 2009 en tant que stagiaire assistant commercial après avoir été chargé de développement des grands comptes dans une SSII spécialiste en Finance. Il est chargé du suivi et de la distribution des fonds en France auprès d’une clientèle institutionnelle et de conseillers en gestion de patrimoine.Par ailleurs, IT Asset Management renforce sa commercialisation en Europe, avec l’enregistrement du fonds IT Funds Info Tech en Espagne et un nouveau partenaire commercial au Royaume-Uni, Gemini Investment Management.