Skandia Investment Group (SIG) vient de faire agréer en France le Skandia Asian Equity Fund, son nouveau produit investi sur les actions asiatiques hors Japon. Ce compartiment de la Sicav Skandia Global Funds plc, créé en mars, est géré par MIR, une société de gestion qui affiche un encours de 1,4 milliard de dollars et qui gère depuis près de deux ans la poche actions asiatiques du Skandia Global Dynamic Equity Fund de François Zagame. Les équipes de gestion de MIR se concentrent sur les titres offrant à la fois une valeur et un momentum attrayants. Ils construisent des portefeuilles comprenant de 60 à 100 lignes, piochées au sein de l’univers des actions asiatiques (hors Japon). Cette méthodologie a produit, historiquement, des portefeuilles assez atypiques, avec un biais petites et moyennes capitalisations, explique SIG. MIR a associé les compétences de John Beggs, chief financial officer, et de son équipe d’analystes quantitatifs basés en Australie, à celles de Kenny Tjan et de son équipe d’une quinzaine d’analystes fondamentaux, répartis entre leurs bureaux de Sydney, Singapour, Hong Kong et Shanghai.

Oddo Asset Management a annoncé ce vendredi 17 juin la création d’une structure dédiée à la gestion alternative, Oddo Alternative Investment, et le lancement d’une stratégie de gestion alternative dédiée aux arbitrages de fusions-acquisitions. Selon Guido Mundt, directeur général d’Oddo AM, «ce lancement est un bel exemple de synergie issue du rapprochement avec Banque d’Orsay. Il confirme aussi notre ambition d’accélérer notre développement en proposant de nouvelles offres adaptées à notre clientèle».Préparée depuis plusieurs mois, cette stratégie de performance absolue, Orsay Merger Arbitrage, consiste principalement à investir dans des sociétés faisant l’objet d’une offre publique de rachat de leurs actions, afin de bénéficier de l'écart entre le cours de l’action et le prix proposé par l’acquéreur.Cette stratégie prend la forme juridique d’un hedge fund domicilié en Irlande libellé en euro à vocation diversifiée, qui comportera entre 60 et 90 positions dans tous les secteurs et sur toutes tailles d’opérations en donnant la préférence aux marchés organisés. Actuellement, le fonds comporte 71 lignes, notamment sur l’Amérique du Nord où se concentre actuellement une bonne partie des opérations de fusions et acquisitions.Le levier moyen a été fixé à 2,5, avec un levier capé à trois sur le long terme et à 4 en rajoutant le court terme. Le hedge fund disposera de deux prime brokers, Goldman Sachs et Deutsche Bank et d’un dépositaire teneur de comptes valorisateur, Bank of New York Mellon. Le fonds n’affiche pas d’objectif mais «sur la base de l’activité pour compte propre menée par Orsay entre 2006 et 2010, la performance annualisée atteint 8,4% net de frais», précise Pierre Baudard qui a pris la tête de la nouvelle structure, Oddo Alternative Investment.La stratégie a été lancée le 1er juin, avec un financement initial du groupe Oddo à hauteur de 100 millions d’euros. «Compte du niveau d’expertise de l'équipe d’Orsay et de son track record, un tel capital d’amorçage de 100 millions d’euros nous a semblés approprié, même si les niveaux de seed money sont généralement beaucoup plus modestes», relève Pierre Baudard.L’objectif est d’atteindre 300 millions d’euros d’encours d’ici à fin 2012, en particulier auprès d’investisseurs qualifiés européens et asiatiques, à savoir investisseurs institutionnels (fonds de pension), family offices et fund of hedge funds. Dans un premier temps, le fonds va privilégier le marché français et européen. Le ticket d’entrée a été fixé à 1 million d’euros. La nouvelle structure compte neuf personnes, dont quatre gérants et trois professionnels de la conformité et du risque, et s’appuie sur le savoir-faire de Christian Fleury qui a piloté pendant de nombreuses années la stratégie «arbitrage de fusions-acquisitions» pour le compte propre de la Banque d’Orsay. L'équipe d’origine, -outre Christian Fleury, Karin Benguigui, Sofiane Cheraba et Jérôme Aubourg-, a été rejointe par Frédéric Hecht, François-Xavier Delorme, Frédéric Neyraut et Gregory Guez de chez Oddo AM. Pierre Baudard ne cache pas ses ambitions mais ne veut pas non plus brûler les étapes. «Il est trop tôt pour envisager d’autres expertises. Nous allons d’abord nous concentrer sur cette stratégie et je peux vous assurer que nous sommes très confiants», lance-t-il.

La banque privée Neuflize OBC a annoncé le 16 juin la mise en place d’un dispositif de formation autour de quatre axes principaux : juridique et fiscal, réglementaire, assurance et relation commerciale. Un dispositif modulaire qui repose sur quatre formations diplômantes ou certifiantes (L’approche gloable du chef d’entreprise, la certification INSEAD –Institut européen d’administration des affaires-, la certification AMF et l’habilitation EPA –Ecole Polytechnique de l’Assurance).Avec cette nouvelle offre, Neuflize OBC «entend consolider le socle d’expertises de ses banquiers et de ses départements supports afin d’aller plus loin dans la qualité de l’accompagnement proposé à ses clients», indique la banque dans un communiqué.

iShares, la plateforme d’ETF de BlackRock, vient de faire enregistrer en France des ETF actions couverts contre le risque de change. Il s’agit du iShares MSCI Japan Monthly EUR Hedged, du iShares MSCI World Monthly EUR Hedged et du iShares S&P500 Monthly EUR Hedged. Ces trois fonds à réplication physique ont été lancés en octobre 2010 sur le London Stock Exchange pour répondre à la demande des investisseurs pour les actions couvertes du risque de change. Depuis, ils ont collecté 534 millions de dollars. «Ces nouveaux produits permettent aux investisseurs d’investir à l’échelle mondiale et de couvrir leur exposition aux devises en une seule opération, sans avoir à surveiller ou maintenir une couverture de change», explique un communiqué. «Les indices intègrent une couverture de change mensuelle, avec des expositions aux devises couvertes par un contrat de future à 1 mois. La couverture n’est donc pas ajustée au cours du mois aux fluctuations des prix des titres, aux mouvements d’indices ou de sociétés et réduit donc, plutôt que d’éliminer, l’exposition au risque de change». L’équipe de gestion des devises de State Street Global Markets a été choisie pour gérer la couverture du risque de change.

Mandarine Gestion vient de recruter Louis Desforges, qui rejoint l’équipe dirigée par Marie-Claire Marques en tant que responsable du développement distribution. Agé de 31 ans, il était précédemment chez Axa IM où il était dernièrement en charge des partenariats au sein du pôle CGPI (2006-2011).Louis Desforges succède à Sophie Caillaut, qui reste au sein de Mandarine Gestion mais rejoint Valérie Weber au sein du pôle clientèle institutionnelle. Sophie Caillaut avait participé à la création de la société en 2008, après avoir été responsable du développement retail chez CCR (2005-2008).

Alors que les premiers États généraux de l'économie sociale et solidaire (ESS) débutent aujourd’hui au Palais Brongniart, Jean Michel Lécuyer, responsable du financement des entreprises solidaires de France Active, a fait part dans la Tribune de son souhait de voir l’ESS bénéficier de davantage de circuits de financement. Pour le responsable, il convient donc de donner davantage de visibilité aux placements et aux investissements solidaires comme l’a permis l’obligation légale de présenter au moins un fonds solidaire dans les dispositifs d'épargne salariale depuis janvier 2010. «L’objectif est désormais de développer de nouveaux produits d'épargne solidaires et de favoriser son essor dans des placements répandus comme l’assurance vie», a précisé Jean Michel Lécuyer.

The Cologne-based wealth management firm Flossbach von Storch (FvS, EUR4.5bn in assets) on 16 June announced that it has recruited Michael Otto as director of the wealth management and new client recruitment team. He was most recently a board member for private banking operations at Berenberg Bank.FvS on 1 June also recruited Susanne Scarpitani as director of distribution for intermediaries, broker pools, and unit-linked insurance solutions. She previously worked at Ethna Capital in advising and client service.

SwissLife Banque Privée, which has recently acquired a 25% stake in Prigest SA (see Newsmanagers of 07/06/2011), earlier this week announced that Ylan Cattan has joined its teams as a private banker. Cattan joined the team on 17 March, and will assist the bank’s clients in optimising their private and professional portfolios, a statement says. He will report to Daniel Resta, in charge of private clients. Cattan, 32, had previously served as a private banker at Barclays Patrimoine, from 2004.

The French boutique Mandarine Gestion has recruited Louis Desforges, who joins a team led by Marie-Claire Marques as head of distribution development. Desforges, 31, was previously at Axa IM, where he was most recently head of partnerships in the IFA unit (2006-2011). Desforges succeeds Sophie Caillaut, who remains at Mandarine, and will join Valérie Weber in the institutional clients unit. Caillaut participated in the creation of Mandarine Gestion in 2008, after serving as head of retail development at CCR (2005-2008).

Ameriprise Financial, the parent company of the management firms Threadneedle Investments and Columbia Management Investment, has approved a share buyback program for USD2bn. The plan will be valid until 28 June 2013. In first quarter 2011, the US firm already bought back USD969m of its own shares, out of a total of USD1.5bn initially planned.

In a letter to investors dated 25 May, activist investor William Ackman has announced that he is planning to acquire permanent capital through a launch of the management firm Pershing Square Capital Management on the stock exchange by the end of the year, the Wall Street Journal reports, adding that the IPO will be held in London, as a Depression-era law in the United States forbids hedge funds from raising capital from retail clients, and allows them to sollicit only high net worth private clients as shareholders.In his letter, Ackman says that his activist approach can function best if it has capital which it can be confident will not be withdrawn. Currently, the fund’s only permanent resources are investments from the oldest employees a the fund, and from other affiliates, which represent about 8% of the fund’s available capital.

“In two months, we will have modified our workflow,” Lieven Op de Beeck, junior portfolio manager, explained on 16 Junein Paris at a presentation of the Petercam Equities Europe Sustainable fund (BE0940002729). The Belgian management firm is planning to bring all the stages of the investment process after scoring, the analysis which the firm will continue to purchase from Vigeo, in-house, including weighting, determination of the investment universe (best-in-class, the 40% best-rated in each sector), the investment process, and the construction of the portfolio. Currently, in addition to scoring, Vigeo also provides weighting and determination of the universe (with the use of exclusionary criteria).SRI strategy currently represents about EUR150m at Petercam, for the Petercam Equities Europe Sustainable fund, which is designed as a core portfolio product, and the Luxembourg government bond fund Petercam L Bonds Government Sustainable (EUR92.6m as of the end of May). In addition to that, the firm has EUR20m in the form of mandates.

Paola Arce, who was a salesperson for DWS Investments (Deutsche Bank), after serving as a product specialist, is joining Man-GLG in London to support the Spanish team in Madrid, led by Kyril of Sachsen-Coburg. She will assist in communications with Spanish investors, marketing, and acquisition of new clients.

In the first four months of the year, Deka (savings banks) has seen net redemptions of EUR3.5bn from open-ended securities funds. At Allianz Global Investors (AGI) and Union Investment (co-operative banks), net outflows have totalled EUR1.7bn and EUR556m. Only DWS (Deutsche Bank) has managed to attract net subscriptions, of EUR390m, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. The four main asset management firms in the country together account for 70% of the market, but the foreign competition is trying to catch up with them, attracted by the weakness of the German model, which is based excessively on captive networks. However, not all foreign management firms are making inroads. Despite their good product line, Pictet has only EUR31.6m in assets, according to BVI statistics. Entering the German market isn’t easy, since you need about EUR800,000 per year for costs in order to open a small distribution office in Germany, meaning that the minimal assets to cover those costs are about EUR100m. It may be far more, since German investors prefer bond funds, which earn less in commissions, and are less enthusiastic for newcits, emerging markets corporate debt, or Asian small caps, which are more lucrative for asset management firms.

With the creation of BNY Mellon Clearing International Limited (BNYMCIL), the first MiFID-compliant entity to be created in Ireland, the US group BNY Mellon is making a compensation structure for transactions on futures contracts and other derivatives available to its institutional clients in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The new Dublin-based affiliate is subject to supervision by the Central Bank of Ireland. It will create 50 jobs in Ireland in the next two years, as BNY Mellon, which already has 1,800 employees in the country and is the largest provider of fund administration, is planning to become a compensating member on the major stock markets via this entity. The CEO Of BNYMCIL will be Tim Murphy, who will report to Sanjay Kannambadi, CEO and global head of BNY Mellon Clearing LLC (BNYMC), based in New York.

From 16 June, calculation of net asset value and subscriptions and redemptions of shares will once again be possible for the open-ended real estate fund UniImmo: Global (DE0009805556), which Union Investment Real Estate (UIRE) had frozen from 17 March due to the high percentage of Japanese assets in the portfolio, following the tsunami and nuclear disaster at Fukushima (see Newsmanagers of 18 March).The new evaluation of the seven Tokyo properties in the fund has resulted in a downward adjustment to its book value of EUR26.5m. However, as a property in Singapore was valued upwards at the same time by EUR20.2m, the net asset value of the fund comes to EUR51.50 per share. In the twelve months to 16 June, the fund has seen losses of 2.59%, compared with 2.16% as of 16 March, when subscriptions and redemptions were frozen.UIRE also states that the UniImmo: Global fund will on 28 June pay out an unchanged dividend of EUR1.40 per share for the 2010-2011 fiscal year.

The series of UBS high dividend equities funds in Germany has grown by two with the release of two Luxembourg equity products, the UBS Asien High Dividend Fonds (ISIN LU0525544449) and the UBS Schwellenmarkt High Dividend Fonds (ISIN LU0625543631). As their names indicate, the funds are oriented to Asia and emerging markets, respectively. The former (40-60 positions) is managed by Shou-Pin Choo, while the latter (maximum of 75 positions) is managed by Uri Antonioli. They will aim for gross dividend yields of 4% to 4.9%.

Asian Investor reports that the sovereign fund Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) has invested about USD900m in index-based products derived from the FTSE and based on active management strategies. KIC, whose assets under management total about USD45bn, is planning to invest 1% to 2% of its assets in strategies of this type.

Threadneedle has recruited Jiun Wong, based in Hong Kong, who has resigned from his position as senior director of institutional sales for Asia ex Japan at AllianceBernstein.Asian Investor reports that Threadneedle will subsequently provide further details of the position that Wong will hold at his new employer. The website adds that sources close to the case say Wong may report directly to the chairman of Threadneedle Asia, Raymond Yu, or he may report to the vice-chairman for the region.Wong, a native of Hong Kong, spent seven years at AllianceBernstein, and was involved in enlarging assets under management from institutional investors.

Hyposwiss private bank, which is owned by the cantonal bank of St. Gall, on 16 June announced that it has appointed Kurt Frischknecht as director of its private banking Switzerland/Germany/Austria division, effective from 1 July 2011. Frischknecht succeeds Andreas Moser, who since November 2010 has been director of the private banking division. The position as director will also require that Frischkencht be appointed as a member of the extended board of directors; he is currently senior relationship manager in the private banking Switzerland/Germany/Austria division.

With the recruitment of Cédric Daras, who since 2008 had been co-manager of corporate bond and convertibles funds at Métropole Gestion in Paris (where he began in 2003), Geneva-based Reyl Asset Management (RAM) has made an addition to its bond team. Daras, a senior fund manager, will now co-manage the Reyl Quality Bond and Reyl Diversified Income funds. He is a specialist in bottom-up stock picking, and will work alongside Stéphane Decrauzat, head of the fixed income team at RAM, an expert in global macro style. Stéphane Decrauzat says that the recruitment of Daras “is a sign of the desire of Reyl Asset Management to add to its fixed income operations, extend its expertise, and allocate the necessary resources for its expansion.”

Julius Baer, which has offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Cairo and Istanbul, has announced that it has appointed Edmond Carton as new head Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean effective June 15. He will be based in Geneva and report directly to Rémy Bersier, CEO Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East, Africa and European Francophone markets. Edmond Carton joins Julius Baer from Credit Suisse where he has been head of the UHNWI segment for Middle East, India and Turkey. At Julius Baer, he succeeds Olivier Meystre, who has been head Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean since September 2008. Olivier Meystre will remain with Julius Baer as senior advisor to Rémy Bersier.

iShares, the ETF platform from BlackRock, has registered equities ETFs hedged for currency risks in France. The products are the iShares MSCI Japan Monthly EUR Hedged, iShares MSCI World Monthly EUR Hedged and iShares S&P500 Monthly EUR Hedged. The three physical replication funds were launched on the London Stock Exchange in 2010, to meet demand from investors for equities hedged for currency risks. Since then, the product have attracted USD534m in assets. The currency management team at State Street Global Markets was selected to manage hedging for currency risks.

Aviva is to launch the Aviva Equity Fund on 1 July, fundweb reports. The fund, with USD85m in assets, will invest in 60 to 80 businesses of all cap sizes, with a bottom-up, absolute return approach. Henry Sanders, manager of the fund, will initially go overweight in consumer goods and underweight in financials.

Skandia Investment Group (SIG) has licensed the Skandia Asian Equity Fund, its new product investing in Asia ex Japan equities, for sale in France. The sub-fund of the Sicav Skandia Global Funds plc, founded in March, is managed by MIR, a management firm with assets of USD1.4bn, which has managed the equities allocation of the Skandia Global Dynamic Equity Fund by François Zagame for nearly two years.

Invesco PowerShares on 16 June launched a new range of ETFs designed by Research Affiliates, which PowerShares says represents the first range of ETFs weighted according to fundamental data. The PowerShares Fundamental Pure Portfolio ETF includes growth, core and value, large cap, mid cap and small cap ETFs.

Subscriptions to the new Vanguard Emerging Markets Select Stock Fund are open until 27 June. The equities fund charges fees of 0.9%, and requires an initial subscription of USD3,000; it will be advised by M&G Investment Management, Oaktree Capital Management, Pzena Investment Management, and Wellington Management Company. Assets will be distributed in 25% allotments to these managers respectively. Vanguard will charge a 2% penalty to be paid into the fund to investors presenting their shares for redemption after less than 60 days in the fund.

The quantitative management firm Aequam Capital on Thursday, 16 June 2011 announced the launch of an UCITS III systematic multi-currency fund. The Aequam Currencies Fund is aimed at professional investor clients, such as private banks, multi-managers, institutional investors, treasurers, and family offices.The mutual fund is offered in two currencies (US dollars and euros) and is decorrelated from fixed income and equities markets, with a volatility objective near that of the equities markets.Aequam Currencies Fund, which invests in a universe composed of currencies of the G10 and 9 emerging markets currencies, is based on four drivers of performance: trend monitoring, to detect trends in the evolution of currency parities, carry trade, a differential between interest rates in two currencies, the evolution of the tracking error dynamic between two currencies, and lastly, the appetite for risk of investors, which determines the use of the first three strategies, or inversely, a return to the long-term average value of partities established by contrarian strategies, a statement says.Management is based on diversification of underlyings (at least 15 parities), low correlation between strategies, and a risk-based management of the fund (management constrained by a predefined risk budget, VaR, weekly, 95%).Characteristics:ISIN codes:FR0010969220 (P Euro shares)/FR0010969246 (I1 Euro shares)/FR0010969279 (I2 shares)Size of shares: EUR1,000 (P shares)/EUR250,000 or equivalent in US dollars (I shares)

According to a study by Barclays Capital, cited by HedgeWeek, appetite for hedge funds operated by women or minorities appears to be increasing. And the assets potentially in play could be very significant, and might be as much as USD378bn. Currently, the number of hedge funds run by women or minorities remains low, representing only 3.3% of hedge funds.

Money Marketing reports that BlackRock has seen its inflows to index-based products double in the past twelve months, to GBP1.35bn. In the past six months alone, during which BlackRock launched three new funds, inflows totalled GBP800m.