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16/06/2011

Invesco Real Estate acquires a property in Paris

Invesco Real Estate on 15 June reported that it has acquired the property located at 46 rue La Boétie in Paris from a fund managed by LaSalle Investment Management. The transaction was undertaken on behalf of a pan-European German real estate fund; the 2,400 square-meter property is wholly leased to 6 tenants, including Allianz Real Estate, Financial Times, Optimind.
16/06/2011

Ecofi launches a variable rate bond fund

Ecofi Investissements has launched the Ecofi Taux Variable fund, a fund composed of variable-rate bonds denominated in euros, with the objective of outperforming the Euribor 3-month, with a maximal bond sensitivity of 1, and a maximal maturity of the securities of 5 years. For institutional investors who subscribe to I-class shares, the performance objective of the fund is to earn returns over a one-year investment period higher than those of the Euribor 3-month plus 0.30%. For retail investors who subscribe to P-class shares, the fund aims to earn returns higher than the Euribor 3-month over a one-year investment period.The initial management universe includes 1,200 issues. After financial analysis of the business with a credit approach, application of quantitative filters, and a detailed analysis of issues, also with a responsibility filter, 120 eligible issues are retained. Ultimately, the portfolio includes investment-grade securities, with a total rating of BBB- to AAA, while issuers with a BBB rating may not exceed 50% of the total. The portfolio is also composed of a maximum of 25 issuers. In case the rating of a security falls below BBB-, or ratings are discontinued, the fund may retain unrated securities or those with a rating lower than BBB- as accessory investments.Characteristics:ISIN code: I-class shares: FR0011045137 / P-class shares: FR0011048511Subscription commission: P-class shares: 2.5% maximumMaximal management fees: I-class shares: 0.40% / P-class shares: 0.70%Performance commission: 20% of annual performance exceeding the Euribor capitalised rateInitial value of shares: I-class: EUR10,000 / P-class shares: EUR1,000Benchmark index: Euribor 3-month
16/06/2011

First significant net outflows in May for US commodities funds

In the United States, net inflows to long-term mutual funds (excluding money markets) in May totalled USD22.55bn, bringing total net subscriptions in the first five months of the year to USD135.7bn, according to statistics from Morningstar.US equities saw their first significant net outflow since the beginning of the year, with redemptions totalling USD4.5bn in May. Over five months, inflows to funds dedicated to US equities total USD23.86bn. Commodities funds in May saw a net outflow of USD5.76bn.Bond funds attracted a further USD20.76bn, bringing subscriptions over five months to USD80.48bn. Money market funds saw a further net outflow of USD2.46bn. Over five months, redemptions total USD76.73bn.For ETFs, May brought a net outflow of USD3.1bn, following net inflows of USD23.3bn in April. In the fist five months of the year, net inflows total USD47.51bn.US equities ETFs fell back into the red in May, with net outflows of USD2.70bn, compared with net inflows of USD10.2bn in April. Since the beginning of the year, net inflows total USD20.29bn.
16/06/2011

Pictet to launch total return credit fund on 24 June

Funds People reports that Pictet Asset Management will officially launch its UCITS-compliant total return credit fund Kosmos on 24 June (see Newsmanagers of 25 May and 14 June). The Luxembourg-registered fund will be managed by Raymond Sagayam and Kazik Swiderski, who have recently been recruited from Swiss Re Asset Management.
16/06/2011

UBI Pramerica sells hedge funds to Tages

UBI Pramerica, the Italian asset management firm co-owned by the Italian UBI Banca group and the US firm Prudential Financial, will be selling its alternative management business to Tages Capital, an independent asset management firm, confirming reports which had previously appeared in Il Sole – 24 Ore. The activities include three hedge funds, Capitalgest Alternative Conservative, Capitalgest Alternative Dynamic, and Capitalgest Alternative Equity Hedge, which represent assets of about EUR290m. As part of the deal, UBI Pramerica will take a 10% stake in Tages. It also includes a distribution agreement for several years, of sales of Tages hedge funds through the UBI Banca network. The investment team at Tages will be directed by Salvatore Cordaro, former global head of portfolio management of Credit Suisse. With this deal, UBI Pramerica refocuses its activities on traditional investment.
16/06/2011

Institutional investors concerned about interest rate risks

About 70% of European institutional investors surveyed by Allianz Global Investors (AGI) in its most recent RiskMonitor survey say that interest rate risks are at their highest of the past 12 months; 61% of the executives surveyed say that government bonds represent a high to very high risk. However, they also estimate that the risk of a fall in equity prices is also a significant risk.Elizabeth Corley, CEO of AGI Europe, also says that since the onset of the financial crisis, and also due to regulatory issues, tail risks are also considered a significant risk.However, 76% of institutionals surveyed say they are convinced that the euro will survive in its current form, while only 6% hold the opposite opinion.AGI also states that only 29% of the panel estimate that tougher regulations represent a serious risk, while 20% are of the same opinion about reporting requirements.
16/06/2011

Liontrust in the red for fiscal year to 31 March

Liontrust, which has put through a fundamental restructuring plan for its asset management activities, has reported pre-tax losses for the fiscal year to 31 March 2011 of GBP1.7m, compared with pre-tax profits of GBP800,000 in the previous fiscal year.Proceeds from performance commissions contracted to GBP1.3m from GBP3.4m previously. Assets under management as of the end of March 2011 totalled GBP1.1bn, compared with GBP1.3bn one year previously. As a result of the restructuring, however, net inflows for the period totalled GBP81m, a positive net inflow for the first time since 2004. Liontrust adds in a statement that as of 14 June 2011, assets under management were back up to GBP1.3bn.
16/06/2011

Aberdeen AM appoints a head of property development

Aberdeen Asset Management has appointed Roberto Varandas as global head of business development – property, a newly created role. He and his four strong team will work closely with the group’s generalist business development and wider distribution teams in delivery of the Aberdeen’s property capability to its worldwide client base. He will start his new role in September.Roberto Varandas joins from UBS Global Asset Management’s Global Real Estate (GRE) business where he was head of business development for Continental Europe. Separately, Aberdeen Asset Management has announced that Mrs Francoise Pfeiffer has joined the board of directors of the Aberdeen European Balanced Property Fund and the Aberdeen European Shopping property Fund as of 1 June 2011. She is partner and head of the Luxembourg branch of the British law firm Speechly Bircham Pfeiffer & Partners.
16/06/2011

Axel Wieandt joins Credit Suisse

Axel Wieandt, the former chairman of the managing board at Hypo Real Estate (HRE), who served from October 2008 to March 2010, will be leaving his present position as managing director of the corporate center at Deutsche Bank, in order to join Credit Suisse Germany in Frankfurt on 1 July, as managing director of the investment bank for Germany and Austria. He will also be a member of the EMEA financial institutions group, Credit Suisse states.Johannes Baratta, who was head of key clients at Deutsche Bank in London until the end of March, is also joining Credit Suisse Deutschland as head private banking.
16/06/2011

German institutional investors lose confidence in real estate

Between the 2010 edition of a survey by the German agencies Telos and Kommalpha of 170 German institutional investors and this year’s edition of the survey, the percentage of management firms which have invested in institutional real estate funds has fallen from 29% to 13%, the Börsen-Zeitung reports. Meanwhile, the percentage of institutional investors who are not at all invested in real estate funds has increased to 45.7% in February-March this year, compared with 28% one year previously.
16/06/2011

Number of millionaires now exceeds one million in German-speaking countries

According to an annual survey by the Liechtenstein asset manager Valluga, in 2010, in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, there were a record 1.054 million people with financial savings of at least EUR1m, compared with 985,000 in 2009, and 910,000 in 2008. Last year, Valluga counted 830,000 euro millionaires in Germany, 15,000 in Switzerland, and 74,000 in Austria.This 7% increase in the number of millionaires compared with 2009 corresponds to an increase of 9.3%, or EUR243bn, in total wealth, to a record EUR2.849trn, of which EUR2.191trn are for Germans, EUR428bn for Swiss, and EUR203bn for Austrians. The 10 most wealthy households, all of which are billionaire households, control 9% of the wealth of all millionaires combined, and 3% of all household financial savings. The wealth of these billionaires is increasing by about 10% per year, while the millionaires’ wealth is increasing by 2% per year.In terms of asset allocation, the Valluga study finds that in 2010, millionaires placed 18% of their savings in cash, compared with 16% in 2009. Exposure to equities remains highest, at 33% (unchanged). There is a growing trend toward investments in “real” assets: allocation to real estate is up to 15%, from 14% in 2009, and 13% in 2008. The total amounts allocated to commodities represent 7% of the total, compared with 6% in 2009, and 5% in 2005. Lastly, the proportion allocated to gold is up to 3%, compared with 2% for each of the two previous years. Allocation to hedge funds remains stable at 4% of the total, compared with 3% the previous year, and 4% in 2008.
16/06/2011

BarclayHedge confirms that hedge funds show losses in May

Following HFR and Dow Jones Credit Suisse (see Newsmanagers of 10 June), BarclayHedge has become the next to report that hedge funds lost money last month. On average, of the 1,772 funds which had supplied results as of 15 June, losses total 1.10%, meaning that returns in the first five months of the year were down to 1.90%.Of the 16 categories or strategies covered by BarclayHedge, five showed gains, with the best returns for equity short bias (5 funds), at 2.02%, while the heaviest losses were for the 254 emerging markets funds (-1.08%). The strongest returns are 8,73% for the 21 health and biotechnologies funds.
16/06/2011

Russell Investments hires a head of institutional development in France

Russell Investments on Wednesday, 15 June announced that it has added to its Paris office, with the recruitment of Aurélie Ferrer as director of institutional development. Ferrer, 37, joins the business at a time when it is aiming to develop in the institutional segment, and to undertake strategic initiatives such as dynamic management of diversified assets, investment solutions to respond to Solvency II requirements, and transition management and implementation services activities, a statement says. Since 2007, Ferrer had been sub-director for institutional clients at Rothschild & Cie Gestion.
16/06/2011

Carlyle buys 55% stake in hedge fund manager ESG

The Carlyle Group has announced announced that it has agreed to purchase a 55% stake in ESG, a New York-based emerging markets equities and macroeconomic strategies investment manager with assets under management of about USD1.6bn. ESG has been supported for nearly 10 years by Tiger Management, which will remain present in the firm’s capital, and which will maintain its commitments to ESG funds. The deal is Carlyle’s tenth acquisition of a hedge fund management firm in six months. Last December, Carlyle took a majority stake in Claren Road Asset Management, a long/short hedge fund focused on credit, with assets under management of USD4.5bn. Like Carlyle, many private equity firms are developing asset management and advising activities, at a time when profits from LBO operations are falling. At the Carlyle group, the Global Market Strategies division, which includes types of hedge funds such as long/short credit, distressed vehicles, mezzanine and structured credit, had assets under management as of the end of December 2010 of USD20.6bn.
16/06/2011

New Alpha AM to launch an Asian incubation fund

New Alpha Asset Management, the incubation business of the French OFI group, has formed a partnership with Woori Absolute Partners, a company of the Korean Woori group dedicated to alternative investments. The alliance will involve the launch and the management of an incubation fund, which will invest in funds from some of the most promising young Asian asset management firms. Concretely, “New Alpha will contribute its expertise in the incubation profession (due diligence, wealth engineering, partnership structuring), while Woori Absolute Partners, based in Singapore, will contribute its local network for sourcing as well as investors for funds of funds,” says Antoine Rolland, CEO of NewAlpha, adding that governance is shared for investment decisions.Woori AP and NewAlpha AM have signed an incubation partnership with the management firm Blue Rice Investment Management (BRIM), founded and directed by Guan Ong, formerly chief investment officer at the Korean Investment Corporation, the South Korean sovereign fund. The firm, based in Singapore, is specialised in corporate credit and Asian government bonds.The future fund of funds, which will be aimed primarily at European and Asian institutional investors, will be launched in fourth quarter this year, and will be registered in Singapore. Rolland says that the target asset level is EUR200m for the fund, of which 25% will come from Europe.
16/06/2011

Azimut launches a UCITS III-compliant renminbi fund

The Italian asset manager Azimut has launched Renminbi Opportunities, a UCITS III fund in Europe to invest directly on the Chinese currency. It is a subfund of the Luxembourg company AZFUND investing in banking deposits in Renminbi (Rmb), or in government and corporate bonds in the same currency and with a short duration (slightly above 12 months). Azimut says that Renminbi Opportunities is the first fund offering a direct exposure to the Chinese currency through a UCITS III vehicle. The product is also the first since the establishment from the Italian asset manager of a direct presence in Hong Kong and Shanghai. It targets especially European businesses with industrial and commercial relationships with China. The minimum investment is EUR250,000. In a second phase the fund, or other of this kind, could be open to retail clients.
16/06/2011

CQS to close its ABS fund to new investors

The credit hedge fund specialist CQS will be closing its ABS fund to new investors once it reaches USD2bn in assets, the Financial Times reports. The fund is currently at USD1.6bn, but has received many commitments from clients. Since its launch in 2006, the CQS ABS fund has earned average annual returns of 35%.
16/06/2011

Julius Bär appoints a Middle East director

Bank Julius Bär on 15 June announced the appointment, with immediate effect, of Edmond Carton as head of the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean section. Carton, who will be based in Geneva, will report to Rémy Bersier, CEO of the Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East, Africa and European Francophone markets section.Carton previously worked at Credit Suisse, where he was head of the high net worth client segment for the Middle East, India and Turkey.
16/06/2011

FSA monitoring ETP products

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) says it is concerned by the risks represented by exchange-traded products (ETP), which are 90% composed of ETFs, amd which are not adequately explained to investors. The agency says that it is prepared to act in order to act proactively to prevent consumer disputes, Money Marketing reports.“We have pledged to act without delay if we identify potential risks, and we will not wait for those risks to materialise,” the head of deontology at the FSA, Sheila Nicoll, announced at a press conference in London. Nicoll adds that the FSA is working in close collaboration with European and international authorities to address risks related to these vehicles.
16/06/2011

Un fonds d’incubation asiatique en préparation

NewAlpha Asset Management et Woori Absolute Partners ont décidé de s’allier en vue de lancer prochainement un fonds d’incubation spécialisé sur la zone Asie Pacifique. Ce véhicule d’investissement sera enregistré à Singapour et investira dans les fonds offerts par les jeunes gérants asiatiques jugés les plus prometteurs.
16/06/2011

L’audit des courtiers américains en voie de renforcement

Selon une proposition de la SEC, les courtiers dépositaires des fonds devraient bientôt subir un examen annuel par un cabinet d’audit assermenté afin de s’assurer qu’ils respectent les règles de protection du consommateur. Cette mesure vise à améliorer la supervision d’un secteur secoué par l’affaire Madoff.
16/06/2011

L'Irlande cible les créanciers seniors

Dans un revirement plutôt spectaculaire, le ministre irlandais des Finances a fait part hier de sa volonté d’imposer des pertes aux créanciers seniors d’Anglo Irish et Irish Nationwide. Michael Noonan dit bénéficier de la bienveillance du FMI, alors que la BCE rejette ce scénario.
16/06/2011

Le fonds de CQS est clos

Le fonds d’investissement basé à Londres serait sur le point de clôturer son fonds d’ABS (asset-backed securities), le «CQS ABS», à de nouveaux investisseurs, indique le quotidien qui évoque une lettre envoyée aux clients cette semaine. Le fonds, qui conserve nombre d’engagements de la part d’investisseurs, clôturerait finalement à 2 milliards de dollars.

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