HSBC Global Asset Management has recently launched four new ETFs on the London Stock Exchange, which provide acess to Asian markets. They are the ETF HSBC MSCI Korea, HSBC MSCI Indonesia, HSBC MSCI Malaysia, and HSBC MSCI Taiwan. Management fees total 0.6%, Money Marketing states.

As of 31 March, assets under management at Invesco Ltd totalled USD641.9bn, compared with USD641.1bn as of the end of February, and USD616.6bn as of 31 December 2010. Assets excluding ETFs and passive products totalled USD550.2bn, compared with USD552.4bn one month earlier, and USD535.7bn as of the end of last year.Legg Mason, for its part, has announced assets of USD677.6bn as of the end of first quarter, compared with USD671.8bn as of 31 December 2010; one year earlier, assets totalled USD684.5bn. Assets in long-term products totalled USD546.2bn three months previously.

Richmond Park Capital Holdings Limited, the parent company of Richmond Park Partners LLP, on 11 April 2011 completed its acquisition of the French asset management firm Olympia Group, previously controlled by Sagard Private Equity Partners and its other shareholders. The transaction was approved by the French and British regulatory authorities, the AMF (Autorité des Marchés Financiers) and FSA (Financial Services Authority). The acquisition will result in the full payment of all of the Olympia Group’s debts, a press statement says.

Russell Investments has announced the recruitment of Brian Burke as risk management officer, and Lance Babbit as senior portfolio manager. The two men will join the team dedicated to hedge funds, a statement says. Burke was previously executive director and head of the analysis team at Measurisk. Babbit was head of North America portfolio hedge fund of funds in the Alpha Strategies team at Credit Suisse.

The CNMV has issued a sales license for Spain for the Euro High Yield Short Term (LU0517222054, capitalisation shares, LU0517221833, distribution shares) sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav Petercam L Bonds, from the Belgian management firm Petercam. The product charges 0.7%, and was launched nine months ago (see newsmanagers of 14 September 2010). Assets now total nearly EUR50m.

Jeffrey Kautz has ceased to manage the Perkins US Strategic Value fund, Citywire reports. Thomas Perkins, who was previously co-manager of the fund, will now manage it with Todd Perkins. Kautz will remain as chief investment officer at Perkins, which is owned by Janus.

New York-based asset management firm Van Eck Global on 14 April announced the launch of the Market Vectors Russia Small-Cap ETF (NYSE Arca acronym: RSXJ), which it claims is the first ETF to allow US investors direct investment in a Russian small caps product, whereas available funds have previously focused on large caps.The Market Vectors Russia Small Cap ETF fund replicates the evolution of the Market Vectors Russia Small-Cap Index (MVRSXJTR), which as of 13 April consisted of 35 companies with an average market capitalisation of USD2.3bn. Of this total, utilities represent 18%; materials, 19%, and energy, 17%.The new fund charges fees of 0.67%.

The New York-based Dreyfus Corporation (USD400bn), an affiliate of BNY Mellon Asset Management, has announced the launch of the Dreyfus India Fund, a country fund which invests in Indian equities and bonds. The product will be sub-advised by Hamon U.S. Investment Advisors Limited, a Hong Kong firm specialised in Asian equities, which is controlled by Hamon Investment Group Ptd, in which BNY Mellon owns 19.9%.

The short-term bond fund AXA IM Euro Fixed Income Moderato, from AXA Investment Managers, released in November 2010 (see Newsmanagers of 29/11/2010), is now available in Germany. Permission to sell the fund in Germany was received on 25 March 2011, a statement says. The OPCVM fund, managed by the money market management team at Axa IM in Paris, aims for annualised net returns equal to the Eonia plys 25 basis points for shares in the I class, reserved for institutional investors.

After 21 years of work in the company, Jean-Baptiste de Franssu is leaving Invesco, where he has been CEO for Europe for 15 years. In a letter to his “European colleagues” at the US management firm, he has announced his departure. «I have agreed with Marty Flanagan [chairman and CEO of Invesco] that I will be pulling back from the day-to-day management of the business by the end of April, and will be leaving the company at the end of June to allow me to help James [Robertson] through the transition period», Jean-Baptiste de Franssu writes. James Robertson is leading the combined UK, Continental European and Middle Eastern business. The departure appears to be linked to a reorganisation at Invesco, which aims to strengthen the firm’s presence in continental Europe. «As many of you know and in order to increase our chances of winning significant market share, we have undertaken since November last year and at my request, a review of our presence in Europe. Its purpose is to ensure that we are in a position to fully leverage the strengths of our global company to continuously bring the best of Invesco to our clients», de Franssu says in his letter. In a separate letter, Marty Flanagan also discusses Invesco’s strategy in continental Europe at length. He says that the departure of de Franssu in June will give time to ensure a smooth transition of his responsibilities. He adds that Robertson will continue to lead a combined UK, Continental European and Middle Eastern business. . The management firm had no other comment when contacted by Newsmanagers. De Franssu will also remain as president of Efama until the end of his term, which will coincide with the date of his final departure from Invesco, Peter de Proft, CEO of the European association, has confirmed to Newsmanagers. A successor will be elected on 17 June in Lucerne.

Taking into account environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria concretely helps to considerably reduce tail risks, a study by risklab, an affiliate of Allianz Global Investors (AGI) specialised in investment strategy and risk management, entitled “ESG Portfolio Risk Reloaded,” has shown.Stefan Hörter, director of risklab, says that an application of ESG criteria to a portfolio of emerging markets equities reduces th risk of maximal losses to 38.8% per year, rather than 64.5% for the MSCI Emerging Market Index, with a conditional value at risk (CVaR) of 95%; it reduces the risk to 4.9% per year instead of 8.1% for a portfolio based on the Merrill Lynch Global Broad Market Corporate Index, in the area of corporate bonds. For equities of the MSCI World equity index, the tail risk of 38.1% per year with ESG criteria taken into account falls to 25.7%.risklab finds that the use of ESG management thus improves the risk/reward profile of a portfolio. As an example, the AGI affiliate considered a portfolio composed of 50% each equities and international bonds over a 20-year period. Optimised ESG portfolios composed of equities from industrialised or emerging countries or corporate bonds either limit maximal risk of loss at even performance by about a third, to 10.9%, or increase annual returns to 7%, while retaining the non-ESG risk profile.

UK-based Schroders on 18 April announced that in May and June it is planning to sell shares in an investment trust specialised in commodities, Schroders Opus Commodity Fund Ltd, which will be managed by Schroders NewFinance Capital, a multi-management affiliate specialised in absolute returns. The closed-end fund will be domiciled in Guernsey, and will offer subscribers access to a wide range of strategies from active managers, plus a portfolio of commodities futures managed directly by Schroders NewFinance Capital.The objective will be to outperform the DJ-UBS Commodity Total Return Index by 6 to 9 percentage points after fees, over a complete cycle. The fund will aim for 100% exposure to the benchmark index, with a tracking error of 5%.Management commission will be 0.60%. Schroders will then charge a 10% commission on performance exceeding the index, with high watermark.The manager of the fund will be David Mooney, assisted by Cédric Bellanger, three analysts, and a team of several data management, qualitative research and operational due diligence specialists. As of the end of March, the team was responsible for assets totalling over USD2.3bn.

LaSalle Investment Management (USD43bn in assets) on 18 April announced that it has teamed up with the broker BGC Partners (BGC) to offer clients a structure dedicated to real estate derivatives. In partnership with BGC, LaSalle will set up systems which will allow managers to identify new investment opportunities, and then to carry out a straight through processing, and to receive ongoing assistance. Managers at LaSalle will be able to weight portfolios in terms of geographical region, type of risk, or type of assets, while protecting the investor against potential falls on the markets.Alan Tripp, CEO of LaSalle Investment Management in the UK, says that LaSalle initially will concentrate on the British real estate derivatives market, which is one of the largest. “But we have set up internal processes which will then guarantee the necessary flexibility to increase our geographical coverage over time,” he adds.

Jupiter Fund Management achieved net inflows of GBP333 million across its products during the period, with continued inflows into mutual funds partially offset by segregated outflows. Mutual funds contributed first quarter net inflows of GBP397 million, driven by the fund of fund range and continued growth from the international channels, particularly into the Jupiter Global Convertibles and Jupiter Strategic Total Return SICAV products. During the quarter, segregated mandate net outflows of GBP71 million primarily resulted from a single client redeeming part of their portfolio. This decision was taken on fund reconstruction rather than performance grounds.AUM increased 2 per cent. from GBP24.1 billion as at 31 December 2010 to GBP24.5 billion as at 31 March 2011. Separately, on 18 March, Jupiter announced its intention to make an GBP80 million partial repayment of the bank loan facility during 2011. This repayment was made on 31 March 2011.

State Street Corporation has announced that it has been selected by Martin Currie Investment Management Limited to provide a range of fund accounting, securities custody and settlement and transfer services, as well as outsourcing of middle office services worldwide for all funds managed by Martin Currie.

Le «Deminor Active Governance Fund», le fonds géré par Deminor, veut laisser de côté l’appellation «activiste», trop souvent perçue comme négative, rapporte L’Echo. Il s’appellera dorénavant «The Deminor Catalyst Fund». Par ailleurs, Deminor lance une plate-forme commune avec le hedge fund Athamas, rebaptisé DIMLux, géré par Thomas de Mevius. Les deux structures devraient fusionner d’ici la fin de l’année.À terme, cette nouvelle plate-forme veut arriver à 100 millions d’euros sous gestion afin de se rapprocher des actionnaires institutionnels familiaux.Après le rapprochement, Deminor et Thomas de Mevius ont décidé de créer un troisième fonds baptisé «PV Buyback USA Fund», géré par Theo Vermaelen, professeur à l’INSEAD.

Lancé en novembre 2010, le fonds obligataire court terme AXA IM Euro Fixed Income Moderato d’AXA Investment Managers (voir notre article du 29/11/2010), est désormais commercialisé en Allemagne. L’autorisation pour la vente du fonds a été obtenue le 25 mars 2011, précise un communiqué. L’OPCVM, géré par l'équipe de gestion monétaire d’Axa IM à Paris, vise une performance nette annualisée égale au taux Eonia majoré de 25 points de base pour les parts de la catégorie «I» réservées aux investisseurs institutionnels.

Le 18 avril, la Deutsche Bank et LGT ont annoncé avoir mis un terme à leurs négociations en vue de la cession au groupe financier liechtensteinois de la BHF-Bank, que la banque allemande avait acquise lors du sauvetage de Sal. Oppenheim à l’automne 2009.D’après le communiqué, les deux parties avaient trouvé un accord sur les modalités de la transaction, mais le projet a dû être abandonné une fois recueillis les avis des autorités de surveillance ; la BaFin semblerait avoir eu quelques doutes «historiques» sur la fiabilité de LGT en matière de transparence fiscale (le souvenir de l’affaire LGT Treuhand et des évadés fiscaux allemands est encore très vivace) tandis que LGT aurait estimé que le système informatique de la BHF est suranné. «Afin de ne pas prolonger indûment le climat d’incertitude pour les collaborateurs et la clientèle», le directoire de la Deutsche Bank a décidé de renoncer au processus de cession. A présent, la Deutsche Bank va se focaliser sur le renforcement de ses activités de gestion de fortune (private wealth management ou PWM) et de gestion d’actifs.Cela pourrait signifier que la Deutsche Bank conserverait au moins dans un premier temps la société de gestion de fonds Frankfurt Trust (7,62 milliards d’euros en fonds de valeurs mobilières offerts au public, plus 4,69 milliards en fonds institutionnels). En revanche, l’avenir est moins assuré pour les activités de négoce en compte propre, la banque d’investissement et le crédit à l’international.

Le régulateur espagnol CNMV a octroyé son agrément de commercialisation en Espagne au compartiment EuroHigh Yield Short Term (LU0517222054, parts de capitalisation et LU0517221833, parts de distribution) de la Sicav luxembourgeoise Petercam L Bonds du gestionnaire belge Petercam, un produit chargé à 0,7 % qui a été lancé voici neuf mois (lire notre article du 14 septembre 2010). L’encours est désormais proche des 50 millions d’euros.

Moody’s a annoncé lundi avoir abaissé la notation des principales banques irlandaises, rapporte L’Echo. L’agence de notation a abaissé de deux crans la note des dépôts à long terme d’Allied Irish Bank (AIB), Bank of Ireland, EBS Building Society et Irish Life & Permanent (IL&P). La note d’ICS Building Society, filiale de Bank of Ireland, a été dégradée d’un cran. Bank of Ireland et ICS sont désormais notées Ba1, tandis que AIB, EBS et IL&P sont notées Ba2.

Le gestionnaire britannique Schroders a indiqué le 18 avril qu’il envisage de lancer en mai et juin un investment trust spécialisé sur les matières premières, le Schroder Opus Commodity Fund ltd, qui sera géré par Schroders NewFinance Capital, une filiale de multigestion focalisée sur la performance absolue. Ce sera un fonds fermé domicilié à Guernesey et qui offrira aux souscripteurs l’accès à une vaste palette de stratégies de gestionnaires actifs complété d’un portefeuille de futures sur matières premières piloté en direct par Schroders NewFinance Capital.L’objectif sera de surperformer de 6 à 9 points de pourcentage le DJ-UBS Commodity Total Return Index, net de frais, sur un cycle. Le fonds visera une exposition de 100 % à l’indice de référence, avec un écart de suivi de 5 %.La commission de gestion sera de 0,60 %, Schroders prélevant en sus 10 % de la surperformance par rapport à l’indice, avec high watermark.Le gérant du fonds sera David Mooney, assisté de Cédric Bellanger, de trois analystes et d’une équipe nombreuse de spécialistes de la gestion des données, de la recherche quantitative et de la due diligence opérationnelle. Cette équipe était responsable fin mars d’actifs d’un total supérieur à 2,3 milliards de dollars.

GLG Partners va fermer son fonds market neutral aux nouveaux investisseurs lorsqu’il dépassera le seuil du milliard de dollars d’encours qu’il devrait atteindre dans les semaines qui viennent, a indiqué son gérant, Steve Roth, au Financial Times. Au delà, la taille du fonds pourrait peser sur sa performance.

HSBC Global Asset Management a récemment lancé quatre nouveaux ETF sur le London Stock Exchange, qui permettent un accès aux marchés asiatiques. Il s’agit des ETF HSBC MSCI Korea, HSBC MSCI Indonesia, HSBC MSCI Malaysia et HSBC MSCI Taiwan. Les frais de gestion s'élèvent à 0,6 %, précise Money Marketing.

State Street Corporation a annoncé avoir été sélectionné par Martin Currie Investment Management Limited pour la fourniture d’une gamme de services de comptabilité de fonds, des services de conservation de titres et d’agent de transfert, ainsi que des services d’externalisation des opérations de middle office au niveau mondial pour l’ensemble des fonds gérés par Martin Currie.

Alors que son P-ETC Physical Gold a déjà franchi le milliard de dollars d’actifs sous gestion, Source a annoncé le 18 avril le lancement de trois Exchange traded products (ETP) gagés sur les stocks physiques de trois autres métaux précieux détenus dans les coffres de J.P.Morgan à Londres.Il s’agit respectivement du P-ETC Source Physical Silver (IE00B43VDT70, argent), du P-ETC Source Physical Platinum (IE00B40QP990, platine) et du P-ETC Source Physical Palladium (IE00B4LJS984, palladium).Les nouveaux P-ETC sont chargés à 0,39 % et cotés sur le London Stock Exchange.

Selon Fundweb, First State Investments se prépare à lancer à destination des investisseurs britanniques une gamme de fonds obligataires, qui devrait voir le jour à la fin de l’année 2011. Des recrutements devraient accompagner le lancement, a indiqué Fundweb.

Au premier trimestre 2011, Jupiter Fund Management a enregistré des souscriptions nettes de 333 millions de livres. La collecte a surtout concerné la gamme de fonds ouverts de la société de gestion britannique, à hauteur de 397 millions de livres, et plus particulièrement les fonds de fonds et les produits vendus à l’international. En revanche, Jupiter a perdu un client lui ayant retiré un mandat de 71 millions de livres. Jupiter a vu ses encours progresser de 2 %, de 24,1 milliards de livres à 24,5 milliards au 31 mars.

David Jane s’apprête à lancer le TM Darwin Multi Asset fund, la première offre de sa nouvelle boutique Darwin Investment Managers, rapporte Investment Week. Le fonds sera conçu sur le modèle du M&G Cautious Multi Asset, un fonds que David Jane avait créé lorsqu’il était responsable des investissements actions de M&G.

L’institut retient pour la France une croissance du PIB en volume de 1,9 % en 2011 puis de 1,8 % en 2012, tandis que Bercy prévoit encore 2% et 2,25%. Selon Coe-Rexecode, la progression du PIB mondial passerait de 4,8% en 2010 à 4,2% en 2011 et 2012. Les économies émergentes verraient leur rythme de croissance ralentir de 7,6% en 2010 à 6,6% en 2011 puis à 6,3% en 2012.

Annoncé en février dernier, le rachat du gestionnaire indépendant Olympia Capital Management par Richmond Park Capital Holdings Limited, la maison mère de Richmond Park Partners, a été finalisé le 11 avril. Parmi les cédants figure notamment Sagard Private Equity Partners. Approuvée par l’AMF et la FSA, cette acquisition se traduit par le désendettement total du groupe Olympia.