2010 marque la fin de la pause observée dans les rémunérations des patrons de banques, relève L’Agefi. C’est le cas à la Société Générale où le 7 mars, le conseil d’administration a porté la rémunération fixe de son PDG Frédéric Oudéa de 850.000 à un million d’euros pour 2011. A cette hausse de 17,6% s’ajoutent les 300.000 euros annuels perçus par le dirigeant pour avoir renoncé à son contrat de travail en 2009 et au régime de retraite chapeau qui l’accompagnait, précise le quotidien.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Alexander Mozer, who for two years was head of the emerging markets service at Cominvest Asset Management (Allianz Global Investors group), after directing the smidcaps and convergence teams at Deka, has joined the management team at the Luxembourg-based SRI management firm ökoworld (an affiliate of the German firm versiko), as head of sustainable investments in emerging countries. He will be in charge of overseeing investments in the areas of alternative energies, non-polluting products and services, bio food products, and pollution cleanup industries.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Evi C. Vogl, CEO of the German asset management firm Pioneer Investments Kapitalanlagegessellschaft mbH, has announced that the Pioneer Investment group is planning to launch seven more absolute return funds in the next few months, which will make use of the abilities of all of the investment centres of the Pioneer network worldwide, and which will focus on high levels of liquidity and wide diversification of portfolios.The funds will be divided into three categories. In the low volatility category, Pioneer will add to the existing Pioneer Funds – Absolute Return Currencies, one bond fund, and later, a commodities fund.In the moderate volatility class, the management firm is planning a multi-strategy fund, a European equities fund, and an Asian equities fund.Lastly, in the high volatility category, the management firm will launch a multi-strategy growth style fund, and a fund specialised in emerging markets bonds.

Le directeur général de F&C, Alain Grisay, a vendu le 15 mars 1 million d’actions de la société de gestion britannique F&C, valorisées à plus de 770.000 livres, selon fundweb. La semaine dernière, le patron de Thames River, Charlie Porter, avait cédé un peu plus de 2 millions de titres à 82,63 pence par action.Parallèlement, Sherborne, le véhicule d’investissement du nouveau chairman de F&C, Edward Bramson, a racheté pour un peu plus de 300.000 livres de titres au cours des derniers jours. Edward Bramson a pris la présidence de F&C le mois dernier après l'éviction de plusieurs membres du conseil d’administration, y compris l’ancien chairman Nick MacAndrew.

Alexander Mozer, qui était depuis deux ans responsable du service marchés émergents chez Cominvest Asset Management (groupe Allianz Global Investors) après avoir dirigé les équipes smidcaps et convergence de Deka, rejoint l'équipe du gestionnaire ISR luxembourgeois ökoworld (filiale de l’allemand versiko) comme responsable des investissements durables dans les pays émergents. Il sera chargé notamment de piloter les investissements dans les domaines des énergies alternatives, des produits et services non polluants, des produits alimentaires issus de l’agriculture biologique et des industries de dépollution.

Evi C. Vogl, directrice générale de l’allemand Pioneer Investments Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH, a annoncé que le groupe Pioneer Investment compte lancer durant les prochains mois sept fonds de performance absolue supplémentaires qui utiliseront les compétences de tous les centres d’investissement du réseau Pioneer dans le monde et qui se focaliseront sur une liquidité élevée et une large diversification des portefeuilles.Ces fonds se répartiront en trois catégories. Dans celle de faible volatilité, Pioneer va ajouter au Pioneer Funds - Absolute Return Currencies (devises), un fonds obligataire et, plus tard, un fonds matières premières.Dans le domaine de la moyenne volatilité, le gestionnaire prévoit un fonds multi-stratégie, un fonds actions européennes et un fonds actions asiatiques.Enfin, dans la catégorie forte volatilité, il est prévu de lancer un fonds multi-stratégie de style growth et un autre spécialiste des obligations émergentes.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management vient d’acquérir Benchmark Asset Management Company, une société de gestion en Inde. La transaction, dont les termes n’ont pas été dévoilés, devrait être bouclée dans le courant de cette année.Fondée en 2001, Benchmark AMC est le premier fournisseur d’ETF en Inde, à la fois en termes de parts de marché et d’encours sous gestion, avec environ 700 millions de dollars, souligne un communiqué de presse.Dans le cadre de cet accord, Goldman Sachs AM compte introduire des fonds gérés activement en Inde. La société de gestion américaine a déjà une équipe de huit personnes basées à Bombai, dirigée par Prashant Khemka, laquelle fournit de la recherche pour les fonds off shore du groupe.

Depuis le 1er mars, Eric Samuiloff a été promu président du comité exécutif d’AWD Österreich (filiale autrichien du prestataire allemand de services financiers AWD, groupe Swiss Life) en remplacement de Ralph Müller qui quitte le groupe au 1er avril pour rejoindre Wiener Städtische (Veinna Insurance Group). Il sera rejoint le 1er avril au comité exécutif par Christoph Obererlacher, qui était responsable de la Carinthie et du Tyrol Oriental, et qui se voit confier la distribution.Deux directeurs généraux, Kurt Rauscher et Werner Eder, quittent par ailleurs AWD Autriche «dans les meilleurs termes».A cette occasion, le groupe retire à la filiale autrichienne la responsabilité des marchés polonais, tchèque, slovaque et hongrois, qui est transférée au siège de Hanovre.

Santander Asset Management a annoncé le 16 mars la nomination de José Maria Martinez-Sanjuan en qualité de responsable de la sélection de fonds.Dans ses nouvelles fonctions, il aura en charge la constitution d’une liste de produits recommandés pour l'équipe internationale de Santander AM et il sera également responsable de la coordination des relations entre Santander et les autres groupes de gestion d’actifs. Il travaillait précédemment dans une filiale de Santander AM, Banco Banif, où il était responsable de la recherche sur les fonds et de l’analyse des investissements alternatifs.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Luxembourg became the first European member state to transpose the UCITS IV directive into national law on 17 December 2010. The text, which is intended to enter into force in all 27 EU countries by 27 July of this year, is on the way to transposition in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, which could give a competitive advantage to these countries against Italy, Belgium, Greece, Portugal, and Spain, where transposition of the law is not so far advanced, RBC Dexia Investor Services observes in the study “UCITS IV: the danger of a two-speed Europe” (see attached pdf). The authors of the study point out that, although asset managers may reasonably adopt a wait-and-see attitude with regard to UCITS IV< it would be dangerous for member countries to do the same: countries which delay transposition of the directive could risk becoming mere distribution centres for funds created elsewhere. The other danger that member countries need to confront is the temptation to unilaterally toughen their local regulations against the European directive (known as “gold plating,”) RBC Dexia IS writes. Some signs of such a phenomenon are already discernible, particularly in Germany, which has not provided for a transitional period for adoption of KIID information documents by German funds. Such moves may result in distortions of the competitive field. RBC Dexia, for its part, is now placing a survey of the state of advancement of transposition of the directive in varoius European countries online on its website.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Noel Fessey, managing director at Schroder Investment Management Luxembourg, estimates that the cost of deploying the Key Investor Information Document (KIID) required by the European UCITS IV Directive will be tquice as high as for the simplified prospectus under UCITS III, FundWeb (the new name of Fund Strategy) reports.The manager stated at the Alfi conference that Schroders will invest EUR1m to create a KIID for all its UCITS-compliant funds, compared with EUR0.5m in 2005 for the simplified prospectus. Fessey estimates that the British management firm will also dedicate EUR0.3m annually to maintaining the KIID documents.The high cost of the KIID is due to the fact that it involves several areas of activity at the management firm, including development, compliance, accounting, distribution and marketing, aside from costs related to retaining lawyers, consultants, writers and translators.Schroders is planning to shoulder the added cost of the documents without passing it on to investors.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The California pension fund CalPERS on 16 March announced that its board of directors has approved a motion to maintain its return rate at 7.75%, by a vote of seven to three.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The French Strategic Investment Fund (Fonds d’investissement stratégique, FIS) in 2010 made 21 direct investments in businesses for total engagements of EUR1.7bn, the Fund announced on 16 March at a publication of its annual results.The investments, all of them minority stakes, for amounts ranging from a few million to several hundred million euros, went two thirds to privately-held businesses, and involved both growth SMBs, mid-sized, and large groups.Total assets at the FSI totalled EUR21.8bn as of 31 December 2010, of which EUR3.6bn were capital commitments that were not called in. The FSI’s engagements in industrial and service sectors totalled EUR16.2bn.In 2010, net profits totalling EUR646m, were largely from dividends from affiliates and unconsolidated participations, with the largest contributor being France Télécom.Net latent capital gains on publicly-traded shares totalled EUR1.4bn, of which EUR350m were due to investments since the creation of the FSI. Jean-Yves Gilet, CEO of the FSI, says in a statement that the FSI has three priorities in 2011: “promoting socially responsible investment, placing our actions in the development dynamic for industries, and enlarging our perimeter of action in the provinces towards SMBs. With this initiative, we would like to identify and contact all growth businesses.”

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Regulators investigating potential manipulation of the Libor have concentrated their requests for information and interrogations on five banks, according to sources close to the case, cited by the Financial Times. The banks are UBS, Bank of America, Citigroup, Barlacys and WestLB.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } State Street Corporation announced on 16 March that it has signed an agreement with AXA Investment Managers (Axa IM) for the production and services related to the publication of Key Investor Information Documents (KIID). The new document is required under the new UCITS IV directive, which comes into force on 1 July 2011. AXA IM is the first client to use State Street’s KIID solution.State Street was first selected by AXA IM in December 2004 to provide it with fund accounting and administration services in the United Kingdom, France and Germany. The agreement has since been extended to include Luxembourg, Ireland, Switzerland, and bond and balanced funds from Axa Rosenberg APAC.

L’agence de notation durable Oekom Research vient de publier son troisième rapport annuel sur la responsabilité sociétale des entreprises. L’agence souligne notamment que l’investissement durable a continué de progresser durant la crise. A l’échelle de la planète, l’investissement durable, prenant en compte les critères ESG, représente quelque 8.000 milliards d’euros, contre 5.000 milliards d’euros pour l’Europe.Au 31 décembre dernier, 550 sociétés sur un total de 3.100 sociétés dans une cinquantaine de pays, soit environ une sur six, remplissait les exigences du label «Prime Status» accordé par Oekom. Un quart des sociétés évaluées disposait d’un embryon de gestion du développement durable mais plus de la moitié de l’échantillon affichent de piètres performances en matière de développement durable, estime l’agence. Certaines sociétés dans les marchés émergents n’ont d’ailleurs pas à rougir dans ce domaine par rapport à leurs homologues des pays développés, relève Oekom.

Le directeur général de F&C, Alain Grisay, a vendu le 15 mars 1 million d’actions de la société de gestion britannique F&C, valorisées à plus de 770.000 livres, selon fundweb. La semaine dernière, le patron de Thames River, Charlie Porter, avait cédé un peu plus de 2 millions de titres à 82,63 pence par action.Parallèlement, Sherborne, le véhicule d’investissement du nouveau chairman de F&C, Edward Bramson, a racheté pour un peu plus de 300.000 livres de titres au cours des derniers jours. Edward Bramson a pris la présidence de F&C le mois dernier après l'éviction de plusieurs membres du conseil d’administration, y compris l’ancien chairman Nick MacAndrew.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } “Our seven-member team dedicated to emerging markets equities, which already manages USD10bn in assets, of which USD6bn are in Asia, will soon gain two analysts and one fund manager specialised in Latin America,” Douglas Cairns, investment specialist, Asia & emerging markets equities, at Threadneedle, has announced to Newsmanagers. Emerging markets account for about 10% of total assets at the British asset management firm (USD100bn). Emerging market bonds represent about USD2bn.According to Cairns, the stock-picking process for the four open-ended funds of the range will focus on shares “which are likely to generate at least 15% outperformance in the next 12 months.” The team will not invest in companies with a market capitalisation of less than USD300m.Threadneedle currently has a global emerging markets fund (Global Emerging Markets Equity Fund), with USD205m and 95 positions, an Asia fund with USD1.5bn and 99 positions, a Latin America fund with USD1.8bn and 49 positions, and only one country fund, dedicated to China (China Opportunities), with Usd125m in 75 positions. Cairns adds that “that’s enough for us currently; for now, we don’t see the use of adding new funds to this range, which is complete enough.”

Goldman Sachs Asset Management has agreed to acquire Benchmark Asset Management Company, an asset management company in India. The transaction is expected to close later in the year, subject to regulatory approvals. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Benchmark Asset Management Company was founded in 2001 and is the number one Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) provider by both market share and assets under management (AUM) in India. It has approximately USD700 million AUM, according to a press release. In addition, Goldman Sachs Asset Management intends to bring actively managed on-shore funds to India. Goldman Sachs Asset Management already has a team of eight based in Mumbai, headed by Prashant Khemka. The team currently provides research for off-shore funds including Indian equities and BRIC equities.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Santander Asset Management on 16 March announced the appointment of José Maria Martinez-Sanjuan as head of fund selection.In his new role, he will be in charge of constructing a list of recommended products for the international team at Santander AM< and will also be in charge of coordinating relations between Santander and other asset management groups.Martinez-Sanjuan previously worked at an affiliate of Santander AM, Banco Banif, where he was head of fund research and alternative investment analysis.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The asset management arm of the Delta Lloyd group, delta Lloyd Asset Management, has opened an office in Hong Kong, which will initially have three investment specialists in charge of identifying companies in which Asia funds to be launched by the end of the year might invest. Delta Lloyd AM is planning to focus on healthy businesses with promising outlooks which are undervalued, and buy stakes of at least 5% in their capital.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } A few days before the official opening of its Frankfurt office, the French management firm Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (EDRAM) recruited Selena Sezen, who will join the team led by Rupert Hengster and Stefan Zayer, formerly of Lazard Asset Management (see Newsmanagers of 9 December and 27 September 2010) in May, Das Investment reports.Sezen spent eight years as director of distribution via IFAs and wealth managers at Axa Investment Managers Germany, and then helped to set up the financial broker distribution network at DWS (Deutsche Bank).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } At its general trustees’ meeting, held on the evening of 15 March, the French Responsible Investment Forum (FIR) elected half of its board of directors. The election was marked by the arrival of several new actors: Grégory Schneider-Maunoury (Aprionis), Stéphane Voisin (Cheuvreux), Marion de Marcillac (Eiris), Franca Perrin (Generali Investments), Eric Van La Beck (Macif Gestion), Pierre-Henri Leroy (Proxinvest), and Estelle Mironesco (Vigeo).Claude Jouven, former chairman of City Bank for France, Belgium and Luxembourg, was elected to the college of qualified personnel.Composition of the new board of directorsMartial Cozette*Jean-Philippe Desmartin Oddo SecuritiesDavid Diamond Allianz Global InvestorsPerrine Dutronc MSCIRobin Edme*Bertrand Fournier LFP–Sarasin Asset Management president of FIRVincent Jacob*Claude Jouven*Michel Laviale* Michel Lemonnier Groupama Asset Management vice-president of FIRMartine Léonard CM-CIC Asset Management vice-president of FIR Pierre-Henri Leroy ProxinvestGilles Maddalena Amundi GroupPaul de Marcellus HSBC Global Asset Management vice-president of FIRMarion de Marcillac EirisEstelle Mironesco VigeoFranca Perin Generali Investment FranceGrégory Schneider-Maunoury Aprionis Eric Van La Beck Macif GestionStéphane Voisin Cheuvreux *"qualified persons»

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Disinterest in the Japanese market in the past few years means that the number of funds investing in the Land of the Rising Sun managed in Paris is not large. And the population of funds in question – like the asset management firms that offer them - is a mixed bag. However, though these funds have seen heavy losses since the beginning of this week, fund managers have had the same behaviour: that is, not to freeze the funds, to avoid panic selling by investors who may put the existence of the fund in danger. Managers we have spoken to are insisting that they will continue to manage the funds pragmatically, with some admiration for the fact that the Tokyo stock market has remained open, and taking Japanese stalwartness in the face of such a dramatic situation as a powerful sign. Though no fund closures are planned, managers have made a few trades. “Concretely,” one of them tells us, “investments in businesses located on the east coast of the country, or which rely on lots of subcontractors, have been replaced by companies which have been preserved because they are located in the west, or do a lot of work abroad.” However, as expected, positions on shares in the consumer or luxury sectors have been cut back. Yet this is something short of a major revision of the portfolio. It is easy to see that it is impossible to predict the real impact of the disaster. The Japanese market will remain a market for stock-pickers, say many specialists, pointing out that the valuations of many shares have been attractive for a long time. The irony is that the market has seen a renaissance in the past few weeks as a result of favourable economic indicators. In the longer term, managers are divided, knowing that many investors will steer clear of the market for a long time, but also aware that the Japanese are never stronger than in adversity. But how long will it take to recover from a disaster like this?

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The US group Robeco Investment Management (USD18.7bn in assets as of the end of February), which includes Robeco Boston Partners, Robec-Sage and Robeco Weiss, Peck & Greer, has announced the recruitment of John Davis for the newly-created position of principal, intermediary sales. He will be based in the Los Angeles offices of Robeco, and will be in charge of coverage of financial intermediaries throughout the western United States. His hierarchical superior will be Paul Heathwood, managing director, head of intermediary sales. Davis was most recently at Highmark Funds, an affiliate of Union Bank of Los Angeles.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Swiss federal financial market surveillance authority (Finma) on 16 March announced that it has concluded its investigation into the Abrasives affair, begun in January 2009. The authority found that the investor Giorgio Behr violated his obligation to declare his investment in Abrasives, under article 20 of the stock market law. Finma says in a statement that it has reported Behr’s actions to the federal Finance department. Finma adds that the Bank am Bellevue actively supported Behr in his actions, “thus violating its organisational obligations and guarantees of irreproachable activity.” The scandal stems from a statement on 1 April 2008 that a group of investors, represented by Behr, had increased their stakes in the voting rights of the sia Abrasives company to a surprising degree, passing the 3% and 5% thresholds on 26 March 2008, 10% on 27 March 2008, and 15% and 20% on 1 April 2008. The company continued to be publicly traded until 2009. For the pursposes of the investigation, Finma opened an administrative procedure against Bank am Bellevue, which appeared to be the primary buyer of the Abrasives shares on the market. Finma also retained an investigator. In autumn 2009, Finma then opened an administrative procedure against Behr, on the basis of the investigator’s report. The two major procedures revealed that Behr was able to increase his stake in Abrasives to more than 20% of voting rights in only a few days – between the end of March and tbe beginning of April 2008 – with the help of Bank of Bellevue, which bought the nominate shares in the names of and on behalf of its clients, in order to subsequently sell them to Behr. The bank thus “parked” the shares in sia Abrasives in clients’ names. In acting in this way, Behr committed a severe violation of his obligation to declare the stake under the stock market law, his organisational requirements, and the guarantee of irreproachable activity. The bank took organisational measures during the procedure. Finma has imposed several conditions on it, and has threatened to cancel its banking license if they are not satisfied.

La société a annoncé la signature avec succès d’une ligne de crédit revolver collatéralisée de 800 millions de dollars. L’opération consiste en une ligne de crédit revolver d’une durée de 3 ans et sera utilisée pour satisfaire les besoins en matière de liquidité et de fonds de roulement, et pour rembourser un financement octroyé par ArcelorMittal à Aperam. La ligne de crédit a été arrangée par SG CIB. 9 banques interviennent dans l’opération: SG CIB, BNP Paribas, Natixis, Santander, BBVA, Citibank, CA CIB, ING et HSBC Trinkaus.

La société de private equity a officialisé l’acquisition d’une part majoritaire significative de The Foundry Visionmongers, un développeur de logiciels d’effets spéciaux, à Advent Venture Partners ainsi que d’autres actionnaires. Les termes financiers de la transaction n’ont pas été divulgués. La participation pour cet investissement viendra de Carlyle Europe Technology Partners (CETP) II, un fonds de 530 millions de dollars clôturé en novembre 2008.

Xavier Bertrand envisage de rendre obligatoire le versement « d’une participation minimale aux salariés quand des dividendes sont versés aux actionnaires » et réfléchit « à ce que la participation augmente au moins aussi vite que les dividendes » a-t-il annoncé lors d’un congrès de DRH. Cette seconde mesure, qui a pris le dessus sur un éventuel plafonnement des dividendes, est soutenue par le Fondact, une association de promotion de l'épargne salariale, indique le journal Les Echos.

L’éditeur de logiciels polonais Asseco prendra sa décision d’ici la fin du mois sur une possible entrée sur le marché américain du Nasdaq. Il s’agirait d’une première pour une société polonaise. Asseco discute actuellement avec des investisseurs en vue de sonder leur intérêt pour un tel projet. Le numéro cinq européen a acquis fin 2010 une part de 50,2% du capital de l’israélien Formula Systems pour 145 millions de dollars.