Mark Krombas, qui avait quitté en septembre GLG Partners pour le gestionnaire Charlemagne Capital, spécialiste des marchés émergents, est le gérant du nouveau compartiment Magna MENA de la sicav coordonnée de droit irlandais Magna Umbrella Fund plc dont le portefeuille de 40-50 lignes sera investi environ à 90 % dans des actions de sociétés du Conseil de coopération du Golfe (CCG), dont une allocation de 50 % à l’Arabie Saoudite.Les parts retail (classe R, IE00B33NMJY03) sont accessibles à partir d’une souscription de 5.000 euros tandis que les parts institutionnelles (classe N, IE00B33QPMN62) supposent un investissement initial minimum d’un million d’euros.

Newton Investment Management a decidé de fermer son fonds actions japonaises, Newton Japan, dont l’encours se situe à moins de 4 millions de livres, indique Fund Strategy. Les souscripteurs du fonds ont été prévenus fin janvier, mais la date de fermeture du fonds n’a pas encore été communiquée. Le gérant du fonds Ewan Markson Brown a quitté la société de gestion, précise Fund Strategy.

Selon le Financial Times, JPMorgan et Fidelity s’apprêtent à se porter candidats pour une licence de trust company en Chine. Les trusts, qui n’ont pas d’activité de dépôts, bénéficient d’une réglementation moins stricte que les banques et sont de ce fait plus attrayants pour certains opérateurs.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) on 22 February announced the appointment of Verena Ross as executive director of the European body. Ross, who is appointed for a term of five years, is currently head of the international division of the British Financial Services Authority (FSA).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Scott Ebner, head of ETF development, has told Reuters that State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) is planning a second European ETF platform, in Ireland, for tax reasons, the Börsen-Zeitung reports.So far, SSgA has listed only 13 physical replication ETFs in Paris, with assets of EUR800m, and thus missed out on the boom for these products in Europe.The manager is planning to launch 20-30 equities and bond products of this type in Europe this year. They will rely on sampling replication, among other methods, and will pick stocks from the index or shares which have a risk/reward ratio similar to those of the index to be replicated.However, SSgA has no plans to enter synthetic replication based on swaps.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The ratings agency Telos has awarded a rating of “excellent,” its highest rating, to the overall activities of the fund and portfolio administration (Master KAG) activities of Allianz Global Investors KAG mbH. With over EUR115bn in assets under administration, the firm is a leader in Germany in this niche, a statement says.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Ramón Aguirrebengoa, Iván Basa and Alfonso Castillo, three private bankers from Credit Suisse Spain, have been recruited by Barclays Wealth Spain, where they will be creating a new team to serve high net worth private clients, Funds People reports.

Morgan Stanley has appointed former U.S. Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. to the firm as a managing director and senior client relationship manager. He will work across all business divisions and report to Gregory Fleming, president of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and president of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, and to Paul J. Taubman, co-president of Institutional Securities.A five-term Congressman from Tennessee, Harold Ford will be responsible for building business opportunities for clients with Morgan Stanley and helping client teams at the firm deliver financial advice and products most effectively. He will manage relationships with corporate directors and senior executives, institutional investors, as well as private clients.

Natixis on February 23rd announced that its asset management revenue rose 11% in 2010 to EUR1.41bn, which would be an increase à 8.2% at constant exchange rates. AUM totalled EUR538bn at end-December, of which EUR319bn in Europe. Outflows were concentrated on money market products whereas elsewhere the company recorded EUR1.1bn in net inflows. In the U.S., assets under management increased 10% yoy to USD292bn and net inflows for the year were USD2.3bn, with Harris Associates as main contributor.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } La Tribune reports that the sale of Foncia, the French leader in asset administration, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BPCE banking group, may attract many bids from investment funds. 15 funds have expressed an interest in the acquisition, including French players such as Eurazeo and LBO France, as well as British and American funds such as Bridgepoint, Carlyle, Cinven and KKR. According to reports in La Tribune, the bidders are prepared to offer EUR600-700m.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Credit Suisse is launching four new ETF funds on the ETF Plus segment of Borsa Italiana, bringing the number of index-based funds listed in Italy to 49, Bluerating reports. The four ETF funds, available in Switzerland and Germany, are the CS ETF (IE) fund based on the Credit Suisse Global Alternative Energy index, the CS ETF (IE) based on the EONIA, the CS ETF (IE) based on the Fed Funds Effective Rate, and the CS ETF based on the MSCI World index.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In February, the global index of institutional investor confidence calculated by State Street Global Markets fell to 91.6, compared with 100.8 in January (corrected from a previously announced 100.9), and 104.4 in December.For the North American region, the index stands at 92.5, down from 99.3, while for Asia, the index is at 92.2, compared with 96.5. In Europe, the fund is down 13 points, to 79.8.Ken Froot (Harvard), who developed the index with State Street Associates, says that political turbulence in the Middle East and North Africa, tightening monetary policy in emerging markets, and concerns over the pace of the recent rise in investment in developed markets equities were probably the root cause of the fall for the index. In Europe, there are additional uncertainties over negotiations planned in March over sovereign debt and the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).Paul O’Connell, the other Harvard professor responsible for developing the index, says that analysis of the underlying data reveals that institutional flows to emerging markets and Asia-Pacific ex Japan have continued to decline compared with their record levels in third quarter 2010.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } NYSE Euronext on 22 February announced that it has admitted two new French-registered ETF funds from Amundi to trading on Euronext Paris. The funds are the Amundi ETF NFST UK Dividend Plus (FR0010988634) and the Amundi ETF MSCI Europe ex UK (FR0010988642), with a TER for both products of 0.30%. With the addition of the two new funds, NYSE Euronext now lists 543 ETFs, replicating over 350 indices, 623 times. Since the beginning of the year, 61 ETFs have been admitted to trading on European markets of NYSE Euronext.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Following its merger with Fortis Investments, BNP Paribas Investment Partners now has two major Luxembourg-registered UCITS-compliant Sicav funds containing sub-funds. They are Parvest, its historic Sicav, and BNP Paribas L1, the former Fortis L Fund vehicle from Fortis Investments. The two Sicavs, with 250 sub-funds and assets under management of about EUR50bn as of September 2010, will be rationalised, as BNP Paribas IP has decided to merge the sub-funds whose investment universes and investment strategies are identical. In March 2011, 18 sub-funds of BNP Paribas L1 will be merged into other sub-funds of BNP Paribas L1 (see below). “By the end of the year, some sub-funds of Parvest will also be merged into sub-funds of BNP Paribas L1,” BNP Paribas IP says. Sub-funds of BNP Paribas L1 to be absorbed BNP Paribas L1 Bond EuroBNP Paribas L1 Bond Euro CorporateBNP Paribas L1 Bond Euro GovernmentBNP Paribas L1 Bond Euro Inflation-LinkedBNP Paribas L1 Bond Euro Medium TermBNP Paribas L1 Bond Europe OpportunitiesBNP Paribas L1 Bond USD High YieldBNP Paribas L1 Equity Best Selection JapanBNP Paribas L1 Equity BrazilBNP Paribas L1 Equity Europe Small CapBNP Paribas L1 Equity High Dividend EuropeBNP Paribas L1 Equity JapanBNP Paribas L1 Equity Latin AmericaBNP Paribas L1 Sustainable Equity EuropeBNP Paribas L1 Short Term EuroBNP Paribas L1 Short Term USDBNP Paribas L1 V150BNP Paribas L1 World CurrencyBNP Paribas L1 Equity Asia ex JapanBNP Paribas L1 Opportunities EuropeBNP Paribas L1 Global Asset Opportunities Absorbing sub-funds of Barvest or BNP Paribas L1Parvest Bond EuroParvest Bond Euro CorporateParvest Bond Euro GovernmentParvest Bond Euro Inflation-LinkedParvest Bond Euro Short TermParvest Bond EuropeParvest Bond USA High YieldParvest Equity JapanParvest Equity BrazilParvest Equity Europe Small CapParvest Equity High Dividend EuropeParvest Equity JapanParvest Equity Latin AmericaParvest Sustainable Equity EuropeParvest Short Term EuroParvest Short Term USDParvest Enhanced Cash 6 MonthsParvest Absolute Return World Currency 10BNP Paribas L1 Equity Best Selection Asia ex-JapanBNP Paribas L1 Equity Best Selection EuropeBNP Paribas L1 Dynamic World

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As recently announced in Agefi Weekly, Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management has teamed up with Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management for management of its Japanese equities fund Selective Japan. According to a statement, the fund is invested in 50 to 60 businesses which have potential for growth in the Asia ex Japan region, including companies likely to extent their activities into Asia in the next three to five years. The favourite themes of the managers, Takahiro Uemura and Takashi Shimodaira, include increasing consumer spending, investments in infrastructure, and improvements in environmental protection.

Most classical hedge fund strategies are in large demand in a UCITS format, according to ML Capital Asset Management, the investment manager and promoter of the MontLake UCITS platform. The MLC Alternative UCITS Barometer, a tool that surveys active investors currently allocating to UCITS about their forthcoming strategy allocations, revealed that most of the primary “UCITS-able” hedge fund strategies are to see large inflows in the coming months.Global Macro Discretionary strategies are expected to experience the largest inflows of capital in the coming months, with 59 percent of respondents planning to increase their exposure to the asset class.Investors also see significant potential in the Event Driven sector with 56 percent of respondents planning to increase their Multi Strategy holdings, closely followed by Merger Arbitrage (53 percent) with expectations for rising M&A activity in 2011.Long/Short Equity funds also appear well positioned to experience inflows, with 97 percent of investors planning to either increase or maintain their US and Global Long/Short Equity allocations. The growing interest in and the existing undersupply of both strategies within the UCITS space is expected to lead to a number of new fund launches over the coming months. Quantitative strategies also appear to be an attractive option for investors with 44 percent looking to boost their allocations to CTAs and managed futures.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Paul Robertson, head of retail sales, has announced that the US management firm Vanguard is planning to launch its first ETF funds in Europe this year, Fund Strategy reports. With the entry into force of the UCITS IV directive, these products would be eligible to be created as feeder funds, while in the United States, existing ETFs represent an increasingly large class of fund shares.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The sovereign fund Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) on 22 February announced a USD1.48bn offer to acquire the real estate assets of the Claremont Resort and Spa in Berkeley, California, and the Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa in Maui, Hawaii, which are under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and which one month ago have been bought by the hedge fund manager Paulson & Co and Winthrop Realty Trust. The Wall Street Journal reports that GIC has already come up with USD900m to finance the operation.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Emilio Botín O’Shea, son of Santander chariman Emilio Botín, is returning to hedge fund management, following a stint at Vega, the asset management firm of Ravi Mehra, Expansión reports. He has registered his first hedge fund in Spain, the RentaMarkets Arbitrage Fund, which he will manage via his joint venture Renta Markets, with Renta 4 (which holds 35%) and José Rodríguez Pérez, former CEO of Próxima Alfa, the management firm created by BBVA and Vega, which was driven to closure by the crisis.RentaMarkets, in which Botín O’Shea is the majority shareholder, and Juan Carlos Ureta is CEO, already has a EUR3m fund, the RentaMarkets Patrimonios. In addition, RentaMarkets holds a stake in the hedge fund management firm Accurate Advisors, which is controlled by Narciso Vega, Igor Alonso and Juan Pablo Calle, former fund managers from Próxima.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Funds on sale in Asia saw net redemptions of USD23.3bn in fourth quarter 2010, following net outflows of USD17.5bn in third quarter, according to statistics from Lipper FMI, cited by Financial Times Fund Management. This news is a bath of cold water for hopes that Asian economies would boost the growth of the global asset management sector. Shiv Taneja, managing director of Cerulli Associates, observes that there is widespread disappoitment at western management firms which had flocked to the region.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Newton Investment Management has decided to close its Japanese equities fund, Newton Japan, whose assets totalled under GBP4m, Fund Strategy reports. Subscribers to the fund were notified in late January, but the date when the fund will close down has not yet been announced. The manager of the fund, Ewan Markson Brown, has left the firm, Fund Strategy reports.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The number of members of the Order of financial advisers in Italy has been in consistent decline since 2002, and the decline has been gathering speed in the past three years, according to a study from Bluerating. The number has fallen from 71,500 advisers in 2007-2008, to under 56,500 currently. Only 3% of financial advisers in Italy are under 30 years old. The majority, 62%, are aged 30 to 50, and 35% are over 50.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } From the beginning of 2011, Martin Gut is the new head of institutional activities at BlackRock in Switzerland, Agefi Switzerland reports. In this position, Gut will report to Leen Meijaard, in charge of institutional activities in continental Europe. Gut will work in close collaboration with Heinz Rothacher, CEO of BlackRock for Switzerland, and Christian Gast, director of iShares Switerland. Until recently, Gut was CEO of Credit Suisse, where from 2007 to 2010 he was in charge of relations with major Swiss institutional clients.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Financial Times reports that JPMorgan and Fidelity are preparing to make bids for a trust company license in China. Trust status, which does not include depository activities, is subject to less strict regulations that banks, and is therefore more attractive to some operators.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The former Amérique Rendement fund from Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (EDRAM), which is now known as Saint-Honoré US Value and Yield, has seen its assets double since the beginning of 2010, and now has EUR1.4bn, largely due to EUR450m in net subscriptions, Christophe Foliot, deputy director and head of US and international equities management and Adeline Salat-Baroux, international equities manager and manager of the product, explained on 22 February. The product attracted the attention of Chilean pension funds in particular.The French FCP fund (FR0010781278), specialised in North American equities, earned returns of 21.5% in 2010, and an annualised 1.05% since its initial creation in 2000 (remembering the decline of the US dollar in this period).Currently, the managers of the fund, with 58 positions (and a turnover rate of about 50%), estimate that the US economic recovery may take another two years. They prefer two major themes: recovery of capex, and some opportunities in the health sector (particularly biotech).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of the end of January, the Globetrotter FCP fund from HMG Finance, which since 2005 has been managed by Marc Girault, and co-managed since 2009 by Paul Girault, has over EUR200m in assets, compared with EUR180m at the end of December, and barely EUR50m at the end of 2009 (see Newsmanagers of 21 June 2010). “This increase in assets is due on the one hand to returns of 36.2% in 2010, and 34.5% on one year to the end of January, and on the other hand to large-scale net subscriptions,” Marc Girault, director of management, explains to Newsmanagers. He adds that the fund ranks in a very exclusive circle (the top percentile) among international securities funds in the Morningstar rankings for 2010, and that it was the best product in its class in the Lipper 2010 rankings for 3 and 5 years, after already finishing top over three years in 2008 and 2009.The two funds Découvertes (French small and midcaps) and Rendement (opportunistic), although they place well for performance, have only EUR20m each, while assets at HMG Finance now total as much as EUR350m, compared with EUR250m in June 2010.With this inflow of subscriptions, Marc and Paul Girault have increased the number of positions in the portfolio to 105-110 positions, up from 70, in order to enlarge their investment base, and they have added 4-5 countries to their list. The turnover rate remains low, at about 20%, because the Globetrotter is not a trading fund, and because volatility fell steeply last year compared with 2008 and 2009.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The US management firm Duff & Phelps and the Swisds Harcourt Investment Consulting (USD4.7bn in assets, Vontobel group) have acquired stakes for an undisclosed amount in the US firm WR Managed Accounts LLC, a specialist in managed account solutions for institutional investments in hedge funds and alternative managers. The three partners have also announced that they have formed a strategic partnership which will allow the two institutionals to contribute to the development of IT solutions in order to provide increased transparency for hedge funds and their subscribers.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The fifth-largest British pension fund, the Merseyside Pension Fund, whose assets under management total about GBP4.7bn, has decided to place ESG criteria (environmental, social and governance) at the core of a call for bids on mandates totalling about GBP1.3bn, Responsible Investor reports. The pension fund is seeking managers for the UK Index Linked Gilts fund (GBP576m), the UK equity fund (GBP384m), and UK equity fund (GBP384m). The consulting firm Aon Hewitt is managing the call for bids. The new mandates will be offered for periods of four years, renewable for two years.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Mark Krombas, who in September left GLG Partners to join the management firm Charlemagne Capital, a specialist in emerging markets, is the manager of the new Magna MENA sub-fund of the UCITS-compliant Irish-registered Magna Umbrella Fund plc, whose portfolio of 40-50 positions will be invested about 90% in shares in companies of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, with an allocation of 50% to Saudi Arabia.Retail shares (R share class, IE00B33NMJY03) are available with a minimal subscription of EUR5,000, while institutional shares (N share class, IE00B33QPMN62) require a minimal initial investment of EUR1m.

Catherine Ashton, haute représentante de la diplomatie européenne, a déclaré hier que des discussions étaient en cours pour fournir à l’Egypte un milliard d’euros d’aide supplémentaire grâce aux programmes de financement de la Banque européenne d’investissement.