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09/02/2011

Benjamin de Frouville joins M&G France

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to information obtained by Newsmanagers, Benjamin de Frouville, head of development at Keren, will soon join M&G France, where he will succeed Violaine de Serrant, who left the firm a few weeks ago (see Newsmanagers of 20 December 2010). De Frouville will start in his new role in early March. Like de Serrant, he will be in charge of services to the IFA market.
09/02/2011

UFF posts increase in assets under management

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Union Financière de France on February, 9th, announced that as of 31 December 2010, total assets under management came to EUR7.2bn, up from EUR6.8bn as of 31 December 2009. This increase in assets is partly due to valuation of assets (market appreciation), and partly to net subscriptions of EUR48m.In terms of product sales, UFF reports that flexible and corporate bond funds have been popular with clients, which “boosted new business in life insurance on the retail market,” with contributions up 10%.Sales of real estate investments were poor (-11%), after a very dynamic year in 2009.UFF announced a consolidated net profit of EUR35.9m, compared with EUR21.3m in 2009.
09/02/2011

Alicia Frank joins BNPP IP

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Alicia Frank, portfolio manager and analyst on a Fidelity team in charge of USD6bn in assets in emerging markets equities, has joined BNP Paribas Investment Partners as senior portfolio manager in the global emerging equity assets team, which managed USD3bn as of the end of December, with a growth bias.Frank will be based in Boston, and will report to Gabriel Wallach, CIO for global emerging markets equities. Overall, BNPP IP manages more than USD60bn in emerging markets equities.
09/02/2011

Arrests in US insider trading investigation

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Federal prosecutors in Manhattan yesterday announced the arrest of two hedge fund managers, Agefi Switzerland reports. Samir Barai, head of Barai Capital Management, and Donald Longueuil, who in the past had worked for the titan SAC Capital Advisors. According to legal documents, Barai is accused of market fraud, conspiracy and obstructing law enforcement. Two other professionals – Noah freeman, former analyst at Sonar Capital and later portfolio manager at the Boston office of SAC Capital until January 2010, and Jason Pflaum, an analyst who worked with Barai – have chosen to plead guilty. Although the name SAC has come up frequently in investigations, the newspaper reports, the hedge fund is not directly implicated in the investigations.
09/02/2011

Consumer protection will be an area of focus for French G20 presidency

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The French minister of the economy, Christine Lagarde, on 8 February announced at the convocation of the financial sector consulting committee (CSSF) that she would like to make consumer protection an area of focus for the French presidency of the G20. At the G20 Finance summit on 18 and 19 February, Lagarde will propose to her counterparts that the G20 Finance meeting in October 2011 should be a time to lay out common consumer protection principles for financial products. At the October meeting of G20 finance ministers, Lagarde will hold a high-level conference on consumer protection for financial products, in partnership with the OECD, to which she will invite G20 finance ministers. Lagarde stated in her address to the CSSF that the French G20 presidency represents “an opportunity not to be missed to protect consumers of financial products,” as, she said, “not to team up with consumers would be to forget that irresponsible sales practices for loans in the United States contributed to the sub-prime crisis.”
09/02/2011

CalPERS sues former Lehman executives

Calpers is suing former Lehman Brothers executives and investment banks that served as underwriters on the bond offerings of the bank, accusing them of misleading investors about the bank’s condition, according to the Financial Times. The US pension fund is seeking to recover losses it experienced on Lehman stocks and bonds that it had bought between June 2007 and September 2008.
09/02/2011

HSBC adds to Asian firepower in wealth management

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Asian Investor reports that HSBC Global Asset Management has scaled up its capacities in the wealth management sector in Asia, particularly in the multi-asset class segment, with the objective of diversifying to counterbalance the volatility expected to affect all asset classes in 2011. With this in mind, HSBC has recently transferred Simona Paravani from London to Hong Konf as global chief investment officer for wealth management.
09/02/2011

DBS recruits for Indonesia

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } DBS Private Bank has recruited two senior bankers, as additions to the team specialised in Indonesia, which will now have 40 members, FinanceAsia reports. Stanley Puah Soon Kwang and Tan See Wee joined DBS in January of this year, and are both based in Singapore. Indonesia, like China, India and Taiwan, are priority growth markets for DBS, which employes more than 330 people in the region. Kwang, who was previously senior director at HSBC Private Bank in Singapore, joined DBS as senior vice president, in charge of a team of 10 private bankers. Wee, who previously worked at the regional entity Great Eastern Life Assurance as chief strategist, joined DBS as senior vice president and deputy team head.
09/02/2011

Bernard Stadler elected chairman of board of directors at Banque Heritage

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Agefi Switzerland reports that the board of directors at Banque Heritage has elected Bernard Stadler as chairman of the board of directors. Jorge Esteve has also been appointed as a member of the board. Stadler, chairman of the board of directors at the Banque Cantonale du Valais (BCVs), served in several positions at UBS, Citibank, the Clariden group, and Clariden Leu between 1991 and 2007, including CEO, a position he held for 10 years. Esteve previously worked at HSBC Mexico.
09/02/2011

Berenberg and Universal launch a German value equities fund

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Hamburg branch of Berenberg Lux Invest and Germany-based Universal-Investment are joining forces to launch the German-registered fund Berenberg Deutschland Dividenden PLUS-Universal, which aims for regular returns through investment in equities from German companies which pay high dividends and earning premiums on options, while limiting risk with a covered call strategy, relying on volatility data which make it possible to actively manage maturities for each option. Stock-picking relies on a quantitative process which identifies businesses with solid balance sheets, higher than average profits, and attractive dividends.CharacteristicsName: Berenberg Deutschland Dividenden PLUS-UniversalISIN: DE000A1C7DF9Front-end fee: 5.50% maximumManagement commission: currently 1.55%Performance commission: 10% of outperformance on the Dax, with high watermark
09/02/2011

ETFlab launches four French government bond products

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The XTF segment of the Xetra electronic platform from Deutsche Börse has gained four ETFs based on French government bonds. They replicate four of the five indices of the new Eurogov France range from Deutsche Börse for French government bonds in euros. The bond issues must have residual assets of at least EUR4bn and zero coupon issues are excluded from the universe. The number of issues incuded in the index is limited to 15.ETFlab, an affiliate of DekaBank, has released the ETFlab Deutsche Börse EUROGOV France, ISIN: DE000ETFL425, ETFlab Deutsche Börse EUROGOV France 1-3, ISIN: DE000ETFL391, ETFlab Deutsche Börse EUROGOV France 3-5, ISIN: DE000ETFL409 and ETFlab Deutsche Börse EUROGOV France 5-10, ISIN: DE000ETFL417, all of which charge fees of 0.15%. The new products bring the total number of ETFs listed in Frankfurt to 771.
09/02/2011

Architas launches three passively-managed funds of funds

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Architas, the multi-management arm of the Axa group, is planning to launch three passively-managed funds of funds as additions to its existing range, MoneyMarketing reports. The calendar for the launches is not set, but the objective is to strengthen the range, which already includes three passively-managed funds of funds launched in November 2008. Eventually, Architas hopes to offer six passive and six active funds, each corresponding to one of the 17 categories of risk defined by the management firm.
09/02/2011

Asia specialist sets up shop in Europe

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Matthews International, an investment boutique based in San Francisco and specialised in Asia, which created a Luxembourg Sicav in 2010, has obtained approval to promote three of its funds on the Swiss and British markets, Citywire reports. The three vehicles are the Pacific Tiger (Asia ex Japan), the China fund, and the Asia Dividend fund. These products use the same investment strategies as in the United States, and will be managed by the same team, with a bottom-up process based on fundamental research. Assets under management at Matthews International total about USD19bn, making it the largest US investor specialised in Asian markets.
09/02/2011

Robeco Boston Partners already planning a soft closing fro US Premium Equities fund

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Duilio R. Ramallo, manager of the Luxembourg fund Robeco US Premium Equities I USD shares (LU02269543469), told Newsmanagers on 8 February that the US equities product with USD4bn in assets last year attracted about USD1.2bn in net subscriptions, in addition to over USD400m in positive market effects related to a return of about 14% (the strategy, initiated in October 2005, weighs in at USD7bn, of which USD200m are for the US mutual fund, launched in July 2002).The portfolio includes about 110 positions, of which the largest is JP Morgan (3.5%), out of a universe of 4,000 shares. Although the benchmark index is the Russell 3000 value, about 75% of the shares in the portfolio are not part of this index. Stock-picking is bottom-up, of equities which present the double advantage of having low valuations, healthy balance sheets with rising profits, and a catalysing factor in the judgement of the manager. In addition, active bets may involve not only overweight positions but the shares which are in the index and that the fund deliberately doesn’t own.When asked about the capacity limitations of the Luxembourg fund, Ramallo estimates that Robeco will need to soft close the fund when it nears USD8bn. This may take the form of a closure to new investors and a discontinuation of active marketing.
09/02/2011

Ignis reshuffles UK equities team

In order to address the recent sub optimal performance of its UK Life Company funds and to build a stronger UK equity proposition for the future, Ignis has taken the decision to restructure the US equity team. Since his appointment as CIO equities in October 2010, Mark Lovett has conducted a detailed review of Ignis’ UK equity proposition. «Whilst the performance of our third party retail funds has improved substantially our Life Company funds have performed below expectations», Ignis said. As a result of Mark Lovett’s review, Ignis has taken the decision to restructure the team. Head of UK equities, Neil Richardson, and four other members of the UK equity team will be leaving their current posts (Gary McAleese, Finlay MacDonald and Jon Stewart). Stacey Cassidy will also be leaving the team but will be joining the Asia Pacific team. «We are currently consulting with former members of the team concerning opportunities that may exist in the new structure or elsewhere within the company», Ignis adds. Mark Lovett will become head of UK equities as well as CIO of equities and will be directly responsible for the management of the Life Co funds. Management of retail funds – which are performing well - remains unaffected. Ralph Brook-Fox, Martin Brown and David Clark will remain lead managers of their respective funds – UK Focus, Equity Income and Smaller Companies.
09/02/2011

Ignis AM redéploie sa gestion actions britanniques

Selon Money Marketing, Mark Lovett, CIO d’Ignis Asset Management, a passé les fonds d’actions britanniques au banc d’essai et a decide de se séparer de Neil Richardson, head of UK equities ainsi que de quatre analystes, dont un - Stacey Cassidy- a été réaffecté à l'équipe Asie. Les trois analystes restant et Neil Richardson sont toujours en attente d’autres mission au sein d’Ignis.
09/02/2011

LRI launches an absolute return fund for Swiss Rock

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Luxembourg firm LRI Invest has announced the launch of a new sub-fund of the Sicav Swiss Rock (Lux) for the Zurich-based wealth management firm Swiss Rock Asset Management, entitled Absolute Return Bond Fund Plus, which will be available in shares denominated in euros and Swiss francs, hedged for currency risks. The product will be managed by Roman von Ah, CEO of Swiss Rock AM and former CIO of Swissca.The diversified portfolio will be composed of government bonds, corporate bonds and securitisations, with a minimum of 50% investment grade papers, with a complement of high yield bonds and bonds from emerging markets. The objective is absolute returns higher than the euro money market rate.Active management of currency and rate risks will be complemented by active construction of the portfolio to manage exposure to securities, countries and sectors, while currency risks may be completely or partially hedged.The fund has recently received a sales license from BaFin for sale in Germany.CharacteristicsName: Swiss Rock (Lux) Sicav – Absolute Return Bond Fund PlusISIN codes: LU0558816855 (A shares in euros); LU0558817150 (C shares in Swiss francs hedged for currency risks)Front-end fee: maximum 3%Management commission: 0.93%Administrative commission: 0.11%Depository banking commission: 0.06%
09/02/2011

L'AFT lance une nouvelle OATei de référence

Le placement par syndication d’une nouvelle OAT à 15 ans indexée sur l’inflation européenne pourrait démarrer dès ce matin. L’Agence France Trésor espère lever 3 milliards d’euros, après le succès rencontré en janvier par son BTAN indexé sur l’inflation française.
09/02/2011

« Il faut tester les normes comptables »

Jérôme Haas, président de l’Autorité des normes comptables, évoque pour L’Agefi les sujets du moment alors que la profession comptable se réunit à Bruxelles.
09/02/2011

Unigestion recrute son responsable « clients institutionnels »

La société de gestion européenne indépendante a fait part de la nomination de Tom Leavitt au poste nouvellement créé de responsable «clients institutionnels». Ce dernier, qui était précédemment en charge de l’activité commerciale institutionnelle au sein de Fortis Investments, devient également membre du comité exécutif.
09/02/2011

Les activités américaines de Centro Properties très convoitées

Trois groupes resteraient encore en lice pour le rachat des centres commerciaux américains du groupe immobilier australien Centro Properties d’une valeur estimée de 9,5 milliards de dollars, selon des sources Reuters. A savoir Blackstone, Morgan Stanley Real Estate, associé pour l’occasion à Starwood Capital, et un consortium dirigé par NRDC Equity.
EB
09/02/2011

Assouplissement à l’étude pour les CDS souverains

Selon un projet de la présidence hongroise de l’Union européenne obtenu par Bloomberg, les Etats membres pourraient adoucir les règles destinées à limiter les positions non couvertes sur les CDS souverains en retirant l’obligation de posséder l’emprunt d’Etat sous-jacent. Une position qui vient amender les propositions faites en septembre par la Commission européenne.
JLC

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