Aviva Investors va pouvoir proposer des services de gestion de fonds à Singapour à une clientèle de particuliers et d’investisseurs institutionnels, via des mandats, des fonds dédiés et des fonds ouverts. La société de gestion, présente dans le pays depuis 2007, vient en effet d’obtenir une licence «Capital Markets Services» en gestion de fonds de la part de la Monetary Authority of Sinagore.Aviva Investors ne sera ainsi plus limitée en termes de nombre et de type d’investisseurs avec lesquels elle peut travailler.

Le fonds d’investissement américain Carlyle a annoncé mercredi l’acquisition du fonds de fonds de private equity néerlandais AlpInvest qui gère 32,3 milliards d’euros d’actifs, note le Tribune. Avec 97,7 milliards de dollars d’actifs, Carlyle devient le plus important fonds d’investissement du monde, devant Blackstone.

L’indice des hedge funds de Morningstar a progressé de 4% au mois de décembre et de 10,4% sur l’ensemble de l’année. Les stratégies gagnantes de 2010 ont été les distressed securities, avec un gain de 3,5% sur le mois et de 24,5% sur l’année, et l'évènementiel corporate, avec des augmentations de respectivement 4,6% et 19,4%.Les hedge funds sur les actions américaines ont enregistré une collecte nette de 1,5 milliard de dollars sur les onze premiers mois de l’année à comparer à une décollecte de 8 milliards de dollars entre janvier et novembre 2009. Les seules autres stratégies gagnantes ont été les stratégies global non-trend (paris évenements macroéconomiques) et corporate actions. Sur les onze premiers mois de l’année, ces stratégies ont drainé respectivement 5,4 milliards de dollars et 1,6 milliard de dollars. La collecte pour l’ensemble des hedge funds s’est élevée sur onze mois à 2,7 milliards de dollars. Les fonds de hedge funds ont encore eu une année difficile, avec une performance de seulement 4,1% sur l’année, soit en retrait de plus de 6 points par rapport au résultat des hedge funds. Corollaire de cette évolution, l’année s’est terminée sur une décollecte de plus de 10 milliards de dollars.

Le 26 janvier, Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) a présenté son nouveau fonds d’actions Goldman Sachs N-11 Equity Portfolio qui investit principalement dans des titres des «Next 11" (Bangladesh, Egypte, Indonésie, Iran, Corée du Sud, Mexique, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Turquie et Vietnam). L’indice de référence du nouveau produit devrait être le futur MSCI GDP Weighted N-11 ex Iran Index pondéré en fonction du PIB des pays considérés.Le fonds pourra être commercialisé en Allemagne, France, Finlande, Luxembourg, aux Pays-Bas, en Norvège, en Autriche, à Singapour, en Suède et au Royaume-Uni.

La China Construction Bank (CCB) a sélectionné BNY Mellon Asset Servicing comme conservateur international pour le fonds QDII que va lancer en Chine Bank of China Investment Management Co., Ltd (BOCIM), une coentreprise de Bank of China Co., Ltd. et de BlackRock, Inc. Ce fonds, le BOC Global Strategic Fund (FOF), devrait être lancé en mars 2011.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of the end of December, assets at Legg Mason totalled USD671.8bn, compared with USD673.5bn as of the end of September, and USD681.6bn twelve months earlier. Of this total, equities funds represented USD184.2bn, compared with USD169.6bn three months earlier, and USD168.7bn as of the end of December 2009, while bond funds stood at USD355.8bn, compared with USD371.6bn and USD365.8bn. The remainder corresponds to money market funds, totalling USD131.8bn, compared with USD132.3bn and USD147.1bn.For 2010 as a whole, Legg Mason has seen net redemptions in all quarters, totalling USD96.1bn. Market effects were positive to the tune of USD53.6bn over this period.Legg Mason on 26 January also announced net profits of USD61.6bn for the third quarter of its fiscal year to 31 March, compared with USD75.3m in July-September, and USD44.9m in the corresponding period of 2009. For the first three quarters of the period now underway, net profits however increased to USD184.9m, compared with USD140.8m.

Laurent Minvielle and Christina Wilgress, the former managers of the Turquoise fund of hedge funds at Société Générale, have joined Edmond de Rothschild Investment Managers’ funds of hedge funds team, which has assets under management of EUR1.6n. Laurent Minvielle is appointed head of funds of hedge funds at Edmond de Rothschild Investment Managers. He will report to Olivier Neau, chief investment officer and vice-chairman of the asset manager’s executive committee.After graduating from ENSAE (Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l’Administration Economique), Laurent Minvielle worked as an economist, first for IPECODE from 1984 and then for Société Générale from 1988. From 1993, he held various positions of responsibility in Société Générale’s risk management division before moving to Lyxor AM to be in charge of hedge fund manager selection and risk monitoring. From 2003 to 2009, he managed funds of funds at Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking (SGCIB).Christina Wilgress will coordinate hedge fund selection and monitoring and will be in charge of risk and portfolio performance analysis. She holds a masters in Bank-Finance-Insurance from the University of Paris IX Dauphine and joined the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignation in 1991 as a credit analyst. In 1994, she moved to Société Générale where she held various posts in the risk management division. In 2001, she was appointed head of product development in the Equity department at SGCIB and subsequently headed up its fund of funds team from 2003 to 2009.Laurent Minvielle and Christina Wilgress both managed the Turquoise fund, a fund of hedge funds launched by Société Générale in July 2002 as a proprietary activity in its investment banking division. Assets under management in the Turquoise fund peaked at more than USD3bn.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } For the Scandinavian Nordea group, 2010 was a record year, with net inflows of EUR6.9bn for the first eleven months of the year. In other words, the firm, which is to announce its annual results on 2 February, may finish the year with inflows of over EUR7bn. At EUR6.9bn, Lipper has already ranked Nordea in the top 10 pan-European management firms by inflows.Inflows were significant in most European countries covered by Nordea, particularly germany, with EUR600m, Benelux, at EUR350m, and Italy, with EUR350m.In France, net inflows were slightly more modest than elsewhere in Europe, with a total of EUR150m. The French market was less dynamic than other European markets, as the most recent statistics from the AFG reveal (see Newsmanagers of 26 January).In 2011, Nordea, which is in the process of adding to its Luxembourg hub, will remain faithful to its multi-boutique approach, with two new partnerships, one of which will be announced in the next few weeks.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of the end of December, assets in European ETFs totalled USD284bn, in 1,071 funds (see Newsmanagers of 13 January). Strong growth in assets under management (63.3% in 2006, 43.3% in 2007, 11.1% in 2008, 59% in 2009 and 25.2% in 2010) comes along with intense competition between the two major types of replication, physical and synthetic (via swaps).BlackRock statistics unveiled on 26 January in Paris by Deborah Fuhr, global head of ETF research & implementation strategy, reveals that although assets in physical replication funds have risen by USD41.3bn to USD155.1bn between 2005 and 2010, synthetic replication ETFs in the same time took on USD13.6bn, to total USD126.6bn. The numbers of products, which were 138 and 27, respectively, in 2005, as of the end of last year were 385 and 683.However, for the moment, hybrid replication ETFs account for a much smaller share, with only 3 funds and USD0.3bn in assets.

Aviva Investors has announced that it has received a Capital Markets Services Licence in Fund Management from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The licence allows Aviva Investors to provide fund management services in Singapore to both retail and institutional clients, across segregated mandates, closed-ended and open-ended funds. The licence means that Aviva Investors will no longer be limited to the number and type of investors it can work with. Since first opening its office in 2007, it will now be able to offer a greater number of products to a larger number of clients.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The director general of the Singapore monetary authority, Heng Swee Keat, and the French ambassador to Singapore, Olivier Caron, on Wednesday, 26 January inaugurated the Asian headquarters of the EDHEC-Risk Institute, a statement says.On this occasion, Noël Amenc, director of the EDHEC-Risk Institute, announced that “the growing influence of Asian markets and investors require that academic research oriented to the needs of the financial industry be undertaken from this region of the world. The EDHEC Risk Institute-Asia will adapt the six research programs of the EDHEC-Risk Institute to the specifically Asian context, will develop two new thematic programs dedicated to sovereign funds management and inflation, and will regularly study risk and investment management processes in the context of a new initiative, the Asian Centre for the Study and Promotion of Better Investment Practices.”Frédéric Ducoulombier, director of the EDHEC Risk Institute-Asia, took the occasion of the official launch of the campus to announce that new research partnerships have been signed. “Since the unveiling of our Asian project last April, a series of institutions have joined Deutsche Bank, our partner for the research chair in “active-passive management and management of sovereign funds.” The new partners are Amundi ETF, AXA Investment Managers, Société Générale Corporate and Investment Banking, and Eurex who are supporting research dedicated to tracker products and passive management, hybrid retirement systems, structured equities strategies, and the use of volatility products in portfolio management.”

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 26 January, Van Eck Global announced that it has lowered the management commissions for two of its Market Vectors ETFs. The Indonesia fund (IDX) will now cost 0.60%, down from 0.68%, while the Poland fund (PLND) will charge 0.60%, rather than 0.65%. As of 31 December, Van Eck managed about USD20bn in its 29 Market Vectors branded ETFs.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } John Hancock Funds, the affiliate of John Hancock Financial specialised in mutual funds, on 25 January announced the launch of a new fund, the John Hancock Alternative Asset Allocation Fund, which offers investors a diversified allocation to asset classes and alternative strategies. Multi-management funds, which rely on heavyweights in the sector such as Pimco, Wellington Management and Deutsche AM, offer investors, who are usually underweight in alternative strategies and assets, a wide range of possibilities in real estate, commodities and long/short strategies.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Munich-based management firm TMW Pramerica Property Investment has announced that a freeze on redemptions for its open-ended real estate fune TMW Immobilien Weltfonds (EUR761.94m in assets as fo the end of December) has been extended for a maximum of one year. Redemptions have been suspended since 8 February 2010. Since then, it has not been possible to sell a sufficient number of properties to raise the necessary liquidity to reopen redemptions.However, on 26 January 2011, the fund sold one property at a price above its market value. The property is the Dundas Edwards Center office building in Toronto, which was sold for CAD103m, 16% above its most recent expert valuation.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 15 November 2010, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) launched the Market Access III Kenmar Liquid Commodity Index Fund, a sub-fund of its UCITS-compliant Luxembourg Sicav Market Access III (see Newsmanagers of 17 November). The distribution of the product in Germany will now be provided by Fundmatrix and RBS.The fund replicates the Kenmar Liquid Commodity Index (KLCI), which includes a diversified portfolio of managers relying on various strategies related to commodities markets. The objective for the fund is to generate capital gains whether the commodities markets are rising or falling, with volatility lower than long-only indices such as the S&P Goldman Sachs Commodity IndexTM Total Return, or the Rogers International Commodities Index. Manager selection is undertaken by Kenmar Group.CharacteristicsName: Market Access III Kenmar Liquid Commodity Index FundISIN Codes: LU0521861962 (institutional share class in US dollars) ; LU 0521862424 (institutional share class in euros, hedged for currency risks)Commission for index provider: 1.50%Management commission: 0.15%Performance commission: 5% above high watermarkLiquidity: bi-monthlyMinimal subscription: USD250,000

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 26 January, Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) unveiled its new equities fund, Goldman Sachs N-11 Equity Portfolio, which invests primarily in shares from the “next 11” emerging markets (Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, South Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Turkey, and Vietnam). The benchmark index for the new product will be the future MSCI GDP Weighted N-11 ex Iran Index, which is weighted according to the BNP of the countries in question. The fund may be made available in Germany, France, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Singapore, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Morningstar hedge fund index gained 4% in the month of December, and 10.4% for the year as a whole. The winning strategies in 2010 were distressed securities, with gains of 3.5% for the month and 24.5% for the year, and corporate event-driven, with gains of 4.6% and 19.4%. Hedge funds focused on US equities posted net inflows of USD1.5bn for the first eleven months of the year, compared with outflows of USD8bn between January and November 2009. The only other winning strategies were global non-trend (macroeconomic event-driven investments) and corporate equities. In the first eleven months of the year, these strategies attracted USD5.4bn and USD1.6bn, respectively. Inflows to hedge funds overall in the eleven-month period totalled USD2.7bn. Funds of hedge funds had another difficult year, with returns of only 4.1% for the year, more than 6 points lower than the results for hedge funds. A corollary of this evolution is that the year finished with outflows of more than USD10bn from these funds.

Two former Galleon Group portfolio managers, Adam Smith and Michael Cardillo, pleaded guilty to trading ahead of corporate takeovers based on inside information, the Financial Times said. They agreed to co-operate with the government in its case against Raj Rajaratnam.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Morningstar on 26 january announced the launch of a research and ratings service for 30 closed-end funds. Morningstar is planning to cover 100 funds of this type traded in the United States by the end of first quarter, which represents about 45% of net assets in the US market, and all of the largest closed-end funds.

London is one of the financial centres which pays the highest bonuses, according to the most recent survey by eFinancialCareers of the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. In the UK, of the 654 bankers and finance professionals surveyed by the recruitment website, 49% said they received a higher bonus this year than last year, while 25% of respondents said their bonus had fallen. In all professions combined, bonuses in the industry increased by 5% in the UK, while the highest average bonuses were paid to hedge fund and trading professionals. By comparison, the average bonus fell 5% in the United States.Among the British bankers and finance professionals who saw increases to their bonuses, front-office professionals earned an average of GBP84,409 in bonuses (about EUR98,000). Middle office professionals got an average bonus of GBP31,705 (about EUR37,000), while back office professionals earned an average of GBP18,895 (about EUR22,000).By comparison, in the Asia Pacific region (Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia), while 59% of professionals surveyed saw an increase in their bonuses and 16% reported a decline, the average bonus is lower than in the United Kingdom. In the United States, while 56% of respondents said they received a higher bonus this year, and 19% reported a lower bonus, the overall average bonus fell by 5%.When the bonus is considered as a proportion of total pay, for the British, who saw rising bonuses, they account for 32% on average, compared with 28% in the United States and Asia.In addition, most respondents in the United Kingdom and Asia say they still receive all of their bonuses in cash. Only a minority (less than 10% in the United Kingdom) get more than 25% of their bonsues in other forms. 20% of British respondents say that they also have bonus guarantees.Front-office professionals working at banks in which the British government controls a majority stake receive bonuses equivalent to only one third of what their colleagues at the major independent investment banks receive.In all areas combined, satisfaction levels over bonuses earned this year are relatively high across the board, eFinancialCareers reports.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The results of the State Street Investor Confidence Index® for the month of January 2011, published by State Street Global Markets on Wednesday, 26 January, show a decline of 3.3 points from a corrected level of 104.2 for December 2010.Among the key developments this month, appetite for risk on the part of institutional investors in North America has declined 3.6 points in one month to 99.5 points, while in Europe the figure has fallen 3.9 points to 93.5.The decline in confidence observed for investors in Asia is comparatively steeper, a statement says; the Asian regional index is down 5.4 points to 97.5, compared with a corrected level of 102.9 for December.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Assets under management at the Swiss fund of fund specialist Gottex Fund Management Holdings Limited (Gottex) have risen by more than 6% as of fourth quarter, to USD8.26bn, up from USD7.76bn as of the end of September 2010.Asset Based strategies finished the year in the red (-8.5%, at USD1.59bn), as did Market Neutral & Directional strategies (-0.8%, to USD4.05bn), the firm says in a statement published on 26 January.Gottex also states that it is planning to develop its activities in Asia. With this in mind, the chairman and CEO of Gottex, Joachim Gottschalk, will be moving to Hong Kong.

For the 2010 financial year, UBP’s consolidated net profit reached CHF 216 million (USD 230 million), identical to 2009. In 2009, it had been divided by half. Revenues were CHF 766 million (USD 816 million) for the year versus CHF 806 million for 2009. Interest income remained almost unchanged at CHF 162 million versus 166 million in 2009.As at 31 December 2010, assets under management came to CHF 65 billion (USD 69 billion), versus CHF 75 billion at the end of 2009. “These were mainly affected by negative exchange-rate effects”, said UBP. But the bank failed to give details of net inflows or outflows. Operating expenses remained under control (-1%) at CHF 493 million (USD 525 million). This figure takes into account the investment made in reorganising the Asset Management division. The Group’s consolidated cost/income ratio was 65%. The balance sheet total reached CHF 18 billion (USD 19 billion), and the return on shareholder equity for the 2010 financial year was 12.8%. UBP also said: «The aim of Private Banking is to develop growth markets, such as the Middle East, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America, and to grow its European onshore client base. Asset Management has launched a new range of in-house managed investment funds with around fifteen products, carefully tailored to meet client needs and with a particular focus on emerging markets».

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Effective from 25 January 2011, the Luxembourg firm DZ Privatbank, the central private banking institution for the German co-operative banks, created by the merger of the activities of DZ Bank and WGZ Bank with DZ Bank Switzerland (see Newsmanagers of 15 September 2010), has taken complete control of Union Investment (Schweiz), the Zurich-based affiliate of the central asset management arm of the German co-operative banks, Union Investment.The new affiliate will be renamed as IP Concept (Schweiz). It will use the brand IP Concept for the launch of new Swiss-registered funds, and to apply for a Swiss passport for funds from the Luxembourg platform IP Concept, an affiliate of DZ Bank International.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The sixth hedge fund of the range from Armajaro Asset Management (USD1.8bn in assets) will be launched on 1 February, Hedge Week reports. The Armajaro Natural Resources Fund will be managed by Nick Glinsman, who has been the external advisor to Brevan Howard for natural resources for the past five years, and who will be joined by James Whitehead, ex Brevan Howard, as dedicated risk manager.The portfolio of the new fund will include metals, energy and agriculture, and will focus on macroeconomic trends, with positions on equities in firms related to these sectors, rather than direct investment in commodities or futures.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The distribution team at Legg Mason in Germany has been reinforced with the recruitment of two people. Özlem Erdogan (ex Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investment GmbH) becomes client relationship manager, while Claudia Müller, who has recently completed her studies, will become an assistant to the distribution team. The two women will be in charge of assistance to existing clients. They will report to Klaus Dahmann, head of sales Germany and Austria.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }a:link { } The German association of independent wealth managers Verband unabhängiger Vermögensverwalter Deutschland e.V. (VuV) announced on 26 January that information on members and their activities, updated daily, will now be available on the fondsweb.de website, at www.fondsweb.de/vuv. The VuV now has slightly over 200 members, with assets of EUR55bn.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The China Construction Bank (CCB) has selected BNY Mellon Asset Servicing as international custodian for the QDII fund which it is to launch in China via Bank of China Investment Management Co., Ltd (BOCIM), a joint venture of Bank of China Co., Ltd and BlackRock, Inc. The fund, the BOC Global Strategic Fund (FOF), will be launched in March 2011.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The UK asset management firm M&G has appointed Manuel Pozzi as its business development manager in Italy. He will be based in Milan, and will report to Matteo Astolfi, sales director for M&G in Italy. He will be in charge of developing relations with retail distributors, private clients and promoters of M&G funds. Pozzi, 35, joins M&G after working as a senior portfolio manager at Banco di Desio e della Brianza. He was previously a bond portfolio manager at Banca Passadore.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The real estate asset management firm Fimit – Fondi Immobiliari Italiani is to merge with its rival First Atlantic Real Estate. The merger will give rise to “the largest independent real estate management firm in Italy,” entitled IDeA Fimit, which will manage over EUR8bn in assets, according to a press release. Fare will be merged into Fimit.