p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } For its 25th anniversary, HDF Finance on Tuesday, 25 January announced several developments at the firm. In terms of staff, the firm on Monday, 24 January announced the arrival of a new CEO, Pierre Lenders. Lenders, 48, served from 2008 to 2010 at Lafayette as head of risks, and then as co-CIO. In addition to this recruitment, the firm has also recruited Joseph Naayem, a long/short fund of fund manager who knows dedicated mandates well and has worked at Harcourt and other firms, effective the same day. In terms of services, the firm is also planning to offer new custom services to its clients, 85% of whom are institutionals, including choice and management of drivers of performance, a statement says. The last development announced by HDF Finance is that the management firm is planning to set up a new communications plan to make itself more widely known by private clients.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BlackRock announced on 24 January that it has recruited Nancy Everett to the newly-created position of managing director, head of the US entity Fiduciary Management Solutions (FMS), which offers management, advising and outsourcing solutions to major institutional clients. Everett previously worked as CEO of Promark Global Advisors (ex-General Motors Asset Management), which has about USD140bn in assets under management.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Despite a decline in its headcount of 15, to 301 employees, Fidelity International last year saw an increase of EUR4.6bn in its assets under management or administration in Germany last year, to EUR28.9bn, Christian Wrede, CEO, announced on 25 January. Of this total, EUR16.6bn, compared with EUR13.8bn, are assets under administration at Frankfurter Fondsbank (FFB), which it acquired on 6 October 2009, while assets under management totalled EUR12.3bn, compared with EUR10.5bn at the end of 2009, of which EUR2.5bn, compared with EUR2bn, are for institutionals, a segment Fidelity began to serve only five years ago.Net inflows at Fidelity Deutschland fell to EUR627m, compared with EUR1.15bn in 2009, of which EUR162m were net subscriptions to asset management (compared with EUR937m), and EUR465m, compared with EUR212m, were net inflows to the FFB platform.In 2011, the priority areas for development will be Asian and emerging markets equities and bond funds, corporate retirement savings funds (71 firms are already clients, up from 56 in 2009), and efforts to win over independent financial advisers.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British management firm ETF Securities (ETFS, USD26.4bn in assets) has announced that it has recently received validation of its passport for the European community, which will allow it to establish operations in Spain, where it is planning to sell over 200 exchange-traded products (ETP), including commodities (ETC) and other currency products, Funds People reports. Luis Puertas, head at the firm for the Iberian peninsula and Latin America, says that ETFS products will be available in Spain via the Bankinter, Renta 4, Inversis and GVC Gaesco platforms.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Spanish securities commission (CNMV) says that it is expecting changes “in the short to mid-term” in the structure of at least 7 out of the 24 asset management firms in which the savings banks hold stakes, Cinco Días reports. 17 out of the 45 savings banks in the country are expected to disappear. Experts say that in order to be viable, a management firm needs at least EUR500m in assets; however, in December, this was true at only 40% of them.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Matthias Danne, a board member at DekaBank, is satisfied with the compromise between coalition parties over regulations applicable to open-ended real estate funds. In his opinion, the number of providers of these funds aimed at retail investors will fall below ten, from 14 currently.Deka is the leader in this market segment, with assets of about EUR22bn. Net subscriptions to the group’s real estate funds represented EUR1.6bn in 2010, of which EUR1.1bn were for the three products aimed at retail clients (Deka-ImmobilienEuropa, Deka-ImmobilienGlobal and WestInvest InterSelect), while the remaining EUR500m went to institutional funds.In 2010, Deka Immobilien bought 27 properties for EUR2.4bn, and sold 16 properties for EUR800m. In 2011, the management firm is planning to acquire more small properties for its institutional funds. The largest deal last year was the acquistion of the office property Chevron House in Singapore for EUR300m.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The co-founders of Verus Chartered Financial Planners, Paul Lothian and Jonathan Gibson, are entering the wealth management business. The financial advisers have teamed up with the Aberdeen accounting firm Anderson, Anderson & Brown, to create the dedicated wealth management entity A2+B Wealth. As its name indicates, the new firm is planning to concentrate on high net worth clients, to whom it will offer long-term management relying on modelling tools and the A2+B Wealthcare white label platform.

F&C Asset Management on January 25 updated the market on its assets under management and business flows and responded to the letter from Sherborne Investors - which holds a 17.5 stake in the company and wants to oust its chairman - dated 19 January 2011.“Sherborne appears to have misunderstood the economics of and rationale for the REIT Asset Management and Thames River Capital acquisitions”, F&C writes in a press release. “REIT and Thames River have accelerated the improvement in average fee margins and have contributed to the increased proportion of revenues derived from non‐insurance clients. Both acquisitions have enhanced the group’s product range and investment expertise and have helped strengthen the group’s management team. Both acquisitions were executed at attractive profit multiples which were significantly lower than those implied by recent transactions in the sector such as RBC’s acquisition of Bluebay and Henderson’s proposed acquisition of Gartmore”, according to the UK fund manager.In addition, F&C poses a number of questions “it considers critically important that Sherborne answers in advance of the general meeting it has requisitioned for 3 February to allow shareholders to consider all the facts before voting”. “Will Mr. Bramson’s executive chairmanship of Nautilus, a US based manufacturer of gym equipment, the share price of which has fallen c.75 per cent. since Sherborne acquired its c.20 per cent interest, together with his other responsibilities, allow him to carry out properly his proposed role as Chairman of F&C?”, asks F&C.Alain Grisay, chief executive of F&C, also commented: “After years of outflows and the ownership uncertainty of 2007‐2009, 2010 was a turning point for F&C with three year investment track records rebuilt, strong consultant support and a return to net inflows ex. insurance assets. The combination of positive headline flows from institutional clients, coupled with improving fee margins are tangible signs that our strategy is working”.The group’s assets under management (AUM) ended the year at GBP105.8 billion, vs GBP97.8 billion at the en of 2009. Net business flows (excluding insurance) were positive in Q4 2010 and for the full‐year after four years of net outflows (GBP272m).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Several major international banks, including UBS, are bringing their differences with Italian cities and provinces over derivative contracts before British courts, in the hopes of finding fairer resolutions there, which it hopes will be more favourable and faster than the Italian courts, Agefi Switzerland reports. UBS is countersuing several municipalities and regions, including Florence, Piedmont and Latium, in the British courts, in response to suits filed by the local governments in Italy. Despite contractual clauses which state that claims may be settled in the British courts, the Italian entities sued in Italy in order to avoid an unfamiliar jurisdiction which is though to offer better protection to banks.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The db x-trackers platform from Deutsche Bank on 25 January announced the launch of a new UCITS-compliant Luxembourg-registered ETF, the db x-trackers db Equity Strategies Hedge Fund Index ETF (LU0519153562), which initially replicates the performanc eof 17 mostly long/short equities hedge funds from 13 different providers.The product is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and comes as an addition to the db x-trackers db Hedge Fund Index ETF, which was launched in January 2009, and which replicates the performance of six hedge fund strategies. Assets in the fund total USD1.5bn.The new fund, for its part, charges fees of 0.90%.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Giuseppe Guzzeti, president of the Cariplo foundation, which is a shareholder in Intesa Sanpaolo, says he favours a merger with Pioneer, the management firm from UniCredit, and Eurizon, the asset management unit of Intesa Sanpaolo, Bluerating reports. “If the two banks find a way – either between themselves or with others – for savings to be managed by Italian institutions, I applaud them and I am in favour,” he says. He adds that “UniCredit acquired Pioneer from foreigners, and I don’t see why it should sell it back to them.”

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Jean-Pierre Mustier, former head of the investment bank at Société Générale (and then the asset management and investor services unit), is reported to be one of the frontrunners to replace Sergio Ermotti as head of the corporate & investment banking division of UniCredit Group, Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. According to unconfirmed leaks cited by the Italian newspaper, the choice of a successor to Ermotti may be made next week by the nomination committee at the Italian bank, which would then propose its candidate to the board of directors the following week. All of the candidates have an international profile.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BNY Mellon on 25 January announced the appointment of Eleni Wang as head of client management for the Asia Pacific region, replacing Jai Arya, who has recently been promoted to director of the newly-created sovereign institutions group. Wang was previously managing partner of the alternative management firm Adept Capital Partners, where she was head of strategy and development.

Crédit Agricole Private Equity (CAPE) pourrait encaisser à terme jusqu’à 100 millions de dollars provenant de l’acquisition de l’américain BioVex (biotech spécialisée dans le traitement du cancer) par son compatriote Amgen. La transaction s’est effectuée sur une base d’un milliard de dollars: 425 millions payables immédiatement et jusqu’à 575 millions en fonction de l’obtention d’autorisations et de la réalisation d’objectifs commerciaux par BioVex. Entré au capital de la société en 2003, CAPE en détient près de 10% à ce jour.

Le gestionnaire d’actifs a dégagé au quatrième trimestre un bénéfice (hors exceptionnels) de 670 millions de dollars (3,42 dollars par action), en hausse de 77% par rapport à la période comparable de 2009. Les revenus ont dans le même temps bondi de 61%, à 2,49 milliards de dollars. Les commissions de performance des fonds alternatifs ont totalisé 326 millions de dollars, contre 125 millions un an plus tôt.

La société néerlandaise de capital-investissement AlpInvest Partners a convié la presse ce matin à 9h30 à Amsterdam pour une mise au point concernant la revue stratégique en cours. Carlyle est pressenti pour négocier le rachat, mais aucun détail n’a été fourni.

La banque centrale a procédé à un nouveau tour de vis monétaire de 25 points de base, portant son taux de refinancement à 6,5 %

44 sociétés ont vu le jour en 2010, correspondant à une création nette de 25 entreprises. Leur nombre s’élevait à 592 à fin décembre, contre 571 et 567 en 2008 et 2009, selon les chiffres de l’AFG. L’an passé, les encours gérés par le secteur ont crû de 1,7% à 2.656 milliards d’euros.

44 sociétés ont vu le jour l'an dernier, pour 25 créations nettes. Leur nombre s’élevait à 592 à fin 2010, selon les chiffres de l’AFG

La société de gestion alternative, qui vise 3 milliards d’euros d’actifs d’ici fin 2013, mise sur le développement des mandats dédiés

Même si les ventes commencent à repartir, gonflées par les saisies, les prix ont encore baissé en novembre 2010

La nouvelle législation instaure une durée minimale de détention pour les investisseurs institutionnels

L’institution recommande cependant des mesures politiques dans les économies avancées et en développement pour assurer une croissance durable

Le président américain a proposé un gel partiel des dépenses sur 5 ans afin de réduire le déficit de 400 milliards de dollars en 10 ans

Le quotidien avance que le fonds américain de garantie des dépôts bancaires pourrait annoncer aujourd’hui qu’un groupe d’investisseurs emmené par Colony Capital s’est vu attribuer la gestion de deux portefeuilles de créances hypothécaires commerciales et résidentielles hérités de banques en faillite et d’un montant de 820 millions de dollars.

Signe fort de confiance dans la pérennité de la zone euro, la demande pour la dette à 5 ans du Fonds de stabilité a atteint 45 milliards

Le Fonds européen de stabilité financière a levé hier 5 milliards d’euros de dette à 5 ans. L'émission inaugurale a attiré une demande record de 45 milliards.

Le marché des appels d’offres est toujours porté par la contribution du Fonds de réserve pour les retraites

30 % des transactions notées par l'agence, contre une fourchette de 40 à 50 % préalablement indiquée, risquent d'être rétrogradées

Les chutes de neige de fin d’année ont entraîné un recul inattendu de 0,5% du PIB britannique au quatrième trimestre 2010, selon l’estimation publiée ce matin par l’Office national de la statistique. Sur un an, la croissance est estimée à 1,7% au quatrième trimestre après un rythme de 2,7% au trimestre précédent.