Le gestionnaire helvétique responsAbility Social Investments AG, spécialiste des investissements sociaux propose aux investisseurs qualifiés ayant un horizon de long terme, un fonds de capital-risque investissant dans des entreprises au fort potentiel de croissance et actives dans le domaine du développement. Ce produit de droit suisse, responsAbility Ventures I, va se focaliser sur un portefeuille équilibré d’entreprises spécialistes des marchés du «bas de la pyramide» mondiale des revenus (base-of-the-pyramid ou BoP) dans des domaines comme l’approvisionnement en énergie, l’agriculture et la technologie de l’information et de la communication.Le fonds a été élaboré avec l’organisation spécialisée dans la coopération au développement Helvetas et la fondation néerlandaise DOEN. Le concept du fonds est soutenu par le secrétariat d’État à l’Economie SECO, la DEZA - direction du développement et de la coopération - et la SNV, l’agence de développement des Pays-Bas.responsAbility Ventures I a drainé 15 millions de dollars lors de la première clôture et 2,35 millions de dollars supplémentaires ont été levés pour l’assistance technique. Le fonds accepte désormais des souscriptions à partir de 250 000 dollars de la part d’investisseurs qualifiés.

Selon Les Echos, l’autorité de tutelle des marchés financiers indiens (Sebi), qui reproche au milliardaire indien Anil Ambani, patron du groupe Reliance Adag, d’avoir dissimulé la nature de certaines opérations financières, lui a interdit d’opérer sur le marché boursier secondaire en 2011 et lui a infligé une amende record de 8 millions d’euros, la plus importante de son histoire.

A la fin du troisième trimestre 2010, 680 hedge funds sur les 9.175 dans le monde étaient domiciliés en Irlande, soit le double de l’an dernier, rapporte le Financial Times Fund Management citant Hedge Fund Research. L’Irlande est aussi la juridiction choisie par 63 % de tous les hedge funds basés en Europe, selon l’Irish Funds Industry Association.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Coface, which for 2011 predicts a moderate downturn in the global economy, announced on 17 January at its 15th Country Risk conference that the time has come for convergence between risk levels in developed and emerging markets, which have seen improving ratings throughout the crisis. The big winners from the crisis are emerging countries, which in 2011 will continue their trajectory of solid growth, with a slight slowdown, to 6.2% from 6.7% in 2010. This is in distinction to the Euro zone, where the private debt bubble led to gorwth for government debt. Activities in emerging markets are not burdened with these private debts. However, emerging markets are not safe from an increase in debt in the private sector. How can the investment boom which will continue to be seen in 2011 be financed? Coface estimates that the answer will be to focus on two types of profile. On the one hand is the “Polish-Brazilian” model of tendency to borrow abroad, as local banks are too reticent, and domestic interest rates are prohibitive, as a result of which there is a risk of having increasingly many collaterals in these countries denominated in the local currency, and on the other hand, the “Chinese-Vietnamese” profile, in which companies borrow more commonly in local currency from domestic banks, which are often not equipped to correctly analyse the risks. These entities have high levels of debt, and sometimes lack transparency, and may find themselves in difficulty. The global panorama of country risk presented at the 2011 conference points to a pronounced division in risk between developed and emerging markets, related to the stability of the latter and the resistant payments observed by Coface from businesses in emerging economies during the crisis. Emerging markets showed high and stable rates of activity and high levels of financial solidity, although risks have degraded in developed markets. Among these, only 9 out of 28 have returned to their pre-crisis levels. Before the crisis, the lowest raring for developed markets was A2, while 9 emerging markets had ratings higher than or equal to A2. In 2010, the lowest rating for developed markets was A4, and 27 emerging markets, including China, Turkey, Brazil, India and Poland, had ratings higher than or equal to A4, and have a higher rating than Greece, Ireland and Portugal, which are subject to the bubble in public and private debt. Turkey is now only a cut below the United Kingdom, while Poland is better rated than Iceland.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Institutional investors not only plan to maintain, but even to increase their financial engagements to hedge funds. According to the fourth edition of the international survey undertaken in fourth quarter 2010 by SEI, in partnership with Greenwich Associates, more than 54% of institutionals surveyed are planning to increase their target allocations to hedge funds in the next 12 months, more than three and a half times the level observed in 2009. The portfolio allocation dedicated to hedge funds represents nearly 14% of total allocation, an increase of more than 10% since the onset of the financial crisis. Another illustration of the increase in popularity of hedge funds with insitutionals is that two years ago, 39% of investors had more than 10% of their portfolios invested in hedge funds. At the end of 2010, the percentage had increased to 59%. Allocations are much higher for charities, while businesses are at the lower end of the spectrum. In 2009, diversification and absolute returns were the top priorities for institutionals, at 31% and 30%, respectively. These objectives were, however, in second and third place, and the top priority for these investors last year was exposure to uncorrelated strategies, (at 30%, compared with 24% the previous year). There is also a much higher interest (18% compared with 8% previously) who are looking to lower volatility. This recovery of confidence on hedge funds comes with increased requirements, particularly in terms of transparency of information. This is the top concern for 70% of institutional investors, more than three quarters of whom would like more information about the level of sectoral positions, use of leverage, or risk analysis. Another subject of concern for 58% of respondents is over liquidity risks as the most significant. This risk was not even a factor in the selection of hedge funds in 2009. More generally, investors who are returning to hedge funds now, never had concerns about the sector in this way in the past. The number of investors who now say this is their largest concern has tripled compared with 2008. In other words, hedge fund managers more than ever need to clarify their investment process and set (more) realistic performance objectives.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The anointed markets for 2011 for the real estate division of Aberdeen (EUR26bn in assets) are clearly the “core” and “core+” categories, including Scandinavian countries, which have had fewer troubles than other markets, but which might pose problems of liquidity due to their smaller size, as well as France and the United Kingdom, Alessandro Bronda, head of global strategy, property, told Newsmanagers on 17 January. However, the British asset manager is underweight in eastern Europe, except for Poland, and in southern Europe. For France, Frédéric Lejeune, head of business development for France and Monaco at Aberdeen, says the year now beginning will be marked by a particular effort in real estate, which now represents EUR800m out of a total of EUR6bn, and which has 5 employees, out of a total of 25-strong staff. Very soon, the asset management firm will announce the recruitment of a sixth specialist. This effort will also result in the launch of an OPCI fund aimed at institutionals, since the release of a retail product is not on the agenda presently.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Les Echos reports that the most recent Coller Capital barometer finds that limiter partners (LP) in private equity funds will be making changes this year. A record number of them have turned down requests to reinvest from their management teams. The refusal rate has risen from 63% to 91% for European, and from 52% to 70% for Asian, investors. Investors are now looking to turn over their portfolios with allocation of capital to new teams. Investors are also planning to reduce their exposure to funds of funds in the next three years. Half of them cite high costs, and one third point to disappointing returns.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Agefi reports that AllianceBernstein, the US affiliate of Axa, last week reported assets under management totalling USD486bn as of 31 December, a decline of 2% over twelve months. Last year, equities assets fell 17%, to 45% of the total, while bond and “other” assets (index-based funds, many of them hedge funds) were up 6% and 65% (42% and 13% of assets in 2010). Total institutional assets lost 6%, to 58% of the total, while retail and private clients were up 5% and 4% to 26% and 16% of the total, the newspaper reports.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to Agefi, citing several sources familiar with the matter, Guido Mundt has been appointed as CEO of Oddo Asset Management (AM), a position which was previously held by Philippe Oddo himeself. The newspaper understands that the announcement of the appointment was made internally on Thursday, 13 January, by Philippe Oddo at a ceremony at the firm. Since late 2008, Mundt had been CEO of the Banque d’Orsay, an affiliate of WestLB whose acquisition by Oddo & Cie was finalised in November, the newspaper adds.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Information revealed by the website H24 Finance on Monday, 17 January that Roger Mainguy, director of networks and partnerships at Cardif would be leaving the BNP Paribas group on 1 February has been confirmed by Newsmanagers. According to the insurer, the departure of the executive will not be followed by a position-for-position replacement. However, Hervé Cazade, who was previously head of financial savings and protection for France at BNP Paribas Assurance, will become head of all distribution networks in France, including IFAs. H24 finance reports that it understands that Mainguy has joined the April group.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The management firm ERA Resources, founded in 2006, a specialist in commodities, has changed names, and has now become Stabilitas Fonds GmbH, to underscore the relationship between the business and the name of its funds, whose promoter is the Luxembourg firm IC Concept Fund Management, Martin Siegel, the new CEO of the firm, announced on 17 January. The change in name comes along with a change in manager on 1 January. Siegel took over a stake in the business, and its operational direction, from its founder James A. Ullmann. In this context, the headquarters of the firm have been moves from Augburg to Bad Salzuflen. The Stabilitas range includes the Stabilitas Gold + Resourcen as well as the institutional funds Stabilitas Silber + Weissmetale, Soft Commodities, Uran + Energie, Gold + Resourcen Special Situations, Growth-Small Cap Resourcen and Pacific Gold+Metals.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The BS index of the morale of 350 advisers at German commercial banks, savings banks and co-operative banks undertaken by Robeco Germany in fourth quarter 2010 rose to 100.7 from 99.8 in third quarter, and 87.7 in fourth quarter 2009. For sales of open-ended shares, 32% of respondents say they are satisfied with the situation in fourth quarter of last year, compared with 27% who were satisfied with July-October, but the percentage of optimists about sales in the next six months has fallen to 34% from 37%. 56% of specialists surveyed expect to see an increase in sales of shares in equities funds, compared with 45% in third quarter, and only 2% in January-March last year. However, outlooks are deteriorating for real estate funds, with 25% optimistic, compared with 38% in July-September, and for money market funds, down to 5% from 9%.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Jörg Laser, who since October has been head of private banking clients at Donner & Reuschel, has been appointed as a member of the board from 1 January. He joined Conrad Hinrich Donner Bank in October 2002. Before its merger with Reuschel & Co, he was head of the private bank and of the business bank.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In 2010, the two open-ended real estate funds from RREEF Deutschland (Deutsche Bank group), grundbesitz europa and grundbesitz global, have invested EUR558m and EUR406m respectively, while the nine institutional funds of the range have acquired activities worth EUR823m. In total, the fund manager says, acquisitions included 34 properties in ten countries, 13 of which were in Germany.The biggest deal last year with the acquisition of a portfolio of office and commercial properties in New York by the RREEF fund Spezial Invest for EUR210m, while the largest investment in a single property was the acquisition of a commercial property in Osaka by the grundbesitz global for EUR170m.Net subscriptions totalled about EUR1.1bn for open-ended funds, and about EUR500m for institutional funds, says Georg Allendorf, CEO.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Effective from 1 January, Allianz SE (insurance), Allianz Global Investors (AGI, asset management) and Allianz Lebensversicherung (life insurance) have founded a joint venture in the name Allianz Corporate Pension Advisors (ACPA). The new structure will act as a single outlet for advising to the 200 largest business clients of the Allianz group for German corporate pensions. The objective is to provide custom solutions which make use of the range of asset management and life insurance tools.The two managing directors of ACPA are Jörg Braun (Allianz Lebensversicherung) and Michael Schütze (Allianz Global Investors). Braun was previously head of distribution via life and health insurance brokers, while Schütze was head of the pension investment advisory division of AGI.The two will report to an executive committee, composed of the heads of the three parent companies: Elizabteh Corley, CEO of Allianz Global Investors Europe Holding, James Dilworth, CEO of AGI Deutschland, Maximilian Zimmerer, chairman of the board at Allianz Lebensversicherung, Michael Hessling, board member at Allianz Lebensversicherung, and Oliver Wohlgemuth, COO Global Life at Allianz SE.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } JP Morgan on 14 January announced the introduction of currency activities in Saudi Arabia, trading on money markets and in Treasury bonds. With this in mind, the US bank has become a full-fledged bank in the Saudi kingdom, with counterparty functions on the local market.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }Skandia Investment Group (SIG) has added Danske Capital to its Skandia European Best Ideas Fund, a fund which incluces all the best ideas from 10 selected managers, after Argonaut Capital Partners and Gartmore Investment Limited lost their mandate. Danske Capital, a division of Danske Bank A/S, will take on a EUR38m mandate.Launched nearly three years ago, Skandia European Best Ideas Fund is managed overall by SIG fund manager Lee Freeman-Shor who allocates capital to the leading European equity managers; currently, Crispin Odey of Odey, James Inglis-Jones of Liontrust, Hugh Cuthbert of SVM, Raj Shant of BNY Mellon/Newton, Tobias Klein of First Private, James Buckley of Barings, Terence Burnham of Acadian, as well as Damien Lanternier of Financiere de l’echiquier. Those investment managers have now been joined by Henrik Husted-Knudsen of Danske Capital.

By the close of the third quarter of 2010, as many as 680 of the 9,175 hedge funds and funds of hedge funds were run from Dublin, according to data from Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research cited by the Financial Times Fund Management. Ireland is the domicile of choice for 63 per cent of all European-domiciled hedge funds, according to the Irish Funds Industry Association.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } HSBC Global Asset Managemetn transferred Xavier Desmadryl from Paris to Hong Kong in early November to coordinate the integration of environmental, social and governance issued into the global investment process, Financial Times Fund Management reports. The weekly newsmagazine says it is the latest exemple of an asset management firm which is strengthening its ESG coverage in the Asia-Pacific region, in light of the growing importance of that market for investors. BNP Paribas Investment Partners, for its part, transferred François Perrin from Europe to Hong Kong in May to manage its Asian SRI team.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Spanish Inverco association of management firms on 17 January announced tha thte 1,229 individual pension funds representing EUR51.58bn, in 8.4 million accounts, in 2010 as a whole earned returns of 1.43% compared with losses of 1.83% on one year to the end of November. In November, the statistic took in 1,202 pension funds, with assets of EUR50.4bn. In the longer term, however, average annual returns for December are higher, at 3.35% (compared with 3.27%) for 15 years, and 4.97% compared with 4.96% for 20 years.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } A consortium composed of Hochtief Projektentwicklung, Norddeutsche Grundvermögen and Frank-Gruppe has sold the office and retail building under construction known as Metropolis Haus, located in the business improvement district of Hamburg, to Deka Immobilien for an undisclosed sum. The property, with 17,000 square metres, will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund Deka-ImmobilienEuropa. The completion of construction is slated for autumn 2011.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The sanctions committee of the AMF on 17 January announced that, according to a decision on 13 January 2010, it has fined the Wendel company and Jean-Bernard Lafonta, chairman of the board at the management firm, an initial sum of EUR1.5m each, for failure to disclose market information about preparations for Wendel to increase its stake in Saint-Gobain. The AMF procedure dealt with the way in which Wendel indirectly acquired a stake in Saint-Gobain when the firm announced that it had passed the 5% threshold in the construction material group’s capital, in late September 2007. The challenge was to determine whether Wendel would have been required to inform the market of the existence of its position in derivative products which, indirectly, increased its position in the capital of Saint-Gobain. The sanctions committee found in the affirmative to this question, and concluded that the derivative products and financial agreements made in parallel with banks “were set up with the essential objective of preparing for an increase of Wendel’s stake in the capital of Saint-Gobain,” the AMF says in a statement. The sanctions commission emphasizes that “the mechanism put in place was set up in conditions which constitute an unfaithful reading of rules which are intended to guarantee financial information which is indispensable to the proper functioning of the market, and which therefore constitutes legal fraud.” It has also found against Wendel and Lafonta on charges of violating article 223-2 of the AMF general rules (“All issuers must, whenever possible, make the public aware of any privileged information as defined by article 621-1, which directly concern it.”) With statements that “by 21 June 2007, preparations by Wendel for the financial operation to acquire a stake in Saint-Gobain were already sufficiently advanced,” and that “on 3 September 2007 the board of Wendel decided to begin acquiring shares in Saint-Gobain,” the Commission claims that by 3 September at the latest, Wendel should have announced the information to the market, as it was likely to have an influence on the share price. Finally, the Commission states that the reason for the pecuniary sanction, which is set at the limit defined by the regulations in force on the date the deeds were committed, is due to “the scale of the violation of financial information rules and principles.”

The alternativemanagement firm Algebris Investments has assigned one of itspartners, Alessandro Lasagna, to lead its European development effort fromLondon, beginning with Italy. The next steps in the expansion will beSpain and Switzerland.Algebris, founded byDavide Serra and Eric Halet, now manages USD1.4bn in assets. The firmmanages a long/short financial sector equities fund, Algebris GlobalFinancial Funds, and in early 2010 launched a financial sectorlong/short fund focused on emerging markets, the Algebris EmergingMarkets Funancial Fund. Algebris, based in London, also has officesin New York and Singapore, and has 17 employees.“We believe thatafter four years of strong growth and after achieving a high level ofassets under management, the time has come to look accross Europe ata wider spectrum of investors. In Italy, in particular, we hope tooffer availablility in the short term of access to our expertise inalternative investments via ad-hoc solutions,” says Serra, foundingpartner at Algebris.The person selected tolead the European development, Alessandro Lasagna, has been a memberof the management board for the Algebris Global Financials Fund since2006. He has also been a member of the board of directors at INAlternative SGR, where since 2006 he has been in charge of increasingassets for funds of hedge funds managed by the Italian firm.p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Agefi Switzerland reports that a former banker from Julius Baer on 17 January handed over two CDs containing the names of clients of the wealth management firm to the founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange. The former employee says the clients are guilty of tax evasion. The former banker, who was head of the Cayman Islands affiliate of Julius Baer for eight years, explained to the press in London that he hoped to make the world aware of the money hidden in offshore accounts. The man did not wish to disclose the number of people on the lists, though press reports put it at about 2000. The former employee, aged 55, whose trial will open before the Zurich courts on 19 January, is accused of several attempts at coercion and threats against his former employer, as well as violation of banking confidentiality. The public minister has called for a sentence of at least eight months in prison and a fine of CHF2,000.

Robeco plans launch a range of focused products in food and agricultural commodities, according to the Financial Times Fund Management.Roderick Munsters, chief executive, said the Dutch fund manager wants to work more closely with its parent Rabobank, a global specialist in the food and agriculture sector.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } David Córdoba, who until 2009 worked at LCF Rothschild, has joined Privat Bank Degroof, an affiliate of the Belgian bank Degroof, Expansión reports, relayed by Funds People. Córdoba will be in charge of institutional activities and asset management, a newly-created unit in Madrid, while the Privat Bank has its headquarters in Barcelona. The objective is to release the full range of Degroof funds in Spain, including through the Inversis and Allfunds platforms. Córdoba will be in charge of developing sales for Degroof’s Belgian hedge funds in Latin America, beginning with Chile. As of the end of 2010, assets at Privat Bank Degroof totalled EUR1.1bn, which represents a one-year increase of 6%.

ING Real Estate Investment Management has confirmed it is in talks with «several parties» on a possible sale of parts of its business after media reports claimed CBRE was the front-runner in the bidding process, IPE.com wrote.ING REIM has added the discussions could potentially lead to «one or more transactions» relating to its business.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The new British code of conduct, the Stewardship Code, though it is still subject to considerable criticism, appears to be winning converts as well. As of 17 January, the number of management firms which had signed up to the code totalled 108, according to the website of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), compared with less than 50 when the FRC for the first time announced a number of signatories. Many big names of the financial sector are among the signatories, but foreign management firms such as the Dutch pension funds ABP and PGGM have not taken the step. And there are no sovereign funds on the list at all. Hedge funds have also not been quick into the breach to sign the Code. Responsible Investor reports that all the big names in the sector, MAN, Marshall Wace, King Street Capital and Eton Park International, consider the code not relevant to their activities.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } RWC Partners will launch an absolute return fund in early February, entitled the RWC Enhanced Absolute Rate & Currency (ARC) which will be managed by two former Threadneedle managers, Peter Allwright and Stuart Frost, who left their former firm in June in order to join RWC. The fund will aim for returns equivalent to the money markets plus 6%, and will participate in short-term movements on the bond markets within a UCITS III-compliant framework. The fund will not be offered on the market until the end of first quarter, but its launch has been moved forward due to strong demand on the part of clients. It will be available in pouds Sterling, euros and US do;llars. The minimal investment is set at GBP25,000 for retail investors.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The agreement between the French insurer Axa and the Australian group AMP to share Axa Asia Pacific Holdings (Axa APH) is “fair and reasonable,” an independent expert found on 17 January, marking a new step towards the conclusion of the operation, slated for March. “The added value for minority shareholders in Axa APH from the offer is convincing,” and “in the absence of a higher offer, the offer is fair and reasonable and in the best interests of minority shareholders,” according to the conclusions of the respor, prepared by the independent expert Grant Samual, cited in a statement. Shareholders in Axa APH, including minority shareholders who have a sufficient minority to block motions, will meet on 2 March to vote on the bid.