Le spécialiste des valeurs européennes Nicolas Walevski, fondateur d’Alken Asset Management, a annoncé le 14 janvier à Paris le lancement d’un fonds de performance absolue, Alken Absolute Return Europe (AARE).Ce fonds d’actions européennes long/short conforme à la directive Ucits III et à liquidité journalière, vise une croissance du capital à moyen terme en investissant essentiellement dans les actions européennes, ayant pour objectif principal la génération d’alpha tant sur les cas d’investissement longs que les shorts. L’objectif est de rester axé sur les meilleures idées qui ont permis de générer une performance absolue de 64% du fonds Alken Capital One depuis son lancement le 21 juillet 2008 dans les actions européennes grâce à une gestion active du portefeuille. Le fonds cible une expostion brute de 50% à 150% et une exposition nette de -20% à 75%. Sur la partie longue, pas très concentrée, l’absolute return aura la priorité, et selon les opportunités, le fonds jouera aussi les petits arbitrages. Sur la partie courte, le fonds, qui sera présent tant sur les titres que les indices ou les baskets, interviendra «en hedge et en sec». Une classe fondatrice sera proposée à compter du 17 janvier avec une commission de 0,9% au lieu de 1,5%. La cotation est programmée pour le 31 janvier. Au 31 décembre dernier, les actifs sous gestion d’Alken AM s'élevaient à plus de 2,7 milliards d’euros, dont 2,18 milliards d’euros pour le fonds Alken European Opportunities qui a surperformé l’indice Stoxx 600 de 21 points de pourcentage depuis son lancement en janvier 2006 et de plus de 6 points de pourcentage en 2010.

Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (Swip) a nommé Kevin Addison au poste de responsable des ventes wholesale en remplacement de Tony Maddock qui a rejoint Lazard AM.Kevin Addison , qui a rejoint Swip en 2008, sera rattaché à John Brett, directeur des ventes et du marketing chez Swip.

Graham Kitchen remplacera Bill McQuaker en tant que responsable des actions chez Henderson Global Investors. Alors que la société de gestion vient d’acquérir Gartmore, Bill McQuaker a décidé de se concentrer en priorité sur la gestion de ses fonds. Il devient l’adjoint de Graham Kitchen.

F&C a fait un point vendredi sur son programme de réduction des coûts, alors que l’un de ses actionnaires, Sherborne, cherche à prendre le pouvoir, contestant sa stratégie. La société de gestion britannique a annoncé qu’elle était en négociations avec un prestataire de services d’externalisation et qu’elle va réduire ses coûts d’exploitation d’au moins 9 millions de livres par an, estime la société de gestion britannique. Les économies commenceront à se faire sentir au deuxième trimestre 2011 et prendront fin d’ici au troisième trimestre 2012. L’accord d’externalisation affectera environ 100 salariés, représentant 70 % du personnel travaillant sur l’opérationnel actuellement, sachant qu’un certain nombre d’entre eux devraient travailler pour le prestataire de services retenu. Les employés dans l’investissement, la distribution et les services clients ne sont pas impactés par ces mesures.F&C estime aussi pouvoir économiser 3 millions de livres supplémentaires grâce à la baisse des besoins en matière d’immobilier liés aux réductions d’effectifs. L’objectif de cette initiative, annoncée en août dernier, est de créer une base de coûts susceptible de s’adapter au changement de profil de la société de gestion. F&C indique par ailleurs qu’il va poursuivre son programme de réductions de coûts et notamment rationnaliser sa gamme.

Le pôle asset management de JPMorgan a dégagé au quatrième trimestre 2010 un bénéfice net de 507 millions de dollars, soit une hausse de 20 % par rapport au trimestre correspondant de 2009. Cela reflète notamment une hausse des revenus nets de 19 % sur un an à 2,6 milliards de dollars. Sur le trimestre, JP Morgan a accusé des rachats nets de 2 milliards de dollars. Sur l’année, la société affiche également un solde négatif, de 20 milliards de dollars. Les encours ont néanmoins progressé de 4 % sur le dernier trimestre à 1.300 milliards de dollars, grâce à l’effet de marché.

Sonal Desai est nommée «back-up» de Michael Hasenstab sur la gestion de trois fonds de Franklin Templeton Fixed Income Group : Templeton Global Bond Fund, Templeton Global Bond (Euro) Fund et Templeton Global Total Return Fund. Elle secondera le gérant dans la gestion de ces produits.Sonal Desai, PhD, a rejoint Franklin Templeton en octobre 2009 au poste de directrice de la recherche pour le département obligations internationales de Franklin Templeton Fixed Income Group, en charge de délivrer l’ensemble des analyses macroéconomiques pour l’équipe obligataire.

Prudential Investments a annoncé le lancement du Prudential Real Assets Fund, un fonds dont le portefeuille est essentiellement investi en actifs réels tels que l’immobilier, les métaux, le pétrole et autres matières premières, «offrant une protection potentielle contre l’inflation et la hausse des taux d’intérêt», note la société de gestion.

China Investment Corp a demandé davantage de capitaux aux autorités chinoises, ayant investi la totalité de ses fonds actuels, rapporte le Financial Times. Le fonds souverain chinois travaille avec 200 milliards de dollars qu’il a obtenu à sa création à l’automne 2007. La deuxième injection de 200 milliards de dollars, évoquée il y a plus d’un an, ne s’est jamais matérialisée.

The European securities specialist Nicolas Walewski, founder of Alken Asset Management, on 14 January in Paris announced the launch of an absolute return fund, Alken Absolute Return Europe (AARE).The European long/short equities fund, which complies with the UCITS III directive, has daily liquidity, aims for capital growth in the mid-term, and invests largely in European equities, with the main objective of generating alpha in the case of long as well as short-term investments.The objective is to remain focused on the best ideas which generated absolute returns of 64% for the Alken Capital One fund since its launch on 21 July 2008 in European equities, through active management of the portfolio.The fund aims for gross exposure of 50% to 150%, and net exposure of -20% to 75%. For the long portion of the portfolio, which is not highly concentrated, absolute return will be the priority, and when opportunities present themselves, the fund will also make small arbitrages, For the short portion of the portfolio, the fund, which will invest in individual shares as well as indices and baskets, will act as a hedge fund and directly.An initial share class will be offered from 17 January with a commission of 0.9%, instead of 1.5%, The offering is scheduled for 31 January.As of 31 December, assets under management at Alken AM totalled over EUR2.7bn, of which EUR2.18bn were in the Alken European Opportunities fund, which has outperformed the Stoxx 600 index by 21% since its launch in January 2006, and by over 6% in 2010.

Jim O’Neill, the chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management who invented the term «Bric», plans to add Mexico, South Korea, Turkey and Indonesia into a new grouping with Brazil, Russia, India and China that he dubs “growth markets”.“It’s just pathetic to call these four emerging markets,” he told the Financial Times.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The IT specialist firm Markit on 17 January announced the launch of a series of emerging market debt indices. The Markit iBoxx USD Emerging Markets Sovereigns indices, which aim to meet growing demand on the part of investors for emerging market debt, come as additions to the GEMX index, launched in 2008, which tracks the performance of government debt from emerging markets in local currencies.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Some major asset management firms have shown that an investment in their own shares brings better performance than the funds they offer, Expansión reports. Shares in Schroders and Aberdeen have gained 48% and 75% in value in the past twelve months. Shares in F&C have gained 33%, and T. Rowe Price is up 21%, while shares in Henderson gained 20.7%. Shares in Invesco were in line with the market, rising 11.5%, while BlackRock shares lost 16%.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Since 2006, when the asset management and real estate management activities were merged, Alexander Klein has been COO in charge of all back-office activities at SEB Investment, the fund management firm of SEB Asset Management Germany. He has been appointed as a board member at SEB Investment from 1 January 2011, and will retain his position as COO. He will be in charge of finance, risk management, controlling, and IT.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Peter Vogel, head of sales for structured funds at Bank of America Merrill Lynch since December 2009, has been recruited by MainFirst Asset Management, an affiliate of MainFirst Bank, as head of sales and marketing. He will also be a member of the asset management committee at MainFirst.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to financial industry sources, Deutsche Bank is rumoured to have backed down from plans to sell BHF-Bank as a single entity, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. LGT may now acquire only the wealth management and SMB banking activities, while Deutsche Bank would retain some market activities of BHF.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On Friday, Pimco (Allianz Global Investors group) announced on its website that the allocation of the Pimco Total Return Bond Fund, managed by Bill Gross, to Treasuries, Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS), agency bonds and futures and options based on Treasuries as of the end of December totalled 22%, its lowest level since February 2009, though the level stood at 30% in November, the Wall Street Journal reports.Assets in the fund fell to USD240.7bn, from USD250.2bn as of the end of December, and USD255.9bn as of the end of October. This compared with USD115.9bn in assets at the end of 2009, with the increase due to significant net subscriptions during most of last year.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Anne-Laure Frischlander, CEO of BNY Mellon Asset Management for France, has told Newsmanagers that net subscriptions in France last year totalled USD415m, out of USD700-800m in gross inflows, and that assets totalled USD1.9bn in France as of the end of the year. Very strong subscriptions have continued in the first weeks of 2011.Inflows totalled 50% for an emerging markets local currency debt fund, the BNY Emerging Markets Debt Local Currency Fund (which now has over USD4bn in total assets), from the firm’s affiliate Standish. The asset allocation bond fund BNY Mellon Euroland Bond (also from Standish) has also attracted significant subscriptions.In 2011, BNY Mellon is planning to put the emphasis on the new BNY Mellon Latin America Infrastructure fund (see Newsmanagers of 11 January). The manager is also planning to offer real and absolute return products, as well as some Luxembourg-registered absolute return newcits from its affiliate Insight.Frischlander also says that her team at the Paris office now includes 7 people, counting herself.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of the end of December, assets under management by Invesco totalled USD616bn, compared with USD604.5bn one year earlier, while assets in equities funds totalled Usd294.1bn, compared with USD294.4bn. Assets in ETFs contracted, to USD80.3bn, compared with USD89.9bn.In December, Invesco completed its acquisition of the Asian asset management activities of AIG Global Real Estate, including USD5.4bn in alternative assets (out of a total of USD78.1bn as of the end of December), of which USD0.2bn are in passive management (out of USD60.3bn).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The US management firm Principal Global Investors, which has about Usd227.4bn in assets, or about EUR170bn, on 13 January announced that it has signed up to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Agefi reports, citing financial industry sources, that the French asset management firm LFP-UFG will finalise its investment in Cholet-Dupont by the end of February. UFG-LFP will replace Crédit Agricole Indosuez BP Holding, and will control a 33.4% stake in the business, specialised in management of financial portfolios and wealth organisation advising. The CMNE affiliate is also buying a 51% stake in the Cholet-Dupont Partenaires platform (see Newsmanagers of 19/10/2010), which was previously 100% controlled by the holding company, the same sources cited by the newspaper say. UFG-LFP has also made its agreement with Siparex in venture capital official. It owns 66% of UFG-Siparex, the newspaper notes.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The college of managing partners at Rothschild & Cie Gestion is now planning to take on two new members. They are Denis Faller, head of multi-management, and Philippe Chaumel, co-head of asset allocation, and equities and diversified portfolio management, La Tribune reports. According to the newspaper, at the same time, Daniel Fighiera and Sébastien Barbe, head of midcaps management and head of fixed income management, respectively, have been promoted as managers at the management firm, along with Arnaud Perrier, director of sales development and marketing.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Sonal Desai has been appointed as Michael Hasenstab’s back-up for the management of three funds from the Franklin Templeton Fixed Income Group: Templeton Global Bond Fund, Templeton Global Bond (Euro) Fund, and Templeton Global Total Return Fund. She will assist the manager in the management of these products. Dr. Desai joined Franklin Templeton in October 2009 as head of research for the international bonds department of the Franklin Templeton Fixed Income Group, in charge of providing all macroeconomic analysis for the bond team.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The asset management unit of JPMorgan earned net profits in fourth quarter 2010 of USD507m, an increase of 20% compared with the corresponding quarter in 2009. This largely reflects a 19% increase in net revenues year on year, to USD2.6bn. For the quarter, JP Morgan has seen net redemptions of USD2bn. For the year, the firm also shows a negative bottom line, of USD20bn. Assets nonetheless increased 4% in the last quarter, to USD1.3trn, due to positive market effects.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BNP Paribas Wealth Management on 14 January announced a reorganisation of its Asian wealth management activities, and the creation of a new affiliate dedicated to its ultra-high net worth (UHNW) clients. As a part of the reshuffle, BNP Paribas is redeploying its affiliates in Asia as key markets, with a separate director in charge of each market: Serge Janowski for Hong Kong, Mignonne Cheng in the interim until a head is appointed for China, Henry Pang for Taiwan, Stephane Honig for India, Serge Forti for Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, and Eric Morin for the other Asian Markets, including Korea, the Philippines and Thailand. The bank will also set up an affiliate dedicated to ultra-high net worth clietns, which for most establishments in the sector, requires a minimum of USD30m (EUR22m) in assets to invest. The identity of the heads of the new affiliate dedicated to high net worth clients will be announced at a later date, BNP Paribas Wealth Management says in a statement. In the interim, Mignonne Cheng, who will retain her position as chairman and CEO of wealth management for the Asia-Pacific region, will also become head of UNHWI & Independent Wealth Managers for Asia-Pacific. Ernest Leung has also been appointed head of strategy and development of wealth management activities for Asia-Pacific, and will work in partnership with the market heads to develop initiatives in the region.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Bank Julius Baer on 13 January announced the appointment of David Lim as CEO of Bank Julius Baer Singapore, effective immediately. Thomas Meier, a member of the executive board and CEO for Asia and the Middle East, who was also CEO for Singapore, will continue to be based in Singapore as a member of the executive board, and will direct activities and promote Asia as the second major market for the firm, after Switzerland.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Michel Camdessus on 14 January submitted his report to Chrstine Lagarde, French minister of the economy, as controller for bonuses handed out by banks which received government support for their owners’ equity levels, according to rules decided at the Pittsburgh G20 summit at the instigation of France, in relation to limiting pay scales for market professionals. The report concludes that the standards have been satisfactorily adopted by French banks overall. It points out that the application of the new standards and the actions of the bonus controller reduced bonuses distributed for the year 2009 by about EUR800m. “The full and complete application of the rules remains a priority for 2011. I expect banks to continue their efforts at moderation in 2011,” Lagarde says in a statement. To increase transparency of bonuses, Lagarde has asked the prudential control authority and the French banking association to offer a standardised presentation within two months, in the form of a poster which would be the same for all banks, to inform employees about bonuses which the banking and financial regulation laws require to be identified in a report presented at the general shareholders’ meetings of the establishments concerned.

After pointing out the key role of the global custodian in asset management worldwide, Bernard Blaud discusses recent developments in the sector of activity as well as the consolidation movement which it cannot avoid. There is no doubt that European and American firms are opposed in this area.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } With the MMA Praxis International Index Fund, MMA Praxis Mutual Funds has launched a socially responsible investment fund for which it hopes to find enough investments to achieve a 20% exposure to emerging markets, the Wall Street Journal reports.The manager will make an effort to exclude shares in companies with poor compliance with socially responsible investment (SRI) criteria, and the tobbaco, alcohol and weapons sectors, but does not hope that all companies in the portfolio will meet all the criteria, says Chad Horning, CIO of MMA Praxis.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Prudential Investments has announced the launch of the Prudential Real Assets Fund, a fund whose portfolio is invested largely in real assets such as real estate, metals, oil and other commodities, “which offer potential protection against inflation and rising interest rates,” the asset management firm notes.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } From 12 January, the management of the fund Capital UFF FCP, which is eligible for PEA (equity savings plans), has been contracted to Carmignac Gestion, and the product renamed UFF Grande Europe 0-100. The product was previously managed by Aviva Investors France, which helped to redefine the orientation of the fund: “the uncertain evolution of conjuncture and the new fiscal situation in 2011, which makes PEA once again attractive, has led the Union financière de France (UFF) to analyse its range of funds eligible for PEA,” the product presentation states.The fund invests at least 75% of its assets in equities from the European Community. Stock-picking selects the shares with the most potential, and up to 25% of the fund is invested in the best “opportunities” from countries outside the European Union (including Turkey and Russia). From this point of view, the fund faithfully reflects the management undertaken by Carmignac Gestion for its Carmignac Grande Europe fund.The exposure of UFF Grande Europe 0-100 to equities markets is completely flexible, and may vary from 0 to 100%, due to the use of derivative instruments, which implies a wholly separate management, both from the range of funds available from UFF through its PEA, and from funds currently managed by Carmignac Gestion for its own clients. This highly reactive mode of management is “particularly well-adapted to confront periods of volatility on the market such as we may see in 2011,” explains Nicholas Schimel, president and CEO of UFF. CharacteristicsName: UFF Grande Europe 0-100ISIN code: FR0000034548 Minimal subscription: EUR762.25 (C and D shares); EUR300,000 (V shares)Management fees: 2.25% (from 1 March 2011) for C and D shares; 1.75% for V sharesPerformance commission: 10% of net performance of funds exceeding 7.5% in annualised terms