p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 26 October, Threadneedle announced the launch of a long/short equities hedge fund domiciled in Ireland (IE00B3ZWD247), entitled Threadneedle Apex European Fund. The fund, which is not UCITS-compliant, will be managed by Paul Doyle, who will use the same strategy as for the Threadneedle European Crescendo Fund, which he has lead-managed since 2008, and which shows average annual performance of 6.10% over the past ten years. Doyle will be assisted by William Davies, head of European equities. Bottom-up stock-picking will be complemented by a top-down overlay to determine sectoral exposure without compromising risk management. Threadneedle states that due to strong demand from investors in the Threadneedle European Crescendo Fund seeking to change over to the Threadneedle Apex European Fund, the fund domiciled in the Cayman Islands will be closed in October.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 26 October, AdvisorShares launches the Cambria Global Tactical ETF (GTAA), a quantitative ETF fund advised by Cambria Investment Management in Los Angeles, on NYSE. The two co-managers, Mebane Faber and Eric Richardson, CIO and CEO of Cambria, respectively, will invest actively in ETFs covering all the major asset classes worldwide, including equities, bonds, real estate, commodities and currencies. Management commission is set at 1.35%.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Skandia Investment Group (SIG) announced on 26 October that it has awarded a GBP8m mandate to Aviva Investors for development of the Skandia UK Strategic Best Ideas Fund, the only long/short UCITS III-compliant multi-management fund in the All Companies sector of the IMA. Since its launch in September 2007, the fund has ouutperformed the FTSE All Share index by more than 10%. The fund is currently managed by seven British long/short equities managers: Paul Casson (Henderson), Richard Plackett (BlackRock), Tim Steer (Artemis), Phil Hardy (Polar Capital), Mark Lyttleton (BlackRock), Colin McLean (SVM), and Ben Wallace (Gartmore). Julius Lipner of Aviva Investors will now join this group.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Citywire reported on Tuesday, 26 October that Laurent Crosnier has been appointed as CEO of Amundi London, replacing Bruno Crastes, who left the firm in April to found his own company, H2o AM. Crosnier, who previously served as CIO, will oversee the London team, which has recently taken on new recruitments. Amundi London is specialised in fixed income and absolute return strategies, Citywire reports.
JPMorgan Chase is to buy, through its unit Highbridge, Gávea, a USD6bn hedge fund run by Arminio Fraga, Brazil’s former central bank chief, according to the Financial Times citing people close to the situation. The acquisition, which comes after nine months of talks, could be announced as early as Wednesday.
Standard Life Investments has appointed Seiichi Fukuyama to the role of chairman, Standard Life Investments – Asia. In this new role Seiichi will provide strategic advice and market intelligence as the asset management company builds its business in Asia.Seiichi Fukuyama, who joins the company from BlackRock, Asia Pacific, will play a key role working with Standard Life Investments’ Asian team and will have a particular role in developing the recently announced strategic alliance with Chuo Mitsui Asset Trust and Banking (Chuo Mitsui) of Japan, says a press release.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British management firm F&C is planning to apply to the Chinese market authority (CSRC) for status as a qualified foreign institutional investor (QFII). According to Asian Investor, the move is part of a larger development strategy in Asia, where the management firm may also recruit investment professionals who would be based in Hong Kong. F&C now manages about USD3bn in Asian equities, out of assets under management of about USD150bn.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Fund Strategy reports that Standard Life is planning to launch a bond version of its global absolute return strategy (GARS). As of the end of August, assets under management in the GARS fund totalled over GBP5bn. In first half 2010, net inflows to the fund totalled GBP1.7bn.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Skandia Investment Group (SIG) has announced that its Spectrum range, composed of six funds managed on the basis of volatility objectives, is now available on the Transact platform. The range, managed by Skandia Investment Group, has already attracted more than GBP720m in assets since its launch in 2008, the management firm says.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to the Investment Management Association (IMA), 234 of the 2,409 funds which the association regularly monitors last year infringed rules concerning the product classifications they were supposed to belong to, Fund Strategy reports. The association generally issues three monthly warnings before removing a fund from a given sector.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } National Financial, an affiliate of Fidelity Investments specialised in custody and clearance services for brokers, has announced that U.S. Capital Advisors has selected it to provide securities clearing for its wealth management division.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Thanks to inflows of EUR1bn since the beginning of the year, Rothschild & Cie Gestion now has assets under management of EUR21bn, higher than at the end of 2007 (EUR20.49bn), up from a low of EUR18.12bn at the end of 2008, Option Finance reports. Jean-Louis Laurens, managing partner and CEO, has announced that in 2011, the management firm is planning to develop its commercial presence in Spain and Italy. Laurens has also announced that the firm has no plans to launch newcits.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Waddell & Reed Financial, whose sell order on USD4.1bn in futures triggered the “flash crash” of 6 May, has announced that as of September it managed USD76bn in assets, the Wall Street Journal reports. Net profits for third quarter totalled USD40.5m, up 21% compared with July-September 2009 (USD33.4m). However, net subscriptions declined to USD658m from USD731m in second quarter, and USD2.4bn in the corresponding period of last year.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 26 October, BlackRock announced that Russ Koesterich, head of the investment strategy team at its scientific equity group, has been appointed to also serve as global chief investment strategist for the new global investment strategy group of the iShares (ETF) division. The creation of the group and the appointment of a dedicated chief investment strategist come in response to demand from clients seeking insights on a variety of economic and investment subjects related to asset classes, sectors and markets for which iShares offers products.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Barclays Wealth Managers France has announced the arrival of three new partners, as Jean-François Moulin joins the firm as head of internal control. He joins the Control & Governance department, and will report to Matthieu Desgrees du Lou, head of control & governance. He was previously a member of the general inspection service at the BPCE group. Elodie Duvaldestin will serve as head of product marketing for France. She joins from the Paris team of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, where she was head of marketing. Philippe Gaboriau joins Barclays Wealth Managers as multi-manager. He was previously at Primonial FundQuest, as an analyst and manager in multi-management.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In adjusted figures, net profits at Invesco for July-September totalled USD185m, compared with USD125m in second quarter, and USD117.7m for the corresponding period of last year. Meanwhile, by GAAP accounting standards, net profits to be distributed to ordinary shareholders increased by 37.3% in the first nine months of the year, to USD290.5m, from USD211.6m. Assets as of the end of September totalled USD604.5bn (see Newsmanagers of 13 October), compared with USD557.7bn as of the end of June, and USD446.9bn twelve months previously.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } ABN AMRO announced on 26 October that it has appointed Erik Jens, 51, as Country Executive and CEO of ABN AMRO Private Banking Schweiz. Jens previously served as director of private and business client activitiesa t ABN AMRO Bank, Fortis and MeesPierson.
Richard Wohanka, former CEO of Fortis Investment Management, who one year ago took over as head of the asset management division of Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) in Geneva (see Newsmanagers of 13 October 2009), is continuing to attract talent from his former workplace. Following Yves Stein, who moved to the firm recently (see Newsmanagers of 19 October), Nicolas Faller has become the most recent to join UBP on 1 November as head of sales for Europe, an addition to the services to private and institutional clients in the region. Faller, who will also be a member of the asset management board at UBP, was global head of sales and a member of the executive board at BNP Paribas Investment Partners, after serving as global head of distribution partners at Fortis Investments.As a part of the internationalisation of its activities and development in Europe, UBP is creating a new team focused on Benelux, which will be led by Frédéric Peemans, who joined UBP after serving as head of sales for Robeco in Belgium and Luxembourg. He was previously a bond manager at Fortis Investments.The Geneva-based establishment is also adding to its staff in Japan with the appointment of Kazuhito Yoshihara as CEO of the Tokyo office. He also served at Fortis Investments before joining BNP Paribas Investment Partners Japan.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Hedge Week reports that FRM Capital Advisors (FCA), a unit of Financial Risk Management which assists hedge funds in their development, has teamed up with Sensato Capital Management. FCA may invest up to USD50m in Sensato, a firm founded in May 2009 by former co-heads of active equities strategies at Barclays Global Investors. Sensato uses a quantitative and fundamental approach to invest in equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Transparency International on 26 October published its index of perceived corruption (IPC) 2010, which ranks 178 countries on the basis of the perceived level of corruption in their public and political classes. In the 2010 rankings, nearly three quarters of countries evaluated have a score of less than 5, on a scale from 0 (high level of perceived corruption) to 10 (high level of perceived integrity). France, with a rating of 6.8, has lost one more place, and now falls to 25th place in the rankings. It remains below several European countries, including Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom. In the IPC 2010, Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore are top of the rankings, with scores of 9.3. Unstable governments, which are often the result of past conflicts, continue to dominate the low end of the rankings. Afghanistan and Myanmar share second-to-last place with scores of 1.4, while the bottom place goes to Somalia at 1.1. Real changes in perception can be seen for several countries. There has been an improvement in 2010 compared with the 2009 scores for Bhutan, Chile, Ecuador, Macedonia (ARYM), Gambia, Jamaica, Kuwait and Qatar. Meanwhile, the scores have declined for the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Madagascar, Niger and the United States. France, with a score of 6.8, has fallen one place to 25th in the rankings. There are several reasons that international experts and businesses surveyed continue to have a relatively poor image of the French political class. Between January 2009 and September 2010, French news was marked by several scandals, which were widely reported outside France as well.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Standard & Poor’s has announced the launch of a range of CDS indices of government debt issuers, the S&P International Developed Nation Sovereign CDS Index and S&P Eurozone Developed Nation Sovereign CDS Index. The first of these aims for approximately the same composition and weightings as the S&P/Citigroup International Treasury Bond (ex U.S.) Index, while the second replicates the S&P Eurozone Government Bond Index. Composition and weighting by country is set at the launch of each series. At each rollover date, a new series with the weighting and composition of the corresponding bond indices is created. The two indices will have a maturity of 5 ¼ years.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In the first nine months of the year, net profits at comdirect bank (Commerzbank group) fell 6.7% to EUR46.18m, compared with EUR49.51m in the corresponding period of last year. The chairman of the managing board, Michael Mandel, estimates that it will still be possible to achieve EUR80m in pre-tax profits for the year 2010 as a whole (EUR62.97m in January-September), compared with EUR76m in 2009. Assets administered or managed for clients increased 8% in one year to EUR38.4bn as of the end of September, of which EUR24.5bn (+10%) were in B2C activities (comdirect), and EUR13.9bn (+4%) for B2B (ebase).
A quelques jours d’une échéance réglementaire, la banque américaine a fait part de sa décision de clôturer le fonds immobilier allemand P2 Value, valorisé à 852 millions d’euros et gelé depuis deux ans. La banque suit les traces de KanAm et d’Aberdeen Asset Management, après avoir pensé rouvrir le fonds le 1er novembre mais s’être ravisée en raison d’une contraction de la liquidité.
L’accord trouvé la semaine dernière par les Etats membres de l’UE sur la directive «hedge funds» a reçu hier le soutien de représentants du Parlement européen et de la Commission, ouvrant la voie à un vote définitif du texte le 10 novembre. Cet accord final est intervenu lors d’une réunion organisée entre le rapporteur du texte au Parlement, l’eurodéputé français Jean-Paul Gauzès, le ministre belge des Finances Didier Reynders, dont le pays préside l’Union, et le commissaire européen au Marché intérieur Michel Barnier. La version de la directive sur laquelle les trois institutions se sont entendues ne varie que sur des points de détail par rapport à l’accord obtenu au forceps entre les Vingt-Sept au terme de plus d’un an et demi de négociations. Une clause détaillée de révision de la directive a été insérée afin que le texte soit revu d’ici 2017.
Le directeur général du London Stock Exchange, Xavier Rolet, a estimé devant des parlementaires que les évolutions de la régulation européenne pourraient affecter l’économie britannique. Londres étant le premier centre européen pour les dérivés de gré à gré, les nouvelles règles de transparence de ce marché pourraient mener à une perte d’activités outre-Manche.
L’Arabie Saoudite prévoit d’ouvrir davantage le marché boursier domestique aux investisseurs étrangers mais ne le fera que de manière graduelle afin d’éviter l’afflux de capitaux spéculatifs, a indiqué le régulateur financier local à Reuters. Le pays pourrait également autoriser les étrangers à accéder à son marché obligataire secondaire.
Le gestionnaire d’actifs américain a enregistré auprès de la SEC un ETP (exchange traded product) adossé à du cuivre physique, connu sous la dénomination «iShares Copper Trust». Ce produit prévoit de répliquer sur le London Metal Exchange le prix du cuivre cash, chaque titre devant représenter 10 kgs de cuivre. JPMorgan a fait part d’une démarche similaire lundi.