Amundi annonce le lancement d’Amundi Funds Multimanagers Long/Short Equity au sein de sa SICAV luxembourgeoise Amundi Funds. Ce compartiment investit dans des fonds UCITS III mettant en oeuvre des stratégies « Long/Short » et/ou d’arbitrage d’actions, ainsi que de gestion de la volatilité. Amundi a souhaité proposer à ses investisseurs un accès à ces stratégies de gestion sophistiquées, autrefois l’apanage des seuls fonds de gestion alternative, dans le cadre d’un produit conforme à la directive européenne UCITS III. Amundi Funds Multimanagers Long/Short Equity a pour objectif d’offrir une performance absolue d’Eonia+5% par an tout en affichant un objectif de volatilité annualisée ex-post en deçà de 8%.Amundi Funds Multimanagers Long/Short Equity est géré par Amundi Alternative Investments selon un processus discipliné et rigoureux. Ses 3 étapes représentent autant de sources de valeur ajoutée pour l’investisseur :- Etape 1 : analyse, sélection de fonds et due diligenceL’univers d’investissement étant complexe, très diversifié et en pleine croissance, la sélection requiert des compétences spécifiques. Le gérant du compartiment s’appuie sur l’expérience des analystes d’Amundi Alternative Investments en matière d’analyse, de «due diligence» et de sélection de fonds. L’univers d’investissement du compartiment se compose ainsi des meilleurs talents de la gestion en performance absolue. - Etape 2 : construction et gestion du portefeuilleFort des résultats du processus de sélection du fonds, le gérant construit le portefeuille via une approche «topdown» intégrant le scénario et les perspectives définies par les économistes et les stratégistes d’Amundi. Le portefeuille est ensuite optimisé en ajustant les différentes allocations en fonction des vues de marché du Comité d’Investissement et des contraintes prédéfinies du portefeuille. Ce processus vise ainsi à réduire de manière significative le risque d’investissement grâce à une diversification au niveau des fonds sous-jacents, des sous-stratégies, des styles de gestion, des secteurs et des régions du monde. - Etape 3 : protection du portefeuille contre les risques extrêmesPendant les périodes de stress de marché, au cours desquelles toutes les classes d’actifs peuvent souffrir sans distinction et quand la volatilité tend à augmenter de manière significative, le gérant peut choisir d’allouer 10% des actifs du compartiment à des fonds spécialisés sur des stratégies de gestion sur la volatilité. Ce choix d’allocation vise à renforcer la diversification du portefeuille, à modérer sa corrélation au marché des actions et à atténuer l’impact des chocs de marché.En plus d’intégrer, conformément à la réglementation UCITS III, des contraintes d’investissement et de gestion des risques très strictes, Amundi Funds Multimanagers Long/Short Equity offre à ses investisseurs une liquidité hebdomadaire, bien plus favorable pour les investisseurs que la liquidité généralement mensuelle voire trimestrielle qu’offrent les fonds de gestion alternative.Principales caractéristiques Classe (C) Classe (I) Classe S* (S)Société de gestion Amundi Luxembourg S.A.Objectif de gestion Eonia + 5% diminué des frais de gestionDurée minimum de placement 4 ansCodes ISIN LU0487547670 (Capitalisation) LU0487547753 (Distribution)Souscription minimale néant USD500 000 néantCommission de souscription max 4,50% 2,50% 3%Commission de gestion annuelle max 1,30% 0,99% 1,50%Commission de gestion indirecte max 2,65% 2,65% 2,65% AnnuelleCommission administrative max 0,30% 0,15% 0,30%Commission de performance 20% au-dessus d’Eonia +5% par an moins commissionsCommission de conversion max 1%Commission de rachat max néant

La valeur totale des transactions sur le marché européen du private equity s’est élevée à 23,9 milliards d’euros au troisième trimestre 2010, proche du montant enregistré pour les six premiers mois de l’année et le plus haut niveau sur un trimestre depuis le deuxième trimestre 2008, selon les chiffres provisoires du baromètre du private equity publié par unquote avec le soutien de Candover. La valeur totale des transactions de buyout a atteint 21,4 milliards d’euros au troisième trimestre, soit presque deux fois le montant enregistré au deuxième trimestre de cette année (11,3 milliards d’euros) et de loin le plus haut montant enregistré depuis le deuxième trimestre 2008. L’augmentation significative en valeur est liée à un retour sur le marché des grosses transactions de buyout. Six transactions ont ainsi dépassé la barre du 1 milliard de dollars. Le Royaume-Uni est resté le premier marché en valeur pour les transactions de «buyout», avec une part de 44%. Mais comme sur le continent, le nombre de transactions s’est replié, à 26 au troisième trimestre contre 40 au deuxième trimestre.

Selon Hedge Week, Barclays Capital a décidé de lancer un fonds au format Ucits III, le Hedge Fund Replicator Fund qui propose une exposition transparente aux stratégies de hedge funds. La performance du fonds sera basée sur un indice sous-jacent, l’indice Long Barclays Alternatives Replicator (LBAR).La sicav domiciliée au Luxembourg sera gérée par Barclays Capital Fund Solutions.

Selon Fund Strategy, Commerzbank Corporates & Markets (C&M) a lancé un fonds d’actions chinoises par le biais d’une co-entreprise avec la société de gestion basée à Pékin China Asset Management (ChinaAMC).Géré par Michael Wen et Edward Wang, le Commerzbank China Volatility fund est une sicav luxembourgeoise conforme au format Ucits qui investit dans trente à soixante sociétés chinoises. ChinaAMC est l’un des grands groupes chinois de gestion d’actifs, avec des actifs sous gestion de 45 milliards de dollars.

La société de gestion italienne indépendante Azimut fait ses débuts dans le capital investissement en lançant un fonds de private equity sur les énergies renouvelables, rapporte Il Sole – 24 Ore. Il s’agira d’un fonds de 100-150 millions d’euros dédié, dans un premier temps, aux investisseurs professionnels. Pour ce projet, Azimut va créer une société ad hoc, qui sera détenue à 60 % par un groupe de gérants de private equity.

Man Investments vient d’obtenir l’agrément pour la distribution en Italie du Man Long/Short Europe, un nouveau fonds de fonds Ucits III focalisé sur la stratégie actions acheteur/vendeur (long/short equity). Le fonds permet aux investisseurs italiens d’accéder à des gérants européens spécialistes de cette stratégie alternative, le tout dans un cadre Ucits III. Le portefeuille, géré par l’équipe actions long/short de Man, se compose de 8 à 12 gérants, choisis sur un univers total de plus de 300 fonds. L’investissement minimal pour la part retail est de 1.000 euros.

Directeur des affaires internationales chez Santander Asset Management, Javier Mazarredo a été nommé directeur de la banque privée pour le réseau du Santander en Espagne, sous la responsabilité d’Alberto Ridaura, qui dirigea la division Patrimonios.L’activité de banque privée s’adresse aux clients disposant d’une épargne financière supérieure à 0,5 million d’euros. Elle compte actuellement plus de 26.700 clients, tandis que Santander Wealth vise le créneau des plus de 10 millions d’euros.

La boutique londonienne Silk Invest a lancé son fonds coordonné dédié aux marchés frontières des zones Moyen-Orient-Afrique du Nord (MENA), Afrique sub-saharienne et caspienne, le Road Frontiers Fund (lire notre dépêche du 26 mai), un produit de droit luxembourgeois avec des parts R et I en dollars et en euros dont les commissions de gestion ressortent respectivement à 2 % et 1,50 %. La commission de performance de ce produit en dollars est fixée à 20 % pour tout rendement supérieur à un taux butoir de 4 %.

Axa vient d’entamer en Espagne une campagne de promotion de ses plans individuels d'épargne-retraite, rapporte Expansión. Afin de fidéliser ses clients, le groupe promet des bonifications pouvant atteindre 14 % à ceux des adhérents qui lui transfèreront leurs comptes ou effectueront de nouveaux apports de plus de 3.000 euros d’ici au 31 décembre. Les bonifications progressives commencent à 0,5 % pour un an et s'échelonnent jusqu'à 14 % pour 12 ans.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The XTF segment of the Xetra electronic trading platform now includes 739 ETF funds, as db x-trackers on 25 October listed two new Luxembourg-registered products: the db x-trackers II iBoxx® € Liquid Corporate 100 Financials Sub-Index Total Return ETF (LU0484968812) and the db x-trackers II iBoxx® € Liquid Corporate 100 Non-Financials Sub-Index Total Return ETF (LU0484968655). They are corporate bond funds, with fees of 0.20% each.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } HSBC Global Asset Management (Deutschland) on 25 October announced that it has released its daily liqudity newcits fund GIF Global Macro II (see Newsmanagers of 6 October) in Germany. The fund aims for returns 1,200 basis points higher than the Euribor 1 month, with maximal volatility of 15%, double that of the fund launched in June 2007, the GIF Global Macro.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Bank Sarasin-Alpen (ME) Limited, an affiliate of the Basel-based Banque Sarasin & Cie SA (Rabobank group), announced on 25 October that it has opened a representative office in Abu Dhabi, under the name Bank Sarasin-Alpen (ME) Limited Abu Dhabi, after receiving a corresponding license from the central bank of the United Arab Emirates. The license will allow the firm to offer private clients the complete range of wealth management services from the Sarasin group. Sarasin is already present in the Middle East and in India via its affiliate Sarasin-Alpen, in Dubai, Doha, Manama, Mascate, Mumbai and New Delhi.

UCITS funds in third quarter earned returns of 1.09%, according to the most recent statistics compiled by the UCITS Alternative Index (Nara Capital).The best returns in third quarter were for emerging markets (3.43%) and event-driven (3.11%) strategies. Since the beginning of the year, these strategies have earned 1.21% and 3.47%, respectively.The best-performing strategy of the year remains fixed income, with gains of 3.75% since the beginning of the year, and assets under management equivalent to 29% of the overall total. At the other end of the spectrum, commodities have lost 6.76%.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Russell Investments has launched a new international index, which offers institutional investors increased flexibility in the management of their mandates. The Russell World Cap Index brings together the Russell 3000 and Russell Global indices, excluding US large caps. It currently includes 5,193 equities, about 93% of which are drawn from the Russell Global Index. In a growing global economy, institutional investors are seeking wider exposure to new investment opportunties worldwide.

A recent, but as yet unpublished, research by the University of Zurich measured the sustainability of large sustainable funds with the help of the RepRisk-Index (RRI), and compared their RRI scores with those of traditional equity funds, writes the Financial Times Fund Management. The scores of both categories are almost identical, showing that sustainable funds are not more sustainable than any other equity fund.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to a survey of a representative sample by the Emnid institute on behalf of Deutsche Postbank, 41.1% of Germans say they would be able to regularly set aside some savings, but 16% say they are unable to save. Among the most significant findings of the study, traditional savings accounts are the preferred support for 49.1% of respondents, ahead of housing savings plans (35%) and life insurance (31.2%). Shares in investment funds and equities are in last place, at 21.9% (and only 14.8% in the new Länder).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On the German market, funds specialised in equities and bonds of emerging markets as of the end of August had assets of EUR30.3bn, compared with EUR24bn as of the end of December 2009. In other words, the Kommalpha agency reports, assets under management in these funds increased by EUR6.3bn, which represents 22.4% of total growth of EUR28.2bn to total assets in securities funds in the period under review. In the space of eight months, the market share for emerging market funds has increased from 3.7% to 4.5%, while the number of funds in this category has increased by 5%, or 19 funds. The EUR2.7bn in net subscriptions in January-August to emerging markets funds corresponded to 17.9% of total subscriptions, while EUR3.6bn in market effects was equivalent to 27.7% of the total.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 1 November, the comdirect board members Michael Mandel (marketing and distribution, product and treasury management) and Carsten Strauß (investment advising and residential property financing) will take over the responsibilities of Alexander Boldyreff, director of distribution. Boldyreff was appointed on 25 October as chairman of the board at TeamBank (the new name of easyCredit), effective from 1 January 2011, replacing Theophil Graband, who will be joining VR-Leasing as chairman of the board.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Diversified funds, and especially bond funds, are the big winners in terms of net subscriptions on the German market in the first eight months of the year. According to the Kommalpha agency, assets in bond funds increased by EUR11.1bn in the period under review, of which EUR1.8bn was due to market effects. Pimco Europe alone managed to attract over EUR11.75bn, which gives it a market share of 18%, virtually double what it had at the end of 2009.In the rankings of net inflows for all categories combined in January-August, the next three after Pimco Europe are db x-trackers (the ETF specialist firm of the Deutsche Bank group) with EUR1.89bn, Franklin Templeton IF, with EUR1.75bn, and Allianz Global Investors, with EUR1.69bn.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The director for international affairs at Santander Asset Management, Javier Mazzaredo, has been appointed as director of the private bank for the Santander network in Spain. He will report to Alberto Ridaura, head of the Patrimonios division. Private banking activities are aimed at clients with financial savings of over EUR500,000. It now has over 26,700 clients, while Santander Wealth aims at the client segment with over EUR10m.

Selon Fund Strategy, Commerzbank Corporates & Markets (C&M) a lancé un fonds d’actions chinoises par le biais d’une co-entreprise avec la société de gestion basée à Pékin China Asset Management (ChinaAMC).Géré par Michael Wen et Edward Wang, le Commerzbank China Volatility fund est une sicav luxembourgeoise conforme au format Ucits qui investit dans trente à soixante sociétés chinoises. ChinaAMC est l’un des grands groupes chinois de gestion d’actifs, avec des actifs sous gestion de 45 milliards de dollars.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } L’Echo reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in second quarter questioned Berkshire Hathaway in order to establish why Warren Buffett’s holding company had not reported significant depreciations of its stakes in Kraft and US Bancorp (EUR1.33bn) on its books for over one year.

UBS has reported net profits of CHF1.664bn for third quarter, compared with CHF2bn in second quarter, and losses of CHF564m in third quarter 2009, the bank announced on 26 October in a statement. In the nine months of 2010, UBS has earned net profits of CHF5.871bn, following losses of CHF3.94bn between January and September of last year.Pre-tax profits for the Wealth Management unit totalled CHF492m, compared with losses of CHF67m in second quarter. Net inflows to Wealth Management & Swiss Bank totalled CHF0.9bn, following outflows of CHF5.5bn one quarter previously.Pre-tax profits for Wealth Management Americas totalled CHF47m, compared with losses of CHF67m in second quarter. Net inflows totalled CHF0.3bn, following outflows of CHF2.6bn.Pre-tax profits for Global Asset Management totalled CHF114m, compared with CHF117m in second quarter. Earnings totalled CHF473m, compared with CHF533m in second quarter, due to a decline in management commissions due to a deline in average invested assets and a reduction in commissions for Global Real Estate. Net inflows were zero in third quarter, after inflows of CHF3.4bn in second quarter.

Man Investments has been granted a sales license in Italy for the Man Long/Short Europe, a new UCITS III-compliant fund of funds which focuses on long/short equities strategy.The fund allows Italian investors access to European managers specialised in this alternative strategy, within a UCITS III-compliant vehicle. The portfolio, managed by the Man long/short equities team, is composed of 8 to 12 managers, selected from a total universe of over 300 funds.Minimal investment for retail shares is EUR1,000.

Amundi has announced the launch of Amundi Funds Multimanagers Long/Short Equity, a sub-fund of the Luxembourg SICAV Amundi Funds. The sub-fund invests in UCITS III funds using long/short and/or equities arbitrage strategies, as well as volatility management. Amundi wanted to offer investors access to these sophisticated management strategies, which had previously been the reserve of hedge funds, from within a product compliant with the European UCITS III directive. Amundi Funds Multimanagers Long/Short Equity aims to offer absolute returns equivalent to the Eonia+5% per year, with an annualised ex-post volatility objective of less than 8%.Amundi Funds Multimanagers Long/Short Equity is managed by Amundi Alternative Investments according to a disciplined and rigorous process.Main characteristics Class (C) Class (I) Class S* (S)Management firm Amundi Luxembourg S.A.Management objective Eonia + 5% minus management feesMinimum investment duration 4 yearsISIN codes LU0487547670 (Capitalisation) LU0487547753 (Distribution)Minimal subscription none USD500,000 noneMaximum front-end fee 4.50% 2.50% 3%Maximum annual management commission 1.30% 0.99% 1.50%Maximal indirect management commission 2.65% 2.65% 2.65% Maximum annual administrative commission 0.30% 0.15% 0.30%Performance commission 20% above Eonia +5% per year minus commissionMaximum conversion commission 1%Maximum redemption commission none

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Hedge Week reports that Barclays Capital has decided to launch a UCITS III format hedge fund, the Hedge Fund Replicator Fund, which offers transparent exposure to hedge fund strategies. The benchmark index is the Long Barclays Alternatives Replicator (LBAR). The SICAV fund, domiciled in Luxembourg, will be managed by Barclays Capital Fund Solutions.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Pierre-Henri Flamand, former co-head of the Principal Strategies trading team at Goldman Sachs, will next week launch his own hedge fund in London. The Polytechnique alumnus is said by sources familiar with the matter to have already received commitments for over USD1bn from institutional investors, the Wall Street Journal reports. The other former co-head of Principal Strategies, Morgan Sze, is also preparing to launch a hedge fund early next year, but in Hong Kong; it will be a fund specialised in Asia. 13 other former Principal Strategies employees are said to be going with him.

Polar Capital is going to add an income fund to its recently launched global emerging markets range, says Investment Week. The fund will be run by the three managers the firm poached from Axa Framlington in July: William Calvert, Ming Kemp and Neil Denman.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Italian independent asset management firm Azimut has made its debut in private equity with the launch of a renewable energies private equity fund, Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. The fund will initially have EUR100-150m in dedicated investments from professional investors. For the project, Azimut will create an ad-hoc company, which will be 60% controlled by a group of private equity managers.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Agefi reports that the third-largest bank in Canada has completed its acquisition of the wealth management firm WaterStreet Group, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition will allow Bank of Nova Scotia to develop its range of services for the ultra high net worth segment, the newspaper says.