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10/05/2010

Moody's proposes approach for operational risks of securitiesations

The ratings agency Moody’s on 7 May launched a call for comments, open until 15 June, on its new approach to the evaluation of operational risks involved in structured financial operations. The Moody’s document proposes a global approach to the evaluation of operational risk, but also considers local legal particularities. The agency also remarks that its recommendations may be adapted to the specific characteristics of a transaction. A summary report will be released to the public in July 2010.
10/05/2010

CESR intensifies surveillance of markets

In the wake of the exceptional volatility observed recently on securities and derivatives markets, the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) on Friday emphasized in a statement that it is planning to intensify surveillance of these markets. The CESR will be particularly attentive to potential violations of regulations and to cases of market manipulation, with the objective of coordinating the actions of national market surveillance authorities. The CESR states that it will work in close collaboration with non-European market authorities, including the US Securities and Excange Commission (SEC), as well as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Potential cross-border investigations will be coordinated by CESR-Pol, the permanent committee of the CESR responsible for the integrity of markets and cooperation and information exchange between CESR members.
10/05/2010

CESR launches consultation on transparency of financial markets other than equities

The Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) on 7 May launched a consultation open until 4 June on the subject of the transparency of markets for financial instruments other than equities, as part of an ongoing examination of the MiFID directive this year. The working paper describes ways to improve post-market transparency for all of these instruments, including derivatives which had not been analysed in the past, including fixed income, equities derivatives, currency derivatives, and commodities derivatives. At the request of the European Commission, the CESR is also considering the pre-trade transparency of corporate bonds, ABS, CDO, CDS, and the aforementioned derivatives.
10/05/2010

Santander changes nearly all underlying funds for Superselección

With effect from 3 May, Santander has changed the composition of the portfolio of its guaranteed fund Superselección (EUR320m). Management commission has also been raised to 1.66% from 1.61.% previously, Funds People reports. Only the BL Global Bond Cap fund from the Banque de Luxembourg has been retained in the fund selection, with a weighting of 4.42%. The other six managers are new, compared with last year’s list. For bonds, the new picks are BlackRock (BGF Euro Bond Fund, 27.1%) and Parvest (Euro Bond, 18.8%). For equities, Santander AM has chosen the Metzler European Growth (10.7%), the Meridian Funds European Value fund from MFS (14.23%), the Alger American Asset Growth (4.5%) and the Allianz US Equity (20.5%).
10/05/2010

Net subscriptions to SEB Wealth Management

The Wealth Management division of the Swedish bank SEB, which includes institutional and private banking clients, has seen a 2% increase in its assets under management in first quarter 2010, to SEK1.3trn (about EUR132bn). This id largely due to net subscriptions of SEK19bn, of which SEK14bn were from institutional clients. Operating profits totalled SEK360m, down 10% compared with SEK402m in fourth quarter 2004, but up 75% compared with first quarter 2009.
10/05/2010

Hedge fund index shows lower gains in April

The global hedge fund index from Hedge Fund Research in April showed average returns of 0.80%, compared with 1.38% in March. Since the beginning of the year, average gains come to 2.45%. Only two strategies were in the red for April: equity market neutral (-0.38%) and the broader macro funds category (-0.70%). However, the distressed equities strategy gained 2.25%. The two categories with the strongest gains in the first four months of the year were event-driven strategies: 7.67% for distressed, and 8.53% for private issue/regulation.
10/05/2010

Pioneer launches a fund with a strong bond bias

Pioneer Investments (UniCredit group) has registered the Pioneer Multi-Asset Real Return Fund, which will invest in inflation-indexed US Treasury bonds (TIPS), high yield and investment grade bonds and bonds as well as equities from emerging countries, with the SEC. Management commission will be 1.30% for A-class shares, 2.20% for C-class shares, and 1% for Y-class shares. The fund is managed by CIO Kenneth Taubes, as well as portfolio managers Michele Garau and Robert Urie.
10/05/2010

BlackRock launches three iShares country ETF funds

On Friday, BlackRock registered three new ETFs bearing the iShares brand, replicating MSCI indices. All three products will be managed by Diane Hsiung and Greg Savane. They include a fund which replicates the MSCI Indonesia Investable Market, with fees of 0.65%, a fund tracking the MSCI Ireland Capped Investable index, with a management commission of 0.55%, and the MSCI USA Index Fund, with fees of 0.15%.
10/05/2010

U.S. One Trust launches an ETF of ETFs

Paul Hrabal, founder and CIO of the U.S. One Trust, has announced to Mutual Fund Wire that on 11 May he launches his first product, the One Fund, which is an ETF of ETF funds, with 70% invested in US equities funds, and 30% in foreign equities ETF funds. The One Fund, which will charge fees of 0.51%, and invest primarily in Vanguard and iShares ETFs, particularly those based on MSCI indices. It will be aimed primarily at retail clients. U.S. One Trust is planning to launch a similar product focused on bonds in the near future.
10/05/2010

Lazard Frères launches a Sicav fund dedicated to IPOs

Agefi reports that Lazard Frères Gestion on Friday unveiled its new Skylar Origin fund, which is dedicated to investments in companies holding initial public offerings (IPO). The international Sicav fund, which is reserved for qualified investors and is not licensed by the AMF, was launched in February of this year by Cédric Chaboud, head of strategy, and Jeremy Boubil, head of trading. The objective of the managers is to increase assets in the fund from EUR15m presently to a target of EUR200m.
10/05/2010

Popular Gestión to scale up international presence

Miguel Colombás, CEO, has told Expansión that Popular Gestión (EUR7.6bn, including Popular Gestión Privada) is planning to set up shop in Luxembourg when the UCITS IV directive comes into force (in 2011), and to register its products on the major fund platforms in Spain. The management firm is also hoping to gain institutional investor clients. Rafael Hurtado, CIO, says that Popular Gestión will increase its staff, which currently includes 22 investment professionals out of a total headcount of 53. The drive will focus on diversified and active selection funds, with a special focus on funds of funds.
10/05/2010

Un investisseur américain se met à 100% en cash avant le rally baissier

Un timing de rêve. Selon Citywire, le commentateur et investisseur américain Barry Ritholtz, CEO et responsable de la recherche actions chez Fusion IQ, a mis l’intégralité de son portefeuille actions en cash juste avant les turbulences boursières qui secouent les marchés depuis quelques jours. «Au début de l’année, nous étions autour de 30 à 40 % en cash, et nous sommes passés à 100 % cette semaine (ndlr, la semaine dernière). Nous avions atteint une partie de nos objectifs à la hausse et nous avons pris nos bénéfices, puis, mercredi matin, je suis passé à 100 % en attendant de comprendre ce qui se passait. J’ai eu de la chance», a expliqué Barry Ritholtz à Citywire. L’investisseur américain estime toutefois que le cycle de hausse des marchés observé l’an dernier n’est pas terminé. Il affirme par ailleurs que la crise de l’endettement n’est pas limitée à l’Europe, et que des Etats américains comme la Floride et la Californie pourraient être confrontés aux mêmes problèmes que la Grèce.
10/05/2010

Co-founder of Liontrust steps down

Liontrust’s CEO and co-founder Nigel Legge has stepped down to be replaced by new head of retail John Ions, says Investment Week. His departure comes as Liontrust is still struggling to recover from the recent loss of star managers Jeremy Lang and William Pattisson.
10/05/2010

New manager at AXA Framlington Global Equities

Axa Investment Managers (AXA IM) announced on Friday, 7 May that it has appointed Bruno Grandsard as a portfolio manager in the equities team at AXA Framlington Global Equities. He will report to Mark Beveridge, Global Head of AXA Framlington, and will be based in London. He will cover the automotive, telecommunications and utilities markets, and will seek investment opportunities. Grandsard previously served at Alliance Bernstein, where he spent five years as an analyst in the global automotive and auto parts industries. He also worked in the private equity business in Japan.
10/05/2010

SEB AM to sell a luxury residential complex in Shanghai

The German firm SEB Asset Management has announced that it has earned substantial capital gains compared with the most recent expert valuation of the asset, on a sale of a 50% stake owned by its institutional real estate fund SEB Asian Property Fund SICAV-FIS in the luxury residential complex Belgravia in Shanghai, to a group of Chinese investors, for more than CNY1bn. Recently, the open-ended real estate fund SEB ImmoInvest also resold the Platinum office complex in Shanghai at a profit, for EUR200m (see Newsmanagers of 7 April).
10/05/2010

Partners Group closes Global Value 2008 to new subscriptions

The Swiss management firm Partners Group (CHF25bn in assets) has announced that its Global Value 2008 investment programme, which had been provisionally limited to EUR500m in investments, has now been closed to new investments, with EUR537m. The programme invested strongly in private assets on the secondary markets, taking advantage of liquidity problems experienced by several investors. Partners Group took the opportunity to acquire several highly attractive assets from a portfolio at a 58% markdown from their liquid value. Partners Group also invested directly, particularly in the British firm Oasis Dental, a group of dental practices, and in Kaffee Partner Holding GmbH, one of the largest professional distributors of coffee to SMBs.
10/05/2010

FRR posts returns of 3.1% as of 31 March

As of 31 March 2010, the annualised performance of the French national pension fund, the Fonds de réserve pour les retraites (FRR) since it began investing (June 2004), came to 3.1%, net of all costs related to administrative and financial functioning. Performance since the beginning of the year totalled 2.6%, the FRR says in a statement. Total assets in the FRR came to EUR34.5bn as of the end of March, compared with EUR44.4bn at the end of December 2009, and EUR26bn as of 31 March 2009. The global structure of FRR assets had 55% of overall capital invested in performance assets (compared with 52.4% at the end of 2009), including 46.8% equities, 5% commodities, and 3.2% real estate. The weight of bond and money market assets was 45%, compared with 47.6% at the end of 2009.
10/05/2010

Norwegian pension fund reevaluating exposure to southern Europe

The Norwegian national pension fund announced on Friday that it is carefully monitoring the situation in countries of southern Europe facing a deficit crisis, Le Monde reports. At the end of 2009, the fund had an exposure of NOK55bn (nearly NOK7bn) to Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain. In the same period, the fund had about NOK104bn invested in equities from these countries, including Spanish banks such as Santander. This total was equivalent to 12.6% of its European assets, the newspaper reports.
10/05/2010

A good first quarter for Norwegian pension fund

The Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global returned 3.9 percent (103 billion kroner) in the first quarter of 2010, helped by gains in global equity and fixed-income markets. The result was 0.4 percentage point higher than the return on the fund’s benchmark portfolio. The fund’s investments consisted of 62.6 percent equities and 37.4 percent fixed-income securities at the end of the quarter. The fund’s market value rose 123 billion kroner to 2,763 billion kroner in the first quarter. NBIM on 1 March got a mandate to invest in real estate. Following this decision, the fund shall consist of 60 percent equities, 35–40 percent fixed-income securities and as much as 5 percent real estate. Karsten Kallevig will join NBIM on 1 September to head the real estate team.
10/05/2010

DEGI Europa sells a property to SWIP

The German asset management firm Aberdeen Immobilien KAG has announced that it has sold a 12,559 square-metre office property located on King William Street in London to SWIP Property Trust for EUR77m. The property had been in the portfolio of the DEGI Europa real estate fund, which is frozen to redemptions. The sale of the property, acquired in 1996, took place at the most recent valuation price.
10/05/2010

Une gérante "actions japonaises" quitte Axa

Anja Balfour, qui avait rejoint AXA Framlington en 2004 et était le «lead manager» de la gestion d’un fonds japonais de 70 millions d’euros a quitté ses fonctions le mois dernier. Son départ a été décidé d’un commun accord avec la société de gestion. Gérant du fonds investi sur les petites capitalisations japonaises, Chisako Hardie a repris la gestion du portefeuille en question au terme d’une réorganisation opérée par Axa dans son département «actions japonaises». Dans le détail, Chisako Hardie sera assisté par les équipes de gestion «global sector» qui recrutent actuellement des analystes.Selon Financial News, le départ de la gérante est intervenu alors que son portefeuille enregistrait des performances inférieures à celle de ses principaux concurrents. Et ce constat vaut tant sur un an, trois ans et cinq ans à la fin du mois de mars 2010.
10/05/2010

Neptune in bid to oust Pru chief

Neptune is trying to gather support for a vote of no-confidence in Prudential chief executive Tidjane Thiam, furious at his cack-handed attempt to acquire Asian insurer AIA, says the Daily Mail. The fund manager, which owns around GBP50million of Pru shares and has GBP5.6billion of funds under management, is hoping to win backing from shareholders controlling more than 10 per cent of the Pru’s stock. This would enable a vote on Thiam to be put forward as a resolution at the general meeting to approve the purchase. Robin Geffen, managing director of Neptune, believes that Thiam is putting the insurer’s future at risk by embarking on the costly acquisition of AIA (GBP23.7billion ).

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