Selon Funds People, six fonds de Carmignac Gestion ont été «déréférencés» en fin de semaine dernière de la liste des recommandations par Quality Funds (filiale du BBVA). Sur le principe, Eric Helderlé, directeur général, n’a rien à redire, si cette démarche devait être justifiée de manière incontestable, pour des raisons de performance, par exemple, même si le procédé peut paraître à tout le moins cavalier, puisque Carmignac Gestion n’en a pas été averti au préalable.Mais le gestionnaire français démonte point par point les arguments avancés et va d’ailleurs déléguer mardi Eric Le Coz à Madrid pour remettre les pendules à l’heure. Le cas échéant, si l’auteur des rumeurs qui ont filtré et représentent un risque réputationnel sérieux pour la maison de la place Vendôme venait à être identifié, des suites judiciaires lourdes seraient données à cette affaire, martèle Eric Helderlé.D’après Funds People, l’un des arguments avancés par le BBVA serait que Carmignac Gestion aurait des difficultés à s’accommoder des importants flux de souscriptions de ces derniers mois. Pour Eric Le Coz, Carmignac Gestion opère sur un univers d’investissement très large, mondial, et conserve la capacité de se montrer sélectif d’autant que la maison possède une expertise dans le domaine des dérivés simples (contrats à terme). Il n’y a donc aucun secret de fabrication qui échapperait aux analystes.De surcroît, ajoute Eric Le Coz, il est abusif de mettre en doute la taille des équipes de gestion. S’il est vrai que les encours ont affiché une très forte et rapide expansion, Carmignac Gestion a crû sans créer de nouveaux produits et n’a donc pas eu à se disperser. La maison a au demeurant accru les ressources affectées à la table d’exécution et elle a embauché un gérant et un analyse en 2008, puis encore un analyste en 2009.A cela s’ajoute que le middle office est externalisé auprès d’un partenaire de grande surface, Caceis Fastnet, qui assure le calcul de la valorisation.Le reproche de Quality Funds concernant une faiblesse supposée du département de contrôle des risques ne résiste pas non plus à l’analyse, selon Eric Le Coz, puisque les prospectus prévoient peu de contraintes en matière de risques, et que des contrôles sont effectués néanmoins deux fois par jour. De plus, en France, le dépositaire est tenu d’assurer lui aussi un contrôle dans ce domaine.Par ailleurs, si la filiale du BBVA - qui n’est après tout que «l’un des distributeurs» des fonds Carmignac Gestion en Espagne, rappelle Eric Helderlé - semble réprouver de ne pas avoir été avertie du changement de dépositaire, les responsables de Quality Funds paraissent avoir occulté le transfert d’activités tout à fait normal et public de Natixis à Caceis, phénomène extérieur à Carmignac Gestion et qui n’a donné lieu à aucun nouveau mandat.Quality Funds reproche enfin un défaut de qualité de l’audit des fonds de la société de gestion française. Or ses fonds luxembourgeois ont KPMG comme commissaire aux comptes, et ce cabinet reconnu co-certifie depuis peu les comptes des fonds de droit français, parallèlement à Vizzavona, souligne Eric Le Coz.

Marc-Philippe Botte a rejoint Crédit Agricole Private Equity en qualité de directeur de participations au sein de l’équipe Energies Renouvelables, dédiée à l’investissement dans des entreprises du secteur des énergies renouvelables et de l’efficacité énergétique via son fonds Capenergie. Depuis 2001, il travaillait dans le département fusions-acquisitions de Fortis Bank (Paris) en tant que directeur, où il a notamment été en charge d’opérations sur le secteur des Energies renouvelables.

Selon Les Echos, Pierre Fleuriot sera le prochain directeur général de Credit Suisse France. L’ancien patron des filiales françaises d’ABN AMRO puis de Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), inspecteur des finances âgé de cinquante-quatre ans, va succéder à François Roussely, qui prendra d’autres fonctions au sein de l'établissement helvétique. Pierre Fleuriot prendra ses fonctions le 2 novembre. Il aura la responsabilité des trois activités de la banque helvétique en France : la banque d’affaires, codirigée par Olivier Barret et Valérie Landon, la banque privée, dirigée par Hervé de Montlivault, et la gestion d’actifs. Il était depuis son départ de RBS à la tête de la boutique PCF Conseils.

La Tribune confirme ce que Newsmanagers avait annoncé en début de semaine dernière : l’acquisition officielle de la société de gestion Tocqueville Finance par La Banque Postale avec laquelle elle était en négociation exclusive depuis la rentrée. Tenu secret, le montant de la transaction serait d’environ 80 millions d’euros. La Banque Postale, poursuit sa stratégie d’acquisitions ciblées pour proposer l’ensemble des services financiers à sa clientèle, précise le quotidien. Elle vient ainsi de lancer un site de courtage en ligne, Easybourse et prépare, dans le même genre, une offre de crédit à la consommation mais aussi d’assurance dommages avec Groupama. Elle est, enfin, en pourparlers pour racheter la Banque Palatine.

Selon Les Echos citant Bloomberg, James Simons, le fondateur du hedge fund Renaissance, quittera son poste de directeur général avant la fin de l’année pour prendre celui de président «non exécutif». Ce mathématicien surdoué s’est entouré au cours du temps de chercheurs de haut niveau (physique, biotechnologies) pour concevoir les modèles statistiques à la base du succès et de la renommée de son hedge fund. Renaissance figurait à la 9e place mondiale en 2008, avec près de 20 milliards de dollars d’actifs sous gestion.

Le fondateur, president & CEO du gestionnaire alternatif Renaissance Technologies (15 milliards de dollars d’encours), James Simons, a annoncé qu’il démissionnera de son poste de CEO début 2010, rapporte la Börsen-Zeitung. La direction opérationnelle sera confiée aux actuels co-presidents, Peter Brown et Robert Mercer.

On average, according to Hedge Fund Research, hedge funds have posted returns of 17% since the beginning of the year, which has put some managers back above the famous high watermark, which allows them to begin collecting performance commissions, the Wall Street Journal reports. This is the case for most funds from SAC Capital Advisors, as well as for the Master Fund from Och-Ziff Capital Management. Fortress Investment states that the Drawbridge Global Fund will be able to begin accepting performance commissions again by the end of the year, if results continue to be as good as they are at present.

Barclays Global Investors on 25 September launched a German-registered ETF which focuses on equities in 100 companies worldwide that pay high dividends. The iShares DJ Stoxx global Select Dividend 100 DE, denominated in Euros, is invested in 40 American, 30 European, and 30 Asia-Pacific businesses. It was admitted to trading on the XTF segment of the Xetra electronic platform of Deutsche Börse on 9 October. Characteristics Name: iShares DJ Stoxx Global Select Dividend 100 DE ISIN: DE000A0F5UH1 Total expense ratio (TER): 0.47%

Santander Asset Management has announced in a regulated statement published by the CNMV that it will redeem a total of EUR12.1m to subscribers who held shares in the Santander Corto Plazo Plus and Santander Dinero Plus funds as of 14 November 2008 and 25 January 2008, respectively. The funds were exposed to the consequences of an exceptional evolution of the financial markets and a boom in redemption demands, which created an imbalance in the composition of their portfolios compared with the investment policies set out in their prospectuses, which had a negative impact on the performance of the funds.

HSBC Global Asset Management launches the HSBC GIF Middle East and North Africa (MENA) fund. The fund was initially scheduled for launch in October 2008 but was postponed until now amid the extreme global market volatility at the end of 2008 and early 2009. With a more secure outlook for the region, HSBC Global Asset Management considers now is a more suitable time to launch this fund. Benchmarked against the MSCI Arabian ex-Saudi Arabia Total Return Index, the HSBC GIF MENA fund will invest in companies from this region with a market capitalisation of greater than USD50 million. Countries within this universe include United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia. The fund can hold up 10 per cent of its portfolio in Saudi Arabia. The fund is managed by Andrea Nannini and his team at Halbis, the active management specialist within HSBC Global Asset Management. It will form part of HSBC’s flagship Global Investment Funds SICAV, domiciled in Luxembourg. It will typically hold around 50-60 stocks.

HSBC is launching the HGIF Middle East and North Africa sub-fund, managed by Andrea Nannini, in Luxembourg. The fund will invest in countries including Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia; the manager, a specialist in “frontier” markets at Halbis, will be allowed to place up to 10% of assets in other countries including Libya, Syria, and Saudi Arabia. Companies must have a minimal capitalisation of USD50m. The benchmark index for the fund is the MSCI Arabian ex-Suadi index in US dollars, and minimal subscription for the portfolio of 50-60 shares is set at USD5,000 (USD1m for the institutional share class). Management commission and administrative fees are 1.50% and 0.40%, respectively, for the retail share class, and 0.75% and 0.30% for the institutional share class.

In a regulated statement, Douglas Holding announced on Friday that the Banque Sarasin had notified it that on 17 July it passed the 10% threshold in its capital, and held 10.80% of voting rights in the firm as of that date. The statement says that the investment has purely financial objectives, and that the Swiss bank states that it has no intention of exercising an influence over the board of directors or supervisory boards at the German group. The Basel-based bank also says that it has no plans to make any modifications to the capital structure of Douglas Holding, particularly in terms of the ratio of internal to external financing, or the firm’s policies in the area of dividends. Lastly, Banque Sarasin says that it acquired the shares with its own capital.

Blackstone is planning to list up to eight companies it owns and sell at least five others, says the Financial Times. Steve Schwarzman, Blackstone’s founder, told investors in a letter sent on Friday: “We see the world changing once again. At least for private equity, the worst is behind the industry.”

George Soros announced on Saturday plans to invest as much as USD1bn in clean-energy technologies while forming a new climate-policy arm to combat global warming, said the Financial Times. “I will look for profitable opportunities, but I will also insist that the investments make a real contribution to solving the problem of climate change,” he said.

Jean-Luc Eyssautier has recently joined the Hong Kong offices of Axa to assist the group’s efforts in the region. Eyssautier, head of development in Paris, will be in charge of wholesale distribution in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, all Asian markets outside Japan where AXA IM sells its products directly. Elsewhere in Asia, Axa has developed joint venture in China and South Korea, where it cannot sell retail products directly.

Currently, 1,444 of the 2,709 funds in Spain, or 53%, have less than EUR20m in assets, compared with 39% as of June 2007, Expansión reports. Due to toughening regulations and falling volumes of assets under management, profits at management firms fell 50% in first half, while the number of managers reporting losses rose to 39 in June from 34 at the end of 2008, which explains why a majority of management firms initiated processes to merge funds in first half (affecting 224 funds), while 324 funds disappeared in third quarter. Managers have been driven to mergers as 261 funds had asset levels below the minimum required by the CNMV, meaning that a large majority of these may be expected to be closed in the next few months. Expansión presents a graph which shows that Ahorro Corporación, La Caixa and Santander are the management firms with the most funds with assets of under EUR20m, with 181, 111 and 108 funds, respectively, while Gesmadrid is in fourth place, with 60 funds.

The new strategic investment plan agreed last summer by the UK pension fund for Royal Dutch Shell Group PLC (GBP10.G billion) includes a 5% allocation to alternative assets (hedge funds, infrastructure and commodity funds), in addition to the 5% it already has invested in private equity, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Paul Whelan, who was manager of a bond hedge fund at Hendersons Global Investors, has been appointed credit portfolio manager at Aviva Investors in London, where he will report to Stephen Lee, director of the credit portfolio focus group. He will be specialised in risk analysis and portfolio structuring for international bond funds and absolute performance funds.

EDHEC warns that the proposed revision to IAS 19 by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) would lead pension funds to shed risky assets. According to EDHEC, the IASB proposal gives pension funds no incentives to manage risk properly.

At the summit of the international forum of sovereign investment funds (IFSWF), held on Friday in Baku, Azerbaijan, representatives of the 20 member funds called on governments of countries that receive their investments to keep their borders open. They expressed their support for monetary and budgetary policies which aim to foster an economic recovery, though the recovery is not yet a certainty, Reuters reports.

The sovereign fund of Abu Dhabi, Aabar Investments, an affiliate of the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), has invested EUR234m to acquire 0.6% of the Brazilian affiliate of Santander at its IPO, Cinco Días reports. The Spanish group earned capital gains of EUR1.43bn on the IPO.

On Friday, Commerzbank announced that it is selling Dresdner Van Moer Courtens and the Belgian arm of Commerzbank International SA Luxembourg (Cisal), which specialise in high net worth private clients, to their respective management. The acquisition price of the firms has not been revealed. As of the end of 2008, the two establishments had a combined 48 employees and total assets of EUR615m. In May 2007, Dresdner Bank acquired Van Moer Santerre & Cie as well as Damien Courtens & Cie, which managed about EUR0.5bn for 3,000 clients. The two firms, affiliates of Dresdner Bakn Luxembourg, were merged nearly a year later to form Dresdner Van Moer Courtens S.A. (see Newsmanagers of 17 April 2008). The Brussels branch of Commerzbank Germany, which is focused on business banking, will remain a part of the Commerzbank group.

According to an annual McKinsey study entitled “Asset Management Survey,” cited by Le Temps, of which the seventh edition is released this Monday, cumulative operating profits at European asset management firms are expected to fall 25% this year, to approximately EUR4.5bn. The development comes despite financial markets that are once again on the rise. Last year, after a record year in 2007, operating profits were down 40%, to EUR7.1bn. On two years, the cumulative decline is 55%. The factors driving this downturn are several. The major cause, naturally, is falling assets under management. With a 17% fall in Europe overall, 2008 was the worst year since 2000. The fall of share prices contributed 14%, while redemptions accounted for 3%. Investors’ migration to less risky assets, which are less profitable for managers, is the second-largest factor in the erosion of profit margins. The third factor was pressure from distribution channels. The priority for banks was to attract savings, in order to refinance their credit, rather than to sell funds. Competition for what remained of the market was intense, putting distributors in a more powerful position to demand higher discounts or soft commissions. Their share of the margin increased from 60% to 62%, leaving producers of funds with a smaller slice of 38%, rather than 40%.

Eric Bourguignon, responsable de la gestion taux de Swiss Life Asset Management

Le probable franchissement de cette zone de résistance devrait ouvrir la voie à une hausse jusqu’à 4.315 points pour la fin 2009

Giuseppe Maraffino, stratégiste fixed income chez UniCredit

Rachid Medjaoui, directeur de la gestion tactique de l’allocation d'actifs de La Banque Postale AM

Christian Parisot, chef économiste chez Aurel BGC

Hanna Stekelorom, responsable de la gestion crédit chez Natixis AM

Friedrich Racher, membre du directoire de Constantia Privatbank, a indiqué à Reuters que l’allemand Hauck & Aufhäuser (H&A) a mis fin aux négociations en vue de l’acquisition de la banque autrichienne (lire notre dépêche du 11 septembre) du fait qu’il s’est avéré impossible de procéder à une évaluation convenable des risques durant la période de due diligence, rapporte la Börsen-Zeitung. Il y aurait encore trois candidats repreneurs en lice.