En août, les fonds de valeurs mobilières distribués en Espagne avaient enregistré avec 402 millions d’euros leurs premières souscriptions nettes depuis avril 2007 (lire notre article du 2 septembre). Mais en septembre ils ont accusé à nouveau des sorties nettes de 1,2 milliard d’euros, un phénomène que l’association Inverco des sociétés de gestion met principalement sur le compte des émissions sur les marchés primaires. Pour les neuf premiers mois de l’année, les remboursements nets totalisent ainsi 10,31 milliards d’euros contre 42,99 milliards pour la période correspondante de 2008.En ce qui concerne par ailleurs les encours, ils ont fléchi en septembre de 0,05 % ou de 77 millions d’euros pour revenir à 162.777 millions au 30 septembre contre 162.840 millions un mois plus tôt.Seuls deux gestionnaires parmi les dix premiers affichent des souscriptions nettes : Invercaixa Gestión et Ibercaja Gestión ont collecté respectivement 80,9 millions et 126,5 millions d’euros, alors que BBVA Asset Management, Santander Asset Management et Ahorro Corporación accusaient des sorties nettes de 673,5 millions, 172,3 millions et 268,2 millions d’euros.Par encours, BBVA Asset Management affichait fin septembre 32,36 milliards, devant Santander Asset Management (28,47 milliards) et Invercaixa Gestión (12,66 milliards).

Selon les informations de Die Welt, la Deutsche Bank devrait entamer cette semaine les négociations en vue de réduire d’environ une centaine de personnes l’effectif de sa division private & business clients (PBC), qui s’adresse aux particuliers et aux professionnels.

Après avoir rappelé que les fonds sectoriels écologie représentent actuellement en Allemagne un encours de 826 millions d’euros, soit environ un tiers de celui des fonds biotechnologie et pharmacie, la Börsen-Zeitung note qu’indépendamment de la composition des fonds (exclusion ou best-in-class) l’ISR génère une surperformance. D’après une étude du gestionnaire suisse SAM (groupe Robeco) portant sur 2.500 entreprises de tous les secteurs, les 20 % d’entreprises les plus «développement durable» ont affiché pour 2008 une performance supérieure de 300 points de base à celles des 20 % les moins «développement durable». Un investissement lucratif peut donc de surcroît donner bonne conscience. A condition bien sûr de bien choisir le fonds adéquat. D’après le Sustainable Business Institute (SBI), en effet, les meilleurs fonds d’actions développement durable de l’univers germanophone (Allemagne, Autriche, Suisse) ont affiché au premier semestre 2009 des performances d’environ 53 %, tandis que les plus mauvais ont perdu 7 %. Pendant ce temps, l’indice Dow Jones Sustainability World gagnait environ 28 %.

Le fonds UniNachhaltig Aktien Global lancé jeudi par Union Investment (banques populaires) est un produit «actions monde» de développement durable utilisant une approche de sélection de valeurs après un filtrage environnemental, social et de gouvernance (ESG) par l’agence imug.(Institut für Markt-Umwelt-Gesellschaft). La sélection s’opère à partir d’un univers de 2.800 entreprises du monde entier dans lequel imug sélectionne 260 noms. Ensuite, les sociétés retenues passent par un nouveau filtre appliqué cette fois par la recherche «développement durable» d’Union Investment. Les titres sont sélectionnés en fonction d’une approche best-in-class et soumises parallèlement à une analyse financière fondamentale de type traditionnel. Le gérant du fonds est Ingo Speich.Union Investment gère environ 2,5 milliards d’euros en développement durable. Caractéristiques Denomination : UniNachhaltig Aktien Global: ISIN : DE000A0M80G4 Droit d’entrée : 5 % Commission de gestion : 1,2 % (maximum : 1,75 %) Commission de banque dépositaire : 0,05 %

Selon la Tribune, qui se rapporte à plusieurs sources, Patrick Ponsolle, ancien président de Morgan Stanley à Paris, va rejoindre la banque d’affaires Rothschild. pour devenir vice-président pour l’Europe. Il sera chargé d’aider la banque à couvrir certains grands comptes. Le quotidien note également que Jacques-Henri David, qui vient de transmettre la présidence de Deutsche Bank France à Marc Pandraud, serait sur le départ, ainsi que François de Combret, qui était conseiller chez UBS depuis 2005.

Au 25 septembre et depuis le début de l’année, selon les données d’Europerformance SIX telekurs, la catégorie de fonds investis en actions françaises affiche une progression moyenne de 24,15 %. Pluvalca France, géré par la Financière d’Arbevel, figure en haut du classement avec un gain de 63,82 %. Il est vrai que dans le fonds de la Financière d’Arbevel, les petites et moyennes capitalisations représentaient entre 15 % et 20 % du portefeuille. Or, en moyenne, les fonds investis sur cette classe d’actifs ont progressé depuis le début de l’année de 34,42 %. Avec, en tête de la catégorie, le fonds... Pluvalca France Small Caps, en hausse de 67,01 %.

Le fonds de pension britannique PA Pension Trustees Ltd (410 millions de livres) a sélectionné BlackRock comme gestionnaire fiduciaire. Les deux protagonistes ont développé ensemble une stratégie d’investissement «holistique» correspondant aux préoccupations spécifiques des administrateurs.

EFG Private Bank, la filiale basée à Londres d’EFG International, a lancé un fonds obligataire en partenariat avec Stratton Street Capital. Le New Capital Wealthy Nations Bond Fund est un fonds Ucits III domicilié en Irlande qui vise une rentabilité de l’ordre de 8 % et le maintien d’une qualité de crédit moyenne de single A.

La société de gestion cotée sur l’AIM Impax et spécialisée dans le secteur de l’environnement a décidé de changer de nom pour s’intituler Impax Asset Management Group plc. Cette modification reflète la priorité donnée par la société à la gestion d’actifs. Les actifs sous gestion s'élevaient au 31 août à 1,13 milliard de livres.

According to sources close to the investor cited by Reuters, the sovereign fund China Investment Corp (USD200bn in assets) is planning to invest USD600-700m each in three distressed funds in the United States, of which one is from Goldman Sachs, and one from Oaktree Capital.

In August, according to statistics from the German association BVI, the asset management industry overall saw net redemptions of EUR1.05bn, following net inflows of EUR3.13bn in July and EUR3.61bn in the corresponding month of last year. This result is primarily imputable to open-ended money market funds, which saw net outflows of EUR3.04bn, after EUR5.86bn in outflows already in July, and, to a lesser extent, to bond funds, from which net redemptions totalled EUR765m, compared with net inflows of EUR979m the previous month. In the first eight months of the year, institutional funds have seen inflows of EUR6.3bn, compared with EUR11.63bn in January-August 2008, while open-ended securities funds saw net outflows of EUR3.64bn, compared with net subscriptions of USD17.65bn. Open-ended equities funds attracted USD8.86bn in January-August 2009 (compared with USD538m), while money market funds saw outflows of USD19.96bn (compared with net subscriptions of USD4.4bn). Bond funds have notably seen outflows of USD1.51bn (compared with USD3.11bn), while real estate funds attracted USD3.04bn, compared with USD5.78bn.

ETFs have been by far the largest area of growth in inflows for funds on sale in Germany since the beginning of the year: between them, Barclays Global Investors (with its iShares brand), Commerz Derivatives Funds (ComStage), Deutsche Bank (with db x-trackers) and Deka (with ETFlab) have attracted a total of EUR5.13bn in January-August, while open-ended securities funds as a whole saw net outflows of EUR3.64bn. db x-trackers stands out with inflows of EUR2.96bn, ahead of ETFlab, with EUR1.35bn, while ComStage and iShares products have attracted EUR573.2m and EUR248.3m, respectively. Thanks to db x-trackers, the DB/DWS group is the only one of the major actors to post net subscriptions (of EUR1.44bn), while Deka (savings banks) has seen outflows of EUR5.42bn. Allianz Global Investors has seen net redemptions of EUR2bn, while Pioneer (UniCredit) and Union Investment (co-operative banks) show outflows of EUR964.7m and EUR815m. Only two actors show assets of over EUR100bn as of 31 August: DB?DWS, with EUR132.03bn, and Deka, with EUR105.56bn.

In the first eight months of the year, US bond funds attracted a net USD209.1bn, while net subscriptions to equities funds were limited to USD15.2bn, according to statistics from Morningstar, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. Nine out of the ten funds which have seen the strongest net inflows are bond products.

Lyxor Asset Management announced on 29 September that it now has nine hedge funds on its managed account platform. Since January 2009, Lyxor has regularly increased the diversification of its investment universe, adding a new hedge fund in April, one in June, one in July, and four in August. Since the beginning of the year, assets under management on the platform have increased by USD3bn. The most recent fund, launched in September, is the Apollo Distressed Fund, which deploys an event-driven and risk arbitrage strategy.

GLG Partners has launched a new fund which is primarily aimed at British and European distressed firms, Hedge Week reports. The fund favours tradeable and liquid shares in firms engaged in long and difficult restructuring processes, which are generally prized by distressed activists. The fund, which has about USD300m in assets, had been managed internally since July 2008. But returns of 84% since January have motivated GLG to launch a special product for external investors.

SAC Capital, the USD16bn hedge fund group, has invested in a new London-based fund managed by one of its former traders, says the Financial Times. RWC Partners’ new US Absolute Alpha fund, run by Mike Corcell (ex-Threadneedle), is expected to launch on Thursday, according to people familiar with the situation. The fund has raised USD350m and should get a further USD200m.

Assets under management in the United Kingdom contracted by 12% last year, to a total of GBP3.7trn, International Financial Services London (IFSL), a body that promotes British financial services worldwide, reports. This contraction follows five consecutive years of increases, averaging 8%. Poor returns, falling subscriptions and redemptions to investors were to blame for this contraction. Initial indicators for 2009 show that the sector has begun to recover, with a 14% increase in January-July in assets in retail funds domiciled in the United Kingdom. IFSL reports that two thirds of assets in 2008 were held by institutionals, while 16% were represented by retail funds, and 9% were in hedge funds, while the remainder corresponded to private clients. Profit margins for fund managers fell to 23%, from 32% in 2007.

The fund management firm for Mutua Madrileña, Mutuactivos, last week launched the Mutuafondo Bonos Financieros fund. The product invests in bonds from European banks and insurers, which is a more conservative way of betting on the financial sector than through investment in equities, Expansión reports. The fund, which has already attracted EUR100m, is managed by Joaquín Álvarez-Borrás; securities in the portfolio will be rated at least BBB-, one notch above junk bonds, but the manager will focus on the leaders in each country. Until 15 October, subscriptions will carry no front-end fee. After that date, Mutuactivos will charge a 3% entry fee at subscription or in case of redemption after less than three years.

Thames River and Jupiter are launching new offshore products on the British and European markets, according to Investment Week. Thames River will offer two long/short funds in the first half of 2010, directed by Joel Amsellem and Gaurav Bamania. The two UCITS III vehicles will be domiciled in Dublin. Jupiter, for its part, has launched a new vehicle entitled Global Opportunities, as a sub-fund of its Global fund, domiciled in Luxembourg. The fund is dedicated to institutional clients, but the minimal investment is set at GBP1,000. The fund is primarily invested in international equities, and is benchmarked against the MSCI World, and will be managed by Malcolm Millar, manager of European Income unit trusts, and Ben Surtees, manager of Asian unit trusts and Asia Pacific Sicav funds.

Dreyfus Corporation, an affiliate of BNY Mellon Asset Management, has announced the launch of two funds of funds. The Dreyfus Satellite Alpha Fund will invest in mutual funds advised by Dreyfus, which will themselves invest in non-traditional asset classes such as commodities, currencies, and real estate. For its part, the Dreyfus Diversified Global Fund will invest in US and foreign equities mutual funds advised by Dreyfus.

Baring Asset Management has announced that it will participate in the ABC of Bonds roadshow in the United Kingdom along with Axa Investment Managers and Cazenove Capital Management to popularise investment in bond funds with IFAs. The shows will be held in fifteen cities in the country, including London, Cardiff and Edinburgh, from the 17th to the 27th of November. It will reach about 400 IFAs.

Georges Pauget, CEO of Crédit Agricole, announced on Wednesday that the bank would be withdrawing from tax havens in 2010, La Tribune reports. The bank will close its units in the Bahamas and Panama.

Following an injunction from the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Deutsche Bank has announced that it will reduce the exposure to corn, wheat, crude oil, and sugar of its PowerShares DB Commodity Index Trading Fund (USD3.3bn) and PowerShares Db Agriculture Fund (USD2.2bn), and that it will instead invest in coffee, cocoa, live cattle, copper, natural gas, and gasoline, the Wall Street Journal reports. In addition, the Commodity fund will invest for the first time in a non-US energy commodity: Brent crude oil. The CFTC ordered Deutsche Bank to reduce its positions on corn and wheat futures by the end of October.

The Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) has warned the European Commission about possible tax obstacles to cross-border fund mergers once the future Ucits IV directive is implemented, says Ignites Europe. Asset management companies may be deterred from using cross-border mergers.

Agefi Switzerland reports that a migration of Brevan Howard to the shores of Lake Geneva, where it has planned to move 250 of its staff, though its operational activities will remain in London, is anything but a surprise. 18 months ago, in an informal meeting with the FSA (Financial Services Authority), the directors of Brevan Howard put pressure on the British government with the announcement that they were studying a departure from the United Kingdom if their fears about a large increase in taxes were confirmed. For the moment, Brevan Howard has limited itself to a succinct and evasive statement: “The parent company of the Brevan Howard group regularly studies commercial opportunities, and is preparing to move into offices in several jurisdictions, including Switzerland.” Brevan already has offices in New York, Washington, Hong Kong, Dublin, and Tel Aviv.

Jubilee is making a change to its strategy, and has raised its minimal investment to GBP15,000 for its full range of structured products and for all vehicles to be launched in the future, Investment Week reports. The firm is seeking to orient itself to more upmarket clients, and has also suspended all promotional activities serving independent financial advisors (IFAs). The firm says the size of the average investment is already far above the GBP15,000 pound mark, and is set to rise in the future.

According to initial estimates, total assets at Man Group totalled USD43.8bn as of 30 September, compared with USD43.3bn at the end of June, and USD46.8bn as of 31 March. The alternative asset management firm puts its pre-tax profits for the first six months of its fiscal year, ending on 31 March, at USD280m, compared with USD622m for the corresponding period of last year. Gross subscriptions from retail investors in the first half of the current fiscal year totalled USD5bn, of which USD1.6bn were in July-September, while redemptions totalled USD2.7bn. As of 30 September, assets managed for retail investors totalled USD29.1bn, compared with USD27.3bn as of 30 June. Institutional investors withdrew a net total of USD1.7bn in July-September, compared with USD3.6bn in April-June. Quarterly redemptions booked for 1 October total USD0.7bn. As of the end of September, institutional assets are estimated at USD14.7bn, compared with USD16bn three months previously.

Société Générale Asset Management is launching SGAM Invest Inflation Duration Free, a product which, according to a statement from SGAM, offers investors “a simple and efficient means to profit, starting immediately, from an expected rise in inflation, without being penalised by the risk of a rise in general interest rate levels, which may follow in its wake.” The product is particularly well-suited to economic environments which have “inflationary” characteristics, related to strong growth in overall liquidity, a rising orientation in commodity prices, and increasing needs for financing. This type of environment is also likely to emerge at times when there is tension over interest rate levels. Inflation-indexes bonds may be subject to both the positive consequences of rising projections for inflation and the negative impact of rising interest rates. SGAM Invest Inflation Duration Free, a French-registered FCP, is primarily invested in inflation-indexed bonds issued by Euro-zone countries and denominated in Euros. Its benchmark index is the Barclays Capital Instep, specially created by Barclays for this fund. The SGAM Invest Inflation Duration Free also sets itself the goal of reducing the target sensitivity of the portfolio to zero, in order to protect itself against rising interest rates. To achieve this, the managers will use futures, options and swaps. The fund will be available for a minimal investment of EUR1,000 for AC class shares, and will also benefit from SGAM’s expertise in active management of exposure to observed and anticipated inflation, choice of investment supports (countries, type of indexation, swap or direct bond), and immunisation against sensitivity to movements in interest rates. The fund is, however, exposed to inflation indexation risks in case of deflation, as well as to interest rate risks and engagement risks, and does not guarantee that investors will recuperate their initial investment, SGAM warns.

Jonathan R. Levin, who joined Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) in 2004, and who has since been in charge of several strategic projects, has been appointed to the newly-created position of treasurer and head of investor relations. The appointment comes at a time when, on 1 October, the absorption by KKR of KKR Private Equity Investors (KPE), traded in Amsterdam, takes effect (see Newsmanagers of 21 July).

Bank of America (BoA) has announced the recruitment of Andrew M. Sieg, who is director of the emerging affluent clients segment at Citigroup, as managing director and head of retirement and philanthropic services at the global wealth and investment management (GWIM) division. He will be based in New York, and will report to Sallie Krawcheck, president of GWIM. The group that Sieg will direct provides custom retirement solutions as well as administration, accounting, custody, advising and processing services to businesses and organisations, their employees and members, in approximately 40,000 collective retirement savings plans.