Le gestionnaire néerlandais Delta Lloyd Asset Management a obtenu l’agrément de commercialisation en Allemagne du fonds luxembourgeois Delta Lloyd L European Participation Fund lancé le 1er avril. Il s’agit d’un fonds qui investit dans au maximum 35 petites et moyennes entreprises figurant dans les portefeuilles des fonds Delta Lloyd Europees Deelnemingen Fonds et Delta Deelnemingen Fonds, mais où la part des actions néerlandaises est plafonnée à 25 %. L’une des caractéristiques de ce produit consiste à prendre des participations d’au moins 5 % dans les entreprises du portefeuille.Caractéristiques Dénomination Delta Lloyd L European Participation Fund Code ISIN LU0408576568 Droit d’entrée 5 % Frais de gestion 1,25 % Commission de performance 10 % de la surperformance par rapport au REX 1

Georg Reul, membre du directoire, a annoncé que le groupe immobilier IVG compte packager de plus en plus fréquemment des immeubles qui lui appartiennent dans des fonds fermés destinés aux particuliers et qui seront structurés par sa division fonds d’investissement, mais avec des audits externes pour la transparence et pour éviter des conflits d’intérêt, rapporte la Börsen-Zeitung. Ce sera notamment le cas pour le fonds Euroselect 18 «German Cities» qui comprendra 5 immeubles de bureaux et deux parkings à Hambourg, Munich et Nuremberg. Les actifs représentent 92 millions d’euros, dont 55 millions seront des fonds propres et IVG promet aux souscripteurs une distribution préférentielle de 6 % par an avant impôt.

Samedi, American International Group (AIG) a annoncé la vente pour environ 500 millions de dollars d’une partie de son activité de conseil en investissement et de gestion d’actifs à Bridge Partners, une filiale de Pacific Century Group (PCG) de Hong-Kong. Sur ce montant, AIG percevra 300 millions de dollars en numéraire au moment du bouclage de la transaction.Les activités ainsi vendues se situent dans 32 pays et représentent des encours d’environ 88,7 milliards de dollars, soit 15,6 % du total, gérés tant pour le compte d’investisseurs institutionnels que pour des particuliers en utilisant diverses stratégies comme le private equity, les fonds de hedge funds, les actions cotées et l’obligataire. Win J Neuger restera CEO de l’ensemble et l'équipe de direction demeurera en place.AIG conserve ses activités de gestion en interne qui représente un encours d’environ 480 milliards de dollars et dont la responsable en tant que senior vice president et CIO reste Monika M. Machon.

Selon le Financial Times, Barclays Capital (CarCap) envisage de s’associer à des fonds souverains pour acquérir des actifs dans le domaine des ressources naturelles, ce qui signifie au passage que la banque britannique ouvrirait pour la première fois sa filiale à des investisseurs externes. Barclays a déjà investi 1 milliard de dollars dans cette filiale ces quatre dernières années et serait à un stade de négociations avancé pour obtenir un investissement de 400 millions de dollars du Natural Resource Fund de Corée du Sud. Barclays a l’intention de constituer un fonds de plusieurs milliards de dollars qui investirait en Amérique latine, en Afrique et en Asie des actifs d’une valeur de 50-100 millions de dollars avant de les revendre sous trois à cinq ans à d’autres groupes de ressources naturelles.

Roger Polani qui gère plus de 250 millions d'euros via ses fonds actions explique l'évolution de la gamme de la SPGP et revient, notamment, sur le succès de son fonds d'obligations convertibles. Sans exclure quelques a-coups à venir, il reconnait également que les marchés retrouvent désormais un comportement normal. Et compte en profiter...

Lloyds Banking Group veut réduire sa dépendance vis-à-vis du gouvernement britannique, précise l’Agefi. La banque cherche en effet à diminuer sa participation dans le plan gouvernemental de garantie des actifs (Asset Protection Scheme ou APS) qui lui coûterait 15,6 milliards de livres de commissions payables en actions pour faire assurer 260 milliards de livres de créances douteuses.

Selon L’Agefi suisse, USS (Universities Superannuation Scheme), le principal fonds de pension des retraites universitaires et académiques au Royaume-Uni et deuxième fonds de pension britannique, confie l’administration de ses hedge funds au groupe bancaire helvétique. Sur un portefeuille de 23 milliards de livres, 20 à 25% sont destinés à des investissements alternatifs, dont une moitié aux hedge funds. USS sélectionnera vingt-cinq gérants dans les deux ans à venir, dotés chacun de 50 millions de livres.

Rathbones lance un nouveau service dédié à destination des conseillers en gestion de patrimoine qui souhaitent externaliser tout ou partie de la gestion des actifs de leurs clientèle. Ce service sera disponible pour les groupes de clients disposant de 25.000 livres ou plus à investir. Les conseillers auront ainsi accès à deux nouveaux fonds de fonds multi classe d’actifs. Ces véhicules incluent un portefeuille strategic growth multi classe d’actifs visant l’inflation plus 5% et un portefeuille total return visant le taux du marché monétaire plus 2%.Rathbones, qui va présenter sa nouvelle offre courant septembre, gère actuellement quelque 10 milliards de livres par le biais de sa gestion discrétionnaire pour le compte de 150 gérants.

Confrontée à la fin du secret bancaire, la gestion de fortune suisse doit se réinventer, selon Le Temps. Les banques suisses devront gérer les avoirs de leurs clients de façon plus dynamique, notamment pour concurrencer les établissements britanniques. Cela les contraindra à abaisser les frais de transactions facturés aux clients, traditionnellement hauts en comparaison internationale. Elles devront enfin viser une clientèle moins élitaire.

La filiale de la banque privée helvétique Bank of China (Suisse) SA, BOC (Suisse) Fund Management SA vient d’obtenir le feu vert de la Finma (Autorité fédérale de surveillance des marchés) pour le lancement de 24 classes de son fonds BOCS Fund , dont une partie sera libellée en renminbi chinois.Cette gamme complète de fonds de droit suisse est dotée de 12 compartiments avec 24 classes, dont la moitié est investie en actions et l’autre partie en obligations. Chacun des douze compartiments est proposé en deux classes de devises différentes, la principale innovation étant que la plupart d’entre eux offre une classe libellée en renminbi chinois, une première mondiale, souligne un communiqué de la société.Les investisseurs chinois pourront ainsi investir dans les marchés financiers internationaux sans s’exposer au risque de change et les investisseurs internationaux pourront bâtir à travers des produits d’investissements régulés en Suisse, leur exposition stratégique à la devise chinoise et aux marchés chinois. Autre innovation majeure, relève le communiqué, BOCS Fund apporte au Groupe Bank of China une expertise et des produits dans une approche de gestion Total Return, complétant ainsi l’offre du Groupe dans les trackers et les produits benchmarkés.La gamme de fonds BOCS Fund applique à d’autres marchés et classes d’actifs la philosophie Total Return et le processus de gestion d’investissement qui caractérise le fonds existant en actions chinoises Total Return de droit suisse lancé en 2006. Celui-ci affiche une performance de 46.6% du 1er Janvier 2009 au 31 août 2009, ce qui le classe parmi les meilleurs fonds actions chinois. Le Groupe Bank of China est aujourd’hui l’un des plus importants gestionnaires institutionnels sur le marché financier chinois et l’un des rares groupes chinois à offrir ses services de gestion à l’extérieur de la Chine. C’est aussi l’un des principaux acteurs pour les trackers et pour la gestion de produits benchmarkés sur les marchés chinois.

Oppenheimer Funds a annoncé le 2 septembre l’arrivée de William Carey en tant que responsable de la distribution et de Martha Willis au poste de Chief Marketing Officer. Le premier prendre ses fonctions le 21 septembre prochain, la seconde le 1er octobre.La société veut ainsi élaborer sa stratégie de distribution et poursuivre l’amélioration de la circulation de l’information au sein de la firme ainsi que la restructuration des fonctions de distribution et de marketing dans différentes lignes de métier. William Carey travaillait précédemment à Bank of America et Martha Willis chez Fidelity.

La semaine dernière, Warren Buffett, via son fonds Berkshire Hathaway, a cédé 794.388 actions Moody’s selon les déclarations faites à la SEC, précise l’Agefi. En juillet déjà, le fonds avait réduit sa participation. Pour Jeff Matthews, auteur d’un livre sur le milliardaire, qui s’exprimait à Bloomberg en fin de semaine dernière, il n’y a désormais plus de doutes : « Il a perçu un changement dans les perspectives de l’activité ».

In August, investment funds sold in Italy attracted EUR2.83bn in investments, compared with EUR2.07bn in July, which has reduced net redemptions since the beginning of the year to EUR9.48bn, according to statistics from Assogestioni. Assets are up 1.25%, to EUR418.08bn as of the end of August, compared with EUR412.9bn one year previously, while market effects accounted for EUR3.11bn arithmetically, and represented one and a half times total subscriptions. Aside from hedge funds, which underwent net outflows of EUR127m, all the major categories of funds saw inflows in August. However, since the beginning of the year, only equities and money market funds have posted net subscriptions, totalling EUR1.22bn and EUR1.93bn, respectively. Overall, Italian-registered funds posted net outflows of EUR1.46bn in August, and net outflows of EUR11.4bn in the first eight months of the year, while foreign-registered funds saw inflows of EUR1.37bn last month, and EUR1.92bn since the beginning of the year.

At a meeting of G20 finance ministers this Saturday in London, the ministers did not go so far as to back all the proposals being touted by France, L’Agefi reports. However, a consensus began to take form over regulations of the banking sector. The Council’s report on financial stability will present proposals to the G20 on policy related to banking sector bonuses, the newspaper states. The United States would like to see increased owners’ equity requirements for financial establishments.

Despite the complexity of the issues related to the markets, the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has concluded that regulation could play a role in some areas on securitisation and CDS markets, in order to contribute to a return of investor confidence in these markets. The recommendations of the IOSCO working group on unregulated products and financial markets encourages initiatives on the part of the industry to improve the functioning of the securitisation and CDS markets but admits that these initiatives would be limited. The IOCV points out in a statement that neither the industry’s own initiatives nor the discipline of the market prevented the malfunctions on these markets which served to exacerbate the financial crisis. “As a result, these initiatives will need to be completed and supported, if necessary, by regulation.”

OppenheimerFunds on 2 September announced the arrival of William Carey as head of distribution and Martha Willis as Chief Marketing Officer. Carey will begin in his new job on 21 September, while Willis will start on 1 October. The firm is also planning to develop its distribution strategy and continue to improve the circulation of information within the firm, and to restructure its distribution and marketing activities for the various professions. Carey previously worked at Bank of America, while Willis was at Fidelity.

Ten of the largest pension funds in the Netherlands have sent a letter to the European commissioner of internal markets, Charlie McCreevy, calling on him to modify the proposed directive on alternative management, efinancialnews reports. “In its current form, the global impact of the project will lead to a reduction in investment opportunities, increased costs, and reduced returns,” say APG, PGGM, Shell Asset Management Company, Mn Services, and two professional associations in the Netherlands, adding that if the proposed regulations should be revised, they would like for their point of view to be taken into account. Under the draft regulations in their current form, the letter from the pension funds claims, it would be impossible for European pension funds to invest in hedge funds, private equity funds, or other alternative funds managed by non-European firms. “Initial indications already show that many non-European alternative managers will simply stop distributing their funds to European investors.” According to the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), cited by the Dutch pension funds, the cost of the directive for pension schemes would total GBP25-35bn.

TheNetherlands-based asset management firm Delta Lloyd Asset Management hasobtained permission to release the Luxembourg-registered fund DeltaLloyd L European Participation fund, launched on 1 April, in Germany.The fund invests in up to 35 small and mid-sized businesses whichappear in the portfolios of the Delta Lloyd Europees DeelnemingenFonds and Delta Deelnemingen Fonds, with the proportion ofNetherlands shares limited to 25%. One of the characteristics of theproduct is that it takes stakes of at least 5% in the businesses inthe portfolio.CharacteristicsNameDelta Lloyd L European Participation FundISIN codeLU0408576568Front-end fee5.00%Management fee1.25%Performance commission10% of performance exceeding the REX 1 index

J.P. Morgan Asset Management at the beginning of the month closed five target date funds with horizons up to 2035, as their respective assets totalled between EUR6m and EUR7m, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reoprts. DWS (Deutsche Bank) will close its three “Zukunftsfonds” on 27 November; in total, these funds had less than EUR10m under management. Marc Lederer, an investment advisor at Hesse + Partner, says the phenomenon is a result of the fact that Germans are rushing to buy products which benefit from government assistance, but target-date funds are not subsidized. Werner Hedrich (Morningstar) claims that the largest problem for target-date funds is distribution, as advisors at banks have nothing to gain from promoting these products: they earn a commission, and then the client, who does not need any other products, generates no further commissions. Thomas Wiesemann, CEO of Allianz Global Investors (AGI), says that there are no plans to close target-date funds, although the largest of these funds at the management firm has only EUR7m in assets. The same is true at Deka (savings banks), where Steffen Selbach points out that low volumes are not a problem, as these funds are coupled to other products. Fidelity, which imported the concept of the target-date fund to Germany, is the largest promoter of these funds, with assets of EUR50m or more.

An affiliate of the Swiss private bank Bank of Cina (Suisse) SA, BOC (Suisse) Fund Management SA, has obtained permission from the Swiss market supervisory authority FINMA (Autorité fédérale de surveillance des marchés) to launch 24 classes of shares in its BOCS Fund, some of which will be denominated in Chinese renminbi. This complete range of Swiss-registered funds includes 12 sub-funds with 24 classes of shares, half of which are invested in equities and the other half in bonds. Each of the 12 sub-funds is available in two difference currencies, with the major innovation being that most of them offer a class of shares denominated in Chinese renminbi, the first time in the world that such a product has been offered, a statement from the firm points out. Chinese investors will be able to invest in international financial markets without exposing themselves to currency risks, and international investors will be able to subscribe to regulated investment products registered in Switzerland providing strategic exposure to the Chinese currency and to Chinese markets. Another major innovation, according to the statement, is that the BOCS Fund brings the Bank of China group expertise and products in total return styles of management, which come as additions to the group’s range of tracker and benchmarked products.

Jupiter Asset Management has appointed David Conway to the newly-created position of Sales Director, Asia Pacific. He joins Jupiter in October from Royal Skandia, where he worked in a number of roles over several years in Asia. In his new position at Jupiter, David will principally be responsible for developing Jupiter’s business with private banks, life companies and key wealth management institutions in Singapore and Hong Kong, as well as building on the relationships already established in Asia.

L’Agefi reports that a source familiar with the matter revealed to Reuters on Saturday, 5 September, that Chinatrust Financial, the largest issuer of credit cards in Taiwan, has offered USD2.4bn for Taiwan Nan Shan Life, an affiliate of AIG, outstripping rival bids including one from Primus Financial.

Charles “Chuck” Valdes, a longtime board member at CalPERS (USD194bn), is under investigation for taking campaign contributions from executives at a placement agent that works for CalPERS, says Pensions & Investments reports.

The Financial Times reports that Barclays Capital (BarCap) plans to team up with sovereign wealth funds to buy natural resources assets, which means that the bank would be opening its natural resource investment unit to outside investors for the first time.Over the last four years, Barclays has been investing USD1bn in this unit and is in advanced talks to get a USD400m investment from south Korea’s Natural Resource Fund. Barclays aims to build a multibillion dollar fund that would buy assets in Latin America, Africa and Asia valued at USD50-$100m before reselling them to other natural resource groups in three to five years.

On Saturday, American International Group (AIG) announced that it has sold a part of its investment advisory and asset management business for about USD500m to Bridge Partners, an affiliate of Pacific Century Group (PCG) of Hong Kong. Of this sale price, AIG will receive USD300m in cash at the conclusion of the transaction. The activities being sold are located in 32 countries and represent assets of about USD88.7bn, or 15.6% of the total, managed for both institutional and retail investors, using a variety of strategies including private equity, funds of hedge funds, publicly traded equities, and bonds. Win J Neuger will remain CEO of the firm, and the management team will remain in place. AIG will retain its in-house investment operation, which represents assets of about USD480bn, under the direction of senior vice president and CIO Monika M. Machon.

Nomura Fixed Income Securities Private Ltd announced on 4 September that it has been granted a license as a Primary Dealer by the Reserve Bank of India. The license will allow Nomura to significantly enlarge its presence on the Indian market.

Rathbones is launching a new dedicated service for independent wealth management advisors who wish to outsource all or part of their clients’ asset management. The service will be available to groups of clients with GBP25,000 or more to invest. Advisors will have access to two new multi-asset class funds of funds. These vehicles include a multi-asset class strategic growth portfolio which aims to return inflation plus 5%, and a total return portfolio which aims to return the money market rate plus 2%. Rathbones, which will unveil its new product line in September, currently manages about GBP10bn in discretionary management for 150 managers.

Lloyds Banking Group strives to regain some independence from the British governement, according to Agefi. Actually, the bank is trying to reduce its participation in the Asset Protection Scheme (APS) which would cost it some GBP15.6bn in fees under the form of shares, in order to insure GBP260bn of non performing loans.

In the current recession, many banks are putting the emphasis on in-house funds, in an attempt to keep all possible earnings from selling funds in-house, the Financial Times reports. This is leading asset management firms without a distribution network to revise their policies. Investec Asset Management has decided to concentrate its sales efforts on fund of fund managers and banks which are looking for sub-advisors in asset classes in which they cannot hope to earn top returns. Banks are now expecting their partners to provide not only long-term performance, but also the ability to explain all the characteristics of the product to potential clients, particularly in terms of risk and volatility. Paradoxically, this approach may work to the advantage of managers with an institutional mindset, rather than specialists in retail products.

A survey of institutional investors by AR Magazine has found that Bridgewater Associates (USD37bn in assets) is perceived as the best large hedge fund manager (of the “billion dollar club”) on the basis of six criteria: performance, infrastructure, “alignment of interests,” independent surveillance, liquidity, and transparency. The next four asset management firms in the rankings are Tudor Investment, Paulson & Company (USD27.2bn), Highbridge Capital Management and Davidson Kempner Advisors.