Aviva Investors a recruté John Wood, qui rejoindra la société le 1er octobre, pour gérer le fonds Aviva Investors UK Growth Fund et contribuer au développement de l’activité institutionnelle en actions britanniques. L’intéressé vient d’Artemis Asset Management, où il était gérant de fonds senior couvrant le Royaume-Uni et l’Europe. Avant, il était directeur des actions UK chez Deutsche Asset Management.
Le Groupe Banque cantonale vaudoise (BCV) a annoncé pour le premier semestre 2009 un bénéfice brut à 228 millions de francs suisses, en hausse de 37 % par rapport à la même période en 2008. En dépit de la crise financière et économique, le volumes d’affaires s’est affiché en forte hausse. Les revenus du Groupe BCV ont progressé de 14 % à 479 millions de francs par rapport au premier semestre de l’an passé. De leur côté, les actifs sous gestion ont progressé de 4,6 milliards à 71,4 milliards de francs.Enfin, pour le second semestre, le groupe s’attend à des résultats semblables.
Raiffeisen peut se targuer à nouveau d’un excellent semestre, rapporte le quotidien Le Temps. Le troisième groupe bancaire helvétique a enregistré un bénéfice en augmentation de 11 %. L'établissement affiche une hausse des prêts à la clientèle de 4,3 % à 113,3 milliards de francs suisse. Ces bons chiffres résultent des créances hypothécaires en hausse de 4,4 % à 105,85 milliards de francs. Par ailleurs, précise le quotidien, les fonds de la clientèle en Suisse augmentent de 3,5 % à 107,7 milliards. L’afflux d’argent frais se chiffre à 3,6 milliards de francs au premier semestre. Pour faire face à cette croissance, les effectifs de l’établissement ont été étoffés de 466 emplois. Beaucoup des nouveaux employés recrutés proviennent des grandes banques, notamment UBS. Pour la seconde moitié de l’année, en l’absence d’importants changements en matière de taux d’intérêt, l’établissement s’attend dans le domaine des prêts hypothécaires à des investissements élevés. Et en se refinançant principalement grâce aux dépôts des clients à hauteur de 95 %, Raffeisen affiche une moindre dépendance vis-à-vis des marchés des capitaux.
Dans un entretien à Il Sole – 24 Ore, Alexander Classen,directeur général de la division global wealth management de Morgan Stanley pour l’Europe, le Moyen-Orient et l’Afrique du Sud, affirme que l’établissement veut croître en Europe via des acquisitions dans le domaine de la banque privée. «Nous voulons aussi faire des acquisitions si nous trouvons des opportunités à un bon prix et s’inscrivant dans le cadre de notre métier», indique Alexander Classen, qui précise ne pas regarder des dossiers en deçà de 2 milliards d’euros d’encours.
Sur les six premiers mois de l’année, le Fonds de réserve pour les retraites (FRR) dégagé une performance nette de +3,3 %. «Cette performance résulte pour l’essentiel du fort rebond des marchés actions depuis la deuxième quinzaine du mois de mars», commente le FRR. De fait, au premier trimestre, le fonds perd 6,5 %, tandis qu’il gagne 10,5 % entre avril et juin. Cela «a permis de renouer avec une performance annualisée légèrement positive», ajoute le fonds. La performance annualisée du FRR, nette de tous frais de fonctionnement financiers et administratifs, depuis son démarrage opérationnel (juin 2004) est de + 0,9 %. Compte tenu de ces évolutions, le montant des actifs du FRR au 30 juin s’élevait à28,8 milliards d’euros, en légère hausse par rapport aux 27,7 milliards au 31 décembre 2008. Ils se répartissent au 30 juin 2009, entre 48 % d’actifs de performance (actions, immobilier et matières premières) et 52% d’actifs obligataires et d’actifs monétaires en attente d’investissement, précise le FRR.
Selon le journal Les Echos qui cite les propos jeudi du ministre allemand des Finances devant une commission d’enquête parlementaire, une faillite de la banque Hypo Real Estate aurait eu «des conséquences bien au-delà de la République fédérale allemande».L’effondrement brutal de la banque de Munich à l’automne dernier a conduit les autorités à verser depuis 102 milliards d’euros de garanties essentiellement publiques, puis à nationaliser l'établissement en juin .
«A fin juin 2009, la performance annualisée du Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites (FRR), nette de tous frais de fonctionnement financiers et administratifs, depuis son démarrage opérationnel en juin 2004, ressortirait à 0,9%, indique la Tribune. Sur l’année 2009, sa performance nette a été de 3,3% avec une hausse de 10,5% au second trimestre.
Jupiter Asset Management annonce avoir amélioré la transparence fiscale de plusieurs «unit trusts» en Autriche et en Allemagne, afin de répondre à la demande de ses clients.En Allemagne, la société de gestion britannique va ainsi rendre totalement transparents d’un point de vue fiscal trois unit trusts - Jupiter European, Jupiter European Special Situations et Jupiter UK Special Situations – à partir du 1er septembre. Cela inclut par exemple le calcul quotidien des plus-values. En Autriche, sept unit trusts vont passer en statut «semi-transparent», avec effet immédiat : Jupiter Emerging European Opportunities, Jupiter European, Jupiter European Special Situations, Jupiter Financial Opportunities, Jupiter Japan Income, Jupiter North American Income et Jupiter UK Special Situations.
Carlyle est en négociations avancées pour lever en Chine un fonds libellé en yuans de plusieurs milliards de yuans, selon le Wall Street Journal, qui cite des personnes proches du dossier. Ce serait son deuxième fonds chinois. KKR envisage aussi activement de créer un fonds en yuans.
Citywire reports that BlackRock has made some changes to its line-up of managers for several funds of the BGF range. The most notable change is that Bob Doll, CIO for global equities, will now hand over control of the BGF US Growth Fund (EUR100m) to a two-man team composed of Jeff Lindsay and Ed Dowd. He will nonetheless continue to manage his other funds, Citywire reports.
Invesco is releasing a new “American-style” fund in France, called Euro Liquidity Portfolio. The fund, launched in June 2006, is aimed at corporate treasurers and investors, and allows them to invest short-term liquidities. The portfolio, totalling EUR719m, is composed of two parts. One of them, which represents up to 30% of the portfolio, aims to provide continual liquidity, regardless of market conditions. To achieve this, it is composed of securities with maturity dates of 1 to 3 days. The second part is invested in top-quality securities, with residual time until maturity of up to 397 days. These are retained until they mature. In practice, the average time to maturity for the entire portfolio taken together is about 35 days. Securities in the portfolio come from 40 issuers. The fund carries the highest possible credit rating, AAA. Its performance between 31 July 2008 and 31 July 2009 was 2.62%, compared 2.13% for the Eonia, its benchmark index.
The Wall Street Journal and Financial News report that China is replacing London as the preferred place of domicile for managers specialised in Asia, and that it is replacing Japan as home to Asian hedge funds. Hedge Fund Research finds that 24% of hedge funds specialised in Asia are now based in China, an increase of more than 5% compared with last year.
«The global recession has come to an end», says Joost van Leenders, investment specialist, investment strategy at Fortis Investments in a flash dated 18 August. «However, although economic growth could make a return in the coming quarters, it is likely to be mostly due to temporary factors such as inventory rebuilding and government stimulus spending», he adds. «We remain concerned about the strength and sustainability of the recovery over the longer term».In this context, Joost van Leenders says he is the «most positive» on emerging markets given their strong fundamentals and the increased dynamics within and between these countries. «But again it is important to bear in mind that the strong growth rates we are seeing at the moment are from depressed levels», he warns. «Our concerns about the longer term have not prevented us from taking more risk in our model portfolio. We have increased our overweight in emerging market equities and built a long position in high yield bonds. We are also overweight commodities, investment-grade credit and emerging market debt denominated in local currencies. We are underweight defensive assets such as US equities and nominal and inflation-linked government bonds», says the investment specialist.
In the United Kingdom, inflows to retail funds reached record levels in second quarter 2009, thanks both to low interest rates for savings deposits and to a rally on the equities markets, Lipper FMI finds in its most recent UK Fund Flash. The most remarkable characteristic of the period under review is that interest in equities funds has returned: GBP3bn were invested in this asset class, of which GBP2.5bn came from retail investors. In terms of net inflows, the winning asset management firms in the quarter were M&G, with GBP1.4bn, and Invesco Perpetual, with GBP1.09bn. The Australian firm First State is in third place, with GBP603.6m, ahead of BlackRock (GBP515.7m), Jupiter (GBP499.9m), Neptune (GBP479.7m), BNY Mellon (GBP456.4m), Threadneedle (GBP381.9m), Scottish Widows (GBP343.6m) and HSBC (GBP302.6m).
Despite considerable financial difficulties, La Tribune reports that Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) is calling off plans to close 164 branches of its affiliate Cheltenham and Gloucester.
Credit Suisse Asset Management has launched the Credit Suisse SICAV One (Lux) Equity Middle East & North Africa, a Luxembourg-registered equities fund investing in the Middle East and North Africa. The new product will be managed by Farid Samji, who has 5 years of experience in the management of MENA funds in the Middle East. “The investment strategy is based on active management which relies on top-down as well as bottom-up analysis,” says CSAM, adding that the bechmark index is the MSCI Arabia ex Saudi Arabia (Domestic).
Fidelity Investments has announced at a presentation in Boston that its funds posted net subscriptions of USD44.2bn in first half, the Wall Street Journal reports. Assets under management have increased by 9% to USD1.360trn.
The Australian Macquarie group announced on Wednesday that it has acquired Delaware Investments, the asset management firm of the American Lincoln Financial Group, for USD428m. The operation in the United States will allow the Australian group to increase its assets from USD125bn to more than USD300bn. The move is a part of Macquarie’s strategy to develop its asset management activities. Delaware, which has 580 employees, provides investment services to retail and institutional investors. It will continue to be headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and its team of investment professionals will continue to serve clients as before, a press statement explains. But now, these professionals will also offer Macquarie investment strategies. Macquarie clients will also have access to Delaware products.
A hedge fund, whose name is not known, has bet millions of dollars that the price of natural gas will triple by winter, at a time when prices are at 7-year lows, the Financial Times reports. The fund spent millions for the right to buy US natural gas at USD10 per mBtu in January and February, compared with a price of USD3 on Wednesday this week.
Les Echos reports that UBS, which has faced a series of legal actions over a tax evasion scandal, signed a definitive out-of-court settlement with the US authorities on Wednesday, 19 August. The agreement states that the names of 4,450 account-holders at UBS will be handed over to the US tax authorities. The agreement between Switzerland and the United States also provides for “further requests for administrative cooperation relating to approximately 4,450 accounts,” less than the 52,000 accounts initially claimed by the United States authorities, a press statement from the Swiss government points out.
An agreement with the US tax authorities has been announced, which will free UBS from having to pay another fine, Le Temps reports. Swiss legal procedure has also been respected, and taxpayers’ right to hearing in a court of law has been maintained. Ultimately, the names of about 4,450 account-holders will be disclosed to the United States, though the IRS, the US tax authority, was seeking 52,000 names. It will certainly get 4,500, and may get as many as 10,000 names, the newspaper reports. According to the IRS, total assets held in Swiss bank accounts by the 4,450 people whose names will be handed over to the tax authorities may at some times have totalled “over USD18bn.” The IRS says it is pleased that “the Swiss government has undertaken to examine and handle other demands for information about account-holders at other banks,” in cases “equivalent” to those at UBS. The Swiss confederation, for its part, has decided to sell its CHF6bn stake in UBS. The convertible bonds held by the Swiss federal government will be converted into equities, probably on 25 August, and then sold to institutional investors, UBS says. A further issue of 332 million new shares (for a total value of CHF5.56bn currently) will also be held.
Fitch Ratings has awarded an asset manager rating of M1 to Alcentra for its European asset management activities, replacing the rating of CAM1 for CDOs. The new rating follows changes to the agency’s methodology for rating credit managers.
The Chinese real estate group SOHO China has announced that it has concluded its acquisition of an office building in Shanghai from the bank Morgan Stanley for CNY2.45bn (USD358.7m), Les Echos reports. Soho China states that, with approximately 30% of the property leased, it is planning to restructure. Due to the crisis, vacancy rates in Shanghai office properties has reached record levels.
China Trust, the largest issuer of credit cards in Taiwan, may reportedly pull out of its acquisition of Nan Shan Life, an affiliate of AIG, La Tribune reports.
Les Echos reports that the European investment bank is threatening sanctions against Austrian banks if the Parliament does not pass a law by March 2010 repealing banking seecrecy.
The optimism of investors worldwide about the global economy reached its highest level in six years in August, according to the most recent survey of portfolio managers undertaken by Merrill Lynch. 75% of those surveyed think the global economy will get stronger in the next 12 months, which represents the highest level since November 2003, and an increase from the 63% seen in July. 70% of respondents predict that profits will increase at businesses in the next year, compared with 51% last month. This regain of optimism may also be observed in asset allocations. Exposure to equities increased strongly in one month, as 34% of managers surveyed are overweight in this asset class, compared with 7% in July, while the proportion of cash has fallen from 4.7% to 3.5%. The Risk and Liquidity indicator from Merrill Lynch has also increased to 41, its highest level in two years. The survey covered 204 managers representing assets of USD554bn.
L’australien Macquarie Group a annoncé mercredi l’acquisition de Delaware Investments, la société de gestion d’actifs de l’américain Lincoln Financial Group, pour 428 millions de dollars. Cette opération aux Etats-Unis permet au groupe australien d'étoffer ses encours de 125 milliards de dollars US, pour les porter à plus de 300 milliards de dollars. Elle s’inscrit dans le cadre de la stratégie de Macquarie de développer son activité de gestion d’actifs. Delaware, qui emploie 580 personnes, fournit des services d’investissement à des investisseurs particuliers et institutionnels. Son siège restera à Philadelphie et son équipe de professionnels de l’investissement continuera à servir ses clients comme avant, précise le communiqué de presse. Mais désormais, ces derniers se verront aussi offrir les stratégies d’investissement de Macquarie. L’inverse sera aussi possible pour les clients de Macquarie.