Ils ont augmenté en moyenne de 4,4% au cours de 2013. La poursuite de la hausse dépendra notamment des anticipations sur les taux des prêts

Thierry Brevet, directeur du fonds de dotation du Louvre à Option Finance : Au 28 novembre, le portefeuille du fonds comprend un peu moins de 35 % d’obligations, près de 50 % d’actions, et environ 15 % de cash. Nous détenons aujourd’hui beaucoup de liquidités pour nous prémunir contre une remontée probable des taux d’intérêt à long terme, même si le timing et l’ampleur de cette remontée font l’objet de nombreuses discussions. Nous réfléchissons actuellement à augmenter l’exposition en actions au-delà de 50 % en réallouant une partie de nos liquidités. Nous réfléchissons également à investir dans des classes d’actifs peu liquides, absentes de notre allocation de référence, telles que les loans (corporate et immobilier) ou l’immobilier non coté, à travers des véhicules de placements collectifs. Nous avons renoncé, pour le moment, à investir dans des hedge funds, pour des raisons d’image et réglementaires. Cette catégorie de placements reste encore mal perçue par nombre d’observateurs et le code de la sécurité sociale, qui réglemente nos placements, ne nous permettait pas d’investir dans les fonds les plus attractifs qui, très souvent, ne bénéficient pas du passeport européen. La transposition de la directive AIFM devrait toutefois améliorer l’offre de fonds alternatifs accessibles à des investisseurs comme nous. Nous nous sommes également interrogés sur l’opportunité d’investir dans le private equity, à l’instar des fondations américaines. Mais nous pensons que la taille encore modeste du Fonds de dotation ne lui permettrait pas d’accéder aux meilleurs gérants à un coût raisonnable. Nous serons certainement conduits à revoir cette position dans quelques années.

Fidelity Investments a indiqué qu'à partir du premier janvier 2014, Ramona Persaud sera responsable de la gestion des deux fonds Fidelity Dividend Growth Fund et Fidelity Advisor Dividend Growth Fund, qui pèsent au total près de 10 milliards de dollars. L’actuel gérant, Lawrence Rakers, qui pilotait les deux fonds depuis 2008, prendra de nouvelles fonctions au sein de la division allocation d’actifs de Fidelity, a précisé Nicole Goodnow, porte parole de la société de gestion américaine, selon Investment News.

Clean Capital a clôturé son fonds fermé CC Solar 7, selon fondsprofessionell. Lancé à l’automne 2012, la période de souscriptions avait été prolongée jusqu'à la fin de cette année, précise le site. L’encours du fonds, investi dans deux projets de parcs photovoltaïques situés en Allemagne, s'élève à plus de 3 millions d’euros. Clean Capital a indiqué travailler à l'élaboration d’un nouveau fonds construit sur le même principe que son prédécesseur, qui sera conforme à la directive AIFM.

Erste Asset Management vient de lancer le fonds Erste Responsible Bond Emerging Corporate (*), investi en obligations d’entreprises issues de pays émergents. Ces entreprises sont sélectionnées selon des critères de durabilité, précise fondscheck.de. L’indice de référence définissant l’univers d’investissement est le Corporate EMBI (CEMBI) de J.P. Morgan L'équipe de gestion exclut les obligations notées en dessous de B-, ajoute le site.(*) ISIN AT0000A13EF9

Deux ans après avoir mis sur les rails leur rapprochement, les foncières Icade et Silic ont annoncé vendredi 27 décembre leur fusion effective le 31 décembre 2013. L’opération va donner naissance à la foncière du Grand Paris, indique un communiqué commun. Concrètement, les assemblées générales des actionnaires ont approuvé la fusion-absorption de Silic par Icade, sur la base d’une parité d’échange de 5 actions Icade pour 4 actions Silic. En taille, la nouvelle entité deviendra le premier propriétaire de bureaux et de parcs tertiaires en Europe. La combinaison des équipes ainsi que la complémentarité des emprises géographiques des deux sociétés permettront d’exploiter dans les meilleures conditions un potentiel de développement unique de 2 millions de mètres carrés sur cinq pôles de croissance du Grand Paris : Paris–Saint-Denis–Aubervilliers, Paris–Orly, Paris–La Défense–Nanterre, Paris–Villejuif et Paris–Roissy.À la date de réalisation de la fusion, Icade procédera, en application de la parité d’échange, à une augmentation de son capital d’un montant nominal de 2.212.786,34 euros pour le porter de 110.456.512,52 euros à 112.669.298,86 euros, par la création de 1.451.687 actions nouvelles attribuées aux actionnaires de Silic (à l’exception d’Icade et de Silic s’agissant des actions auto-détenues).Les nouvelles actions Icade seront admises aux négociations sur le compartiment A d’Euronext Paris sous le code ISIN FR0000035081.À la date de réalisation de la fusion, Icade sera substituée à Silic dans ses obligations envers (i) les titulaires d’options de souscription d’actions Silic, (ii) les attributaires d’actions gratuites Silic à acquérir et (iii) les porteurs d’obligations Silic à option de remboursement en numéraire et/ou en actions nouvelles et/ou existantes (ORNANEs). Les ORNANEs Silic demeureront admises aux négociations sur Euronext Paris et celles détenues par Icade seront annulées.En 2012, Icade a réalisé un chiffre d’affaires consolidé de 1 499,3 millions d’euros et un cash-flow net courant de 251,4 millions d’euros. Au 30 juin 2013, l’actif net réévalué triple net EPRA atteint 4 079,5 millions d’euros. Pour sa part, Silic est propriétaire d’un patrimoine de plus de 1 224 000 m² de bureaux et d’immeubles mixtes en Ile de France.

Optiver, l’une des plus importantes sociétés de trading à haute fréquence dans le monde, vient de nommer son responsable des opérations en Asie-Pacifique au poste de chief executive officer au niveau mondial, rapporte Financial News.

The Danish asset management firm Jyske Invest has announced the launch of a low-volatility global equity fund, the website fondscheck.de reports. Jyske Invest Equities Low Volatility (ISIN DK0060512358) is managed by Brian Kirk. The manager selects 80 to 120 companies which have good fundamentals. The value strategy of the fund is strengthened by additional selection criteria related to momentum, the website states.

In 2013, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index showed its most spectacular rise of the past four years. In the past 12 months, it has gained nearly 56%, Le Temps indicates. Most of this growth is reported to have been driven by foreign investment. After mistrusting the Tokyo stock exchange for years, at the end of 2012, they bet on a rapid depreciation of the yen and a mathematical improvement in the results from the major Japanese groups.

In an interview with the Greek weekly Realnews, cited by Agefi, the Greek finance minister has announced that he is preparing a return to the markets for the country in the second half of 2014. Yannis Stournaras has stated, however, that it would be possible on the condition that Greece run a primary budgetary surplus and return to growth next year.

Les hedge funds japonais devraient terminer l’année avec des performances record, selon Bloomberg. Les gérants parient en effet que les réformes engagées par le premier ministre japonais Shinzo Abe réussissent à remettre l’Archipel sur le chemin de la croissance.Le fonds warrants de Stratton Street Capital LLP a enregistré une performance de plus de 300 % en 2013, Hayate Japan Equity Long-Short Fund a presque doublé ses gains l’an dernier. L’indice Eurekahedge Japan Hedge Fund, qui suit la performance de 80 fonds, a enregistré des gains de 24 % entre janvier et novembre, ce qui devrait être le meilleur résultat annuel depuis le début des mesures en 2000, note Bloomberg. En 2012, l’indice avait été en bas de tableau, avec une performance de 6 %. Les fonds spécialisés sur le Japon ont vu leurs encours bondir de 451 millions de dollars au cours du second semestre 2013.

La banque Lombard Odier va participer au programme américain visant à solder le litige fiscal avec la Suisse, selon Romandie.com. La banque se rangera dans la catégorie 2, a-t-elle annoncé vendredi. La banque privée se réserve toutefois l’option de rejoindre la catégorie 3. Lombard Odier précise que «la clientèle privée américaine n’a jamais été un marché cible» et que l'établissement «applique depuis de nombreuses années une politique stricte à son égard». La catégorie 2 rassemble les banques qui ont de bonnes raisons de croire qu’elles ont violé le droit fiscal américain, alors que la catégorie 3 englobe les banques qui estiment ne pas avoir violé le droit fiscal américain.

Alma Capital is continuing its expansion. Two new sub-funds, Alma Hotchkiss & Wiley US High Yield Opportunities Fund and Alma DoubleLine Emerging Markets Debt Fund were licensed by the CSSF, and will be created as soon as a sufficient amount of seed capital (USD50m) has been gathered. Hotchkiss & Wiley has USd24bn in assets under management in Los Angeles; it is a value style asset management firm, which will soft close a US fund with 125 positions when it draws near USd2bn, though it currently stands at USD1.5bn. The sub-funds come in addition to three sub-funds which had already been launched, which are licensed for sale in France by the AMF, including the Alma DoubleLine US Small Cap Gorwth Equity Fund lauched two months ago, with USD7m. Its assets now total USD8m in 60 positions. A new sub-fund, the Alma Eikoh Japan Large Cap Equity Fund, managed by the Anglo-Japanese firm Eikoh, is also in the process of being licensed by the CSSF. Overall, assets in the ACIF Sicav from the French firm Alma Capital now total USD109.1m.

Shanghai Securities News reports that the Chinese banking regulatory commission (CSRC) earlier this month published a document which details the conditions which the requirements to be respected to create a companies in Chinese cities and states must be complied with. According to the new documentation, all companies created locally will have to have CNY1bn (EUR120m) in owners’ equity. It will also need to have professionals among its directors who are able to manage depreciated assets, have strengthened governance, internal controls, and risk management systems.

US banking regulators (Fed, FDIC, OCC, SEC) are planning to pronounce a verdict by 15 January on the potential abandonment of the Volcker rule, which reuires banks to sell off certain bond investments, Agefi reports. Small banks have called for the exclusion from the rule for trust preferred securities (Trups).

Agefi reports that foreign banks located on US soil will be allowed two years before having to separate swap activities from their other activities, as the Federal Reserve (Fed) announced on 24 December. Société Générale, Crédit Agricole, and BNP Paribas will thus still temporarily have access to insurance and the discount rate for services of the Federal government. To ask to benefit from the transitional period before application of the law, foreign banks, affiliates and branches, all, like Americans, have until 31 January 2014, when the terms came into force. The swap market is subject to negotiations between regulators on one side of the Atlantic, and the rules on both sides of the Atlantic, especially for reporting and compensation, are far from agreement. Operators are concerned about the impossible management of contradictory rules.

The former portfolio manager at SAC Capital Advisers, Mathew Martoma, has asked a judge to require that the US government disclose proof that he claims may prove him innocent. The case, in which Martoma is defending accusations of insider trading, will begin next month, Investment News reports. Martoma will ask the prosecutor to provide transcripts of conversations between the government and lawyers for the two doctors who are reported to have helped to obtain confidential information about clinical trials of Alzheimer medication for major pharmaceutical groups.

The Volcker rule passed in mid-December, which is part of the Dodd-Frank rule, is subject to a lawsuit filed by the American Bankers Association against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC), Agefi reports. The lobby of regional credit establishments wants to suspend the application of the aforementioned rule by the end of the year. A particular term concerns them, related to trust preferred securities (Trups). These hybrid instruments, issued by vehicles which issue banking debt, are widely used by regional banks. The ones which had issued Trups are themselves subscribed to CDOs which the Volcker rule now includes in the list of funds which are subject to investment restrictions, the newspaper warns.

Fidelity Investments has announced that from January 2014, Ramona Persaud will be responsible for the management of two funds, the Fidelity Dividend Growth Fund and the Fidelity Advisor Dividend Trowth Fund, which have a total of nearly USD10bn The current manager, Lawrence Rakers, who had managed the two funds since 2008, will begin in his new role in the asset allocation department of Fidelity, says Nicole Goodnow, a spokesperson for the US asset management firm, according to Investment News.

Erste Asset Management has launched the Erste Responsible Bond Emerging Corporate fund (ISIN AT0000A13EF9), which invests in corporate bond from emerging countries. These businesses are selected according to criteria of sustainability, fondscheck.de reports. The benchmark index defining the investment universe is the Corporate EMBI (CEMBI) from J. P. Morgan. The management team excludes bonds rated below B-, the website adds.

Clean Capital has closed its closed fund CC Solar 7, fondsprofessionell notes. The subscription period for the fund, launched in autumn 2012, has been extended until the end of this year, the website says. Assets in the fund, which invests in two photovoltaic projects located in Germany, total over EUR3m. Clean Capital states that it has worked in collaboration with a new fund constructed on the same principle as its predecessor, which will comply with the AIFM directive.

Japanese hedge funds are expected to finish the year with record returns, according to Bloomberg. Managers are betting that reforms engaged by Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe will combine to set Japan on the path of growth. The Stratton Street Capital LLP warrant fund posted returns of over 300% in 2013, while the Hayate Japan Equity Long-Short Fund nearly doubled its gains last year. The Eurekahedge Japan Hedge Fund, which tracks the performance of 80 funds, posted gains of 24% between January and November, which is expected to be the best annual result since the beginning of statistics in 2000, Bloomberg notes. In 2012, the index was at the bottom of the table, with returns of 6%. Funds specialised in Japan saw their assets rise by USD451m in second half 2013.

The realty firms Icade and Silic on Friday, 27 December announced their merger, effective from 31 December 2013. The operation will give birth to the Grand Paris realty company, a joint statement says. Concretely, the general assemblies of shareholders have approved the merger and absorptionof Silic into Icade, on the basis of a parity exchange of 5 Icade shares for 4 Silic shares. In size, the new entity will become the largest owner of offices and other campuses in Europe. The combination of teams as well as the complementarity of the geographical footprints of the two companies will mean that the best conditions exist to explore potential single development of 2 million square metres in five growing areas of Paris: Paris–Saint-Denis–Aubervilliers, Paris–Orly, Paris–La Défense–Nanterre, Paris–Villejuif and Paris–Roissy. At the time of completion of the merger, Icade will, in application of the exchange parity, increase its capital by a nominal EUR2,212,786.34, bringing it from EUR110,456,512.52 to EUR112,669,298.86, through the creation of 1,451,687 new shares awarded to shareholders in Silic (with the exception of Icade and Silic, including self-owned shares). The new Icade shares will be admitted to trading on the A segment of Euronext Paris under the ISIN code FR0000035081. When the merger is completed, Icade will substitute for Silic in its obligation to (i) holders of Silic subscription option shares, (ii) holders of Silic shares which are available to be purchased and (iii) holders of Silic bonds with a redemption option in cash and/or new and/or existing shares (ORNANEs). Silic ORNANEs will continue to be subject to trading on Euronext Paris, while those held by Icade will be cancelled. In 2012, Icade earned consolidated net earnings of EUR1.4993bn, and ongoing net cash flow of EUR251.4m. As of 30 June 2013, re-evaluated triple net EPRA assets totalled EUR4.0795bn. For its part, Silic has properties totalling over 1,224,000 square metres of mixed office and other properties in the Paris region.

The bank Lombard Odier will participate in a US programme to resolve a tax dispute with Switzerland, according to romandie.com. The bank will opt for category 2, it announced on Friday. The private bank nonetheless reserves the option to join category 3. Lombard Odier states that “US private clients have never been a target market” and that the firm “has for many years appliced a strict policy with respect to this.” Category 2 includes bank which have good reasons to think that they have violated US tax law, while category 3 includes banks which claim that they have not violated US tax law.

The Japanese Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) is expected to invest JPY10bn (USD95bn) in private equity and venture capital in the next 10 years, according to a head and adviser to the government in matters of retirement, Bloomberg reports. The pension fund – the largest in the world – which has JPY124bn in assets – is first expected to invest up to JPY3bn in private equity and venture capital in April 2015, and will increase its investments up to JPY10bn in 2023, says Yasushi Ando, an adviser to the liberal Democratic part specialised in retirement. The fund would then be “in line” with global standards established by competing pension funds for investments of this nature.

The AFIAA, the investment foundation of 29 Swiss pension funds focused on international real estate, has recently added to its portfolio with the addition of two prestigious office properties in Lisbon. With the purchase of these buildings, Espace and Explorer, the AFIAA has sought to make an anticyclical investment to take advantage of advantageous sale prices and attractive returns, while betting on good outlooks that the ongoing economic recovery in Portugal offer, a statement says. The AFIAA currently has a portfolio that includes 30 direct investments locted in Europe, North America and Australia. The total volume of investments comes to about CHF1.3bn.

According to the CEO of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), cited by the Daily Telegraph, lawsuits against more bankers and traders will be engaged, as part of the case of the Libor rate manipulation scandal, Agefi reports. David Green described the investigation as “gigantic;” it involves nearly one third of all SFO personnel.

La société de gestion danoise Jyske Invest a annoncé le lancement d’un fonds actions mondiales à faible volatilité, indique le site fondscheck.de. Jyske Invest Equities Low Volatility (*) est géré par Brian Kirk. Le gérant sélectionne entre 80 et 120 sociétés présentant de bons fondamentaux. La stratégie value du fonds se voit renforcée par des critères de sélection supplémentaires liés au momentum, précise le site.(*) ISIN DK0060512358

Le gouvernement brésilien a décidé de gonfler de 522 millions de réaux par an (234 millions de dollars) le montant de la taxe sur les opérations financières (IOF) prélevée sur les cartes de débit et les chèques de voyage à l'étranger. Pour ces opérations, la taxe passera de 0,38% à 6,38%.

Le Qatar a signé un accord en vertu duquel il fournira au Maroc une aide d’un montant de 1,25 milliard de dollars, dans le cadre d’une assistance financière sur cinq ans qu’octroieront quatre pays du Golfe à ce royaume. Le roi Mohammed VI a signé l’accord vendredi soir avec l'émir du Qatar en visite au Maroc.