Selon le site Boursier.com, AXA Real Estate Investment Manager a lancé un nouveau programme d’investissement dans l’immobilier commercial au Japon pour le compte de deux entités de sa maison-mère. Il s’agit du second véhicule de dette de ce type lancé par le groupe dans le pays, doté de 26 milliards de yens (environ 192 millions d’euros).

Julius Baer a annoncé le 19 novembre que sa filiale Infidar va fusionner avec WM Partners pour former l’un des plus grands gérants de fortune indépendants de Suisse. Fondée en 1954, Infidar Conseils en Investissements SA (Infidar), dont le siège se trouve à Zurich, emploie 26 collaborateurs et est dirigée par Markus Gonseth depuis 2007. Egalement domiciliée à Zurich et employant 26 collaborateurs, WMPartners Vermögensverwaltungs AG (WMPartners) a été fondée en 1971 et est aux mains de trois partenaires: Willi Leimer, Balthasar Meier et Heiner Grüter. Ces deux entreprises font actuellement déjà partie les leaders de la gestion de fortune indépendante en Suisse.Dans un premier temps, le Groupe Julius Baer a repris les actions de WMPartners. Dans un second temps, Infidar fusionnera avec WMPartners. Les conditions de la transaction, qui devrait être bouclée au premier trimestre 2014, ne seront pas rendues publiques. Totalisant quelque 50 collaborateurs et plus de 4 milliards de francs suisses d’actifs des clients, l’entreprise comptera parmi les plus grands gérants de fortune indépendants en Suisse et collaborera avec une trentaine de banques dépositaires.Jusqu'à présent partenaire et CEO de WMPartners, Heiner Grüter deviendra CEO de la nouvelle entreprise au terme de l’opération. Il poursuivra la stratégie orientée client avec l'équipe de direction mixte existante et les collaborateurs des deux sociétés. Markus Gonseth, actuellement CEO d’Infidar, se concentrera à l’avenir sur le conseil à la clientèle.L’ensemble des partenaires des deux entreprises resteront opérationnels après la fusion. De plus, Markus Gonseth, Willi Leimer et Balthasar Meier feront partie du conseil d’administration de la nouvelle entreprise. «La nouvelle entreprise continuera à être entièrement indépendante sur le plan des décisions de placement et de la sélection des banques dépositaires, elle saura répondre aux exigences de plus en plus complexes et disposera, avec Julius Baer, d’un puissant partenaire à l’arrière-plan», a indiqué Yves Robert-Charrue, Responsable Independent Asset Managers & Global Custody à la Banque Julius Baer.

Les gérants de fortune indépendants font l’objet de toutes sortes de tentatives de séduction de la part des banques, note Le Temps. Pratiquement tous les établissements helvétiques disposent d’un département dédié aux gérants externes. Le Temps cite notamment les efforts de Lombard Odier avec E-Merging, un réseau en ligne, parfois comparé à un «Meetic» des gérants tiers. Vontobel a pour sa part lancé en mars dernier une opération du même type, mais ouverte seulement à des gérants déjà clients. Avec son produit eamXchange, Credit Suisse souligne avoir souhaité «introduire une nouvelle façon de faire des affaires», plutôt que de mettre en place un simple réseau social. La grande banque propose de mettre en relation les gérants externes et ses propres experts.

Le groupe Credit Suisse est en train de mettre en place une nouvelle division qui va rassembler ses activités sur les taux, devises et matières premières et qui va se traduire par une réduction d’effectifs d’une centaine de personnes à Londres et à New York, rapporte l’agence Bloomberg qui a eu connaissance d’une note distribuée au personnel.La nouvelle division, dénommée Global Macro Products sera dirigée conjointement par le responsable mondial des taux, Jon Kinol à New York, et le responsable mondial devises, David Tait à Londres. Un porte-parole du groupe à Zurich a confirmé ces informations.

Citic Securities Futures, du groupe Citic Securities, a créé un fonds de 2 milliards de renminbi (330 millions de dollars) qui sera investi dans des hedge funds locaux, rapporte le Financial Times. La société de gestion de Hwabao Securities lance un fonds similaire de 1 milliard de renminbi en partenariat avec KKM Capital, une société qui aide les sociétés chinoises de hedge funds à établir leur activité. Cela témoigne de l’intérêt croissant pour les hedge funds en Chine. Par ailleurs, six hedge funds étrangers ont aussi récemment obtenu l’agrément pour lever des capitaux de la part d’investisseurs chinois pour la première fois - Canyon Partners, Citadel, Man Group, Oak Tree, Och-Ziff Capital Management et Winton Capital Management.

UCITS recorded net outflows of EUR 15 billion in September, compared to net inflows of EUR 15 billion in August, according to the European Fund and Asset Management Association. This turnaround in net sales can be attributed to large net outflows from money market funds. They registered net outflows in September of EUR 24 billion, compared to net inflows in August of EUR 15 billion. Long-term UCITS (UCITS excluding money market funds) registered increased net inflows in September of EUR 9 billion, up from break-even point in August. Net sales of equity funds rose to EUR 14 billion from EUR 2 billion a month earlier, while net sales of balanced funds increased to EUR 5 billion from EUR 3 billion in August. Bond funds registered net outflows of EUR 9 billion, up from EUR 7 billion in August. Total non-UCITS recorded a rise in net sales to EUR 17 billion, up from EUR 9 billion in August. This increase in net sales can be attributed to special funds (funds reserved to institutional investors) which registered net inflows of EUR 16 billion, compared to EUR 5 billion in August. Total net assets of UCITS stood at EUR 6,753 billion at end September 2013, representing a 1.6 percent increase during the month.

Indirect victims of the fraud by Bernard Madoff will now be able to recuperate a part of the money they lost, the Wall Street Journal reports. Previously, only investors who had invested directly with Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities could claim reimbursement. Investors in feeder funds were excluded from a share of the funds recovered by Irving Picard, legal trustee for the seized assets of Madoff. But since Monday, investors may recover the money from Richard C. Breeden, who has been appointed by the Manhattan prosecutor’s office to distribute USD2.35bn in assets to the victims of Madoff.

To make the expertise of its affiliate K2 Advisors (acquired in September 2012 and taken over on 1 November 2012) for alternative solutions available to retail clients in the United States, Franklin Templeton on 18 November announced the launch of the Franklin K2 Alternative Strategies Fund, whose ticker on Nasdaq is FAAAX.The fund complies with the Investment Act of 1940, and will dynamically allocate assets to various alternative asset managers and strategies (event-driven, global macro, long/short equity, relative value). K2 Advisors will adjust allocations on an ongoing basis with the objective of generating capital gains with lower volatility than that of equity markets.The first list of managers selected includes the following names:Basso Capital Management, L.P.Chatham Asset Management, LLCChilton Investment Company, Inc.Impala Asset Management LLCJennison Associates LLCLazard Asset Management LLCLoomis Sayles & Company, L.P.P. Schoenfeld Asset Management LLCYork Capital Management L.P.The net expense ratio is 2.75%, and the maximal initial sales charge is set at 5.75%.

The European securities markets authority (ESMA) on 18 November published its conclusions on the comparability and quality of financial information published by publicly-traded financial establishments.ESMA, which has studied a sample of 30 major financial institutions for most banks included in the most recent evaluation period of the European banking authority, has laid out a series of recommendations which are expected to improve the transparency of financial information in some key areas, including credit risk, financing and liquidity risks, and the fair valuation of financial instruments. ESMA observed that it was difficult to compare the information published by banks due to disparities in the structure of financial reports, or because the use of derivative financial instruments is not sufficiently documented in financial reports. In light of its conclusions and recommendations, ESMA claims that from 2013, the financial sector will need to offer improved information on exposure to credit risks, means to limit thi exposure (collateral, guarantees or credit default swaps, or CDS), as well as analysis of specific concentrations of credit risk and depreciation strategies in order to allow investors to evaluate overall credit risk. ESMA has also published the final version of its technical standards concerning derivative trades carried out by counterparties not belonging to the European Union.

The Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom has expressed doubts about the ability of asset management firms to honours their promises in terms of liquidity, Financial Times fund management reports. This coincides with work at the US Treasury to determine whether asset management firms present a systemic risk and if they need to hold a high specificed minimal level of liquid assets. Asset management firms which have liquidity problems may be required to lock investors in funds, or to introduce high exit penalties. Will Amos, of the FCA, says that one of the changes since the crisis is that the capacity of banks to provide liquidity to funds has fallen.

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) on 18 November published documents which are intended to help supervisers to strengthen risk management practices at financial institutions. The first of these documents is a final version of principles intended to regulate appetite for risk; the second is a consultation document which proposes a series of recommendations for the management of the culture of risk in the financial sector. In both cases, the proposals aim to better regulate systemic establishments (SIFIs). The consultation is open until 31 Janary 2014.

Ossiam, the specialist ETF asset management firm for smart beta strategies, has announced that it has topped EUR1bn in assets, including EUR789bn in ETFs alone. In december 2012, the firm already had nearly EUR557m in assets under management via its strategy ETFs, a growth of 41.6% in nearly one year.The Natixis Global Asset Management affiliate sells Minimum Variance strategy ETFs and ETFs based on an Equal Weight strategy. This latter family, based on the STOXX Europe 600 universe, has posted the strongest growth in its assets (+164%) in the past twelve months, followed by Ossiam Emerging Markets minimum variance (+131%).

The Austrian-German asset management firm C-Quadrat on 18 November announced that as of 30 September, it had posted record assets of EUR4.8bn, which represents a 12% increase compared with the end of December.Net profits in third quarter totalled EUR3.5bn, compared with EUR0.6m in the corresponding period (an increase of 529%), while earnings of EUR42.9m were up 31% compared with July-September 2012. 85% of earnings come from management commissions, and 9% from performance commissions.

For the quarter to the end of September, Nuveen Investments has posted losses of USD6m, compared with USD76.7m for the corresponding period of last year, while losses in January-September total USD167.3m, compared with USD525.1m.The Chicago-based asset management firm has reported assets of USD214.86bn as of the end of September, compared with USD216bn as of the end of June, with net outflows of USD5.09bn in June-September. One year previously, assets under management totalled USD220.09bn, after net redemptions of USD74m in third quarter 2012.Nuveen Investments has also announced the recruitment of David R. Wilson, who had been responsible for more than USD9bn in customised mandates at Cutwater Asset Management, as managing director, to lead the new Institutional Solutions Group unit. He will report to Bill Huffman, chairman of Nuveen Asset Management, and will lead a team responsible for designing custom strategies for retirement savings plans, public funds, charities, insurers, and other institutional investors.Lastly, the asset management firm has appointed Maureen Beshar as executive vice president and head of institutional sales, based in New York. She will join in December, and will report to Tom Schreier, vice chairman of wealth management. She had previously been head of institutional sales & consultant relations at Clearbridge Investments.

Jennifer Drake, ex-managing director at Goldman Sachs, has been appointed as head of development at DW Investment Management, the US-based credit division of Brevan Howard, Financial News reports. She will be based in New York and will chair the executive and risk boards at the asset management firm.

The Credit Suisse group is in the process of setting up a new division which will group fixed income, currency and commodity operations, and which will result in staff reductions of 100 people in London and New York, the news agency Bloomberg reports, having obtained an internal memo distributed to personnel.The new division, entitled Global Macro Products, will be led jointly by the global head of fixed income, Joni Kinol, in New York, and the global head of currencies, David Tait in London. A spokesperson for the group in Zurich has confirmed the reports.

Julius Baer on 19 November announced that its affiliate Infidar will merge with WM Partners to form one of the largest independent wealth management firms in Switzerland. Infidar Conseils en Investissements SA (Infidar), founded in 1954, with headquarters in Zurich, has 26 employees, and is led by Markus Gonseth since 2007. WMPartners Vermögensverwaltungs AG (WMPartners), also based in Zurich, was founded in 1971, and is managed by three partners: Willi Leimer, Balthasar Meier and Heiner Grüter. The two businesses are currently leaders in independent wealth management in Switzerland.Initially, the Julius Baer group has taken over shares in WMPartners. In a second phase, Infidar will merge with WMPArtners. The conditions of the transaction will not be made public. With a total of about 50 employees and CHF4bn in client assets, the business will be one of the largest independent wealth managers in Switzerland, and will collaborate with 30 depository banks.

The Cantonal Bank of Zurich (ZKB) has taken over market making for 32 investment funds on behalf of the Swiss SIX stock exchange, the Swiss stock market announced on 18 November. As a new sponsor and market maker, ZKB is introducing 18 new products for trading on the Zurich market. ZKB is also taking over market making for 14 other products for which the Julius Baer bank is assuming the same role, SIX says in a statement. Overall, about 304 sponsored funds are traded on the Swiss stock market.

Assets in catastrophe bonds (cat bonds) currently total USD19bn, and may reach USD50bn by the end of 2018, according to a report by BNY Mellon (The disaster gap: How insurers and the capital markets can harness big data to close the gap). The compound average growth rate (CAGR) for this asset class is expected to come to 20% for the period under review.In terms of insurance-linked securities (ILS), of which cat bonds form part, assets are expected to reach USD150bn by the end of 2018, with a CAGR of 25%.By comparison, the CAGR for the past 13 years has been 24% for ILS, and 30% for cat bonds over the last 9 years..

Habib Subjally has left First State, where he was a global equity manager, Citywire Global is able to reveal. The asset management firm will be closing its First State Global Opportunities fund. When asked by Citywire about the departure of the manager, First State answered: “After an internal review, First State has decided to close its range of global equities managed by Habib Subjally and his teams in London, and to concentrate on two other ranges of global equities: Worldwide and Worldwide Sustainability.”

Citic Securities Futures, from the Citic Securities group, has created an RMB2bn (USD330m) fund, which will be invested in local hedge funds, the Financial Times reports. The asset management firm Hwabao Securities is launching a similar USD1bn fund in partnership with KKM Capital, a firm which helps Chinese hedge fund firms to establish their activities. This is a sign of the growing interest in hedge funds in China. Six foreign hedge funds have also recently obtained licenses to raise capital from Chinese investors for the first time: Canyon Partners, Citadel, Man Group, Oak Tree, Och-Ziff Capital Management and Winton Capital Management.

Hedge funds dedicated to emerging markets have earned good results in third quarter, as the HFRI Emerging Markets Total Index has posted gains of 3% in the quarter, and 2.5% in the month of October alone, while performance since the beginning of the year totals 4.7%, a better result than most equity markets in emerging countries. Capital invested by hedge funds in emerging markets have increased to a record USD161bn. Assets in hedge funds invested in Asia have increased by USD1.8bn in third quarter to a total of USD42.3bn.

Rothschild & Cie Gestion has opened an office in Milan and recruited Alessio Coppola to ensure development of the Paris-based asset management firm in Italy. Coppola, who will have the title of country head, previously worked at the Italian asset management firm Anima SGR, where he served in the wholesale activity. He has also worked at Société Générale Asset Management, where he was head of distribution. Among his responsibilities, Coppola will be responsible for assembling a team in Italy. “We want to make our brand and our investment funds known to Italian investors, and we intend to build an entirely dedicated Italian team in the next few months,” he says in an Italian press statement. The office of the French asset management firm will be located at via Santa Radegonda 8, where Rothschild Global Financial Advisory is already located. The objective for Rothschild & Cie Gestion, which has assets of about EUR22bn, is to “develop asset management activities via long-term relationships with clients, based on a range of quality funds (equities, euro zone corporate bonds, diversified and global flexibles), and the range of dedicated investment solutions,” the statement says.

UBS Wealth Management has recruited a team of six people, who previously worked at Deutsche Bank, Investment Week reports. The team of experts will join the unit dedicated to strategic partnerships, in order to help the group to meet growing demand for financial planning services. Financial planners will help investors to place assets on platforms.

According to De Telegraaf, relayed by Fund Nieuws, Royal Bank of Scotland has entered exclusive negotiations with BNP Paribas to sell its European structured investment product activities to the French group, including the famous “turbos” taken over from ABN Amro.For its part, fundweb reports that RBS has confirmed that it is currently in talks “with a potential outside buyer” for its investor product & equity derivatives (IP&ED) operation.

Wells Fargo will sell 11 funds in Sweden via the Nordnet platform, Realtid.se reports. The US-based asset management firm is also working with Folksam. These agreements come as part of the development of Wells Fargo in Europe, particularly in the Scandinavian countries.

The Netherlands insurer Achmea has selected its own asset management firm, Syntrus Achmea, to manage a EUR8bn bond portfolio, Fonds Nieuws reports. The website stresses that Achmea (which has EUR4.26bn in assets under management) is still seeking a manager for a value equity portfolio.Robeco and F&C Asset Management are the two main asset managers for Achmea.

F&C Investments has announced the appointment of Robet Thorpe as head of consumer. He will join the firm in December from Sarasin & Partners, where he had been head of retail, after serving as head of UK retail for nine years at Cazenove Capital. At F&C Investments, Thorpe will be responsible for sales and distribution to retail clients and investment trusts.

M&G Investments in 18 November announced that one of its best-known managers, Graham French, is retiring. He will now hand the management of the M&G Global Basics fund to his deputy, Randeep Somel, who has been working alongside him for more than five years. “After nearly 25 years at M&G, the time has come to pass the baton to another generation of portfolio managers. I am retiring knowing that I am leaving the shareholders in the Global Basics fund in very good hands,” saysa French in a statement.The deputy manager of the M&G Global Basics fund since 2010, Somel was trained in international equity management internally at M&G, as was Matthew Vaight, manager of the M&G Global Emerging Markets Fund (EUR1.4bn as of 30 September 20130, and the M&G Asian Fund (EUR576m as of the same date) and Stuart Rhodes, manager of the M&G Global Dividend Fund (EUR9bn, also as of 30 September). He has been a member of the international team since he began at M&G nearly nine years ago.There will be no changes to the investment approach of the M&G Global Basics fund, whose assets as of the end of September totalled EUR5.1bn, the statement sayas. The philosophy and investment principles of the fund will remain unchanged: management will continue to be oriented around a conviction portfolio without benchmark constraints and composed of about 60 positions.The only dark spot in the picture is that the M&G Global Basic shows returns of only 4.7% in the past three years, compared with gains of more than 33% for the corresponding benchmark index. According to Citywire, French has recently apologised to investors for the underperformance of the fund, whose assets under management peaked at GBP6.6bn in June 2011.

Pimco will launch a wave of recruitments of managers, traders and analysts at the beginning of next year, in order to build up its equity unit, Financial News reports. The process will be led by Virginie Maisonneuve, who will join the firm from Schroders in January.