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06/11/2013

Four managers found AR boutique

Four former fund managers from the asset management firm MEAG (Munich Re group) have decided to create a boutique specialised in absolute returns, Citywire reports. The new entity, entitled Skalis, which will be based near Munich, has not yet received clearance from the supervisory authorities. The initiative follows the departure last month of the bond manager Ingmar Przewlocka, with three other colleagues, Jens Bies, Andreas Grassl and Marc Decker, to found the new firm. Grassl and Decker also worked at MEAG while Bies comes from Deka Asset Management. The four partners are planning to launch a strategy which will be inspired by the MEAG Eurorent fund, and which will invest primarily in European bonds, but which may also be exposed to equities and may introduce derivatives.
06/11/2013

Philipp Lehner leaves BlackRock for ACM Bernstein

From 1 January, Philipp Lehner will join ACM Bernstein, and will leave the institutional sales team at BlackRock in Germany. He joined the group in 2001, at the time Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, Das Investment reports. He will remain based in Munich.The process to replace Lehner has already commenced, says Markus Taubert, who leads BlackRock institutional distribution in Munich.
06/11/2013

FCA publishes stricter governance rules to protect minority shareholders

Listed companies in London will have to comply to stricter governance rules to safeguard minority interests from abuse by controlling shareholders, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), announced on Tuesday. These proposals follow a consultation by the FCA’s predecessor, the Financial Services Authority, in October 2012. The consultation responded to concerns from the investment community over the governance of premium listed companies with a controlling shareholder and the rights of minority shareholders. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has strengthened its listing rules to protect minority shareholders. The new rules will give shareholders in premium listed companies additional voting rights and greater influence over key decisions, the FCA says in a statement. Companies listed in London under the premium regime will be expected to adhere to stricter governance criteria than those which are under the standard regime.
06/11/2013

Equities still highly popular in the UK in September

Equities were the most popular asset class in the United Kingdom in September for the sixth consecutive month. Retail net inflows totalled GBP1.3bn in the month, bringing the total for third quarter to GBP3.8bn. Inflows to bond funds totalled GBP99m, compared with an average of GBP55m in the past twelve months. Inflows to mixed funds totalled GBP375m, compared with an average of USD335m over twelve months.
06/11/2013

BlueBay AM recruits new COO

BlueBay Asset Management has appointed Luc Leclercq as chief operating officer (COO).Previously, Leclercq worked at State Street where he was senior vice president and responsible for middle office client relations with a focus on asset management.
06/11/2013

Dmitry Solomakhin will now focus on the Fidelity FAST Global

Citywire reports that HyunHo Sohn, portfolio manager and former tech sector analyst, has become the manager of the Global Technology sub-fund of Fidelity Funds (EUR330m), a position which had previously, until 31 October, been occupied by Dmitry Solomakhin. Solomakhin will now concentrate on the management of the FAST Global long/short fund launched recently (see Newsmanagers of 8 October).
06/11/2013

Edhec Risk Institute and Efama oppose on ESMA guidelines

According to a press release from Edhec-Risk Institute dated November 5th, EFAMA, the European Fund and Asset Management Association recently ventured that the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) had exceeded its powers and mandate by issuing “quasi-regulation (...) on topics which were not previously regulated at EU level.” The representative body for the European investment management industry specifically targeted the ESMA Guidelines on ETFs and other UCITS issues and its provisions in terms of securities lending, collateral management, or the use of financial indicesEDHEC-Risk Institute, which, like EFAMA, has contributed to the consultation process that led to these guidelines , takes exception to this language and interpretation and wishes to underline the considerable investor protection and competition advances introduced by ESMA, notably with respect to the mitigation of counterparty risk and the quality and transparency of financial indices.EDHEC-Risk Institute «calls upon European lawmakers to transpose the advances pioneered by ESMA in the UCITS space to other Packaged Retail Investment Products so as to promote high uniform standards of investor protection and reduce opportunities for regulatory arbitrage within the EU. EDHEC-Risk Institute also encourages worldwide authorities reviewing the regulation of financial indices and benchmarks to adopt standards of transparency on par with those of the ESMA guidelines to establish the necessary conditions for the sustainable growth of an industry that can play a major role in enhancing investor welfare», the release says.
06/11/2013

WisdomTree buys license for Bloomberg dollar index

According to Index Universe, Bloomberg has sold the license for its US dollar index to WisdomTree Investments, a provider of “fundamental” ETFs.The new index aims to fill the gap in the static US dollar index, which is weighted at 50% for the euro/dollar rate. The ten currencies represented in the index onclude more currencies, such as the Chinese currency, the South Korean won, the Mexican peso and the Australian dollar.The ticker code for the new index is BBDXY, while the total return version is available as BBDXT, and the inverse version is under the ticker BBCXI. Rebalancing will be carried out once per year, on the basis of data from the Federal Reserve and the Bank of International Settlements (BIS).
06/11/2013

Two US boutiques merge

The US boutiques Argent Wealth Management and Pillar Financial Advisors, specialised in wealth management and both based in Massachusetts, have announced that they are merging, effective from 1 November. The new entity born of the merger, Argent Wealth Management LLC, will have assets under management of USD1.2bn, with similar contributions from each of the two firms.
06/11/2013

New head for FI at Vanguard

Robert F. Auwaerter, principal and head of the fixed income group, has announced intentions to retire in March 2014, after 23 years at Vanguard. He will be replaced by Gregory Davis, who will be responsible for USD750bn in bond assets from the asset management firm based in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, including USD450bn in actively-managed assets, and USD300bn in tracker funds and ETFs.Davis is currently CIO for the Asia-Pacific region and director at Vanguard Investments Australia, after having been a senior portfolio manager and head of bond indexing for the fixed income group, where he was responsible for about USD200bn in tracker products. He joined Vanguard in 1999.
06/11/2013

Paulson's bets in asset management pay off

The Recovery fund from Paulson & Co (USD2.3bn) has made 40% since the beginning of 2013, due to its investments in banks, insurers and also asset management firms, Financial Times fund management reports. Paulson & Co is interested in private equity firms, particularly Blackstone and Apollo Global Management. One of the major reasons for this interest is that private equity managers can charge performance commissions on top of management fees again.
06/11/2013

Russell Investments reorganizes following departure of Faisal Rahman

Russell Investments has replcated the managers of its Russell OpenWorld fund range, following the departure of Taisal Rahman, Fnancial News reports. Keith Brakeball will take over the OpenWorld US Credit fund, and Adam Babson will take over the OpenWorld Global Listed Infrastructure. Ronnie Sable will manage the OpenWorld Europe Focus Equity, and James Mitchell will be responsible for the OpenWorld Euro Credit. Lastly, Lee Kayser will handle the OpenWorld Commodities Long Neutral Strategy, as Phill Hoffman will be responsible for the Global High Dividend Equity fund.
06/11/2013

Universal teams up with Daiwa on Japanese equities

Daiwa AB Investments (DSBI) is planning to release its Japanese strategies in Europe, with the help of the German firm Union-Investment, Citywire reports. The partnership in 4 November led to the joint launch of the Japan Equity Fundamental Active Fund, managed by Masashi Kamohara.It is the first Japanese equity fund to be distributed by Universal through a Luxembourg UCITS platform dedicated to DSBI. The new fund is expected to receive a sales license for Germany and the United Kingdom within two weeks.
06/11/2013

Henderson invests in Hildesheim

With Palmira Capital Partners, Henderson Global Investors (HGI) has acquired a logistical centre for an undisclosed sum, with 44,631 square metres in Hildesheim (Lower Saxony). The property, completed in 2013, will be added to the Henderson German Logistics Fund (HGLOF).It is the second German institutional fund (Spezialfonds) from HGI. The objective is annual returns of 8%.
06/11/2013

Ignis AM signs distribution partnership with Tyndall AM

Ignis Asset Management and Tyndall Investment Management Limited (Tyndall AM) have formed a strategic alliance in Australia. Under the terms of the agreement, Ignis will sub-advise investment strategies exclusively with Tyndall AM into the institutional market in Australia.Initially, Tyndall AM will offer Ignis’ Absolute Return Government Bond strategy and Liability Driven Investment (LDI) solutions to institutional investors. Tyndall AM may also consider other Ignis investment strategies, such as emerging market debt, as part of its multi- manager and World Series Fund platform offerings in future.Tyndall AM, based in Sydney, manages approximately GBP13.9 billion of assets on behalf of institutional, insurance and private wealth clients in Australia. It is part of Nikko AM, an independent fund manager in Asia headquartered in Japan.
06/11/2013

Franklin Templeton launches first ETF

On 7 November, Franklin Templeton will launch the Franklin Short Duration U.S. Government ETF, its first ETF. According to Index Universe, it will be an actively-managed fund of bond ETFs, whose ticker code witll be FTSD. The total expense ratio is announced at 0.30%.The portfolio will be focused on Treasurys, with a maximal maturity of three years.
06/11/2013

Cohen & Steers plans to create ETFs

The real estate specialist Cohen & Steers Capital Management has submitted license applications to the SEC for index-based and actively-managed ETFs, Index Universe reports.The first product will be an index-based ETF replicating the in-house index Cohen & Steers Realty Majors Index, which will thus be focused on global REITs.For actively-managed products, the license application does not include a real product, but does mention the possibility of launching several funds, including products based on US and international equities, as well as currencies. These funds may use short-selling strategies.
06/11/2013

Fonds Advice updates transparency ratings

The Cologne-based ratings agency Fonds Advise has published its new list of transparency ratings for 3,099 funds from 69 asset management firms in 12 countries as of 31 October.The four funds with the near-maximal rating of 1- are four German-registered ETFs of the iShares brand from BlackRock. Among the asset management firms whose transparency rating has improved are one Luxembourg-registered fund (Postbank Dynamik Vision) from DWS (now rated 2+), and several Irish funds from GAM Fund Management Ltd (now rated 3), as well as a number of Luxembourg funds from Aberdeen Global (3+).Among the transparency ratings downgrades are several products from the Austrian firm Spängler IQAM Invest, Irish funds from Putnam Investments, and the Pioneer Investments Euro Geldmarkt fund from Pioneer Germany.
06/11/2013

La gouvernance des entreprises allemandes peut encore être améliorée

La qualité de la gouvernance des entreprises allemandes dispose encore d’un potentiel d’amélioration considérable, selon une enquête réalisée par l’association allemande des gestionnaires d’actifs (BVI) en partenariat avec IVOX sur les 160 entreprises des différents indices DAX.Les travaux des conseils de surveillance sont encore davantage critiqués que l’année précédente. Dans le cadre des élections au conseil de surveillance notamment, le nombre de manquements a augmenté à 56 en 2013 contre 37 l’année précédente. Les curriculum viae des candidats sont souvent trop partiels pour apprécier le niveau des candidatures, relève l’enquête. En outre, les candidats à la réélection ne proposent pas un bilan complet de leurs travaux au sein du conseil, entre autres leur présence aux réunions du conseil ou encore leur participation aux différentes commissions.Les conseils de surveillance ne semblent pas non très soucieux de justifier les départs forcés du conseil, contrevenant ainsi aux recommandations de l’association professionnelle en la matière. L’enquête souligne également le déficit des conseils en administrateurs indépendants.
06/11/2013

Petercam hires sales head in Luxembourg

Sanela Kevric joined Petercam Institutional Asset Management in early October to become head of institutional clients in Luxembourg, effective November 1st. Based in Luxembourg, she replaces Bernard Jans who has joined the institutional clients team in Belgium. Sanela Kevric worked at Banque Internationale in Luxembourg, where she was a portfolio manager.
06/11/2013

Mirabaud launches global convertible bond fund

As announced four months ago (see Newsmanagers of 29 June), Mirabaud on 5 November announced the launch of its UCITS-compliant fund Mirabaud-Convertible Bond Global, which was created in the form of an incubation fund a few months ago.The product is managed by Renaud Martin, head of convertible bonds, and Nicolas Crémieux, a senior portfolio manager who joined Mirabaud Asset Management from Dexia AM.The Mirabaud – Convertible Bonds Global, which received a license from the Luxembourg CSSF in early September, aims to seize “the best opportunities in the global convertible bond unierse, including emerging markets,” according to a press release. It comes as an addition to the Mirabaud - Convertible Bonds Europe fund launched in early December 2012, which has asets of EUR220m.
06/11/2013

Pirelli convainc le marché avec son plan stratégique

Le titre Pirelli avançait de quelque 4,5% mercredi vers la mi-séance à la Bourse de Milan, malgré la révision en baisse de son objectif de bénéfice d’exploitation 2013 pour cause d’euro fort. Le fabricant de pneus italien, numéro 5 mondial, a présenté un plan stratégique qui prévoit notamment une marge opérationnelle de plus de 15% d’ici à 2017. Pirelli compte accélérer son développement sur le segment des pneus pour voitures haut de gamme, qui devrait représenter 44% de son chiffre d’affaires d’ici à 2016, contre 38% aujourd’hui.
VALÉRIE PÉCRESSE
06/11/2013

Les indices PMI d'octobre sont révisés en hausse

L’indice composite Markit en zone euro, qui mesure la croissance à la fois dans l’industrie et les services, est ressorti à 51,9 contre 52,2 en septembre et 51,5 en première estimation. Pour le seul secteur des services, il recule à 51,6 contre 52,2 en septembre et 50,9 en première estimation. Pour la France, l’indice PMI composite, qui combine celui des services et celui de l’industrie manufacturière, s’est maintenu à 50,5, un niveau supérieur à l’estimation flash de 50.
THIERRY PHILIPPONNAT
06/11/2013

Monaco va adhérer à la convention fiscale de l'OCDE

La principauté va adhérer «dès que possible» à la Convention multilatérale d’assistance administrative mutuelle de l’OCDE pour lutter contre la fraude et l'évasion fiscale. Une lettre d’intention a été remise mardi par José Badia, conseiller du gouvernement monégasque pour les relations extérieures de Monaco, à Pascal Saint-Amans, directeur du centre de politique et d’administration fiscales de l’OCDE.
06/11/2013

Trusteam Finance absorbe Alcyone Finance

Les activités de gestion des OPCVM et d’ingénierie patrimoniale assurées par Alcyone Finance seront regroupées prochainement chez Trusteam Finance, ont annoncé les deux groupes. Trusteam Finance, qui avait annoncé au 1er janvier 2013 la signature d’un partenariat privilégié avec Monte Paschi Banque en France dans la gestion d’actifs, poursuit ainsi son développement. Le nouvel ensemble gérera près de 600 millions d’euros pour une clientèle institutionnelle et privée.
06/11/2013

Londres donne plus de pouvoir aux actionnaires minoritaires

La Financial Conduct Authority britannique a annoncé hier de nouvelles règles sur le listing pour protéger les investisseurs minoritaires. Celles-ci donnent notamment un droit de veto aux administrateurs indépendants sur les transactions entre la société cotée et son actionnaire de contrôle, et soumet la nomination de ces indépendants au vote en AG des seuls minoritaires.
06/11/2013

La Chine veut rassurer sur la transformation de son économie

Les ajustements économiques structurels actuellement à l’œuvre en Chine, qui visent notamment à accroître l’emploi et les revenus disponibles, vont stimuler l’évolution des pays émergents et seront en définitive favorables au développement durable pour l’économie mondiale, rapporte l’organe de presse du Parti Communiste Chinois sans citer de source.
06/11/2013

Chypre en désaccord avec la Troïka sur les cessions d’actifs

Chypre est en désaccord avec la Troïka (FMI, BCE, Commission européenne) sur le calendrier de privatisation des entreprises publiques du secteur portuaire, électrique et des télécoms, rapporte l’agence grecque sans citer de source. La Troïka demande au gouvernement chypriote d’accélérer le processus alors que ce dernier souhaite attendre les conclusions d’un rapport commandé au cabinet d’audit PwC.
06/11/2013

L’allemand Universal s'allie à Daiwa sur les actions nippones

Daiwa SB Investments a l’intention de diffuser ses stratégies actions japonaises en Europe en s’appuyant sur le fonds allemand Universal-Investment, rapporte le site financier. Ce partenariat s’est traduit le 4 novembre par le lancement conjoint du Japan Equity Fundamental Active Fund, qui devrait obtenir un agrément de commercialisation en Allemagne et au Royaume-Uni sous deux semaines.
06/11/2013

La Commission touche au but sur l'Euribor

La Commission européenne pourrait infliger dès le mois prochain des amendes pour manipulation du taux interbancaire, notamment au Crédit Agricole et à la Société Générale, dans le cadre d’accords négociés. Elles pourraient atteindre plusieurs centaines de millions d’euros.

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