P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Deutsche Bank has applied to the SEC for a license to sell 130/30 and plain long/short ETFs. It has also applied for a license to create its own indices for long/short funds and to use the master/feeder fund structure, IndexUniverse reports.Currently, Deutsche Bank manages 12 db x-trackers branded ETFs directly, with assets totalling USD421m.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The Guggenheim Investments division of Guggenheim Partners (USD150bn) on 17 July announced the launch of two new target-date ETFs in its BulletShares range, the Guggenheim BulletShares 2021 Corporate Bond ETF (acronym on NYSE Arca: BSCL) and the Gugenheim BulletShares 2022 Corporate Bond ETF (BSCM).The BulletShares range, whose assets rose by 133% in 2012, as of 30 June had total assets of USD967bn, 56% more than six months previously. It now includes 16 products, including target date ETFs of corporate bonds and high yield corporate bonds. Each fund replicates indices including 70 to 90 securities wich maturity dates corresponding to those of the funds.The MSCL and BSCM funds charge a net 0.24%.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } With the iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor (acronym QUAL), BlackRock has listed a fourth product of its ETF Factor range on NYSE Arca, along with the Momentum (MTUM), Size (SIZE) and Value (VLUE) funds. The new fund charges 0.15%, like the others, and includes 125 positions on mid- to large caps.The iSahres MSCI Factor ETF were designed for institutional investors such as the Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS), which provided the seed capital for the four products.The QUAL is an ETF which replicates an index of equities identified on the basis of three fundamental criteria: high returns on owners’ equity, persistent growth in profits, and a low debt to owners’ equity ratio. They are growth and value shares with the best results for these three variables.

Aviva France, assureur vie, épargne, retraite, santé, dommages et prévoyance, investit dans les fonds de prêts à l'économie, destinés à faciliter le financement des Petites et Moyennes Entreprises et des Entreprises de Taille Intermédiaire. Aviva France abondera à hauteur de 50 millions d’euros dans les fonds de place NOVO 1 et NOVO 2 qui souscriront aux émissions obligataires de ces entreprises. Nicolas Schimel, directeur général d’Aviva France: « Notre engagement dans les fonds de prêts destinés à financer les PME et les ETI nous est apparu comme une évidence. En effet, cette initiative nous permet désormais d'élargir notre mission de financement de l'économie française au tissu économique local dont la dimension de proximité nous est chère. Notre contribution au développement de ces entreprises renforce notre positionnement sur la cible stratégique des professionnels.» Aviva France s’est engagé dès octobre 2012 dans le projet destiné à orienter davantage d'épargne financière vers le financement des entreprises moyennes et intermédiaires à la condition du rendement et de la sécurité des investissements. La Caisse des dépôts et dix-sept compagnies d’assurance y sont désormais associées, avec la FFSA, des participations du Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites (FRR) et de l’Etablissement de retraite additionnelle de la fonction publique (ERAFP). Au total, vingt investisseurs ont réuni près d’un milliard d’euros pour le lancement des fonds d’investissement Novo destinés au financement de ces entreprises. Ce dispositif vise à ouvrir le marché des emprunts obligataires aux entreprises moyennes et intermédiaires qui disposeront ainsi d’un financement complémentaire au crédit bancaire. Les investisseurs interviendront sur un segment d’actifs nouveau, dont la durée correspond au profil d’investisseurs de long terme. La mise en place d’un outil d’intermédiation était incontournable et a nécessité une réforme du code des assurances permettant de créer une catégorie de fonds de prêts à l'économie qui donne la possibilité aux assureurs de financer les PME-ETI. Les premiers fonds seront les fonds de prêts obligataires Novo destinés à financer ces entreprises. La gestion de ces fonds est confiée à deux sociétés de gestion, BNPP Investment Partners et Tikehau Investment Manager, choisies pour leur compétence en la matière. Les caractéristiques des fonds Novo sont : montant de la dotation : près d'1 milliard d’euros durée de vie : 10 ans date de mise à disposition des fonds Novo aux entreprises : octobre 2013. durée d’investissement : 2 ans taux de rendement : 3,8 % (aux conditions actuelles du marché) durée du prêt : 5 à 7 ans, remboursable in fine taux moyen des prêts : 4 à 6 % (aux conditions actuelles de marché) ticket d’entrée-montant des prêts : 10 à 50 millions d’euros moyenne estimée d’entreprises financées à terme : entre 30 et 40 100 % du projet peut être financé

Qatar Holding pourrait faire équipe avec le groupe immobilier Hines pour reprendre des actifs du promoteur italien, à savoir des immeubles de prestige à Paris et certains immeubles du projet du quartier Santa Giulia à Milan, selon le quotidien Il Sole 24 Ore. Le fonds souverain du Qatar aurait contacté plusieurs actionnaires de Risanamento à ce sujet. La valeur totale du portefeuille n’est pas connue mais le Qatar devrait débourser plus de 1,3 milliard d’euros rien qu’à Paris.

L’assureur britannique Aviva a fait part de la nomination, effective au mois de janvier prochain, d’Euan Munro en tant que directeur général de sa division de gestion d’actifs. Euan Munro occupe actuellement chez Standard Life Investments le poste de responsable mondial des gestions diversifiée et obligataire.

Les propriétaires du spécialiste allemand de l’équipement de la salle de bains, TPG Capital et la division de private equity de Credit Suisse, ont selon Reuters reçu six offres préliminaires à la clôture du premier tour d’enchères vendredi, pour une valeur d’entreprise allant jusqu’à 4 milliards d’euros. Quatre offres émanent de concurrents industriels. TPG et Credit Suisse pourrait également choisir l’entrée en Bourse cet automne.

Un plan en quinze points est censé donner aux Etats les instruments permettant d’empêcher les grandes entreprises de se soustraire à l’impôt

L'équipementier automobile a émis un «PIK toggle» record pour refinancer une partie de l'énorme dette héritée de son OPA sur Continental en 2008

Pour Thierry Francq, en mission pour le gouvernement, la Bourse devrait trouver des alliés en Europe

Pour Thierry Francq, en mission pour le gouvernement, la Bourse devrait trouver des alliés en Europe

Le compromis trouvé sur MIF renvoie à plus tard des questions cruciales comme les détails des exemptions au principe de transparence

La Réserve Fédérale, la CFTC et le Sénat s’intéressent au devenir de ce lucratif filon pour les grandes banques américaines

La dynamique enclenchée en juin à 3.575 points devrait conduire l’indice à 4.170 points au moins

A l’approche de la trêve estivale, l’Espagne et l’Italie ont réalisé respectivement 74 et 70% de leur programme de levée de dette à moyen et long terme sur le marché pour 2013, selon les estimations de RBS. Madrid a levé sans encombre 3 milliards d’euros la semaine dernière et Rome proposera encore 5 milliards ce vendredi.

Selon RBS, l'Espagne et l'Italie ont réalisé respectivement 74 et 70% de leur programme de levée de dette sur le marché pour 2013

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to Les Echos, sovereign funds are remaining prudent. In 2012, they undertook 270 acquisition transactions of publicly-traded equities, for a total lf USD58.4bn, according to statistics from the Sovereign Investment Lab at the Università commerciale Luigi Bocconi. Although the number of trades was up by 14% year on year, they are down 30% in value. Les Echos points out that slightly more than 1 out of every 2 dollars was spend in developed countries, for a total of USD33bn. “The gradual reorientation of funds from developed countries to emerging countries, which began three years ago, has continued: the weight of emerging markets has increased from 8.5% to 13% of their total investments between 2011 and 2012. The weight of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) is down slightly, from 29.2% to 26%,” the newspaper says.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 18 July, Liechtensteinische Landesbank AG (LLB), whose assets as of 30 June totalled CHF50.5bn, provided preliminary indications regarding its semiannual accounts, which will officially be published on 29 August, indicating that several one-time factors reduced its profits in Janary-June 2013 to CHF14bn (compared with CHF61.6m in the corresponding period of 2012). Excluding these one-time charges, net profits are estimated to have been CHF72m.LLB, which has reported net subscriptions of CHF210m in first half, says tat it has made a provision of CHF31m to cover its ongoing legal action with the US tax authorities. The conflict has also driven LLB to defer the sale of swisspartners Investment Network AG until further notice, which has resulted in a one-time charge of CHF14m. The closure of LLB Switzerland has led to a charge of CHF10m, and provisions for restructuring total CHF4m.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } From 1 October, Christoph Mauchle will become a member of the executive managaement group at VP Bank, where he will be responsible for the newly-created “client business” unit. The Liechtenstein-based bank is reorganising the client business unit, following the merger of the Banking Liechtenstein & Regional Markets division with the Private Banking International division on 1 July. Mauchte joins from Credit Suisse, where he had been head of private banking for German, Luxembourg and Austrian markets. In the new organisation which will be in place at the beginning of fourth quarter, the group executive management will be composed of four people: Alfred W. Moeckli (CEO), Mauchle (client business), Juerg W. Sturzenegger (COO), and Siegbert Näscher (CFO). Fredy Vogt remains chairman of the board of directors.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of 30 June, assets under management by Blackstone totalled a new record of USD229.57bn, compared with a previous record of USD218.21bn three months previously. Compared with the end of June 2012 (USD190.27bn), the increase totals 21%. This increase is due both to significant net inflows and to positive market effects. In gross terms inflows totalled USD14bn in second quarter, and USD42bn in the twelve months to the end of June 2013, of which USD40bn come from purely organic growth of new funds, products and strategies.Blackstone states that assets do not yet include USD10bn in assets managed by Strategic Partners a firm acquired from Credit Suisse (see Newsmanagers of 23 April).Blackstone says that it has USD38.5bn in “gunpowder” capital available for investment, of which USD15.6bn are in private equity, USD11.9bn in real estate, USD9.9bn in credit and USD1.1bn in “hedge fund solutions.”In the past 12 months, meanwhile, Blackstone has distributed USD28bn in capital to investors.By GAAP accounting standards, net profits at Blackstone totalled USD221.15m in second quarter, compared with USD167.63m in January-March, and a loss of USD74.96m in the corresponding period of last year.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Citing the case of Foundation Capital Partners, a private equity investor with USD2bn in assets, of which USD1bn come from a sovereign wealth fund, the Wall Street Journal reports that large investors are once again returning to hedge funds, not as clients, but as owners.This is the case for Affiliated Managers Group (AMG), Blackstone Group, Neuberger Berman Group and KKR, for example.The objective is not merely to profit from the good performance of proven managers, but to earn part of the high commissions which these hedge funds charge.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In first half 2013, Primonial posted net inflows up 38.9% year on year, at EUR621m, compared with EUR447m. As of 30 June, assets under management or advised topped EUR6bn.In addition to these retail inflows, there have been specific inflows from institutional investors, related to OPCI activities managed by Primonial REIM for EUR717m, of which EUR450m were for the recent acquisition of the Adria tower at La Défense in Paris (see Newsmanagers of 9 July).“First half 2013 also allowed us to confirm the success of the Primonial SéréniPierre policy, in partnership with Suravenir, with over EUR200m distributed” in this period, a statement says.Patrimonial, which has recently (last Friday) suddenly lost its CEO and founder Patrick Petitjean, says that “the group will continue its development strategy over all asset classes in the next few months, and that “the objective of becoming the largest institutional scale wealth management firm remains, now more than ever.”

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Phillip Leonardi, head of institutional sales, consultant relations and client services at The Hartford Investment Management, after serving as partner at Standish, Ayer & Wood/Standish Mellon Asset Management, has joined Intech Investment Management (USD41.7bn as of 31 March), an affiliate of Janus Capital Management, as senior managing director. He will head the consultant relations team, and will be based at the global headquarters of the group in West Palm Beach, Florida. He will report to John Brown, senior vice president, head of global client development.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Following the recent appointment of its new CEO, Choi Kwang, the Korean pension fund NPS will launch a series of requests for proposals to renew a number of contracts with custodians for various asset classes, Asian Investor reports.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } RBC Wealth Management, an affiliate of the Royal Bank of Canada, has appointed Daniel Ellis as chief investment officer for the British isles, Investment Week reports. He will begin in his new role from 1 October. He will be based in London, and will oversee management teams for the British isles, while making additions to the wealth management product range.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Mike Gould, who had been director of compliance at Russell Investments, has been recruited as director of retail strategy for the Investment Management Association (IMA), Fundweb reports. Gould will be responsible for strategy concerning fund distribution and the retail market, including pensions.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to a survey carried out in March and April by NMG Consulting of about 400 British financial advisers, the percentage who are diassatisfied with RDR regulations has declined slightly, to 43% from 51%, ahead of the introduction of the system which will put an end to kickbacks and require that advising be paid for. Meanwhile, 48% of respondents are of the opinion that they were correct to predict that the introduction of the RDR would be difficult, and 38% say that it proved more onerous than they had predicted. Despite the challenge which compliance with the RDR may have presented, the reaction from clients is reassuring so far, NMG Consulting claims. Although the real impact of RDR on clients will take more time to become clear, 26% of advisers already report that the reaction from their clients has been positive, while 20% report a negative reaction. And 67% say that they have not lost clients following the introduction of the RDR, while only 7% say they lost more than 10 clients.Lastly, NMG Consullting notes that among advisers and paraplanners, 10% have changed their activities due to the introduction of RDR. In this segment, 58% of professionals are now providing mortgage advising, general insurance or protection contracts, but they have ceased to offer advising in wealth management, in order to avoid adopting the adviser charging system, and bringing themselves into compliance with the other requirements of RDR.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Russell Investments has appointed Mike Clark as director of socially responsible investment, Citywire reports. The London-based asset management firm has selected its current head of Systanability Council to serve in this new role. He will initially aim to develop the Russell product range in socially repsonsible investment, and to ensure that the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN-PRI), signed by Russell, are adhered to.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Jorg Sunderman, who had until recently been director of market research at the Netherlands-based Robeco, in early July joined Canara Robeco Asset Mangement as COO, Fondsnieuws reports. Canara Robeco AM is a joint venture of Robeco and the Indian firm Canara Bank on the Indian market. The firm manages equity and bond funds. At Robeco, Sunderman is replaced by Margret Smits.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The first transfer agent to join the Vestima investment fund platform from Clearstream is Latin Clear Panama. The agency offers access to financial markts in Latin America and numerous investment funds domiciled in Panama are available on Clearstream for the routing of orders, execution of transactions and custody, Deutsche Börse announced on 17 July. For Latin American financial markets, Vestima offers operational efficiency and increased security due to execution in delivery versus payment (DVP) formta, which allows for synchronized exchange of liquidity and securities between the fund distributor and the transfer agent. Latin lear is a central access point for Latin American funds, indsofar as the platform offers settlement services for other countries such as Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Venezuela. In addition, Latin Clear is preparing access to the Dominican Republic.