Les actifs sous gestion du pôle Asset Management au sein du groupe Allianz s’inscrivaient fin mars à 1.934 milliards d’euros, en progression de 17% par rapport à fin décembre 2012, selon un communiqué publié le 15 mai. Sur ce total, les actifs sous gestion externes s'établissaient à 1.517 milliards d’euros contre 1.266 milliards d’euros à fin décembre.La collecte nette externe du trimestre s’est élevée à 42,6 milliards d’euros contre 23,5 milliards d’euros précédemment.Le chiffre d’affaires du pôle Asset Management s’est inscrit à 1,9 milliard d’euros, en progression de 32,8% par rapport au premier trimestre 2012 et le résultat opérationnel à 900 millions d’euros, en hausse de 46,8% par rapport au premier trimestre 2012. Le coefficient d’exploitation s’est amélioré à 52,9% contre 57,4%.Le bénéfice net du groupe d’assurances a progressé de 24% à 1,7 milliard d’euros.

Karl Guha, le CEO de la banque privée néerlandaise Van Lanschot, a présenté le 14 mai le résultat du bilan stratégique (strategic review) de l’entreprise. En résumé, la maison compte se focaliser sur la banque privée, la gestion d’actifs et le « merchant banking ». Un nouveau modèle de service doit ouvrir la banque privée aux « débutants » sur le marché de la gestion de fortune, et la prestation de services en ligne pour la gestion de fortune, le conseil en investissements et l’épargne doit être élargie avec une touche personnalisée et des compétences spécialisées.Le portefeuille de crédit va être élagué, là où il n’est pas indispensable pour l’activité de banque privée, le portefeuille de produits doit être simplifié, de même que l’organisation et l’infrastructure informatique.Le CEO vise également une amélioration du coefficient d’exploitation avec la suppression supplémentaire de 250 emplois en 2013 et 2014, en plus de 300 déjà annoncées.Ces mesures visent à atteindre pour 2017 un ratio de fonds propres core tier 1 d’au minimum 15 % (contre 11 % actuellement), un rendement des fonds propres core tier 1 de 10-12 % et une amélioration du coefficient d’exploitation (cost-income ratio) à 60-65 %.s

Danske Invest travaille depuis 2004 avec Aberdeen Asset Management qui gère entre autres les fonds Danske Invest Global Emerging Markets et Danske Invest Global Emerging Markets Small Cap. Pour protéger les investisseurs actuels et face à un afflux élevé de capitaux, la banque a introduit des droits d’entrée de 3 % sur les deux fonds, rapporte Fonbranschen.

Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) a enregistré au premier trimestre 2013 une collecte nette de 224 millions de livres, après avoir subi une décollecte de 379 millions de livres sur l’ensemble de l’année 2012. Au cours du seul premier trimestre 2012, la décollecte avait atteint 495,4 millions de livres.Les actifs sous gestion se sont inscrits à 50 milliards de livres à la fin mars 2013, en progression de 5% par rapport à fin décembre 2012.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The next source of growth for the hedge fund sector is retail investors on the mutual fund market, according to Citigroup, which predicts that retail assets will more than triple to USD940bn in the next four years, from USD305bn as of the end of 2012. The trend is toward convergence of the two themes: traditional asset management firms, which are seeking high-margin products to respond to competition from ETFs, and hedge fund seeking a new source of capital.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In 2007, Merrill Lynch predicted that assets in 130/30 funds, which were fashionable at the time, would have USD1trn in assets by 2012, Financial Times fund management recalls. More brazenly, Tabb Group predicted USD2trn in assets by 2010. Unfortunately for them and for providers of these products, at the end of 2012 Lipper counted only 31 130/30 funds in Europe and the United States, with total assets of USD9bn, off of peaks of USD9.4bn in 2010, and 66 funds in 2008. Observers blame this crushing failure on the financial crisis, which provided a hostile environment for this new concept. If this is the case, FTfm raises the question of whether 130/30 funds might prosper in a “more normal” environment. Some still appear to believe in them.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Mark Lyttleton, a former BlackRock manager, was arrested last month by London police as part of an investigation into insider trading led by the new British financial market authority, the FCA, Investment Week reports. Lyttleton, who officially left BlackRock at the end of March, was arrested on 30 April by London police. He managed several portfolios during ten years at BlackRock, including the BlackRock UK, Uk Dynamic and Uk Absolute Alpha funds. BlackRock has confirmed the arrest of the former manager to Investment Week. The FCA has also told BlackRock that the suspicions pertain to deeds perpetrated off of BlackRock premises, and that neither BlackRock nor any employee of the business is subject to investigation.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Renato Zanellati, head of fund distribution for Italy at Nordea, on Tuesday, May 7 was killed in a tragic accident on his way to work, Bluerating reports. The Italian website cites a memo from Christophe Girondel, global head of fund distribution at Nordea, rending homage to the professional.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Amundi Asset Management, the second-largest asset management firm in Europe, with EUR750bn in assets under management, has launched Amundi Patrimoine. The new fund comes as part of a remodelling of the product range from Amundi, and targets wealth management clients. “The objective for this launch is ambitions,” says Yves Perrier, CEO of Amundi, “since it is not a question of pushing a new product, but instead of offering a real savings solution to households which want to bring out the value in their savings, by seeking the best returns possible.” In practice, the designers of the fund wanted to create a flexible, transparent and simple product. In terms of management, Amundi Patrimoine, whose positions are focused on two major themes – returns and growth – has set itself a net annualised performance objective of 5 percentage points above the Eonia, on a minimal investment horizon of five years, all with limited volatility (3.5% ex-post). As such, the fund aims to be an alternative to funds in euros. To schieve that, the OPCVM fund may invest in all asset classes, without restrictions as to sectors or geographical regions. The conviction-type management may invest directly in securities, actively-managed funds or ETFs, and may make use of derivatives. The fund, founded in February 2012, has already earned returns of 8.18%, “largely thanks to high yield, exposure to currecies, a little local emerging market debt and corporate credit,” sais Alain Pitous, who manages the fund. In terms of flexibility, the portfolio has varied its exposure to equities from 0% to 55%. Lastly, assets in the fund currently total EUR112m, before its large-scale release for sale. Characteristics: ISIN code: FR0011199371 Subscription format: Life insurance and securities trading accounts Subscription commission: Maximum 2.5% Management fees: 2% Performance commission: 20% exceeding the Eonia +5%

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The New York-based firm Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners (AIP), an affiliate of Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM), has announced the launch of the AIP Dynamic Alternative Strategies Fund, which is its first mutual fund with dail liquidity to allow access to a wide range of alternative strategies that may serve as adequate supplements to traditional investments in stocks and bonds. The fund actively uses a proprietary AIP hedge fund replication strategy whose objective is to generate returns on the basis of several underlying hedge fund strategies.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Following the Global Tactical ETF (NYSE Arca ticker: GTAA), launched with AdvisorShares, the California-based asset management firm Cambria Investment Management is for the first time entering the ETF market alone with the Cambria Shreholder Yield ETF (SYLD), which will invest primarily in shares in US businesses which offer high returns to shareholders, a product which charges fees of 0.59%, Index Universe reports. The next three products in the new range will be the Cambria Foreign Shareholder Yield ETF (FYLD), with fees of 0.69%, investing in businesses in developed countries which also offer high returns to shareholders, the Cambria Emerging Shareholder Yield ETF (EYLD), which invests in the corresponding shares of the S&P Emerging Market Broad Market Index. This fund also charges a TER of 0.69%. Lastly, Cambria is preparing the Cambria Global Income and Currency Strategies ETF (FXFX), with a TER of 0.79%, which invests in major international currencies.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Monyx has recruited Stefan Åsbrink as a fund manager, according to a statement from the Swedish asset management firm, which has SEK24bn, or EUR2.8bn, in assets under management. Åsbrink becomes responsible of management for the Swedish equity fund Monyx Svenska Aktier. Åsbrink previously served as CIO of Valbay International, strategist and hedge fund manager at DnB NOR Asset Management, CIO and head of asset allocation at Skandia, and senior hedge fund manager at SEB Asset Management. Monyx has also recruited Maria Schäder as head of the institutional market, according to the Swedish website Fondbranschen.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } State Street Corporation announced on May 14 that it has been appointed to service Saudi NCB Capital’s first ever UCITS platform in Ireland. State Street will provide a range of fund administration and custody services including; fund accounting, financial reporting, shareholder services, transfer agency, trustee and global sub-custody. NCB Capital, Saudi Arabia’s largest wealth manager is the first Saudi institution to establish a non-Saudi registered range of funds in Ireland. The firm is launching two funds on this new platform - the NCB Capital Saudi Arabian Equity Fund and the NCB Capital GCC Equity Fund. The objective of the two funds is to generate long-term capital growth by investing in listed companies in the Saudi Arabian and Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) markets, in line with Shariah guidelines and UCITS regulations. The two Shariah-compliant funds will be marketed internationally in conjunction with Amundi and will focus on institutional investors in Europe and Asia. The firm already manages the world’s largest Shariah compliant family of funds and the world’s largest Shariah compliant fund with assets under management of USD3.93 billion.

Investors are positioning themselves for slower growth in China and prolonged low inflation – sending commodities allocations to a four-year low, according to the BofA Merrill Lynch Fund Manager Survey for May. An overall total of 231 panelists with USD661 billion of assets under management participated in the survey from 3 May to 9 May.A quarter of the respondents to May’s survey say that a hard landing in China and a commodity collapse is their number one “tail risk”, an increase from 18 percent in April. A net 8 percent of fund managers in Japan, Asia-Pacific Rim and Global Emerging Markets expect China’s economy to weaken over the next 12 months, compared with a net 9 percent saying it would strengthen a month ago.Panelists are sending strong signals that they see little threat of inflation. A net 30 percent expect global core inflation to rise over the coming year – down from a net 45 percent last month. Accordingly, the proportion of investors expecting short-term interest rates to rise has fallen to a net 14 percent from a net 32 percent in April.Investors have responded by reducing allocations to commodities and emerging markets and upping allocations to bonds. A net 29 percent of global asset allocators are underweight commodities – an increase from a net 11 percent in March and the lowest reading since December 2008. A net 17 percent of asset allocators remain underweight energy stocks. The proportion of global investors overweight emerging market equities has plummeted to a net 3 percent from a net 34 percent in March. A net 38 percent of the panel is underweight bonds, down from a net 50 percent in April.“May’s Fund Manager Survey demonstrates a clear exit from China and assets connected to China – in the shape of commodities and emerging market equities. But it’s worth noting that investors are keeping faith in global growth,” said Michael Hartnett, chief investment strategist at BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research. “We see signs that Europe is the region investors are watching. They are increasingly aware of cheap valuations in European stocks, and concerns over sovereign risk in the region are dissipating,” said John Bilton, European investment strategist.Belief in the bull run in Japanese equities remains strong. Allocations to Japanese equities are at their highest since May 2006 with a net 31 percent of global asset allocators overweight Japanese equities. That is up sharply from a net 20 percent overweight in April.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Assets under management at Julius Baer as of the end of April totalled CHF220bn, up 16% compared with the end of December 2012, according to a statement released on 15 March. This total includes CHF24bn related to the acquisition still in process of the international wealth management activities of Merrill Lynch, a statement says. In the next two years, assets under management recuperated from the acquisition of the wealth management activities of Merrill Lynch are expected to reach a total of CHF57bn to CHF72bn. Excluding Merrill Lynch, Julius Baer has posted net subscriptions, whose total has not been disclosed, but which is slightly above the firm’s mid-term annual predictions. The increase in assets under management is also related to the good performance of the markets and a positive currency effect. Despite work to integrate the activities of Merrill Lynch, the cost/income ratio improved to less than 70%, from 71.6% in the second half of 2012.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The fund of hedge fund management firm Altex Partners, a company founded by Carlos Dexeus, Guillermo Zunzunegui and Enrique Bailly Bailliere, has received a license from the CMV to provide portfolio management and advising services, Funds People reports. Alte has also received its first portfolio management mandates, some of which are for UCITS hedge funds, and others for direct investments in bonds and equities.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Esemplia, the emerging market affiliate of Legg Mason Global Asset Management, has recruited Samantha Ho of Invesco as head of Chinese and Hong Kong equities, Citywire Global reports. The asset management firm had already recruited a big name earlier this year, in the person of Steven Triantifilidis, former head of global equities at Vontobel. Ho, based in Hong Kong, joined the firm at the end of April.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Danske Invest has been working since 2004 with Aberdeen Asset Management, which manages the Danske Invest Global Emerging Markets and Danske Invest Global Emerging Markets Small Cap funds, among others. To protect current investors and to confront high levels of capital inflows, the bank has intoduced front-end fees of 3% for the two funds, Fondbranschen reports.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The German firm Allianz Global Investors has announced the launch of the Luxembourg fund Allianz Europe Equity Growth Select, a new product in its “growth” European equity fund range (EUR9.93bn), managed by a team led by Thorsten Winkelmann and Matthias Born. The conviction-based portfolio is constructed through stock-picking (bottom up), without the constraint of a benchmark, and will include only 30 to 45 positions, on shares in European businesses whose minimal market capitalisation is set at EUR5bn. The strategy has no active geographical allocation, and the fund will always be fully invested and will not use derivatives. ISIN codes: I shares: LU0908554339 A shares: LU0908554255 P shares: LU0920783882 Management fees: I shares: 0.75% A shares: 1.5% P shares: 0.75% Administration fee I shares: 0.2% A shares: 0.3% P shares: 0.2%

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The deputy executive mayor of Shanghai, Tu Guangshao, has been appointed as chairman of the Chinese sovereign fund China Investment Corporation (CIC) which manages assets of USD410bn, according to Asian Investor, citing local media. Tu is expected to be granted more liberty in terms of allocation. His appointment comes two months after the former CIC chairman, Lu Jiwei, became the Chinese finance minister.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The wealth management unit of UBS in Florida about one month ago recruited two experienced wealth managers from Merrill Lynch (Bank of America group), Robert Harrigan and Scott Parker, finews reports. The two specialists arrive with their entire teams (Scott Parker Junior, Chris Pendrak, Sean Riley, Crystal Burls and Katiria Rodriguez), to serve ultra-high net worth (UHNW) clients, and will be based in Fort Lauderdale. UBS states that relationship managers for UNHW clients manage about USD545m.

Assets under management at the Asset Management unit of the Allianz group as of the end of March totalled EUR1.934bn, up 17% from the end of December 2012, according to a statement released on 15 May. Of this total, third party assets under management totalled EUR1.517bn, compared with EUR1.266bn as of the end of December.External net inflows for the quarter totalled EUR42.6bn, compared with EUR23.5bn previously.Earnings for the Asset Management unit totalled EUR1.9bn, up 32.8% compared with first quarter 2012, and operating profits totalled EUR900m, up 46.8% compared with first quarter 2012. The cost/income ratio improved to 52.9% from 57.4%.Net profits for the insurance group rose 24%, to EUR1.7bn.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) in first quarter 2013 posted net inflows of GBP224m, after outflows of GBP379m for the year 2012 overall. In first quarter 2012 alone, outflows totalled GBP495.4m. Assets under management totalled GBP570bn as of the end of March 2013, up 5% compared with the end of December 2012.

CVC Credit Partners choisit la Bourse pour lancer son dernier véhicule, centré sur le high yield (dette à haut rendement), rapporte L’Agefi. L'équipe de gestion de dette du fonds anglo-saxon CVC Capital Partners a annoncé hier vouloir lever 300 millions d’euros sur le London Stock Exchange, a priori d’ici à un mois. Le fonds investira dans la dette senior, de second lien, mezzanine et obligataire, en primaire comme en secondaire. Il vise 25 à 40 sociétés ayant un Ebitda supérieur à 75 millions d’euros, et à 70% minimum en Europe occidentale. CVC Credit Partners vise un rendement annualisé net de frais de gestion de 8 à 12 %, incluant un dividende annualisé de 5%.

L’allemand Allianz Global Investors a annoncé le lancement du fonds luxembourgeois Allianz Europe Equity Growth Select, nouveau produit dans sa gamme de fonds «croissance» actions européennes (9,93 milliards d’euros), géré par une équipe que dirigent Thorsten Winkelmann et Matthias Born. Le portefeuille de conviction constitué par sélection de titres (bottom-up), sans contrainte d’indice de référence, comprendra seulement entre 30 et 45 lignes, des actions de sociétés européennes dont la capitalisation boursière minimale est fixée à 5 milliards d’euros. La stratégie n’a pas d’allocation géographique active, le fonds sera toujours complètement investi et n’utilisera pas de dérivés.Codes ISIN Part I : LU0908554339 Part A : LU0908554255 Part P : LU0920783882 Frais de gestion : Part I : 0,75 % Part A : 1,5 % Part P : 0,75 % Frais administratifs (administration fee) Part I : 0,2 % Part A : 0,3 % Part P : 0,2 %

La prochaine source de croissance du secteur des hedge funds sont les investisseurs particuliers du marché des mutual funds selon Citigroup, qui prédit que les actifs retail vont plus que tripler à 940 milliards de dollars sur les quatre prochaines années, contre 305 milliards de dollars fin 2012. La tendance est une convergence de deux thèmes : les sociétés de gestion traditionnelles qui cherchent des produits à forte marge en réponse à la concurrence des ETF ; et les hedge funds en quête d’une nouvelle source de capital.

State Street Corporation a annoncé le 14 mai avoir été sélectionné par le gestionnaire de fortune saoudien NCB Capital pour des services d’investissement portant sur sa première plateforme UCITS en Irlande. State Street fournira une gamme de services d’administration de fonds et de conservation de titres comprenant la comptabilité de fonds, le reporting financier, les services aux actionnaires, des services d’agent de transfert, de dépositaire et de sous-dépositaire mondial.NCB Capital est la première institution saoudienne à établir en Irlande une gamme de fonds non-domiciliée dans son pays d’origine. L’entreprise lance deux fonds sur cette nouvelle plateforme – le NCB Capital Saudi Arabian Equity Fund et le NCB Capital GCC Equity Fund. « Ces deux fonds ont pour objectif la croissance du capital à long terme en investissant dans des sociétés cotées sur les marchés saoudien et du Conseil de coopération du Golfe (GCC), en conformité avec les directives de la Charia et la réglementation UCITS », rappelle un communiqué.Les deux fonds « Shariah compliant » seront commercialisés à l’échelle internationale en coopération avec Amundi et seront destinés aux investisseurs institutionnels en Europe et en Asie. NCB Capital affiche 3,9 milliards de dollars d’actifs sous gestion.

En 2007, Merrill Lynch prédisait que les encours des fonds 130/30, alors en vogue, atteindraient 1.000 milliards de dollars d’ici à 2012, rappelle le Financial Times fund management. Plus fort encore, Tabb Group tablait sur 2.000 milliards de dollars d’ici à 2010.Malheureusement pour eux et pour les fournisseurs de ces produits, Lipper ne recensait fin 2012 que 31 fonds 130/30 en Europe et aux Etats-Unis pour un encours total de 9 milliards de dollars, en deçà des sommets de 9,4 milliards de dollars en 2010 et 66 fonds en 2008.Les observateurs attribuent cet échec cuisant à la crise financière, qui a fourni un environnement hostile à ce nouveau concept. Si tel est le cas, le FT fm pose la question de savoir si les 130/30 pourraient prospérer dans un environnement « plus normal ». Certains semblent y croire encore.

Le pôle gestion de fortune d’UBS en Floride a recruté voici un mois environ deux gestionnaires de fortune chevronnés de Merrill Lynch (groupe Bank of America), Robert Harrigan et Scott Parker, rapporte finews. Ces deux spécialistes arrivent avec toute leur équipe (Scott Parker Junior, Chris Pendrak, Sean Riley, Crystal Burls et Katiria Rodriguez), pour servir la clientèle de particuliers très haut de gamme (UNHW) et seront basés à Fort-Lauderdale.UBS précise que les chargés de clientèle (relationship managers) pour les UNHW gèrent environ 545 millions de dollars.

La société d’investissement Wendel a fait état d’un chiffre d’affaires pour le 1er trimestre 2013 consolidé de 1,563 milliards d’euros, en hausse de 3 %, dont 2,1% de croissance organique. La société a enregistré, le 24 avril, une amélioration de son rating par S&P à BB+, perspective stable. Selon Frédéric Lemoine, son président du directoire, «la vaste refonte de la structure financière de Wendel, lui permet aujourd’hui de viser dans les quatre prochaines années un retour au statut d’Investment Grade. Parallèlement, a t-il ajouté, Wendel entend investir environ deux milliards d’euros, répartis entre l’Europe, l’Amérique du Nord et l’Afrique, voire d’autres zones à forte croissance. »