P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } One week after announcing the acquisition of Artio Global Investors (see Newsmanagers of 15 February), Aberdeen Asset Management has announced that it has issued a perpetual bond of USD500m on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).The issue is intended to refinance a USD400m loan at 7.9%, taken out in May 2007, the firm says, adding that it counts as equity on the balance sheet.Bill Rattray, CFO, says that the deal will allow Aberdeen to reduce the interest rate it paid on its perpetual bonds in 2007 by nearly one percentage point. The issue has been oversubscribed, which allowed Aberdeen to increase the volume to USD500m, from USD400m.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The British Financial Services Authority (FSA) is currently in talks with asset managers about ways to more effectively carry out closures of funds to new investors, Investment Week reports. The regulator is considering a more flexible application of the laws which govern fund closures, to allow managers to act more rapidly and thus to better protect the interests of existing investors.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Paul Trickett, head of the global portfolio solutions group at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, has left the firm, Financial News reports. This is the most recent change at the British asset management firm. GSAM has seen 11 departures in the past 12 months including February, according to the Financial Services Authority.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Although her photo still appears on the website of Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) as head of equities, Jane Coffey is said to have left the firm after 11 years, Fundweb reports. The departure follows a decision to passively manage the Far East (GBP487.4m) and Japan growth (GBP299.8m) funds, which had previously been managed actively, as well as GBP360m in mandates for these regions. The managers, Edward Chana and Honathan McClure, have already left RLAM.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Information provided to investors in the United Kingdom by asset management firms are sometimes partial and inaccurate, according to the British firm Chelsea Financial Services. The head of research at the discount broker, Juliet Schooling Latter, says that the effort required to find appropriate information about some funds can be a quest, Fund Web reports. “Some information documents are three or six months old, the identity of the manager isn’t right, the level of assets under management isn’t right, etc.,” the head says. Latter also says that Scottish Widows presents “more misleading” information documents, but also observes that NatWest and Santander Asset Management tend to leave their clients in the lurch and do not facilitate access to their information documents. Scottish Widows says it has repositioned its equity activities in the past few months, which has involved “significant changes” to information documents. Integrating these modifications is underway. A spokesperson for Santander, meanwhile, denied the claims of Chelsea, stating that the comments of its partner advisers do not at all correspond to the criticisms formulated by Chelsea. NatWest, for its part, declined to comment on Chelsea’s criciticisms, as it does not know the process used by Chelsea or the time spent on the research. The British investment management association (IMA) has said that the key investor information document (KIID) required by the British Financial Services Authority (FSA) for UCITS products includes all information necessary for an investor to take an informed decision. The association adds tht the publication of additional documents, for example, information files, is not a legal requirement. This additional range is often related to interest expressed by investors.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The CNMV has issued a registration for the LFP Rendement Global 2018 fund from La Française Asset Management (LFAM), according to a statement from the French asset management firm, relayed by Funds People.Augusto Martín, MD of LFAM for the Iberian peninsula, says that net returns on commissions at maturity will total 5.7% ultimately, with a duration of 2.2, due to a large portion of the high yield bonds in the portfolio carrying coupons of over 8%, which provides a comfortable cushion in case of a market fall.

Renaissance Asset Managers (RAM) has soft-closed its Sub-Saharan Fund at USD150 million of client assets to preserve liquidity and help protect stakeholders’ interests. The fund has attracted USD40 million of inflows since the start of 2013, largely from UK and European investors, and more than doubled in size last year. Existing clients, including fund provider platforms, will be able to add to their holdings until the fund reaches capacity, around USD200 million.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Fundweb reports on 25 February that Henderson Global Investors (HGI) last week launched a non-UCITS retail hedge fund, the Henderson Diversified Alternatives fund, which will be available on the Fudelity FundsNetwork platform.The Luxembourg-registered product, managed by Paul Craig, will invest indirectly in several alternative asset classes, such as real estate, commodities and hedge funds, primarily via investment trusts and investment companies. The portfolio may be invested in private equity, direct timber, infrastructure, utilities, renewable energies and reinsurance.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Deutsche Börse on 25 February announced that it has admitted a 1,024th ETF to trading on the XTF segment of its Xetra electronic trading platform, the db x-trackers Nikkei 225 UCITS ETF (DR). It is a Luxembourg-registered, physical replication equity product, which tracks the Nikkei Stock Average Index.CharacteristicsName: db X-trackers Nikkei 225 UCITS ETF (DR)ISIN code: LU0839027447TER: 0.50%

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Swiss wealth managers would be diversely affected by a discontinuation of sales commissions in Switzerland, according to analysts at Morgan Stanley. A total discontinuation of all commissions from all wealth management clients would reduce total income at Julius Baer by about 6%, as pre-tax profits would be reduced by 12%, according to estimates by Morgan Stanley. For UBS and Credit Suisse, the impact would be about 2% on income at both groups, and 6% and 7% respectively for pre-tax profits.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } China will allow brokerage firms, insurance companies and private fund managers to launch retail funds via their asset management affiliates, Financial Times Fund Management reports, citing an article in Ignites Asia. Previously, fund management firms had been the only actors allowed to operate in China, but from 1 June, that will change.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Julien Jacquet has left Fidelity Paris, as reported by Newsmanagers earlier this year (31 January 2013). The former director of sales to banks at the US firm in early February joined Oyster Funds, the fund division of the private bank Syz & Co, which sells the Oyster range. He now serves as co-head of commercial development for France and Monaco. Jacquet is based in Paris, and works alongside Aude Dhuivonroux. Jacquet replaces Denis Chasteauneuf, who has left the firm. Assets in the Oyster sicav total nearly EUR4bn.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } On 25 February, the main market of the London Stock Exchange (LSE) admitted its first ETF of Russian bonds to trading, the FinEx Tradable Russian Corporate Bonds UCITS ETF. The Irish-registered, UCITS-compliant product was released by FinEX ETF (an arm of FinEx Capital Management), and replicates the Barclays EM Tradable Russian Corporate Bond index. The portfolio is invested in high quality and good liquidity bonds issued by Russian businesses, denominated in US dollars, euros, pounds sterling or Swiss france. Simon Luhr, managing partner and CEO of FinEx CM, has announced that FinEx is planning to list ETFs on stock markets in emerging countries in future, in order to offer these markets western type products and providing western investors with access to emerging economies.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } BlueBay Asset Management, an asset management firm specialised in fixed income and alternative management, has recruited Staffan Kampe as head of sales for the Northern Europe region, Fondbranschen reports. He joins from Lyxor Asset Management, where he had been head of institutional sales for Scandinavia. He had previously held a similar position at SEB.

Growth in assets under management (AUM) should be higher in the years to come in emerging Asia (China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand) than in mature markets such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea, Fitch Ratings expects. The Asian region has a large and growing middle class population with a low penetration of managed products at 5% of total financial assets on average compared with 15% in western countries.During the past few years, growth has been higher in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand and in the institutional segment compared with Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea. Unlike other countries in emerging Asia, China has suffered from its equity focus in a five-year bear market and an under-developed debt market until recently. Nevertheless, Fitch believes that a stabilisation/rise in equity markets and recent regulatory initiatives to expand Chinese capital markets will allow the gap to be closed in the next few years. «East Asia represents a growth opportunity for international asset managers but distribution in the region is not straightforward,» says Aymeric Poizot, Managing Director in Fitch’s Fund and Asset Manager Rating Group. «The cross-border wealth management and institutional segments are very competitive, while in retail, large consumer banks dominate distribution in most countries -making distribution agreements critical.»

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Thomas Richter, CEO of the German BVI association of asset management firms, claims that compliance with EMIR derivatives regulation will cost businesses in the industry tens of millions of euros, the Börsen-Zeitung reports.At Universal-Investment, where 20 people, or 5% of personnel, have been mobilised to prepare compliance with EMIR, it is estimated that 45% of funds in the range (700 institutional funds and 400 open-ended funds) will be affected. At DWS (Deutsche Bank), EMIR will affect about 70 funds.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The Italian financial stability law, which exempts ethical or socially responsible products and services from the financial transaction tax, has led the Italian sustainable finance forum (Forum per la Finanza Sostenibile, www.finanzasostenibile.it) to consider the question of shared definition of this concept, and to “study the possibility of suggesting minimal criteria,” Plus, the money supplement of Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. Some are concerned that funds will adopt a socially responsible label merely in order to avoid the tax. But the definition of minimal criteria is complex.

Le luxembourgeois Schroder Investment Management SA a indiqué qu’il a repris depuis le 19 février la vente des 7 différentes classes de parts en dollars et en euros du compartiment US Small & Mid-Cap Equity de la sicav Schroder ISF géré par Jenny Jones depuis New York. Ce fonds était «hard-closé» depuis 2011 où il avait atteint 4,5 milliards de dollars, ce qui s’est traduit par une baisse progressive de ses encours.Schroders a également rouvert le fonds US Mid Cap destiné au marché britannique et dont l’encours représente 847 millions de livres.

Le spécialiste du fixed income ECM Asset Management vient de lancer un fonds de performance absolue dédié au marché européen du crédit, rapporte Citywire;L’objectif principal de ce fonds alternatif, ECM Absolute Return Credit Fund, domicilié au Luxembourg, sera la préservation du capital, ainsi qu’un rendement correspondant à l’Euribor + 4% par an net de commissions. Le fonds sera majoritairement investi sur le marché européen du crédit. Il sera codirigé par le gérant Derek Hynes et Ross Pamphilon, co-CIO de la société.

Malgré les démentis, l’action Deutsche Börse a fini en hausse de 5,36% lundi à 49,05 euros après avoir gagné plus de 12% en séance, à la suite d’une dépêche Bloomberg évoquant une approche du Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). «Deutsche Börse n’est pas en négociations pour une fusion avec CME Group», a indiqué la Bourse allemande.Selon L’Agefi, le fusion transatlantique entre le CME et son homologue allemand associerait les deux plus grandes Bourses de futures de part et d’autre de l’Atlantique. Si d’aventure les discussions avec le CME devaient aboutir, les services de la concurrence de Joaquin Almunia à Bruxelles auraient cependant matière à faire leur examen de conscience. Un an après le veto au mariage de Nyse Euronext et de Deutsche Börse, les deux grands marchés boursiers de la zone euro seraient alors passés sous pavillon américain.

BlueBay Asset Management, société de gestion spécialisée dans le fixed income et dans la gestion alternative, a recruté Staffan Kampe en tant que responsable commercial pour la région du Nord de l’Europe, rapporte Fondbranschen. Il vient de Lyxor Asset Management où il était responsable commercial institutionnel pour la région nordique. Avant, il occupait un poste similaire chez SEB.

La CNMV a enregistré le fonds LFP Rendement Global 2018 de La Française Asset Management (LFAM), selon un communiqué du gestionnaire français relayé par Funds People.Augusto Martín, directeur général de LFAM pour la péninsule ibérique, précise que le rendement net de commissions se situe à l’échéance à 5,7 % avec une duration de 2,2, du fait qu’une grande partie des obligations à haut rendement en portefeuille sont assorties de coupons supérieurs à 8 %, ce qui fournit un matelas confortable en cas de chute du marché.

La société de gestion Renaissance Asset Managers (RAM) vient de fermer son fonds africain Renaissance Sub-Saharian aux nouveaux investisseurs, celui-ci ayant atteint les 150 millions de dollars d’encours. L’objectif est de préserver la liquidité et de protéger les intérêts des porteurs de parts.Les clients existants, y compris les plates-formes de fonds, pourront augmenter leurs participations jusqu’à ce que le fonds atteigne sa pleine capacité, soit autour de 200 millions de dollars. Le fonds a drainé 40 millions de dollars depuis le début 2013, principalement en provenance des investisseurs britanniques et européens et il a doublé de taille l’an dernier.En 2012, le fonds a dégagé une performance de 31,4 %.

Le 25 février, le «main market» du London Stock Exchange (LSE) a admis à la négociation son premier ETF d’obligations russes, le FinEx Tradable Russian Corporate Bonds UCITS ETF. Ce produit coordonné de droit irlandais a été lancé par FinEx ETF (émanation de FinEx Capital Management) et réplique l’indice Barclays EM Tradable Russian Corporate Bond.Le portefeuille est investi en obligations de bonne liquidité émises par des sociétés russes et libellées en dollars, euros, livres ou francs suisses.Simon Luhr, managing partner et CEO de FinEx CM, a annoncé à cette occasion que FinEx a l’intention de faire coter à l’avenir des ETF sur les Bourses de pays émergents, pour offrir sur ces marchés des produits de type occidental tout en ménageant aux investisseurs occidentaux un accès aux économies émergentes.

Paul Trickett, le responsable du groupe global portfolio solutions chez Goldman Sachs Asset Management, a quitté la société, rapporte Financial News. Il s’agit du dernier changement en date au sein de l’activité britannique de la société de gestion. GSAM a vu en effet partir 11 personnes sur les 12 mois à février, selon la Financial Services Authority.

Bien que sa photo figure encore sur le site de Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) en tant que responsable des actions (head of equities), Jane Coffey aurait quitté la société au bout de onze ans, selon Fundweb. Ce départ ferait suite à la décision de gérer passivement les fonds d’actions Far East (487,4 milllions de livres) et Japan Growth (299,8 millions de livres) qui étaient auparavant gérés de manière active, ainsi d’ailleurs que des mandats de 360 millions de livres sur ces mêmes régions. Les gérants Edward Chan et Jonathan McClure ont déjà quitté RLAM.

Une semaine après avoir fait part de l’acquisition d’Artio Global Investors (lire Newsmanagers du 15 février), Aberdeen Asset Management a annoncé l'émission d’un emprunt perpétuel de 500 millions de dollars coté sur le London Stock Exchange (LSE).Cette émission est destinée à refinancer un emprunt de 400 millions de dollars à 7,9 % lancé en mai 2007, indique la société, précisant qu’il s’agit de quasi-fonds propres.Bill Rattray, directeur financier, a souligné que cette opération permet à Aberdeen de réduire de presque un point de pourcentage le taux versé sur les obligations perpétuelles de 2007 et que l'émission a été sursouscrite, permettant d’augmenter le volume du placement à 500 millions de dollars, au lieu des 400 millions prévus.

Fundweb rapporte le 25 février que Henderson Global Investors (HGI) a lancé la semaine dernière un fonds alternatif retail «non-UCITS», le Henderson Diversified Alternatives fund, qui sera disponible sur la plate-forme Fidelity Funds Network.Ce produit de droit luxembourgeois, géré par Paul Craig, sera investi indirectement dans plusieurs classes d’actifs alternatifs comme l’immobilier, les matières premières et les hedge funds, principalement au travers d’investment trusts et d’investment companies. Le portefeuille pourra aussi être placé en private equity, en bois de construction, en infrastructures, dans des utilities, dans les énergies renouvelables et la réassurance.

Horst Schmidt, président du directoire, indique dans un entretien avec la Börsen-Zeitung que les actifs gérés par la banque privée allemande Bethmann Bank (groupe ABN Amro) ont atteint 22 milliards d’euros fin 2012 contre 19 milliards fin 2011 et 11 milliards fin 2008.Ce gonflement est attribuable à l’effet de marché, à la croissance organique et à l’acquisition des activités de LGT en Allemagne, une opération qui a fait basculer l’établissement francfortois dans le rouge pour 2012.Pour 2013, Bethmann devrait afficher un résultat meilleur que celui de 2011.

La Deutsche Börse a annoncé le 25 février l’admission à la négociation d’un 1024ème ETF sur le segment XTF de sa plate-forme électronique Xetra, le db X-trackers Nikkei 225 UCITS ETF (DR). Il s’agit d’un produit actions de droit luxembourgeois en réplication physique, qui suit le Nikkei Stock Average Index.Caractéristiques :Dénomination : db X-trackers Nikkei 225 UCITS ETF (DR)Code Isin : LU0839027447TFE : 0,50 %