Depuis le 1er octobre, Jean-Luc Hivert gère le fonds LFP R2P Global Credit, un produit créé le 17 septembre qui concrétise le partenariat conclu en juin avec S&P Capital IQ : il s’agit en effet du premier compartiment de la SICAV LFP S&P Capital IQ Fund domiciliée au Luxembourg.Ce fonds coordonné (OPCVM IV) de 150/200 lignes investi sur les marchés mondiaux des obligations d’entreprises pèse déjà environ 70 millions de dollars et s’appuie sur la stratégie R2P (risk to price) développée par S&P Capital IQ, qui consiste à surperformer l’indice Barclays Global Aggregate Corporate Hedge $ ou € en s’exposant à des titres des priincipales zones géographiques (90 % minimum en catégorie investissement) en couvrant systématiquement le risque de change.L’originalité de la méthodologie R2P consiste à fournir des notes résultant au numérateur du risque de marché (spread divisé par la volatilité du prix des obligations) et au dénominateur du risque de crédit (probabilité de défaut).La Française, qui affiche 5,4 milliards d’euros d’encours dans des fonds obligataires ouverts, sélectionne sur la base de l’analyse S&P Capital IQ des titres à partir d’un univers liquide «éligible» de 3.000 valeurs, dans les deux premiers quartiles de chaque secteur et zone géographique. Le gestionnaire français se réserve la construction du portefeuille et l’exécution des transactions.Caractéristiques :Dénomination : LFP R2P Global CreditCode Isin : LU08115675656 (part I)Première souscription : 0,5 million d’eurosDroit d’entrée : 3 % maximumFrais courants : 0,85 %

Union Bancaire Gestion Institutionnelle, société française du groupe suisse Union Bancaire Privée, et Fédéris Gestion d’Actifs, lancent un fonds responsable d’obligations convertibles européennes, Convertibles Europe Responsable.Concrètement, le produit est géré par l’équipe obligations convertibles d’UBI, constituée de cinq spécialistes et deux gérants. Et Fédéris Gestion d’Actifs apporte son savoir-faire en matière d’analyse ISR, qui porte sur un univers de 1.700 valeurs."La sélection des obligations convertibles répond aux critères environnementaux, sociaux et de gouvernance (ESG) avec l’objectif de bénéficier d’un portefeuille ayant une notation ISR supérieure à celle de son indice de référence, l’indice UBS Global Convertibles Indices Europe Hedged (EUR)», indique un communiqué.Le fonds investit au minimum les deux tiers de ses actifs dans des obligations convertibles et assimilées. La fourchette de sensibilité globale du fonds aux taux d’intérêt est comprise entre 0 et 6. L’exposition maximale aux marchés d’actions peut atteindre 100% de l’actif net avec une exposition moyenne comprise entre 10% et 60%. La performance du fonds pourra être comparée à la performance de l’indice UBS Global Convertibles Indices Europe Hedged (EUR) qui est calculée coupons et/ou dividendes réinvestis.

Le pôle Global Wealth Management de Morgan Stanley a dégagé au troisième trimestre un résultat avant impôts de 239 millions de dollars contre 356 millions de dollars pour le troisième trimestre 2011, selon les chiffres publiés le 18 octobre. Les produits nets du trimestre sont demeurés stables à 3,3 milliards de dollars contre 3,2 milliards de dollars précédemment.La collecte du trimestre s’est élevée à 7,5 milliards de dollars et les actifs sous générateurs de commissions s'établissaient fin septembre à 556 millions de dollars, soit 31% du total des actifs de la clientèle. Côté gestion d’actifs, le résultat avant impôts s’est inscrit à 198 millions de dollars, à comparer à une perte de 118 millions au troisième trimestre 2011. Les produits nets du troisième trimestre 2012 ont atteint 631 millions de dollars contre 205 millions de dollars un an plus tôt. Les actifs sous gestion ou sous supervision du pôle Asset Management s'établissaient fin septembre à 331 milliards de dollars contre 268 milliards de dollars un an plus tôt. La collecte nette s’est élevée à 10,8 milliards de dollars durant le trimestre, à comparer à une décollecte nette de 5,8 milliards de dollars au troisième trimestre 2011. Morgan Stanley a par ailleurs fait état d’une perte part du groupe de 1 milliard de dollars à comparer à un bénéfice de 2,2 milliards de dollars un an plus tôt.

Le fonds de pension californien CalPERS vient d’annoncer la nomination de Cheryl Eason au poste nouvellement créé de chief financial officer (directeur financier).Cheryk Eason travaillait précédemment pour le fonds de pension canadien British Columbia Pension Corporation en qualité de vice président. Dans ses nouvelles fonctions, elle sera notamment responsable de la planification financière, de la gestion des risque, du budget et des opérations de trésorerie.

De 13,77 milliards de dollars fin 2011, le gestionnaire obligataire américain Muzinich & Co est passé à 19,5 milliards de dollars fin septembre, dont 10,6 milliards pour ses fonds coordonnés qui ont collecté en net 3,5 milliards durant les neuf premiers mois de l’année. Selon son directeur général, Eric Pictet, le bureau de Paris a contribué à ces souscriptions nettes à hauteur de plus d’un milliard de dollars.D’une manière générale, les encours du groupe proviennent dans une proportion de 90 à 92 % de clients européens.La collecte de cette année a reposé pour plus de la moitié sur le fonds Short Duration High Yield lancé le 4 octobre 2010, qui atteint 5,1 milliards de dollars d’encours et a drainé à lui seul 2,5 milliards de dollars de «net new money», comme l’a expliqué lors d’une présentation à Paris le gérant David Bowen.Actuellement, le portefeuille de ce fonds compte 170 lignes de 135 émetteurs, avec une duration modifiée (duration to worst ou DTW) moyenne de 1,3 an (la DTW moyenne du marché du haut rendement se situe plutôt à 3,8 ans). Le fonds permet donc, en sacrifiant 1,5 point de rendement, de raccourcir l’exposition de 2 ans et demi.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management lance en Italie le JPM Italy Flexible Bond Fund, un fonds principalement investi en obligations souveraines italiennes, rapporte le site italien Fondionline. Sa gestion a été confiée à l’équipe Global Fixed Income.Le lancement de ce fonds est né du constat que les Italiens ont une forte propension à investir dans la dette de leur pays.L’objectif du fonds est de permettre aux souscripteurs d’obtenir une performance supplémentaire d’environ 2 % brut annuel par rapport à l’indice des titres gouvernementaux italiens à 1/3 ans. La partie stable du portefeuille est investie aussi bien en CCT qu’en BTP et le gérant a la possibilité d’investir dans d’autres stratégies au sein du paysage obligataire mondial qui misent sur la duration, la courbe des taux, les devises, les différentiels entre titres de différents pays et les secteurs.

Le spécialiste de la gestion alternative Man Group a terminé le troisième trimestre sur une décollecte de 2,2 milliards de dollars, en augmentation par rapport au chiffre de 1,4 milliard de dollars observé au deuxième trimestre. Cette évolution est due à des rachats qui ont touché les produits long only de GLG ainsi que les fonds de fonds institutionnels.Cela dit, les actifs sous gestion de Man se sont accrus de 14% au troisième trimestre à 60 milliards de dollars grâce à l’acquisition de FRM qui a représenté un encours supplémentaire de 8,3 milliards de dollars. Les fonds alternatifs de GLG ont enregistré une décollecte nette de 400 millions de dollars, compensée par des effets marchés et devises positifs.

Les actifs sous gestion de Jupiter Fund Management ont progressé au troisième trimestre à 25 milliards de livres contre 23,3 milliards de livres à fin juin 2012, selon les chiffres communiqués le 18 octobre par la société de gestion.Deux facteurs expliquent cette évolution : la collecte nette qui s’est élevée sur les trois mois à fin septembre à 579 millions de livres grâce notamment aux souscriptions dans les fonds ouverts au public (près de 800 millions de livres), et l’effet marché positif qui a représenté plus de 1 milliard de livres. Jupiter précise toutefois que la collecte a été freinée par la perte d’un mandat sur les actions britanniques ainsi que par la liquidation du portefeuille d’un client privé qui avait déjà été réduit au premier trimestre.

Avec le Multi-Asset Income Fund (20 gérants) et le Multi-Asset Growth Fund (55 gérants), Russell Investments lance un produit pour les investisseurs désireux de s’assurer un revenu stable durant leur retraite, d’une part, et un produit pour ceux qui souhaitent la performance du marché des actions avec seulement les deux tiers de la volatilité de cette classe d’actifs, d’autre part.Le Multi-Asset Income Fund se fixe comme référence le taux de la Banque d’Angleterre, plus 400 points de base et la commission de gestion se situe à 1,50 % pour la classe de parts A, 0,75 % pour la classe de part C.Pour le Mutli-Asset Growth Fund, la référence est l’indice des prix à la consommation britannique plus 450 points de base. Les commissions de gestion sont également de 1,50 % pour les parts A et de 0,75 % pour les parts C.

Les fusions-acquisitions au sein du secteur des services financiers en Europe ont fortement augmenté au deuxième trimestre 2012, selon PwC. La dernière édition de l'étude de PwC, Sharing Deal Insight, révèle que l’activité de fusions-acquisitions est en hausse de 31% et s'établit à 12,7 milliards d’euros au deuxième trimestre 2012, contre 9,7 milliards d’euros au trimestre précédent, soit presque le double des 6,7 milliards d’euros enregistrés au deuxième trimestre 2011. Le nombre de transactions a également connu sa première augmentation en deux ans et comprend un certain nombre d’acquisitions stratégiques transfrontalières. La valeur totale des transactions au premier semestre 2012 s'élève à 22,4 milliards d’euros, soit une progression de 36% en comparaison avec les 16,5 milliards d’euros enregistrés en glissement annuel.Au delà de l’important plan de sauvetage bancaire européen (reprise pour 4,5milliards d’euros de 45% de Bankia par le gouvernement espagnol, cession de certains actifs de Dexia), le trimestre a connu d’autres signes encourageants de reprise des transactions. Deux importantes transactions stratégiques d’une valeur supérieure à 1 milliard d’euros ont été annoncées au cours du trimestre. Elles concernent des acquisitions transfrontalières qui ont impliqué des acheteurs russes et chinois: l’acquisition pour 2,8 milliards d’euros de la banque turque, filiale de Dexia, Denizbank, par la plus grande banque russe, Sberbank, et l’annonce de la vente du London Metal Exchange pour un montant de 1,7 milliard d’euros à Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing.Le secteur de l’assurance a également connu quelques transactions significatives au cours du trimestre. En valeur, celles-ci se sont inscrites en hausse de 22% par rapport au trimestre précédent, passant de 0,9 milliard d’euros à 1,1 milliard d’euros au travers notamment de certaines cessions réalisées par Groupama dans le cadre du recentrage de ses activités sur la France.La plus forte activité a été enregistrée par le Royaume-Uni avec 48 transactions contre 33 au premier trimestre 2012. Il était suivi par la Russie avec 21 transactions (contre 16 au premier trimestre) dont 12 liées au secteur bancaire, l’Espagne avec 13 transactions (12 au premier trimestre) et l’Italie avec 12 transactions (3 au premier trimestre).

The Luxembourg Sicav Alma Capital Investment Funds (an affiliate of the French firm Alma Capital), which already has a sub-fund with USD23m managed by Shenkman Capital Management since the end of 2011 (see Newsmanagers of 16 December 2011), has added a new UCITS IV-compliant managed by the US firm DoubleLine, led by Jeff Gundlach, entitled Alma DoubleLine Core Plus Bond. The fund will open for subscriptions on 22 October.The fund will invest in a wide range of bond and mortgage-backed securities (MBS), a market in which the managers at DoubleLine (USD45bn in assets) are specialised, and which accounts for slightly over one third of assets for the strategy, government bonds, and corporate bonds from the US and other developed and emerging countries.With the new fund, which will have about 330 positions, DoubleLine will provide European investors with a choice of management similar to its Core Plus strategy (nearly USD3bn), which it already offers to US clients in the form of mandates or mutual funds, with the Aston Core Plus (USD169.8m) fund and a RiverNorth fund, Loren Fleckenstein, a research analyst at the US firm, explains to Newsmanagers.The strategy combines dynamic allocation on the basis of fundamental analysis of the various sectors with rigorous stock-picking. The idea is to construct a portfolio which “performs” well in all market situations, while, according to Gundlach, “you can only make money in bonds slowly, while you may lose it very fast.” DoubleLine “endeavours to take less risks for the same amount of returns.”So far, the fund is licensed only in Luxembourg, in institutional share classes. CharacteristicsName: Alma DoubleLine Core Plus BondISIN code:Institutional share class USD: LU0842072844Institutional share class EUR hedged: LU0842072927Management commission: 0.85%

From USD13.77bn as of the end of 2011, the US bond management firm Muzinich & Co has increased its assets to USD19.5bn as of the end of September, including USD10.6bn for its UCITS-compliant funds, which posted net inflows of USD3.5bn in the first nine months of the year. According to the local MD, Eric Pictet, the Paris office contributed more than USD1bn to these net subscriptions.In general, 90% to 92% of assets at the group come from European clients.More than half of inflows this year have been for the Short Duration High Yield fund, launched on 4 October 2010, which has USD5.1bn in assets, and alone has attracted USD2.5bn in net new money, the manager, David Bowen, has explained at a presentation in Paris.Currently, the portfolio of the fund includes 170 holdings and 135 issuers, with a an average duration to worst (DTW) of 1.3 years (the average DTW for the high yield market is closer to 3.8 years). The fund thus, with a sacrifice of 1.5 percentage points in return, shortens duration by 2 1/2 years.

The Global Wealth Management unit at Morgan Stanley has posted pre-tax profits of USD239m, compared with USD356m in third quarter 2011, according to figures released on 18 October. Net proceeds in the quarter remained stabley at USD3.3bn, compared with USD3.2bn previously. Inflows for the quarter totalled USD7.5bn, and assets generating commissions as of the end of September totalled USD556m, equivalent to 31% of total client assets. In asset management, pre-tax profits totalled USD198m, compared with a loss of USD118m in third quarter 2011. Net proceeds in third quarter 2012 totalled USD631m, compared with USD205m one year previously. Assets under management or supervision by the Asset Management unit as of the end of September totalled USD331bn, compared with USD268bn one year previously. Net inflows totalled USD10.8bn in the quarter, compared with net outflows of USD5.8bn n third quarter 2011. Morgan Stanley has also reported a loss for the part of the group of USD1bn, compared with a profit of USD2.2bn one year previously.

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) has named Cheryl Eason as its chief financial officer (CFO), a newly created position to oversee the financial and risk management operations of the USD243 billion Pension Fund. Cheryl Eason worked most recently as vice president, Financial and Plan Board Services for the British Columbia Pension Corporation, one of the largest pension benefit administrators in Canada, and the largest in British Columbia.

The Carlyle group on 18 October announced that it has concluded its acquisition of Getty Images, a global leader in the image, film, music and online services markets. As part of a transaction valued at USD3.3bn, the Carlyle group has acquired a majority stake in the firm Getty Images. Mark Getty, co-founder and president of Getty Images, and his family, have deployed virtually all of their shares as part of the acquisition. The management team at Getty Images, and its CEO, Jonathan Klein, have also invested a significant amount in shares in the firm.

For third quarter 2012, Blackstone has posted net economic profit of USD621.75m, its best result since its initial public offering, compared with a net economic loss of USD380m in Q3-11, bringing the total for the first nine months of the year to USD1.32bn, also a new record, compared with USD1.07bn, an increase of 24%.By US-GAAP accounting standard, net profits of USD128.82m in third quarter compared with a loss of USD274.57m in the corresponding period of last year, while profits on which dividends are payable total USD189.63m, compared with USD125.74m, bringing the total for January-September to USD540.16m (+4%).Assets under management totalled USD204.55bn as of the end of September, up 30% year on year. Stephen A. Schwarzmann, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, says that gross organic inflows in the past twelve months under review totalled USD38bn, and that Blackstone has returned USD14bn to investors. All investment activities show good performance in third quarer, with 7% for private equity and 5% for real estate. The hedge fund solutions operation has posted a net inflow of USD1.7bn for July-September.

Torbjörn Olofsson is leaving the board at Brummer & Partners, and his position as a manager at Nektar Asset Management, one of the affiliates of the Swedish asset management firms, where he had spent 13 years. Olofsson had been manager of the Nektar Special Opportunity fund between 2009 and 2011.

As of 30 September, French-registered mutual funds had assets of EUR758.4bn, the most recent quarterly study from Europerformance reports, representing an increase of 2.5% over the previous 12 months, and an increase of 0.8% in third quarter 2012 alone. In this latter period, the increase is due to the returns earned over the summer on equity and bond markets, as at the same time, outflows were observed. In figures, market effects represented EUR18.3bn, while flows represented a net outflow of EUR11.4bn. Europerformance notes, however, that the trend for inflows to short-term assets which has prevailed since first quarter has slowed, in favour of some higher-risk asset classes.

Union Bancaire Gestion Institutionelle, a French firm of the Swiss Union Bancaire Privée group, and Fédéris Gestion d’Actifs, are launching a socially responsible European convertible bond fund, entitled Convertibles Europe Responsable. The product is managed by the convertible bond team at UBI, which consists of five specialists and two managers. Fédéris Gestion d’Actifs contributes its expertise in SRI analysis, to select from a universe of 1,700 securities. “The selection of convertible bonds responds to environmental, social and governance (ESG) management, with the objective of achieving a portfolio with a higher SRI rating than its benchmark index, the UBS Global Convertibles Indices Europe Hedged (EUR),” a statement says. The fund invests at least two thirds of its assets in convertible and assimilated bonds. The sensitivity range of the fund to interest rates is from 0 to 6. Maximal exposure to equity markets may be 100% of net assets, with a total average exposure of 10% to 60%. The performance of the fund may be compared with the performance of the UBS Global Convertibles Indices Europe Hedged (EUR) index, which is calculated on the basis of coupons and/or dividends reinvested.

Amundi is strengthening its range with the launch of Amundi Funds Absolute Volatility Arbitrage Plus. This UCITS IV-compliant subfund of the Luxembourg sicav Amundi Funds provides diversification and decorrelation compared to other asset classes. Amundi Funds Absolute Volatility Arbitrage Plus aims to generate an annual performance of over EONIA capitalised +4%, over a minimum investment horizon of 3 years and with a maximum risk budget of VaR8%. Eric Hermitte, the fund manager of Amundi Funds Absolute Volatility Arbitrage Plus, explains: “Within financial markets, flaws and valuation gaps can be observed and these imperfections form the core of arbitrage strategies.”In order to meet its performance target, the investment team applies different volatility arbitrage strategies in distinct asset classes.Amundi Funds Absolute Volatility Arbitrage Plus is managed by an investment team comprised of 9 professional fund managers with on average more than 12 years’ experience in volatility management. Amundi manages a broad range of volatility sub-funds, whose assets under management stood at EUR6.8 billion as at 30 September 2012. Isin : LU0722566899 Maximum subscription fee : 2,50 % for institutionnal share class , 3 % for distributorsMaximum annual management fee : 0,70 % / 1,20 % Performance fee: 15% of the cumulative performance above EONIA

Since 1 October, Jean-Luc Hivert has been managing the LFP R2P Global Credit fund, a product created on 17 September, under a partnership signed in June with S&P Capital IQ (see Newsmanagers of 22 June). It is the first sub-fund of the SICAV LFP S&P Capital IQ Fund, domiciled in Luxembourg.The UCITS IV-compliant fund, with 150/200 positions, invests in global bond markets, and already has about USD70m in assets. It is based on the risk-to-price (R2P) strategy developed by S&P Capital IQ, which aims to outperform the Barclays Global Aggregate Corporate Hedge $ or € indices with exposure to securities from the major geographical regions (at least 90% investment grade), with systematic hedging for currency risks.The originality of the R2P methodology is that it provides ratings based on a market risk numerator (spread divided by the volatility of bond prices) and a credit risk denominator (probability of default).La Française, which has EUR5.4bn in assets in open-ended bond funds, selects securities on the basis of analysis by S&P Capital IQ from a liquid universe of 3,000 “eligible” securities, in the top two quartiles for each sector and geographical region. The French asset management firm is responsible for the construction of the portfolio and the execution of transactions.CharacteristicsName: LFP R2P Global CreditISIN code: LU08115675656 (I share class)Initial subscription: EUR0.5mFront-end fee: Maximum 3%Ongoing fees: 0.85%

As of the end of September, assets in UCITS-compliant hedge funds totalled EUR134.15bn, 4% more than at the end of June, and 18.5% more than at the end of December, according to figures from the Swiss firm Alix Capital. The top three managers of UCITS-compliant single hedge funds have posted even larger increases in their assets, with 43.6% for Standard Life Investment, 29% for GAM, and 63.9% for M&G.The 20 largest fund houses have a combined total of EUR68.4bn in assets under management, equivalent to 51% of the total.Overall, Alix Capital has counted 17 launches of single strategy hedge funds in third quarter, which brings the total to 791 products, 33% of which are managed in the United Kingdom, 27% in the United States, and 20% in France, with the same amount in Germany, although 46.1% of these funds are domiciled in Luxembourg.For the first time, Alix Capital has taken into account UCITS-compliant hedge fund platforms, whose assets have increased by 14.3% since the beginning of the year, to EUR9.3bn. The largest actor in this segment is DB Platinum, with EUR2.1bn in assets.The report points out that Credit Suisse is the largest manager of UCITS-compliant funds of hedge funds, with EUR550m, 56% more than at the end of 2011.

The quality of credit from European businesses has continued to deteriorate in third quarter, as 26% of businesses in the region have a negative outlook, compared with a median of 23% in the past five years, according to estimates by Standard & Poor’s. The default rate for businesses over a twelve-month period is expected to rise slightly, to 6.3% as of the end of June 2013. The deterioration is more marked in globalised sectors of activity (technologies, metallurgy/mining). Sectors such as transport and tourism are more exposed to local conditions, particularly in peripheral countries of the euro zone. The next monetary easing measures by the ECB are expected to support liquidity and access to corporate financing, particularly in the case of refinancing on the bond markets.

With the Multi-Asset Income Fund (20 managers) and Multi-Asset Growth Fund (55 managers), Russell Investments is launching a product for investors seeking to ensure themselves a stable income in retirement, on the one hand, and a product for those seeking the performance of the equity markets with only two thirds of the volatility of that asset class, on the other.The Multi-Asset Income Fund has the Bank of England prime rate plus 400 basis points as its benchmark/target, with a management commission of 1.50% for the A share class, and 0.75% for the C share class. The Multi-Asset Growth Fund has the British consumer price index plus 450 basis points as its benchmark/target. Management commissions are also 1.50% for the A share class and 0.75% for the C share class.

On 17 October, Baring Asset Management created a new sub-fund of its Irish UCITS-compliant platform Baring Investment Funds, with the launch of the Baring Emerging Markets Corporate Debt Fund. The emerging market corporate bond fund is managed by Faisal Ali; minimal subscription is set at GBP2,500 for the retail asset class, and management commission is 1.25% per year. The product was announced a few months ago (see Newsmanagers of 21 June).The portfolio of the fund, denominated in US dollars, will be invested at least 70% in emerging market debt, and may include investment grade as well as high yield bonds, with an “innovative currency overlay.”

Standard Life Investments has launched a European corporate debt fund which will follow the principles of socially responsible investment, Citywire reports. The Luxembourg fund, European Corporate Bond Sustainable and Responsible Investing Fund, will be managed by Samantha Lamb, with the support of Craig McDonald.

Edoma Partners, the hedge fund founded in 2010 by the former Goldman Sachs manager Pierre-Henri Flamand, has lost two of its partners, Olivier Haslam and Casper Lund, the news agency Bloomberg reports. In the past twelve months, the London-based hedge fund has seen its assets halved, to USD1.17bn, according to a statement released to clients and obtained by Bloomberg.. The fund, which relies on an event-driven strategy, has lost 6.9% since its launch in November 2010, while event-driven hedge funds have gained an average of 4.6% in the same period.

In the sometimes higher-risk markets of emerging countries, traditional due diligence methods are not adapted to successful investment, according to a survey realised by mergermarket and Kroll Advisory of 50 private equity companies based in the United Kingdom. Among the obstacles cited by private equity specialists are the political environment (60%), a lack of transparency (56%) and bureaucracy (52%). Then come corruption (46%) and local infrastructure (42%). Despite these specific concerns, respondents to the survey say that they have not yet reacted appropriately to these investment obstacles in emerging countries. They say, however, that they undertake more detailed examinations of legal (100%), fiscal (945) and financial (92%) aspects, but many fewer focus on commercial (34%) or reputation (41%) issues. Emerging and frontier markets are increasingly watched by investors, who see BRIC (68%) and eastern European countries (50%) as likely to present more opportunities in the next 12 to 24 months.

Mergers and acquisitions in the financial services sector in Europe increased sharpyl in second quarter 2012, according to PwC. The most recent edition of the PwC study “Sharing Deal Insight” reveals that merger and acquisition activities rose 31% to EUR12.7bn in second quarter 2012, compared with EUR9.7bn in the previous quarter, nearly double the EUR6.7bn posted in second quarter 2011. The number of deals also saw its first increase in two years, and includes several cross-border deals. The total value of transactions in first half 2012 came to USD22.4bn, an increase of 36% compared with EUR16.5bn year on year. The most activity was in the United Kingdom, with 48 transactions, compared with 33 in first quarter 2012. This is followed by Russia, with 21 deals (compared with 16 in first quarter), of which 12 are related to the banking sector, Spain, with 12 transactions (12 in first quarter), and Italy, with 12 transactions (3 in first quarter).

Assets under management at Jupiter Fund Management have increased in third quarter to GBP25bn, from GBP23.3bn as of the end of June 2012, according to statistics released on 18 October by the asset management firm. Two factors explain this development: net inflows, which have totalled GBP579m in the three months to the end of September, largely thanks to subscriptions to open-ended funds (nearly GBP800m), and positive market effects, which represented over GBP1bn. Jupiter states, however, that inflows were slowed by the loss of a British equities mandate, and by the liquidation of a private client portfolio which had already been cut back in first quarter.