The British firm GLG, an affiliate of Man Group, is launching the UCITS-compliant long/short hedge fund GLG Financials Alternative on the Spanish market. The portfolio of the market neutral absolute return product includes 30 to 60 holdings, of financial sector equities, Funds People reports.Kyril of Saxe-Coburg, CEO of Man GLG for Spain and Portugal, says that in the past ten years the fund has earned annual returns of 9.70%, with volatility of 9.30%.
Investment Europe is reporting that Henderson has removed the possibility of limiting redemptions (known as a “gate”) for its AlphaGen Rhocas fund. The fund is part of the AlphaGen range taken over by Henderson with the acquisition of Gartmore. Paul Graham, global head of hedge funds, has announced that “gating” rules will be removed from all hedge funds except the AlphaGen Volantis, a fund specialised in British small caps. Gates have been removed for the Rhocas fund for more than a week; they will be removed from other funds gradually, at meetings of their respective boards of trustees.The manager says most hedge funds of the brand operate on deep enough markets to be encashed within three days if need be. Graham also says that some hedge funds currently in the process of being launched will allow investors a choice between share classes with or without a gate (which generally limits redemptions to 25%).
Anja Balfour, previously manager of the Aa Framlington Japan fund, has joined Martin Currie Pacific Trust, as non-executive director, Investment Week reports. The Martin Currie Pacific Trust, whose assets under management total GBP248m, is managed by Andrew Graham.
BlackRock Investment Management has launched the North American Income Trust, which will offer an annual dividend of 4%, Money Marketing reports. The trust, which will focus on US large caps, will be listed on the London Stock Exchange, and will seek to outperform the Russell 1000 Value Index.
After two years, Russell has discontinued its passively-managed ETF activity, which is symptomatic of a phenomenon now affecting the entire industry, with assets rising (+13% YTD, to USD1.7trn), but profits falling, as competition drags down prices, the Financial Times reports.Many small ETF providers are suffering losses on funds which have not been successful, and are being obliged to close down. However, large players will retain their funds which lose money, if that lets them win over clients for other products.Some asset management firms are seeking to diversify, by offering bond or commodity ETFs, while others are offering ETFs specialised on Asian markets. Lastly, some providers are turning to actively-managed ETFs, which are harder to copy, and which bring in higher commissions. However, with the exception of actively-managed ETFs from Pimco, average assets in actively-managed ETFs listed in the United States are only USD76m, according to estimates by XTF, a data-provider.
In the last week of August, investors made Chinese equities and volatility funds their top priorities. Volatility funds have posted subscriptions in the past few weeks totalling about USD1bn, according to statistics from EPFR Global. Emerging market equity funds absorbed fresh money for the fifth week running in late August, their longest inflow streak since the first quarter, with Asia ex-Japan equity funds absorbing the majority of the new money. Investors committed USD500 million to China Equity Funds during the week ending August 29. However, investors remained prudent about developed market equities, with net outflows of over USD1bn from European equity funds. Overall equity funds nonetheless absorbed USD2.1 billion and their first weekly inflow in four weeks. High yield bond funds continued to show inflows of over USD1bn in the week under review. Bond funds overall finished the week to 29 August with subscriptions totalling USD5.3bn, bringing net inflows since the beginning of the year to over USD270bn.
As of the end of June, funds from Franklin Templeton held Irish bonds totalling EUR6.1bn, according to figures by the Financial Times. The largest amount was in the name of the Templeton Global Bond fund, managed by Michael Hasenstab. The US asset management firm is the largest private creditor to Ireland.
For institutional investors, changing managers after a period of underperformance of three years on average results in lower returns than those that would have been obtained by retaining an active manager or allocating the mandate to passive strategies, a Towers Watson study cited by the Financial Times finds. “The results and experience show that retaining an underperforming manager is more profitable than replacing him or her,” says Robin Penfold of Towers Watson. This year, pension funds may replace underperforming managers representing USD100bn in equity mandates.
Axa Real Estate Managers, which manages over EUR42bn in real estate assets as of 30 June 2012, has recruited Dietrich Heidtmann as global head of investor relations and capital markets, following a decisino by Antoine Jozan, currently head of investor relations and marketing, to retire at the end of December 2012, after 12 years of service. Before joining Axa Real Estate, Heidtmann was managing director – capital markets at Grosvenor, where he was in charge of fundraising and investor relations activities for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and North America. He reports directly to Deborah Shire, global head of business development. He will also be a member of the board of directors at Axa Real Estate, and will be based in Paris. Heidtmann and Joan will work together until the end of this year, to ensure a smooth transition. Jozan will then continue to work part-time, retaining responsibility for investor relationships in Canada and the Middle East,
Gérard Roubach, who had been chairman of CM-CIC Asset Management, left the asset management firm on 30 June. Roubach, 62, whose departure had been slated for 2012, is retiring. He has been replaced by Olivier Vaillant, who has been an executive at the group for 10 years. Vaillant, 41, has also served at Banque Transatlantique as head of financial savings at the establishment.
In its half-yearly financial report, published on 31 August, La Banque Postale reported a decline in net banking proceeds from its asset management activities of nearly 12%, to EUR60m, compared with EUR68m one year earlier.The net banking proceeds for La Banque Postale Asset Mangement fell 2.8% to EUR45m, “Equity assets at LBPAM suffered from falling equity markets in second quarter, while money market mutual funds did well,” the bank notes. Inflows to the segment form institutional clients have brought assets under management to EUR128bn as of the end of June 2012, the bank says.Assets and inflows at Toqueville Finance were below expectations, which has resulted in a decline of EUR4m to EUR9m in net banking proceeds for Tocqueville compared with June 2011, the document states, adding that profits at Tocqueville are now 90% integrated into La Banque Postale, following the departure of former director Marc Tournier, who controlled 15% of the firm.Management mandate activities, for their part, are down, resulting in a decline in net banking proceeds at La Banque Postale Gestion Privée of EUR2m, to EUR8m. In the new future, this area of activity may see modifications to its perimeter. Les Echos newspaper reports on 25 July that La Banque Postale has been in talks with Crédit Mutuel Arkéa to acquire its private bank for high net worth private clients.Lastly, in its semiannual financial report, La Banque Postal claims that it has brought costs under control (-EUR7m), which has allowed the asset management sector to earn a stable net profit as a part of the group compared with first half 2011 of EUR17m.
The Japanese public retirement fund, GPIF, has announced that its asset portfolio between April and June generated JPY2.069trn in losses (EUR21bn), Les Echos reports. The public pension fund has reopened a debate in Japan over investment strategies. The fund, which controls a total of EUR1.09trn in assets, is considering new investment opportunities to increase its gains, and is seeking to confront an increasingly rapidly ageing Japanese population.Between April and June, foreign assets, which represent 11.14% of the fund’s investment portfolio, showed losses of 7.55%, while Japanese equities, which also account for 11.14% of the portfolio, lost 9.93%. Foreign bonds, which were punished by the European crisis, are equivalent to 8.86% of total investments, and lost 3.46%. However, Japanese government bonds, which represent 64.92% of the investments of the GPIF, gained 1.04%, and brought a total loss for the fund of only 1.85%.
On Sunday, Samsung Asset Management Company announced that it has received a further Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) quota from the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) of USD150m, bringing the total quota for the asset management firm to USD450m, with quotas issued in 2008 and 2010.Z-Ben Advisors reports that the pace at which SAFE has been awarding quotas set a record in first half 2012, at CNY10.4bn, more than double the amount issued in January-June 2011.
At a time when uncertainty reigns over the ratification of an agreement on withholding taxes between Switzerland and Germany, an agreement of the same type with the United Kingdom has been passed without any problem, Agefi Switzerland reports. The passage of the legislation was not even announced in a statement from the Swiss bankers’ association. Some have expressed surprise at the lack of publicity given to the ratification of an agreement which affects 6% to 8% of all wealth management clients in Switzerland, and which has similarities with an agreement with Germany which has been signed, but not yet ratified.
Ignis Asset Management has hired Simon Cowan as Fund Sales Director. He will be responsible for wealth manager and discretionary accounts within London and will report to Austin McBride, Head of UK Retail. Prior to joining Ignis, Simon was Regional Sales Manager at Old Mutual Asset Managers where he looked after multimanager, global bank, private bank and wealth manager accounts in London and the Channel Islands.
Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) has recruited Marion Stommel as head of the global credit division, Money Marketing reports. Stommel previously worked at WestLB Mellon Asset Management, where she was head of the credit team and international development of activities.
Guillaume Chatelet, directeur financier, technique et des risques de MutRé dans un article paru dans Option Finance numéro 1186 : Nous allons augmenter dans un futur proche notre exposition à l’immobilier au détriment des convertibles et des obligations. Nous souhaitons encore diversifier ce portefeuille en termes géographique ou sectoriel. Notre objectif est encore d’accroître nos investissements en immobilier sans excéder une exposition supérieure à 15% de nos fonds propres. La part d’actions n’a quant à elle pas vocation à évoluer en exposition mais, au vu de la petite taille de la poche, nous passons d’une logique de titre détenus en direct vers une logique de fonds et de trackers afin d’obtenir un niveau de diversification optimal. Au sein de la poche obligations, nous réfléchissons à l’avenir de notre important portefeuille d’emprunts d'États de haute qualité, actuellement fortement en plus-value. Nous réfléchissons à nous diversifier par exemple vers d’autres formes de risque obligataire sur lesquelles nous sommes actuellement pas ou peu exposés, comme le high yield ou la dette émergente. Pour rappel, MutRé gère 250 millions d’euros d’actifs financiers dont 120 millions au titre de nos fonds propres. A la fin juillet 2012, l’allocation d’actifs se répartissait entre 69% d’obligations, 11% de convertibles, 7% d’actions, 4% d’immobilier et 9% de cash. Les investissements en actions et en obligations sont confiés à OFI Mandat. Par contre, MutRé gère en interne les investissements en immobilier et les opérations de trésorerie.
Le ministre allemand des Finances s’est dit certain que la Cour constitutionnelle de Karlsruhe n’entraverait pas la mise en œuvre du Mécanisme européen de stabilité (MES). Wolfgang Schäuble s’exprimait dans le cadre d’une conférence à Strasbourg sur le thème «Quelle sortie de crise pour la zone euro ?». La cour de Karlsruhe doit décider le 12 septembre si l’existence du MES, futur organe permanent d’aide aux pays en difficulté de la zone euro, est légitime au regard du droit allemand. En visite en Chine, la chancelière Angela Merkel a déclaré de son côté que la zone euro affichait une «volonté politique absolue» de stabiliser la monnaie unique. Enfin, toujours concernant le dossier européen, le président du Conseil européen Herman Van Rompuy a annoncé sur Twitter la tenue d’un sommet extraordinaire à Bruxelles sur le budget pluriannuel de l’UE pour la période 2014-2020 les 22 et 23 novembre.
La Banque centrale européenne n’a pas activé son Programme pour les marchés de titres (SMP) la semaine dernière, mettant la dernière main à un nouveau dispositif de rachat de dette assorti de conditions strictes de réforme et de gestion des finances publiques pour les Etats qui doivent en bénéficier. Cela fait maintenant six mois que la BCE n’a pas eu recours à ce programme inauguré en mai 2010. Il représente encore à ce jour un encours de 209 milliards d’euros de dette rachetée.
Selon des parlementaires européens cités par Reuters, le président de la BCE Mario Draghi a déclaré devant une commission du Parlement que les achats par la BCE d’obligations souveraines de 3 ans d'échéance maximale ne représentent pas une aide publique.
L’Espagne évaluera l’opportunité de solliciter une aide européenne complémentaire à celle déjà prévue pour ses banques mais elle exclut de se soumettre à de nouvelles conditions, a déclaré son Premier ministre, Mariano Rajoy. Une déclaration faite quelques jours avant la visite d’Angela Merkel à Madrid, prévue jeudi, le jour même de la réunion du Conseil des gouverneurs de la BCE.
La banque allemande a fait part de la nomination d’Emmanuel Duclos en tant que responsable des ventes institutionnelles pour la France (au sein d’ICG). Il a pour mission de développer et coordonner la couverture des clients institutionnels en France sur les marchés actions, obligataires et changes. Agé de 41 ans, Emmanuel Duclos était précédemment directeur général délégué d’UBS Investment Bank en France.
Président de CM-CIC Asset Management, Gérard Roubach a quitté la société de gestion le 30 juin dernier. Agé de 62 ans, le dirigeant dont le départ était d’ores et prévu en 2012 a fait valoir ses droits à la retraite. Il a été remplacé par Olivier Vaillant, un cadre entré dans le groupe depuis une dizaine d’années. Agé de 41 ans, le nouveau promu qui a effectué un passage à la Banque Transatlantique était en charge du développement de l'épargne financière au sein de l'établissement.
Le secteur manufacturier de la zone euro s’est contracté plus nettement encore en août qu’estimé initialement en dépit des baisses de prix pratiquées par de nombreux industriels, les grands pays de la région ne permettant plus de soutenir la tendance globale, montrent lundi les résultats définitifs des enquêtes Markit. La crise s'étend désormais à l’Allemagne et à la France et la situation reste critique dans les troisième et quatrième économies de la zone, l’Italie et l’Espagne. L’indice PMI manufacturier ressort à 45,1 contre 45,3 en première estimation fin août. En Allemagne et en France, le secteur manufacturier affiche désormais six mois consécutifs de contraction, même si celle-ci a été moins marquée en août qu’en juillet.
Le secteur industriel chinois a durement souffert de la baisse des nouvelles commandes, montrent les résultats définitifs de l’enquête mensuelle HSBC auprès des directeurs d’achats, suggérant un nouveau ralentissement de la croissance de l’ensemble de l'économie chinoise au troisième trimestre. Le chiffre définitif de l’indice PMI manufacturier HSBC est revenu en août à 47,6, son plus bas niveau depuis mars 2009, contre 49, 3 en juillet et légèrement en dessous de l’estimation flash publiée le mois dernier (49,5).