Michael Gartmann, directeur de l’activité institutionnelle et membre de la direction générale chez Invesco Allemagne (où il était arrivé en 2009), a quitté la société. Il rejoint le gestionnaire de fortune Großbötzl, Schmitz & Partner (GS&P) de Düsseldorf, selon Das Investment. Il travaillera dans l'équipe gestion institutionnelle de Wolfgang Zinn.En attendant qu’un successeur soit trouvé à Michael Gartmann, Invesco a désigné Michael Fraikin pour assurer l’intérim. L’intéressé est le directeur de la gestion de portefeuilles dans l'équipe global quantitative equity.
L’allemand Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investment GmbH a annoncé le 23 août être parvenu à vendre 97 % des surfaces que possédait encore son fonds immobilier offert au public P2 Value (*) dans l’ensemble logistique Ever Gain Plaza de Hong-Kong à des fonds de l’américain Angelo Gordon & Company. Cette cession, qui doit être bouclée pour fin septembre, s’effectue à un prix supérieur de 12 % à la valeur de marché actuelle et à 7 % au-dessus du prix d’acquisition.Après remboursement des concours financiers, le gestionnaire percevra environ 891 millions de dollars de Hong-Kong. La valeur liquidative du P2 Value, qui doit être liquidé d’ici au 30 septembre 2013, augmente de 0,50 euro.Au 23 août, l’encours du fonds représente encore 509,81 millions d’euros et la liquidité brute 107,2 millions (soit 21 %), contre respectivement 610,47 millions et 203,48 millions ou 33,3 % au 30 juin. (*) DE000A0F6G89
AQR Capital Management, une société de gestion alternative basée dans le Connecticut, va ouvrir un bureau à Londres, rapporte Investment Europe. La société, qui gère 54,5 milliards de dollars, cible les institutionnels avec une approche systématique de l’allocation d’actifs, de la construction de portefeuille et du contrôle des risques. Ce bureau londonien permettra à la société de se rapprocher de ses clients en Europe, de plus en plus nombreux.
Le directeur du développement de Skandia Investment Group (SIG), John Campbell, a quitté la société, rapporte Money Marketing. Ce départ est lié à la fusion de SIG avec Old Mutual Asset Managers qui implique la suppression d’une trentaine de postes.John Campbell, qui travaillait depuis plus de trois ans pour SIG, avait occupé précédemment des fonctions de distribution chez Veritas AM et Threadneedle AM.
Pour être prêt lors de l’entrée en vigueur de la réglementation RDR (Retail Distribution Review) au 1er janvier 2013, Aberdeen Asset Management a l’intention de lancer prochainement des classes de parts «dégroupées» pour ses gammes de 32 fonds ouverts domiciliés au Royaume-Uni et de 69 fonds de droit luxembourgeois, ce qui concerne dans le premier cas des encours de 7,8 milliards de livres et dans le second des actifs sous gestion de 27,3 milliards de livres (chiffres au 31 juillet).Ces nouvelles parts «dégroupées» comporteront une commission de gestion forfaitaire échelonnée entre 0,25 % et 1 % en fonction de la classe d’actifs et de la stratégie, sans autres commissions ni ristournes pour la souscription au travers d’une plate-forme.
Ignis, the asset management firm of the Phoenix group, has posted net subscriptions from third parties in first half of GBP0.9bn, compared with GBP0.8bn one year earlier. International inflows totalled GBP0.2bn, and were boosted by inflows to the Absolute Return Government Bond Fund. Assets under management, advising and administration at Ignis totalled GBP70.3bn as of 30 June (excluding collateral for securities lending), compared with GBP70.7bn as of 31 December. The firm earned IFRS operating profits of GBP19m, compared with GBP18m last year.
The director of development at Skandia Investment Group (SIG), John Campbell, has left the firm, Money Marketing reports. The departure is related to the merger of SIG with Old Mutual Asset Managers, which has involved 30 layoffs. Campbell, who had worked at SIG for more than three years, previously served in a distribution role at Veritas AM and Threadneedle AM.
AQR Capital Management, an alternative management firm based in Connecticut, will be opening an office in London, Investment Europe reports. The firm, which has USD4.5bn in assets under management, is targeting institutionals with a systematic asset allocation, portfolio construction and risk control approach. The London office will let the firm get closer to its growing base of European clients.
The German firm Commerz Real has sold its 50% stakes in four shopping centres in Halifax, Quebec City, Montreal and Victoria, with a total of 500 shop locations and 222,000 square metres, to its local partner, Ivanhoé Cambridge. Since the firm acquired the stake for its open-ended real estate fund hausInvest in July 2004, the properties have gained 64% in value.
On 1 August, Funds People reported on the arrival on the Spanish market of seven foreign asset management firms YTD, the most recent of which being the British firm CF Ruffer, which has registered its Luxembourg Sicav with the CNMV. The other new arrivals are Jyske Invest, Zest Asset Management, Diapason, Heptagon Capital (which represents Yacktman AM, Helicon and Oppenheimer Developing Markets), and Saxo Invest.
Assets under management and administration at the Rabobank group as of 30 June 2012 totalled EUR294.4bn, up 12% compared with the end of December 2011, according to figures released on 23 August.Robeco, the asset management affiliate of Rabobank, a few days ago reported assets under management of EUR179bn as of 30 June (see Newsmanagers of 16 August).The group reported a 29% decline in net profits in first quarter, to EUR1.31bn.Rabobank has also stated that it has no comment on ongoing investigations in which it is one involved party, in relation to the Libor manipulation scanal, and states only that it is cooperating with the relevant authorities.
The head of institutional sales at Schroders for the Netherlands, Tim Soetens, has been recruited as head of development for the country by Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale), Funds People reports. Soetens will report to Amber Kizilbash, head of development for Northern Europe and the Middle East.Before joining his previous employer, Soetens worked at BlackRock and for the Philips pension fund.
In its 24 August issue, manager magazin reports that inspectors from the North Rhenania-Westphalia tax authorities in mid-August conducted targeted searches of the homes of several German clients of the Swiss private bank Julius Baer, seeking proof of tax evasion. It would appear that the information which the tax authorities obtained was of excellent quality. North Rhenania-Westphalia is the German state which purchased several CD-ROMs containing data on German clients of Swiss banks.
The German firm Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investment GmbH on 23 August announced that it had succeeded in selling 97% of the square metres which its open-ended real estate fund P2 Value (DE000A0F6G89) still owned in the Ever Gain Plaza in Hong Kong to the US firm Angelo Gordon & Company. The sale, which will be completed by the end of September, will go through at a price 12% higher than the current market value, and 7% above the acquisition price.After paying off debts, the asset management firm will earn about HKD891m. The net asset value of the P2 Value fund, which is to be liquidated by 30 September 2013, thus increases by EUR0.50.As of 23 August, assets in the fund still represented EUR509.81m, and gross liquidity totalled EUR107.2m (21%), compared with EUR610.47m and EUR203.48m, or 33.3%, respectively, as of 30 June.
The German asset management firm Deka (German savings banks) on 16 July released a new locally-registered diversified fund, Deka Sachwerte, which aims to position itself on shares «of substance» to protect subscriber savings. Assets currently total about EUR20m; the fund, which is available in shares with a front-end fee (CF) or without (TF) may invest in equities (up to 30%), a real estate fund (WestInvest ImmoValue, a product of the group, representing 10% of the total), gold, inflation-linked bonds, ETFs and ETCs (excluding soft commodities) and savings deposits.The portfolio additionally contains German Federal bonds (Bunds), with active management of durations, and money market instruments. Management of the Deka-Sachwerte fund is managed according to a mathematical model, which analyses market trends once per month, and assigns weightings to the various asset classes. The same quantitative weighting system is used for the Deka-Euroland Balance fund.CharacteristicsName: Deka-SachwerteISIN codes:DE000DK0EC83 (CF share class)DE000DK0EC91 (TF share class)Front-end fee: maximum 3% (CF share class)Management commission: 0.85% (CF share class)1.20% (TF share class)Administrative charges: 0.16% per yearMinimal subscription: EUR25
Net sales of UCITS recorded a sharp turnaround in June registering net outflows of EUR 33 billion, against net inflows of EUR 22 billion in May, according to the lateste Investment Fund Industry Fact Sheet from the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA). This turnaround came on the back of large net outflows from money market funds, which recorded net monthly outflows for the first time since October 2011. Net outflows amounted to EUR 24 billion in June, whereas they registered net inflows of EUR 13 billion in May. Long-term UCITS (UCITS excluding money market funds) registered net outflows in June of EUR 9 billion, compared to net inflows of EUR 8 billion in May. Equity funds recorded reduced net outflows totaling EUR 9 billion, compared to EUR 12 billion in May. Outflows from balanced funds increased to EUR 3 billion during the month Total net sales of non-UCITS increased in June to EUR 11 billion, from EUR 8 billion in May. Net inflows into special funds (funds reserved to institutional investors) doubled in June to EUR 10 billion. Total net assets of UCITS increased in June by 0.3% to EUR 5,865 billion, whilst non-UCITS net assets increased 2.2% in the month to stand at EUR 2,375 billion.
Irving Picard, the trustee for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, was authorised on Thursday by a Manhattan bankruptcy court to repay up to USD2.4bn to 1,229 victims of the fraudster, the Wall Street Journal reports. This is the largest payout to be authorised since Madoff’s arrest.
At a time when Scottrade and Russell Investments have recently announced plans to close ETFs, with the former discontinuing its FocusShares line, and the latter its passively-managed US ETFs, BlackRock on 20 August submitted an application for ten new ETF funds with the SEC, Mutual Fund Wire reports.The funds are the following:• iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Investable Market Index Fund• iShares MSCI EFM Africa ex South Africa Index Fund• iShares Barclays Global Aggregate ex USD Bond Fund• iShares MSCI USA High Dividend Yield Index Fund• iShares MSCI ACWI Investable Market Index Fund• iShares Barclays 1-5 Year Government/Credit Bond Fund• iShares Barclays Global Aggregate Bond Fund• iShares MSCI ACWI ex US Investable Market Index Fund• iShares MSCI GCC Countries ex Saudi Arabia Index Fundand• iShares MSCI EAFE Investable Market Index Fund
The former head of Perry Capital for Asia, Alp Ercil, has announced the closure of his hedge fund launched earlier this year to new investors, Reuters reports. Ercil managed to raise USD940m in a few months, nearly the full objective of USD1bn.Ercil founded his investment firm, Asia Research & Capital Management, earlier this year, with personnel of 18, 14 of whom came from Perry Capital, which in October 2011 decided to discontinue its activities in Asia to focus on the American and European markets.His hedge fund, which concentrates on the distressed debt sector in the Asia-Pacific region, is the largest major hedge fund launch since the beginning of the year, in an environment in which hedge funds are encountering difficulty in raising capital. Since the beginning of the year, Asian hedge funds have seen redemptions totalling a net USD1.7bn, according to statistics from Eurekahedge.
Assets under management at Och-Ziff totalled USD29.9bn as of 30 June 2012, down USD189.1m from 31 March, but up by USD160.2m compared with 30 June 2011.Year-on-year growth is related to a market appreciation of USD218m, and a net outflow of USD57.8m.As of 1 August, assets under management totalled USD30.3bn. Och-Ziff has seen net redemptions totalling USD200m YTD, but has posted a positive market effect of USD1.7bn.Since the end of July, Och-Ziff has taken on a major new client, the Florida state pension fund.
Safa Investment Servies, a firm founded earlier this year, with offices in Geneva and Riyadh, is starting up in the active management of Sharia-compliant products, Agefi Switzerland reports. According to the co-founder of the firm, John Sandwick, asset management is the least developed segment in Islamic finance.
To be ready for the introduction of Retail Distribution Review (RDR) regulations on 1 January 2013, Aberdeen Asset Management is planning to launch “unbundled” share classes in its range of 32 open-ended funds domiciled in the United Kingdom and 69 Luxembourg-registered funds in the near future. The move concerns assets of GBP7.8bn in the former, and assets under management of GBP27.3bn in the latter case (figures as of 31 July). The new “unbundled” share classes will carry a flat management fee that will vary from 0.25% to 1% per year, depending on the asset class and the strategy, with no other commissions or kickbakcks for subscriptions via platforms.
The number of hedge funds dedicated to emerging markets has reached a new record in second quarter, which has partly offset the performance of volatile markets and some disaffection on the part of investors for emerging market strategies, according to the most recent quarterly report by HFR dedicated to emerging markets (HFR Emerging Markets Hedge Fund Industry Report).The total number of hedge funds dedicated to emerging markets was 1,074 funds, equivalent to about 14% of hedge funds, and 3.5% up compared with second quarter 2011.Despite this increase, assets at emerging market hedge funds were down 3% compared with first quarter 2012, to USD123.5bn as of the end of June. This decline of USD3.7bn from one quarter to the next is largely due to a decline of 6.05% for the HFRI Emerging Markets Total Index for the quarter, and a limited outflow of USD256m, 0.2% of emerging market hedge fund assets.Over the first seven months of this year, emerging market hedge funds nonetheless posted solid returns, in an environment that remains highly difficult. Funds dedicated to Latin America show a 3.9% gain for the HFRI EM/Latin America index. The HFRX Russia/Eastern Europe index, for its part, has earned gains of 2.3% over seven months, while the HFRX MENA Index has gained more than 2.7% over the same period.The recently-launched HFRX Emerging Markets index, which includes all exposures to emerging market regions and strategies has gained more than 5.7% since the beginning of the year as of 17 August.
The US asset management firm Calamos Investments (USD33.6bn in assets as of the end of July) is replacing Nick Calamos, a nephew of the founder and a member of the investment committee, with Gary Douglas Black, CEO and CIO of Black Capital Management LLC, who previously served as CEO of Janus Capital Group, from January 2006 to July 2009. Meanwhile, Calamos is acquiring Black Capital Management, a specialist in long/short equity investment, a firm founded by Black in October 2009.
The Wall Street Journal reports that several mutual funds from Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter for the initial public offering of Facebook, which brought in USD200m, are highly exposed to shares in the firm. Morningstar reports that eight out of nine mutual funds with the largest investments in shares in the social networking fir are Morgan Stanley funds. It would not appear that rules set by the SEC to limit investments made during a firm’s IPO have been violated.As of 31 July, 5.7% of the Morgan Stanley Force Growth Portfolio (USD1.6bn in total) were placed in Facebook shares. The proportion was 5.5% for the Morgan Stanley Institutional Opportunity Portfolio, and 4.8% for the Morgan Stanley Institutional Growth Portfolio. For other affected Morgan Stanley funds, the percentage ranges from 3.6% to 4.6%.However, Morgan Stanley is not the institutional investor with the largest exposure to Facebook, an area in which the leaders are Fidelity Investment, T. Rowe Price and Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
Robin Green will be joining Oppenheimer Investments as chief executive, to lead the firm’s development in Asia, Asian Investor reports. In this position, he will be replacing Steve Bernstein, who left the firm in December 2011.Robin Green, who will be based in Hong Kong, previously worked at MF Global.
The US asset management firm Federated Investors, whose assets under management total about USD356bn, has recruited Craig Bingham to lead the firm’s development in the Asia-Pacific region, Asian Investor reports.Bingham is the former head of Aviva Investors for Asia; he left that firm in August 2011 following a restructuring of its Asian activities.Bingham will be based in Melbourne, where Federated is planning to open an office in the next few weeks. From his new Australian base, Bingham will seek to identify new development opportunities in Asia, particularly in Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong.
EIG Global Energy Partners has filed suit in the United States to void the acquisition of TCW by Carlyle, a Wall Street Journal blog reports, citing LBO Wire.The suit claims that with the deal, Carlyle, which EIG claims is a competitor, will gain access to proprietary information.EIG claims that the transaction violates its right to approve any change of control at TCW.EIG had previously been known as Energy and Infrastructure Group of Trust of the West, the predecessor of TCW. It spun off from TCW in October 2009.
According to Das Investment, Michael Gartmann, director of institutional sales and a member of the management at Invesco Germany (where he arrived in 2009), has joined the wealth management firm Großbötzl, Schmitz & Partner (GS&P) in Düsseldorf, where he will be a part of the institutional management team led by Wolfgang Zinn.Until a successor to Gartmann is found, Invesco has appointed Michael Fraikin to serve in the position in the interim. Fraikin is director of portfolio management in the global quantitative equity team.
Afin de se prémunir contre le risque d'éclatement de la zone euro, la Mutuelle des Architectes Français (MAF) a confié la gestion d’un fonds dédié sur les obligations à la Financière de la Cité. Contacté à ce sujet, la société de gestion lauréate n’a pas souhaité commenter. Le montant investi au départ était de 20 millions d’euros, avec un objectif d’atteindre 60 millions d’euros.