Après onze ans chez Fidelity International Allemagne, en dernier lieu comme head of retail banks, Alexander Koch rejoint BlackRock où il sera responsable régional de la distribution de fonds offerts au public par les banques, les assurances et les conseillers en gestion de patrimoine pour la Hesse, la Rhénanie-palatinat et la Sarre.L’impétrant remplace Meret Vetter, qui sera chargée dorénavant de la distribution auprès des fonds de fonds, des gestionnaires de fortune et des family offices.

La société de gestion alternative britannique Cheyne Capital Management vient de lancer deux fonds au format Ucits IV - le Cheyne Global Credit Fund et le Cheyne European Real Estate Bond Fund - répliquant deux stratégies phare de la société.Le Cheyne Global Credit Fund est un fonds directionnel géré activement investi sur le crédit investment grade, principalement en Amérique du Nord et en Europe. Le Cheyne Real Estate Bond Fund est quant à lui centré sur les obligations adossées à de l’immobilier de grande qualité. Les deux produits offrent une liquidité hebdomadaire.Cheyne gère un total de 6,3 milliards de dollars dans le crédit d’entreprise, la dette immobilière, l’event driven, les obligations convertibles et les actions.

La collecte nette d’Axa Wealth, l’antenne britannique du groupe Axa, s’est inscrite à 845 millions de livres au premier trimestre, en recul de 11% par rapport au premier trimestre 2011, rapporte Fund Web.Les actifs sous gestion s'établissaient fin mars 2012 à 20,1 milliards de livres contre 18,6 milliards de livres au premier trimestre 2011.Les actifs de la plate-forme Architas ont progressé de 37% au premier trimestre à 10,7 milliards de dollars.

Investors facing persistent market volatility injected more capital into their hedge funds in April. According to estimates from the fund administrator GlobeOp, net inflows in April represented 1.24% of assets (about USD187bn) in funds monitored by the firm. This amount represents nearly five times the inflows the previous month, which totalled 0.27%, but which remain steeply down compared with positive flows observed in March (2.02%) and February (2.2%), or one year ago (2.41%).

The hedge fund sector in March posted net inflows of USD2.3bn, compared with USD6.8bn in February, according to statistics from TrimTabs and BarclayHedge. First quarter nonetheless finished with outflows of USD3.2bn. Performance in the quarter totaled 5.6%, compared with gains of 12% for the S&P 500. Some strategies are nonetheless continuing to attract investors, such as macro and fixed income strategies, which has posted significant inflows in the past three years.

Seven funds in Europe attracted inflows of more than EUR1bn over the first quarter of the year, headed by AllianceBernstein’s American Income Portfolio (EUR2.0bn), PIMCO Global Investment Grade Credit (EUR1.8bn) and M&G Optimal Income (EUR1.6bn), according to Lipper. Not surprisingly, at group level, Allianz/PIMCO (EUR7.3bn), AXA/AllianceBernstein (EUR5.7bn) and M&G/Prudential (EUR4.3bn) generated the greatest net sales over the first quarter.Overall, the European funds industry enjoyed its greatest inflows over the first quarter of the year (EUR87.4bn) since the start of 2007 (EUR133.4bn), underpinned by the best sales of bond funds in an opening quarter (EUR57.9bn) for the decade.When money market funds are excluded in order to look at ‘long-term’ funds, the total for the past three months stands at EUR77.1bn, better than 2007 (EUR61.4bn), but lower than 2010 (EUR104.7bn). The start to the year has been dominated by interest in High Yield funds (with USD products accounting for EUR8.1bn of the EUR17.4bn total) and emerging market debt (EUR11.6bn, of which EUR3.4bn moved into local currency funds). Appetite for equities slowed in March, but the quarter total still stands at EUR12.2bn.

Independent fund selection specialists are seeking to make their profession more widely known with the creation of the Association of Professional Fund Investors (APFI), Agefi Switzerland reports. The four co-founders of the association, Mussie Kidane (head of fund selection at Pictet), Luca de Biasi (BSI), Carlos Fernandez (Inversis) and Rooland Meerdter (Propinquity Advisors) initially sought to create a contact network, but the association may also form a decisive vector for making the profession more widely known. “We want to make our voices heard as actors. Nobody else knows the fund industry the same way selectors do,” says co-founder Meerdter.

Hedge funds focused on Asia have recuperated all the assets they lost in the poor performance of last year, even though the sector has underperformed local markets in first quarter 2012, according to statistics from Hedge Fund Research, cited by the Financial Times. Assets totalled USD86.7bn as of the end of March, compared with EUR83.4bn as of the end of 2010. China dominates the local sector, and now 30% of the world’s hedge funds are based in the country (including Hong Kong), putting it just behind the United States. However, most Asian, funds are much smaller than funds in the United States and other countries, and by volume, they represent only 4% of the USD2.13trn in assets in the sector.

The Fortuny Valores Reales fund from Espirito Santo Gestión has received a sales license in Spain, Funds People reports. The product is an equity fund which invests in businesses worldwide active in the extraction, production, development and distribution of product and/or services related to commodities, and financial instruments based on commodities, or in commodities traded on regulated markets.The benchmark index is the Reuters/Jefferies CRB.CharacteristicsName: Fortuny Valores RealesManagement commission: 1.35%Performance commission: 9%Minimal subscription: EUR10

Household savings, which are essential to the functioning of the economy, are subject to all kinds of legislative initiatives, particularly in the area of taxation. “Unfortunately, the current policy on savings is not totally up to the challenge of financing our ecnomy,” the chairman of the French financial market authority (Autorité des Marchés Financiers, or AMF), Jean-Pierre Jouyet, claimed on 11 May at the 2012 academic AMF and ACP conference (the latter being the French prudential control authority), dedicated to the consequences of the financial crisis on household savings and sales of financial products. According to the AMF chairman, two major reasons underlie the inadequacies of the tax framework. On the one hand, “some tax incentives are particularly burdensome and have an exaggerated influence on household savings.” In this context, tax breaks tend to be “the alpha and omega of sales of financial products. Neither prospective returns, nor risks, nor the object of financing are taken into account sufficiently at the time the investment decision is taken,” says Jouyet. Meanwhile, the current structure of tax incentices is extremely piecemeal, and sometimes lacks coherence, “due to a desire to treat every particular case and tax break, and to promote this or that activity, in such a way that each legitimate aim unfortunately leads us into a complex and illegibile framework, in which the real contribution to supporting growth and to long-term investment is difficult to measure,” says Joyet. He therefore calls for a “cleaning up of our savings tax policy, so make it support the growth of our country and returns for savings investors.”

Sergio Heuer, chairman of the French funds of hedge funds company Olympia for about a year now, discusses the recent merger of the firm which he leads with the US firm Kenman, in an interview with Newsmanagers. He claims that the move comes as part of a necessary movement of consolidation in the alternative multi-management sector, which has also seen a number of other recent deals. This recomposition is not yet completed, says Heuer, and Olympia Kenmar plans to be a key player.

Ryo Ishiyama, who until the end of May is a member of the team at Deutsche Securities Inc, in October 2011 founded his own asset management firm in Tokyo, Steinberg Capital Co. He is planning to launch a CTA fund in July, which will use software solutions to invest worldwide in publicly-traded commodity futures, Handelsblatt reports, relaying Bloomberg.The fund will initially have JPY300m in assets (EUR2.9m), of which JPY200m will be contributed by Ishiyama, but the objective is to achieve JPY1bn in the space of one year, with annual returns of about 20%.

The financial ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) on 11 May announced that it is cutting its outlook for the debt rating of JPMorgan Chase, following an announcement by the US bank of a trading loss of USS2bn. Fitch, for its part, has lowered its rating for the US bank. Its long-term debt issuer rating has been lowered to A+ from AA- previously, and the agency has also lowered its solidity rating to A+ from AA-, with a negative outlook on both these ratings.

The directors of TCW, an affiliate of SocGen, have begun preliminary talks with their parent company over an acquisition of the firm, Agefi reports, based on reports in Reuters. There is no formal sale process, and an acquisition of TCW by its directors is only one of several possibilities under consideration, one source says. SocGen denies all reports of a planned sale.

The board of directors at Credit Suisse is seeking a new CEO to replace Brady Dougan, whose neck is on the chopping block following a slide in the company’s share price, the newspaper Der Sonntag reports. The newspaper reports, citing a top executive at the bank, “that the board of directors is urgently considering” the question of Dougan’s replacement. Shares in Credit Suisse have fallen 57% in the past three years, far more than its competitor UBS, which has lost only 34%. Among the candidates to replace Dougan, the newspaper names Walter Berchtold, a Swiss citizen in charge of wealth management at the bank, and other former senior executives at the bank such as Ulrich Körner, Leonhard Fischer and Hugo Bänziger.

The New York-based asset management firm Arden Asset Management will help the State of Massachusetts to transfer several hundred million US dollars invested in the portfolios of hedge fund managers. Reuters reports that Arden AM has won a transition manager mandate for the Massachusetts state pension fund, whose assets under management total about USD50bn. Capital invested in funds of funds will be moved to direct investments in a selection of hedge funds. The pension fund has about 10% of its assets invested in hedge funds. Assets under management at Arden AM total about USD6.5bn.

Fidelity Investments has announced the launch of its first two income funds to focus on international equities (bringing the number of income equity funds in the Fidelity range to 10). The products are the Fidelity Global Equity Income Fund, which is aimed directly at retail investors, and the Fidelity Advisor Global Equity Income Fund, which is available only via financial advisors. The objective for the product, managed by Ramona Persaud, is to outperform the MSCI All Country World index.Management commission is capped to 1.20% for the retail share class, 1.20% for the institutional share class, and 1.45%, 1,70% and 2,20% for Advisor share classes A, T, and C respectively.

Tensions in the euro zone in the wake of elections in Greece and France have led investors to adopt a more prudent attitude in early May. Bond funds have posted a record net inflow of USD8bn in the week to 9 May, according to statistics from EPFR Global.Equity funds, however, saw net outflows of USD3.5bn. Emerging market equity funds in particular saw their heaviest outflows since the beginning of the year in the first week of may. US equity funds finished the week to 9 ay with outflows of USd4.78bn, while European equity funds have posted their heaviest outflows since July 2011, due to subscriptions from institutional investors in German equity ETFs. French equity funds, however, saw significant outflows.Money market funds, for their part, have posted subscriptions totalling a net USD12bn.

The British asset management firm Ignis Asset Management, still not widely known to French retail clients, has made a name for itself with inflows of EUR400m in one year, to a basic product, a government bond fund entitled Ignis Absolute Return Government Bond Fund, which has gained 7.4% in the 12 months to the end of March (compared with 0.8% for the Eonia), with an information ratio of 2.CIO Chris Fellingham explains to Newsmanagers: “We are adepts of real absolute returns. The Absolute Return Government Bond fund has target volatility of 4% to 6%, but in reality it is below this range, at 3.3%, with a low correlation with other asset classes, including govies. We see it as an alpha product, while most other managers consider absolute returns to come from beta: at the end of the day, those are long beta products.”The CIO goes on to explain the resources deployed to earn such high returns with a product investing in a relatively banal asset class. “We also rely on a cocktail of expertise, with macro analysis, which is indispensable in the govies markets, a quantitative team, and an exclusive piece of software (which is not a “black box”) that we have been developing internally since 2005, entitled ClearCurve. This tool decomposes and deconstructs the interest rate curve, which we have been able to use to generate stable performance gains.” In addition to this, the fund has a low management commission (0.30% for the institutional share class), “which reflects the confidence we have in our performance, since we charge a commission of 10% on performance exceeding the Eonia (with high watermark,)” says Chris Fellingham.

Net inflows at Axa Wealth, the British arm of the Axa group, totalled GBP845m in first quarter, down 11% compared with first quarter 2011, Fund Web reports. Assets under management as of the end of March 2012 totalled GBP20.1bn, compared with GBP18.6bn in first quarter 2011. Assets on the Architas platform were up 37% in first quarter to USD10.7bn.

As of 31 March, assets in the long-term savings division of Old Mutual, which includes assets managed by Skandia, totalled GBP116.1bn, Fundweb reports. Assets in British-registered funds increased 6% compared with the end of December, to GBP35.6bn, while British platform funds gained 8%, to GBP20.4bn.

The hedge fund management firm Elliott Advisors is planning to require Greece either to repay EUR436m in debts maturing on 15 May, or to declare a default under international debt issuance standards, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. In the former case, Elliott would win out. In the latter case, the asset management firm would seek to reclaim its money in the courts, as it has already done successfully in Peru and Panama in the past.

After 11 years at Fidelity International Germany, most recently as head of retail banks distribution, Alexander Koch is joining BlackRock, where he will be regional head of distribution of open-ended funds to banks, insurers and IFAs in Hesse, the Palatinate region, and Saarland.Koch replaces Meret Vetter, who will now be in charge of distribution to funds of funds, wealth managers, and family offices.

Deutsche Bank and the US firm Guggenheim Partners have failed to reach an agreement for an acquisition for a part of the asset management activities of the former. According to a statement released on 11 May, talks have essentially failed.Exclusive negotiations which began in November last year had dealt largely with the US portion of the asset management firm DWS, asset management activities dedicated to institutionals at DB Advisors, and the insurance firms (Deutsche Insurance Asset Management), These activities were not ultimately of interest to Guggenheim partners, who are reportedly interested only in the alternative management activities at RREEF, specialised in investments in real estate.

Franklin Templeton Investments is seeking to penetrate retail markets in Malaysia and Vietnam, and to create onshore activites in Taiwan and Indonesia, Asian Investor reports. In 2011, assets at the US asset management firm from Asia-Pacific rose by one fifth, to USD70.7bn. In the first quarter of this year, they have risen further to USD75.8bn.

Skandia Investment Group’s Skandia European Best Ideas Fund managed by Lee Freeman-Shor has awarded a EUR34m mandate to Richard Plackett of BlackRock. The move to bring in Placket coincides with the 4th anniversary of the EUR340m fund.

Cheyne Capital Management has announced the launch of two UCITS IV compliant funds: the Cheyne Global Credit Fund and the Cheyne European Real Estate Bond Fund. Their investment portfolios are based on those of two existing flagship Cheyne strategies.The Cheyne Global Credit Fund is an actively managed, directional UCITS IV compliant fund offering weekly liquidity. It positions investment grade and crossover credit, primarily in North America and Europe, where the team believes credit spreads are currently pricing in too much downside given the very robust fundamentals of most corporate balance sheets. Cheyne’s corporate credit team manages net assets of USD1.3 billion. The Cheyne Real Estate Bond Fund is a UCITS IV compliant fund focusing on high quality real estate-backed bonds offering weekly liquidity. Cheyne’s real estate debt team has also net assets under management of USD1.3 billion. The team has identified a compelling investment opportunity arising from the structural dislocation in Europe’s EUR1.4 trillion real estate debt market, offering attractive yields with strong downside protection.

Pour rappel, l’appel d’offres concernait 4 lots: Le premier : deux mandats actions pour un volume de 500 millions d’euros chacun. Le lot 2 inclut trois mandats d’obligations d’Etats (800 millions d’euros chacun). Le troisième se concentre sur trois mandats diversifiés pour 700 millions d’euros chacun. Un dernier lot pour deux mandats investis en obligations indexées à l’inflation. L’IRCANTEC souhaiterait inclure un ensemble de critères ESG pour l’intégralité de son portefeuille. Cependant, il est encore difficile de les appliquer aux obligations d’Etats. Alors qu’il est beaucoup plus simple de juger les entreprises sur leurs comportements sociaux et environnementaux. Dès lors, le régime préfère décaler ses investissements en obligations d’Etats à la seconde partie de l’année. Le comité de direction travaille sur ce sujet et espère trouver une solution appropriée dans les prochains mois. L’introduction de critères ESG pour les obligations d’Etats devrait être finalisée cette année. L’IRCANTEC travaille avec quelques spécialistes pour mener à bien cette tâche. Cedrus Partners conseille le régime sur ses appels d’offres ISR. Vigeo, agence de notation et de recherche veillera à ce que les critères ESG soient maintenus dans les investissements effectués. Désireux de s’améliorer sur les problématiques ESG, le régime n’exclut pas d’adopter les principes pour l’investissement responsable des Nations Unis (UNPRI).

Les actions représentent 8,6 % du total des actifs contre 9,3 % au 31/12/2011. CNP Assurances a également poursuivi sa stratégie de cession de dettes souveraines périphériques européennes avec une exposition en baisse de 11 % par rapport au 31/12/2011. Concernant les expositions aux dettes souveraines périphériques de la zone euro, CNP Assurances a poursuivi son programme de cessions volontaires notamment sur l’Italie et l’Espagne. A la suite de l'échange de la dette grecque, la valeur des nouveaux titres grecs dans le portefeuille est de 23 % du principal des anciens titres. Compte tenu des provisions préalablement constituées, aucun impact supplémentaire sur le compte de résultat n’a été enregistré au 1er trimestre 2012. CNP Assurances a recentré ses investissements sur les obligations françaises Par ailleurs, CNP Assurances négocie actuellement avec des banques le rachat de portefeuilles de prêts, a indiqué le directeur général adjoint, Antoine Lissowski, lors d’une conférence téléphonique, en marge de la présentation des résultats. Cette démarche s’inscrit dans la volonté de CNP de restructurer son portefeuille de placements, en réduisant la part des actions et celle des obligations des Etats du sud de l’Europe, a expliqué M. Lissowski. « Nous avons des ressources à long terme et les banques ont des problèmes de financement à long terme », a résumé le numéro deux de CNP. Dans la perspective de l’entrée en vigueur du nouveau cadre réglementaire dit Bâle III, les banques européennes, et françaises en particulier, cherchent, en effet, à sortir de leurs bilans des portefeuilles de prêts qu’elles gardaient jusqu’ici pour l’essentiel. Cette stratégie, induite par l'évolution réglementaire et qui se rapproche du modèle anglo-saxon, doit leur permettre d’améliorer leurs ratios de fonds propres et de pouvoir continuer à prêter. Elle est réalisée essentiellement par voie de titrisation, les portefeuilles de prêts étant transformés en titres financiers qui sont ensuite revendus à des investisseurs, notamment des assureurs. « On est prêt à racheter des prêts, mais on se méfie du risque de titrisation », a prévenu M. Lisswoski, en référence au phénomène qui a démultiplié l’ampleur de la crise du « subprime ». Pour se prémunir contre ces risques, CNP exige que ce ne soit pas la banque qui a consenti les prêts qui réalise la transformation en titres, « pour éviter une asymétrie de l’information », et demande que la banque conserve une partie du risque lié à ces prêts, afin que les intérêts « restent alignés ». Le rendement offert par ces portefeuilles est « plus intéressant que de l’obligataire », a expliqué M. Lissowski, indiquant que les banques, désireuses de sortir rapidement ces portefeuilles de leur bilan, sont souvent prêtes à offrir des conditions avantageuses.

Le secteur des hedge funds a enregistré en mars une collecte nette de 2,3 milliards de dollars, contre 6,8 milliards de dollars en février, selon des statistiques communiquées par TrimTabs et BarclayHedge.Le premier trimestre s’est néanmoins terminé sur une décollecte de 3,2 milliards de dollars. La performance du trimestre s’est élevée à 5,6%, à comparer à un bond de 12% pour le S&P 500.Certaines stratégies continuent toutefois d’attirer les investisseurs, notamment les stratégies macro et fixed income qui affichent des collectes significatives sur les trois dernières années.