Les actions de la Grande Chine, région qui inclut la Chine, Hong Kong et Taiwan, bénéficient d’un regain de faveur auprès des investisseurs. C’est ce qui ressort de la dernière enquête de HSBC menée auprès des gérants de fonds de 13 sociétés de gestion internationales. 56 % des professionnels indiquent qu’ils ont surpondérées ces actions au premier trimestre 2012, «dans un apparent mouvement de réduction des liquidités au profit des actions et obligations», commente l’enquête.Plus généralement, les gérants de fonds sont moins baissiers sur les actions. 50 % et 30 % des personnes interrogées décrivent leur position comme respectivement neutre ou surpondérée (contre 20 % et 30 % au quatrième trimestre 2011). En dehors des actions de la Grande Chine, les gérants favorisent les marchés d’actions émergents (55 %) et de l’Asie Pacifique hors Japon (40 %) ce trimestre, contre respectivement 27 % et 20 % au quatrième trimestre 2011.Les 13 sociétés de gestion participant à l’enquête sont : AllianceBernstein, Allianz Global Investors, Baring Asset Management, BlackRock, Fidelity Investment Management, Franklin Templeton Investments, HSBC Global Asset Management, Invesco Asset Management, Investec Asset Management, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Prudential, Schroders Investment Management et Société Générale.L’intégralité de l’enquête peut être consultée en pièce jointe (552 ko).

Parmi les produits que l’antenne parisienne de BNY Mellon Asset Management compte «pousser» en France cette année figure le BNY Mellon Absolute Return Equity, dont l’encours se situe à 160 millions de livres. Ce fonds, lancé en janvier 2011, affichait fin janvier une performance de 2,02 % contre des pertes de 2,73 % pour le MSCI World TR LC et de 17,26 % pour le HFRX Equity hedge funds.Comme l’a expliqué à Newsmanagers Matthew McKelvey, spécialiste produit de l'équipe de gestion d’insight (une des «boutiques» de BNY Mellon qui pèse 168 milliards de livres), ce fonds coordonné utilise une approche fondamentale pour sélectionner entre 65 et 75 paires d’actions ou d’actions et d’indices en faisant tourner en moyenne son portefeuille cinq fois dans l’année, et en protégeant les paris avec une stricte discipline au moyen de «stop-loss».Il s’agit en fait d’une version plus «Europe continentale» et un peu plus dynamique que le UK Equity Market Neutral (760 millions de livres), qui a généré une performance annuelle nette de 3,7 % sur cinq ans contre 2,6 % pour l’indice de référence (LIBID 3 mois en livres) avec une volatilité de 1,6 % par an (inférieure à celle des obligations d’Etat). A la demande des investisseurs qui voulaient un produit avec une rentabilité encore meilleure, le fonds BNY Mellon fonctionne avec un stop-loss à 40 points de base au lieu de 15 pour le fonds d’origine et des lignes plus lourdes que le UK Market Neutral.Lorsque la volatilité ou les corrélations augmentent, les gérants, qui utilisent une approche fondamentale, réduisent le risque.pour protéger le portefeuille sur des marchés en stress, avec une couverture encore plus précise et étroite des «pair trades», car il s’agit non seulement générer un rendement stable, mais ne pas subir de pertes.Concrètement, le BNY Mellon Absolute Return, un long/short equity à liquidité journalière lancé le 31 janvier 2011, vise par an une performance supérieure de 6 à 8 % au libor avant frais sur 3 à 5 ans (lire Newsmanagers des 2 février et 9 septembre 2011)CaractéristiquesDénomnation : BNY Mellon Absolute Return Equity FundCodes Isin : IE00B3SFH735 (parts d’origine R Acc en livres)IE00B3T5WH77 (parts R en euros couvertes)IE00B443FG34 (parts R en dollars)Droit d’entrée : 5 %Commission de gestion 1,50 %Commission de performance : 15 % pour la performance excédant le libor 1 mois avec high watermark

360 Asset Managers (360 AM) qui gère 160 millions d’euros d’encours sous gestion s’est attaché les services de SunGard pour la valorisation indépendante de ses portefeuilles de produits dérivés. FastVal est un service de valorisation indépendante, délivré en mode ASP, pour les produits dérivés vanilla et OTC complexes qui permettra au département risque de respecter les règlementations françaises et internationales, précise un communiqué.

Société Générale a annoncé le 8 mars le lancement sur NYSE Euronext à Paris des premiers certificats Leverage & Short sur l’indice CAC 40 avec un levier de 10.Ces produits reposent sur des indices de stratégie CAC 40 Leverage & Short x10, nouvellement lancés et calculés par NYSE Euronext. Ils offrent une exposition avec un levier de 10 aux variations quotidiennes, à la hausse comme à la baisse, de l’indice CAC 40. La gamme Leverage & Short a été créée en novembre 2010. En 2011, les transactions ont dépassé 1,6 milliard d’euros échangés. Ces produits ont représenté à eux seuls, plus de 28% des montants échangés sur l’ensemble des certificats, warrants, turbos sur l’indice CAC 40 tous émetteurs confondus. Caractéristiques : Nom : Leverage CAC 40 x10Code isin : FR0011214527Indice sous-jacent : CAC 40® x10 LeverageParité : 200/1Commission : 0,40% + CG (*)Échéance : OuverteNom : Short CAC 40 x10Code isin : FR0011214535Indice sous-jacent : CAC 40® x10 ShortParité : 1000/1Commission : 0,40% + CG (*) Échéance : Ouverte*CG (Commission de Gap) correspondant au coût d’une couverture inclus systématiquement dans la construction du certificat pour limiter le risque de l’investisseur au montant investi en cas de forte baisse/hausse de l’indice CAC 40 sur une même séance. Son coût est calculé chaque jour et déduit de la valeur du certificat.

Amundi Immobilier met un coup d’accélérateur à la diversification géographique de son OPCI (Organisme de Placement Collectif Immobilier) grand public Opcimmo. La société de gestion a effectué un premier investissement sur le marché britannique pour ce produits. Jeudi, elle a en effet annoncé une prise de participation dans l’immeuble « 5 Canada Square », situé dans le quartier d’affaires Canary Wharf à Londres.L’immeuble qui développe près de 50.000 m² sur 15 étages avec 92 parkings, fait partie d’un ensemble immobilier conçu par l’architecte américain Marshall Strabala du cabinet d’architectes Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Il est entièrement loué sur la base d’un bail ferme à échéance 2027.

Threadneedle Investments a recruté Philippe Lorent en tant que responsable commercial au sein de l’équipe française, a annoncé jeudi la société de gestion britannique. Avant de rejoindre Threadneedle le 27 février dernier, Philippe Lorent était chargé de clientèle chez Franklin Templeton Investments à Paris de 2007 à 2010. Il était ensuite devenu responsable relations commerciales au sein de PIM Gestion France, une société qui vient d’annoncer sa fusion avec IT Asset Management. Philippe Lorent travaillera avec Eleonard Buono, qui est le principal responsable de Threadneedle en France depuis le départ en juin dernier de Philippe Sabbah, directeur du bureau, pour Robeco Gestions à Paris, où il est devenu directeur général et membre du directoire. Avec cette arrivée, l’équipe parisienne de la structure britannique se compose de trois personnes. Au 31 décembre, Threadneedle gérait plus de 87 milliards d’euros d’encours dont environ 78 milliards pour ses clients en Europe. La part des encours en France n’a pas été dévoilée.

Via un avis publié notamment dans Le Monde, la société Aberdeen Global Services a convoqué les porteurs de parts du FCP Aberdeen Liquidity Fund (Lux) à une assemblée générale pour leur proposer de changer le statut du produit en Sicav. Elle aura lieu le 19 mars au siège social de la société de gestion à Luxembourg. Les porteurs n’acceptant pas la proposition de modification peuvent faire une demande de rachat de leurs parts au plus tard le 30 mars.

La société de gestion italienne Azimut propose à ses clients d’essayer son fonds AZ Fund Renminbi Opportunities via un investissement virtuel de 1.500 euros, et ce jusqu’au 30 avril, rapporte Bluerating. Si avant la fin de l’année, le client est séduit et qu’il décide de convertir son placement virtuel en engagement réel, il bénéficiera du rendement réalisé le mois précédent. Au contraire, s’il décide de ne pas concrétiser son investissement, il n’aura rien perdu puisqu’il n’aura engagé aucune somme d’argent.

Aviva France has posted relatively solid operational activities in 2011, despite a steep decline in its net profits, Agefi reports. Operating profits (by IFRS accounting standards) rose 25%, to EUR543m, on earnings of EUR6.1bn (-12.8%). In asset management, Aviva Investors France has posted stable assets under management, at EUR79.7bn (-1%). Aviva is paying its share due to the crisis in its net profits (IFRS), however, down 45% to EUR166m, due to a correction to the value of assets not included in life insurance funds to match market valued. These latent capital losses are said to have been partially recuperated since the beginning of 2012, the newspaper reports.

The Luxembourg affiliate of the Danish firm Sparinvest has announced the launch of the Sparinvest Institutional Corporate Value Bonds 2015 fund on 16 March. The international corporate bond fund matures on 31 December 2015, and will deploy the value strategy characteristic of the asset management firm.The objective is to offer institutional investors and independent financial advisers a return which is known at the time of investment, with reduced risk of default. The management objective is to deliver net returns of about 4.5%, associated with a volatility of about 2. Subscription to the fund will be open from 16 March to 16 April 2012.The portfolio will invest in securities to mature at most 12 months after the maturity of the fund. Its allocation is 70% to investment grade bonds, and 30% to high yield bonds, with an average rating of BBB. The fund, which is highly diversified geographically (US, Canada, Northern Europe), may invest in bonds from emerging markets with up to 10% of its assets.CharacteristicsName: Sparinvest Institutional Corporate Value Bonds 2015ISIN code: LU0412330796 (EUR I shares)Front-end fee: 3%Management commission:1% (retail shares)0.50% (institutional shares)Penalty for early withdrawal: 3% or 2% (in case of 1 month advance notification of withdrawal)

Société Générale on 8 March announced the launch on NYSE Euronext in Paris of the first Leverage & Short certificates based on the CAC 40 with a leverage of 10. The products, on sale from Société Générale, are based on the CAC 40 Leverage & Short x10 indices, which have recently been launched, calculated by NYSE Euronext. The offer exposure with a leverage of 10 to daily upward and downward fluctuations of the CAC 40 index. The Leverage & Short range was created in November 2010. In 2011, transactions totalled over EUR1.6bn in trading volume. These products alone represented over 28% of the volumes traded on all certificates, warrants, and turbos on the CAC 40 index from all issuers combined. Product Underlying index Parity Commission Maturity Mnemonic ISIN Leverage CAC 40 x10 CAC 40® x10 Leverage 200/1 0.40% + CG (*) Open 6998S FR0011214527 Short CAC 40 x10 CAC 40® x10 Short 1000/1 0.40% + CG (*) Open 6999S FR0011214535 *CG (Gap Commission) represents the cost of hedging, systematically included in the construction of the certificate, in order to limit risks to the investor of the amount invested in case of significant falls or rises on the CAC 40 index in a single trading day. Its cost is calculated each day and deducted from the value of the certificate.

Threadneedle Investments has recruited Philippe Lorent as senior sales manager within the French team, the British asset management firm announced on Thursday. Before joining Threadneedle on 27 February this year, Lorent had been a client adviser at Franklin Templeton Investments in Paris, from 2007 to 2010. He then became head of commercial relations at PIM Gestion France, a firm which has recently announced its merger with IT Asset Management. Lorent will work with Eleonard Buono, who has been head of Threadneedle in France since the departure of Philippe Sabbah, head of the office, in June last year. Sabbah moved to Robeco Gestions in Paris, where he has become CEO and a member of the board. With the new arrival, the Paris office of the British asset management firm has three members. As of 31 December, Threadneedle had more than EUR87bn in assets, of which about EUR78bn were under management for clients in Europe. The proportion of these assets originating in France has not been disclosed.

In 2009, Aviva Gestión set an objective of reaching EUR500m in two years. Currently, its assets under management total EUR680m, Funds People reports, following the firm’s second annual meeting with institutional investors, held on Thursday. The asset management firm uses a value style, with a “particular obsession” for the preservation of capital. Overall, counting pension funds and life insurance contracts, Aviva manages EUR14bn in Spain.

With its acquisition of the new Unnim savings bank, the result of the merger of three other savings banks (Caixa Terrasa, Caixa Sabadell and Caixa Manlleu), for a symbolic price of one euro, BBVA takes control of the asset management firm Unnim Gesfons, whose assets total EUR160m in three bond funds (EUR61m), one diversified fund (EUR3m), four bond guaranteed funds (EUR85m) and one international equity fund (EUR10m), Funds People reports. With the addition of assets contributed by the open-ended funds at Unnim, BBVA Asset Management will have over EUR20bn in assets. In addition to its directly-managed funds, Unnim also has four funds outsourced to Ahorro Corporación Gestión, and four Sicav funds inherited from Caixa Terrasa, with over EUR500m in assets under management, putting total assets at Unnim at about EUR700m.

Henderson Global Investors, on behalf of its German business Warburg - Henderson KAG, has acquired an office property in the Netherlands and two retail units in Austria.“Haagsche Hof” in the Netherlands was acquired for EUR27million. It is located very centrally in the historical city centre of The Hague. The building has 11,000 sqm of lettable floor space, arranged over six floors, and 303 parking spaces. The office was bought for Warburg - Henderson European Core Property Fund No. 1 which was launched in December 2006 for institutional investors. Meanwhile, Henderson has also acquired a fully let retail warehouse in the Austrian city of Fürstenfeld (Styria) from ARW Bauprojekt GmbH. The property, purchased from ARW Bauprojekt GmbH, comprises close to 15.000 sqm. For the same Fund, Henderson has acquired a shopping unit - Intersport Eybl - in Vienna, from Deka Immobilien GmbH. The property provides over 10,400 square metres and is fully let to Austria’s leading sports goods retailer, Intersport Eybl, with a remaining lease length of twelve years. The purchase price for both retail assets was undisclosed.

The German asset management firm ÖkoRenta, a specialist in sustainable investment, has decided to suspend sales of its fund investing in privat companies in the renewable energies sector, Ökorenta Zukunftsenergien I (ZE I), Fonds Professionell reports. The decision, which will remain in effect until the legal situation of the fund has been clarified, follows the passage by the German government of a law on 29 February which will “drastically” reduce subsidies for solar energy, starting from spring 2012. The move will result in a steep reduction in the earnings of service providers and producers in the sector, and will cause serious problems for sales of solar modules.

The objective of the Threadneedle (Lux) Global Opportunities Bond fund, which the British asset management firm is now releasing in Germany, is to generate performance 450 basis points higher than the 1-month rate on savings in US dollars, regardless of market conditions, Das Investment reports.The bond fund brings together the best ideas of 43 professionals in the bond team led by Jim Cielinsi, the manager of the fund. The portfolio may invest in government bonds from developed or emerging countries, investment grade or other corporate bonds, ABS, currencies, and derivatives.A part of the short-term portfolio aims to sustainably outperform the Libor, while the other aims to produce gains through tactical or longer-term strategic bets.CharacteristicsName: Threadneedle (Lux) Global Opportunities BondISIN code: LU0640492830Management commission: 1.15%Performance commission: 15% with high watermark

The British Aberdeen Asset Mangement group has announced the appointment of Charles MacGregor as head of credit research for Asia-Pacific. MacGregor previously worked at Aviva Investors Asia in Singapore. Aberdeen has also appointed Thu Ha Chow as senior credit analyst. Chow, who had already worked in the fixed income team at Aberdeen in London, will concentrate on issuers in Asia.

Corporate bond issues started fast out of the gate this year – faster than in the three previous years. In the first two months of the year, the volume of corporate bond issues has totalled USD543bn, with nearly USD300bn in the month of February alone, compared with USD2.4trn in all of 2011, according to a study by Standard & Poor’s of corporate bond activity since 1 January. European issuers are the source of 44% of the volumes issued, while US businesses represent 32% of the total and emerging markets account for 10%. The cost of borrowing for investment grade and speculative category businesses was 11% and 13%, respectively. Investors have responded to demand, but may very quickly become more reticent if difficulties persist in the euro zone, or if projections of lower growth in North America prove true.

Facing difficult market conditions and the restriction of lines of credit, investment funds are focusing on their existing portfolios. Build-ups (acquisitions made by companies and held in funds) have started to account for an increasing part of their activities, Agefi notes. These transactions totalled USD28.4bn in 2011 (+59% in one year), and represented 36% of operations in the sector (28% in 2010).

“The complexity of supply chains makes it difficult for companies to fully understand and manage the environmental and social impacts of their business activities. However, the risks can lead to business consequences such as loss of reputation, supply chain disruptions, product safety problems or cost increases”, say Eurosif and Sarasin in a new research.“Consequently, these issues constitute not only ethical challenges but also financial risks. Investors should therefore assess companies on their capabilities to reduce or avoid such risks by implementing responsible supply chain standards and practices”.To this end, investors should first estimate the exposure of a company to supply chain issues by looking at factors such as industry, degree of outsourcing and locations of suppliers. For example, certain industries like electronics, apparel and textile, apparel retailers, food industry and food retailers have a comparatively high exposure. Secondly, companies exposed to supply chain issues can be distinguished by the quality of their sustainable supply chain management, which should cover the product labelling or the active collaboration with competitors and stakeholders.

The US firm Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has reshuffled its team dedicated to structured finance, whose credibility the new chairman of S&P would like to restore with issuers and investors, the Wall Street Journal reports.The agency will appoint a new criteria officer for structured finance in the United States, according to a source familiar with the matter. It has also removed the directors of mortgage ratings for both commercial and residential properties.

Among the products that the Paris office of BNY Mellon Asset Management is planning to “push” in France this year is the BNY Mellon Absolute Return Equity, whose assets total GBP160m. The fund, launched on 31 January 2011, as of the end of January 2012 had earned returns of 2.02%.As Matthew McKelvey, a product specialist in the Insight management team (a boutique from BNY Mellon AM, which has GBP168bn in assets), explains to Newsmanagers, the UCITS fund uses a fundamental approach to select 65 to 75 pairs of equities or equity indices, and turns over its portfolio an average of five times per year, so as to protect bets with strict stop-loss discipline.The fund is a slightly more dynamic version of the UK Equity Market Neutral fund (GBP760m), which has generated net annual returns of 3.7% over five years, with volatility of 1.6% per year. At the request of investors who wanted a product with even higher returns, the BNY Mellon fund operates with a 40 basis points (bps) stop loss, instead of the 15pbs stop loss used for the original fund.When volatility or correlations increase, the managers, who use a fundamental approach, reduce risk in order to protect the portfolio in stressed markets, with even tighter hedging of pair trades.The BNY Mellon Absolute Return fund, a long/short equity fund with daily liquidity, aims for returns 6% to 8% higher than the libor before fees over 3 to 5 years (see Newsmanagers of 2 February and 9 September 2011).CharacteristicsName: BNY Mellon Absolute Return Equity FundISIN codes: IE00B3SFH735 (original R Acc shares in pounds Sterling)IE00B3T5WH77 (R shares in hedged euros)IE00B443FG34 (R shares in US dollars)Front-end fee: 5%Management commission: 1.50%Performance commission: 15% on performance exceeding the libor 1 month with high watermark

The Financial Times reports that the three major US providers of ETF funds since the beginning of the year have been fighting a price war to win market share. BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street, which between them manage 84% of the USD1.2trn in ETF funds, have lowered their management fees on 75 ETFs since the beginning of 2012, and have increased them on only two products, according to statistics from XTF.

As soon as it will have received the corresponding licence from the French watchdog AMF, Swiss Life Asset Management will announce the launch of a first FCP fund replicating the portfolios of the three best managers in the amLeague championship in the fully invested euro equities portfolio mandate.The product will deploy a “momentum” type strategy developed by Swiss Life Asset Management in Zurich, Pierre Grimaud, CEO of the Third Party Asset Management (TPAM) division at Swiss Life, announced on Thursday evening, at a plenary meeting of amLeague.The new product, an open-ended fund reserved for investor members of amLeague, will be based on an investable strategy index based on closing share prices, to replicate the portfolios selected by the top three best-performing managers participating in the amLeague championship. The data will be sent every business day at 4 pm by amLeague, completely anonymously. The portfolio will be weighted with 4/9 for the leader in the rankings, 1/3 for second place, and 2/9 for third place. The rankings will be established on the basis of risk-adjusted performance (volatility) over a rolling three-month period.Weighting will be adjusted once per month.

Pictet Asset Management has released its Luxembourg-registered UCITS fund Pictet Global Bonds Fundamental (see Newsmanagers of 23 February), launched on 31 January, for sale in Spain, Funds People reports.

The Colombian asset management firm Bolsa y Renta (ByR) has unveiled the UCITS equity fund Colombia Equity Fund, which will sold by the German-Spanish third-party marketer Accelerando Associates, primarily to institutional investors, Funds People reports.The product (see Newsmanagers of 19 January) will replicate the strategy of a local Colombian fund which has delivered annual returns of 15.4% in pesos (before fees) since its launch in February 2007, outperforming its benchmark, the ColCap (20 shares), with a concentrated portfolio of 13 positions, of which 2 are on shares not included in the index. The manager, Alejandro Correa, uses a fundamental analysis approach.ByR is based in Medellín and has USD2bn in assets.

The Spanish affiliate of ING Direct has announced that its “orange broker” will offer all ETFs on sale in Spain, and those from the major foreign providers, to provide clients with an ideal tool to select products by category of index, geographical region, asset class and type of strategy, Funds People reports. The tool covers150 Spanish, European and American products, including funds from iShares, X-trackers, Lyxor Asset Management, ProShares, and State Street Global Advisors.

The Belgian investment business Petercam on 7 March announced that, in line with its proximity strategy, it is opening two offices in Madrid and Frankfurt, and is scaling up its presence in Geneva. “This development comes as part of the firm’s strategy to get closer to institutional clients by setting up local anchor points in continental Europe,” the firm says in a statement.Hugo Lasat, Partner and Head of Institutional Asset Management at Petercam, says “proximity to our clients is fundamental. Our local specialists will allow us to advise our clients in their own language and to handle specific situations in each country. That’s why Petercam is pursuing a pan-European strategy, opening offices in Madrid and Frankfurt, and scaling up our presence in Geneva. Those offices will be directed by sales representatives who are perfectly up on local regulations and tax laws, and on clients’ needs. We think that’s the best possible approach to be able to offer the best level of service and custom investment solutions to our institutional clients.”

The Italian asset management firm Azimut is offering its clients an opportunity to try out its AZ Fund Renminbi Opportunities fund, via a virtual investment of EUR1,500, until 30 April, Bluerating reports. If the client is won over by the end of the year and decides to convert the virtual investment into a real investment, the investor will receive the returns earned the previous month. On the other hand, investors who decide not to concretise their investments will have lost nothing, as they will not have engaged any money.