Recherche
S'abonner
Connexion
Asset Management
Accueil Asset Management Actualités
15/03/2011
Fonds

BNP Paribas a rouvert ses deux fonds gelés en novembre

Les deux fonds de fonds alternatifs Opportunity et Serenity gelés en novembre 2010 ont repris leur cotation le 10 mars, rapporte les Echos. Harewood AM, une filiale de BNP Paribas, va désormais gérer ces fonds. La reprise de cotation, ainsi que le transfert de leur gestion à Harewood AM, doit être annoncée officiellement ce matin par BNP Paribas. L’annonce sera faite à l’occasion de l’opération de rapprochement de Harewood AM avec le pôle de gestion Sigma de BNP Paribas Asset Management. Selon des documents internes que «Les Echos» se sont procurés, les fonds concernés, Serenity et Opportunity, ont repris leur cotation avec des délais de remboursement raccourcis.
Fonds
15/03/2011
Fonds

Selon BarclayHedge, les hedge funds ont gagné 1,17 % en février

L’indice général BarclayHedge des hedge funds portant sur les résultats de 1.680 fonds publiés au 14 mars fait ressortir une performance moyenne de 1,17 % pour février, ce qui porte le total depuis le début de l’année à 1,63 %.Deux stratégies ont accusé des pertes le mois dernier, les marchés émergents (246 fonds), avec 0,94 % et surtout l’equity short bias (7 fonds), avec 2,91 %. En revanche l’equity long bias a gagné 2,74 % et les technologiques (24 fonds) 2,07 %.Sur le premier bimestre de l’année, les technologiques et le distressed securitites (26 fonds) affichent des gains respectifs de 4,29 % et 4,03 %. A l’autre extrémité du spectre, l’equity short bias et les marchés émergents perdent respectivement 3,61 % et 1,48 % sur janvier-février.
Fonds
15/03/2011
Fonds

CalPERS approuve un nouveau modèle d’allocation pour le fonds des retraités

Le fonds de pension californien CalPERS a annoncé le 14 mars qu’il avait approuvé un nouveau modèle d’allocation d’actifs qui propose trois nouveaux portefeuilles d’investissement pour le fonds dédié aux retraités («retiree benefit trust »), un fonds créé il y a quatre ans pour préfinancer les dépenses de santé des retraités.Les nouveaux portefeuilles comprennent des obligations indexées sur l’inflation et des matières premières, ainsi que des actions internationales et de l’immobilier.
Fonds
15/03/2011

Legg Mason recherche des possibilités de croissance externe

Mark Fetting, chairman et CEO de Legg Mason, estime qu'à présent la société de gestion qu’il dirige a opéré son retournement et peut chercher des acquisitions en Europe, l’objectif étant d’arriver à terme à une répartition 50/50 des actifs entre les Etats-Unis et l'étranger, rapporte la Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Toutefois, Mark Fetting souligne que les acquisitions éventuelles doivent être de taille modérée pour ne pas transformer le groupe et que Legg Mason ne renonce pas à la croissance organique. Les acquisitions éventuelles devraient surtout concerner des gestionnaires focalisés sur les actions internationales. Et Legg Mason compte aussi se renforcer dans l’immobilier à l’international, sur les matières premières et dans le private equity.
15/03/2011

LVAM to reorient its multi-management portfolio

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Paul Kim, who arrived on Monday from FundQuest as head of LV= Asset Management (LVAM) multi-management, is planning to integrate the Schroders UK Alpha Plus and Axa Framlington UK Select Opportunities funds into the portfolio, Fund Strategy reports. Kim, who arrived with Richard Timberlake (also from FundQuest), is planning to reallocate about 30% of the portfolio of LVAM in the next three months.
15/03/2011

Kleinwort Benson aquires Close Brothers Offshore Group

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Kleinwort Benson Channel Islands Holdings Limited, an affiliate of RHJ International, has acquired the private banking, fund administration and management activities in Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man of Close Brothers Offshore Group (COG) and the COG service centre in Cape Town, for GBP29.1m, with a potential adjustment depending on assets at the time that the transaction is completed.The deal, announced on 14 March, will bring assets at the Kleinwort Benson private bank to about GBP7bn.COG employs 350 people at these locations, and Kleinwort Benson has 358 employees in the Channel Islands and 271 in the UK.
15/03/2011

Thames River chief sells F&C shares

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Charlie Porter, the head of Thames River Capital, has sold shares in F&C for about GBP1.7m, after investing in several funds from the group, Investment Week reports.
15/03/2011

Repsol sells 2.9% of YPF to Lazard

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In a filing to the CNMV, Repsol announced that it has sold 3.83% of its Argentinian affiliate YPF to investment funds, including 2.9% to Lazard Asset Management, at a price of USD42.40 per share. The transaction represents a total of USD639m, which values YPF at nearly USD16.68bn. The stake acquired by Lazard AM corresponds to USD484m, while the stake bought by other funds represents USD155m.
15/03/2011

Insynergy launches a fund dedicated to emerging markets equities

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Investment Week reports that the British asset management firm Insynergy is planning to launch an income fund dedicated to emerging markets equities.The new fund, the Insynergy New World Equity Income fund, managed by a team at Kleinwort Benson Investors (KBI) led by Gareth Maher, will include 100 positions, and will aim for returns of 4.5%.The fund will be able to invest in emerging Asia, Latin America, emerging Europe and the North Africa/Middle East region.Last year, about 61% of Asian companies paid dividends, compared with 33% of emerging markets companies. Spike Hughes, CEO of Insynergy, says this means that dividends from emerging markets firms have a much greater chance of increasing than others.
15/03/2011

Funds of hedge funds bite into performance

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Investing in hedge funds via funds of hedge funds reduces annual returns by 3 percentage points, according to a study by the Universities Superannuation Scheme, the second-largest pension fund in the UK, cited by Financial Times Fund Management. GBP100m invested for 10 years in hedge funds would now be worth GBP270m, while the same amount invested in funds of hedge funds would now be worth only GBP197m.
15/03/2011

Skandia awards a mandate to an F&C manager

Skandia Investment Group (SIG) has handed a GBP21m mandate in its Skandia UK Best Ideas Fund to Peter Lees at F&C Investments. The addition of F&C Investments to the UK Best Ideas line-up sees Peter Lees taking over the mandate from Colin Mclean of SVM Asset Management. The latter will continue to manage a mandate for the UK Strategic Best Ideas fund. The other managers of the fund are: Richard Buxton of Schroders, Richard Packett of BlackRock, Audrey Ryan of Aegon, Jacob de Tusch-Lec of Artemis, and Dan Nickols of OMAM. They all have 18% of the fund, except for Dan Nickols who manages 10%.
15/03/2011

LaSalle IM launches a property derivatives activity

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } LaSalle Investment Management, which has USD40bn in assets under management, will create a property derivatives business for its pension fund clients, IPE.com reports. It will be a joint venture with the brokerage firm BGC Partners.
15/03/2011

Azimut acquires 60% of a Turkish investment firm

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Italian asset management firm Azimut has signed an agreement with the Turkish group Yatirim Holding to create a partnership for the management and distribution of investment products in Turkey. The Italian boutique will buy 5% of Global Securities (GS), the financial products distribution firm controlled by the Turkish group, at its IPO. Global Yatirim Holding will retain at least 75% of capital in the firm. Meanwhile, Azimut will, through a capital increase, acquire 60% of Global Asset Management (GAM), the asset management firm owned by the Turkish group. The cost of the two operations, which are still pending approval from the local authorities, totals about EUR6m, with put options. The two partners will invest additional capital in order to develop the two firms. By acquiring a presence in Turkey through this agreement, Azimut continues its international expansion, following the launch of a joint venture in China.
15/03/2011

Hedge fund assets in Hong Kong up by 15%

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong reports that assets in hedge funds increased by nearly 15% last year, to USD63.2bn. This development is largely due to the arrival in Hong Kong of alternative management funds in the largest weight class.The number of funds fell to 538 in September 2010, compared with 542 one year previously, while the proportion of managers in charge of strategies with total assets between USD101m and USD500m rose from 25.7% in 2009 to 29.5% in 2010, compared with 60.7% the previous year. The proportions of hedge funds managing USD501m to USD1bn on the one hand, and over USD1bn on the other, remained stable, at 7.2% and 5.9%, respectively.Inflows were dominated by foreign investors, particularly from the US (36.1%) and Europe (24.3%).
15/03/2011

Good start to the year for Invesco in Asia

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Asian Investor reports that Invesco posted net inflows of about USD1.5trn in the first two months of the year 2011 from institutional and retail investors in the Asia-Pacific region, compared with USD2.3bn in the year 2010 as a whole. The head of Asia-Pacific at Invesco, Andrew Lo, claims that there will be highs and lows in 2011, but adds that clients have optimistic outlooks due to the improvement of the markets since 2009, and the gradual clarification of regulatory changes in the area of distribution. As of the end of September 2010, assets under management at Invesco in the Asia-Pacific region totalled about USD54.2bn, up 48% compared with 2009.
15/03/2011

Hedge funds made 1.17% in February, according to BarclayHedge

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The composite BarclayHedge index of hedge funds, including results for 1,680 funds which had published results as of 14 March, shows average returns of 1.17% for February, which brings the total since the beginning of the year to 1.63%.Two strategies saw losses last month: emerging markets (246 funds), at 0.94%, and equity short bias (7 funds), with 2.91%. However, equity long bias gained 2.74%, and technologies (24 funds) made 2.07%.In the first two months of the year, technologies and distressed securities (26 funds) posted respective gains of 4.29% and 4.03%. At the other end of the spectrum, equity short bias and emerging markets lost 3.61% and 1.48%, respectively, in January-February.
15/03/2011

HSBC offers administration services for Islamic funds

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British HSBC group has launched a range of administration services for Islamic fund managers, in order to strengthen its market share in Sharia-compliant funds, a market worth USD50bn to USD60bn, which has grown only minimally since 2009.HSBC Amanah Services offers administration and accounting, custody, transfer agency and treasury services on 17 markets in the Middle East, the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and the Americas.According to the Asian Development Bank, the Islamic finance sector now total about USD1trn, but the Islamic fund market represents only about 5% of this total, according to a 2010 Ernst & Young report entitled “Islamic Funds and Investments.”
15/03/2011

Scandinavian investors boost inflows in Europe

The movement of Nordic investors’ money into mutual funds outpaced most other European markets in January, totalling EUR4.1bn, and really caught the eye while those in most other markets were far more cautious, Lipper FMI wrote in its latest Fund Flash.European inflows hit EUR23.1bn in January (excluding money market funds), rising for the second month in a row. With money market activity included, total industry sales rose from -EUR2.5bn (a net outflow) to EUR13.5bn.Net sales for equity funds dropped to EUR15.2bn in January (EUR20.9bn last month), while redemptions from bond funds improved to -EUR2.1bn (up from -EUR6.6bn).Absolute return funds enjoyed a healthy start to 2011 with asset allocation funds seeing net sales of EUR2.9bn, Lipper underlines. There are likely to be a lot more of these products being launched this year.Franklin Templeton attracted the greatest inflows this month (EUR2.6bn excluding money market funds), ahead of BlackRock (EUR2.4bn) and UBS (EUR1.9bn) in second and third.While Templeton’s success is still dominated by appetite for its bond range, flows into the latter two came primarily into their equity products. Interestingly, when ETF activity is stripped out, UBS was the best-selling equity fund manager this month, Lipper adds.
15/03/2011

Credit Suisse outsources fund of fund administration in Guernsey

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Hedgeweek reports that Credit Suisse is planning to outsource administration of its funds of funds domiciled in Guernsey. The transfer will be completed in the next six months, but Credit Suisse did not disclose the name of the provider, or the amount of assets concerned.
15/03/2011

BNP Paribas reopens two funds frozen in November

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The two funds of hedge funds Opportunity and Security, frozen in November 2010, returned to trading on 10 March, Les Echos reports. Harewood AM, an affiliate of BNP Paribas, will now manage the funds. The return to trading, as well as the transfer of the management of the funds to Harewood AM, will officially be announced by BNP Paribas this morning. The announcement will be made at the occasion of the merger of Harewood AM with the Sigma management unit of BNP Paribas Asset Management. According to internal documents obtained by Les Echos, the funds concerned, Serenity and Opportunity, have returned to trading with shorter redemption notices.
15/03/2011

Deutsche Bank sells its twin towers to DWS

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Deutsche Bank on 14 March announced that it has sold its twin office towers to a closed real estate investment fund from DWS. The German bank has reportedly been planning to sell its headquarters for several months (Newsmanagers of 6 December 2010). The sale price is expected to total about EUR600m, Deutsche Bank says in a statement.From mid-May, the DWS fund will be available exclusively to private investors at Deutsche Bank. The properties will continue to operate as the headquarters of the bank, which would like to remain the long-term tenant. The towers, which were already owned by a closed fund from 1984 to 2007, were bought back by Deutsche Bank for the purposes of renovation, including bringing the building into compliance with the most recent ecological standards, such as German DGNB certification.
15/03/2011

Strong growth in sustainable investment in Switzerland

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } With an overall volume of CHF42bn, or about EUR32.6bn, the sustainable investment market in Switzerland gained 23% last year compared with 2009, according to the annual study “Sustainable Investments in Switzerland,” published by the research and consulting firm onValues, for the Sustainable Investment Forum (SIF).Net inflows to socially responsible investment funds rose by about 4%, while Swiss funds on average saw net outflows of about the same amount, says Sabine Döbeli, vice-chairman of SIF and chair of SIF Switzerland.Investment funds represents 58% of socially responsible investment in 2010, up 30.1% compared with the previous year. Mandates accounted for 38% of the market, up 18.6% year on year, while structured products were down 18.4%, to 4%. Equities were the dominant asset class, at 63%.Private investors consolidated their share of the market, at 57%, while institutionals lost ground, to come in at 43%.The study also finds that there has been a substantial increase in the use of voting rights, largely at general shareholders’ meetings. “This development is coherent with the fact that 44% of bankers and managers surveyed are planning to more actively exercise their voting rights in the future.”
15/03/2011

Appointment at BNP Paribas (Switzerland)

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BNP Paribas on 14 March announced the appointment of Hans-Jürgen Koch has CEO, in charge of Wealth Management activities, from 1 July. He becomes a member of the general board of directors and the executive board for the International Europe region at BNP Paribas Wealth Management, both of which are led by Pascal Boris, to whom he will report directly.
15/03/2011

Strong increase in profits at Partners Group

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Swiss asset management firm Partners Group has published operating profits up 16% for 2010, at CHF376m, on an EBITDA up 10% to CHF250m. Net profits by IFRS accounting standards were up strongly, by 45%, to EUR297m. Dividends will be increased by CHF5 per share for 2009.As of the end of December, assets at Partners Group totalled EUR21.4bn (see Newsmanagers of 14 January 2011).
15/03/2011

Co-CEO of Brevan Howard moves to Switzerland

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Financial News reports that the co-CEO of Brevan Howard Asset Management, Nagi Kawkabani, is moving to Geneva this week. He will join the Swiss office of the asset management firm, created last year.
15/03/2011

Erika Kessler takes over as director of Swiss Fund Data

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Agefi Switzerland reports that Erika Kessler on 1 March 2011 took over as director of Swiss Fund Data. She succeeds Herbert M. Stich as head of the joint information platform from the Swiss Funds Association (SFA) and SIX Swiss Exchange.
15/03/2011

Legg Mason seeking opportunities for external growth

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Mark Fetting, chairman and CEO of Legg Mason, estimates that the asset management firm he heads has recovered, and is now in good shape to seek acquisitions in Europe, with the objective of eventually achieving a 50/50 distribution of assets between the United States and other countries, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. However, Fetting says, potential acquisitions should be of a smaller size, so as not to transform the group, and Legg Mason is not giving up on organic growth.Potential acquisitions are expected to concern managers focused on international equities. Legg Mason is also planning to build a presence in international real estate, commodities, and private equity.
15/03/2011

Two executives of Lazard Frères Gestion appointed as partners at Lazard

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Two members of the team at Lazard Frères Gestion have been appointed as partners at Lazard, a statement says.They are Jean-Jacques de Gournay, head of relationships with institutional investors, distributors and independent financial advisers (IFAs), who has been a managing partner at Lazard Frères Gestion since 2007, and Matthieu Grouès, head of collective and institutional asset management at Lazard Frères Gestion since 2009.They join the current partners François-Marc Durand, head of asset management activities in France, and François de Saint-Pierre, head of private management activities in France.

Sujets d'actualité

Tous les sujets