The UK asset management firm Schroders on Wednesday announced the recruitment of Mario Pires, ex-head of sales for Portugal at Deutsche Asset Management Spain, as a member of its Iberian team (Spain and Portugal), led by Carla Bergareche. He will be based in Madrid, and will cooperate closely with Pedro Assis, deputy managing director of Schroders for Spain and Portugal, to develop the institutional client base in the two countries. It is a newly-created position, by which Schroders hopes to strengthen this distribution channel.

Gervais Williams, head of British small businesses at Gartmore, for the Gartmore Fledgling, Growth Opportunities, Irish Growth investment and Gartmore UK & Irish Smaller Companies Oeic trusts, has left the company, the website fundstrategy reported on Wednesday, 1 September. Williams is reaplced by Adam McConkey.

With the acquisition of the multi-management activities of the Royal Bank of Scotland earlier this year, Aberdeen Asset Management has set foot in the field of alternative management, via funds of hedge funds. Martin Gilbert, CEO of the Scottish asset management firm, says this is good, as investors want this type of management. But, he says, Aberdeen has no plans to move into direct alternative management, “as that would not align with out culture and our remuneration system based on team spirit.” In terms of acquisitions, Gilbert, who was in Paris on Wednesday, says the company is taking a break at the moment, after a relatively intense period. “We have a sufficiently large size – EUR200.9bn – and we are present in all the asset classes we want to be in,” he explains. This less aggressive attitude is also partly dictated by a regulatory environment which has changed very much recently, he adds. The Aberdeen CEO has called off plans for an acquisition in the United States, which had been a project for several years. But he now says that Aberdeen mostly needs to strengthen its capacities in distribution in North America, and not in management. The firm now estimates that it has everything which American investors need. Including international equities and emerging markets.

F&C Asset Management plc, the London Stock Exchange listed asset management group, has completed its acquisition of Thames River Capital. Following completion of the transaction, F&C has further strengthened its executive committee with two appointments. Charlie Porter, founder and chief executive of Thames River, joins the F&C executive committee with overall responsibility for the F&C group’s retail and wholesale fund business. In the enlarged group Thames River will focus on distribution to IFAs and wealth managers and F&C will concentrate on institutional distribution. Jeremy Charles, chief operating officer of Thames River, has also been appointed to the F&C executive committee with immediate effect. While remaining COO of Thames River Capital he has been given a group-wide brief, reporting to Alain Grisay, F&C’s Chief Executive, to implement changes to the enlarged group’s business model, with the objective of creating greater flexibility in its cost structure and to improve overall efficiency.

At an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on Wednesday morning, which voted 91.3% in favour of the acquisition of GLG Partners, Man Group Plc announced the appointment of Emmanuel (Manny) Roman to the newly-created position of chief operating officer, once the acquisition has been completed. He will also continue to serve as co-CEO of GLG Partners, with Noam Gottesman. Pierre Lagrange will remain senior managing director of GLG, in charge of investment and European long/short equity strategy. Gottesman will be head of global opportunity strategy for GLG. All three will report to Peter Clarke, CEO of Man.

Launches of absolute return funds managed by traditional management firms or hedge funds have shown an unprecedented boom in the past 18 months, according to a study published on 1 September by Moody’s (“European Absolute-Return Funds: A Convergence of Two Worlds.”) The study finds that several factors contributed to this development, including the arrival of hedge funds on the market in UCITS format, as well as the continued preference of investors for liquid, non-benchmarked strategies and regulated vehicles. Moody’s finds that the European regulated absolute return market as of the end of March 2010 totalled about EUR78bn in assets under management, in 718 funds. The total amount of assets under management remains limited, but the number of strategies available is increasing rapidly.

The Belgian asset management firm Petercam Institutional Asset Management, which is on a drive to increase its commercial presence in France, has announced the recruitment of Thierry Minet as sales & account manager for France. Minet joins Ives Hup, who has been senior sales & account manager for France and Italy since 2004, and will assist him in his mission to develop Petercam Asset Management’s presence in France. Before joining Petercam, Thierry worked in asset management at Merrill Lynch and ING.

Société Générale Private Banking on 1 September appointed Olivier Gougeon as CEO for private banking in the South Asian region, effective from 1 September. Gougeon will be based in Singapore, the regional headquarters for Société Générale Private Banking (Asia Pacific), where he replaces Pierre-F. Baer, who will soon be taking on new responsibilities within the Société Générale group. Gougeon becomes a member of the executive boards of the Asia Pacific private bank and the international head company. He will lead the Singapore office and continue the private bank’s development strtegy in the South Asian region, alongside Alex Fung, CEO of Société Générale Private Banking in Hong Kong, head of the Hong Kong and North Asia (ex China) region, and Patrick Dreyfuss, COO for private banking in the Asia-Pacific region. Since 2007, Gougeon has been director of the wealth engineering expertise centre and private banking fiduciary services. In this position he was based in London and responsible for a team of 240 experts covering 14 countries.

Asian Investor reports that the Singapore sovereign fund GIC (Government of Singapore Investment Corporation) has recruited Kishore Gotety, previously of RREEF (Deutsche Bank) as country head for Indian real estate. The sovereign fund declined to comment on the appointment. Last year, the fund did announce its intention to increase its allocation to real estate. Assets under management at GIC total over USD100bn.

Landesbank Berlin Investment GmbH (LBB-Invest) on Wednesday announced the appointment with immediate effect of Andrea Daniela Bauer as a member of the executive board. Since 2006, Bauer was head of the capital markets division at Landesbank Berlin. In December, she will replace Joachim F. Mädler as chair of the executive board. Mädler will remain as an advisor to LBB-Invest, but will be retiring. The other two members of the executive board are Andreas Heß and Dyrk Vieten.

The German construction group Hochtief announced on Wednesday in a market statement that Southeastern Asset Management, based in Memphis (about USD5bn in assets) had notified it on 30 August that it controls over 5% of its capital, with 5.19%, since 26 August. The US manager previously held slightly over 3% of Hochtief.

As part of the New Deal strategic plan, Natixis began repositioning its private equity business toward third party asset management, which is planned to integrate Natixis’ Investment Solutions division. This activity combines venture capital, expansion capital and funds of funds, which until now were part of Natixis Private Equity. Dominique Sabassier is in charge of repositioning this activity toward third party asset management within Natixis’ Investment Solutions division. He will report to Pierre Servant, CEO of Investment Solutions and member of the Senior Management Committee of Natixis, and will become part of the Executive Committee of the division. At the same time, Natixis Asset Management is implementing a new investment organization and modifying the composition of its Executive Committee. Ibrahima Kobar and Emmanuel Bourdeix are appointed CIO fixed income and CIO equity, asset allocation and structured products, respectively in replacement of Dominique Sabassier who was deputy CEO in charge of investments. They will both report to Pascal Voisin, CEO, and become members of Natixis Asset Management’s Executive Committee which also comprises Philippe Zaouati, head of business development who is appointed deputy CEO, and Jean-François Baralon, head of finance and operations. Investment Solutions has combined all investment solutions business lines since August 2009, i.e. asset management, insurance and private banking. Natixis Global Asset Management has a multiboutique structure. It combines some twenty financial and real-estate management firms. Its distribution platform provides a strong presence in Europe, the United States, Asia-Pacific and the Middle-East. It is a global player with total assets under management of €532 bn at the end of June 2010. Natixis Asset Management is Natixis Global Asset Management’s European expert with total assets under management of €302 bn at the end of June 2010.

Les Echos reports that Jules Kroll, 69, the eponymous founder of the economic intelligence group, is hoping to rival Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch, the three major ratings agencies which account for most of the market. “We need a credible alternative,” Kroll tells the Wall Street Journal. The US billionaire founded Kroll Bond Rating Agency last year. He has recently acquired a ratings boutique, Lace Financial, and has recruited several analysts, and is aiming to obtain new licenses and take a bite out of the three major ratings’ agencies, which have been under fire for the past two years.

Les Echos reports that the US Federal Reserve on Tuesday granted permission for the Chinese sovereign fund China Investment Corporation (CIC) to buy a 10% stake in the capital and voting rights of the US bank Morgan Stanley. The sovereign fund, which acquired 2.49% of ordinary shares in Morgan Stanley in 2009, injected owners’ equity into the bank in late 2007, with an investment of about USD5bn in convertible bonds. These bonds, converted on 17 August, will give CIC a stake of up to 9.9% in Morgan Stanley, on the condition that it remains a “passive investor.” To control over 5%, CIC is required to obtain permission from the Fed.

Pending the approval of the Chinese regulatory authorities (CSRC), the Japanese firm Mitsubishi UFJ will acquire 33% of the joint venture SYWG BNP Paribas, for a total of USD50m, from the Caijing agency.Consulting firm Z-Ben says that the deal has the primary advantage that it will bring BNP Paribas into full compliance with Chinese regulations that forbid foreign firms from having more than one local joint venture, after the sale of its 49% stake in ABN Amro Teda to Manulife last November. The French group may now concentrate on the development of the former Fortis Haitong, which has recently been renamed HFT Fund Management.The valuation of SYWG BNP Paribas was complicated by erratic fluctuations in asset levels, which increased from CNY13bn at the end of June 2009 to CNY24bn at the end of December (due to money market funds), and then fell back to CNY10.4bn as of the end of June 2010.

A former hedge fund manager, Stephen Goldfield, was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with making a USD14m profit based on inside information allegedly passed to him by a friend James Self ahead of the takeover of MedImmune by AstraZeneca, says the Financial Times. Mr Self agreed to pay a fine of USD50,000. Mr Goldfield consented to an order to repay the USD14m profits plus USD2.7m interest, all but USD600,000 of which was waived in view of his sworn statements about his financial status.

Alistair Darling, l’ancien ministre des Finances travailliste du Royaume-Uni, a reconnu mercredi que la supertaxe sur les bonus des banquiers n’avait pas permis de modifier les comportements du secteur en matière de rémunérations, rapporte le Financial Times. Il estime peu probable que la taxe soit reconduite par le nouveau gouvernement de coalition.

Taxation of the financial sector, including a potential tax on financial transactions, could raise tens of billions of Euros in added revenues, Agefi reports. The European Commission (EC) is successively examining taxation of banking activities, including new taxes already imposed in France, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, and taxes on financial transactions which European countries are not willing to commit to unilaterally. The EC says revenues from a banking tax would total EUR26bn per year for the 27 EU countries, with the widest application (taxation of all profits and remunerations). A tax on transactions would raise much larger sums than a banking tax, but Brussels admits that it is also more difficult to put in place, the newspaper notes. Revenues would vary from EUR145bn to EUR172bn per year, depending on the range of application (equities, bonds, derivatives). London would account for most of the revenues (over 70%).

Les positions longues sur le maïs sont au plus haut depuis deux ans, selon les statistiques hebdomadaires de la CFTC

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La division Asset Management de l’Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) vient de recruter Lawrence Lo en qualité de Chief Executive Officer (CEO) et responsable des ventes Asie hors Japon, un poste nouvellement créé. Il sera également membre du comité exécutif d’UBP Asset Management. Basé à Hong-Kong, sa mission sera de superviser le développement des activités de l’UBP et de concentrer les efforts de vente de la société sur cette zone, selon un communiqué d’UBP diffusé mardi 31 août.Avant de rejoindre l’UBP, Lawrence Lo assumait le poste de CEO de BSIGenerali Asia Limited, où il était responsable du développement de la gestion de fortune et de l’asset management de la société en Extrême-Orient. Auparavant, il a passé 15 ans au sein de BNP Paribas, où il a assumé les fonctions de directeur général/responsable régional de BNP Paribas Asset Management Group et siégé au sein du comité exécutif de la société pour l’Asie. Il est diplômé de la London School of Economics. L’arrivée de Lawrence Lo illustre la volonté affirmée de l’UBP de renforcer sa présence dans les pays émergents, lesquels ont vocation à représenter 30 % de la clientèle du groupe sur les trois à cinq ans, selon un porte-parole du groupe. Dans ce cadre, une réflexion est également menée sur la région Amérique latine.

Le groupement des banques populaires allemandes a ouvert mardi à Hanovre, Munich et Stuttgart les premières agences de la DZ Privatbank en RFA. Cet établissement offrira, comme son nom l’indique, des services de banque privée. C’est une filiale de la DZ Bank, la caisse centrale d’environ un millier de banques populaires et de crédit agricole (Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken).La DZ Privatbank est également présente au Luxembourg, à Zurich et à Singapour.A terme, il est prévu que l'établissement dispose d’environ 200 conseillers clientèle en Allemagne.

Selon des proches du dossier, Volker van Rüth, associé-gérant de la banque privée Hauck & Aufhäuser (20 milliards d’euros d’encours), serait sur le point de démissionner, rapporte la Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Il laisserait à la suite d’un désaccord le champ libre à l’autre associé-gérant, Michael Schramm, qui a rejoint H&A en provenance de Berenberg en mai 2006.

Le prestataire allemand de services financiers «verts» versiko a annoncé mardi un bénéfice net de 1,5 million d’euros pour le premier semestre contre 0,46 million pour janvier-juin 2009. Il a par ailleurs indiqué que le partenariat stratégique avec BNP Paribas Investment Partners (BNPP IP) s’achèvera le 31 décembre.versiko compte racheter pour les annuler ensuite (au moins en partie) les actions ordinaires et préférentielles détenues par BNPP IP (elles avaient été acquises en 2005 par Fortis Investments) et représentant 25,12 % du capital. Cette transaction sera proposée à l’assemblée générale extraordinaire du 5 octobre 2010. L’acquisition ne pourra se faire à un prix supérieur de 3,03 euros par action ordinaire et de 3,23 euros par action préférentielle de type B ; ensuite, le capital sera réduit.versiko détient au Luxembourg la société de gestion Ökoworld Lux, dont la particularité est de proposer uniquement des fonds «développement durable».

Selon Les Echos, les données compilées par Ricol Lasteyrie montrent que les entreprises du CAC 40 ont quasiment doublé leurs bénéfices sur les six premiers mois de l’année à 41,6 milliards d’euros. Une belle croissance, qui est toutefois à tempérer par la faiblesse de la base de comparaison du premier semestre 2009, au plus fort de la crise. Les sociétés ont cherché à se désendetter et à se constituer un trésor de guerre, qu’elles commencent à utiliser pour des opérations de croissance externe.

Le gestionnaire alternatif indépendant Olympia Capital Management a annoncé le 31 août qu’il reprenait la gestion des fonds alternatifs de Sal. Oppenheim (France), et notamment la gamme Altipro, des FCP de droit français. L’opération, qui a été approuvée par l’AMF le 23 août 2010, permet à Olympia CM d’enrichir son offre de fonds de droit français et peut-être aussi de se ménager une porte d’entrée de premier choix sur le marché allemand.Selon le président du groupe Olympia, Laurent Dupeyron, « cette opération contribue à la stratégie de développement du groupe et vient enrichir notre offre en gestion alternative. Nous sommes ravis de pouvoir intégrer, entre autres actifs, ces quatre fonds de droit français dans notre gamme à un moment où nos clients nous demandent plus de transparence et de règlementation. Nous sommes également fiers d’avoir été choisis comme les plus aptes à gérer ces fonds dans le meilleur intérêt des clients. Nous continuerons à explorer ce type d’opportunités de consolidation lorsqu’elles se présenteront. »Au 30 juin dernier, les actifs sous gestion d’Olympia Capital Management s'élevaient à 2,2 milliards de dollars.

Xavier de Laforcade est nommé à compter de ce jour, 1er septembre, directeur, responsable de la gestion financière de Rothschild Patrimoine, département de gestion privée de Rothschild & Cie Gestion. Agé de 36 ans, l’impétrant était depuis 2005 responsable du pôle de gestion sous mandat « Grands Clients » et gérant de portefeuilles « Clientèle Privée Grands Clients » chez Neuflize OBC Investissement (ABN Amro).

Le fonds de capital investissement Fondations Capital, créé en 2008 par trois anciens associés d’Eurazeo (Xavier Marin, Philippe Renaud et Jean-Marc Prunet), regarde actuellement le dossier du quotidien Le Parisien-Aujourd’hui en France, rapporte L’Agefi qui cite l’Express.Le Groupe Orange ferait également son entrée au capital. La famille Amaury qui détient le quotidien espèrerait retirer 200 millions d’euros de cette cession, précise le quotidien électronique.

Annoncée mardi, l’acquisition de la Banque d’Orsay par Oddo & Cie devrait être bouclée d’ici à la fin de l’année. L’opération, pour un montant qui serait légèrement inférieur aux fonds propres de la filiale de la WestLB - 112 millions d’euros -, se traduira dans un premier temps par la fusion entre les deux banques, puis par le rapprochement entre les sociétés de gestion Oddo Asset Management et Orsay Asset Management. Avec les 2,5 milliards d’euros d’encours de la Banque d’Orsay et sa centaine de salariés, Oddo & Cie va désormais représenter un groupe de 21 milliards d’euros et de près de 900 personnes. Oddo souligne qu’il a vocation à conserver l’ensemble des collaborateurs de la société acquise. S’agissant des gammes, un groupe de travail va être créé pour réfléchir à l’avenir, sachant que la Banque d’Orsay aligne 40 OPCVM et Oddo, 120 véhicules d’investissement.Cela dit, l’acquisition vise plutôt à élargir l’offre du groupe, souligne un porte-parole d’Oddo. Cela lui donne notamment l’occasion de se développer dans la gestion alternative L’opération va aussi permettre à Oddo de dépasser ses objectifs en termes de collecte. En effet, l’an passé, le groupe avait enregistré des souscriptions nettes de 600 millions d’euros, un montant qu’il souhaitait doubler cette année. Au premier semestre, 800 millions d’euros avaient déjà été recueillis, dont 200 millions à l’international.

Selon l’Agefi, l’autorité américaine de régulation a décidé d’abandonner les poursuites pour fraude à l’encontre de Moody’s mise en cause pour des anomalies informatiques ayant gonflé certaines notes sur des CDO en Europe.