Banco Popular is now offering the Combinado Economías Emergentes, with a minimal subscription of EUR1,000, half of which will be placed in a 12-month deposit (maturiing on 7 September 2011), with returns of 5%, and the remainder invested in the guaranteed fund Eurovalor Garantizado Emergentes (31 October 2014), which will mature on 13 February 2014, returning the entire initial subscription plus the sum of variations in the S&P BRIC 40, with a monthly limit of 1.10% gains and 2% losses. The maximal returns for the fund will thus be 45.10% (11.42% per year), with minimal performance of 0%. The product is aimed at clients seeking extra returns with no risk.

In June, the Lyxor hedge fund index has lost 0.59%, meaning that in first half, the index is marginally down, by 0.07%. The two heaviest monthly losses were for statistical arbitrage (-1.97%) and long/short equity long bias (-1.90%). In first half, the heaviest losses ere for long/short equity long bias (-3.85%) and long/short equity short bias (-4.01%).

Vontobel Management on 1 March 2010 launched the Luxembourg diversified fund Vontobel Fund, Dynamic Capital Portfolio, which aims for performance of 200 basis points over the Euribor 3-month, with potential losses limited to 5% over 12 months. The portfolio is composed of selected equities of the EuroStoxx 50, which account for 20%, and investment grade bonds for 80%. The manager, Gerhard Schum, may add commodities and real estate to this portfolio, up to a maximum of 15%, while hedging is achieved via derivatives. The fund is now available in Germany. Characteristics Name: Vontobel Fund - Dynamic Capital Portfolio ISIN: LU0469617574 (B-class shares) and LU0469617491 (A-class shares)

In May, the German BVI association of management reports, German funds posted net subscriptions of nearly EUR3.9bn (see Newsmanagers of 8 July), of which slightly over EUR1.8bn went to open-ended funds. These net inflows were dominated by net subscriptions to equities funds, at EUR3.6bn. The Kommalpha agency points out that to arrive at this total, ETFs would have had to take in over EUR5.5bn, with the two big winners in the month being ETFlab Dax (Deka), with EUR1.8bn, and the iShares Dax, well out in front with EUR4bn. This means, in other words, that equities funds saw net outflows of EUR1.9bn. In total, Kommalpha reports, only 26% of equities funds posted net subscriptions in May, while 74% of them or about 1,500 products, saw net outflows or no change in volumes.

The independent management firm Muzinich, a specialist in high yield corporate debt, registered net inflows in first half of EUR610m, of which EUR445m were for its four products Europeyield, Enhancedyield Americayield, and Transatlanticyield, sub-funds of the UCITS III-compliant Sicav Muzinich Funds, registered in several European countries including France. The French-speaking European region took on EUR110m in et subscriptions in the period. Total assets at Muzinich & Co. totalled EUR5.3bn as of the end of June 2010, compared with EUR4.4bn as of the end of December 2009, of which EUR1.4bn were managed in the Muzinich Funds Sicav. Assets in French-speaking Europe totalled EUR450m, of which more than half were managed for French clients.

With the launch of the Pimco EqS Pathfinder Plus equities fund, Pimco, an affiliate of Allianz Global Investors (AGI) specialised in bonds, is ging after the prize market of RCM, the equities management specialist of the same AGI group. According to a spokesperson from the management firm cited by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the move is due to the fact that Pimco has invested largely in research into corporate bonds, and is now seeking to monetize those financial efforts. It is perhaps too easy to suppose that AGI is pursuing a strategy of independent «boutiques», as Pimco has USD1.1trn in assets, and AGI aside from Pimco has EUR520bn. Asset management professionals are offering a wide variety of conjectures about the move. In the American press, rumours are recurring that Pimco wants to leave Allianz, or that Bill Gross, the star manager at the firm, is planning to go solo. The fact that Pimco is now moving into the equities funds market is perhaps not by itself sufficient grounds to conclude that the speculations have some basis in fact.

EPFR Global reports that money market funds worldwide last week saw their major net subscriptions in 18 months, totalling USD33.5bn, the Financial Times reports. Some of the largest fund management firms in the world are now holding as much as 40% of their portfolios in cash (or shares in money market funds), compared with 5% before the crisis. This suggests that they are seeing a potential for more falls on the stock markets in an environment in which default risks are mounting for the weakest economies in the Euro zone, Chinese growth is slowing, and doubts are emerging as to the strength of the recovery in the US economy, all considered potential threats to the global economy. Investors are also betting on gold and precious metals, which has led to net subscriptions of USD419m for commodities funds, which have taken on more than USD11bn since the beginning of the year.

According to a survey of 102 fund, hedge fund and private equity fund managers, undertaken between 28 April and 25 May by RBC Capital Partners, professionals are optimistic about outlooks for the next 12 months in US (66%) and Asian (69%) equities markets, but 40% of respondents expect European markets to fall, the Wall Street Journal reports. In general, specialists are predicting a slower economic recovery than in the years from 2003-2007.

BlackRock has announced that Mike Latham, head of North American activities at iShares, has been promoted to become head of global ETF promoter activities, following the departure of Rory Tobin, formerly of BGI, who was head of iShares outside North America, the Wall Street Journal reports. At the same time, Joe Linhares, head of US Sales, will become head of iShares for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

In January-June, the Berenberg private bank has posted a 13.4% increase to its net profits, to EUR32.9bn, following a record fiscal year in 2009 in which net profits rose 38% to EUR65.1m. Assets under management have increased by 8.7%, or EUR1.9bn, to a total of EUR23.8bn as of 30 June. Growth in first half is thus larger than the EUR1.6bn in all of last year.

After net redemptions of SEK1.3bn in May, Swedish funds in June posted net subscriptions of SEK6.4bn, bringing net inflows since the beginning of the year to SEK42.8bn, compared with SEK36.3bn at the end of May. June’s results got a boost from equities functions, which saw net inflows of SEK9.5bn, bringing the total for first half into positive territory, at SEK4.5bn. Diversified funds, which attracted SEK3.2bn in June, have posted net subscriptions of SEK23.1bn in the first six months of the year, compared with SEK16.6bn for bond funds, which have seen net redemptions of SEK1.3bn in June. The heaviest net outflows in June were for money market funds, with SEK4.3bn, which has reduced net subscriptions in this category to SEK2.8bn since the beginning of the year. The Swedish fund association, Fondbolagen Förening, says that assets as of the end of June totalled SEK1.764trn, down from SEK1.777trn at the end of May.

The Austrian management firm Superfund has announced that it is closing its Singapore office, Hedge Week reports. Superfund is planning to concentrate its activities in Hong Kong. However, the firm has opened a branch office in Mumbai to explore the possibilities of development in India.

Asian Investor reports that the former Merrill Lynch prime broker Melvyn Ford has joined HSBC in Hong Kong as managing director of the financial institutions group, international banking, a newly-created position. Ford will be in charge of hedge funds in the Asia-Pacific region, and will report to Andrew Roberts, global head of hedge fund clients in London.

Funds People reports that the activities of UBS Asset Management in Spain, which are led by Juan Infante, will now be under the responsibility of Lorenzo Ballester-Barral, who has recently been appointed CEO of CCR Asset Management in France. Ballester-Barral revolutionized the Spanish asset management world with the creation of the Superselección fund at Santander Asset Management in 2003.

The hedge funds Paulson Advantage and Paulson Credit Opportunities were not the only ones to see losses in May and June, the Financial Times reports. The Eminence Fund (USD3bn) lost 2.5% in June, bringing its losses to 11.66% for first half. Moore Capital, managed by Louis Bacon, one of the largest macro hedge funds, lost 6.9% in January-June, while the BVI Global fund from Paul Tudor Jones (USD8bn) lost 1.16%.

Russell on 8 July announced the launch of a mutual fund which will be the first American multi-management fund in this category with a specific mandate for commodities. Russell has handed out two custom mandates to major managers with a profound knowledge of the commodities market, Credit Suisse Asset Management and Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Russell already offers commodities strategies to its international clients and to US charities, but has not yet developed a similar product for general US clients.

The deputy CEO of Oppenheim Investment Managers, Gilles Etcheberrigaray, has joined Equigest (EUR420m in assets as of 30 June), as deputy CEO.

The ratings agency Fitch Ratings on 9 July confirmed its Asset Manager rating of M2- for Sycomore Asset Management. The rating covers all asset management activities based in Paris. The rating reflects the experience and stability of teams, the discipline of a proven management process, founded on stock-picking on the basis of fundamental criteria, and the continuing improvement of long/short strategies. The rating also takes into account the robustness of the risk control staff, particularly in terms of investment risks, and the solidity of the IT platform, which provides effective support to management teams and operations for the volumes and asset classes now traded. The rating also takes into account the entrepreneurial nature of the firm, and its specialisation in Euro zone equities. “The major challenge for the firm remains the continued development of high yield and multi-asset class management, while strengthening top down (macroeconomic and allocation) management,” the ratings agency says.

Recently, Paulson & Co has announced that one third of its USD33bn in global assets have been invested an asset class which has been boosted by significant positions on the gold market. The Financial Times reports that gold is the largest single position for Paulson & Co, and that its USD3.4bn stake in the SPDR Gold Trust has investments representing more sheer tonnage of gold than Australia’s national reserves. Other hedge fund managers also have large positions on physical gold, or on physical gold-backed ETFs, including Soros Fund Management, Tudor Investment, Greenlight Capital, and Third Point. However, the Paulson fund dedicated to gold, which has a capacity of USD5bn, has so far raised only USD500m.

The US value management firm Pekin Singer Strauss, based in Chicago, on Thursday evening announced that the prospectus for its SRI equities fund Appleseed (USD133m) has been modified with effect from 1 July to forbid the manager from including banks in the “too big to fail” size class in the investment portfolio after filtering for sustainable and undervalued equities. Pekin Singer Strauss says the fund is the first to explicitly exclude shares of this type as part of its selection process.

Responsible Investor reports that the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) is planning to explore new territory in shareholder engagement, water, mining technologies, and agriculture. The fund is also hoping to find new data providers who may be able to offer pertinent information in relation to sustainable development issues. CalSTRS, with assets under management of about USD132bn, has a corporate governance portfolio of USD3bn, composed 87% of US equities, and 13% of international equities. CalSTRS also works to integrate the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN-PRI) into its private equity activities.

In line with its strategy of acquiring minority stakes in asset management firms created by entrepreneurs hoping to develop new ideas (in terms of products, approaches, or management), UFG-LFP announced on Friday, 9 July that it has acquired a 20% stake in JK Capital Management, a management firm based in Hong Kong. The firm, controlled by Randolph Kwei and Fabrice Jacob, was born of the merger of their two separate firms three years ago. The two heads manage equities funds (Asia and China), a statement from the management firm says. The acquisition of the minority stake is still pending the approval of the supervisory bodies of JK Capital Management and the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission.

The investment trust Bramdean Alternatives has been reconditioned by Aberdeen Asset Management, in a transformation of the hedge fund battered by the Madoff scandal into a private equity fund, Fund Strategy reports. Hedge fund assets will now be reduced to zero; Aberdeen has invested 51.7% of assets in private equity, and 42.5% in cash. The fund has now been renamed as Aberdeen Private Equity.

Société Générale Securities Services (SGSS) on 9 July announced the appointment of Olivier Renault as country head for Luxembourg at SGSS, replacing Michel Becker. Renault joins the board at SGSS, and is appointed as a member of the executive board at Société Générale Bank and Trust (SGBT), in charge of the securities profession.

En mai, les fonds allemands ont affiché selon l’association BVI des sociétés de gestion des souscriptions nettes de presque 3,9 milliards d’euros (lire notre dépêche du 8 juillet), dont un peu plus de 1,8 milliard pour les fonds offerts au public. Ces rentrées nettes ont été dominées par des souscriptions nettes des fonds d’actions avec 3,6 milliards d’euros.Pour arriver à ce solde, remarque l’agence Kommalpha, il aura en fait fallu que les ETF collectent un peu plus de 5,5 illiards d’euros,les deux gagnants du mois étant l’ETFlab Dax (Deka) avec 1,8 milliard et surtout le iShares Dax avec 4 milliards d’euros. Cela signifie en d’autres termes que les fonds d’actions ont accusé des sorties nettes de 1,9 milliard d’euros.Au total, constate Kommalpha seuls 26 % des fonds d’actions ont enregistré des souscriptions nettes en mai, tandis que 74 % d’entre eux, soit environ 1.500 produits, ont soit accusé des sorties nettes soit sont demeurés inchangés.

Vontobel Management a lancé le 1er mars 2010 le fonds diversifié luxembourgeois vontobel Fund, Dynamic Capital Portfolio qui vise une performance de 200 points de base supérieure à l’euribor 3 mois et avec un potentiel de perte limité à 5 % sur 12 mois. Le portefeuille se compense essentiellement d’actions sélectionnées dans l’EuroStoxx 50 pour 20 % et d’obligations investment grade pour 80 %. Le gérant Gerhard Schum peut ajouter à ce portefeuille des matières premières et de l’immobilier, à concurrence maximale de 15 %, la couverture étant assurée par des dérivés. Le fonds est désormais commercialisable en Allemagne.CaractéristiquesDénomination : Vontobel Fund – Dynamic Capital PortfolioCode isin : LU0469617574 (parts B) et LU0469617491 (parts A)

Pour janvier-juin, la banque privée Berenberg a enregistré un gonflement de 13,4 % de son bénéfice net à 32,9 millions d’euros, après un exercice record en 2009 où le bénéfice net avait opéré un bond en avant de 38 % à 65,1 millions d’euros.Les actifs sous gestion se sont accrus de 8,7 % ou de 1,9 milliard d’euros pour se monter à 23,8 milliards d’euros au 30 juin. L’augmentation du premier semestre est supérieure à celle de 1,6 milliard enregistrée pour l’ensemble de l’an dernier.L’effectif a augmenté en six mois à 929 personnes contre 894 fin décembre.La banque précise qu’après l’acquisition des parts détenues par la NordLB, son capital est détenu par les fondateurs et gérants à 37 %, par la société de portefeuille PetRie de Hans-Walter Peters et Hendrik Riemer (21 %), par Christian, prince héritier à Fürstenberg (15 %), Par Jan-Philipp Reemstma (15 %) et par le belge Compagnie du Bois Sauvage (12 %).

En dépit de l’intérêt qu’offre un actionnaire de référence de taille importante – le groupe UBS en l’occurrence - CCR Asset Management ne met que très rarement en avant cette caractéristique. Car, de l’aveu de son dirigeant, Lorenzo Ballester-Barral, «CCR AM est plus attaché à cultiver son image de boutique au sein d’un grand groupe.» Ce à quoi la société de gestion est parvenue en disposant à la fois de sa propre marque, de son propre service marketing et en conservant la main sur son propre développement. Outre son organisation «d'électron libre» - aidé en cela par un actionnaire d’une discrétion toute helvétique - CCR AM a donc les coudées franches. Pas question de remettre en cause les caractéristiques de son ‘pilotage» sur lesquelles elle a bâti sa réputation. Sa gestion actions par exemple de type «value dynamique» – gestion qui consiste à rechercher des titres décotés par rapport à l’estimation faite par les gérants, avec la présence d’un «catalyseur» en mesure de corriger la dite décote dans les dix-huit mois à venir - n’est pas remise en cause. D’ailleurs certains fonds de CCR AM «doublonnent» avec ceux de la maison mère. Cela dit, lorsqu’elle veut répondre aux attentes de ses clients via des fonds dont elle ne dispose pas (fonds actions marchés émergents, etc ), l’entreprise puise librement alors dans la gamme de son actionnaire. En revanche, depuis l’arrivée de Lorenzo Ballester-Barral en juin 2008, la maison s’est donné un objectif clair : remettre l’humain au centre de ses préoccupations. Concrètement, cette stratégie revêt plusieurs formes. L’an dernier, la société de gestion a lancé son premier fonds «Environnement Sociétal et Gouvernance» CCR Actions Engagement Durable. Avec une approche originale : les principes de sélection de valeurs ne reposent pas sur le «best in class» mais sur le «worst in class». «Il nous semblait plus cohérent d’avoir un poids sur la gouvernance, explique Lorenzo Ballester-Barral, et ce d’autant que nous sommes actifs dans les assemblées générales où nous votons systématiquement.» Dans ce cadre, CCR AM travaille avec Ethifinance en tant que conseil - et non filtre - pour exclure de l’univers d’investissement du fonds - 1 500 valeurs - les 20 % des titres les moins «ESG». A noter qu’en termes de résultats - bien que la période d’observation du comportement du fonds soit courte - le fonds surperforme le marché (+18,10 % depuis sa création le 1er juillet 2009 contre + 11,83 % pour le DJ Euro Stoxx Price Euro). Convaincu de l’intérêt de l’analyse extra-financière dans la gestion, le souhait de Lorenzo Ballester-Barral est d’avancer vers une intégration progressive de la dimension ESG sur l’ensemble des fonds de la gamme. «L’opération aurait sans doute été réalisée si son coût n’avait pas été aussi élevé, explique Jean-François Sarlat, directeur général délégué. En effet, nos portefeuilles consacrent une part importante de valeurs moyennes pour lesquelles l’analyse extra-financière est couteuse.» Reste que la réflexion est lancée et doit à terme aboutir en accordant un poids plus marqué à l’extra-financier dans la gestion de CCR AM.Outre l'équipe de gestion actions, la société compte trois autres équipes : une obligataire, une autre en charge de la volatilité et une dernière - la seule issue d’UBS - chargée de l’allocation d’actifs. Conforme aux convictions du moment, celle-ci a pour vocation de tirer parti de la finance comportementale via le fonds CCR Flex Croissance lancé en 2008. Ce fonds de fonds est construit à partir d’une idée simple : les gérants n'échappent pas aux phénomènes identifiés dans le cadre de la finance comportementale tels que certains biais psychologiques : dynamique de groupe, excès de confiance, etc. «Dans ce cadre», poursuit le patron de CCR AM, «nous avons cherché à nous protéger de nos propres biais, d’où la présence de «stop loss» dans notre gestion, ou de repères objectifs dans des situations particulières comme des bulles. En fait, notre méthode consiste à associer gestion discrétionnaire et systématique afin de limiter le niveau de perte maximale subi par le portefeuille…" En matière de résultats, le fonds enregistre une performance de 6,93% (part R – performance au 30/06/2010) depuis sa création le 11 juillet 2008 tandis que le MSCI World, à titre d’exemple, baisse de 0,127% en euros (-22,507% en dollars). Ce qui semble corroborer l’idée de Lorenzo Ballester-Barral selon laquelle il est impératif de prendre en compte ces critères extra-financiers dans l’univers de la gestion aujourd’hui…

Conformément à sa stratégie de prises de participations minoritaires dans des sociétés créées par des entrepreneurs souhaitant développer de nouvelles idées (en termes de produits, d’approches, de distribution), UFG-LFP a annoncé vendredi 9 juillet une prise de participation à hauteur de 20% dans JK Capital Management, une société de gestion basée à Hong-Kong. Détenue par Randolph Kwei et Fabrice Jacob, la société est issue du rapprochement de leurs propres structures il y a trois ans. Les deux responsables gèrent deux fonds actions (Asie et Chine).La prise de participation reste soumise à l’accord des autorités de tutelle de JK Capital Management, le Securities and Futures Commission de Hong-Kong.

Selon Les Echos, les dossiers de cession des fonds d’investissement se multiplient à l’approche de la trêve estivale. BC Partners ouvre mardi le premier tour de la vente des surgelés Picard. Lion Capital, CVC, et Eurazeo doivent faire une offre. Nombre d’autres ventes devraient suivre, comme Materne, Béaba, Poult, Médi-Partenaires ou Butagaz.