Suite à un article publié par le Financial Times du lundi 28 juin «ayant pu entraîner une certaine confusion», l’AFG, a tenu hier à rappeler dans un communiqué que son organisation reposait sur deux cercles d’adhérents. Le premier cercle, les membres, réunit toutes les entreprises françaises agréées pour exercer la gestion de portefeuille pour compte de tiers. Le second cercle mis en place dans la perspective de UCITS IV réunit depuis deux ans l’ensemble des professions qui participent à l’écosystème de la gestion : les cabinets de conseil et d’audit, les cabinets d’avocats, les SSII spécialisées dans la gestion financière et, depuis le début de l’année, les entités implantées en France (succursales, bureaux de représentation …) et dépendant de sociétés de gestion étrangères. Ce sont les membres correspondants. Conformément aux statuts de l’AFG, les membres correspondants de l’AFG ne bénéficient pas des mêmes droits que les sociétés de gestion adhérentes : ils ne participent pas aux instances de gouvernance de l’association (ils ne peuvent pas, par exemple, être membres du conseil d’administration et n’ont pas le droit de vote à l’assemblée générale) et en règle générale, ils ne font pas partie des commissions permanentes de l’AFG. En revanche, comme tous les membres de l’AFG, les membres correspondants ont accès au site adhérents de l’AFG et sont amenés à participer aux groupes de travail mis en place par l’association. Une charte des membres correspondants précise le cadre dans lequel cette collaboration entre l’AFG et son écosystème a vocation à se développer.

Morningstar France Holding a annoncé le 1er juillet la finalisation de l’acquisition précédemment annoncée de Seeds Group, société de conseil en investissements financiers et de recherche sur les OPCVM en France. Les détails de la transaction n’ont pas été divulgués.La filiale de Seeds Group, Seeds Finance, fournit des conseils en investissements financiers aux investisseurs institutionnels, aux sociétés de gestion et aux banques. En plus du conseil en investissements, Seeds Group exploite également Multiratings.com, un site internet d’analyses sur les OPCVM et de formation financière à destination des conseillers en gestion de patrimoine et des investisseurs institutionnels.

OFI Asset Management a indiqué le 1er juillet le changement de nom des cinq derniers OPCVM utilisant la dénomination ADI. Ces fonds sont désormais désignés sous les noms suivants : Adi risk Arbitrages devient Ofi Risk Arbitrages, Adi Risk Arb Absolu devient Ofi Risk Arb Absolu, Adi Situations spéciales devient Ofi Situation Spéciales, Adi Spread Opportunites devient Ofi Spread Opportunites et Adi Index Arbitrages devient Ofi Index Arbitrages.Ces changements sont effectifs depuis le lundi 28 juin 2010, précise OFI dans un communiqué.

La baisse de l’encours des fonds espagnols de valeurs mobilières s’est ralenti en juin à environ 0,4 milliard (à 152,7 milliards d’euros) contre 5,2 milliards en mai (lire notre article du 2 juin), mais les remboursements nets ont augmenté à 3,33 milliards contre 3,16 milliards. Selon l’association Inverco des sociétés de gestion, c’est le plus mauvais résultat depuis novembre 2008. Et, sur le premier trimestre, les sorties nettes ont représenté 11,3 milliards d’euros. D’après les calculs d’Ahorro Corporación, les rachats nets auraient même atteint 4,5 milliards d’euros, un record depuis octobre 2008.

Diversity Inversiones (ES0126908039), une «société d’investissement libre» ou SIL, est le second hedge fund destiné aux particuliers haut de gamme que lance BBVA Patrimonios. Ce produit est confié à la filiale de gestion alternative Omega Gestión. L’objectif est de générer une performance annuelle de 9-12 % avec une volatilité ex-ante de 10 %. En investissement au minimum 35 % de l’encours dans 8 à 20 hedge funds de droit espagnol (FIL), en fonds de FIL, en fonds nourricer ou en ETF de matières premières.Ce produit à liquidité mensuelle comporte comme le prévoit la loi un plancher de souscription initiale de 50.000 euros. BBVA Patrimonios facture des frais forfaitaires de 7.512 euros par an plus une commission de 0,3 % sur l’encours.

Duet Asset Management, une société de gestion alternative basée à Londres et gérant 2,3 milliards de dollars, est en train de lever des capitaux pour un nouveau hedge fund qui sera dirigé par deux des traders en matières premières les plus expérimentés au monde, rapporte le Financial Times. La société a recruté Tony Hall, un ancien de Credit Suisse-Glencore, et Arno Pilz, un ancien d’UBS et Lehman Brothers, pour gérer ce Duet Commodities Fund.

Selon Fund Strategy, Old Mutual Asset Managers (Omam) vient de remercier Mark Allpress, responsable des ventes retail au Royaume-Uni, à la suite d’une réorganisation de la société.Au 30 avril dernier, les actifs sous gestion d’Omam s'élevaient à 4,4 milliards de livres.

Jeudi soir, la Commerzbank a annoncé avoir vendu ses activités Kleinwort Benson au capital-investisseur RHJ International. Il s’agit de sociétés de gestion de fortune et de fiducie Channel Islands Holdings Limited et Kleinwort Benson Private Bank Limited. Leur encours en gestion de fortune représentait fin 2009 un montant de 5,6 milliards de livres (6,3 milliards d’euros). Elles emploient environ 600 personnes.

Threadneedle vient de désigner Quentin Fitzsimmons en qualité de lead manager sur deux fonds obligataires, le Threadneedle Absolute Return Bond et le Target Return Fund, précédemment cogérés par Peter Allwright et Stuart Frost, partis récemment chez RWC. Responsable des obligations gouvernementales depuis 2003, Quentin Fitzsimmons a très largement contribué à l’essor des stratégies de performance absolue et il serait exagéré d’attribuer le succès de ces stratégies au seul duo parti chez RWC, souligne-t-on chez Threadneedle. Les actifs des deux fonds concernés représentaient à fin mars plus de 2,3 milliards d’euros d’actifs sous gestion au sein du fixed income (22 milliards d’euros d’actifs sous gestion au total).Threadneedle a également recruté Vladimir Gerasimia qui rejoint l'équipe spécialisée sur la dette émergente et qui travaillait précédemment chez Fortis Investments. Autre arrivée, celle de Richard Stevens, précédemment chez Old Mutual Asset Managers, qui rejoint l'équipe dédiée à l’obligataire souverain.

Gartmore a annoncé le 30 juin la nomination de Charlotte Gibson en qualité de responsable du marketing. Charlotte Gibson, précédemment chez JP Morgan AM, devrait rejoindre Gartmore à la mi-juillet. Elle sera rattaché à Richard Pursglove, responsable du retail britannique.Charlotte Gibson dirigera une équipe d’une douzaine de personnes responsable de la publicité, des relations clients et autres éléments de la chaîne de distribution.

Henderson Plc a annoncé jeudi 1er juillet l’intégration du fonds OEIC de droit Irlandais New Star European Growth depuis le 18 juin au sein de la sicav de droit luxembourgeois Henderson Horizon. Ce fonds devient désormais le Henderson Horizon European Growth Fund. Géré par Richard Pease et Simon Rowe, l’OPCVM affiche un encours de 84,2 millions d’euros.Cette opération fait suite à l’acquisition de la société New Star Asset Management par le Groupe Henderson Plc en 2009. Caractéristiques :Nom : Henderson Horizon European Growth FundStructure du fonds : SICAV UCITS III sophistiquéeDevise du fonds : EuroSouscription minimum : €2500 ou US$2500 pour la part RetailDroit d’entrée : 5 % maximumCommission de gestion : 1.75%

Les trois sociétés de gestion NFJ Investment Group, Nicholas-Applegate Capital Management et Oppenheimer Capital sont désormais fondues en une seule entité qui prend le nom d’Allianz Global Investors Capital, avec un encours «unifié» de 48 milliard de dollars. Pimco conserve en revanche son identité.Cela posé, les stratégies mises en œuvre par Nicholas-Applegate et Oppenheimer seront «rebrandées» AGI Capital tandis que le nouvel ensemble conservera la marque NFJ pour les actions value gérées à Dallas.Marna Whittington et Horacio Valeiras sont respectivement CEO et CIO d’AGI Capital, dont le management board comprend également Barbara Claussen, Ben Fischer et Geoff Mullen.

Le ralentissement de la Chine et de l'Asie intervient au pire moment pour les économies occidentales

Le ralentissement de la Chine et de l'Asie intervient au pire moment pour les économies occidentales

Invesco PowerShares Capital Management has acquired a license for the new StockInvestor Core index, which reproduces a diversified equities portfolio drawn from the Hare and Tortoise portfolios made popular by the StockInvestor newsletter from Morningstar. The portfolios include high-quality shares which are trading far below the estimations of Morningstar analysts. The StockInvestor Core Index will serve as the new benchmark for the PowerShares Value Line Industry Rotation Portfolio ETF, which will now be known as the PowerShares Morningstar StockInvestor Core Portfolio. The product is traded on the NYSE with the acronym PYH.

On the fund’s fifth birthday, Marc Girault, CIO for HMG Finance, announced that the HMG Globetrotter fund has reached EUR85m in assets as of 29 June, compared with EUR73.5m as of 31 May, with a performance of 4.1%, compared with 0.1% for the benchmark index, the MSCI World. The fund invests in affiliates of European companies in emerging countries, or in European companies whose activities are largely in emerging countries (see Newsmanagers of 21 June). Meanwhile, the heads of HMG Finance have announced that separate analysis tools have been created for each fund in the range, which will allow them to better serve institutional investors, by providing them with more detailed performance contribution statistics. HMG Finance, which has brought its sales and marketing within the firm, is planning a drive in the IFA and private banking markets. The management firm is also considering a potential international expansion, though there are no concrete plans at present.

In December last year, the French national pension fund, the Fonds de réserve pour les retraites (FRR), selected Standard Life Investments to manage a EUR1bn allocation to investment grade credit, along with five other management firms. This was a triumph for the discreet Scottish management firm, which began to cover the French market only two or three years ago. With another mandate which it has recently won, but which has not yet been assigned, the firm’s assets for French clients now total about EUR300m. In addition to mandates from institutionals, Standard Life Investments serves fund of fund clients, with 10 sub-funds housed in its UCITS III-compliant Luxembourg Sicav. The Sicav has not yet been licensed for sale in France, but this may be expected to be achieved soon. The management firm is planning to do so next year, in order to step up its development in France, though for the moment it is not planning to target the retail segment, says Phil Barker, head of pan-European sales at Standard Life Investments, in Monaco. The registration will not necessarily include all the funds in the range, but only the sub-funds which may be expected to interest French investors most, such as the corporate bond funds, one of the specialties of Standard Life Investments. In France, Standard Life relies on Jill Shaw, who also serves Switzerland. For the moment, she is based in Scotland. The opening of a French office is not currently planned, but it may be a possibility if activities develop. Standard Life Investments is present in Paris with a research office for real estate, an asset class which may be an axis of development in France. The other areas of expertise that Standard Life Investments is planning to foreground are socially responsible investment (particularly in corporate bonds), equities in specialised segments such as small caps, and high alpha.

Axa Rosenberg Group, which in mid-April belatedly admitted that a coding glitch had been detected and corrected last year, on Wednesday announced that Barr Rosenberg, one of the founders of the business, has resigned from the board, and that Thomas Mead has quit his job as director of research and board member, the Wall Street Journal reports. Both men “acted to limit the dissemination of information” about the software problem. Meanwhile, Agustin Sevilla has resigned from his position as global CIO, in favour of a “senior research role.” He did not “act in a manner in keeping with the house policy” in connection with the problem, the firm says. Assets under management by Axa Rosenberg have fallen to USD41bn as of the end of May, compared with USD62bn two months earlier. Charles Schwab will liquidate its four Laudus Rosenberg funds, which were closed to subscriptions in the weeks following the announcement of the problem.

The US investment boutique Aladdin Capital has recruited Kenneth Innes for the newly-created position of global head of sales. Aladdin, who will supervise the entire Aladdin distribution network, will be a member of the executive board. Innes previously worked at Forum Partners, where he was head of sales and marketing.

La Tribune reports that a proposed banking tax which would have brought in USD19bn in tax revenue for the US government has been buried. Barack Obama had claimed that the tax would bring in not USD19bn, but USD117bn over the next ten years. Two other sources of financing have been found. One of them, for USD11bn, will be the early cancellation of the TARP program. The other, for USD5.7bn, will be an increase in commissions paid by major banks to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The contributions, currently 1.15%, will be increased to 1.35%. Banks with less than USD10bn in assets will be exempted.

An investment industry conference needs to be organized in a playground for the super-rich, in order for a CEO to agree to travel there and stay for the weekend with his wife or mistress. This year, at the Fund Forum in Monaco, things are proceeding much as they did last summer, except that the financial crisis appears to have passed, and the sector is doing well. The only thing missing at the party is investors, Handelsblatt reports. According to a study by Cerulli Associates, net subscriptions in the sector, which manages about USD50trn, are expected to hit USD159bn this year. There are few critics. However, James Broderick, CEO of JPMorgan AM for Europe, says that the sector in Europe has water on the brain, with 38,000 funds, compared with only 8,000 funds in the United States for an equivalent population, which explains why funds are small and expensive.

The number of women sitting on the boards of directors of CAC 40 companies has leapt from 10.5% in 2009 to 15.3% this year, according to the most recent Capitalcom barometer of gender diversity on CAC 40 boards. In total, of 576 positions for directors in the CAC, 88 are held by women, compared with 29 in 2009, out of 562 positions. The “lady boom” may have been partly propelled by legislation proposed by Jean-François Copé and Marie-Jo Zimmermann, which has been passed by the French National Assembly, and which will soon go to a vote in the Senate, and by recommendations from Afep_Medef, published last April. At any rate, the objective of 20% women on boards of directors within three years has already been achieved at 12 groups (or 30% of the CAC 40), including Axa, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Dexia, Société Générale, Alstom, Essilor, PPR, and Vivendi, which is the “best of the CAC,” with more than 30% women. The barometer observes that 30 women attained positions on the boards of 28 groups this year, five times more than in 2009. But among these new women, only one represents employee shareholders: Michèle Vilain at Bouygues.

State Street on 29 June announced the appointment of Andrew Kurizkes as chief risk officer. He will oversee a team of 300 risk professionals worldwide. Kuritzkes, who will take up his new position in August, will report to Jay Hooley, State Street CEO, and will join the Management Committee of State Street. He was previously at Oliver Wyman.

Altarea Cogedim on 30 June announced that on the same day, it signed an agreement to sell 39-41 avenue de Wagram in Paris, home to the 5-star Mariott Renaissance Paris Arc de Triomphe hotel, with 118 rooms and suites, the freshly-renovated Salle Wagram music hall, and 3 home interior shops, to the German open-ended real estate fund Deka-ImmobilienEuropa, for EUR113.8m. The average unit price per hotel room thus comes out at EUR620,000. Mariott will continue to operate the hotel. The Salle Wagram will be managed and operated by Eurosites. Assets in the German open-ended fund totalled EUR10.83bn as of 31 May.

Contrary to what is frequently said about the European ETF market, Valérie Baudson, director of Amundi ETF, argues that the market is still highly concentrated, with only three actors in Europe occupying 75% of the market. Competition remains limited, as many different actors who have arrived in recent years are using a variety of strategies to gain market share. Some have focused on the price of products, for example, while others have relied on product innovation. Amundi ETF, for its part, has chosen to offer attractive fee levels. This “angle of attack” has not exempted Amundi ETF from the need to construct a sufficiently large product range. After systematically covering the French market like a grid, the firm has 89 products on the NYSE Euronext in Paris. But the firm’s vision quickly became European. It now has more than 200 products listed on financial markets in Europe, and has followed a rate of 20 new listings per month since the beginning of the year. In numbers, this growth is already perceptible: according to recent statistics from Deutsche Bank, the Amundi affiliate was in fourth place as of the end of May in terms of net inflows in 2010, with EUR1.211bn, an increase of 27.6% compared with the previous year. With a range of ETF products worthy of the name, and which is set to grow further, Amundi ETF may now integrate a concept of “market timing” into its product release cycle, in order to take advantage of satisfactory market conditions for certain assets. Amundi ETF also aims to innovate or to accommodate the demands of investors, each time with “transparent products that offer excellent liquidity,” Baudson concludes.

Carolyn Lu, who was previously CEO and regional head of business for Asia at Société Générale, has joined Aviva Investors in Singapore as managing director, business development for the Asia-Pacific region. She will report to Erich Gerth, executive director and CEO global business development. She will be based in London, and will work on close collaboration with Craig Bingham, CEO Asia Pacific, who is based in Australia.

Paul Ilott, who was director of communications for the multi-management arm of Fidelity International, has launched a multi-management research institute, Money Marketing reports. Ilott says the increasing sophistication of multi-management has created a specific demand for funds of this type. Scopic Research will provide information and ratings on multi-management funds, and may also execute due diligence or offer custom advising.

HSBC has announced that it has brought together its specialists in asset management activities to form a single brand. Halbis, dedicated to active fundamental management, Sinopia, a specialist in quantitative management, HSBC Liquidity, which is focused on treasury management, and HSBC Multimanager, representing the multi-management activities, will now be united and sold under the brand name HSBC Global Asset Management. Each unit will retain its own investment philosophy and management process within this single brand, the firm says, adding that HSBC Global Management had USD427.3bn in assets under management as of 31 December 2009.

Fidelity Investments on 29 June announced the launch of ETF research tools which will be freely accessible. The tools, “ETF/ETP Screener” and “ETF/ETP Snapshot,” will be available on the Fidelity website from July. They use the same interface as the equities research tools, which have had a good reception from clients, Fidelity says in a statement.

The co-CEO of European activities at Tishman Speyer, Eric Adler, will join Pramerica Real Estate Investors, an affiliate of the US firm Prudential Financial, on 1 July, as CEO for Europe. He will be based in London, and will report to Allen Smith, CEO of Pramerica Real Estate Investors, in Parsipanny, New Jersey. In his new role, Speyer will be in charge of investments in western Europe and the emerging markets of central and eastern Europe. He is now responsible for offices in Luxembourg, Paris, Madrid, Lisbon, and Istanbul.