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08/06/2010

Paulson, TPG et Apollo prennent 15,6 % de Harrah's

En échange d’obligations de Harrah’s Entertainment de presque 1,12 milliard de dollars de valeur faciale, Paulson & Company, TPG Capital et Apollo Management ont pris 15,6 % de la société de casinos, dont 9,9 % pour Paulson et 5,7 % pour les deux autres gestionnaires alternatifs. Harrah’s a vendu à Paulson pour 351 millions de dollars en numéraire des obligations de 532 millions de dollars arrivant à échéance entre 2015 et 2017 ; TPG et Apollo ont acquis pour 200 millions de dollars d’autres obligations Harrah’s d’un volume de 303 millions.
08/06/2010
Fonds

Valartis ferme un hedge fund

Selon L’Agefi suisse, Valartis Group prévoit de fermer le hedge fund European Energy Fonds. Le CEO de Valartis, Gustav Stenbolt, explique que les rendements sont inférieurs aux attentes.
Fonds
08/06/2010

Vontobel crée une entité dédiée à la clientèle américaine

Vontobel a annoncé le 7 juin la création d’une nouvelle unité, Swiss Wealth Advisors AG, qui s’occupera du suivi de clients américains dont la fortune est déclarée au fisc. L’unité est basée à Zurich et sera soumise à la surveillance de l’autorité américaine SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), indique le groupe bancaire dans un communiqué. La nouvelle entité se concentrera sur la gestion de fortune sur mesure adaptée aux besoins des clients américains. Vontobel entend ainsi répondre aux besoins d’investissements en actions européennes et asiatiques ou en devises de clients américains, besoins que des gestionnaires de fortune américains ne peuvent pas ou que partiellement satisfaire. L’offre de Vontobel s’adressera aussi bien à des citoyens américains domiciliés aux et hors des Etats-Unis et à des citoyens non américains qui vivent aux Etats-Unis. Les transactions seront assurées par Vontobel Securities AG, qui dispose déjà d’une licence de la SEC.
08/06/2010

BNY Mellon lance une émission de 700 millions de dollars

BNY Mellon a annoncé en fin de semaine dernière le lancement d’une émission d’actions ordinaires pour un montant d’environ 700 millions de dollars (25,9 millions de titres à 27 dollars l’unité) afin de financer l’acquisition de PNC Global Investment Servicing.L’offre est ouverte jusqu’au 9 juin. Les co-teneurs du livre sont Goldman Sachs et Citi, BofA Merrill Lynch et Morgan Stanley opérant en tant que co-managers.
08/06/2010

Helvetia Wealth acquiert Mercury Wealth Management

Le gestionnaire de fortune Suisse Helvetia Wealth AG a annoncé avoir acheté le conseiller en investissements Mercury Wealth Management de Dublin, l’un des principaux commercialisateurs de produits d’investissement à capital protégé sur le marché irlandais. Le montant de la transaction n’a pas été dévoilé, Helvetia Wealth se bornant à préciser que son encours augmente grâce à cette acquisition de 70 millions de francs suisses.Gareth Fahey, qui a fondé Mercury Wealth en 2003, restera à la tête de l’entreprise.
08/06/2010
Fonds

Les investisseurs asiatiques plébiscitent les actions

Les souscriptions aux fonds actions en Asie ont fortement augmenté sur les trois premiers mois de l’année 2010 à plus de 10 milliards de dollars, selon le dernier FundFlash de Lipper FMI. Cela représente deux fois et demie le niveau du précédent trimestre. En Chine, les souscriptions aux fonds actions ont ainsi progressé de 30 % à 7,5 milliards de dollars. Mais dans les autres classes d’actifs, la situation n’a pas été aussi favorable, note Lipper FMI. Les souscriptions totales ne sont ressorties qu'à 9 milliards de dollars, soit moins d’un quart des flux enregistrés sur les trois derniers mois de 2009. La principale raison a été les sorties des fonds monétaires qui ont représenté près de 15 milliards de dollars, soit presque autant que le montant qui était entré dans ces produits le trimestre précédent. Les principaux responsables de ces retraits sont les investisseurs chinois et indiens. En Inde, plus de 10 milliards de dollars ont été sortis des fonds monétaires. Les rachats de fin mars sont néanmoins normaux en Inde, les banques et les entreprises retirant l’excès de cash qu’elles ont accumulé pendant le trimestre, souligne Lipper FMI. Mars est aussi la fin de l’année fiscale. En Chine, les demandes de remboursement ont probablement été influencées par l’introduction de frais de sorties fin mars. Les souscriptions aux fonds obligataires ont quant à elles été plus que divisées par deux. Les investisseurs les plus enthousiastes au premier trimestre ont été les Japonais, dont les souscriptions aux fonds ont progressé de 6 %. Ils ont notamment investi 1 milliard de dollars dans les fonds actions.
Fonds
08/06/2010

Carlyle investit en Corée, en Inde et en Chine

Le capital-investisseur américain Carlyle Group a consacré 140 millions de dollars de son fonds de capital-croissance Carlyle Asia Growth Capital Partners IV à l’acquisition de participations minoritaires dans les sud-coréens HKucar Global Co (voitures d’occasion) et EO Technics C. (lasers) ainsi que dans l’indien Tirumala Mils Products Private Ltd (laiteries) et le chinois Atmu Inc (guichets automatiques bancaires), rapporte The Wall Street Journal. Le fonds affiche 1,04 milliard de dollars d’encours.
08/06/2010

Hedge funds lost more than 2.6% in May, according to HFR

In May, the HFRX global hedge fund index from Hedge Fund Research came in at 1153.39. This represents a decline of 2.64%, the heaviest loss since November 2008 (soon after the collapse of Lehman Brothers), and follows a positive performance of 0.80% in April. Since the beginning of the year, the index has lost 0.26%. The Ucits HFS Index, which tracks the evolution of UCITS-compliant hedge funds, has lost 1.08% in May, compared with gains of 0.90% in April. Since the beginning of the year, these funds have earned average returns of 2.16%. The heaviest loss in May (5.58%) was for convertible funds, compared with gains of 1.36% in April. The strategy shows losses of 0.26% in the first five months of the year. In January-May, long/short equity funds have lost 0.40%, and CTA have lost 2.53%, Structured Solutions reports. The largest gains in the first five months of the year have been for global macro (8.55%) and fixed income (7.63%) strategies.
08/06/2010

Assets rose in 2009, but subscriptions remain weak

Asset managers enjoyed growth in assets of USD5,000bn in 2009, taking total assets to USD49,000bn EUR41,000bn), according to research from Cerulli Associates cited by Financial Times Fund Management. Mutual funds made up USD21,000bn of the total, showing growth of 16 per cent, but just one percentage point, or USD240bn, of that was due to new money from investors.
08/06/2010

BBVA AM launches a commodities fund of funds

On 2 June, BBVA Asset Management registered the commodities fund of funds Quality Commodities, created on 26 May, with the CNMV. The new fund will be allowed to invest at least 50% of its assets in other funds with complete flexibility. BBVA AM will use a composite benchmark index, which will be 70% composed of the DJ UBS Commodity TR, while HSBC Global Mining TR will account for 19.5%, and the MSCI World Energy will represent 10.5%. The management team will be allowed to adopt short positions and to invest in derivatives of financial commodities indices traded on regulated markets. The product will offer daily liqudity, but the prospectus adds that a 10-day advance notice period will be required for all redemption demands. The minimal recommended investment period will be 5-7 years, and minimal subscription is set at EUR3,000, except for employees and pensioners from the BBVA group. A distribution agreement has been signed with BBVA Quality Funds. Characteristics Name: Quality Commodities FI Risk profile: Very high Manager: BBVA Asset Management Depository bank: Banco Depositario BBVA Management commission -direct: 0.95% of assets and 9% of performance -indirect: 3% of assets and 20% of performance
08/06/2010

Asian investors opt for equities

Net equity fund sales in Asia rose strongly in the first quarter to over USD10bn, according to the Lipper FMI’s latest FundFlash. They were two and half times the level of the previous quarter. In China, equity fund sales rose by 30% to USD7.5bn. But the picture was not so rosy in other asset classes. Total sales fell to a modest USD9bn, less than a quarter of the flows seen in the final three months of 2009. The main reason was the outflow from money market funds which totalled nearly USD15bn, almost as much as had flowed into this asset class in the previous quarter. The main culprits behind the large money market fund outflows were Chinese and Indian investors. In China, redemptions may have been influenced by the impending introduction of exit charges at the end of March. In India, more than USD10bn was taken out of money market funds, and there were also significant outflows from bond funds. Most of the withdrawals were in March when the Indian fund industry recorded its highest ever net outflows. Quarter-end redemptions are normal in India as banks and companies take out the excess cash they have accumulated in fixed-income and cash funds during the quarter. March is also the end of the tax year when many fixed-term plans reach maturity, says Lipper FMI. Meanwhile, sales of bond funds more than halved. The region’s most enthusiastic fund investors were the Japanese. They bucked the general trend with a 6% rise in overall sales.
08/06/2010

Nomura launches an absolute return fund

Funds Strategy reports that Nomura is launching an absolute return fund offering controlled exposure to interest rate movements. The vehicle, entitled Irisx4, is compliant with UCITS III format, and is based on the IRIS (Interest Rate Investment Strategy) benchmark index from Nomura. Jean-Philippe Royer, head of fixed income at Nomura, says that despite the current market environment, “investors are still expecting returns 7% to 8% above the money markets, but without the volatility that generally accompanies such high alpha.”
08/06/2010

MLP relegated to SDax index

Deutsche Börse announced on Friday that HeidelbergCement, which ranks 22nd among German equities by market capitalisation and trading volume, will replace Salzgitter in the Dax index from 21 June. Salzgitter has been relegated to the MDax index, where it joins Kabel Deutschland and Brenntag, which replace Pfleiderer and MLP. The latter two shares have been moved down to the SDax, where they are joined by Tom Tailor. The three new entries replace VBH, Villeroy & Boch and Dykerhoff, which have been removed.
08/06/2010

Feri downgraded Ireland and Spain as soon as mid-2007

The current debate over the quality and pertinence of the models and methods used to issue credit ratings for countries has led Feri EuroRating Services to investigate the reliability of its own ratings. The German agency has reached the conclusion that its ratings of four out of the five PIIGS countries (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain) were lowered considerably sooner than their ratings from other agencies, and by more severe degrees. In particular, Ireland and Spain were downgraded by Feri as early as mid-2007. Tobias Schmidt, a board member at Feri EuroRatings Services, says this good result is certianly due to the fact that these Feri ratings are largely based on projections.
08/06/2010

Deka Immobilien earns capital gains in Seoul

With the sale of the Eugene Investment & Securities Building office property in Seoul for EUR123m, to the South Korean Public Officials Benefit Association, the German asset management firm Deka Immobilien, via its open-ended fund Deka-ImmobilienGlobal, has earned significant capital gains. The property, with about 40,000 square metres, was purchased for EUR70m in September 2004, and expert estimates value it in the current market at EUR95m.
08/06/2010

Helvetia Wealth acquires Mercury Wealth Management

The Swiss wealth management firm Helvetia Wealth AG has announced that it has acquired the investment advising firm Mercury Wealth Management, based in Dublin, which is one of the largest distributors of protected-capital investment products on the Irish market. The acquisition price has not been disclosed. Helvetia Wealth states that its assets have increased due to the acquisition by CHF70m. Gareth Fahey, who founded Mercury Wealth in 2003, will continue to lead the business.
08/06/2010

SGSS to provide securities services to Grosvenor for launch of OPCI

In a statement, Société Générale Securities Services (SGSS) announced on Monday, 8 June, that it has been granted a mandate by Grosvenor, a specialist in real estate investment and development, to provide securities services for the launch of its first French collective real estate investment organism, OPCI. The new fund will be managed by Viveris REIM, and capital in the fund will total nearly EUR300m. The mandate specifically mandates SGSS to provide depository services, custody of financial assets, market making for real estate assets, passive management, account administration, and valuation. As of the end of 2009, Grosvenor had GBP10.2bn in assets under management.
08/06/2010

Former Métropole Gestion manager moves to Skandia

Anne-France Gauthier, who previously served as director of retail activities in France at Métropole Gestion, whose departure was announced in Newsmanagers (see article on 28/04/10), is joining Skandia as director of sales for major client and private banking partnerships. Gauthier, 42, will be responsible for defining and deploying the organisation and commercial strategy of Skandia Labels, a product range which will be aimed at asset management firms, private management departments, and private banks, according to a statement from Skandia. She will also be in charge of the organisation and commercial development of Skandia Labels in France, and for promoting the range of products and services in question and developing synergies with other activities of the group, such as marketing, products, back-office, Service Partners, finance, and others.
08/06/2010

Jean-François Théodore joins HDF Finance

Jean-François Théodore, former deputy CEO of NYSE Euronext, on 6 May joined the supervisory board at the asset management firm HDF France. In addition to this responsibility, Théodore, who will remain as non-executive director of the stock exchange company, will “assist HDF with regulatory developments,” a statement says. In addition, HDF Finance has announced that it is in the process of recruiting a team member in the United States to replace one US-based departure, Gilles Guérin, at the end of June. The fund manager is also planning to request an SEC license for its US unit. In Switzerland, HDF has also recruited Joseph Steiger, formerly of Credit Suisse and SAM Asset Manaegment, to develop the German-speaking Swiss institutional client base. The Swiss affiliate of the asset management firm now has two offices: one in Geneva, for private banking clients, and one in Zurich. Some funds from the management firm are now in the process of being licensed in the country.
08/06/2010

FSA proposes ethics and governance standards for IFAs

The British Financial Services Authority (FSA) has published proposals to strengthen the abilities of individuals active in the distribution of financial services, such as independent financial advisers (IFA), with an emphasis on ethical behaviour. The FSA plans to define a 30-month period, during which those affected would be required to undergo training in the practice of their profession. Provisional rules which had previously allowed these persons to practice their profession without qualifications will be annulled. The proposals come as an addition to the proposed Retail Distribution Review (RDR) legislation, and to rules already in place for investment advising. The consultation will remain open until 6 September.
08/06/2010

IOSCO to survey hedge funds

Il Sole – 24 Ore reports that the international organisation of securities commissions (IOSCO) is planning to announce a survey of hedge funds, at the annual conference of the organisation, to be held Wednesday in Montreal. It will initially concentrate on the largest entities. The goal is to obtain data on the identity of hedge funds, their performance, the composition of managed activities, investments in derivatives, and the banking intermediaries with whom they have credit relationships.
08/06/2010

Vontobel founds an entity dedicated to US clients

Vontobel on 7 June announced the creation of a new entity, Swiss Wealth Advisors AG, which will assist US clients whose assets are declared to the US tax authorities. The unit will be based in Zurich, and will be subject to oversight by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the banking group says in a statement. The new entity will focus on custom wealth management adapted to the needs of US clients. Vontobel is planning to answer the European and Asian equity and currency investment needs of US clients, which US-based wealth management firms are not able to satisfy, or can only partially satisfy. The product range from Vontobel will also be aimed at US citizens domiciled outside the United States, and to non-US citizens living in the United States. Transactions will be provided by Vontobel Securities AG, which already has a license from the SEC.
08/06/2010

PGGM invests EUR75m in British real estate

Standard Life Investments has announced that the pension fund PGGM, one of the largest real estate fund managers in Europe, has invested about GBP75m in the Standard Life Investment UK Shopping Centre Trust, a portfolio which is currently valued at about GBP1.2bn.
08/06/2010

GBP2.3bn in net inflows in the UK in April

According to the most recent statistics from the British investment management association (IMA), net inflows totalled GBP2.3bn in April, their highest level since November 2009. Bonds remained the most popular asset class, with net inflows of GBP629m (27% of the total), compared with GBP412m for equities, GBP434m for diversified strategies, and GBP233m for real estate. As of the end of April, assets under management totalled GBP510.9bn, their highest level of all time, compared with GBP375.2bn in April 2009. For the first time, the association is providing statistics for distribution platforms, on the basis of five actors representing 85% of the market (Cofunds, Fidelity, Hargreaves Landsown, Skandia, and Transact). In April, gross sales via these platforms totalled 3.3bn, about 37% of gross retail sales. In the first four months of the year, sales via platforms totalled GBP11.9bn (also 37% of retail sales). Institutional funds, notably, also posted net inflows in April of GBP1.13bn, after outflows of GBP535m in March.
08/06/2010

Justin Craib-Cox joins Aviva Investors

Justin Craib-Cox, a former equities analyst for Morningstar in the United States, is leaving M&G Investments, where he was co-manager of funds, to become a fund manager in the convertible bonds team at Aviva Investors. He will assist senior managers David Clott and Shawn Mato, based in Boston.
08/06/2010

Net inflows slow at M&G

M&G net inflows for the first five months of 2010 were at GBP3.4 billion (2009 May year to date: GBP7.9 billion), says Prudential in a press release. Net inflows in the Asian asset management business were GBP0.3 billion (2009: GBP1.5 billion).
08/06/2010

New deputy CEO at Ceres AM

The asset management firm Ceres Asset Management announced on Monday, 7 June that it has recruited Franck Vivier as deputy CEO. Vivier will be responsible for Ceres Japan and Ceres Greater China, among others. Vivier began his career at Indosuez New York,a nd later became CEO of Daiwa France Gestion. Since 1995, he had been director of systematic management at Société Générale.
08/06/2010

BNY Mellon launches a USD700m rights issue

BNY Mellon at the end of last week announced the launch of an issue of ordinary shares totalling about USD700m (25.9 million shares at USD27 per share), to finance an acquisition of PNC Global Investment Servicing. The offer will remain open until 9 June. The co-bookrunners are Goldman Sachs and Citi, while BofA Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley will act as co-managers.
08/06/2010

Spanish government passes amendment to collective investment institution regulations

The Spanish government, in a cabinet meeting on Friday, has passed a draft royal decree which amends the regulations applicable to collective investment entities. The text will be published in the next few days in the official gazette (BOE). Among several modifications inspired by the impact of the financial crisis, the amendment will allow for the creation of side pockets, or “special objective funds.” The new law will also facilitate the liquidation of real estate funds and securities funds. The amendment also includes modifications intended to make restrictions on the activities of funds more flexible. It authorises the creation of ETFs in Sicav format, and creates a status for listed real estate investment companies (Socimi), the Spanish equivalent of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT). In addition, real estate funds will be allowed to invest in other real estate funds, but the legislation limits the amount invested in this way to 10% of assets. In practice, this is equivalent to maintaining the prohibition on real estate funds of funds.
08/06/2010

M&G launches a “newcits” fund

Dave Fishwick and Eric Lonergan are the managers of the new M&G Macro Episode Fund, a UCITS-compliant rendition of the Prudential Life hedge fund, launched in early 2001, and another M&G hedge fund domiciled in the Cayman Islands. The product, which relies on behavioural finance techniques, is initially restricted to institutional and qualified retail investors, with a minimal subscription of GBP1m, Investment Week reports. The fund managed for Prudential has earned average annual returns of 12.2% since its launch, Hedge Week reports. The fund includes share classes in unhedged US dollars, and classes in pounds Sterling and Euros hedged for forex risks against the dollar.

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