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04/03/2010

BlackRock in prudent investment: Treasury bonds

In response to uncertain growth outlooks, looming problems for sovereign debt, and “continued” inflation risks, BlackRock has increased its allocation to US Treasury bonds, the Wall Street Journal reports. The management firm has meanwhile “noticeably” reduced its overweight position in other categories of bonds, such as corporate bonds and MBS, which saw major rallying last year. BlackRock is now neutral on Treasuries, where it was previously underweight on securities in this category.
04/03/2010

Nomura and Kepler come top for analysis in 2009

Les Echos reports that the most recent edition of the StarMine rankings of French equities investment firms puts Nomura at the top of the annual rankings for the quality of its recommendations for CAC 40 companies. It is followed yb Oppenheim Research, Deutsche Bank Securities, and Exane BNP Paribas in the study, which takes into account stock market performance in 2009. Nomura’s analysts stood out in particular with a recommendation to buy Schneider Electric, which gained about 50% between January and December 2009. The firm, born of the acquisition of the European teams from Lehman Brothers by Nomura, was not included in the rankings in previous years. StarMine also evaluates the comparative accuracy of estimates by the brokerage firms of results for French large caps: in this area, Kepler Capital Markets takes first place, followed by Exane BNP Paribas and Credit Suisse.
04/03/2010

La gratuité n'est pas un bon argument de vente pour les ETF

Selon un sondage effectué en février par Phoenix Marketing International auprès de 924 investisseurs disposant d’une épargne financière d’au moins 100.000 dollars, les émetteurs d’ETF préférés du public sont Charles Schwab, E*Trade, Fidelity, Scottrade, TD Ameritrade, Vanguard et Wells Fargo/Wachovia, devant un second peloton composé de Bank of America, Citibank, Edward Jones, ING/Sharebuilder, Merrill Lynch, T. Rowe Price et UBS.Cette analyse a aussi mis en évidence que réduire les commissions sur les ETF n’a pratiquement aucune utilité en tant qu’argument commercial pour toucher la majorité des investisseurs. L’auteur de l'étude, Kristina Terzieva, précise que près 64 % des investisseurs aisés attachent la plus grande importance au fait que les fonds viennent faire le complément de leur style d’investissement, qu’ils répliquent des indices de marché larges, qu’ils soient commercialisés au travers d’un service complet et qu’ils puissent faire l’objet d’ordres en ligne.En revanche, renoncer aux commissions sur un nombre limité d’ETF ou sur des ETF d’une marque ou encore sur des ETF commercialisés au travers d’un courtier donné n’a qu’une incidence minimale pour toucher de nouveaux investisseurs.
04/03/2010

Asset management decision makers have their eyes on the globe

Senior executives from the investment management industry feel confident enough about the future that they are expanding into new geographical locations, according to a survey taken at Investit’s bi-annual industry conference. The conference, held on 28 January 2010, was attended by 60 delegates from 19 investment management firms with GBP3.5 trillion of assets under management, and six third party administrators with GBP25 trillion of assets under custody and management.95% of respondents to the survey expressed confidence about the year ahead. Furthermore 64% expected the outlook to improve significantly by the end of the year. This is in sharp contrast to early 2009, when 41% of participants had put their projects on hold and only 27% expected the picture to improve. As confidence is returning, 88% of delegates stated that expanding into new regions is their top priority for the year ahead. In terms of where the industry is looking to expand, 56% of the participants ranked Asia Pacific as their number one destination, while the Middle East and North Africa region came second with 27% of the vote. North and South America followed with 9% and 7% respectively. As for other major areas of focus identified by respondents, UCITS (88%), data management (79%) and client reporting (77%) continue to feature prominently.
04/03/2010

Schroders, Carmignac, CAAM and Robeco lead subscriptions

As the Inverco association announced that foreign real estate firms had gained ground in the Spanish market (see Newsmanagers of yesterday), Funds People was running reports, also relayed in Expansión, that the funds which attracted the largest subscriptions were the Robeco US Premium for equities, Schroder ISF Euro Corporate Bond for bonds, the Carmignac Patrimoine among diversified funds, and the CAAM Dynarbitrage Volatility for hedge funds.
04/03/2010

“You liked BRIC? You will love Africa”

Under this attention-grabbing headline in Cinco Días, Baldwin Berges, CEO of Silk Invest, launches a plea for investment in Africa to promote the development of emerging markets. In Nigeria and South Africa, he sees similarities with Brazil: populations of over 200 million consumers, an abundance of natural resources, and the advantage of leading positions in regions with populations of over 500 million. Egypt and Morocco are comparable with India: few natural resources of their own, but a growing demographic pyramid and competitive advantages over Europe in terms of the manufacturing prices and services.
04/03/2010

Aquitaine launches a strategy investing in Asian hedge funds

Aquitaine Investment Advisors is launching a fund whose strategy is to buy stakes in Asian hedge fund management firms, Asian Investor reports. The Crescent Fund, based in the Cayman Islands, will aim for USD200m in assets. It is available to US charaities and Asian family offices.
04/03/2010

Sovereign funds on the comeback

Sovereign funds, which like other investors have been affected by a crisis that they did not anticipate, are now returning to the market. According to a study by International Financial Services London (IFSL), investments by sovereign funds increased from USD10bn in first half (their lowest level since 2005) to USD500bn in second half, mostly in Europe and the United States. The Chinese sovereign fund was particularly active, with investments of about USD15bn over the year as a whole. Two thirds of assets at sovereign funds, which totalled about USD2.5trn as of the end of 2009, are in the hands of funds which are supplied by exports of commodities, especially oil and gas, by countries. The percentage of assets in other funds, which are supplied largely from currency reserves, will increase to 38% by 2012, from 34% currently. However, assets under management by sovereign funds fell 3% for the year as a whole to USD3.8trn. According to estimates by IFSL, assets at sovereign funds may total about USD5.5trn by 2012.
04/03/2010

Singapore sovereign fund invests in UBS

Agefi Switzerland reports that the GIC, one of the two major Singapore sovereign funds, will on 5 March convert a loan it made to the Swiss UBS group into shares in the firm. The CHF11bn, which it lent to UBS in 2007, will give GIC a stake of at least 6% in a capitalisation estimated at CHF59.453bn. This CHF11bn stake has nonetheless lost about 70% of its value in two years, giving it a potential value of CHF5.5bn, though the Singapore fund also holds about CHF2bn in coupons. It appears unlikely that GIC will seek to sell its stake off in the short term, and will be likely to hold it at least until it can break even on its initial outlay.
04/03/2010

HSBC Private Bank builds presence in Switzerland

Agefi Switzerland reports that HSBC Private Bank will open a new branch office in Gstaad, which will be operational by mid-2010. The move comes as part of a strategy to significantly increase the bank’s presence in the Swiss onshore market.
04/03/2010

Cowen launches a managed accounts platform

Cowen Group has created Ramius Trading Strategies, an affiliate of Ramius Alternative Solutions, Hedge Week reports. The group has also launched the RTS Global Fund, which offers exposure to hedge funds specialised in trading activities strategies, such as managed futures and global macro, via the managed accounts platform recently created by Ramius Trading Strategies. Ramius Trading Strategies is led by William Marr, preciously international head of hedge fund research and portfolio construction at Merrill Lynch. For the 2009 fiscal year, Cowen made a net loss of USD55.3m, or USD1.35 per share, compared with USD141.8m or USD3.78 per share the previous year. As of 1 January 2010, assets under management totalled USD7.85bn, a 26% decline year on year due to net outflows of USD3.05bn offset by performance gains of USD329m.
04/03/2010

Evercore launches its first retail funds

Evercore Pan Asset Capital Management has launched its first funds dedicated to the retail market, Fund Strategy reports. Pan Dynamic Balanced and Pan Dynamic Growth will invest mainly in ETFs.
04/03/2010

Jason Mackay leaves GLG

Jason Mackay, co-head of British equities at GLG Partners, will be leaving the group at the end of the year, Investment Week reports. Mackay has decided to retire, but he will remain invested in British equities strategies, and will continue to serve GLG in an advisory role.
04/03/2010

Jupiter recruits a director from Investec

John Tevenan will join the British management firm Jupiter as director of sales to international financial institutions, Money Marketing reports. Tevenan, who has more than 28 years of experience in asset management, had been sales director at Investec Asset Management since September 2005. In his new role, Tevenan will be in charge of developing relations with wealth management specialists.
04/03/2010

Invesco, Union and Deka invest EUR529m in real estate properties

Invesco Real Estate (EUR18.4bn in assets) is acquiring five Accor hotels under the Pullman, Mercure and Novotel brand names in Paris, Rome, Munich, and Bratislava (with a total of 1,112 rooms), for EUR154m. The management firm is also planning to invest EUR10m to increase the value of the properties and the operating profits from them. The German asset management firm Union Investment Real Estate, meanwhile, has announced that it is spending EUR316m to acquire 91% of the Alexa shopping centre (180 shops) on Alexanderplatz in Hamburg. The vendors are Sonae Sierra and the French firm Foncière Euris/Rallye. Sonae Sierra will continue to manage the property, which has 43,000 square metres of shop space, 2,000 square metres of restaurant and 8,000 square metres of leisure space. The shopping centre will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund UniImmo: Deutschland. Lastly, Deka Immobilien has announced that it has acquired the certified green office building Bylingen on Söderalm island in Stockhom. The 14,500 square metre property will be transferred this month to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund WestInvest ImmoValue.
04/03/2010

Five new “Newcits”

The list of hedge fund management firms which are launching UCITS III-compliant products is growing, Citywire reports, citing the examples of Toscafund, Trycon GCM, Cheyne Capital, Castlestone Management and Merchant Capital-Tressis. Toscafund will launch a UCITS version of its small and midcaps strategy, Reuters reports, while Cheyne Capital will launch a mergers and acquisitions fund.
04/03/2010

A ratings agency within the ECB?

L’Echo reports, citing Handelsblatt, that the Euro zone countries are considering creating a European ratings agency which would be lodged within the European Central Bank (ECB). The newspaper cites sources close to European finance ministers as saying that Euro zone governments do not want to depend on the opinions of Standard & Poor’s (S&P), Moody’s and Fitch, which, according to an anonymous sources cited by Handelsblatt “were completely wrong in the case of Lehman Brothers.”
04/03/2010

Sal. Oppenheim launches five barrier reverse convertibles

The Sal. Oppenheim bank is adding to its product range with the launch of five Barrier Reverse Convertibles to mature on 8 March 2011. The underlying shares are Actelion, Geberit, Nestlé, Swisscom and Syngenta. Due to their protection mechanism, these products make it possible to earn gains even when markets are stagnating or decreasing slightly. So long as no share falls by 25% or more at any time, investors will receive maximal gains.
03/03/2010
Fonds

Catella lance un fonds immobilier focalisé sur Munich

Le Catella MAX que lance Catella Real Estate AG KAG (filiale du groupe suédois Catella) sera le premier fonds immobilier offert au public de droit allemand exclusivement centré sur une ville-région, en l’occurrence Munich et les districts (Landkreise) adjacents.Ce sera un produit au portefeuille très diversifié en termes de secteurs comportant une proportion élevée d’immeubles d’habitation et qui s’adresse à des particuliers ainsi qu'à de «petits» investisseurs institutionnels.
Fonds
03/03/2010
Fonds

DAB bank : 101 plans d'épargne en ETF

DAB bank, banque directe de la HypoVereinsbank (groupe UniCredit) a annoncé avoir «sensiblement» augmenté son offre de plans d'épargne sous forme de parts d’ETF, avec désormais 101 produits qui couvrent les principales classes d’actifs (actions, obligations, matières premières, immobiliers), des thèmes comme l'écologie, l’infrastructure ou le private equity ainsi que les principaux indices régionaux. La gamme comporte aussi des produits de tous les principaux émetteurs (la liste se trouve à l’adresse www.dab-bank.de/sparplan).Le versement minimal pour ces plans est de 50 euros tous les mois, tous les deux mois, une fois par trimestre ou une fois par semestre. La commission est de 2,50 euros par ordre plus 0,25 % du montant de la transaction.Actuellement, les trois plans les plus vendus chez DAB bank s’appuient pour l’Allemagne sur le ComStage ETF Dax TR, pour l’Europe sur le Lyxor ETF DJ Euro Stoxx 50 et pour le monde sur le db x-trackers MSCI World TRN Index ETF.
Fonds
03/03/2010

Le bénéfice d'Allianz Global Investors gonfle de plus de moitié

En 2009, l’encours d’Allianz Global Investors (AGI) s’est accru de 28 % ou 258 milliards d’euros, dont 91,2 milliards de souscriptions nettes (nouveau record), pour atteindre 1.178 milliards d’euros fin décembre ; en 2008, les actifs sous gestion avaient diminué de 50 milliards d’euros.Parallèlement, le bénéfice d’exploitation a gonflé de 51 % pour se situer à un record d’un peu plus de 1,36 milliard d’euros contre 904 millions. Le précédent record enregistré pour 2007 était ressorti à 1,32 milliard.AGI précise que sa filiale américaine Pimco (1000,1 milliards de dollars fin décembre) a bénéficié d’une forte demande de produits obligataires et d’une excellente performance, de sorte qu’elle a enregistré un résultat «exceptionnellement bon».Joachim Faber, le CEO d’AGI, a souligné que le groupe a bénéficié d’une reprise de la demande de produits gérés activement, surtout dans le domaine obligataire.
03/03/2010

Moventum se lance dans la distribution d'ETF

La plate-forme de fonds Moventum proposera désormais des ETF. L’objectif est de proposer aux conseillers financiers indépendants allemands et autrichiens des produits indiciels, qui sont de plus en plus populaires auprès des investisseurs, précise le communiqué.
03/03/2010

UBS Deutschland recrute chez Goldman Sachs

Axel Hörger, qui dirigeait la gestion d’actifs de Goldman Sachs pour l’Allemagne et l’Europe continentale, a été recruté comme CEO de la gestion de fortune par UBS Deutschland. Il prendra ses nouvelles fonctions le 1er juin et devrait faire partie du directoire et y remplacer Stephan Zimmermann, qui va prendre en charge l’audit interne du groupe UBS à Zurich. Stephan Zimmermann est aussi président du directoire, et son successeur à ce poste sera nommé au plus tard le 31 mai.
03/03/2010

CIBC et Carlyle entrent chez Butterfield

La Banque canadienne impériale de commerce (CIBC) et Carlyle Group ont acquis avec le gestionnaire alternatif Julian Robertson et la «charity» britannique Wellcome Trust une participation de 82,5 % dans la plus grande banque indépendante des Bermudes, Bank of N.T. Butterfield, pour 550 millions de dollars. The Wall Street Journal rapporte que la CIBC et Carlyle ont chacun investi 150 millions de dollars dans la recapitalisation de Butterfield et que chacun d’eux détient 22,5 % de la banque.

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