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25/01/2010

CS Portfolio Real earns 12% in 2009

Last year, the German-registered real estate fund of funds CS Portfolio Real turned in returns of 12.02%, after losses of 11.13% in 2008. The product, launched in January 2007, has assets of over EUR100m, and at the end of last year, had 32% of its assets allocated to real estate equities/convertible bond funds, and 8.5% to alternative products. As the limits for these two respective allocations are 50% and 10%, the allocation is slightly higher than the long-term target allocation. The remainder of the fund’s assets is invested in open-ended real estate funds, an asset class which may represent 40% to 90% of the portfolio. Credit Suisse manages a real estate portfolio in Germany worth EUR6.5bn, of which EUR6.13bn belong to the CS Euroreal fund.
25/01/2010

DWS launches closed equities fund

On 25 January, DWS will launch the Luxembourg-registered fund DWS Dividende Direkt 2014, a fund which will mature in 2014, and which follows the formula established in 2009 for the Renden-Direkt bond strategy: it will invest in shares in companies which pay high dividends, and will pay EUR6 per share each year. The manager, Jens Labusch, will rely on research by Thomas Schüßler, the manager of the DWS Top Dividende fund, for the selection of equities. Characteristics Name: DWS Dividende Direkt 2014 ISIN: LU0418445317 Management commission: 1.45% maximum Front-end fee: 4% maximum
25/01/2010

Nuveen Investments launches its first emerging markets fund

US-based investor services provider Nuveen Investments announced on 21 January that it has launched two new funds, the first of which is dedicated to emerging markets. The Nuveen Tradewinds Emerging Markets Fund aims for long-term capital appreciation, with the MSCI Emerging Markets index as its benchmark. The Nuveen Tradewinds Global All-Cap Plus Fund, for its part, will invest in US and global equities with a long/short strategy. Both funds will rely on the investment process of the asset management firm Tradewinds, with a bottom-up stock-picking approach to select undervalued equities. With more than USD20bn distributed over 61 mutual funds, Nuveen Investments offers a range of fixed-income, growth, value and global portfolios, covering several investment objectives and styles.
25/01/2010

BNP Paribas seeks to build real estate fund activities

Henri Faure, deputy CEO, has told Handelsblatt that BNP Paribas Real Estate is planning to develop through both organic and external growth on the German market. The firm is not interested in retail open-ended funds, as it has no distributor. As a result, the French group is planning to buy an asset management firm active in real estate funds for institutional and high net worth private investors. The other major key market of interest for BNPP RE is the United Kingdom. Funds for retail investors will be made available only in countries where the firm has a distribution network, including France, Italy, and soon, Belgium and Luxembourg (thanks to Fortis).
25/01/2010

Galileo Capital Management opens its doors

A team of management specialists has launched Galileo Capital Management, an advising, management and investment firm, with offices in London and Hong Kong. Hedge Week reports that the founders, Anders Jacobsen and Paul Thompson, have combined experience of more than 40 years at Goldman Sachs, Prudential Financial, Bankers trust and Chase Manhattan Bank. The firm will prioritise investment strategies focusing on niche activities which investors have neglected in the past.
25/01/2010

Private equity outperformed equities in 2009

According to data from Listed Private Equity (LPEQ), which tracks the performance of the 25 most liquid private equity funds in the world (excluding funds of funds), private equity funds had a better year in 2009 than equities. They earned returns of 44% for the year, compared with 26.9% for the MSCI World index.
25/01/2010

Fund gurus will invest in equities this year

Expansión has surveyed star managers at Spanish management firms. Overall, they say that a bubble in bonds and rising interest rates are the primary concerns. They therefore recommend investing in equities for the long term, and avoiding government bonds. Juan Suárez de Figueroa, president of A&G Fondos and the only Spanish manager rated AAA by Citywire, says that after a strong rebound in 2009, stock markets are highly vulnerable to bad news, which will result in periods in which the danger will be due to a lack of proof of an economic recovery, and other periods when the danger will be rather one of excessive growth, which could generate inflation, and potentially interest rate increases.
25/01/2010

Paul Harvey to leave GLG Partners multi-management

Investment Week reports that Paul Harvey is expected to leave the multi-management division of GLG Partners by the end of next month. He founded the division of the group, and was director of DLD MMI. He will be replaced in this position by Neil Hobson and Jonathan Howard.
25/01/2010

Brand image: Fidelity falls back in rankings

As a distributor and provider of mutual funds, Fidelity has fallen back to second place in the rankings for reputation and customer loyalty, in the third annual study by Cogent Research, entitled “2010 Investor Brandscape Report.” On the basis of responses from approximately 4,000 high net worth private clients, the Boston-based management firm was dethroned last year as the top fund provider by Vanguard, while Charles Schwab has taken the top place in the rankings as a distributor. For mutual funds, the following places in the rankings go, in order, to American Funds, T. Rowe Price, and TIAA-CREF. Among distributors, the other favourites are Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Edward Jones, and Merrill Lynch.
25/01/2010

RiskMetrics up for sale

According to sources familiar with the matter, cited by the Wall Street Journal, RiskMetrics Group Inc, 46% controlled by General Atlantic, Spectrum Equity and Technology Crossover Ventures, has decided to put the business up for sale. The firm’s stock market value is about USD1bn. Among the potential buyers are MSCI, Bloomberg, McGraw-Hill, Thomson Reuters, KKR, and Carlyle.
25/01/2010

New mandate for State Street

MD Physician Services Inc (MDPSI) has granted a mandate to State Street Corporation for custody, fund accounting and asset valuation for a CAD15.6bn portfolio. MDPSI manages 22 mutual funds, sold under the brand name MBD Private Counsel.
25/01/2010

Offering a large fund product range may be a winning strategy

Les Echos reports that a study by A. Gavazza at Leonard Stern School of Business in New York finds that asset managers who offer a higher number of fund products than other providers win out, proportionally, with a larger market share, at least in the retail segment. A firm which increases the number of funds in its product range by 10% will see an increase in total assets of 12.8%, while a 10% increase in categories of products on sale to retail clients (global equities, bonds, etc.) brings a 13.7% increase in assets. These efforts bear the most fruit for funds invested in equities. In the institutional segment, the story is different, as a firm which increases the number of funds in its product range for investors of this type by 10% sees only an 8.7% increase in assets.
25/01/2010

Rusal to be listed in Paris from 27 January

Les Echos reports that the world’s top aluminium producer, the Russian firm Rusal, has received permission from the French financial market regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), on its prospectus for an initial public offering in Paris. The firm has already placed virtually all of the shares to be included in the offering. Rusal will be listed from Wednesday 27 January, in the professional section of the Paris stock exchange. About 768 million Global Depository Shares (GDS) in the Russian business will be initially listed.
25/01/2010

High returns for hedge funds

Morningstar reports that 2009 was the best year for hedge funds since 2003: the Morningstar 1000 hedge fund index gained 0.1% in December, and is up 18.5% for the year 2009 as a whole, slightly less than the 20.3% gains observed in 2003. The Morningstar MSCI hedge fund index hedged for currency risks gained 0.2% in December, and shows gains of 14.2% for the year. The worst-performing strategies in 2008 were the most profitable in 2009: the emerging markets index, which lost 45.7% in 2008, gained 50.4% last year, while convertibles arbitrage gained more than 37%. In other trends, results show that small hedge funds tended to outperform larger ones, and that single-manager hedge funds did better than funds of hedge funds. Morningstar also estimates that in January-November, hedge funds in its database saw net outflows of USD53.4bn, but that the sector has seen net subscriptions since June, with USD4.7bn in inflows in November alone.
25/01/2010

Goldman Sachs closes a hedge fund

Overnight between Friday and Saturday, Goldman Sachs announced the closure of its quantitative hedge fund Global Equity Opportunities (GEO), which saw heavy redemptions, and which managed only USD200m as of the end of 2009, compared with a peak of about USD7bn a few years ago, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. The Wall Street Journal adds that Goldman Sachs says it has no plans to pull out of the hedge fund sector. On Thursday, the bank stated that of USD871bn in assets, about USD146bn are in alternative investments, including hedge funds and funds of hedge funds managed by its quantitative team.
25/01/2010

Tracking error may vary significantly from one ETF to another

It appears that ETFs, even those that replicate broad indices, vary widely in their tracking error levels. The Wall Street Journal reports that the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF (EEM) and the Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF (VWO), both of which are based on the MSCI Emerging Markets index, posted respective returns in 2009 of 72% and 76%, respectively, though the index itself gained 78.6%. In 2008, the first of these two funds lost 50%, and the second lost 53%, both beating the index (-54%). These differences are due, firstly, to a difference in commissions: 0.27% for the Vanguard product, compared with 0.72% for the iShares fund. Secondly, the two funds have different approaches, and are constructed differently. The Vanguard product replicates the index of more than 800 positions in its entirety, while the iShares product has only about 400 positions. As the iShares fund is intended to be easy to trade, it is managed in a way which is intended to preserve high levels of liquidity and transparency, avoiding less liquid shares of the index. The Vanguard fund avoids being stuck with less liquid shares due to a significant advantage: it can trade them with its twin fund, the open-ended Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund (VEIEX), which has assets of USD30.5bn.
25/01/2010

2009 was a very good year for hedge funds

The Morningstar 1000 Hedge Fund Index gained only 0.1% in December, but for the year as a whole, it has earned 19.5%, close to the record set in 2003 (20.3%). The strategies with the most heavily negative results in 2008 went on to earn the highest returns last year, according to Morningstar. The Morningstar Emerging Market Equity Hedge Fund Index, which lost 45.7% in 2008, bounced back with gains of 50.4% in 2009. Meanwhile, the Morningstar U.S. Small Cap Equity Hedge Fund Index finished the year 2008 with one of its worst performances ever (-32.8%), but posted gains of 36.4% in 2009. However, hedge funds specialised in emerging markets and small caps did not manage to offset all of their losses in 2008. Another big winner in 2009 was convertibles arbitrage, whose benchmark index gained 2.1% in December, and shows gains of moer than 37% in 2009, after one of its worst performances ever in 2008. However, some strategies, such as the Short Equity and Global Trend, continued their negative trajectories through the end of the year. In the first eleven months of the year, hedge funds posted net outflows of USD53.4bn, but subscriptions began to flow in once again in June. In November of last year, hedge funds saw USD4.7bn in subscriptions. In other notable developments last year, Morningstar observes that small hedge funds outperformed larger structures and the single-manager hedge funds performed better on average than funds of funds.
22/01/2010

EFA renforce sa présence en Italie

La société luxembourgeoise spécialisée dans l’administration de fonds EFA (European Fund Administration a annoncé le 21 janvier un accord de partenariat avec Asset Management Servicezs S.p.A (AMS), une société également spécialisée également dans les services d’adminsitration de fonds.Dans le cadre de cet accord, AMS acquiert 100% de Servizi SGRpA, société dans laquelle EFA détenait une participation de 34%, tandis qu’EFA obtient 10% du capital d’AMS avec la possibilité d’augmenter sa part jusqu’à 25% d’ici 2012. A travers l’acquisition de Servizi, AMS élargit sa base clients et ses actifs sous administration de 12,7 milliards d’euros au 31 décembre 2008 à 19 milliards d’euros, devenant ainsi le plus important fournisseur indépendant de services d’administration de fonds en Italie. Avec cette opération, l’administrateur indépendant EFA, également présent en France et leader sur le marché luxembourgeois, confirme sa stratégie internationale de croissance. EFA gère administrativement un volume de plus de 2.400 fonds pour un total de plus de 80 milliards d’euros d’actifs et pour le compte de 200 clients.
22/01/2010

Cortefiel : créances converties en capital

Les capital-investisseurs CVC, PAI Partners et Permira, qui contrôlent 92,15 % de Cortefiel au travers de leur filiale commune MEP Retail España, ont décidé de transformer en capital une partie de leurs créances sur la société, rapporte Expansión. Cela entre dans le processus de refinancement de la dette de 940 millions d’euros mis au point l'été dernier, les banques ayant exigé que les actionnaires injectent du capital. Une AGE est donc convoquée pour le 26 février. L’ordre du jour comporte une augmentation du capital de 131,47 millions d’euros par l'émission de près de 780 millions d’actions à 16,90 cents l’unité, sans prime, ce qui équivaut à doubler le capital du distributeur de vêtements. L’augmentation sera souscrite en totalité par MEP Retail par conversion d’un crédit.
22/01/2010

L'Opus Dei s'intéresse à la gestion alternative

Vendredi 15 janvier, la CNMV a enregistré Sextante Partners AV SA, société d’intermédiation destinée à faciliter l’accès des investisseurs institutionnels à des hedge funds de droit espagnol.Selon l’avis publié par le régulateur, Sextante Partners est contrôlée à 57 % par Alwaid Gestión, à 33 % par Altamar Private Equity et à 10 % par María Vásquez Ferrándiz, présidente et administrateur délégué. Alwaid Gestión est contrôlée par María Vásquez Ferrándiz ainsi que par plusieurs personnes liées à la fondation univeristaire de Navarre (Fundación Universitaria de Navarra ou Funa) de la prélature de l’Eglise catholique Opus Dei.Selon Funds People, Sextante devrait présenter le 26 janvier son premier fonds, un produit de «senior loans» du groupe Blackstone, qui sera coté à Madrid.
22/01/2010

Eurizon fait enregistrer 14 compartiments d'Eurizon Stars

La CNMV a enregistré 14 fonds supplémentaires d’Eurizon Capital, filiale d’Intesa Sanpaolo, dont la gamme homologuée en Espagne comptait déjà 22 produits. Les nouveaux entrants sont tous des compartiments de la sicav luxembourgeoise Eurizon Stars.
22/01/2010
Fonds

"Hard closing" fin mars pour le Sauren Defensiv Global

Compte tenu d’un fort volume de souscriptions ces derniers temps, le gestionnaire indépendant Sauren Fonds-Service a décidé de suspendre la commercialisation de ce fonds de fonds (1,3 milliard d’euros) à compter du 31 mars. La performance de ce produit défensif est ressortie à 35,7 % depuis le lancement en février 2003, «avec une volatilité faible». La fermeture affecte non seulement les nouvelles souscriptions mais également les plans d'épargne, même si ces derniers ne représentent pas une masse considérable.La décision est motivée par une volonté de ne pas pénaliser les souscripteurs existants et de ne pas diluer la performance, explique Eckhard Sauren. Bien entendu, les remboursements restent possibles à tout moment et la valeur liquidative continuera d'être calculée quotidiennement.
Fonds
22/01/2010
Fonds

Le Stiftungsfonds de F&C confirme sa distribution

Chris Childs, gérant du F&C HVB Stiftungsfonds, un produit destiné principalement aux fondations allemandes et dont l’encours représentait fin décembre 838 millions d’euros, a confirmé que la distribution sera de 40,10 euros par part A (particuliers) et 42,60 euros par part I (institutionnels), comme annoncé en 2008. Au total, la distribution s'élève donc à 4,48 %.
Fonds
22/01/2010

WestLB Mellon Asset Management nomme son CEO

BNY Mellon et WestLB AG annoncent la nomination de Volker Kurr au poste de CEO de sa joint venture allemande WestLB Mellon Asset Management. L’intéressé était auparavant head of Institutional and Wholesale Business Development chez UBS Global Asset Management.

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