Agefi Switzerland reports that the investment fund sector has not been spared from the bad news on the markets, but the Swiss Funds Association (SFA) pointed out on 13 January that there were no massive closures, and the number of products on sale actually increased last year. “Instead of focusing on foreign markets, we should be more aware of our strengths, and put our pragmatic regulatory approach in the foreground. If we join forces to provide access to the European market, our financial market will be attractive for major asset managers. Even though our infrastructure is not optimal, we will still attract managers. We therefore need to improve,” said the president of the association, Martin Thommen. The SFA is calling for an attenuation of the protectionist elements in the planned AIFM directive, so as to make it possible for managers domiciled in Switzerland to receive European passports.

As of the end of 2009, assets under management at Swiss-based Partners Group totalled CHF25.7bn, 5.34% more than one year previously (CHF24.4bn). Gross subscriptions totalled CHF3.6bn, of which CHF2.2bn were in second half, but they were offset by net redemptions of CHF0.8bn, largely due to CHF1.5bn due to the cessation of certain activities in the area of alternative management, and to negative currency and market effects. Currently, assets in private equity total CHF20.2bn, compared with CFH19.2bn as of the end of 2008, and private debt represents CHF2.7bn. The private real estate portion of the portfolio totals CHF1.4bn, compared with CHF0.5bn.

On Wednesday, the Netherlands-based firm Telco Holding, an affiliate of Permira, announced that it had asked UBS and Goldman Sachs to sell off the remainder of its stake (10.1%) in the German mobile telephone operator and internet service provider freenet AG, at EUR8.90 per share, for a total of EUR114.8m. Earlier that morning, Permira Deutschland had estimated the value of the stake at EUR119m. The transaction is also being undertaken at a lower price than the EUR9.25 per share at which Telco sold 14.9% of freenet for a total of EUR176.7m on 23 September last year.

In one year, the Global Agriculture fund, launched on 15 January 2009 by Barings, which the firm is planning to import to France in a similar form this year (see Newsmanagers of 8 December), has attracted GBP139m in assets (as of 12 January), and has posted performance of 43.7%. Currently, the portfolio, managed by Jonathan Blake, who also manages the Baring Global Resources Fund (USD1.1bn in assets, see Newsmanagers of 22 May 2008), is invested primarily in Brazil, Singapore, the United States, and Canada, with the emphasis on agrobusinesses with a strong presence in emerging markets and on companies with a family of stable brands, good standing, and a good distribution network.

The private bank of the Santander group, Banif, is offering its Spanish clients who hold bonds issues by Icelandic banks (Kaupthing, Landsbanki and Glitnir) several personalised options which will allow them to recuperate between one quarter and one half of their investments, Cinco Días reports. In substitution for the bond, Banif is offering them preferential shares in solvent issuers, including companies of the Santander group.

Last year, about 400,000 fund subscribers withdrew their investments in Spain, bringing the total number of clients to leave funds in the past three years to 3.2 million, or 36% of the total number of investors as of the end of 2006, Expansión reports. The only consolation is that the departures have slowed (from 2.2 million departures in 2008), while net redemptions have fallen to EUR11.64bn from EUR57.6bn. This slowing of the trend is due to a change in the commercial strategy of financial groups. They are now less interested in savings deposits and are promoting investment funds to improve their margins. The management firms which saw the largest inflows in 2009 InverCaixa, with EUR1.63bn, Ibercaja Gestión, with EUR683m, and Mutuactivos, with EUR547m. In total, 47.5% of management firms posted net subscriptions last year, compared with 12.5% in 2008.

On Tuesday evening, DoubleLine Capital, the fund management firm founded by Jeff Gundlach, announced the recruitment of Bonnie Baha, head of the corporate bond group and corporate credit research at TCW, as head of global developed credit. She joins DoubleLine with five colleagues from the government/corporate group TCW, which had nine members. Gundlach was dismissed from his position as CIO of TCW in early December. DoubleLine has also announced that it has recruited Joseph W. Sullivan III has treasurer of DoubleLine Funds Trust. Until 2008, Sullivan was COO and chief compliance officer of the hedge fund manager Peconic Partners.

The Bulgarian Alexandre Dmitrov, who was previously head of central and eastern European equities trading at CAIB (UniCredit group), after a spell as senior manager for the same region at Pioneer Investments Austria, has joined Erste Sparinvest as CIO for central and eastern European equities. He will be head of a seven-member team located in Vienna and at affiliates in Eastern Europe.

Wegelin Asset Management, an asset management firm owned by the Swiss bank Wegelin & Co. Banquiers Privés, has recruited Pierre-Yves Cahart as head of institutional clients for France and all French-speaking countries. The appointment of Cahart, formerly head of investor relations at the Legrand group, marks the group’s first entry into the French market: a prudent move, as Wegelin is not opening an office in France, but will operate from its home country of Switzerland. Wegelin & Co, founded in 1741, is one of the Swiss private banks at which the managing partners have unlimited responsibilities. It currently has 670 employees, located at 12 offices in Switzerland, and manages assets of over EUR17bn. The firm is specialised in wealth management for private clients, and in asset management for institutional investors. For the latter, the bank has created Wegelin Asset Management, which is dedicated to them, and specialises in quantitative management. This is the type of management which will be offered to institutional investors in France, once the necessary licenses have been obtained from the AMF, which is expected in February.

The Société Générale group will book in its corporate centre a capital gain on the Amundi operation - merger of the asset management operations of Société Générale Asset Management and Crédit Agricole Asset Management - of approximately EUR0.6bn, a statement released on Wednesday by the bank announces. The bank also says that it expects to post a slight profit for the quarter that integrates negative impacts of EUR-1.4bn for assets at risk.

Axa Investment Managers (Axa IM) has announced the appointment of John Bailie as head of global distribution. Bailie, who began in his new position on 4 January, replaces Nathalie Boullefort-Fulconnis, who has recently left the firm after six years there. Before joining Axa IM, Bailie spent 17 years at Russell Investment, where he was in charge of development of institutional sales for Europe, the Middle East and Africa and director of the alternative expertise unit. Be will be based in the London offices of Axa IM, and will be in charge of the commercial development of the management firm on institutional markets, and distribution in all regions in which Axa IM is developing. “We would like to bring a new dynamism to our activities in France. But we would also like to strengthen our presence in some foreign countries, particularly in Asia, a region which has strong potential for growth, particularly in the area of asset management,” says Dominique Carrel-Billiard, CEO of Axa IM. With this in view, Axa IM has appointed Jean-Pierre Leoni as director of the Asia-Pacific region, and will soon atrengthen its sales teams in Hong Kong. In Europe, Axa Im is putting the priority on the Swiss and British markets, “where we are also planning to strengthen our teams,” says Carrel-Billiard.

Dalton Strategic Partnership will launch a UCITS-compliant version of its European equities fund (MEF) in early February. Leonard Charlton, who manages MEF (USD1.7bn), will also be in charge of the Luxembourg Sicav, Melchior Selected Trust European Fund (MSTEF). Since its launch in October 2006, the Melchior European Fund (MEF) has earned returns of 22.2%, compared with losses of 16.6% for the MSCI Europe index. The fund is an absolute returns product, which will take long/short positions on the more liquid European large caps, and will continue this strategy through a trading tactic. The fund will have 30 to 60 positions, and will be available with a minimum investment of USD10,000 for retail investors, and USD250,000 for institutional investors. Management fees are 1.5% for institutionals and 2% for retail investors, with a performance commission of 20%.

In the United States and Europe alike, ETFs posted record assets at the end of 2009, of USD705.5bn (+41.9% in one year) and USD223.5bn, up from USD142.82bn one year earlier (+56.5%), respectively. BlackRock counted 821 ETFs, listed 2,359 times on 18 stock markets as of 31 December, compared with 772 products in the United States. Lipper FMI reports that net subscriptions to ETFs domiciled in Europe represented USD36.5bn in the first ten months of last year, while other mutual funds saw subscriptions of USD210.5bn. The three largest promoters of ETFs controlled 75% of the market: iShares (BlackRock), with 38.4%, Lyxor Asset management (Société Générale), with 20.4%, and db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank), with 16.6%. This corresponds to respective totals of USD185.7bn, USD45.6bn, and USD37.2bn.

As of 31 December 2009, assets under management at the management firm Polar Cpaital totalled nearly USD2.17bn, a 47% increase over 31 March 2009. In the first nine months of the 2009-2010 fiscal year, according to a statement from the firm, net inflows totalled USD378m, as long only funds attracted USD191m in subscriptions, and hedge funds attracted USD187m.

The largest Swiss bank has posted a new code of conduct on its website, entitled “Professional and deontological code of conduct of UBS.” The document had previously existed, but the new version is greatly expanded, and more explicit than its predecessor. The text describes the values of the “new UBS,” which is making a concerted effort to turn the page on legal troubles the firm has experienced in the recent past, particularly with the US tax authorities. “We will not assist any clients or colleagues to commit acts which aim to circumvent tax authorities, nor will be support transactions whose fiscal legitimacy rests on hypotheses which are incompatible with commercial facts or the non-divulgence of significant facts,” says the 12-page document, available in several languages. In case of failure to respect rules, the bank warns that “rigorous disciplinary action will be taken,” which may go as far as “penalties or dismissal, including warnings and demotions.” In other words, the bank, which will present its annual results on 9 February, is seeking to make a clean slate after its recently turbulent legal past, in order to regain the confidence of a clientele which is also less loyal than in the past.

Soros Fund Management LLC, the hedge fund headed by George Soros, with about USD25bn in assets, is planning to open an office in Hong Kong, according to the Bloomberg news agency. Two managers, currently based in New York, James Chang and Dai Jixin, may be moved to Hong Kong.

Brevan Howard founded in 2002 now has about USD27bn in assets under management, making it the largest hedge fund in Europe and among the top five in the world, says the Financial Times. The investment strategy that Brevan deploys - global macro - is based on trading the bond and currency markets. It is widely tipped for a successful 2010. Demand has been so strong that the firm has already shut its doors to new money from clients, adds the FT.

As of the end of December, there were 1,939 ETF funds worldwide, listed 3,775 times on 40 stock markets, and issued by 109 firms. These funds had record total assets of USD1.0323trn, which represents a 5.1% increase over the USD982bn observed at the end of November, the previous record. For the year, assets under management increased by USD321.4bn from a level of USD710.9bn measured at the end of 2008 by Barclays Global Investors (BGI), which became BlackRock on 1 December. There are also 817 ETF funds currently under preparation. Strategic Insight observes that net subscriptions to ETF funds in the first nine months of 2009 totalled USD93.8bn, while they represented only USD13.3bn for all other mutual funds. Nearly three quarters (71.9%) of global assets are managed by three firms. They are iShares (BlackRock), with 413 ETFs and assets of USD488.9bn, which represents a market share of 47.4%, State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), with 107 funds, USD161bn and a market share of 15.6%, and Vanguard, with 47 ETFs, USD92bn, and a market share of 8.9%.

According to initial estimates, the Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund index is expected to post an increase of 0.39% in December, compared with gains of 2.11% in November. The best-performing sectors were event driven (1.91%), long/short equity (2.01%), emerging markets (2.18%), and convertibles arbitrage (2.08%). However, global/macro (-2.07%) and managed futures (-4.59%) remained in the red.

L’Efama rapporte que les fonds Ucits ont engrangé des entrées nettes de capitaux de 6,7 milliards d’euros en novembre

L'indice des CDS d'émetteurs souverains d’Europe continentale, publié par Markit, est passé au-dessus de celui des CDS de sociétés notées « investissement »

Julius Baer annonce le recrutement de Lee Boon Keng en tant que co-directeur des solutions d’investissement en Asie et CIO adjoint pour la région. Basé à Hong Kong, l’intéressé était auparavant stratégiste en chef d’UBS Wealth Management pour l’Asie, précise Asian Investor. Son remplacement chez UBS est en cours.

En 2009, les sociétés de capital-investissement opérant en Espagne ont subi une chute de 65 % de leur collecte par rapport à 2008, avec 955 millions d’euros (comme en 2002), dont 67 % sont allés à des opérateurs espagnols, rapporte Cinco Días. Leur volume d’investissement s’est parallèlement contracté de 47 % à 1,62 milliard d’euros et l’investissement moyen par dossier est tombé à 2 millions d’euros contre 3,6 millions en 2008 et 5 millions en 2007 (année où les entrées avaient porté sur 5 milliards d’euros), indique l’Asociación Española de Entidades de Capital Riesgo (Ascri). Les derniers fonds bouclés en Espagne l’ont été par Nazca (116 millions d’euros), Bull net, Hiperion et Nauta tandis que Dinamia et Madrigal ont lancé des augmentations de capital de respectivement 40 millions et 60 millions d’euros.

Lundi, la Deutsche Bank a fait admettre à la cotation sur la Bourse de Singapour (SGX) six ETF supplémentaires de la gamme db x-trackers, ce qui porte à 16 (sur un total d’une cinquantaine) le nombre des produits de cet émetteur.Il s’agit en l’occurrence des fonds Emerging Markets TRN Index ETF, MSCI Brazil TRN Index ETF, MSCI Russia Capped Index ETF, MSCI World TRN Index ETF, MSCI Pacific ex Japan TRN Index ETF et MSCI EM Asia TRN Index, les commissions de gestion s'échelonnant entre 45 et 65 points de base.Ces produits s’adressent prioritairement aux banques privées, aux assureurs et aux fonds souverains asiatiques.

L’intérêt proclamé des hedge funds britanniques pour une installation à Genève peine à se concrétiser. Seuls quelques grands gérants alternatifs londoniens tels que Bluegold, CQS Asset Management et Tiresias Capital ont ouvert une présence physique sur les rives du Léman ces 18 derniers mois, rappelle le Temps. Selon l’Association suisse des fonds, ils seraient entre 10 et 20 hedge funds de toutes origines à s’être installés en Suisse ces 24 derniers mois. Ces sociétés se sont souvent contentées d’ouvrir des antennes avec deux ou trois personnes. Ni Brevan Howard Asset Management ni BlueCrest n’ont ouvert les bureaux annoncés. Ils entendent déplacer à Genève de grosses équipes, jusqu’à 50 personnes, soit 20% de leurs effectifs.

Pour 2009, Real IS (caisses d'épargne et Bayerische Landesbank) affiche des souscriptions nettes de 425 millions d’euros contre 350 millions pour 2008, dont 382 millions contre 200 millions apportés par des particuliers. Pour 2010, le gestionnaire espère drainer 300 millions auprès des particuliers et 200 millions auprès des investisseurs institutionnels.Pour cette année, Real IS prévoit de lancer deux fonds Allemagne, le premier avant fin mars, ainsi que plusieurs fonds spécialistes de l’immobilier à l'étranger.Par ailleurs, Real IS va créer prochainement une société de gestion de droit allemand (KAG), Real I.S. Investment GmbH, qui sera focalisée sur la clientèle institutionnelle. Le premier produit «core» sera un fonds immobilier centré sur l’immobilier dans la zone euro. Il est prévu aussi des fonds sur l’Australie et le Canada.

Le français Wendel commercialise en Allemagne 25 millions d’actions à 10 euros chacune d’Helikos, sa «Special Purpose Acquistion Company» (SPAC), rapporte la Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Ces titres seront cotés à partir du 2 février. Le conseil d’administration, composé de Roland Lienau, Hermann Simon et Jürgen Heraeus, aura pour mission d’acquérir sous deux ans un «trésor caché» (hidden champion) d’une valeur de 650-750 millions d’euros avec un chiffre d’affaires de plus de 3 milliards qui sera ensuite immédiatement coté dans la coquille d’Helikos. La société devra pouvoir afficher une croissance de 10 % par an et compter parmi les trois premiers acteurs de son secteur.

Spécialisée dans les fonds développement durable, Financière de Champlain vient d’acquérir 42 % du capital de Nef Capital Ethique Management (NCEM), une société de capital investissement créée en décembre 2007, en rachetant la participation prise, en 2008, par Sarasin-France et détenue, depuis 2009, par le groupe UFG. Elle devient ainsi premier actionnaire de NCEM à parité avec la Société Financière de la Nef (42 %), le solde étant détenu par Ecofi Investissements (12 %) et le management.Ce changement d’actionnaire a été provoqué par l’arrivée d’UFG, considéré comme un concurrent potentiel par NCEM, dans le capital de Sarasin-France. Cela n’empêche pas la Banque Sarasin de continuer à réaliser l’analyse extra-financière des investissements du FCPR de NCEM, Sens. Au contraire, selon Jacques Favier, directeur général de NCEM, cette nouvelle configuration permet d’assurer l’indépendance totale de la labellisation de Sarasin.Pour Financière de Champlain, qui gère 210 millions d’euros, cette prise de participation lui permet de se renforcer dans le non coté, un développement qui avait été entamé avec le lancement d’un FCPI, Champlain Innovation, dédié au financement de jeunes entreprises innovantes, et ce, toujours dans une logique «verte», puisque NCEM se positionne sur la thématique du développement durable. Son fonds Sens a pour objectif de «démocratiser la consommation responsable», ce qui se décline en trois thèmes d’investissement : l’efficacité énergétique, les technologies environnementales et les filières bio et équitables.Au cours d’un premier closing, ce fonds a recueilli 8,5 millions d’euros, auxquels viennent s’ajouter 1 million d’euros apporté par Financière de Champlain. L’objectif est de lever 50 millions d’euros.Les deux parties soulignent que cette opération est un partenariat à long terme et qu’elles ont l’intention de travailler ensemble sur le fonds Sens mais aussi sur d’autres projets.

Skandia vient de créer au sein de son département juridique un pôle dédié à l’ingénierie patrimoniale, qui a pour vocation de «soutenir les conseillers en gestion de patrimoine indépendants dans leur rôle de conseil à leurs clients et de répondre à leurs besoins d’accompagnement», annonce un communiqué. Pour cela, Skandia s’appuiera sur le savoir-faire de Brigitte Audureau, consultant formateur et chargée d’enseignement dans plusieurs universités ainsi qu’au Centre notarial de formation et d’information professionnelle de la Cour d’appel de Paris. Cette dernière «a pour principale mission de mettre ses compétences au service des CGPI et de les soutenir dans la création d’études patrimoniales», précise Skandia. «Des cycles de formations patrimoniales validantes seront également proposés par Brigitte Audureau (des formations complètes en gestion de patrimoine pour les CGPI et pour leurs collaborateurs mais aussi des formations plus spécifiques sur les fondamentaux)», ajoute le communiqué.