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04/12/2009

Nordacapital launches a second forestry fund

The Luxembourg management firm Nordcapital announced on Thursday that it will continue its efforts in the area of sustainable investments with the launch of its second fund specialised in forestry (Waldfonds 2), which will invest, like its predecessor, in as-yet uncleared forest land in Romania. Prices there are 75% lower than those for comparable forest land in western Europe, Florian Maack, CEO of Nordcapital, explains, adding that hte fund has an initial portfolio of three areas totalling 2,750 hectares, valued at EUR3,500 per hectare. Trees in the region include oak, birch, pine, wormwood, ash, and cherry wood. Nordcapital will aim for assets of EUR30-60m in the fund, which will mature in 2021. Minimal subscription is EUR15,000, and front-end fees total 5%. The manager is predicting returns of 4% per year from 2012, and estimates that investors may hope for total returns of 160% to 250%.
04/12/2009

Fulcrum debuts in Madrid

The British asset management firm Fulcrum Asset Management (USD800m in assets) has been granted a license by the CNMV to sell the Fulcrum Alternative Beta Plus Fund, a fund which uses hedge fund strategies available as a UCITS III-compliant package, in Spain. Funds People reports that Fulcrum has plans to register a global equities fund and a commodities fund next, followed by an Africa fund early next year.
04/12/2009

Banca March launches a winery fund

March Gestión de Fondos, the fund management affiliate of Banca March, has announced the launch of the March Vini Catena F.I. Fund, which aims to be the first global equities fund to cover the entire wine production value chain. The product, with 35 positions, is currently managed by Francisco Javier Pérez (rated AA by Citywire) and Alejandro Muñoz, heads of global equities and European equities, respectively. They are supported by a committee composed of well-known experts in the sector. The benchmark index is the Morgan Stanley Capital International World Index in local currency. Management commission will be 2%, and minimal subscription is set at EUR6,000. There will also be a penalty for early withdrawal of 0.5% for redemptions within the first year.
04/12/2009

f+m does not expect recovery before 2013

The new management firm f+m financial, founded by Thomas Mühlberger and Jens Finkbeiner (see Newsmanagers of 30 November) is of the opinion that the economy will return to its 2007 levels in 2013. This will result in a difficult environment for equities as well as a continuation of low interest rates. Therefore, f+m Financial, which intends to become a specialist in absolute return funds, estimates that market conditions will demand intelligent solutions - such as absolute performance funds. These are designed to provide added stability for diversified portfolios while ensuring positive overall returns.
04/12/2009

Efigest gets settled into ETF fund market

Since the launch of three Pragmatis tracker funds in September 2008, assets under management in funds from Efigest AM have increased from about EUR10m to EUR22m, according to Régis Yancovici, deputy CEO. Total assets at the management firm total about EUR72m, including mandates, advised management and insurance policies. The three ETF (and ETC) funds, Pragmatis PEA International (ex Efigest Valeurs), Pragmatis Réactif AA and Pragmatis Patrimoine (the last two of which have about EUR9.5m each in assets under management), have portfolios with about 20 positions each.
04/12/2009

Pioneer France aiming for EUR1bn in assets by the end of the year

After a difficult year in 2008, Pioneer Investments France started 2009 with assets of EUR550m. But at the end of the year, the Paris office of the management firm, an affiliate of the UniCredit group, is nearing EUR1bn in assets, nearly the level it had under management at the beginning of 2008. The increase comes thanks to net subscriptions of EUR300m since the beginning of the year and positive market effects. In an effort to win over retail and institutional investors, Pioneer Investments France is offering a fund which brings together the best ideas of its analysts, a US fund, and a bond expertise product concentrating on duration, for which it has recently won a RFP (EUR70m this year, and a comparable sum next year). In 2010, the priority for Fabien Madar, CEO of Pioneer Investments France, is to win over clients first and foremost; his ambition is to reach EUR2bn in assets in three years. In terms of products, he is planning to launch rate curve strategies and an inflation fund.
04/12/2009

Fitch places M2- rating for LFP on RWP

Fitch Ratings announced on Thursday that it has placed its rating of M2- for the asset management arm of La Française des Placements (LFP) on rating watch positive (RWP), following its acquisition by UFG IM, the asset management affiliate of the Crédit Mutuel Nord Europe (CMNE) group. The positive watch will be lifted once the current merger process has been completed and after an analysis of the combined operational platform. Fitch predicts that LFP will benefit from belonging to a larger ensemble, to be known as UFG-LFP, in terms of the volume of assets under management (EUR32bn as of the end of August 2009), distribution channels, and financial solidity. The operation is also expected to strengthen marketing, risk controls and reporting, while increasing resources in alternative multi-management, with the addition of UFG Alteram, the fund of hedge fund specialist structure at UFG IM. The agency also notes that, unlike other mergers of management firms which aim to exploit cost synergies, the LFP-UFG merger is based on complementarities in their respective activities. The current rating covers institutional management activities at LFP, while Fitch has made no review of UFG IM and has only limited information about its activities. The rating does not include the private equity and real estate management activities of the UFG-LFP group.
04/12/2009

BNY Mellon wins a custody mandate from Geary Advisors

BNY Mellon Asset Servicing has been awarded a mandate by Geary Advisors including custody, fund administration and fund transfer agency services for two regional ETF funds, the Oklahoma Exchange-Traded Fund and the Texas Large Companies Exchange-Traded Fund.
04/12/2009

Hana UBS Asset Management appoints a new CEO

Hana UBS Asset Management, a Korean management firm joint venture, has announced that Michael Chin has been appointed as CEO, while the former occupant of the position, Andreas Neubner, preferred not to state reasons for his replacement, according to Asian Investor. He will, however, remain a member of the board at the management firm.
04/12/2009

Asian sovereign funds were the largest investors in 2009

Asian Investor reports that Asian sovereign funds (SWF) outstripped their Western counterparts in the volume of assets invested in 2009. According to Barclays Capital, Asian SWFs accounted for 645 of overall investments, compared with 44% last year. Middle Eastern sovereign funds made 35% of investments in 2009, compared with 54% in 2008. The largest investors this year were China Investment Corporation (CIC), Mubadala Development Company and IPIC.
04/12/2009

Midas Capital sells wealth management unit

Midas Capital is about to sell off its wealth management unit, including iimia Wealth Management, to Jardine Lloyd Thompson, Money Marketing reports. The two groups are reported to be nearing an agreement on a sale for about GBP7.25m, which would be completed in January 2010. In the half-year to the end of June, iimia Wealth Management contributed GBP460,000 to overall results at Midas (GBP2.9m).
04/12/2009

Acquisition of Fortis by BNP Paribas to cost an estimated 150-200 jobs

According to an announcement to personnel of which reports have been circulating in Madrid financial ciercles, the integration of Fortis (300 people) into BNP Paribas (700 people) will lead to layoffs of 15% to 20% of total personnel in Spain, or 150 to 200 people, Cotizalia reports. The plan was initially well-received, but it all depends on the details, particularly in terms of anticipated retirements. It is possible that the group will retain both private banking brands, as Fortis (which acquired Beta Capital) is particularly strong in this area.
04/12/2009

Deutsche Bank scales up presence in Asia

According to H 24 Finance, Deutsche Bank has recruited seven partners in the area of private wealth management in Asia, where it is planning to develop its presence. Kwong Kin Mun has been appointed as director for the region, the website reports.
04/12/2009

S&P launches a gold index for UBS products

Standard & Poor’s on Thursday announced the launch of the S&P 500 Gold Hedged Index, which will aim to reproduce the performance of a long strategy on the total performance of the S&P 500 equities market and long on Comex gold futures, which will allow users to profit from the market performance of the US equities markets, while hedging against the falling value of the dollar compared with gold. Meanwhile, S&P has also issued a license to UBS to create and launch investment products replicating the new index, which will be rebalanced on a monthly basis to adjust its theoretical exposure to equities and to gold to maintain an even keel.
04/12/2009

Galleon to liquidate Singapore activities also

According to sources familiar with the matter, cited by Bloomberg, relaying reports in Fondsprofessionell, the US alternative management firm Galleon Group, which has been caught up in an insider trading scandal resulting in the arrest of its founder and CEO, Raj Reazjaratnam, will be closing down its Singapore activities on 31 Decemnber. Galleon has 20 employees in Singapore and manages about USD500m. Two potential buyers have already come forward to acquire Galleon in the United States and Singapore.
04/12/2009

Funds of hedge funds face ongoing liquidity issues

Gross exposure of hedge funds is still below their historic levels, according to the most recent analysis by Standard & Poor’s of the sector. “Many funds of hedge funds are still facing liquidity problems,” despite rising equities and credit markets, says Randal Goldsmith, an analyst at S&P Fund Services. Net exposures are also below their historical averages, but increased in third quarter. The increase has been very gradual, as hedge fund managers were not convinced that the rally would sustain itself, and concentrated on generating alpha. Funds of hedge funds earned returns of 4% in third quarter, and 8% since the beginning of the year, while funds specialised in emerging markets earned the best results. GAM Multi-Emerging Markets posted returns of 20.5%, while Permal Asian Holdings earned 24.8%, and Permal Emerging Markets Holdings earned 26.1%.
04/12/2009

Authorities investigated Raj Rajaratnam more than a decade ago

According to legal documents obtained by the Wall Street Journal, the president and founder of Galleon Group, who was arrested on 16 October, already ran into trouble with the law more than ten years previously, over a case of data theft from Intel Corp. But at that time, no charges were pressed against Rajaratnam due to a lack of evidence. This time, the person responsible for the data theft from Intel at the time will testify against Rajaratnam.
04/12/2009

Pioneer Investments chief leaves firm

Dario Frigerio, chief executive officer of Pioneer Investments, one of the largest European management firms, with EUR170bn in assets under management, has announced his forthcoming departure from the firm. To ensure a smooth transition, he will leave his job on 31 January 2010. No successor was named by a spokesperson for Unicredit, the parent company of the management firm.
04/12/2009

Horizons widen for ETF funds

Van Eck has recently launched a Poland ETF, while Emerging Global Advisors is offering ETFs based on base commodities, consumer goods, metals, and mines in emerging countries. Global X this week added the Global X China Consumer ETF and the Global X China Insutrials ETF funds to trading on the NYSE, the Wall Street Journal reports. There have been a growing number of ETFs focused on emerging markets, many of them smaller than China or India. Market Vectors in August launched an ETF focused on Vietnam, which now has USD79.5m in assets, while the Market Vectors Brazilian small caps fund has attracted USD606.3m since May. The same promoter’s Indonesia fund, launched in January, has assets of USD184.9m. Van Eck is preparing an ETF of Chinese A-class shares as well as products based on Indian, Egyptian, and Kuweiti small caps.
03/12/2009
Fonds

Tim McCarron quitte Fidelity

Fidelity va perdre son gérant européen Tim McCarron, qui après seize années passées au sein de la société, a décidé de prendre du recul à compter du premier trimestre 2010. Le fonds européen, qui pèse quelque 3,5 milliards de livres sterling, sera pris en charge par Sam Morse à compter du 1er janvier 2009, Tim McCarron, qui devrait assurer une transition en douceur en restant jusqu’au milieu du premier trimestre 2009, pilotait le fonds européen depuis janvier 2003.
Fonds
03/12/2009

IKB s'exonère de toute responsabilité vis à vis de Calyon

Deutsche Industrie Bank (IKB) considère que Calyon a omis d’effectuer une évaluation adéquate des risques liés à son ambition de développer et de diversifier ses activités de titrisation et de crédit structuré et ne s’estime pas responsable de ses pertes, rapporte l’Agefi. 1,1 milliard d’euros de dommages et intérêts ont été demandés par la banque française.
03/12/2009
Fonds

Newton change le benchmark de son Global Dynamic Bond Fund

Newton Investment Management a annoncé le 1er décembre avoir modifié le benchmark du Newton Global Dynamic Bond Fund. Le benchmark cash, qui remplace un indice standard, est le Libor 1 mois en livres + 2% par an (brut). Il s’agit, dans une performance de performance absolue, de permettre aux actionnaires de pouvoir comparer les performances futures du fonds avec des rendements réels et non plus de considérer des rendements relatifs par rapport à un indice standard.Depuis son lancement le 28 avril 2006, le fonds a généré une performance de 22,51%.
Fonds
03/12/2009

Un hedge fund tire les leçons de la crise

Selon Les Echos, Northlight, un hedge fund lancé cette semaine par trois anciens de Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers et GLG Partners, a cherché à aligner les intérêts des investisseurs entrant et sortant pour éviter la panique en cas de marchés nerveux. Ses commissions sont moins élevées que la moyenne de l’industrie. Le fonds sera investi sur le crédit d’entreprises européennes «high yield» et démarre avec 50 millions d’euros. Il vise à terme une taille de 300 à 500 millions d’euros. Reste à tester la pertinence de la structure dans des marchés chahutés.
03/12/2009

Oliver Clasen entre au directoire du BVI

Oliver Clasen, directeur général d’Allianz Global Investors Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH et de cominvest Asset Management GmbH, a été élu jusqu'à l’automne 2011 membre du directoire de l’association allemande BVI des sociétés de gestion. Le BVI précise jeudi matin que l’impétrant terminera ainsi le mandat de Horst Eich, ex co-head d’AGI Deutschland, qui avait démissionné le 12 octobre (lire notre dépêche du 28 septembre).
03/12/2009
Fonds

RBC Dexia sélectionné par Aberdeen

Aberdeen Asset Management a sélectionné RBC Dexia pour la fourniture de services d’administration en Australie pour les fonds récemment acquis auprès de Credit Suisse. L’encours concerné s'élève à environ 20 milliards de dollars australiens.
Fonds
03/12/2009
Fonds

LFG lance une plate-forme pour les hedge funds Ucits III

Luxembourg Financial Group, société spécialisée dans les produits structurés, vient de lancer une plate-forme de hedge funds Ucits III en architecture ouverte, pour faire face à la demande croissance pour ce type de produits. Le lancement de Luxembourg Alternatives UCITS Platform (LAUP) s’effectue en partenariat avec Ganymede Partners, un conseiller spécialisé dans les hedge funds."Plus de la moitié des sociétés européennes de hedge funds prévoient soit de lancer des versions onshore et régulées de leurs stratégies ou l’ont déjà fait», indique LFG, citant HedgeFund Intelligence.
Fonds
03/12/2009
Fonds

Les bons gérants actifs ont-ils de la chance ou du talent ?

Il est impossible de dire si les fonds gérés activement qui battent le marché le font parce qu’ils ont de la chance ou parce que les gérants sont talentueux, affirme une nouvelle étude d’Eugene Fama et de Kenneth French («Luck Versus Skill in the Cross Section of Mutual Fund Returns»), citée par le Wall Street Journal. Ainsi, les investisseurs ne peuvent pas vraiment savoir si leur gérant est bon.
Fonds
03/12/2009

Vote déterminant pour PAI Partners

Les souscripteurs du fonds V dont BNP Paribas, Axa, Allianz ou le fonds singapourien GIC, ont jusqu'à ce soir minuit pour se prononcer sur les deux propositions que leur a faites la société de capital investissement PAI Partners, rapporte l’Agefi. Première question : le fonds V qui est gelé jusqu’au 11 mars 2010 doit-il rouvrir ? Seconde question posée aux investisseurs : faut-il diviser par deux la taille du fonds, à 2,7 milliards d’euros, et quid de la mise en place de nouvelle règles de gouvernance qui leur seront plus favorables ? L’ensemble de ces propositions devra être adopté par 80 % des «limited partners» au minimum, précise le quotidien. Les résultats du vote «seront connus vendredi dans l’après-midi», estime un prochedu dossier.

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