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29/10/2009

Asset management results down at Santander

In third quarter, profits from asset management at Santander fell to EUR8m, compared with EUR19m in second quarter, and EUR21m in first quarter. Profits totalled EUR36m in the corresponding period of last year. Over the first nine months of the year, assets have increased from EUR101bn to EUR111bn, while costs for the division have fallen 17%, to EUR115m.
29/10/2009

Deutsche Bank absorbs wealth management operations of Sal. Oppenheim for 0.74% of AUM

It appears that Deutsche Bank will acquire the entirety of the Luxembourg-registered holding company Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. S.C.A in first quarter 2010 for EUR1bn, while the families that currently own the firm will have an option to retain a stake of up to 20% in the private banking affiliate of Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. KgaA in Cologne. Payment may also be made in the form of Deutsche Bank shares. Even after this operation, the tier 1 ratio at Deutsche Bank will remain at about 11%. The pricxe corresponds to only 0.74% of assets under management. Deutsche Bank will take control of the private bank, BHF-Bank, as well as the private equity fund of fund management firm Sal. Oppenheim Private Equity Partners S.A. (SOPEP). In addition, it will take control of BHF Asset Servicing GmbH (BAS), an independent holding company in which a majority stake is currently held by the families that own Sal. Oppenheim, which Deutsche Bank is planning to resell. Deutsche Bank is also planning to take part in negotiations over a sale of the Sal. Oppenheim investment banking operations. In an initial period, the acquisition of the various entities will total EUR1.3bn, but it has been agreed with the owners of Sal. Oppenheim jr. & cie. S.C.A. that the acquisition price may be increased depending on the evolution of cerrtain high-risk positions, and depending on the extent to which Sal. Oppenheim is able to retain the loyalty of its approximately 7,000 high net worth clients.
29/10/2009

Asset and wealth management at Deutsche Bank still running losses

In July-September, pre-tax profits for the AWM (asset and wealth management) division of Deutsche Bank totalled EUR134m, compared with losses of EUR95m in the corresponding period of last year. However, for the first nine months of the year, the balance is still negative to the tune of EUR123m, compared with profits of EUR335m in the corresponding period of last year. The bank has also reported a EUR25bn increase in invested assets, to EUR657bn as of the end of September, thanks to net subscriptions totalling EUR10bn wit EUR5bn each for asset management and wealth management, while the remainder is due to positive market effects, which have been partially offset by negative currency effects. Revenues for the AWM division increased 8% in annualised terms to EUR772m, while performance commissions from retail management rose with the market rally, which partly compensated for a decline in management commissions based on volumes.
29/10/2009

CBRE all but liquidates its Falcon III fund

“Due to a lack of investment opportunities,” CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) has decided to redeem EUR20m to subscribers of its real estate fund Falcon III Real Estate, dedicated to Spain, which was created with EUR30m in assets, Cinco Días reports. In other words, the fund has been virtually liquidated. The fund made virtually no investments, meaning that volumes are not an issue, CBRE heads explain. Other funds form Falcon Real Estate Investment (founded in 2005) “are functioning well,” says the asset management firm.
29/10/2009

Collins Stewart launches an absolute return fund of funds

According to Hedge Week, Collins Stewart Fund Management has launched an absolute returns fund of funds, entitled Collins Stewart Alternative Strategies Fund. The fund, which complies with the UCITS III directive, aims for returns of 6% to 10% per year. It will be domiciled in Dublin, on the existing fund platform. The fund has no lock-up period, and will not charge penalties for early withdrawal.
29/10/2009

GAM recruits a manager from T. Rowe Price

Niall Gallagher, who managed European and continental European equities funds at T. Rowe Price after leaving BlackRock in late October 2006, has been recruited by GAM (an affiliate of Julius Baer) to replace John Bennett, who left the firm to join Gartmore Asset Management in June. He will join the firm in November, in London, and in December will take over the management of the GAM Star European Equity and GAM Star Continental European Equity funds, which have seen heavy redemptions since the departure of Bennett, although their assets remain higher than USD900m.
29/10/2009

Jupiter takes prize in Bestinvest rankings of bad funds

According to the “spot the dog” rankings from the Bestinvest platform, the worst British management firm is Jupiter, with GBP3bn in assets in underperforming funds, followed by Schroders, with GBP1.76bn, and Scottish Widows, with GBP1.68bn, Investment Week reports. Fourth and fifth place go to St James’s Place, with GBP945m in assets placing in the rankings of bad funds, and Henderson New Star, with GBP705m.
29/10/2009

Strong growth in inflows in third quarter for M&G

According to Investment Week, M&G has posted total net inflows in third quarter of GBP2.5bn, of which retail inflows totalled GBP1.7bn. Total inflows have risen 47% compared with the corresponding period of 2008. In the first nine months of the year, net inflows totalled GBP11.1bn, a 169% increase compared with the corresponding period of last year. Retail inflows in the first nine months of the year totalled GBP5.73bn. Bond funds have continued to attract the majority of inflows, representing 77% of net sales since the beginning of the year. But equities funds have also done well, particularly the Recovery and Global Basics funds.
29/10/2009

Pictet Funds adds to sales team

Pictet Funds has recruited Emma Stenzel as sales manager for southern Germany. She was previously an advisory business team manager at Schroders.
29/10/2009

K1 hedge fund investigated on suspicion of fraud

The Wurzburg prosecutor’s office has confirmed that it has launched an investigation of the founder of the hedge fund K1, Helmut Kiener, who is suspected of abuse of confidence and fraud, Handelsblatt reports. The fund is registered in the British Virgin islands, and claims to have about USD1bn in assets under management. Kiener and his fund are suspected of having defrauded several banks, including Barclays, JP Morgan Chase, and BNP Paribas, of about USD400m.
29/10/2009

Cibler l'inflation ou le prix des actifs reste le dilemme posé à la BCE

Certains s’émeuvent du caractère trop expansionniste de la politique monétaire. Ils l’estiment responsable d’une nouvelle bulle financière, les taux bas gonflant artificiellement le rendement des actifs. Selon leur calcul, un financement nominal à trois mois de l’ordre de 0,3% pour 1,6% d’inflation et 1,5% de croissance anticipées à deux ans porte la différence entre croissance et taux d’intérêt réels à près de 3%. Une aubaine ! Vu comme ça, évidemment, réclamer des hausses de taux pourrait avoir du sens. Mais un tel raisonnement n’est pas exempt de fausses notes.
28/10/2009

State Street extends range of services for wealth managers

With State Street Wealth Connect, unveiled on Tuesday, State Street Corporation is offering its wealth management clients a tool which will allow them to “focus on management and growth rather than on bank and middle office functions,” says Steve Nazarro, senior vice president of the wealth management service activities at State Street. Currently, the group provides custody and administration for more than 500 clients in this high net worth private client segment. In practice, State Street Wealth Connect allows direct access to State Street through a customizable online platform which is completely integrated into the range of State Street investment services, including global custody, accounting and monitoring of policy at businesses, and also with the document and delivery and messaging system, which will allow wealth managers to communicate directly with their clients through this secure portal.
28/10/2009

Commerzbank sells shares in Privatinvest Bank to BCZ

On Tuesday night, Commerzbank announced that it will be selling its 74% stake in the Austrian firm Privatinvest Bank of Salzburg for an undisclosed amount to the Cantonal Bank of Zurich (ZKB in German). The transaction is part of a move at Commerzbank to concentrate on a more limited number of locations for its wealth management activities. The sale of the stake is also a realization of a pledge made by Commerzbank in order to be granted permission by the European Union to receive German government assistance as part of the financial markets stabilisation (SoFFin) program. At the end of June, the Privatinvest Bank, which has 50 employees in Salzburg and Vienna, had assets of EUR600m. The activities of the Vienna branch of Commerzbank are not affected by the announced deal.
28/10/2009

North American companies still have a long way to catch up on climate change

According to the EIRIS 2009 Climate Change Tracker, US and Canadian companies are catching up on climate change, but they must do much more if they are to manage their carbon risks and play an active part in the transition to a low-carbon economy. The vast majority of North American companies operating in sectors with a high carbon footprint now have a corporate-wide policy on climate change (91% compared to 93% at the global level).However, when it comes to implementing, concrete measures to deliver on corporate climate change policies and commitments, businesses in North American still fall behind companies in other countries, with rising CO2 emissions, poor disclosure and a lack of implementation. For instance, only 16% of North American companies have made a commitment to link board remuneration to GHG emissions reductions compared to 28% at the global level. And product impacts ignored: only 9% have set targets to reduce indirect climate change impacts arising from their products, compared to 19% at the global level.
28/10/2009

Buffalo "hardens" the soft closure of its small cap fund

The Buffalo Small Cap fund with USD2.44bn in AUM, a product whose advisor is Kroznitzer Capital Management, has got «a bit more soft-closed» on October 5th, in accepting no new investors while it still welcomes subscription fron existing savers and from retirement plans, according to Mutual Fund Wire. A first soft-close had been put in place on May 27th by closing the fund to new subscriptions through 1-800 numbers and the main fund platforms (Schwab, Fidelity, TDAmeritrade, Pershing).
28/10/2009

New head for South Korea at Fidelity

Michael Reed has joined Fidelity International as head of its activities in South Korea, according to Asian Investor. Reed previously served three years as country head for South Korea at Franklin Templeton.
28/10/2009

Good results for Franklin Resources

Franklin Resources announced net income of USD367.4m, or USD1.60 per share diluted, on revenues of USD1,238.9m for the quarter ended September 30, 2009. For the quarter ended June 30, 2009, net income was USD297.7m, or USD1.29 per share diluted, on revenues of USD1,073.6m. For the quarter ended September 30, 2008, net income was USD300.5m, or $1.28 per share diluted, on revenues of USD1,321.5m.Total assets under management by the company’s subsidiaries were USD523.4bn at September 30, 2009, as compared to USD451.2bn at June 30, 2009 and USD507.3bn at September 30, 2008. Net new flows for the quarter ended September 30, 2009 were USD12.2bn, as compared to USD6.0bn for the prior quarter and net redemptions of USD8.6bn for the same quarter a year ago.
28/10/2009

Guy de Blonay gets back to Jupiter

Guy de Blonay, the manager of the Henderson New Star Global Financials fund at Henderson New Star, is to join Jupiter, eight years after having left the company, Citywire reports. He will be co-managing the Jupiter Financial Opportunities fund with Phillip Gibbs, but in a first stage will be restricted to an advisory role.Guy de Blonay’s fund at Henderson New Star is now managed by Emily Adderson, who acted up to now as deputy manager.
28/10/2009

Hilton debt load weighs on Blackstone

Private equity firm Blackstone Group LP has begun talks with lenders to cut up to USD5bn from the USD20bn debt load carried by Hilton Worldwide, according to people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reports.Blackstone is considering contributing USD800m of new equity to buy back debt at a discount. It also is seeking to extend debt maturing in 2013 to 2016, while converting some junior slices of debt into equity. The USD800 million in additional equity would come from funds managed by Blackstone that already have invested in the deal, the biggest equity investment ever made by the firm.Initially, Blackstone funds and co-investors put up USD5.6bn in equity in the deal, while assuming USD20bn in debt.
28/10/2009

Ex-Chief of AMD involved in the Galleon case

A criminal case filed earlier this month alleged that an unnamed Advanced Micro Devices Inc. executive shared confidential information about the chip maker with a defendant in the Galleon case. According to a person familiar with the matter, this executive would be Hector Ruiz, chairman and former CEO of the company, The Wall Street Journal reports.
28/10/2009

CESR launches a consultation on standardisation of financial reporting

The Committee of European securities regulators (CESR) on 27 October announced the launch of a public consultation on the use of a standardized reporting format for financial information. The consultation provides an occasion for the CESR to gather feedback from market actors on the use of XBRL markup language, already used by international and European regulatory bodies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States, the CEBS (Committee of European banking supervisors), and the French Commission Bancaire-Banque de France. The CESR states that the consultation will concentrate on the potential introduction of an IFRS reporting format in the mid- to long term. The consultation will be open until 30 November.
28/10/2009

Turquoise adds six ETCs

Turquoise, the pan-European equity trading services company, announced that it will extend its services to include six Exchange Traded Commodities (ETCs) to trade via its MTF platform. The series of six new ETCs, tracking the performance of physical gold and silver, as well as gold bullion indices, will be available to Turquoise members from 13 November, 2009.
28/10/2009

Clients predict that BlackRock and Carmignac have best prospects for growth

The most recent survey by the Berlin-based agency Metronomics of Europeanclients of asset management firms has found that BlackRock and Carmignac Gestion are the two operators whom a majority of respondents feel have the best prospects of “very strong comparative growth.” The two management firms finish ahead of JP Morgan Asset Management, Fidelity, DWS, and Schroders, whom a majority of respondents predict will experience “strong growth,” while Pictet Funds is considered likely to grow by “many” clients. For the French market taken in isolation, Carmignac Gestion is the only firm to have “very strong” outlooks for growth according to a majority of clients. It is followed by LCF Rothschild, which clients expect to see “strong” growth, and Fidelity, which will experience “good” growth.
28/10/2009

Bill Gross predicts that the rally is over

The founder of Pimco, Bill gross, estimates that the market rally observed in the past six months has reached its peak, and that the Fed will need to maintain its interest rates for another 18 months. In his most recent column, published on the Pimco website (November 2009), Gross explains that in the post-crisis environment, nearly all assets appear to be overvalued for the long term, which has the consequence that monetary and economic policy chiefs will need to maintain interest rates at artificially low levels, and rely on aid measures to sustain growth. From his point of view, the Fed may wait for up to 18 months before raising interest rates. “My feeling is that the nominal GDP will need to show tangible signs of stabilisation at about 4% for the Fed to decide to take the risk of raising interest rates,” Gross writes. Meanwhile, an investor in US Treasury bonds should not expect miracles: 0.15% on Treasury bonsd, less than 1% on two-year notes, and a meagre 3.4% on 10-year paper. And the entire US bond market, including corporate bonds, is bringing in returns of only about 3.5%. Investors should not expect much more, and risks related to high yield, distressed or equities far outstrip the positive prospects at this point in the conjunctural cycle.
28/10/2009

OECD pension funds lost USD5.4trn in 2008

Pension funds in OECD countries lost USD5.4trn last year. They also posted averaage negative performance of 21.4% in nominal terms, and 24.1% in real terms, the OECD reports in its most recent bulletin on pension funds (Pension Markets in Focus, October, Issue 6). However, in the first half of 2009, pension funds, which earned average returns of 3.5%, recuperated more than USD1.5trn. As of 30 June 2009, pension funds only needed to make up 14% in order to catch up with thelr levels as of December 2007. The rebound in the performance of pension funds continued until 30 September this year, thanks to rallying markets, but they will need more time before the sector completely offsets its losses, the OECD estimates. The best-performing pension funds in the OECD countries were in Norway and Turkey, with returns of over 10%. Meanwhile, US pension funds earned average returns of 4% in nominal terms, while Australian funds gained only 1%. Funds in these two countries had the highest exposure to equities, at 46% for the US, and 59% for Australia.
28/10/2009

Institutional investors will return to alternative assets

BlackRock estimates that institutional investors will once again take an interest in alternative assets. Some alternative asset classes seem to be very attractively priced at present. New private equity funds will also invest at very attractive valuation levels, at the bottom of the economic cycle, and they won’t need to rely on leverage to generate returns. Distressed businesses may also present opportunities. Pension funds may also turn to alternative investments as a key component of their allocation. According to a BlackRock study, a 25% allocation for an international equities portfolio in a basket of alternative assets would have reduced volatility from18% to 16% per year in the period from January 1990 to December 2008, while also increasing annual returns by 0.6%.
28/10/2009

Les fonds de pension de l'OCDE ont perdu 5.400 milliards de dollars en 2008

Les fonds de pension des pays de l’OCDE ont perdu l’an dernier 5.400 milliards de dollars. Ils ont ainsi enregistré en moyenne un rendement négatif de 21,4% en termes nominaux et de 24,1% en termes réels, indique l’OCDE dans son dernier bulletin sur les fonds de pension (Pension Markets in Focus, October, Issue 6).Toutefois, au premier semestre 2009, les fonds de pension, qui ont dégagé un rendement moyen de 3,5% en termes nominaux, ont récupéré plus de 1.500 milliards de dollars. Au 30 juin 2009, ils accusaient ainsi un manque à gagner de seulement 14% par rapport à leurs niveaux de décembre 2007. Le rebond des performances des fonds de pension s’est poursuivi jusqu’au 30 septembre dernier grâce au rally boursier mais il faudra encore un peu temps pour que le secteur efface complètement ses pertes, estime l’OCDE.Les fonds de pension les plus performants de la zone OCDE ont été ceux de la Norvège et de la Turquie qui ont affiché des rendements nominaux de plus de 10%. Par ailleurs, les fonds de pension américains ont dégagé un rendement moyen de 4% en termes nominaux alors que les fonds australiens se sont limités à 1%. Les fonds de ces deux derniers pays étaient d’ailleurs les plus exposés aux actions, 46% pour les Etats-Unis et 59% pour l’Australie.L’OCDE remarque toutefois qu’il serait fallacieux de se concentrer sur les performances d’une seule année. Sur les quinze dernières années, les fonds de pension américains ont ainsi dégagé un rendement moyen de 6,9% par an (ou 4,4% hors inflation) et les fonds suédois marquent une performance de 7,2% par an (ou 5,3% après inflation).
28/10/2009

Un fonds suisse dédié à la cause des femmes

Selon Les Echos, Naissance Capital, un gestionnaire d’actifs suisse, vient d’indiquer son intention de lancer prochainement un fonds dédié à la cause des femmes, le Women’s Leadership Fund (WLF). Celui-ci espère lever 200 millions de dollars avant la fin de l’année, et investira exclusivement dans des sociétés affichant une proportion de femmes dans leurs instances de direction supérieure d’au moins 20% à la moyenne du secteur concerné. En outre, 20% des frais prélevés par Naissance Capital seront destinés à la promotion des femmes dans les entreprises, sans plus de précision.

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