Selon la Tribune, le régulateur des marchés financiers saoudien (Capital Market Authority) a autorisé la Société Générale à implanter une banque d’affaires en Arabie Saoudite.
Quatre grands gestionnaires de hedge funds ont fermé les fonds phares qu’ils avaient rouverts en début d’année, rapporte Financial News. Il s’agit de Nevsky Capital, Lansdowne Partners, Tudor Investment Corporation et SAC Capital.
Selon la Tribune, les créanciers du groupe américain CIT ont apporté 59,81 % de titres à l’offre de conversion de 1 milliard de dollars de dette obligataire arrivant à échéance lundi 17 aooût. CIT évite ainsi la faillite.
En début d’année, la présidente de la Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. a eu la visite discrète de Francisco González, le PDG de BBVA, croit savoir le Wall Street Journal. Le dirigeant voulait être sûr que la FDIC penserait à lui lorsqu’elle vendrait les actifs des banques US en difficulté, affirment des personnes proches du dossier. Francisco González n’a fait aucun commentaire sur cette réunion, mais a déclaré que BBVA est intéressé par des acquisitions tactiques dans le sud des Etats-Unis.
Les meilleurs fonds actions ont souvent peu de lignes en portefeuille, constate le Wall Street Journal, dans un article consacré aux fonds concentrés. En moyenne, les fonds actions détiennent 172 lignes, selon Morningstar, alors que les fonds concentrés ont en général seulement 25 positions. Les gérants de fonds concentrés ont peu de marge d’erreur, ce qui les oblige à mettre l’accent sur l’analyse des entreprises. Et pour se protéger davantage, ils achètent les titres avec une forte décote.
Selon les Echos, Daniel Ivanier est nommé directeur des opérations de Dexia Crédit Local et membre du comité de direction. Il est remplacé par Guy Cools en tant que responsable des activités de Dexia North America. Bruno Accou est nommé responsable des succursales de Dexia Crédit Local et de Dexia Banque Belgique au Royaume-Uni.
Selon le Financial Times, 3i est en négociations exclusives pour vendre un portefeuille de 36 investissements européens de capital risque à un consortium dirigé par Coller Capital et HarbourVest Partners pour environ 100 millions de livres. L’année dernière, 3i a décidé de renoncer aux investissements dans les start-ups en phase de création, son activité la moins performante depuis l’éclatement de la bulle technologique.
Selon le quotidien The Times de lundi 17 août, le fonds souverain China Investment Corporation (CIC) - qui représente 200 milliards de dollars - compte investir dans la production audiovisuelle occidentale et asiatique d’après une source proche du fonds d’Etat. Ces investissements pourraient donner au gouvernement chinois une part directe dans un grand nombre de réalisations, des drames sud-coréens ou des jeux télévisés japonais jusqu’aux grandes productions hollywoodiennes et les séries. Toujours selon des sources proches du fonds souverain, des pourparlers auraient été entamés entre CIC et deux groupes de private equity américain très impliqués dans les medias au centre desquels il est question d’une société de production de films à Hollywood.
The Financial Times reports that 3i is in exclusive talks to sell a portfolio of 36 European venture capital investments to a consortium led by Coller Capital and HarbourVest Partners for about GBP100m. Last year, 3i abandoned early stage investments in start-up companies, which has been its least performing activity since the tech bubble burst.
La Tribune reports, citing Bloomberg, that the trading platform Turquoise Alternative, launched in late 2008, is up for sale. Documents related to the potential sale were sent to 18 potential candidates, including NYSE-Euronext and the London Stock Ecxhange.
Citigroup, which is under close scrutiny by the Obama administration, is seeking to persuade Andrew Hall, a trader in the energy sector, to agree to be paid in shares rather than cash in 2010. Last year, he received USD100m in pay, a well-informed source stated on Monday, 17 August. However, it is not certain that Hall will agree to the proposal, as his pay is based on the performance of Phibro LLC, which he heads, and not that of the bank.
In June, total net assets for funds in Luxembourg increased by 0.74% compared with May, to EUR1.63125trn, according to the most recent statistics from the CSSF (Commission de surveillance du secteur financier). In the past twelve months, assets are nonetheless down by 14.24%. EUR4.272bn of the increase in assets of EUR11.987bn comes from net inflows, while the remainder is a result of rising financial markets. As of the end of June, 20.4% of assets in Luxembourg OPC funds were in products from German promoters, 20% from US firms, and 16.5% from Swiss firms. France is in seventh place, with 8.5% of the market. In the August issue of its monthly newsletter, the CSSF announces that a new management firm, NBG Asset Management Luxembourg, has been registered on the official list of asset management firms under chapter 13 of the 20 December 2002 law on collective investment organisms. In total, the regulator has 192 asset managers on its registers as of 31 July.
Financial News reports, citing sector sources, that Royal Bank of Scotland is preparing to put its asset management business, RBS Asset Management, up for sale. RBS Asset Management, which is specialised in funds of funds, advised USD50bn in assets as of the end of last year.
Les Echos reports, citing a statement from Royal Bank of Scotland, that the Financial Services Authority has launched an investigation into the Scottish bank’s acquisition of the Dutch bank ABN Amro in 2007. RBS bought the company for EUR70bn, via a consortium including Santander and Fortis. The newspaper adds that RBS, in financial difficulties partly due to this deal, had to allow the government to buy a majority of its shares last year. The bank received GBP20bn (EUR23.16bn) in capital injections from the government.
La Tribune reports that the Saudi financial market regulator (Capital Market Authority) has granted permission to Société Générale to set up a business bank in Saudi Arabia
Four major hedge fund managers have closed flagship funds to subscriptions which had been reopened earlier this year, Financial News reports. The companies are Nevsky Capital, Lansdowne Partners, Tudor Investment Corporation, and SAC Capital.
The best equities funds often don’t own many stocks, the Wall Street Journal claims in an article on focused funds. On average, equities funds have 172 holdings, according to Morningstar, while focused funds tend to have only 25 names. Focused fund managers have little room for error, so they emphasize stock research. And as an extra protection, they buy shares at a steep discount.
According to the Financial Times, citing statistics from Morgan Mckinley, the number of new job vacancies in the financial services sector in London rose by 20% in June compared with May’s levels, the Financial Times reports - the highest so far this year. July was the second-best month, though job offers were down by 7%. However, the number of job opportunities remains 59% lower than last year.
Responsible water management is one of the new priorities of Norges Bank Investment Management, the firm which manages the investments of the Norwegian oil fund, as part of its shareholder responsibility initiatives. “Water shortages worldwide represent a financial risk for the fund,” NBIM explains in a statement, adding that the issue affects 1,100 companies in the fund’s portfolio, with total market capitalisation of NOK265bn, or USD43bn (out of a total of NOK2.385trn). “At NBIM, we think investors should receive sufficient information to be able to evaluate how risks related to water shortages and the costs of regulation and water purification could affect profits for a given business, and to evaluate the likelihood that this will occur,” says Anne Kvam, head of governance. The fund has identified seven sectors which are highly exposed to risks due to potential water shortages: agrobusiness, agriculture, paper and pulp, pharmaceuticals, the mining sector, energy production and manufacturing, and water provision. In third quarter, NBIM will publish “NBIM Investor Expectations: Water Management,” a document which will state the fund’s expectations of companies in relation to water and resource management and the associated risks. The firm, which is highly active in the area of responsible investment, has also recently published a document on climate change. In second quarter, the Norwegian fund posted returns of 12.7%. The proportion of the fund invested in equities stood at 60.3% at the end of the quarter.
The Belgian newspaper L’Echo, citing De Tijd, reports that long-term investors are increasingly being replaced by investors seeking quick returns on stock markets. For example, on the Brussels stock exchange, investors hold the top shares for about 1.5 to 3 years. Twenty years ago, Belgian shares remained in portfolios for an average of 5 years. This trend can also be observed in other countries. In the United States, according to a study by Société Générale, shares in the New York Stock Exchange remain in the portfolio of investors for an average of 9 months, compared with an average of 10 years in the 1940s.
Le secteur des hedge funds est en première ligne pour tenter de convaincre les autorités européennes de réexaminer le projet de directive sur la gestion alternative (Alternative Investment Fund Managers). Mais selon Andrew Baker, le directeur général de l’Association de la gestion alternative (Aima), qui s’exprime dans Hedge Week, «il est vital que d’autres acteurs économiques, allant des membres du secteur de l’immobilier aux administrateurs des fonds de pension, rallient cette campagne afin d’empêcher qu’une loi rédigée à la hâte n’entrave la compétitivité économique de l’Europe».
The hedge fund sector is mobilizing in an effort to convince the European authorities to reconsider its planned Alternative Investment Fund Managers directive. But, according to Andrew Baker, CEO of the alternative management association AIMA, speaking to Hedge Week, “it is vital that other economic actors, from members of the real estate sector to pension funds’ trustees, rally behind this campaign to prevent a hastily-written law from impeding the economic competitiveness of Europe.”
William Galvin, the Massachusetts secretary of state, has rejected a settlement proposed by the investment firm Fairfield Greenwich Group, which had offered to pay USD6bn to a dozen state’s investors who had lost money in the Bernard Madoff fraud, the Wall Street Journal reports. Galvin filed a civil suit against Fairfield, claiming that its directors were coached by Madoff in how to answer investigators’ questions, and that they have not said all they know, the WSJ reports.
A former Credit Suisse broker, Eric Butler, has been found guilty of fraudulently selling ARS (Auction rate securities), the Financial Times reports. He and his colleague are accused of lying to clients about what kind of securities they were being sold. Butler faces up 45 years in prison.
Les Echos reports that, in a court document viewed at California state court in Los Angeles, US resident John McCarthy, who has agreed to plead guilty of concealing sums of money from the US tax authorities in accounts he held with UBS in Switzerland and elsewhere, tells of how UBS helped him to commit tax fraud by setting up a complex international structure. McCarthy has also confessed to personally meeting or corresponding with UBS representatives and his Swiss lawyer between 2003 and 2008 “to discuss” accounts “at UBS and the funds they contained,” the newspaper reports.
According to a report published by IFSL (International Financial Services London), cited by L’Agefi, private equity investments were down 80% worldwide, to USD24bn, in the first six months of 2009, their worst performance in twelve years. Less than USD100bn were raised in the first half of 2009.
The Swedish bank Swedbank has announced a capital increase of SEK15bn, or EUR1.45bn, which has been 100% subscribed. The capital will go to strengthen the bank’s balance sheet.
Les indices de CDS sont revenus sur leurs niveaux d’il y a trois semaines, les investisseurs doutant que le rally entamé au printemps puisse se poursuivre