Stefan Isaacs, gérant des fonds crédit européens chez M&G Investments

Alexandre Bourgeois, chef économiste adjoint chez Natixis

Catherine Garrigues, responsable de la gestion actions européennes chez Allianz Global Investors France

Si une refonte du FMI est possible, les pays sont en désaccord sur les plans de relance

Le scénario le plus probable reste celui d’un retour au point de départ à 1.765 points et de la cassure de ce support

La liste des catastrophes s’allonge, chez AIG. Ainsi le suisse AIG Private Equity Ltd, qui est détenu à 41 % par AIG et qui verse des commissions de gestion à AIG sur les investissements dans des fonds de capital-investissement, se traite à 87 % en dessous de la valeur liquidative, rapporte The Wall Street Journal. Le problème est que cette société, créée en 1999 par AIG Private Bank Suisse, accuse une dépréciation importante de son portefeuille placé dans des fonds de private equity gérés par Terra Firma Capital Partners, Blackstone, Carlyle ou CVC Capital Partners. A présent, AIG Private Equity Ltd vend des actifs pour réduire son endettement.

Dans un entretien à L"Agefi suisse, Pascal Boris, directeur général de BNP Paribas (Suisse), confirme l"objectif de la banque de faire progresser les actifs sous gestion de 10% par an, avec l"ambition d"atteindre 100 milliards de francs d"ici à 2012. L"an dernier, les actifs ont fondu de 15,4% à 36,7 millards de francs à cause de la déconfiture boursière et du repli des devises par rapport au franc mais l"établissement a récolté 2,9 milliards de francs d"argent frais, alors qu"il n"avait glané que 1,7 milliard un an plus tôt. Pascal Boris indique par ailleurs que « Paris ne nous impose aucune pression sur le secret bancaire ». « Nous respectons la surveillance consolidée envers notre maison-mère française, mais aucune information individuelle sur les comptes en Suisse n"a jamais été transmise et ne le sera pas davantage à l"avenir », souligne au quotidien Pascal Boris. Sur le handicap que pourrait constituer l"assouplissement du secret bancaire en Suisse, Pascal Boris répond que « le secret bancaire n"est qu"un élément parmi d"autres, comme la sécurité, l"Etat de droit, l"expertise qu"offre la Suisse. Si le secret devait effectivement être assoupli, l"expertise de la place financière suisse ne serait pas éliminée pour autant. De plus, un éventuel assouplissement serait également accepté par les autres pays pratiquant une forme ou une autre de secret, donc la compétitivité suisse ne serait pas remise en cause. Enfin, le renforcement des règles de coopération internationale ne concerne que les pays de l"OCDE. Or, la clientèle hors-OCDE représente une part importante des fonds déposés en Suisse ». Pascal Boris estime enfin que l"impact de la reprise de Fortis sur l"activité de BNP Paribas Suisse « serait considérable, car Fortis gérait en Suisse plus de 15 milliards de francs d"actifs fin 2007, ce qui doit probablement représenter entre 12 et 13 milliards actuellement. Fortis emploie également plus de 300 personnes dans la gestion de fortune et dans d"autres activités en Suisse ». L"an dernier, l"établissement basé à Genève a inscrit un bénéfice net avant impôts de 626 millions de francs, en baisse de 29,2% par rapport à l"exercice précédent et les recettes ont diminué de 12,6% à 1,21 milliard de francs.

HSBC a apporté son soutien financier à plusieurs de ses fonds monétaires, rapporte Ignites Europe dans son édition du 26 mars. La banque a pris #la décision commerciale# d"injecter 687 millions de dollars dans un certain nombre de ses fonds monétaires en octobre 2008.

Les trois principaux dirigeants de GLG Partners ont réduit leurs salaires, rapporte le Financial Times. Noam Gottesmann, Pierre Lagrange et Manny Roman ont accepté de recevoir un salaire de 1 dollar à partir d"avril et jusqu"à la fin de l"année. Ils ne perçoivent aucun bonus.

A quelques jours de la fin de l’exercice (31 mars), Man Group a annoncé que son bénéfice avant impôt et charges exceptionnelles devrait être de 1,2 milliard de dollars contre 2,1 milliards mais que le board a l’intention de maintenir le dividende final à 24,8 cents par action, ce qui porte le total pour l’exercice à un montant inchangé de 44 cents par action. Les encours se sont contractés à 47,7 milliards de dollars contre 53,3 milliards fin décembre et 74,6 milliards un an auparavant. A fin mars, les actifs gérés pour le compte de particuliers se situent à 28,4 milliards de dollars, l’encours institutionnel représentant 19,3 milliards. Pour les onze premiers mois de l’exercice, la performance des fonds AHL a été de 14,4 % tandis que les fonds RMF accusaient une perte de 13,1 % ; l’indice HFR des fonds de hedge funds a pour sa part chuté durant le même temps de 17,5 %, souligne le gestionnaire. L’effet de performance a amputé l’encours de 6,1 milliards de dollars, tandis que l’effet de change a été négatif de 6,5 milliards. Les souscriptions nettes des particuliers, avec 2 milliards de dollars, n’ont pas suffi à compenser les remboursements nets de 4,2 milliards aux investisseurs institutionnels.

Selon Les Echos, Natixis, très lourdement déficitaire et qui a réalisé d’importantes suppressions d’emplois, a versé 90 millions d’euros à ses traders au titre de 2008.

Michael Queen, le nouveau directeur général de 3i, a prévenu qu"il était à prévoir de nouvelles dépréciations sur le portefeuille du groupe de private equity au dernier trimestre, rapporte le Financial Times. La société s"est fixé comme objectif de réduire sa dette nette de 1 milliard de livres sur les 12 à 15 prochains mois.

Selon Les Echos, le PDG du groupe, Gérard Mestrallet, et le vice-président, Jean-François Cirelli, ont décidé hier de renoncer à leurs stock-options. Les deux dirigeants ont visiblement décidé de calmer le jeu, compte tenu du climat politique et de l'émotion en interne.

Selon Le Monde, l’association Contribuables associés, à Paris, a porté plainte contre François Pérol, ancien conseiller à l’Elysée pour #prise illégale d’intérêt#. Le 18 mars, l’association Anticor avait déjà engagé une première action juridique, également pour #prise illégale d’intérêt#, rappelle le site internet du quotidien du soir.

Man Group has announced that it is launching an open architecture hedge fund platform which will be available to retail and institutional investors via managed accounts. The new service will use the infrastructure of the firm’s affiliate RMF, the expertise of its affiliate Glenwood in manager selection, and the expertise of Man Group in the area of managed accounts. It will be possible to invest via the integrated platform in hedge funds via funds of funds or custom subscriptions.John Rowsell, CIO of Glenwood, will be the managing director of the platform, while Herbert Item, CIO of RMF, will become CIO. Both will continue to report directly to Peter Clarke, CEO of Man Group.

The fifth State Street survey of hedge fund investments by institutional investors (whose total assets represent more than USD1trn) finds that the turbulence on the financial markets has not led to major changes in the allocation of institutional assets. In addition, although the survey finds a slight reduction in total allocation to hedge funds, the majority of managers surveyed said they intend to increase or maintain their current allocations in the segment in the next twelve months.The result of the survey show a slight decline in total allocations to hedge funds, as the proportion of institutionals which allocated more than 5% of their portfolios to hedge funds totalled 68% in 2007 and 51% last year. However, most institutionals were planning to increase (49%) or maintain (31%) their allocations to hedge funds this year. Capital used to finance these new positions in hedge funds will come 80% from allocations to equities, unlike in 2007, when 39% were planning to take the money for these investments from allocations to bonds.

A few days before the end of its fiscal year (31 March), Man Group has announced that its profits before taxes and one-time charges will total USD1.2bn, compared with USD2.1bn the previous year, but that the board is planning to maintain the final dividend at 24.8 cents per share, bringing the total for the year to an unchanged 44 cents per share. Assets contracted to USD47.7bn, from USD53.3bn at the end of December, and USD74.6bn one year previously. At the end of March, assets managed for retail investors totalled USD28.4bn, while institutional assets totalled USD19.3bn.In the first eleven months of the year, the performance of AHL funds totalled 14.4%, while RMF funds lost 13.1%; the HFR index of funds of hedge funds, for its part, fell in the same period by 17.5%, the management firm points out. Performance effects wiped out USD6.1bn, while negative currency effects took another USD6.5bn.Net subscriptions from retail investors, at USD2bn, were not sufficient to compensate for net redemptions of USD4.2bn to institutional investors.

JPMorgan Asset Management is launching the Luxembourg funds Global Government Short Duration Bond, Euro Government Short Duration Bond, Global Government Bond, European Corporate Bond, and Global Corporate Bond. Investment Week reports that the three government bond funds will be managed by David Tan, head of international rates, and that the two products focused on corporate bonds will be managed by Lisa Coleman, global head of corporates. The two managers were recruited by Schroders last year.

The Indian-Spanish billionaire Rham Bhavani has decided to reassign the managemetn of one of his Sicav funds, Inversiones Casa Kishoo, which had assets of EUR3m at the end of 2008 and which was previously managed by Fiban Gestión, to Banco Madrid Gestión de Activos, Funds People reports. Banif (Santander group) manages two other Sicav funds for Bhavani (Laxmi and Bombay Investment Office, EUR93m and EUR16m), while one other fund is mandated to Bankinter (Kalyani, EUR25m).

According to initial estimates by VDOS Stochastics as of 20 March, total assets in securities funds on sale in Spain total EUR169.76bn, which would represent a decline of barely 0.65%. Funds People reports that for the most part, the decline in assets under management is imputable to net redemptions of EUR1.1bn, EUR200m less than in February.

According to reports in the Börsen-Zeitung, the private bank Hauck & Aufhäuser (H&A) will buy a stake in the German affiliate of Cazenove, to add abilities in investment banking to its wealth management services for retail and enterprise clients.

BlackRock, Pimco (Allianz) and Legg Mason are some of the fund managers planning to participate in the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility or TALF program with the launch of closed-end funds, the Wall Street Journal reports. T. Rowe Price Group, Fidelity Investments and Franklin Resources are also studying the possibility. BlackRock in January already launched a product which may serve as a template, the BlackRock Fixed Income Value Opportunities Fund or Fivo, reserved for high net worth investors (at least USD1.5m), with a minimal subscription of USD25,000. Distressed debt closed funds launched during the credit crisis by Pimco and BlackRock were not successful: The Pimco Income Opportunity and the BlackRock Fixed Income Value Opportunities funds, launched in November 2007 and January 2008, respectively, have both lost 40%, and attracted only USD205m and USD75m in investments.

According to Alpha magazine, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, eight hedge fund managers lost a total of USD6.2bn of their personal wealth last year, while they made USD3bn in 2007. Among the managers in question are big names like T. Boone Pickens (BP Capital Management), who lost USD450m, Carl Icahn (Icahn Enterprises, USD400m), Kenneth Griffin (Citadel Investment Group, USD2bn), Edward Lampert (ESL Partners, USD1bn), and Steven Cohen (SAC Capital Advisors, USD750m). The other three are Jeffrey Gendell (USD625m), Stephen Mande (Lone Pine Capital, USD550m), and David Tepper (Appaloosa Management, USD425m).

To respond to investors’ concerns about risk management and transparency in the light of the Madoff scandal, Man Group is bringing together its three lines of fund of funds into a single activity. The integration of RMF, Glenwood and MGS (see article elsewhere) will create a fund of hedge fund platform with USD20bn in assets.Peter Clarke, CEO of Man Group, says the firm, which had USD360m of exposure to Madoff, is still studying its legal options.

In matters of socially responsible investment (SRI), the French association of institutional investors (AF2i) doesn’t want to be prescriptive. ?Our association brings together very different investors, who exist in diverse professional environments. We do not want to create a charter which would come in addition to the ones which already exist,? explains Jean-Claude Guimiot, a board member at AF2i, and also deputy CEO of Agrica Epargne, at a conference organised for the GI Forum.However, the AF2i would like to draw its members’ attention to the need for them to practice responsible investment. But it leaves them some latitude. ?I estimate that there are as many visions of SRI as there are people,? says Guimiot, in an interview with Newsmanagers. ?So there is no single method for all institutional investors,? he continues. Guimiot argues that management firms will need to get used to SRI criteria being set by institutionals.

After net subscriptions of EUR16bn in January, German funds in February suffered net redemptions of EUR6bn, of which EUR4.4bn came from open-ended funds, the BVI association of asset management firms reports. Among open-ended funds, products specialised in equities saw net outflows of EUR2.89bn, of which EUR1.7bn came from ETFs, while bond funds saw net redemptions of EUR1.93bn. However, hybrid products (especially convertible bonds) attracted EUR1.03bn, and hedge funds received EUR304m.

The new Paris office of BNY Mellon Asset Management will begin offering US equities products from May, Ignites Europe reports. Anne-Laure Frischlander, managing director and head of French activities at BNY Mellon AM, estimates that French investors, who are currently 60% invested in cash, will begin returning to equities in late June.

HSBC has lent financial support to several of its money market funds, Ignites Europe reports in its 26 March edition. The bank took the ?commercial decision? to inject USD687bn into a number of its money market funds in October 2008.

Michael Queen, the new CEO of 3i, has warned that further write-downs are to be expected on the group’s private equity portfolio in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year, the Financial Times reports. The firm has set itself the goal of reducing its net debt to GBP1bn in the next 12 to 15 months.

The list of catastrophes is growing at AIG. The Swiss management firm AIG Private Equity Ltd, which is 41% owned by AIG, and which pays management commissions to AIG on investments in private equity funds, is trading 87% below its net asset value, the Wall Street Journal reports. The problem is that the firm, founded in 1999 by AIG Private Bank Switzerland, has suffered a significant depreciation of its portfolio invested in private equity funds managed by Terra Firma Capital Partners, Blackstone, Carlyle and CVC Capital Partners. Currently, AIG Private Equity Ltd is selling the assets to reduce its debt.