A compter du 23 mars 2009, les indices de référence de la Deutsche Börse auront de nouvelles pondérations qui seront communiquées le 21 mars. Fresenius et Hannover Rück vont intégrer le Dax au détriment d’Infineon et de la Postbank. Cette dernière va se retrouver dans le MDax en remplacement de Fresenius. Rational fera également partie du MDax en remplacement de Hannover Rück. Autre changement dans le MDax, Aareal Bank, qui va rejoindre le SDax pour rempalcer Rational, laisse la place à ElringKlinger.

Selon The Wall Street Journal, il est probable que la performance des fonds monétaires va diminuer avec la mise en ?uvre des recommandations de l’Investment Company Institute (ICI). Le groupe de travail ad hoc constitué dans le sillage de l’affaire du Reserve Primary Fund préconise en effet d’augmenter la liquidité et de raccourcir les échéances. Selon Paul Schott Stevens, president & CEO de l’ICI, les sociétés de gestion mettront probablement en pratique ces recommandations avant que la SEC ne les rende obligatoires.

Selon La Lettre de l’Assurance, une vaste opération de regroupement dans le monde des mutuelles d"assurances est en cours entre la Macif, Maif et la Matmut. L’annonce de cette consolidation devrait être officielle d’ici à la fin mars, assure cette lettre confidentielle.

Neuflize OBC Asset Management a recruté Karen Decque (née Terdjman) de Natixis Asset Management où elle gérait le Natixis Europe Smaller Companies, rapporte Citywire. Elle s’occupera de Noam Europe Expansion avec Guillaume Langelier, après le départ de Franck Le Franc et Guillaume Laconi. La société de gestion a également embauché Olivier Mollé, d’Exane, pour le Noam Europe Long Short.

Selon l’Agefi, BNP Paribas IP (Investment Partners), comme l’ensemble du marché, pâtira à la fois, en 2009, de la baisse des encours gérés et du report des investisseurs vers des produits moins risqués et donc moins margés. La banque, dont la collecte est positive depuis le début de l’année, cherche donc à réduire ses charges.» Les coûts immobiliers et informatiques seront (?) revus, tout comme la gamme de fonds qui peut permettre de réduire la facture auprès des dépositaires» les OPCVM étant triés selon leur rentabilité. BNP Paribas IP ne s’interdit pas de réaliser de «petites» acquisitions bien qu’elle n’en fasse pas une priorité, indique le quotidien numérique.

En 2009, Groupama Asset Management vise 5 milliards d’euros de souscriptions nettes, dont 3,7 milliards en dehors de son groupe d’appartenance. Un objectif pour lequel la société de gestion semble bien partie puisqu’elle a déjà collecté 2,9 milliards d’euros depuis le début de l’année.Et ce, après une année 2008 où elle a enregistré des entrées nettes de 5,3 milliards d’euros, soit #la plus forte collecte de l’histoire du groupe#, selon Francis Ailhaud, directeur général de Groupama AM. Chute des marchés oblige, la société de gestion a néanmoins vu ses encours baisser de 7,5 % à 81,3 milliards d’euros. Et compte tenu d’une baisse du produit net bancaire et de la hausse des charges, elle a dégagé un bénéfice net en repli de 49 % à 15,3 millions d’euros.Les flux collectés en 2008 proviennent pour 2,8 milliards d’euros d’une clientèle externe au groupe Groupama ; 625 millions sont notamment issus d’appels d’offres. Celle-ci, qui se compose d’institutionnels et de distributeurs, représente désormais 14,8 milliards d’euros, soit 20 % des encours. Cette dynamique a notamment été dopée par le développement international de Groupama AM. La société de gestion française a notamment enregistré des souscriptions nettes de 443 millions d’euros à l'étranger, principalement en Italie où elle a ouvert une filiale fin 2006. Elle a aussi créé une succursale en Espagne l’an dernier et signé un partenariat de distribution au Canada en 2007 (avec Investeam). Ce déploiement international sera encore d’actualité en 2009. #Nous nous développons selon deux axes#, explique Jean-Marie Catala, directeur du développement de Groupama AM. #D’un côté, nous accompagnons la croissance du groupe à l’international. De l’autre, nous nous développons de manière autonome lorsque nous identifions des zones de croissance#, poursuit-il. La société compte notamment s’enregistrer en Suisse. Et elle étudie le Moyen-Orient, en vue d'éventuellement s’y introduire à la fin de l’année. Par ailleurs, en termes d’offre, Groupama AM compte lancer de nouveaux fonds #alpha# sur des actions, taux et devises, ainsi que sa gestion de convictions.

Alain Papiasse, membre du conseil d’administration de BNP Paribas, a déclaré à Reuters, lors du Reuters Funds Summit, que la banque pourrait examiner des opportunités éventuelles dans le secteur de la gestion d’actifs. #Notre CEO a indiqué aux analystes que nous pourrions envisager de nouvelles opportunités de consolidation pourvu que nous ayons le contrôle#, rapporte Reuters.

Alain Papiasse, a board member at BNP Paribas, has told Reuters at the Reuters Fund Summit that the bank may be examining possible acquisition opportunities in the asset management sector. ?Our CEO has told analysts that we may consider new consolidation opportunities so long as we emerge with control,? Reuters reports.

Between June 2007 and February 2009, assets in ETF funds in Europe increased from EUR9bn to EUR31bn, db x-trackers, the specalised affiliate of Deutsche Bank, reports. Net subscriptions to db x-trackers in the area of bonds represented EUR10bn, or 44% of total inflows in this category, and the db x-trackers II Eonia Total Return Index ETF now has more than EUR6.5bn in assets, which represents more than 20% of assets under management in European bond ETF funds. Thorsten Michalik, head of db x-trackers, has announced that the management firm is preparing a range of bond ETFs for the British market to be launched this year. Currently, tracker funds from db x-trackers are listed primarily on Deutsche Börse (XTF) and Borsa Italiana (ETFplus).

The multi-management team at New Star, composed of Craig Heron and Mark Harris, will join Henderson Global Investors, following New Star’s acquisition by Henderson, Citywire reports. The two product ranges will be merged and will result in one of the largest multi-management firms in the United Kingdom.

Of the 13 EDHEC hedge fund indexes, only four strategies have posted positive results for February. The best returns, by far, were in dedicated short bias (3.54%) and convertible arbitrage (1.76%). The worst results were in emerging markets (-1.25%) and distressed securities (-1.22%). Since the beginning of the year, convertible arbitrage has performed best, with 6.8% performance, ahead of dedicated short bias, with 6.5%. Only three strategies are in the red, particularly emerging markets, with losses of 2.4%.Since January 2001, the two segments which have posted the strongest annual performance have been emerging markets (9.1%), distressed securities (8.6%), and CTA global (8.3%).

As expected, the CNMV on Wednesday approved plans for Gas Natural to take over Unión Fenosa, Cinco Días reports. The operation will proceed at EUR18.05 per share over 25 days. Payments are guaranteed by bank loans of more than EUR8.24bn from Santander, Barclays, BNP Paribas, ING, Scoiété Générale, RBS, Caja Madrid and La Caixa. The acquisition will also be financed by a capital increase of EUR3.5bn and sales of assets.

According to figures from VDOS Stochastics reported in Expansión, four of the most conservative funds on the market have attracted EUR2bn in subscriptions since the beginning of the year. The money market fund BBVA Dinero Fondtesoro Corto Plazo posted net subscriptions of EUR552m, bringing its total assets to EU2.71bn. Two guaranteed bond products from Invercaixa, Garantía Renta Fija 14 and Garantía Renta Fija 7, attracted EUR548m and EUR491m, while another BBVA fund rivalled the Garantía Renta Fija 7, with EUR491m.

Harvey McGrath, the new president of Prudential, has defended securities lending to hedge funds by insurers, in the wake of Aviva’s announcement that it is planning to discontinue the practice, to avoid short positions on its shares, the Financial Times reports. McGrath says being able to sell stocks short is an important element in the functioning of the markets.

Feri EuroRating Services announced on Wednesday that it is offering ratings of bonus, discount, guaranteed, and index-based certificates. The ratings will be 70% based on qualitative criteria related to the product and 30% on qualitative estimates of the issuer. Feri has 52,000 ratings of certificates in its database. To be eligible for a rating, the certificate must be traded on Scoach (Francfort) or Euwax (Stuttgart), information about the issuer and the price must be available in real time, and the remaining time to the maturity of the certificate must be at least 180 days. In addition, there must be at least 20 products in the peer group.

Royal Bank of Scotland will offer debt denominated in Australian dollars underwritten by the British government, the WSJ reports. The bank is hoping to raise at least AUD500m, or USD330m.

Les Echos reports that the agency which manages British debt has announced that gross issues will total GBP147.9bn in the 2009-2010 fiscal year.

An association entitled Anticor (short for anti-corruption) is challenging the appointment of François Pérol as head of the new firm born of the merger of the French co-operative banks and savings banks, due to ?illegal conflicts of interest,? as Pérol participated in the government’s project to merge the entities to create the new banking entity.CGT has already filed a similar suit against Pérol.

Paddy Bingham is joining Invesco Real Estate as director of pan-European management for direct real estate. In this role, he will be in charge of two non-public pan-European real estate funds, including the OPCI OPC1 (Opportunité Placement Ciloger 1), which invests in the Euro zone.Bingham will be based in London and will work with all transaction and asset management specialists at Invesco Real Estate based in Paris, Madrid, Munich, Prague. Before joining Invesco Real Estate, he served as director of real estate at Henderson Global Investors.

The Financial Times reports that KKR and Permira have recruited advisors to restructure about EUR1.8bn in debt at the firm the jointly control, Lavena, which owns a 88% stake in ProSiebenSat.1. In March, the German group announced that it would be reducing dividends.

David Bloom at HSBC, cited by the Financial Times, says that ?the best refuge currency in our opinion is currently the Norwegian Kroner. It is probably the best currency in the world.? The Norwegian Kroner is one of the few currencies in the world to have outperformed the US dollar since the beginning of the year. It has climbed 3% to NOK6.694. Bloom says the currency can be expected to rise in the next 18 months.

Hedge funds are licking their wounds after their strategy of buying preference shares in Citigroup and selling ordinary shares turned against them, the Wall Street Journal reports. Since 5 March, the price of ordinary shares in Citigroup has tripled, to finish Wednesday at EUR3.08.

Although managers are increasingly optimistic about the macroeconomic environment, they are still not moving their assets from cash to equities, according to the most recent survey from Merrill Lynch-Bank of America. Pessimism about this asset class has increased in the past month, as 41% of respondents say they are expecting to be underweight in equities, compared with 34% in February. Managers are preferring bonds, in which 26% of respondents are overweight. In February, only 7% of respondents favoured bond investments.

Redemptions from funds on sale in Italy seem to be slowing, in a sign that the market is beginning to stabilise, Marcello Messori, chairman of Assogestioni (the Italian association of management professionals), has said at the association’s annual meeting. Redemptions primarily affected mid-sized and large firms, particularly those owned by banking groups, Il Sole - 24 Ore reports.

Rolf Enders, partner at the new firm Sal. Oppenheim Private Equity Partners (Sopep), says that the private equity firm born of the merger of the private equity activities of Sal. Oppenheim with CAM Private Equity and VCM Capital Management has assets of EUR5bn. About 95% of this total is invested in 380 funds from private equity firms worldwide, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. Enders expects assets under management to double through organic growth. This year, Sopep will launch an infrastructure fund and a buyout fund of funds.

The Wall Street Journal reports that it is likely that the yields of money market funds will decline as the recommendations of the Investment Company Institute (ICI) are applied. The ad hoc working group formed in the wake of the Reserve Primary Fund affair recommends increasing liquidity and shortening maturities. Paul Schott Stevens, president & CEO of the ICI, says fund management firms will probably follow the recommendations in advance of any rule-making from the SEC.

DEGI, which was taken over by Aberdeen Property Investors on 28 March 2008, has stated that last year it invested EUR1.7bn. The occupancy rate for properties in the portfolios of its five open-ended funds as of 28 February 2009 ranged from 93.3% for the DEGI Europa fund and 100% for the DEGI Europe Retail, while the one-year performance ranged from 4.4% (compared with 4.7% one year ago) for the DEGI Europa to 5% (compared with 4.5%) for the DEGI Europe Retail.Assets total roughly EUR6bn. The manager says the evolution of prices and returns have now extended the number of markets on which investments may be attractive. Among the markets which have now become affordable are the UK, France, and Germany.

Investment Week has announced that Henderson Global Investors (HGI) is recruiting Mark Skinner, managing director of New Star, as head of retail distribution. He will begin in his new role as soon as HGI completes its acquisition of New Star.

GAM has announced that Jonathan Colchester, who was in charge of a team of six bankers serving ultra high net worth clients at Barclays Private Bank, will join the management firm in London on 22 May as head of private clients, Investment Week reports.

John Clougherty, managing director UK, retail, at Aviva Investors (GBP235bn in assets) will meet French colleagues this week to prepare the launch of a European equities fund on the British market, Investment Week reports. It is not certain that the fund will replicate a Luxembourg Sicav. Clougherty says that institutional investors represent a potential market for recovery real estate funds, and that such a product could then be made available to retail investors, once the press has given a better image to real estate investments.