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26/02/2009

Spain - Santander rushed investors out the door at Banif Inmobiliario

Expansión reports that client advisors at Santander, and particularly the private bank Banif, recommended that investors exit from the real estate Banif Inmobiliario in the month preceding the redemption freeze at that fund. They may have triggered the massive wave of redemptions which caused redemptions to be frozen for at least two years. The advisors warned against the risk that capital may be lost, but not against potential redemption freezes, though at the end of December, the fund had only EUR5m in cash, or 0.15% of total assets, well below the legally required minimum of 10%.
26/02/2009

Spain - Harbinger attacks major banks

Harbinger Capital has told the CNMV that its hedge funds hold short positions totalling 0.86% of capital in BBVA, 0.25% of Santander, and 1.66% of Banco Popular, Cinco Días reports. Counting Harbinger, 13 hedge fund managers control 7.3% of capital in Banco Popular, out of a free float of 55%.
26/02/2009

Switzerland - Madoff: UBS refutes CSSF accusations

On Wednesday evening, UBS refuted accusations made during the day by the Luxembourg financial sector surveillance commission (CSSF) that it failed to fulfil certain of its duties as depository for the Luxalpha fund, which has been embroiled in the Madoff scandal.The Swiss bank claims that it was clear from the outset with qualified investors who called for the creation of the fund, with advisors, and with the CSSF, that the sole objective of the Luxalpha fund was to provide a means to invest with Madoff. In the fund’s documentation, there was express mention of the fact that UBS Luxembourg (USBL) assumes no responsibility for deposits.
26/02/2009

Italy - Pension funds post net inflows in 2008

Net assets at complementary retirement funds in Italy increased to EUR4.66bn in fourth quarter 2008, from EUR4.3bn at the end of 2007. The number of members in these plans increased from 780,000 to 847,884. In the last three months of 2008, open-ended pension funds registered net subscriptions of EUR335m. For the year as a whole, net inflows totalled EUR1bn.
26/02/2009

United Kingdom - Banks will be subject to stricter regulations

On Wednesday, Adair Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority, promised British members of parliament a ?revolution? in financial regulation, the Financial Times reports. Banks will be required to hold capital reserves equivalent to three times their trading assets. Large hedge funds will be subject to the same rules as banks in terms of owners’ equity and liquidity.
26/02/2009

United States - Major Madoff investors will be required to return money

The administrator in charge of recuperating money for victims of Bernard Madoff will take on large investors, such as hedge funds, which pocketed false gains paid out to them by the fraudster, the Financial Times reports. Investors who took their profits in the 90 days before Madoff was arrested on 11 December will be particularly targeted. But the administrator would like to call in all money paid out by the fund in the past 6 years.
26/02/2009

United Kingdom - Brevan Howard launches its first UCITS III fund

Professional Pensions reports that Brevan Howard Asset Management (BHAM) has launched the Brevan Howard Absolute Return Bond Plus Fund, an actively-managed absolute performance bond product aimed at institutional investors, especially pension funds. The objective is to generate net returns 350 basis points higher than cash, while maintaining a high level of liquidity and minimising credit risk. This is the first UCITS III-compliant fund from Brevan Howard.The management firm will provide seed capital of USD250m for the fund. The diversified portfolio will include government bonds, and will apply fixed-income strategies to the most liquid major markets; the management team will also apply ?opportunistic? strategies to exchange rates.
26/02/2009

France - Calls for tenders down by volume in 2008

The total volume of calls for tenders from French institutional investors declined slightly in 2008 to EUR19bn, from EUR23bn in 2007, according to statistics compiled by Amadeis, although the number of calls increased from 82 to 128.The French national pension fund, the Fonds de réserve pour les retraites (FRR), is responsible for 40% of this amount, or EUR7.6bn. Amadeis adds that the fund accounts for more than one third of the total volume awarded through calls for tenders in France in the past 5 years.Aside from the FRR, calls for offers were largely concentrated in diversified management.Amadeis notes that a growing number of businesses are organising calls for tenders in the area of financial management of retirement provisions or employee savings (45% of consultations). Nearly 53% of calls for tenders held in 2008 were mediated by specialised consulting firms.
26/02/2009

United Kingdom - Inalytics recruits a director from Credit Suisse

The manager evaluation agency Inalytics on Wednesday announced that it has recruited Graham Dixon as director of transition management. Dixon, who was managing director and head of European transition services at Credit Suisse, is one of the foremost promoters of T-Charter, a code of conduct for transition managers.Inalytics, which has 40 pension funds and asset mangers as clients, has recently opened an office in New York, led by Lisa Manuele, who was previously global division head, transition management at BNY Convergex.
26/02/2009

Spain - Atlas Capital returns to the market with a bond fund

Since December 2007, Atlas Capital has launched no new products, but the management firm on 20 February notified the CNMV that it will be launching a Spanish-registered bond fund entitled Atlas Capital Renta Fija, which will invest primarily in corporate bonds, with a maximal exposure to risk of less than 5%. The portfolio will be invested in bonds issued by Euro-zone issuers rated at least BBB-, with a duration that may vary from 2 to 7 years. The benchmark index for the Renta Fija is the Citigroup Eurobig 3-5 years. Atlas Capital will charge a management commission of 0.9%.
26/02/2009

France - EasyETF launches five new trackers on NextTrack

The EasyETF product range from Axa Investment Managers and BNP Paribas Asset Management now includes 56 products, of which 54 are listed on the Paris NextTrack market. The two management firms and Euronext on Wednesday announced the launch of five new synthetic trackers, including a double product in the regional category, the EasyETF Topix, which will be available in Euros and US dollars.The other three new ETF funds are double-shorts (EasyETF CAC 40 Double Short, EasyETF DJ Euro Stoxx 50 Double Short and EasyETF Stoxx 600 Double Short), which aim to provide double the inverse performance of three major market indexes.Annual management fees are 0.50% for each of these products, excepting the double-short Stoxx 600 product, which charges 0.60%. The five ETF funds, all of them French-registered FCP funds, are managed by BNPP AM. Total assets in the EasyETF range as of the end of January measured EUR3.15bn.
26/02/2009

United States - Stephen Thurer joins AM Investment Partners

Hedge Week on Wednesday confirmed reports published at the end of January by Pensions & Investments that Stephen Thurer, head of the listed options trading desk at Citigroup, has been recruited by the alternative management firm AM Investment Partners (USD800m in assets) as a senior portfolio manager for the volatility arbitrage strategy, with a specialisation in equities derivatives in the areas of energy, commodities, infrastructure, and industry in the United States. This is a newly-created position at AM IP, and Thurer joins a team of six portfolio managers (three of whom were recruited in 2008), all of whom previously directed owners’ equity trading operations at major multinational establishments.
26/02/2009

France - Natixis assets under management down 24%

In 2008, the asset management unit at Natixis saw a decline in its assets of 24% to EUR447bn (EUR590bn as of the end of 2007). The decline is largely due to heavily negative market effects (-EUR79.4bn), and also to planned withdrawal of assets from La Poste (-EUR72.2bn). Net redemptions total only EUR2.5bn for the year.
26/02/2009

Luxembourg - Henderson Horizon closes two sub-funds

Henderson Horizon Fund has announced that it will be closing two sub-funds, which saw heavy losses related partly to low volumes (EUR12.4m and EUR0.8m) for these products, Das Investment reports. The funds are the Pan European Bond Fund, which will be closed on 24 March, and the Pan European Property Equities Alpha Plus Fund, which will be closed on 27 March.
26/02/2009

Europe - Net losses for asset management activities at Dexia

?Asset management activities have been strongly affected by the financial crisis,? Dexia admits in a press release announcing its 2008 results. Assets under management fell 28% compared with the end of 2007, and 15% from the end of September 2008, to a total of EUR79bn. ?Half of this annual decline is due to net outflows, largely from fixed income and money market funds,? the establishment states.?In this environment, cost reductions represent a priority, and costs have been reduced by 21% in Q4 2008 compared with Q4 2007, and by 10% in 2008,? the statement says.Net results for the division total EUR7bn for Q4 2008 and EUR69m for 2008 (compared with EUR26m for Q4 2007 and EUR114m in 2007), ?excluding the negative impact of an exceptional commercial action related to the financial crisis.? On the accounts, asset management activities show a net loss of EUR34m for Q4 2008 and net results for the division of EUR11m in 2008. Globally, the French-Belgian group last year posted a net loss of EUR3.326bn, of which EUR2.6bn were in fourth quarter.
26/02/2009

United States - BNY Mellon launches a collateral netting service

Bank of New York Mellon has announced that it has set up an internal netting service entitled Derivatives Collateral Net, which allows derivatives trading operators to limit their gross exposure to other participants in the system to no more than their net total assets, which allows them to reduce the necessary amount of collateral and to reduce the risks of expenses related to derivative trading transactions. Art Cerotisimo, executive vice president and head of broker-dealer services at BNY Mellon, says the service realizes a ?strategic vision? of the International Swaps and Derivative Association (ISDA) of reducing the operational risks of margin calls to other trading entities.
26/02/2009

Germany - Mediocre performance for hedge funds

Absolut report states that its German single hedge fund index came in at 1,024.28 at the end of January, with losses of 1.89%, after positive returns of 2.50% for December. German products have thus posted a worse result than their foreign counterparts, as the international Credit Suisse/Tremont Blue Chip Hedge Fund index in Euros and the HFRX Global Hedge Fund EUR index posted gains in January of 2.24% and 1.32%, respectively. The difference in results was considerable between various German funds, ranging from positive returns of 2.36% fo Tungsten ERV MH and losses of 11.46% for the Loys Global MHA.For funds of hedge funds, the Absolut report index comes in at 930 at the end of January, an increase of 0.43%, after losses of 1.01% in December, while the HFRI Fund of Funds Composite Index was up 0.81%. Only two German products in the category show losses, namely, the MSCI Hedge Invest Lyxor Tracker HI Fund A (-2.73 %) and the Sauren Global Hedgefonds (-0.54%). The two hedge funds which have shown the best performance were the deka Hedge Select (+2.10%) and the Hansainvest Volksbank Global Trend (+2.02%).
26/02/2009

Germany - Deka Immobilien acquires a hotel in Frankfurt

Deka Immobilien has announced that it has acquired the 4-story nh Hotel Frankfurt City (256 rooms, including 45 deluxe rooms and 8 suites) for an undisclosed amount, from a joint venture of the German firm FOM Real Estate and the Irish manager Quinlan Private. The property is located in central Frankfurt, and will be added to the portfolio of the sectoral fund WestInvest Target Select Hotel, a product reserved exclusively for institutional investors.
26/02/2009

Europe - EUR600bn in losses for banks, according to Nomura

European banks may be facing losses on domestic credit of more than EUR600bn, or 6.5% of Euro zone GDP, Nomura estimates in its most recent study of outlooks for the region. ?This may paralyse lending for a period of time, but it is not necessarily insurmountable,? the study says.Nomura does not predict a single quarter of positive growth in GDP in 2009, although by the end of the year, monetary and budgetary support may begin to unclog the economy.
26/02/2009

Canada - Record losses for Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec

The largest pension fund manager in Canada, the Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec, has declared the heaviest losses in its history in 2008, of CAD39.8bn (EUR25bn), which represents 26% of its assets of CAD120.1bn as of 31 December, Cinco Días reports. One of the manager’s biggest mistakes was buying 30% of commercial paper from countries which suffered as a result of the downturn in real estate in the United States.
26/02/2009

United States - Authorities uncover four more frauds

US authorities have brought charges in four new investment fraud cases, the Financial Times reports. In one case, two managers at WG Trading Investors, Paul Greenwood and Stephen Walsh, were arrested and accused of market fraud worth USD550bn, dating back to 1996. The other cases name Mark Bloom, James Nicholson and Michele LaBruce.
26/02/2009

World - Hedge funds: convertibles arbitrage bounces back

Convertibles arbitrage strategies, which posted their worst performances ever in 2008 (-31.6%), in January posted their strongest monthly results since their creation (+5.72%), l’Agefi notes in its 7:00 edition, citing statistics from Natixis. ?On the other hand, CTAs ? which were the best-performing strategy in 2008 (+18.3%) find themselves at the bottom of the rankings in January (-0.56%),? the online daily news source reports.
26/02/2009

Switzerland - New group CEO at Credit Suisse

On Thursday morning, UBS announced that its board of directors has appointed Oswald J. Grübel as its new Group Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Grübel succeeds Marcel Rohner, who has handed in his resignation. Grübel was previously co-CEO, and then CEO of Credit Suisse, from 2003 until spring 2007.
25/02/2009

Allemagne - Hambourg et le Schleswig-Holstein sauvent la HSH Nordbank

Les gouvernements de Hambourg et du Schleswig-Holstein ont décidé mardi d’octroyer 3 milliards d’euros de fonds propres et 10 milliards d’euros de garanties pour assurer la survie de la HSH Nordbank, rapporte la Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Cela tient compte des pertes prévues pour 2009 et 2010, le quotient de fonds propres de premier rang se trouvant ainsi remonté à 9 %. La banque devra réduire de moitié son total de bilan à 100 milliards d’euros et se séparer d’un salarié sur quatre d’ici à 2012. Comme les caisses d'épargne du Schleswig-Holstein et le capital-investisseur Christopher Flowers ne suivront pas l’augmentation de capital, les deux gouvernements régionaux, qui détiennent respectivement 30 % et 29 % du capital, monteront au total à 80 %.
25/02/2009

Etats-Unis - L'Etat pourrait prendre jusqu'à 40 % de Citigroup

Citigroup est en pourparlers avec les autorités fédérales pour que l’Etat convertisse ses 7,8 % sous forme d’actions préférentielles en une participation en actions ordinaires qui pourrait atteindre 40 %, rapporte The Wall Street Journal. Cela apporterait certainement une aide dont la banque a désespérément besoin pour son capital, mais l'établissement y perdrait une partie du contrôle sur son propre destin. D’autre part, cela pourrait augmenter les pressions politiques en faveur d’un démantèlement de ce titan financier. Le point central de cette confusion tient au fait qu’aucune personne ou entité n’est véritablement chargé de la tutelle fédérale sur Citigroup. Car l'établissement est régulé par la Fed, l’Office du contrôleur de la monnaie, la FDIC, le Département du Trésor et même les parlementaires.
25/02/2009

Etats-Unis - Qui veut d'AIG Asie ?

Selon The Wall Street Journal, HSBC Holdings et Axa ont jeté l'éponge et il se pourrait bien que, vendredi, personne ne soumissionne pour acheter le joyau de la couronne d’AIG, 49 % de sa filiale asiatique AIA, le plus gros assureur vie d’Asie avec des activités dans dix pays. Entre-temps, AIG a indiqué qu’elle est prête à vendre AIA en totalité. C’est l'échec apparent de cet appel d’offre qui explique pourquoi AIG a demandé au gouvernement américain de restructurer les modalités de son plan de sauvetage.
25/02/2009

Etats-Unis - La perte de Merrill Lynch dépasse largement les estimations

Au quatrième trimestre, Merrill Lynch & Co a accuse une perte de 15,84 milliards de dollars, alors que le nouveau propriétaire de l'établissement, Bank of America (BofA) avait initialement estimé que le trou était de 15,31 milliards, rapporte The Wall Street Journal. Cela oblige BofA à accepter une aide publique supplémentaire de 20 milliards de dollars, à 45 milliards.
25/02/2009

Allemagne - Record de chiffre d'affaires et de bénéfice pour la Deutsche Borse

La Deutsche Börse a déclaré mardi soir pour 2008 un bénéfice net en augmentation de 13 % à un peu plus de 1,03 milliard d’euros pour un chiffre d’affaires de 2,45 milliards (+ 12 %). L’accroissement du bénéfice net reflète entre autres une baisse de la charge fiscale liée au déménagement du siège à Eschborn, dans la banlieue de Francfort tandis que celui du CA tient en partie à la consolidation de l’International Securities Exchange (ISE) à compter du quatrième trimestre.Le directoire propose le versement d’un dividende inchangé de 2,10 euros par action, soit un taux de distribution de 38 %. Avec les rachats d’actions pour 380 millions d’euros dans le courant de 2008, le montant versé aux actionnaires atteint ainsi 770 millions d’euros. A noter que la baisse du volume de transactions a provoqué une baisse de 12 % de l’ebita de la division Xetra à 219,4 millions d’euros tandis que les ebita d’Eurex (marché à terme) et de Clearstream (post-marché) gonflaient de respectivement 35 % à 597,5 millions et 29 % à 489,6 millions d’euros.
25/02/2009

Allemagne - Postbank et Infineon devraient quitter le Dax

Comme ils ne font plus partie des 45 premières capitalisations allemandes, le comité des indices de la Deutsche Börse devrait décider le 4 mars de sortir Deutsche Postbank et Infineon du Dax, rapporte Die Welt. Les candidats les mieux placés pour les remplacer sont Fresenius et Gea, mais d’aucuns citent aussi Hannover Rück (Hanovre Ré) et Solarworld.

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