According to Ahorro Corporación, assets under management in funds on sale in Spain totalled EUR176.3bn at the end of December, which represents a contraction of 29%, or EUR71.9bn. The heaviest decline affected equities funds, whose assets plunged by 69.3%, or EUR19.3bn, Expansión reports. Funds posted average losses of 2.3%; equities funds stood out with average losses of 38.3%. Short and long-term bond funds posted respective average returns of 1.8% and 2.6%, while real estate funds gained 1.7%.

Les Echos reports that, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) argues in its most recent report that managers of financial institutions which have folded due to the crisis have primary responsibility for their collapse. The US regulatory watchdog claims that the recent closures of Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and AIG are the result of poor risk management practices and low confidence in financial managers, rather than the application of asset accounting practices such as ?fair value.?

Berkshire Hathaway shares were last observed to be trading at about USD96,900, compared with USD141,600 at the end of 2007, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. Shares in the company controlled by Warren Buffett lost about 6 percentage points less than the S&P 500 in 2008, meaning that it has outperformed the index in fourteen of the past twenty years. Only six of the 1,591 largest American investment funds posted gains last year.

Die Welt reports that the Liv-Ex 100 index, which replicates the evolution of the world’s 100 most valuable wines, has lost more than 20% since October [for a total of 209.48 as of the end of November, down from a peak of 262.71 in August -ed]. This presents a window of opportunity to enter the market, with Lafite Rothschild 2006 selling for about EUR700 a bottle, Die Welt reports. Some observers are predicting that investors affected will take advantage of this opportunity in the February auctions.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Paolo Pellegrini, who played a key role in placing bets against subprime loans which earned the alternative manager Paulson & Co (USD36bn in assets) about USD15bn in 2007, resigned on 31 December. The former co-manager of the Paulson Credit Opportunities fund (which posted performance in 2008 of about 15% up to mid-December) is apparently planning to open his own hedge fund.

Investment funds have seen net redemptions of EUR320bn in 2008, the Financial Times reports, citing statistics from Emerging Portfolio Funds Research, which tracks inflows and outflows for funds worldwide. This is a record both in dollar terms and in terms of percentage of AUM. However, redemptions appear to have stabilised, and the trend even seems to have reversed in the last week of the year.

Investment funds have seen net redemptions of EUR320bn in 2008, the Financial Times reports, citing statistics from Emerging Portfolio Funds Research, which tracks inflows and outflows for funds worldwide. This is a record both in dollar and percentage terms. However, redemptions appear to have stabilised, and the trend even seems to have reversed in the last week of the year.

Aberdeen Asset Management, an originally Scottish management firm with GBP111bn in assets under management, announced on Wednesday, 31 December that it is acquiring part of the asset management activities of Credit Suisse, representing GBP40bn in assets. In exchange, the British management firm will issue a maximum of 240 million new ordinary shares, equivalent to 24.97% of its capital, to the Swiss firm. This amount may be lowered, if the annual revenues of the acquired activities (CHF220m) decline by 30 June, when the operation will be completed. For the moment, as of 30 December, they total GBP250m, slightly over 0.6% of total assets at Credit Suisse.The transaction will include the traditional asset management activities of Credit Suisse in Europe, Asia, and Asia-Pacific, which represent GBP8.1bn in equities, GBP15.8bn in bonds, GBP16bn in money markets, and GBP200m in multiple asset classes. Half of this total is managed in funds, while the other half is in mandates.In France, Credit Suisse Asset Management is affected, but only long-only management, which totals about EUR2.5bn. Alternative management will remain with Credit Suisse. According to one source close to the acquisition deal, «this will make Aberdeen able to sell its funds in France; they are not currently licensed in the country.» The Scottish management firm has few activities in France at present. In other countries, Aberdeen will strengthen its presence with the acquisition, especially in the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, and Japan; in these countries offices will be merged. «That will give us increased access to the Credit Suisse distribution network and the Credit Suisse private bank,» the source states.At the conclusion of the deal, the activities concerned will operate under the Aberdeen name.Credit Suisse states that the operation will allow it to concentrate on alternative management, asset allocation, and its Swiss activities, «where we have strong performance and critical mass.»

For the first time since it was founded in 1590, the Hamburg-based private bank Bankhaus Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co. KG now has a ?spokesman for the board of directors,? who will serve as a mouthpiece and interlocutor for the other two external managing partners, Handelsblatt reports. The first holder of the office is Hans-Walter Peters, who is successor on the board to Claus-Günther Budelmann (64). Berenberg increased its staff in 2008 by more than 10%, and now has 836 personnel.

The former broker Bernard Madoff may testify before the US Congress, according to the chairman of the capital markets subcommittee, Paul Kanjorski, Les Echos reports.

Les Echos reports that the California-based bank IndyMac Bank, which has been administrated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corportation (FDIC) since mid-July, will be taken over by a consortium of investment funds. In addition to Dune Capital Management, the consortium includes the funds Paulson & Co., JC Flowers, Stone Point Capital, Silar MCF-ILLC, SSP Offshore, and MSD Capital.

The major Wall Street establishments, such as Merrill Lynch Investment Management (before its merger with BlackRock) and Goldman Sachs Asset Management, expressed doubts about Bernard Madoff behind closed doors, the Financial Times reports. In some cases, they advised their clients not to invest in Madoff, but they were hesitant to share their concerns with regulators.

In December, securities funds on sale in Spain posted estimated net redemptions of about EUR2.37bn, according to the Inverco association of management firms. This brings total net redemptions last year to EUR69.53bn, on assets which contracted by EUR71.9bn, or 30% in one year, to EUR167.94bn. December was the eighteenth consecutive month of declining assets under management and net redemptions. In 2007, assets in funds declined by 5.7%, or EUR14.48bn, and net redemptions represented EUR19.41bn.Of the top 30 managers by asset volume, only Caixa Catalunya Gestión and UBS Gestión posted net redemptions in December (totalling EUR98.2m and EUR31.56m, respectively). The heaviest net outflows were from Santander Gestión de Activos, at EUR879m. As of 31 December, BBVA Gestión, with assets of EUR32.96bn, nearly caught up with Santander (EUR32.98bn). The number three manager is far behind the leaders: Invercaixa Gestión has only EUR11.59bn in assets.

In January-November 2008, open-ended funds on sale in Germany showed net redemptions of EUR31.34bn, according to the BVI association. But the three largest ETF providers managed to post significant levels of net subscriptions, particularly db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank), with nearly EUR10.89bn in subscriptions. BGI (iShares) and ETFlab (Deka) have posted subscriptions of EUR2.99bn and EUR2.53bn, respectively, while cominvest (which has become a division of Allianz rather than Commerzbank) is the only major management firm to post net inflows (EUR3.41bn).The other major management firms show net redemptions, led by Allianz Global Investors (AGI), with EUR8.99bn in outflows, then DWS (EUR7.51bn), Pioneer (EUR5.76bn), Deka (EUR4.91bn), and Union Investment (EUR3.72bn).

The Wall Street Journal reports that Bernard Madoff has provided US Federal authorities with a list of his personal assets as well as those of his companies, but investigators appear to be far from determining where all the money swallowed up by the fraud has gone. They believe Madoff had at least one bank account in an offshore haven.Several investors are wondering, meanwhile, whether they will be required to return sums which they were paid by Madoff, particularly investors who received payments in the last 90 days preceding the bankruptcy of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.

Agefi reports that merger deals such as the sale of SGAM UK to the alternative management firm GLG Partners, or the sale of a part of the traditional asset management activities of Credit Suisse to Aberdeen Asset Management, are signs that the asset management industry is entering an era of consolidation.In the future, the online news agency predicts that ?a merger between Lyxor and SGAM AI? may be on the cards.

Achim Gräfen will remain as manager of the real estate fund Immoselect, though he has also been appointed a member of the board of directors at Axa Investment Managers Germany, Handelsblatt reports. He will be responsible for retail and institutional real estate funds.

Participants at a round table organised by Handelsblatt say that most fund managers feel that the financial crisis, which has triggered a larger economic crisis, will cost the management sector dearly in the first part of the year. A decline of 30% in profits will make it necessary to reduce costs and lay off employees, according to Stefan Jaecklin, a partner at the consulting firm Oliver Wyman. He predicts that the range of funds on sale will contract. Assets in approximately 6,000 open-ended funds have declined by 20% to EUR580bn, although institutional funds (Spezialfonds) have total assets of EUR650bn. After a year of massive redemptions in 2008, the mood is optimistic or at least wait-and-see in 2009. Products which present limited risk will be likely to be popular.

Selon l"Agefi, comme le prouve notamment la cession de Sgam UK au gérant alternatif GLG Partners ou encore celle d’une part de la gestion traditionnelle de Credit Suisse à Aberdeen Asset Management, l’industrie de la gestion d’actifs ouvre une ère de consolidation. Pour l"avenir, le quotidien numérique relève notamment "(?) que semble poindre un rapprochement entre Lyxor et Sgam AI».

Selon l"Agefi, comme le prouve notamment la cession de Sgam UK au gérant alternatif GLG Partners ou encore celle d’une part de la gestion traditionnelle de Credit Suisse à Aberdeen Asset Management, l’industrie de la gestion d’actifs ouvre une ère de consolidation. Pour l"avenir, le quotidien numérique relève notamment "(?) que semble poindre un rapprochement entre Lyxor et Sgam AI».

Selon Les Echos, Rothschild & Cie, quatrième en France par les opérations conseillées, est néanmoins premier par les revenus. La banque d’affaires, qui est intervenue sur 73 opérations closes en 2008, aurait gagné 152,8 millions de dollars l’an dernier, selon les estimations de Thomson Reuters. Elle tire ainsi partie de sa stratégie consistant à être présente sur toutes les tailles d’opérations. Elle est suivie par Goldman Sachs (134 millions), Citi (121 millions) Lazard (113 millions) et BNP Paribas (106 millions).

Porté par le nouveau plan de relance américain, le Nikkei a gagné 2,07% en séance à 9.043,12 points le lundi 5 janvier, repassant la barre des 9000 points pour la première fois depuis le 10 novembre 2008.

Selon La Tribune, citant Dealogic, «la dégradation générale de l’environnement économique, qui s’ajoute à la crise du crédit, pèse plus sur ces titres et les fonds qui y sont investis, censés procurer un rendement supérieur à celui de l’Eonia». Par ailleurs, les émissions cumulées d’ABS et de MBS ont chuté de 79 % à 445,7 milliards de dollars en 2008, souligne également Dealogic en relevant que, faute d"acheteurs, cette contraction du marché a finalement peu joué.

Selon les Echos, pour la quatrième année consécutive, BNP Paribas obtient la première place du palmarès des banques d’affaires en France en 2008, avec selon Thomson Reuters 87,5 milliards de dollars d’opérations conseillées sur le marché des fusions-acquisitions, et plus de 142 milliards de dollars d’opérations bouclées. La banque française est suivie de près par JP Morgan, avec 87,1 milliards d’opérations conseillées. A la troisième place on retrouve Citi, avec 74,5 milliards de dollars d’opérations, Rothschild & Cie, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, UBS, Calyon et Société Générale.

Gecina a notifié à l’AMF avoir augmenté à 48 % contre 38,6 % sa participation dans Gecimed, transaction de 4 millions d’euros qui s’inscrit dans le cadre d’une opération plus vaste liée à la décision d’ISM, filiale de GE Real Estate France de vendre sa participation de 19,13 % dans Gecimed, rapporte Cinco Días. CBFM Netherlands, fonds d’investissement de Royal Bank of Scotland, et Scor Global P&C SE, fonds d’investissement dépendant de Scor, prendront pour leur part respectivément 5,13 % et 4,61 %.

Selon La Tribune, la crise immobilière menace la solvabilité des banques, déjà fragilisée par les pertes liées à la crise du subprime américain et accroître les besoins de fonds propres des bailleurs immobiliers. En effet, la baisse des prix de marché va notamment faire grimper les ratios «prêt-valeur» qui entre notamment en compte dans le système prudentiel dit «Bâle II», ce qui augmentera les besoins en fonds propres.

L"activisme des gérants de fonds a été plus visible en décembre, observe le Wall Street Journal du 31 décembre. Une tendance qui découle de la crise en quelque sorte. Les professionnels de la gestion, qui voient les performances de leurs fonds décliner, passent en effet leur colère sur les dirigeants d"entreprise, qui se retrouvent ainsi dans le rôle du bouc-émissaire.

Les grands établissements de Wall Street comme Merrill Lynch Investment Management (avant sa fusion avec BlackRock) ou Goldman Sachs Asset Management, avaient en privé des doutes sur Bernard Madoff, indique le Financial Times. Dans certains cas, ils déconseillaient à leurs clients d"investir chez lui, mais ils rechignaient à partager leurs inquiétudes avec les régulateurs.

D’après The Wall Street Journal, Bernard Madoff a fourni aux autorités fédérales une liste de ses actifs personnels ainsi que ceux de ces sociétés, mais les enquêteurs paraissent loin d’avoir déterminé où tout l’argent de la fraude a pu aller. Ils pensent que Bernard Madoff avait au minimum un compte dans un paradis fiscal.Plusieurs investisseurs se demandent par ailleurs s’ils ne vont pas devoir rembourser les sommes perçues de Madoff, notamment ceux qui ont bénéficié de paiements durant les 90 jours qui ont précédé la faillite de Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.

Selon The Wall Street Journal, le président élu Barack Obama et les responsables Démocrates du Congrès sont en train de mettre au point un plan de 310 milliards de dollars d’allégements fiscaux pour les particulier et les entreprises, ce qui est un moyen d’amadouer les Républicains pour obtenir leur soutien à un plan de relance de 775 milliards sur deux ans tout en incitant les entreprises à créer ou préserver des emplois (cette partie représenterait 40-50 milliards).