Calamos Investments vient de lancer deux nouveaux mutual funds alternatifs, le Calamos Global Convertible Fund et le Calamos Hedged Equity Income Fund. Ces deux véhicules constituent un enrichissement logique de l’offre de Calamos qui continue d’exploiter ses expertises, notamment dans le secteur des stratégies de convertibles à destination de la clientèle institutionnelle que la société couvre depuis plusieurs décennies.

Pioneer Investments aux Etats-Unis a annoncé le recrutement de deux nouveaux collaborateurs seniors pour diriger, d’une part, le département de la distribution auprès des intermédiaires américains et, de l’autre, le département du développement produits et du marketing aux Etats-Unis. Mark Spina a ainsi été nommé, avec effet au 5 janvier, au poste de vice-président exécutif et responsable du département de la distribution auprès des intermédiaires aux Etats-Unis. A ce titre, il pilotera le développement de l’activité, les ventes auprès des clients «wholesale» et sera chargé des équipes dédiées aux relations clients. Il devra en particulier s’atteler à bâtir de solides relations avec les principaux intermédiaires financiers, à savoir les gestionnaires de fortune, les conseillers financiers indépendants, les conseillers en investissement référencés («Registered Investment Advisors) et les plateformes dédiées aux produits de retraite. Il sera également responsable de la distribution de l’ensemble des solutions d’investissement de Pioneer sur le marché américain. Il sera rattaché à Lisa Jones, «president» et directrice générale de Pioneer Investment Management USA. Avant d’intégrer Pioneer, Mark Spina travaillait chez Voya Investment Management (ex-ING US Investment Management) en qualité de responsable de la distribution auprès des intermédiaires depuis 2008. Avant cela, il a été responsable du marketing stratégique et responsable du développement chez Voya, société qu’il a intégrée en 2001.En parallèle, Erik D. Gosule a été nommé vice-président senior et responsable du marketing et du développement produits pour la division américaine de Pioneer à compter du 15 décembre. Egalement rattaché à Lisa Jones, il est en particulier responsable du développement d’une plateforme marketing intégrée pour les solutions d’investissements de Pioneer à travers tous les canaux de distribution, y compris les intermédiaires et les institutionnels. Précédemment, Erik Gosule travaillait chez PanAgora Asset Management en qualité de responsable de la clientèle et des solutions produits où il supervisait l’ensemble des initiatives marketing, y compris le développement produit. Avant cela, il a travaillé chez D.E. Shaw Group où il était membre de leur équipe dédiée à la gestion d’actifs institutionnelle. Auparavant, il a respectivement travaillé chez Putnam Investments et Fidelity Investments.

La banque américaine Morgan Stanley a annoncé le 8 janvier que sa structure Morgan Stanley Credit Partners avait levé environ 1 milliard de dollars pour le fonds Morgan Stanley Credit Partners II LP, son second fonds d’investissement ciblant la dette mezzanine émise par des entreprises de taille moyenne en Amérique du Nord et en Europe occidentale. Les investisseurs dans ce nouveau fonds sont principalement des institutions financières internationales et des particuliers très fortunés. Ce nouveau fonds a d’ores et déjà investi 144 millions de dollars dans quatre entreprises.

Nuveen Investments annonce que sa filiale Nuveen Asset Management a recruté R. Evan Inglis au poste d’actuaire senior. Il travaillera au sein de la division Institutional Solutions Group. R. Evan Inglis aura pour mission de développer les modèles de risque pour les solutions de retraite du gestionnaire de Chicago. L’intéressé rejoint Nuveen AM en provenance de Terry Group, où il occupait le poste de Principal. Avant cela il travaillait comme actuaire en chef au sein de Vanguard.

IDeA FIMIT sgr, première société de gestion immobilière en Italie avec 10 milliards d’euros d’encours sous gestion, a choisi Caceis pour être le dépositaire de son nouveau fonds immobilier fermé Armonia. Le fonds Armonia dispose d’un actif de 175 millions d’euros et se compose de 113 immeubles, en partie de prestige. Caceis en Italie est déjà dépositaire de plusieurs fonds gérés par IDeA FIMIT sgr.Ce mandat confirme la place de CACEIS parmi les acteurs majeurs du secteur des services aux fonds immobiliers en Italie. Caceis est déjà le dépositaire indépendant leader en France et en Allemagne pour les fonds immobiliers et occupe une place de choix en Suisse et au Luxembourg.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } Calamos Investments has launched two new mutual hedge funds, the Calamos Global Convertible Fund and the Calamos Hedged Equity Income Fund. The two vehicles represent a logical extension of the product range from Calamos, which continues to exploit its expertise, particularly in the sector of convertible strategies aimed at institutional clients, which the firm has been covering for several decades.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } Cristobal Mendez de Vigo y zu Loewenstein has joined the management at C-Quadrat. Since 1 January, he has served as CFO and will be responsible for development and M&A. One of his primary missions will be to support the international development of the Austrian-German asset management firm. De Vigo y zu Loewenstein has worked for a number of international asset management firms. He served as group head of distribution and business development at the British company F&C. Since September 2011, he had been managing partner at Blulicap in London.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } The asset management boutique Ethenea Independent Investors has announced the recruitment of Peter Steffen as portfolio manager. He will work alongside Luca Pesarini, Arnoldo Valsangiacomo, Guido Barthels and Daniel Stefanetti. Steffen previously worked at Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM), where he managed the DWS Global Value and DWS Top Dividende funds.

Threadneedle Investments has hired Patrick Steiner as head of European insurance sales. He joins the asset manager from Conning Asset Management where he had been a business development director with a focus on European insurance clients since 2012.Patrick Steiner, who is based in Zurich, joined Threadneedle on 6 January and will report to Andrew Nicoll, Threadneedle’s Global Head of Insurance.Threadneedle currently has over EUR55 billion under management from insurance clients across Europe covering a range of investment strategies.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } Fidelity Worldwide Investment has recruited Bram Pouwels as sales managere for the markets of Benelux, Fondsnieuws reports. Pouwels had previously worked at Deutsche AWM.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } The Spanish asset management firm Bestinver has announced the recruitment of Benito Artiñano, previously director of bond management at Fonditel, from 15 January. Artiñano will work to manage all bond funds from Bestinver, and will report to Beltran de la Lastra, CEO responsible for investments at the Spanish asset management firm. With 20 years of experience in the asset management industry, Artiñano previously worked at Allianz Seguros and at Société Générale in Paris. Though specialised in equity management, Bestinver has a small range of fixed income products in its range, with one bond fund, Bestinver Renta FI, one mixed fund, Bestinver Mixto FI, and one international mixed fund, Bestinver Mixto Internacional FI.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } The Netherlands asset management firm Robeco has appointed Maureen Schlejen as head of sales to institutionals, in charge of Benelux and Scandinavian countries, InvestmentEurope reports. Schlejen will be based in Amsterdam, and will lead a team of account managers and will be responsible for development the customer base for Robeco in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and the countries of Northern Europe. She replaces Eric van der Maarel, who has left the asset management firm to join Aegon. Schlejen has been working at Robeco since 1995, most recently as senior account manager institutional clients.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } Natixis Global Asset Management (NGAM) has recruited Juan José Gonzalez de Paz as senior consultant in its international analysis and portfolio advising department, Funds People reports. De Paz will work in London, and will report to James Beaumont, head of the international analysis department. His role will be to develop the activities of this department in Spain and Latin America, by undertaking analysis and evaluations of portfolios for Spanish-speaking clients. De Paz, who has over 10 years of experience in the asset management sector, joins from BBVA AM, where he served as a portfolio manager for multi-asset class funds at the Spanish asset management firm. Before that, he served at Mercer Investment Consulting in Spain and at RBS Private Banking in the United Kingdom.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } BNY Mellon Wealth Management, the wealth management affiliate of the US financial group BNY Mellon, has recruited Yolande Escher as director for Europe, responsible for sales and development of activities serving the entire continent, InvestmentEurope reports. Escher will be based in London, and joins the international wealth management activity led by Jeroen Kwist. Before joining BNY Mellon, Escher served as director at Barclays Wealth and Investment Management in London, where she led a sales team with nine members dedicated to the British “non-domiciled resident” market. Before that, she worked at UBS Global Wealth Management.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } The funded status of the typical U.S. corporate pension plans in December fell 2.6 percentage points, to a total of 87.3%, according to the most recent statistics released by the BNY Mellon Investment Strategy and Solutions Group, a division of the Bank of New York Mellon. In the month under review, assets contracted by 0.4%, while liabilities increased by 2.5%. For the year as a whole, the funded status is down by nearly eight points.

PImco and Research Affiliates LLC, a specialist in asset allocation strategies and in "smart beta" solutions, are extending their longstanding relationship to include a global range of seven additional equity strategies. The collaboration builds on an almost decade-long equity management relationship between the two firms, representing $30 billion in equity assets under management (as of September 30, 2014) in the PImco Fundamental IndexPLUS AR range of strategies. The seven strategies select stocks using Research Affiliates' pioneering RAFI Fundamental Index® methodology, which picks and

Pimco and Research Affiliates LLC, a specialist in asset allocation strategies and in «smart beta» solutions, are extending their longstanding relationship to include a global range of seven additional equity strategies. The collaboration builds on an almost decade-long equity management relationship between the two firms, representing USD30 billion in equity assets under management (as of September 30, 2014) in the Pimco Fundamental IndexPLUS AR range of strategies.The seven strategies select stocks using Research Affiliates’ RAFI Fundamental Index® methodology, which picks and weights securities based on fundamental measures of company size rather than security price, and then refine weights using additional measures and processes designed to enhance risk-adjusted returns.Rob Arnott, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Research Affiliates commented: «PIMCO was the first to adopt our Fundamental Index methodology in mid-2005, so this arrangement is a natural evolution of our longstanding relationship.” Said PIMCO’s Chief Executive Officer Douglas Hodge: «The expansion of PIMCO’s and Research Affiliates relationship to these seven equities strategies increases the range of equity solutions we offer clients incorporating Research Affiliates’ innovative approach.» Douglas Hodge added: «For more than a decade, PIMCO and Research Affiliates have worked together to provide investment solutions based on a shared vision to help investors navigate complex, challenging and fast-changing global markets."Combined with PIMCO’s high active share equity offerings and StocksPLUS strategies, PIMCO’s equity solutions now total more than USD55 billion in assets under management (as of September 30, 2014). The seven equity strategies involved in the expanded collaboration between Research Affiliates and PIMCO will cover US Large, US Small, International, International Small, Emerging Markets, Global, and Global ex-US.

Pioneer Investments has announced two new senior hires to lead U.S. intermediary distribution and U.S. marketing and product development. Mark Spina has been named executive vice president and head of U.S. intermediary distribution, effective January 5, 2015. He will lead internal and external wholesaling, business development, and relationship management teams focused on building relationships with leading financial intermediaries, including wealth management firms, independent financial planners, registered investment advisors, and retirement plan platforms. He will be responsible for distributing Pioneer’s investment solutions, including mutual funds, sub-advisor services and closed-end funds. He is a member of the firm’s U.S. management committee and reports to Lisa Jones, president and CEO of Pioneer Investment Management USA Inc. Mark Spina joins Pioneer from Voya Investment Management, where he served as head of intermediary distribution since 2008. Prior to that role, he was head of strategic marketing and head of business development at Voya (formerly ING US Investment Management), where he worked since 2001.In the meantime, Erik Gosule has been named senior vice president and head of marketing and product development for the U.S. Division, effective December 15, 2014. He is responsible for developing an integrated marketing platform for Pioneer’s investment solutions across all channels, including intermediary and institutional. He will also lead the U.S. division’s product development efforts. Erik Gosule is a member of the firm’s U.S. management committee and also reports to Lisa Jones. Before joining Pioneer Investments, Erik Gosule was head of client and product solutions at PanAgora Asset Management, where he was responsible for overseeing strategic and tactical marketing initiatives including product development, and for communicating PanAgora’s investment capabilities through a variety and distribution channels around the world.

«The European Exchange Traded Product (ETP) market seems destined to break USD500 billion of assets in 2015,» says Ted Hood, CEO at Source, as investors continue to be attracted to the transparency, relatively low costs and breadth of investment opportunities. The industry has gathered USD61.8bn of net new assets in 2014. «Smart beta ETFs are taking off and we also believe it will be the year that actively managed ETFs become more prominent, with several very large managers rumoured to be looking into using the ETF space. Smart beta and actively managed ETF assets could treble in size this year."Of the 13 ETFs that Source launched in 2014, eight were either actively managed or smart beta. New funds gathered approximately USD1 billion. Michael John Lytle, chief development officer, also sees changing trends in the fixed income space. “Globally, almost a third of inflows went into fixed income funds in 2014, and the percentage was even higher in Europe. Many pension funds and other large groups of institutional investors are looking to reduce the costs of their portfolios, especially regarding underlying fund management fees. ETFs provide clear opportunities to do this. We believe investors should also consider their allocation within asset classes. For instance, in fixed income, we believe high yield and emerging market debt offer compelling yield enhancements over Gilts and high grade credit. Smart beta and actively managed fixed income ETFs provide such exposure at typically lower cost than mutual funds.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } The British asset management firm Liontrust Asset Management (Liontrust AM) on 8 January announced that it had posted net inflows of GBP708m for the year 2014, including GBP424m in fourth quarter. This performance brings assets under management to GBP4.3bn as of 31 December 2014, compared with GBP3.61bn as of the end of March 2014, and GBP3.81bn as of 30 September 2014. In detail, as of the end of 2014, assets under management by retail clients topped GBP3bn, while assets under management for institutional clients topped GBP1bn.

La production industrielle a légèrement fléchi en Allemagne en novembre (-0,1%), montrent les chiffres publiés vendredi par le ministère de l’Economie allemand. Le chiffre est inférieur aux attentes puisque que le consensus prédisait une hausse de 0,4%. Les exportations allemandes ont quant à elle baissé en novembre pour le deuxième mois consécutif avec un repli de 2,1%. En France, la production industrielle a reculé de 0,3% en novembre, après sa forte baisse d’octobre, qui a été révisée à 0,7% (-0,8% annoncé auparavant), a annoncé l’Insee vendredi. Le consensus Reuters attendait en moyenne une hausse de 0,3%.

Les membres du conseil des gouverneurs ont étudié le 7 janvier plusieurs options pour un programme d’achats de dettes souveraines (QE) qui pourrait aller jusqu'à 500 milliards d’euros, selon l’agence Bloomberg. L’une des options prévoit l’achat de titres notés seulement AAA, l’autre de dettes souveraines notées au moins en catégorie investisseur (BBB-). Aucune décision n’a été prise lors de cette réunion, en attendant celle du 22 janvier.

La banque centrale suédoise envisage une baisse de ses taux de dépôt en territoire négatif et des interventions sur le marché des changes

Meilleure distinction des indices systémiques, régime ad hoc pour les matières premières : la rapporteure propose de remodeler la proposition initiale.

Revendiquant une approche différente de celle du Conseil de stabilité financière, ils tiennent compte de certaines activités bancaires.

La Maison Blanche a indiqué que la prime d'assurance facturée aux particuliers sur leurs emprunts hypothécaires sera baissée de 0,5 point à 0,85%.

Selon un sondage CSA réalisé pour le quotidien, Radio Classique et l’Institut Montaigne, 56% des Français pensent que la loi Macron ne contribuera pas à relancer l’économie. Sur le millier de personnes interrogées, seulement 33% considèrent que ce texte qui libéralise certaines professions et rend plus facile le travail le dimanche aura un impact positif. Si le scepticisme est majoritaire dans toutes les classes d’âge, les deux tiers des cadres et des professions libérales espèrent un impact favorable, contre seulement 23% des ouvriers. Les Franciliens sont 43% à estimer qu’il sera bénéfique, contre 30% des résidents dans les autres régions.

Le fonds souverain norvégien publiera ses intentions de vote lorsqu’il jugera que ceci peut aider à illustrer un principe important, plutôt que de se focaliser sur les entreprises dans lesquelles il détient les plus fortes participations, selon Yngve Slyngstad, directeur général de Norges Bank Investment Management. Le fonds veut en parallèle doubler le nombre de sociétés dans lesquelles il a plus de 5% du capital.

Eric Turjeman, jusque-là responsable adjoint des gestions actions chez Amundi, s’apprête à rejoindre OFI AM pour y prendre la responsabilité de la gestion actions, a appris NewsManagers de sources proches du dossier. Ces dernières ajoutent que le dirigeant devrait arriver avec une équipe de 3 à 6 gérants. Ce recrutement confirme la volonté d’OFI AM d’accélérer son développement dans la gestion actions, notamment à l’international.

À la suite «des événements tragiques d’hier, le gouverneur de la Banque de France a décidé d’annuler les vœux à la place prévus vendredi 16 janvier 2015», a indiqué jeudi la Banque de France. Membre du Conseil général de l’institution et chroniqueur à Charlie Hebdo, Bernard Maris a été tué dans l’attaque de l’hebdomadaire mercredi matin.