La croissance du PIB a ralenti à 0,3% au troisième trimestre malgré des taux directeurs maintenus à 2,5% depuis mi-2013 et une chute de la devise.

Jugés inéluctables en 2015, des rachats d'emprunts d'Etat en zone euro sur le marché secondaire soulèvent un certain nombre de difficultés.

Un amendement au PLFR pour 2014 «limite le champ de l’exonération d’impôt sur les sociétés en faveur des Sicav à celles qui ont une activité de gestion d’un portefeuille d’instruments financiers et de dépôts soumise aux conditions prévues par le Code monétaire et financier pour les OPCVM et FIA ouverts aux investisseurs non professionnels: l’exonération ne s’appliquerait plus aux Sicav dites contractuelles mentionnées à l’article L.214-154 du Code monétaire et financier (...)», selon son exposé.

L'émir du Qatar a annoncé la nomination d’un nouveau directeur général de la Qatar Investment Authority, le fonds souverain du pays, selon l’agence officielle QNA. Il s’agit du cheik Abdullah bin Mohamed bin Saud al-Thani.

Le Premier ministre suédois de centre gauche Stefan Lofven a annoncé hier la tenue d'élections législatives anticipées le 22 mars prochain, une première dans le pays depuis plus de cinquante ans. Cette annonce fait suite au rejet par le parlement, dans la journée, du projet de budget présenté par le gouvernement minoritaire que dirige Lofven.

Le gouvernement indien va vendre une participation de 5% du capital du groupe public Steel Authority of India (SAIL) vendredi, première étape d’un programme de cessions d’actifs crucial pour le gouvernement du Premier ministre Narendra Modi pour contribuer à réduire le déficit budgétaire. L’opération s'élève à 286 millions de dollars au cours de clôture de l’action hier. Le gouvernement détient 80% du capital de SAIL.

La banque centrale brésilienne a relevé son principal taux directeur de 50 points de base pour le porter à 11,75%. L’objectif de cette tentative de resserrement monétaire est de combattre une inflation élevée et d’aider le gouvernement de la présidente Dilma Rousseff à regagner la confiance des investisseurs. La décision de relever des taux d’intérêt déjà parmi les plus élevés au monde a été prise à l’unanimité par les responsables de politique monétaire de la banque centrale. L'économie brésilienne est sortie péniblement d’une brève récession, affichant une croissance de 0,1% au troisième trimestre par rapport aux trois mois précédents, montrent les statistiques officielles publiées la semaine dernière. Au deuxième trimestre, le produit intérieur brut (PIB) avait diminué de 0,6% après une baisse de 0,2% sur janvier-mars, faisant entrer la première économie d’Amérique latine en récession.

Le FRR a lancé le 20 juin 2013 un appel d’offres restreint visant à sélectionner un ou plusieurs prestataires pour la gestion financière de mandats de gestion active investis en actions japonaises. A l’issue du processus de sélection, le FRR a décidé de sélectionner les offres des candidats suivants : Capital International Limited JP Morgan Asset Management (UK) Limited Schroder Investment Management Limited Les mandats seront attribués pour une durée de quatre ans reconductible une seule fois pour un an. Le montant global indicatif des encours confiés à cette gestion pourrait s’élever à 450 millions d’euros.

Les discussions préalables à la mise en place d’un plan de sauvegarde de l’emploi doivent se terminer lundi dans la filiale de gestion d’actifs d’UBS en France. La filiale de gestion d'actifs d'UBS en France, CCR Asset Management (AM), pourrait supprimer 61 de ses 82 postes dans le cadre d'un plan de sauvegarde de l'emploi (PSE), selon une source proche de l'entreprise.

La collecte nette sur les produits indiciels cotés a atteint 40,1 milliards de dollars en novembre, selon les statistiques de BlackRock, un record mensuel cette année. Après la correction d’octobre, les investisseurs ont plébiscité les ETF sur actions européennes à hauteur de plus de 36 milliards de dollars. Sur les 11 premiers mois de l’année, la collecte de l’industrie atteint désormais 267,9 milliards de dollars, contre 211,5 milliards à la même époque de 2013. Les encours, eux, poursuivent leur ascension, à 2.752 milliards de dollars fin novembre.

Le Premier ministre suédois de centre gauche Stefan Lofven a annoncé mercredi la tenue d'élections législatives anticipées pour le 22 mars. Cette annonce a fait suite au rejet par le parlement, dans la journée, du projet de budget présenté par le gouvernement minoritaire que dirige Stefan Lofven.

Le gouvernement a présenté hier un amendement au projet de loi de finances rectificative pour 2014. le texte «limite le champ de l’exonération d’impôt sur les sociétés en faveur des Sicav à celles qui ont une activité de gestion d’un portefeuille d’instruments financiers et de dépôts soumise aux conditions prévues par le Code monétaire et financier pour les OPCVM et FIA ouverts aux investisseurs non professionnels: l’exonération ne s’appliquerait plus aux SICAV dites contractuelles mentionnées à l’article L.214-154 du code monétaire et financier (sociétés d’investissement professionnelles spécialisées)», explique l’exposé de l’amendement.

L'émir du Qatar a annoncé la nomination d’un nouveau directeur général de la Qatar Investment Authority, le fonds souverain du pays, selon l’agence officielle QNA. Il s’agit du cheik Abdullah bin Mohamed bin Saud al-Thani.

The Lancashire County Pension Fund and the London Pensions Fund Authority have announced the first stage in the development of an Asset and Liability Management Partnership, which would pool combined assets of over GBP10bn to deliver cost savings and improve performance. The central proposal is to create a commonly managed, jointly invested pool of assets overseen by an FCA registered entity created by the two pension funds. Each pension fund will retain its separate identity and local accountability. It could also ultimately cover all areas of activity involved in the running of the pension funds, including pension administration.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } The ETF sector is expected to continue to grow. Institutional investors are expected to increase their allocations, the size of funds is expected to increase, and ETF promoters are expected to win market share from other active or passive asset managers. Notwithstanding rough weather on the markets, the growth of the ETF sector is expected to total 10% to 15% in 2015 in the United States, 20% to 25% in Europe, and 25% to 30% in the Asia-Pacific region, a survey carried out by EY of 60 providers, investors, market makers and providers of active services on both sides of the Atlantic and in the Asia-Pacific region finds. Issuers participating in the survey represent 84% of total assets in the sector. The survey finds that pension funds and insurers may increase their exposure to ETFs. Half of institutional investors surveyed are planning to increase their allocation to ETFs in the next 12 months. The European market is facing a series of specific challenges, the study finds. The fragmentation of the European market is continuing to slow the development of the market, with small and mid-sized funds complicating the search for efficiency. Liquidity, also a point of concern, is another major obstacle to the development of the market. Another European problem is cross-listing, which forces market-makers to buy and sell the same product on different markets. That leaves the retail market, which represents 15% of the total, compared with 45% in the United States. However, says EY, the European market remains attractive, largely due to the different tax regimes applied to US and European funds. US providers are continuing to add to their European product ranges, and to keep their ears to the ground for potential acquisitions. The information deficit could be in some way resolved with the recent launch of an analysis platform for European ETFs by Koris International, which, however, will be reserved for institutionals.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } Natixis Global Asset Management (NGAM) has announced the appointment of Markus Bertl to the position of head of wholesale sales for Germany. He will report to Jörg Knaf, head for northern Europe. Bertl will be responsible for the development of distribution activities in Germany, largely serving family offices, wealth managers, fund of fund managers and private banks. Bertl joins NGAM From UBS Germany, where he was client relationship manager, responsible for relationships with private banks.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } The Belgian asset management firm Petercam will recruit a salesperson in Italy and another one in Germany. As a consequence, it will have two employees in each of these countries. The Italian market is now served from Milan by Alessandro Fonzi, while the German-speaking countries are served by Tomas Meyer, based in Frankfurt. The addition to international sales teams comes at a time when the Belgian press has been echoing rumours of a merger between Petercam, which had EUR14.37bn under management as of the end of June, and Banque Degroof, whose assets total about EUR28bn. “The two Belgian brands have the same professions in common (private banking, institutional management, corporate finance) as well as independence,” L’Echos remarks in an article on the subject. However, their cultures seem quite different.

A group of investors, an NGO, a think tank and an investor research agency, today announce the launch of the first wide-scale project to rank companies on their human rights performance. A total of 500 of the top global companies from four key sectors - Agriculture, ICT, Apparel, and Extractives - will initially be researched and ranked. “The Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB) will harness the competitive nature of the markets to drive better human rights performance, namely through developing a transparent, publicly available and credible benchmark,” according to a press release. Over the next three years the six organisations, making up the CHRB Steering Group, will conduct a worldwide consultation on the methodology and results with diverse stakeholders, and incrementally collect and release information on 500 companies’ human rights performance. Information will be made available through an open source, online portal to empower the range of business and human rights advocates among companies, investors, governments, local communities and NGOs."Our ranking will reward good practice by companies, and create a major incentive for poor performers to improve rapidly. The ranking will be a tool for campaigners, trade unions, investors and governments to encourage and press companies to deliver respect, dignity and essential freedoms to their workers, neighbouring communities, and the societies in which they invest,» said Phil Bloomer of Business and Human Rights Resource Centre.Steve Waygood of Aviva Investors added : «Our Benchmark will introduce a positive competitive environment as companies try to race to the top of the annual ranking.» The Benchmark portal will be housed on the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre website at: http://business-humanrights.org/en/corporate-human-rights-benchmark&nbs… partners are the following:• Aviva Investors is a global asset management business dedicated to building and providing client focused solution and part of Aviva plc, one of the UK’s largest insurance services providers.• Business and Human Rights Resource Centre is an international NGO that tracks the human rights impacts (positive & negative) of over 5600 companies in over 180 countries making information available on its seven language website. • Calvert Investments is an investment management firm and leader in sustainable and responsible investment strategies. • EIRIS is a global leader in the provision of environmental, social, governance (ESG) research for responsible investors.• The Institute for Human Rights and Business is a global «think and do» tank that provides a trusted, impartial space for dialogue and independent analysis to deepen understanding of human rights challenges and the appropriate role of business. • VBDO is the Dutch association of investors for sustainable development that aims at a sustainable capital market, considering financial as well as non-financial ESG criteria.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } The Norwegian public pension fund may in the future invest in infrastructure to diversify its investments. The fund, supplied by the oil revenues of the country, has about NOK6.067rtn (EUR697bn), and is expected to be invested outside Norway in equities for 60%, bonds (35%) and real estate (5%), according to the current mandate awarded to the Norwegian central bank.

Outflows from Pimco’s Total Return fund slowed in November, to USD9.5 billion, following record withdrawals after Bill Gross’s abrupt departure September 26. “Outflows from the Total Return Fund continued to slow significantly in November, ending the month 65% lower than flows the previous month,” said Daniel Tarman, a Pimco spokesperson. In October, outflows had reached USD27.5bn, after USD23.5bn in September. octobre, les rachats nets avaient atteint 27,5 milliards de dollars, après 23,5 milliards de dollars de sorties en septembre. Pimco Total Return has USD162.8 billion under management, far from theUSD293bn as of the end of April 2013.The Pimco Total Return Fund delivered a net after fee return of +1.00%, and excess returns above the benchmark of +0.29% for the month of November.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } Aviva is taking action. One week after announcing its plans to acquire the Friends Life Group, the British insurer has announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire its counterpart for about GBP5.6bn (EUR7.1bn). Aviva is thus completing the largest acquisition operation in the British insurance sector for 15 years. Aviva is offering 394 pence per share for Friends Life, a premium of 15% over the closing share price of Friends Life on 20 November. By the terms of the agreement, each shareholder in Friends Life will receive 0.74 new Aviva shares for each share in Friends Life owned, while shareholders in Friends Life will control nearly 26% of the merged company. Through this operation, the new Aviva gorup “secures its leading position in insurance and savings in the United Kingdom, with 16 million clients” the insurance company says in a statement. Aviva gets 5 million clients on the Friends Life books, The transaction also allows Aviva to add a new dimension to the British life insurance market, where it becomes a “leader in the area of corporate retirement planning.” The merger allows Aviva to “add about GBP70m in assets under administration at Friends Life in the United Kingdom, for an increase in its assets under management of 29%, and a total of about GBP309bn.” This is therefore a windfall for Aviva Investors, its asset management affiliate, which has since January 2014 been led by Euan Munro.

S&P Dow Jones Indices has launched the S&P 500® VEQTOR Switch Index, an index that seeks to simulate a dynamic portfolio that allocates between equity and the CBOE Volatility Index® (VIX® Index) based on realized volatility in the broad equity market. The allocation to the equity component of the S&P 500 VEQTOR Switch Index is dynamically adjusted to gain exposure to the S&P 500 with a target volatility of 10%. The remainder of the Index is allocated to the S&P 500 VIX Futures Long/Short Switch Index which allocates between cash and one-month VIX futures with the aim of capturing:

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } The investment fund industry in Spain is approaching EUR200bn in assets. According to provisional data released by Inverco, the Spanish asset management association, assets under management in the sector totalled EUR192.59bn as of the end of November, up by 1.1% compared with the month of October, and 25.2% compared with the end of 2013. This growth is partly due to net inflows of EUR898m in the past month, the 23rd consecutive month of positive net inflows. The only drawback is that it is the lowest monthly level of net inflows recorded for the market since January 2013. This total of EUR898m stands in strong contrast with the performances recorded since the beginning of the year, as net inflows have reached or exceeded EUR3.3bn seven times in 2014, with a peak at EUR4.33bn in July.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } Aviva Gestion, the Spanish affiliate of Aviva Investors, has appointed Beatriz Camacho as its new chief investment officer, the specialist website Funds People reports. Camacho worked for a long time at Aviva, where she was a bond manager and head of the matching and special products activity. Two months after losing its CEO, Carlos Franco Suances, Aviva Gestion also tells the Spanish website that the position of CEO was currently being served by managing director José Caturla.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } After two years of absence, Aviva Investors is returning to Italy, Bluerating reports. “Aviva Investors was present in Italy from 2006 to 2012 with a team specialised in the retail segment and EUR1.5bn in assets,” Manuel Della Corte, director of development for Switzerland and southern Europe, tells the website. “In 2012, the firm decided to close all of its foreign affiliates to focus on the United Kingdom, which affected not only the Milan office, but also the ones in Frankfurt and Madrid,” he continued. Aviva returned to Italy in May this year. “Now, there are two people dedicated to this market: Aurelia Sax and myself, which means that we don’t have enough resources to dedicate to retail,” Della Corte explains. “For the moment, we are therefore concentrating on the wholesale segment, but we have the objective of starting to serve investors again in the next six months, via distribution agreements.” However, there are no plans to reopen offices in Milan. Activities will be coordinated from Zurich.

Loomis, Sayles & Company has announced that Scott Service has been named co-portfolio manager on the following suite of investment strategies managed by the company’s global bond team: Loomis Sayles Global Bond Fund (LSGLX), all institutional global aggregate strategies and all world government bond portfolios. Scott Service, a long-time global credit strategist and portfolio manager on the global bond team, joins co-portfolio managers Lynda Schweitzer, David Rolley and Ken Buntrock on the Global Bond Fund. Prior to this promotion, he was already a co-portfolio manager on several of the team’s other global credit strategies. Together, the team oversees approximately USD38 billion in global assets. Scott Service reports to Jae Park, chief investment officer. Scott Service, a member of the global bond team since 2004, remains co-portfolio manager on the team’s global credit and global corporate strategies. He joined Loomis Sayles in 1995 and was promoted to credit analyst in 1999. Between 2001 and 2003, Scott Service worked in Paris for Loomis Sayles’ parent company, Natixis Global Asset Management.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } A few weeks after signing up for its first investment with Focus Asset Managers, the sub-fund dedicated to equities of Emergence, a market Sicav launched in 2012 for incubation and development of young entrepreneurial asset management firms, has announced that it has made an investment of EUR35m in Financière Arbevel. The independent asset management firm, founded in 1997, was taken over in late 2008 and early 2009 by Jean-Baptiste Delabare and Sébastien Lalevée. “Financière Arbevel then had about EUR25m in assets under management at the time of its takeover, and we are now at nearly EUR300m,” says Delabare, chairman of the firm and head of private management. Now, the contribution from Emergence allows us to clearly establish ourselves above this symbolic level of EUR300m.” Financière Arbevel now has 12 employees, 5 of whom are dedicated to collective management. Emergence ‘Actions’ is contributing EUR35m to the capital of the Pluvalca AllCaps fund, a vehicle dedicated to French equities, whose objective is to earn higher returns than the SBF 120 benchmark index. “The contribution from Emergence allows us to take a critical step in the development of the company and the fund in particular, whose assets increased from EUR20m to EUR50m,” says Delabare. “This is a good sign for the development of the company in the coming years.”

Le fonds de pension Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) a annoncé, le 2 décembre, la nomination de Jo Taylor au poste de «managing director» pour l’Europe, le Moyen Orient et l’Afrique et de responsable de son bureau à Londres. L’intéressé reste responsable de l’activité de capital investissement, baptisée Teachers’ Private Capital, dans la région, a précisé le fonds de pension dans un communiqué. Jo Taylor, qui a intégré OTPP en 2012, devient également membre du comité d’investissement de l’institution. Cette nomination intervient alors que le fonds de pension, présent à Londres depuis 2007, ouvrira un nouveau bureau dans la capitale anglaise, à Portman Square, en 2015 afin d’accueillir une équipe multi-classes d’actifs plus importante. Au 31 décembre 2013, OTPP gérait 21 milliards de dollars d’actifs dans la région sur un encours total de 140,8 milliards de dollars.

Architas (groupe Axa) vient de lancer un fonds de fonds qui propose aux investisseurs une exposition à des classes d’actifs alternatives telles que les infrastructures et les forêts. Le fonds Architas Diversified Real Assets, qui sera géré par le responsable des investissements d’Architas, Caspar Rock, assisté des gérants Harry Drake et Solomon Nevins, vise un rendement d’au moins 3,5%, «moins corrélé» avec les obligations et les actions. Parmi les fonds sous-jacents figurent le fonds International Public Partnership et le John Laing Environmental Assets fund. Les frais de gestion pourraient se situer autour de130 points de base.

Aviva passe à l’acte. Une semaine après avoir fait part de son intention de racheter le groupe Friends Life (lire NewsManagers du 24 novembre 2014), l’assureur britannique a annoncé, le 2 décembre, la conclusion d’un accord pour racheter son homologue pour environ 5,6 milliards de livres (8,8 milliards de dollars ou 7,1 milliards d’euros). Aviva réalise ainsi la plus importante opération d’acquisition dans le secteur britannique de l’assurance depuis 15 ans. Dans le détail, Aviva offre 394 pence par actions Friends Life, soit une prime de 15% par rapport au cours de clôture de Friends Life le 20 novembre. Par ailleurs, selon les termes de l’accord, chaque actionnaire de Friends Life recevra 0,74 nouvelle action Aviva pour chaque action Friends Life détenue, les actionnaires de Friends Life détenant ainsi près de 26% de la compagnie ainsi fusionnée. Grâce à cette opération d’envergure, le nouveau groupe Aviva «sécurise sa position de leader en assurance et en épargne au Royaume-Uni avec 16 millions de clients», précise la compagnie d’assurance dans un communiqué. De fait, Aviva met la main sur les 5 millions de clients que compte Friends Life En outre, la transaction permet à Aviva de prendre une nouvelle dimension sur le marché de l’assurance vie britannique, devenant notamment «un leader dans le domaine des retraites des entreprises et de la prévoyance». Cette fusion permet aussi à Aviva «d’ajouter environ 70 milliards de livres d’actifs administrés par Friends Life au Royaume-Uni, augmentant ainsi ses actifs sous gestion de 29 % pour atteindre environ 309 milliards de livres». Une aubaine donc par Aviva Investors, sa filiale de gestion d’actifs dirigée depuis janvier 2014 par Euan Munro.D’un point de vue purement financier, l’opération doit générer environ 600 millions de livres de «cash flow» additionnel par an. En outre, Aviva s’attend à ce que l’opération génère 225 millions de livres d’économies de coûts annuelles d’ici à la fin de 2017.Enfin, à l’issue de la fusion, Andy Briggs, actuel directeur général du groupe Friends Life, deviendra le directeur général d’Aviva UK Life et rejoindra le conseil d’administration d’Aviva en qualité de directeur exécutif. De même, l’actuel président de Friends Life, Sir Malcolm Williamson, rejoindra lui aussi le conseil d’administration d’Aviva en tant que directeur senior indépendant. «D’autres directeurs non exécutifs de Friends Life pourront rejoindre le conseil d’administration», précise Aviva sans donner plus de détails.