P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BlackRock has reduced its stake in Telecom Italia from 7.789% as of December last year to 4.8%, Milano Finanza reports. The deal was carried out on 12 March. The US giant had increased its stake as far as 10.12%. It now places third among shareholders in the Italian company, after Telco and Findim.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Asset management firms subject to the AIFM (Alternative Investment Fund Managers) directive will have to revise the pay scales for many of their employees, the law firm Duhamel Blimbaum warns in a study on the problem, entitled “Pay scales under AIFM.” The remuneration of professionals whose activities have “a significant impact on the risk profile of the asset management firms or the AIF which it manages” are now subject to very restrictive rules. This definition of the profile of the employees concerned in practice aims to cover many positions, not only managers and risk controllers, but also, for example, heads of legal or development, the authors of the study say. Precisely, at least 50% of the variable pay may be paid in the form of “financial instruments” (shares in funds, etc.), and the payment of 40% to 60% of this variable pay scale must be deferred for “an appropriate period,” of at least 3 to 5 years. This delay, according to the European Commission and the European Parliament, should make it possible to potentially “claw back” bonuses in the event of a fall in performance or fraudulent conduct. It will not be easy to avoid. Asset management firms operating in France will be subject to the law, as will firms operating abroad, but which sell FIAs under a European passport. However, the “principle of proportionality” means that there will be the potential for asset management firms of a smaller size to be exempt from certain obligations: the obligation to pay a part of the variable pay in the form of financial instruments, to subject this portion to retention, etc. At the same time, in the very common potential case in which the company has alternative investment funds under management as well as OPCVM mutual funds, two remuneration “piles” could be defined: this, for example, could be done for a manager who dedicates 75% of his time to managing an FIA, who would be subject to the AIFM directive rules for only 75% of his pay. Following the new rules for alternative fund managers, similar rules will also be brought into force for the pay scales of OPCVM managers. The European Parliament, Commission and Council have agreed on this point, as part of the composition of the future UCITS V regulations.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The most recent alterations to the draft Solvency II directive, which make it more favourable in terms of owners equity, will not necessarily incite European insurers to develop their securitisation activities, Standard & Poor’s finds in a study released on 18 March (“EIOPA’s Revised Solvency II Calibration Still Risks Turning European Insurers Away From Securitizations.”) The most recent revision, published in December 2013, defines some securitisations as “type A” exposures, which are treated more favourably than other securitisations (“type B”). According to the study, the latest proposals show signs that European political leaders are becoming aware that securitisations are not all alike and that the disastrous performance of transactions related to the US sub-prime market were rather the exception. “Most European asset classes eligible for securitiesation have very good returns over the six years since the sub-prime crisis broke out in the United States,” says Mark Boyce, a credit analyst at Standard & Poor’s.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Lyxor Asset Management (Lyxor AM) is adding to its ETF range aimed at Spanish investors. The French asset management firm has registered a new vehicle which replicates the MSCI World index, with monthly hedging for currencies, entitled Lyxor UCITS ETF MSCI World – Monthly Hedged D - EUR, Funds People reports. The registration of the new ETF on the Spanish market comes a few weeks after the launch of three «double-short» ETFs by Lyxor, which allow investors to construct shorts positions on the main public debt indices.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } James E. Stowers, Jr., the founder of American Century Investments in 1958, died on Monday aged 90, the Wall Street Journal reports. His firm now has USD141bn in assets.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to Asian Investor, sharia-comliant financial assets managed by the 50 largest asset management firms for this type of product rose by 25.6% in 2013, to USD86.4bn. Islamic equity funds last year posted growth of 48.6% to USD29.3bn. Sharia-compliant alternative assets as of the end of 2013 came to a total of USD8.5bn, up by 43.2%. The growth of sukuks (islamic bonds) an Islamic money market funds was more modest (3.5%), to USD20.5bn. The three largest asset management firms in terms of Islamic-compliant assets are BlackRock (via iShares) with USD28.5bn, followed by the Malaysian asset management firm Public Mutual (USD8.14bn) and the Saudi firm NCB Capital (USD7.4bn).

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The daily on-book trading volume on the European markets of NYSE Euronext as of the end of February totalled EUR250.2m, down by 7.2% compared with January, and 1% compared with February 2013, according to monthly statistics released by Euronext. The total on-book trading volume for the month under review comes to EUR5bn, down by 19.3% for the month, and 1% compared with February 2013. Bloc trades totalled EUR1.41bn in February, up 23.6% compared with January, and 26.3% compared with February 2013. The median spread last month came to 24.9 basis points, a growth of 9% compared with January, and 2% compared with February 2013.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The proposed joint financial transaction tax that France and Germany are preparing may include derivatives from the outset, German legislators have indicated, the news agency Bloomberg reports. French and German negotiators have set an objective of reaching agreement with nine other countries by 25 may, before the European elections. France had declared that it wished to gradually introduce the tax, initially limiting its applicability to equities, but the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, on 5 March said that it would not be out of place to include derivative transactions.

Dutch pension fund PFZW (Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn), which manages €137.3 billion, and Rabobank have entered into a risk sharing transaction regarding a portfolio of corporate loans originated by Rabobank, have annouced the two companies on a press release on march 18th. The private risk sharing transaction refers to a portfolio of €3.2 billion consisting of more than 500 corporate loans of which more than half is provided to Dutch companies. The amount invested by PFZW was not disclosed. However, «this transaction offers PFZW access to a portfolio of credit risk that helps diversifying the asset mix of the pension fund in an efficient manner, said PFZW in the statement. Through this transaction, PFZW expects to achieve a stable and robust long-term return."For Rabobank, this transaction offers a reduction of the credit risk it holds regarding this underlying loan portfolio. In addition, the reduction in capital required to be held by the dutch bank can be re-used for new lending to corporates.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Fullerton Fund Management, the asset management affiliate of the Singapore sovereign fund Temasek Holdings, has recruited three new senior managers as additions to its investment team dedicated to equities, the firm has announced. Jason Zhu, former head of equities at Franklin Templeton Sealand Fund Management, joins Fullerton in the position of head of Chinese equities. Meanwhile, Ian McCallum, previously chief investment officer for Bedlam Asset Management in London, joins the Singapore firm as global head of emerging markets. Craig Mitchell, former manager from Capital Group, will be repsonsible for launching and developing the absolute reutrn equity strategy in Asia.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } MoraBanc is opening new horizons. The Andorran banking group has opened a UCITS fund management firm in Luxembourg, entitled Mora Asset Management Luxemnbourg, whose activities started up on 11 February this year, Funds People reports. The new structure is the first platform from the banking group within the European Union. It comes as an addition to the MoraBanc geographical matrix, which already includes offices in Zurich, Miami, Montevideo and Dubai. Mora Asset Management Luxembourg, led by Maria Victoria Simon, will assume the management of the Mora Fund Sicav, which has several sub-funds with various types of assets and different investment philosophies.

Le groupe Generali a annoncé ce jour le lancement de Generali Global Private Corporate Credit, un fonds de 300 millions d’euros d’encours pour Generali Vie, la compagnie française d’assurance vie du groupe. Ce fonds sera principalement investi sur des prêts d’entreprises européennes en privilégiant la France. La gestion de ce mandat a été confiée à BNP Paribas Investment Partners, indique un communiqué. « Nous attendons de cette stratégie d’investissement qu’elle améliore notre rendement et la diversification de nos actifs », a indiqué Fabrizio Vitiello, Head of Asset Managers Management & Alternative Fixed Income de Groupe Generali. « Cela correspond parfaitement à notre volonté de trouver des solutions d’investissements alternatives sur les produits de taux. »Le groupe poursuit l’étude d’autres partenariats pour diversifier sa gestion de taux par produit et par zone géographique.

Sur les quelque 352 milliards de francs gérés par Credit Suisse dans la gestion d’actifs institutionnelle ou asset management (à fin 2013), les activités suisses représentent encore une part majeure de 246 milliards de francs selon des chiffres communiqués le 19 mars, rapporte L’Agefi suisse. Soit plus des deux tiers du total. Des chiffres qui permettent de constater que les récentes cessions d’activités dans la gestion d’actifs ont relativement peu touché les activités en Suisse de la grande banque dans l’asset management. L’an dernier, les actifs sous gestion de l’unité suisse d’asset management ont ainsi augmenté de 5% à 245,6 milliards de francs avec des effectifs totaux de 618 personnes en Suisse. Les stratégies gérées en Suisse ont même drainé 2,6 milliards de francs d’actifs nets. A la faveur d’une stratégie dite multi-boutique. En clair: chaque unité ou classe d’actifs (actions, immobilier,etc) fonctionne comme un centre de profit, avec son propre compte de résultats et même des structures de rémunérations spécifiques liées à la performance pour certaines unités ainsi que le souligne Michael Strobaek, le responsable de l’asset management en Suisse de la grande banque, mais aussi de l’Investment Strategy & Research ainsi que de la stratégie d’investissement (CIO) an plan global.

Vontobel Asset Management a décidé de faire appel aux services de Kneip pour la gestion de ses données et la production de documents réglementaires tels que le KIID.Vontobel utilisera les services de Kneip pour l’ensemble de ses gammes de fonds domiciliés en Suisse et au Luxembourg.

La banque J. Safra Sarasin a annoncé le 19 mars la création d’un centre de compétences à l’intention des fondations. L’activité est dirigée à compter du 1er mars par Ingeborg Schumacher-Hummel et Bernhard Gick. L’objectif de la structure est de conseiller les fondations et de développer des offres dans le contexte d’investissements à buts sociaux ou environnementaux spécifiques (mission-related investing, MRIs), a indiqué le 19 mars l’institut dans un communiqué.Les fondations sont de plus en plus nombreuses à travers le monde à investir une partie de leurs avoirs dans des projets durables. Une tendance qui est en outre confortée par le fait que ce type d’investissement est également rentable.

Le spécialiste de l’administration d’actifs Mitsubishi UFJ Fund Services a annoncé le 19 mars l’acquisition de Meridian Fund Services Group, dont les actifs sous administration s'élèvent à 14 milliards de dollars.Cette acquisition va porter les actifs sous administration d’UFG Fund Services à environ 165 milliards de dollars. La société, qui appartient au groupe Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, propose toute une gamme de services aux hedge funds, aux fonds de fonds, aux capital-investisseurs, aux fonds immobiliers, aux mutual funds et aux family offices.Cette opération est une illustration de la volonté du groupe financier japonais de développer ses activités internationales d’administration de fonds, de façon organique ou par croissance externe.

L’actif des fonds d’épargne-pension en Belgique a atteint à la fin de l’année 2013 un total record de 14,33 milliards d’euros, selon les chiffres communiqués par la BEAMA, l’association belge des gestionnaires d’actifs, et cités par L’Echo. La hausse sur l’ensemble de l’année atteint 1,7 milliard d’euros.

Lyxor Asset Management (Lyxor AM) enrichit sa gamme d’ETF à destination des investisseurs espagnols. La société de gestion française vient ainsi d’enregistrer un nouveau véhicule répliquant l’indice MSCI World avec une couverture mensuelle en devise, baptisé Lyxor UCITS ETF MSCI World – Monthly Hedged D - EUR, révèle Funds People.L’enregistrement sur le marché espagnol de ce nouvel ETF intervient quelques semaines après le lancement par Lyxor de trois ETF «double short» permettant aux investisseurs de construire des positions courtes sur les principaux indices de dettes publiques.

Rickesh Kishnani et David Robertson vont lancer en juin le Platinum Whisky Investment Fund, le premier fonds de private equity qui propose de faire bénéficier les souscripteurs de la croissance du prix du whisky écossais single malt, rapporte The Asset.com. La fonds prendra des positions dans des productions de single malt. Les deux co-responsables du fonds sont des passionnés de whisky. David Robertson a notamment été master distiller a la distillerie écossaise The Macallan. Le fonds, enregistré à Hong Kong, vise les 10 millions de dollars. L’investissement minimum est de 250.000 dollars.

Huit mois après l’acquisition de Cazenove, la société de gestion britannique Schroders vient d’intégrer dans sa gamme de produits disponible en Espagne un certain nombre des fonds de Cazenove Capital Holdings, rapporte Funds People. L’offre de Schroders s’enrichit ainsi de véhicules dédiés au fixed income, aux actions européennes (tant long/short que long only) et aux actions britanniques de Cazenove. «Les nouveaux fonds que nous avons enregistré sont d’une grande complémentarité avec notre gamme», explique à Funds People Carla Bergareche, directrice générale de Schroders pour l’Espagne et le Portugal, qui se félicite également d’enregistrer l’apport des gérants Steve Cordel et Julie Dean. Dans le cadre de cette démarche, Schroders a enregistré six produits de Cazenove auprès de la CNMV, le régulateur espagnol. Ces produits sont désormais intégrés à la Sicav luxembourgeoise du gestionnaire d’actifs britannique, Schroders ISF. Les six fonds concernés sont: Schroder ISF European Opportunities (anciennement Cazenove Pan European), Schroder ISF UK Opportunities (ex-Cazenove UK Equity), Schroder ISF European Equity ex-UK (Cazenove European Equity ex-UK), Schroder ISF Strategic Credit (Cazenove Strategic Debt), Schroder ISF European Equity Absolute Return (Cazenove European Equity Absolute Return) et, enfin, Schroder ISF European Alpha Absolute Return (Cazenove European Alpha Absolute Return).

La banque privée de Bankinter vient de dépasser le seuil fatidique des 300 Sicav en portefeuille, lui permettant ainsi d’afficher une part de marché de 10 % dans cette activité contre 7 % un an auparavant, rapporte Cotizalia. Concrètement, Bankinter détient début mars 305 Sicav, en hausse de 20 % sur un an, auxquels s’ajoutent cinq autres véhicules domiciliés au Luxembourg où la banque espagnole a acquis l’entité néerlandaise Van Lanschot. Cette croissance se traduit par une progression de 45 % de ses encours depuis 2012, ressortant désormais à 1,878 milliard d’euros d’actifs sous gestion. A ce chiffre doit s’ajouter les encours de ces cinq véhicules au Luxembourg qui, fin 2012, totalisaient 300 millions d’euros d’actifs sous gestion.

BNP Paribas Investment Partners (BNP Paribas IP) pousse ses pions en Asie. La société de gestion française a déposé en mars un dossier à Hong-Kong afin d’obtenir une licence d’investisseur institutionnel qualifié pour la gestion en renminbi (RQFII ou qualified foreign institutional investor) en vue du lancement d’un fonds obligataire hybride conforme à ce statut, rapporte Asian Investor. La compagnie devrait faire la même démarche à Singapour pour obtenir une telle licence, précise le site d’information. BNP Paribas IP espère obtenir le précieux sésame d’ici deux à trois mois, tout en s’attendant à ce que cette licence porte sur un quota de 1 milliard de renminbi (161 millions de dollars).BNP Paribas IP est déjà reconnu comme un gérant QFII, s’étant vu accordé un quota officiel de 500 millions de dollars qui a grossi jusqu’à atteindre 3 milliards de dollars d’exposition. Désormais, l’objectif de la société de gestion est de lancer un produit qui investira dans des obligations renminbi à la fois «onshore» et «offshore», a précisé Vincent Camerlynck, directeur général de BNP Paribas IP pour l’Asie-Pacifique, dans un entretien à Asian Investor.

Fullerton Fund Management, la filiale de gestion d’actifs du fonds souverains singapourien Temasek Holdings, vient de recruter trois gérants seniors afin de renforcer son équipe d’investissement dédiée aux actions, a annoncé la compagnie. Jason Zhu, ancien responsable des actions chez Franklin Templeton Sealand Fund Management, rejoint ainsi Fullerton au poste de responsable des actions chinoises. Par ailleurs, Ian McCallum, jusque-là directeur des investissements à Londres pour Bedlam Asset Management, intègre la société singapourienne en qualité de responsable mondial des marchés émergents. Enfin, Craig Mitchell, ancien gérant de Capital Group, sera chargé de lancer et développer la stratégie actions de performance absolue en Asie.

Le fonds de pension néerlandais PFZW (Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn) a conclu un accord privé de partage de risque avec Rabobank portant sur un portefeuille de prêts d’entreprise (corporate loans) de la banque néerlandaise, a annoncé PFZW le 18 mars. Concrètement, le fonds de pension néerlandais, qui gère 137,3 milliards d’euros, acquiert une participation dans un portefeuille de 3,2 milliards d’euros portant sur plus de 500 prêts d’entreprises dont plus de la moitié concerne des compagnies néerlandaises. Le montant de son investissement n’a pas été dévoilé. «Cette transaction offre à PFZW l’accès à un portefeuille de risque de crédit qui doit aider à diversifier le mix des actifs du fonds de pension de manière efficace, estime PFZW dans un communiqué. Avec cette transaction, PFZW s’attend à réaliser un rendement stable et robuste à long terme.»Rabobank ne perd pas au change, cette transaction permettant à la banque de réduire son risque de crédit et le capital nécessaire pour la couverture du risque. Du capital que Rabobank pourra réutiliser pour offrir de nouveaux crédits aux entreprises.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } SecondMarket is seeking to open a private fund investing in bitcoin to ordinary investors from fourth quarter, the Wall Street Jornal reports. The firm, which launched the Bitcoin Investment trust in September for high net worth investors, has called in lawyers and investment bankers to assist in the process. The fund buys and sells bitcoins, and has assets of USD54m. It would compete with the Winklevoss Investment Trust, a vehicle sponsored by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The sustainable development multi-management specialist Cedrus Asset Management will on Friday, 28 March launch an international equity fund of funds, which is based on an innovative approach based on Megatrends, major social and environmental changes expected in the next few years. The Cedrus Sustainable Megatrends fund proposes to invest in three megatrends which will affect all facets of society in the coming years: energy transition, management of natural resources, and human development. “For us, this fund represents SRI 2.0: more simple, more legible and less complex in terms of its performance generation ambitions,” the chairman of Cedrus, Benoit Magnir, says. Assets managed and advised by Cedrus, which receive capital (20%) and operational support from NexT AM, total about EUR400m, of which about EUR70m are assets under management, including the Cedrus Sustainable Opportunities fund. In order to assist managers, Cedrus has set up a partnership with the experts at the RGreen company, specialised in the implementatin of infrastructure products for environmental activities, which acts as second adviser for the development of thematic convictions and due diligence on external funds. The fund, which is already being well received by institutional invetsors, will have initial capital of EUR40m to EUR50m, and will be offered as a priority to institutionals. It has a capacity of about EUR500m. With this new vehicle, which brings the number of funds managed to three, assets under management at Cedrus AM are expected to far exceed the EUR100m which would allow the firm to more solidly ensconce its asset management activities, which are still quite young.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The South African asset management firm Investec Asset Management has opened an office in Milan, Bluerating reports. It has also appointed Marco Orsi as head of sales for Italy, who joins from Allianz Global Invetors, where he had been head of retail distribution for Italy. He will work alongside Sarah Pastore, sales manager dedicated to the Italian market.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Vontobel Asset Management has decided to call in the services of Kneip to manage its data and produce regulatory documents such as KIID. Vontobel will rely on the services of Kneip for its full fund ranges domiciled in Switzerland and Luxembourg.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Rickesh Kishnani and David Robertson will in June launch the Platinum Whisky Investment Fund, the first private equity fund which proposes to make subscribers money off the growth in the price of Scotch single malt whisky, The Asset.com reports. The fund will take positions on single malt productions. The two co-heads of the fund are whisky lovers. Robertson was master distiller at the Scotch distillery The Macallan. The fund is registered in Hong Kong and has begun fundraising, with a target of USD10m. The minimal investment is USD250,000.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Steve Conway, the head of the Citigroup unit dedicated to hedge funds, has left the bank, Financial News reports. He had submitted his resignation last week, and is expected to occupy a new buy-side role, according to sources familiar with the matter.