JP Morgan Asset Management a recruté James Davidson, chez Bank of America Merrill Lynch, en tant que gérant actions mondiales de rendement, rapporte Citywire. Il rejoint le bureau de Londres et gérera les fonds JPM Global Equity Income et JPM Global Dividend. Il travaillera aux côtés de Gerhard Woort-Menker.

Habib Subjally a quitté First State où il était gérant d’actions mondiales, est en mesure de révéler Citywire Global. La société de gestion va fermer son fonds First State Global Opportunities. Interrogé par Citywire sur le départ du gérant, First State a répondu : « Après une revue interne, First State a décidé de fermer l’offre actions mondiales gérée par Habib Subjally et son équipes à Londres et de se concentrer sur deux autres offres actions mondiales - Worldwide and Worldwide Sustainability ».

F&C Investments a annoncé la nomination de Robert Thorpe au poste de head of consumer. L’intéressé rejoindra la société en décembre en provenance de Sarasin & Partners, où il était head of retail, après avoir été head of UK retail pendant neuf ans chez Cazenove Capital. Chez F&C Investments, Robert Thorpe sera responsable commercial et distribution pour la clientèle retail et les investment trusts.

M&G Investments a annoncé le 18 novembre le départ en retraite de l’un de ses gérants les plus connus, Graham French. Il confie dès à présent la gestion du fonds M&G Global Basics à son adjoint, Randeep Somel, qui travaille à ses côtés depuis plus de cinq ans. «Après presque 25 ans chez M&G, le moment est venu de passer le relais à la nouvelle génération de gérants de portefeuille. Je me retire en sachant que je laisse les actionnaires du fonds Global Basics entre de très bonnes mains», indique Graham French, cité dans un communiqué. Gérant adjoint du fonds M&G Global Basics depuis 2010, Randeep Somel a été formé à la gestion d’actions internationales en interne par M&G, tout comme Matthew Vaight, gérant du fonds M&G Global Emerging Markets Fund (1,4 milliard d’euros au 30 septembre 2013) et du fonds M&G Asian Fund (576 millions d’euros à la même date) ou encore Stuart Rhodes, gérant du fonds M&G Global Dividend Fund (9 milliards d’euros au 30 septembre également). Il est membre de l'équipe internationale depuis ses débuts chez M&G il y a presque neuf ans. Il n’y aura pas de changement dans l’approche d’investissement du fonds M&G Global Basics, dont l’encours s'élève fin septembre à 5,1 milliards d’euros, précise le communiqué. La philosophie et les principes d’investissement du fonds resteront inchangés : la gestion continuera à s’articuler autour d’un portefeuille de convictions sans contrainte de benchmark et composé d’environ 60 titres. Randeep Somel continuera d’utiliser le concept de « courbe du développement économique », un modèle d’investissement élaboré par Graham French au lancement du fonds, il y a 13 ans. Celui-ci définit différents thèmes et a pour objectif d’identifier des sociétés internationales bien placées pour profiter de l'évolution des tendances d’investissement et de consommation des 3,5 milliards de personnes vivant dans les pays émergents. Environ 60 % du fonds M&G Global Basics sont actuellement investi sau milieu de la courbe de développement économique, soit principalement dans les secteurs de la consommation et de l’industrie (au 8 novembre). Selon Graham French, «la prochaine étape de la croissance des marchés émergents sera certainement placée plus haut dans la courbe du développement économique. Je suis intimement convaincu que Randeep est la bonne personne pour piloter le fonds par rapport à ces nouvelles tendances. Je serai à la disposition de Randeep en tant que conseiller durant les six prochains mois, mais c’est bien lui qui est aux commandes à présent. Je continuerai à surveiller de près le fonds M&G Global Basics, notamment parce que j’y ai investi une bonne partie de ma retraite !». Seule ombre au tableau, le M&G Global Basic affiche un rendement de seulement 4,7% sur les trois dernières années, à comparer à un gain de plus de 33% pour l’indice de référence correspondant. A tel point, que selon Citywire, Graham French a récemment présenté ses excuses aux investisseurs pour la sous-performance de ce fonds dont les actifs sous gestion avaient culminé à 6,6 milliards de livres en juin 2011.

Les fonds Ucits ont enregistré en septembre une décollecte nette de 15 milliards d’euros alors qu’ils avaient terminé le mois précédent sur une collecte nette d’un montant équivalent en août, selon les statistiques mensuelles publiées par l’Association européenne des gestionnaires d’actifs (Efama).Cette évolution est due pour l’essentiel à une décollecte nette de 24 milliards d’euros en septembre, à comparer à des souscriptions pour un montant net de 15 milliards d’euros en août. Les fonds Ucits de long terme (c’est-à-dire hors fonds monétaires) ont affiché une collecte nette de 9 milliards alors que le mois d’août s'était soldé par une activité à l'équilibre. La collecte des fonds d’actions a progressé à 14 milliards d’euros en septembre contre 2 milliards le mois précédent tandis que les souscriptions dans les fonds diversifiés s’inscrivaient à 5 milliards d’euros contre 3 milliards d’euros en août.Les fonds obligataires ont en revanche subi une décollecte nette de 9 milliards d’euros en septembre contre 7 milliards d’euros en août.Les fonds non coordonnés ont enregistré pour leur part une collecte nette de 17 milliards d’euros contre 9 milliards en août, en raison principalement de souscriptions de plus de 16 milliards d’'euros dans les fonds institutionnels contre 4,7 milliards d’euros en août.Les actifs des fonds Ucits se sont accrus de 1,6% à fin septembre à 6.753 milliards d’euros, ceux des fonds non Ucits de 1,5% à 2.718 milliards d’euros.

Selon De Telegraaf relayé par Fund Nieuws, Royal Bank of Scotland est entré en négociations exclusives avec BNP Paribas pour la cession au groupe français de ses activités européennes de produits d’investissement structurés, dont les fameux «turbos» repris d’ABN Amro.De son côté, Fundweb rapporte que RBS a confirmé être actuellement en négociations «avec un potentiel acheteur externe» pour son activité investor product & equity derivatives (IP&ED).

Henderson GI lance un fonds obligataire mondial à haut rendement pour Chris Bullock et Kevin Loome, sa nouvelle recrue, est en mesure de dévoiler Citywire Global. Le fonds luxembourgeois, Henderson Horizon Global High Yield Bond, sera lancé le 19 novembre. Il aura au moins 70 % de titres libellés en dollars, euros et livres sterling dans un portefeuille de 75 à 125 titres.

Rothschild & Cie Gestion vient d’ouvrir un bureau à Milan et de recruter Alessio Coppola pour assurer le développement de la société de gestion parisienne en Italie.Nommé «country head», Alessio Coppola travaillait précédemment au sein de la société de gestion italienne Anima SGR où il s’occupait de l’activité «wholesale». Il est également passé à la Société Générale Asset Management où il était responsable de la distribution.Parmi ses fonctions, Alessio Coppola s’occupera de monter une équipe en Italie. «Nous voulons faire connaître notre marque et nos fonds aux investisseurs italiens et nous avons l’intention de bâtir une équipe dédiée entièrement italienne dans les prochains mois», indique-t-il dans un communiqué de presse italien.Le bureau de la société de gestion française se situera via Santa Radegonda 8, où se trouve déjà Rothschild Global Financial Advisory.L’objectif de Rothschild & Cie Gestion, qui affiche un encours d’environ 22 milliards d’euros, est de «développer l’activité de gestion d’actifs par le biais de relations de long terme avec ses clients, en comptant sur une gamme de fonds (actions, obligations d’entreprises zone euro, diversifies et flexibles monde) de qualité et sur l’offre de solutions d’investissement dédiées», selon le communiqué.

Les hedge funds dédiés aux marchés émergents ont dégagé de bons résultats au troisième trimestre, le HFRI Emerging Markets Total Index affichant un gain de 3% sur le trimestre et de 2,5% au cours du seul mois d’octobre si bien que la performance depuis le début de l’année s’inscrit à 4,7%, soit un résultat meilleur que la plupart des marchés d’actions des pays émergents.Les capitaux investis par les hedge funds sur les marchés émergents se sont accrus au niveau record de 161 milliards de dollars. Les actifs des hedge funds investis en Asie ont augmenté de 1,8 milliard de dollars au troisième trimestre pour s'établir à 42,3 milliards de dollars.

Wells Fargo va commercialiser 11 fonds en Suède via la plate-forme Nordnet, rapporte Realtid.se. La société de gestion américaine travaille aussi avec Folksam. Ces accords s’inscrivent dans le cadre du développement de Wells Fargo en Europe, et notamment dans les pays nordiques.

BNP Paribas Real Estate a annoncé lundi 18 novembre avoir noué au Maroc une alliance avec Yamed Capital, une société pluridisciplinaire indépendante de services immobiliers dont le siège est basé à Casablanca. Le contrat d’alliance signé entre BNP Paribas Real Estate et Yamed Capital porte sur les lignes de métier de l’asset management, de la transaction, de l’expertise, du property management, du conseil en développement et investissement immobilier, indique un communiqué.

Ossiam, the specialist ETF asset management firm for smart beta strategies, has announced that it has topped EUR1bn in assets, including EUR789bn in ETFs alone. In december 2012, the firm already had nearly EUR557m in assets under management via its strategy ETFs, a growth of 41.6% in nearly one year.The Natixis Global Asset Management affiliate sells Minimum Variance strategy ETFs and ETFs based on an Equal Weight strategy. This latter family, based on the STOXX Europe 600 universe, has posted the strongest growth in its assets (+164%) in the past twelve months, followed by Ossiam Emerging Markets minimum variance (+131%).

The Austrian-German asset management firm C-Quadrat on 18 November announced that as of 30 September, it had posted record assets of EUR4.8bn, which represents a 12% increase compared with the end of December.Net profits in third quarter totalled EUR3.5bn, compared with EUR0.6m in the corresponding period (an increase of 529%), while earnings of EUR42.9m were up 31% compared with July-September 2012. 85% of earnings come from management commissions, and 9% from performance commissions.

For the quarter to the end of September, Nuveen Investments has posted losses of USD6m, compared with USD76.7m for the corresponding period of last year, while losses in January-September total USD167.3m, compared with USD525.1m.The Chicago-based asset management firm has reported assets of USD214.86bn as of the end of September, compared with USD216bn as of the end of June, with net outflows of USD5.09bn in June-September. One year previously, assets under management totalled USD220.09bn, after net redemptions of USD74m in third quarter 2012.Nuveen Investments has also announced the recruitment of David R. Wilson, who had been responsible for more than USD9bn in customised mandates at Cutwater Asset Management, as managing director, to lead the new Institutional Solutions Group unit. He will report to Bill Huffman, chairman of Nuveen Asset Management, and will lead a team responsible for designing custom strategies for retirement savings plans, public funds, charities, insurers, and other institutional investors.Lastly, the asset management firm has appointed Maureen Beshar as executive vice president and head of institutional sales, based in New York. She will join in December, and will report to Tom Schreier, vice chairman of wealth management. She had previously been head of institutional sales & consultant relations at Clearbridge Investments.

Jennifer Drake, ex-managing director at Goldman Sachs, has been appointed as head of development at DW Investment Management, the US-based credit division of Brevan Howard, Financial News reports. She will be based in New York and will chair the executive and risk boards at the asset management firm.

Assets in catastrophe bonds (cat bonds) currently total USD19bn, and may reach USD50bn by the end of 2018, according to a report by BNY Mellon (The disaster gap: How insurers and the capital markets can harness big data to close the gap). The compound average growth rate (CAGR) for this asset class is expected to come to 20% for the period under review.In terms of insurance-linked securities (ILS), of which cat bonds form part, assets are expected to reach USD150bn by the end of 2018, with a CAGR of 25%.By comparison, the CAGR for the past 13 years has been 24% for ILS, and 30% for cat bonds over the last 9 years..

The Credit Suisse group is in the process of setting up a new division which will group fixed income, currency and commodity operations, and which will result in staff reductions of 100 people in London and New York, the news agency Bloomberg reports, having obtained an internal memo distributed to personnel.The new division, entitled Global Macro Products, will be led jointly by the global head of fixed income, Joni Kinol, in New York, and the global head of currencies, David Tait in London. A spokesperson for the group in Zurich has confirmed the reports.

Julius Baer on 19 November announced that its affiliate Infidar will merge with WM Partners to form one of the largest independent wealth management firms in Switzerland. Infidar Conseils en Investissements SA (Infidar), founded in 1954, with headquarters in Zurich, has 26 employees, and is led by Markus Gonseth since 2007. WMPartners Vermögensverwaltungs AG (WMPartners), also based in Zurich, was founded in 1971, and is managed by three partners: Willi Leimer, Balthasar Meier and Heiner Grüter. The two businesses are currently leaders in independent wealth management in Switzerland.Initially, the Julius Baer group has taken over shares in WMPartners. In a second phase, Infidar will merge with WMPArtners. The conditions of the transaction will not be made public. With a total of about 50 employees and CHF4bn in client assets, the business will be one of the largest independent wealth managers in Switzerland, and will collaborate with 30 depository banks.

The Cantonal Bank of Zurich (ZKB) has taken over market making for 32 investment funds on behalf of the Swiss SIX stock exchange, the Swiss stock market announced on 18 November. As a new sponsor and market maker, ZKB is introducing 18 new products for trading on the Zurich market. ZKB is also taking over market making for 14 other products for which the Julius Baer bank is assuming the same role, SIX says in a statement. Overall, about 304 sponsored funds are traded on the Swiss stock market.

Rothschild & Cie Gestion has opened an office in Milan and recruited Alessio Coppola to ensure development of the Paris-based asset management firm in Italy. Coppola, who will have the title of country head, previously worked at the Italian asset management firm Anima SGR, where he served in the wholesale activity. He has also worked at Société Générale Asset Management, where he was head of distribution. Among his responsibilities, Coppola will be responsible for assembling a team in Italy. “We want to make our brand and our investment funds known to Italian investors, and we intend to build an entirely dedicated Italian team in the next few months,” he says in an Italian press statement. The office of the French asset management firm will be located at via Santa Radegonda 8, where Rothschild Global Financial Advisory is already located. The objective for Rothschild & Cie Gestion, which has assets of about EUR22bn, is to “develop asset management activities via long-term relationships with clients, based on a range of quality funds (equities, euro zone corporate bonds, diversified and global flexibles), and the range of dedicated investment solutions,” the statement says.

Pimco will launch a wave of recruitments of managers, traders and analysts at the beginning of next year, in order to build up its equity unit, Financial News reports. The process will be led by Virginie Maisonneuve, who will join the firm from Schroders in January.

F&C Investments has announced the appointment of Robet Thorpe as head of consumer. He will join the firm in December from Sarasin & Partners, where he had been head of retail, after serving as head of UK retail for nine years at Cazenove Capital. At F&C Investments, Thorpe will be responsible for sales and distribution to retail clients and investment trusts.

M&G Investments in 18 November announced that one of its best-known managers, Graham French, is retiring. He will now hand the management of the M&G Global Basics fund to his deputy, Randeep Somel, who has been working alongside him for more than five years. “After nearly 25 years at M&G, the time has come to pass the baton to another generation of portfolio managers. I am retiring knowing that I am leaving the shareholders in the Global Basics fund in very good hands,” saysa French in a statement.The deputy manager of the M&G Global Basics fund since 2010, Somel was trained in international equity management internally at M&G, as was Matthew Vaight, manager of the M&G Global Emerging Markets Fund (EUR1.4bn as of 30 September 20130, and the M&G Asian Fund (EUR576m as of the same date) and Stuart Rhodes, manager of the M&G Global Dividend Fund (EUR9bn, also as of 30 September). He has been a member of the international team since he began at M&G nearly nine years ago.There will be no changes to the investment approach of the M&G Global Basics fund, whose assets as of the end of September totalled EUR5.1bn, the statement sayas. The philosophy and investment principles of the fund will remain unchanged: management will continue to be oriented around a conviction portfolio without benchmark constraints and composed of about 60 positions.The only dark spot in the picture is that the M&G Global Basic shows returns of only 4.7% in the past three years, compared with gains of more than 33% for the corresponding benchmark index. According to Citywire, French has recently apologised to investors for the underperformance of the fund, whose assets under management peaked at GBP6.6bn in June 2011.

Aberdeen Asset Management on 18 November announced that it has signed a final agreement with Lloyds Banking Group to construct a long-term strategic alliance, which will include the acquisition of Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) by Aberdeen, as well as its private equity fund management and infrastructure fund management operations.The announcement confirms reports in the British press (Newsmanagers of 18 November). The cost of the transaction totals about GBP550m, with an additional payment over five years of up to GBP100m, depending on the performance recorded. Assets under management and activities acquired by Aberdeen total about GBP136bn.Aberdeen has also published its results for the period to 30 September, which include an increase of 7% to its assets under management, to GBP200.4bn, compared with GBP187.2bn one year previously. The year finished with outflows of GBP2.5bn, however.Pre-tax profits were up 39%, to GBP482.7m, compared with GBP347.8m.

JP Morgan Asset Management has recruited James Davidson from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, as a global income equity fund manager, Citywire reports. He is joining the London office, and will manage the JPM Global Equity Income and JPM Global Dividend funds. He will work alongside Gerhard Woort-Menker.

Henderson is launching a global high yield fund by Chris Bullock and Kevin Loome, his new recruit, Citywire Global reports. The Luxembourg fund, Henderson Horizon Global High Yield Bond, will be launched on 19 November. It will have at leat 70% bonds denominated in US dollars, euros, or pounds sterling, in a portfolio of 75 to 125 positions.

Indirect victims of the fraud by Bernard Madoff will now be able to recuperate a part of the money they lost, the Wall Street Journal reports. Previously, only investors who had invested directly with Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities could claim reimbursement. Investors in feeder funds were excluded from a share of the funds recovered by Irving Picard, legal trustee for the seized assets of Madoff. But since Monday, investors may recover the money from Richard C. Breeden, who has been appointed by the Manhattan prosecutor’s office to distribute USD2.35bn in assets to the victims of Madoff.

UCITS recorded net outflows of EUR 15 billion in September, compared to net inflows of EUR 15 billion in August, according to the European Fund and Asset Management Association. This turnaround in net sales can be attributed to large net outflows from money market funds. They registered net outflows in September of EUR 24 billion, compared to net inflows in August of EUR 15 billion. Long-term UCITS (UCITS excluding money market funds) registered increased net inflows in September of EUR 9 billion, up from break-even point in August. Net sales of equity funds rose to EUR 14 billion from EUR 2 billion a month earlier, while net sales of balanced funds increased to EUR 5 billion from EUR 3 billion in August. Bond funds registered net outflows of EUR 9 billion, up from EUR 7 billion in August. Total non-UCITS recorded a rise in net sales to EUR 17 billion, up from EUR 9 billion in August. This increase in net sales can be attributed to special funds (funds reserved to institutional investors) which registered net inflows of EUR 16 billion, compared to EUR 5 billion in August. Total net assets of UCITS stood at EUR 6,753 billion at end September 2013, representing a 1.6 percent increase during the month.

To make the expertise of its affiliate K2 Advisors (acquired in September 2012 and taken over on 1 November 2012) for alternative solutions available to retail clients in the United States, Franklin Templeton on 18 November announced the launch of the Franklin K2 Alternative Strategies Fund, whose ticker on Nasdaq is FAAAX.The fund complies with the Investment Act of 1940, and will dynamically allocate assets to various alternative asset managers and strategies (event-driven, global macro, long/short equity, relative value). K2 Advisors will adjust allocations on an ongoing basis with the objective of generating capital gains with lower volatility than that of equity markets.The first list of managers selected includes the following names:Basso Capital Management, L.P.Chatham Asset Management, LLCChilton Investment Company, Inc.Impala Asset Management LLCJennison Associates LLCLazard Asset Management LLCLoomis Sayles & Company, L.P.P. Schoenfeld Asset Management LLCYork Capital Management L.P.The net expense ratio is 2.75%, and the maximal initial sales charge is set at 5.75%.

Wells Fargo will sell 11 funds in Sweden via the Nordnet platform, Realtid.se reports. The US-based asset management firm is also working with Folksam. These agreements come as part of the development of Wells Fargo in Europe, particularly in the Scandinavian countries.