L’allemand Hauck & Aufhäuser Privatbankiers a annoncé le 19 septembre avoir recruté Marc Kriegsmann comme directeur général chez Hauck & Aufhäuser Alternative Investment Services SA à Luxembourg. Il sera plus particulièrement responsable du développement, de la conception de produits et les corporate services. Les deux autres directeurs généraux de H&A AIS sont Mario Warny et Jürgen Maximini.Marc Kriegsmann était en dernier lieu l’un des directeurs généraux d’Alceda Fund Management SA, avec la responsabilité de la structuration et de la gestion de portefeuilles ainsi que des finances.
Old Mutual Global Investors a attribué un mandat de 50 millions de dollars à AllianceBernstein, rapporte Fund Web.Ce mandat porte sur la gestion d’une poche d’actions américaines au sein du fonds Old Mutual Voyager Global Dynamic Equity, géré par François Zagamé et dont les actifs sous gestion s'élèvent à 1,1 milliard de livres.
Pour le compte de son UK Retail Warehouse Fund (1,07 milliard de livres), Henderson Global Investors (HGI) a vendu le Pentavia Retail Park moyennant 27,8 millions de livres, ce qui reflète un taux de rendement initial net de 5,97 %.Cet actif de 92.900 pieds carrés a été loué à Homebase, Argos et TGI Friday.
Dexia a annoncé être entrée en négociations exclusives avec la société de gestion New York Life Investments en vue de la cession de la totalité de ses actions dans Dexia Asset Management, faisant suite à la remise d’une offre liante de la société. Ces négociations interviennent alors que la société de gestion FinEx Capital avait annoncé mercredi soir avoir lancé une offre pour acquérir 100 % du capital de Dexia Asset Management auprès du groupe bancaire (lire Newsmanagers du 19.09.2013).New York Life Investments, filiale à 100% de New York Life Insurance Company, totalise 388 milliards de dollars d’actifs sous gestion au 31 juillet 2013. New York Life Investments offre "à travers de multiples structures dédiées, un accès à une gamme de produits d’investissement fixed-income, actions et alternatifs à une clientèle d’investisseurs institutionnels et de particuliers», précise Dexia dans un communiqué. Le groupe bancaire ajoute que «New York Life Investments constitue un partenaire solide pour appuyer le développement commercial de Dexia Asset Management». Dexia souligne être confiant dans les capacités d’exécution de New York Life Investments en cas de signature d’un accord de cession. Le groupe précise que tout accord entre les parties est soumis à la finalisation de ses principaux termes ainsi qu’au respect du processus de consultation des instances de représentation du personnel.
Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM) met les projecteurs sur ses fonds dividendes régionaux. Dominée par le fonds historique DWS Top Dividende et le fonds DWS Invest Emerging Markets Top Dividend Plus, la gamme compte depuis septembre 2012 trois fonds régionaux : DWS Invest II Asian Top Dividend, DWS Invest II European Top Dividend, et DWS Invest II US Top Dividend. DeAWM souhaite aujourd’hui lancer la phase de «commercialisation active» de ces produits complémentairesSelon Philippe Goettmann, responsable de la distribution pour la France et Monaco chez Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, il existe un réel intérêt de la part des investisseurs français pour les fonds régionaux, qui leur permettent d’orienter l’allocation de leurs investissements. Les trois produits pèsent pour le moment entre 10 millions et 12 millions d’euros pour les fonds sur les Etats-Unis et l’Europe et 100 millions pour celui sur l’Asie. La stratégie DWS Top Dividende a attiré 2,5 milliards d’euros de souscriptions depuis le début de cette année.
La mode étant manifestement aux fonds marchés émergents, les différents promoteurs mettent en exergue dans leurs présentations de ces dernières semaines les particularités de leur offre. Par exemple, l’originalité du luxembourgeois Oyster Emerging Opportunities, relancé le 17 août 2012, consiste en l’utilisation d’un indice exclusif développé par Katia Coudray Cornu et son équipe de huit personnes. Il s’agit d’un indice équipondéré et contrarian, géographiquement diversifié, où les poids des petits pays sont ajustés en fonction d’un facteur de liquidité.L’autre source de surperformance du fonds tient au fait que Syz a confié ce fonds Oyster à un gestionnaire qui lui est complémentaire, qui se focalise sur la sélection de valeurs et qui ne peut s'écarter de l’indice que de 2,5 % dans les deux sens. Le groupe helvétique a en effet retenu le bostonien Acadian Asset Management, filiale d’Old Mutual, qui gère 55,7 milliards de dollars, dont 16,6 milliards sur les marchés émergents, principalement en actions.Cette formule a permis au fonds (111 millions de dollars) de collecter en net 54 millions de dollars (73 millions depuis le changement de stratégie) et de réaliser une performance de 3,5 % en un peu plus d’un an contre une perte de 1,8 % pour le MSCI Emerging Markets.
Mirko Cardinale, le responsable de l’allocation stratégique d’Aviva Investors, va rejoindre Russell Investments en tant que responsable de l’allocation d’actifs pour l’Europe, le Moyen-Orient et l’Afrique, selon Financial News, qui cite des sources proches du dossier.
Between 2009 and 2013, about 45% of retail investors have chosen ETFs, compared with about 15% previously, in their mid-term asset allocations, according to a study by Create-Research. This is a sharp increase, which can also be observed for opportunity-driven investors.In addition to ETFs, retail investors have favoured two other asset classes in their mid-term asset allocations: actively-managed equity and bond funds (up 4 points between 2009 and 2013) and traditional tracker funds (+6).An asset class whose popularity is diminishing is funds which offer capital protection, which have lost 5 percentage points, both for mid-term allocations and for opportunistic investments.For high net worth investors, five asset classes have been favoured in mid-term allocations: traditional index funds, ETFs, hedge funds, private equity and real estate. ETFs, whose use has risen sharply, is also primarily used for opportunistic investments. Currency and commodity funds have fallen into disgrace, however. Lastly, two asset classes have emerged: multi-aset class funds, and fund with an income bias.
The Principles for Responsible Investment Initiative (PRI) has announced that two new members had joined its advisory council following its annual signatory elections.Colin Melvin, CEO, Hermes Equity Ownership Services (Hermes EOS), and Peter Webster, CEO, EIRIS, were elected to the two non-asset owner positions open for election this year. Niels Erik Petersen, CIO, Unipension, was re-elected to the position reserved for a European asset owner, which he has held since the advisory council was assembled in 2011. The new advisory council members replace Ann Byrne, CEO, Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI), and Melissa Brown, Partner, Daobridge Capital Ltd, who are stepping down after completing their terms. Council members can serve up to three consecutive three-year terms.
UBS Global Asset Management has recruited the fund manager Dan Neuger to join its US growth large caps team, Citywire reports. Neuger had previously spent 10 years at PineBridge Investments.
Thomas H. Dürmüller, who became head of Banque Reyl only two years ago, when the firm opened a Zurich office, has decided to leave the firm, and to start a new company, Solitaire Aquila, the specialist news agency finews reports. Troubled times in French banking and divergences of point of view with heads of the bank may have been the cause of the premature departure of Dürmüller.
Delubac Asset Management has announced in a statement released on 19 September that the emerging market equity fund of funds Delubac Global Emergents is in the process of being created. The fund will be managed by Sébastien Legoff.Delubac has also announced that it has re-centred its mutual fund range, which is now composed of three multi-managed funds, (in addition to Delubac Global Emergents, Delubac Patrimoine and Delubac PEA) and a range of direct management products, with a fund centred on corporate bonds, and the Delubac Pricing Power fund, dedicated to European equities.The recreation of the fund range comes as part of a planned global development of Delubac AM, initiated by the new management team in late 2011, which will include reinforcing the bank and Delubac AM’s presence serving IFAs. Delubac & Cie will also his year for the first time participate in Patrimonia.“Our desire to develop serving IFAs is a natural step for Delubac AM,” says Franck Lepetit, Chairman of the board. “We an affiliate of an independent French bank, we share the same values as IFAs, of entrepreneurship, risk measurement, the search for sustainable performance and valuation of wealth. Our range of funds has been re-thought since late 2012 with this in mind, in orde to better meet the expectations of IFAs.”
Aviva Investors France (EUR93m in assets under management as of 30 June 2013) has obtained a license from the AMF for a short-term credit fund hedged for interest rate risks, according to a statement released on 19 September. The management process for the fund will be similar to that of the Aviva Investors Euro Credit Bond 1-3 fund, plus a flexible mechanism to hedge against interest rate risks. The firm has already set up this hedging strategy successfully for several insurance mandates, and would now like to offer this exposure as part of its collective management. Denis Lehman, head of mutual fund management at Aviva Investors France, says that “in the current context, the Aviva Investors Euro Credit Bonds 1-3 HD fund will allow investors to diversify their exposure to credit, with exposure to assets with shorter maturity, while confronting the risk of rising interest rates.”
Samantha Davidson, Raymond Chan and Chris Lvoff, of the global portfolio solutions team, have been made responsible by Goldman Sachs Asset Management for managing the new multi-asset class, absolute return fund Goldman Sachs Multi-Asset Real Return Fund, whose prospectus was released on 30 August.The product (acronym for A shares: GHRAX) is exposed to asset classes which are sensitive to inflation, including opportunistic bonds, commodities, and a selected equity sectors.For the A share class, the front-end fee is 5.50%, and the total expense ratio is capped to 1.27%.
Agefi reports that the hedge fund founded by Michael Platt has announced that it made USD648m in profits last year, compared with USD587m in 2011.Management and performance commissions were up 28%, to USD999m, on the basis of growth in assets under management (USD34.3bn as of the end of the year).
Crédit du Nord has launched Etoile Multi Gestion USA, an equity fund which provides access to managers with international reputations, selected for the complementarity of their management styles. The selection is carried out in collaboration with Russell. The “Multi-Styles, Multi-Managers” method is based on the principle that each manager has a specific approach and investment style (for example: high yield versus growth shares), a statement says. At the conclusionn of the selection process, Russell has chosen 5 US managers: Icap, Jacobs Levy, Montag & Caldwell, Suffolk CM and Welles Capital Management. Etoile Multi Gestion USA aimms to outperform the Russell 1000 index, and is inveted in US dollars with currency risk. Characteristics ISIN code: FR0010241281 Minimal subscription: 1/10,000 of 1 share Front-end fee: 2% Withdrawal penalty: none Management fee: 2.58% total including all taxes
Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM) is shining the limelight on its regional dividend funds. Dominated by the historic fund DWS Top Dividende and the DWS Invest Emerging Markets Top Dividend Plus fund, the range also, since September 2012, includes three regional funds: DWS Invest II Asian Top Dividend, DWS Invest II European Top Dividend, and DWS Invest II US Top Dividend. DeAWM would now like to begin the “active sales” phase for these complementary products. Accordng to Philippe Goettmann, head of distribution for France and Monaco at Deutsche Asset & Wealth Managemnet, there is real interest on the part of French investors in regional funds, which allow them to orient the allocation of their investments. The three products for the moment account for EUR10m to EuR12m for funds focused on the United States and Europe, and EUR100m for funds focused on Asia. The DWS Top Dividende strategy has attracted EUR2.5bn in subscriptions since the beginning of this year.
Goldman Sachs Investment Partners is in the process of raising funds for a new Asian hedge fund to be known as Oryza Capital, the news agency Bloomberg reports. The fund, which will invest in the entire Asian region, including Australia and Japan, and whose inflow objectives have not yet been set, will be managed by a team led by Hideki Kinhuata in Tokyo, and Ryan Hall in Hong Kong. Assets in hedge funds dedicated to Asia totalled USD98.4bn as of the end of June 2013, their highest level since 2007, according to statistics from Hedge Fund Research.
At a time when the fashion is clearly for emerging market funds, the various providers have been highlighting the particularities of their product ranges in their presentations in the past few weeks. For example, the originality of the Luxembourg-registered Oyster Emerging Opportunities fund, relaunched on 17 August 2012, is that it uses an proprietary index developed by Katia Coudray Cornu and her team of eight people. It is an equally-weighted, contrarian index, which is geographically diversified, and in which the various smaller countries are weighted according to a liquidity factor.The other source of outperformance for the fund is related to the fact that Syz has contracted out the fund to a manager which is complementary to itself, which focuses on stock-picking and which cannot diverge from the index by more than 2.5% in either direction. The Swiss group has retained the Boston-based Acadian Asset Management, an affiliate of Old Mutual, which has USD55.7bn in AUM, of which USD16.6bn are on emerging markets, primarily in equities.This solution has allowed the fund (USD111m) to post net inflows of USD54m (USD73m since the change of strategy) and to earn returns of 3.5% in slightly over one year, compared with a loss of 1.8% for the MSCI Emerging Markets.
Mirko Cardinale, head of strategic asset allocation at Aviva Investors, will be joining Russell Investments as head of asset allocation for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, according to Financial News, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Dexia has announced that it has entered exclusive negotiations with the asset management firm New York Life Investments over a sale of all shares in Dexia Asset Management, following the submission of a binding offer by New York Life Investments. The negotiations come at a time when the asset management firm FinEx Capital had on Wednesday evening announced that it had issued a bid to buy 100% of capital in Dexia Asset Management from the banking group (see Newsmanagers of 19 September 2013). New York Life Investments, the wholly-owned subsidiary of New York Life Insurance Company, has a total of USd388bn in assets under management as of 31 July 2013. New York Life Investments «ranks among the world’s largest asset managers and through its multiple-boutique investment structure, offers access to an array of fixed income, equities and alternative products for institutional and retail clients,” Dexia says in a statement. The banking group adds that “New York Life Investments represents a solid partner to support the commercial development of Dexia Asset Management.” Dexia feels Life Investments constitutes a solid partner to pursue Dexia Asset Management’s commercial development. Moreover, Dexia is confident in its execution capacities, should an agreement be signed. Any agreement by the parties would be subject to finalization of its key terms and of the employee consultation process in accordance with the applicable legal framework.
Henderson Global Investors (HGI), on behalf of its UK Retail Warehouse Fund (GBP1.07bn), has sold the Pentavia Retail Part, for GBP27.8m, reflecting an initial rate of return of 5.97%.The 92,900 square foot property is leased to Homebase, Argos and TGI Friday.
Sophie del Campo, head of Natixis Global Asset Management (NGAM) for the Iberian peninsula and Latin America, has told Funds People that Natixis Asset Management (NAM) on 6 September registered its Luxembourg Sicav Natixis AM funds with the CNMV.So far, only a few sub-funds are available, but new ones will soon be offered, such as the NAM Minimum Variance Europe, NAM Volatility Actions and NAM Crédit 1-3.
Fidelity Worldwide Investment will be making “selective” recruitments in the coming months in order to capture a part of the Asian institutional client base, Asian Investor reports. About 70% of Asian and European clients of Fidelity are “retail,” and 30% institutional. But Chris McNickle, its global head of institutional activity, anticipates a more rapid acceperation of the institutional segment. According to estimates by Asian Investor, Asian clients of Fidelity represented USD22.1bn as of the end of 2012, out of total assets of USD305.5bn as of the end of June.
The CEO of Assenagon Client Service GmbH and Assenagon GmbH, Martin Weithöfer, has been recruited as head of smart beta by Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM), where he will report to Reinhard Bellet, global head of passive asset management. Weithöfer will be responsible for developing the smart beta unit, particularly with respect to designing solutions and products.
The Italian asset management firm Azimut has launched a UCITS IV fund dedicated entirely to hybrid bonds, Bluerating reports. The fund, entitled AZ Fund Bybrid Bonds, is aimed at private clients able to invest at least EUR25,000.
Old Mutual Global Investors has won a mandate for USD50m from AllianceBernstein, Fund Web reports. The mandate is for the management of an allocation of US equities within the Old Mutual Voyager Global Dynamic Equity fund, managed by François Zagamé, whose assets under management total GBP1.1bn.
Pour sa première réunion en tant que gouverneur de la banque centrale indienne, Raghuram Rajan a décidé de resserrer contre toute attente son taux de refinancement de 25 points de base (bp), pour le porter à 7,5%. Une décision qui s’accompagne d’un «retrait progressif» des mesures exceptionnelles de resserrement des conditions de liquidité prises en juillet pour réduire la volatilité du taux de change. Depuis son plus bas historique enregistré fin août, la roupie s’est reprise de 11% contre dollar, pour atteindre 62,15 vendredi. Elle reste néanmoins en baisse de 13% depuis le début de l’année.
Le réseau de télévision hispanophone Univision Communications, basé à New York, a tenu ces dernières semaines des discussions avec des banques au sujet d’une introduction en Bourse qui pourrait intervenir au second semestre 2014, croit savoir Reuters. Univision a été retiré de la cote en 2007 du fait de son rachat par Madison Dearborn Partners, Providence Equity Partners, TPG et Thomas H. Lee Partners.