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02/04/2013

Investors reduce exposure to Europe

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Uncertainty related to chaotic Italian elections and a bailout of the Cypriot banking sector have driven investors to reduce their engagements in funds exposed to Europe in the final days of March. Equity funds, money market funds and European bond funds have seen significant redemptions in the week to 28 March, as have emerging Europe and Russian equity funds, according to statistics released by SPFR Global.However, US equity funds have continued to post inflows, and for the first time since January, inflows to actively-managed funds have exceeded those to ETFs. Japanese equity funds have continued to attract investors, while inflows have for the first time toppe USD2bn in the space of a single week.Equity funds overall have posted net inflows of USD1.9bn, while bond funds have finished the week with net inflows of USD3.72bn. Money market funds have finished the week with losses, due to net outflows of USD9.3bn from European money market funds.For bonds, US funds took the lion’s share, but high yield bond funds finished the week with inflows of nearly USD1bn, while bank loan debt funds posted subscriptions totalling USD1bn for the eighth consecutive week.
02/04/2013

Assénagon launches a corporate bond fund

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The new fund from the Munich-absed firm Assénagon Asset Management (which manages ETF portfolios for Source), Assénagon Credit Selection, is an institutional, Luxembourg-registered, UCITS-compliant fund, which aims to generate revenues from interest 3.5 percentage points higher than the Euribor 3-month, while avoiding currency and interest rate risks.The new product is managed by Michael Hünseler, CEO of Assénagon since 1 August 2012 (and formerly of Bayerische HypoVereinsbank, of the Unicredit group, and of Deka), and the fund will start up with assets of over EUR100m.The portfolio is invested largely in corporate bonds and CDS. In order to avoid concentration risks, the fund uses no benchmark index, and is focused on issuers rated at least B- (Fitch and S&P) or B3 (Moody’s). Currently, the fund is primarily allocated to positions on European industrials.CharacteristicsName: Assénagon Credit SelectionISIN code: LU0890803710Front-end fee: maximum 2.5% for P (retail) share classManagement commission:0.70% (I, industrial, share class)1.20% (P share class)Performance commission: 15% of performance exceeding the hurdle rate (Euribor 3 month) + 350 basis points per year.
02/04/2013

Maximum draw-down for absolute return funds declines with age

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Over five years of crisis, the 498 UCITS-compliant absolute return funds on sale in Germany (including 210 hedge funds) as of the end of December have posted average gains of 0.78% per year, compared with losses of 2.89% for the HFR Global Hedge Funds Index, and of 9.74% for Euro Stoxx 50 return funds, the Frankfurt-based asset management firm Lupus alpha reports.Only 64.9% of these funds, with assets as of the end of December representing EUR95.9bn, show positive returns, compared with 58.8% as of 30 June 2012. Lupus alpha has extended its analysis this year to include all absolute return funds, including hedge funds, as soon as they come into compliance with UCITS III (see Newsmanagers of 13 February 2012).Of 168 absolute return funds analysed over five years, only 34% show a positive Sharpe ratio over five years, and they range from 1.48 to -1.61.The average maximum draw-down (MDD) for the period under review (2008-2012) comes out to 14.22% also with a wide range form -0.31% to -87.6%. The study also finds that the verage MDD for funds whose track record is 0 to 3 years long stands at 5.65%, while it is 4.59% for those with 3-5 years in existence. For funds over 5 years old, the average MDD is only 3.19%.
02/04/2013

Considerable increase in assets at Swiss Life Banque Privée

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } At a press conference about investment strategy, Swiss Life Banque Privée (SLBP) has revealed a few figures about its activities in France. The structure, founded in 2007, has EUR1.6bn in assets, resulting from the acquisition of Wargny from Fideuram, and then of Arpège, which as of the end of December had assets under management of EUR3.2bn, including EUR248m in net inflows in 2012, says Tanguy Polet, CEO.The portfolio is 15-20% ventilated to open-ended funds, and 25% to structured products, primarily fixed income, while the remainder is in mandates, primarily for equities. SLBP serves both as a private bank for clients with over EUR250,000 in financial savings, and as an expertise-sharing resource for products and services of the insurance company’s network. In addition, the firm has entered the depositary business for funds and general assets of the insurer, and has about EUR20bn under custody. The structure, which has 111 employees in Paris, has also recently created a “transverse” private banking/insurance management. The company covers four business units: financial management, wealth management, corporate finance and real estate.
02/04/2013

HSBC GAM France appoints a successor to Laurent Tignard

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } According to information obtained by Newsmanagers, HSBC Global Asset Management (France) is preparing to announce the arrival of a successor to Laurent Tignard as CEO of the asset management firm. He is Matteo Pardi, an insider who for the past six years has been responsible for retail clients in continental Europe, and who joined HSBC in 2001.Tignard joins the Edmond de Rothschild group as global head of the asset management operation, where he will work with Christophe de Backer, its CEO, with whom he collaborated at HSBC.
02/04/2013

Fidelity Contrafund reduces exposure to Apple

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } As of the end of February, the Fidelity Contrafund (USD92bn, or EUR71.76bn) had reduced its exposure to Apple to 10.43 million shares (which corresponds to USD4.6bn), from 11.56 million shares as of the end of December, Expansión reports. The Apple position, the largest for the fund, now equates to 5.2% of assets, down from 8.2%, making it smaller than its stake in Google, which represents 5.8% of assets under management.
02/04/2013

Invesco AM finishes 2012 with inflows in France

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } At a press conference held by Invesco AM on Thursday, 28 March in Paris, Nicolas Bouët, deputy CEO, announced that the asset management firm had posted gross subscriptions in France of USD1.6bn in 2012, and about USD700m in net subscriptions. By comparison, gross inflows as of the beginning of December totalled about USD1.2bn, of which more than half were net inflows. At the end of last year, global assets totalled EUR3.5bn, while as of the end of May 2012, they stood at EUR2bn. Since the beginning of this year, “the trend remains the same, just a little bit short,” the director says.
02/04/2013

Head of SAC Capital buys a Picasso for USD155m

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Two weeks after SAC Capital settled two insider cases with the SEC for USD616m, the billionaire Steven Cohen, head of the asset management firm, has bought himself a Picasso painting for USD155m, Forbes reports. The artwork was purchased from the billionaire Steve Wynn.
02/04/2013

Acatis Invest gets a sales representative in Paris

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Acatis Investment has announced the recruitment in mid-March of Marie Ballorain for the position of director of development for France and Belgum. The German asset management firm did not yet have an official representative office, but it is planning to open one this autumn. Ballorain had previously been senior relationship manager at Sparinvest in Paris, from 2006 to 2013.Acatis Investment had EUR1.75bn in assets under management as of the end of February 2013. The range on sale in France includes four products: Acatis Aktien Global Funds UI, an international equity fund with EUR290m in assets, Acatis Gané Value Event Fonds, a mixed balanced fund combining value and event-driven management (EUR467m in assets), Acatis IfK Value Renten UI, an international value bond fund (EUR187m in assets) and Acatis Aktien Deutschland ELM, a fund of German value equities, with EUR83m in assets.
02/04/2013

ERAFP awards management mandates for multi-asset funds of funds

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The French public pension fund Etablissement de retraite additionnelle de la fonction publique (ERAFP) has awarded one active and two stand-by management mandates for multi-asset funds of funds as part of a policy to extend its investment universe, in line with the five values of the SRI charter. In July 2012, ERAFP launched a restricted request for proposals, for management of a multi-asset SRI fund of funds. Following the selection process, the ERAFP has decided to award the active mandate to Amundi. The additional managers are BNP Paribas Asset Management and Neuflize OBC Investissements. Following a fundamental approach, unconstrained by a benchmark, the management firm will construct its portfolio in line with a rigorous asset allocation and fund selection process, which will include respect for the SRI framework of ERAFP. The mandated firm will seek to maximise returns while limiting losses on the portfolio over a one-year period, through management of the risk budget. The sums invested for a one-year period may be on the order of EUR150m, and may rise to about EUR300m in three years’ time, the ERAFP says in a statement. The initial duration of the contract is four years, with a means for ERAFP to reduce the length of the contract for two successive periods of two years each.
02/04/2013

Dexia AM reshuffles its emerging market debt team

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Dexia Asset Management has announced two internal promotions in its emerging market debt team, following the departure of the head of the unit, Luc d’Hooge, for Vontobel, Citywire Global reports. Leen Clijsters, who has been at Dexia for 30 years, becomes head of two funds previously overseen by d’Hooge (Dexia Bonds Emerging Markets and Dexia Bonds Emerging Debt Local Currencies). At the same time, Isabelle Rome becomes head of the emerging market debt team. She had previously been co-head of the credit team.
02/04/2013

European investors remain very satisfied with ETFs

The annual EDHEC European ETF Survey 2012, which represents a comprehensive survey of 212 European ETF investors shows that ETFs remain the favourite choice of investors for passive investment, with consistently high satisfaction levels (equity ETF satisfaction rates have been consistently in the region of 90%). It also documents that there has been an increase in the use of ETFs for corporate bonds, infrastructure and real estate.The survey, which was conducted as part of the Amundi ETF research chair at EDHEC-Risk Institute on “Core-Satellite and ETF Investment» shows that demand for innovation is high in different asset categories, with 49% of respondents seeking development of emerging market equity ETFs, and there is also demand for new forms of indices, such as «smart beta» ETFs.It should also be stressed that the great majority of European investors think that ETFs should remain as beta-producing products (81% of respondents). However, 17% of respondents were of the opinion that ETFs should become actively managed, which is an increase from just 11% in 2011.Turning to regulation at large, ESMA recommendations of July 2012 have been warmly welcomed by investors, with 77% agreeing that the guidelines have achieved their stated aim of improving investor protection. And support for the ESMA recommendations is even stronger on the subject of revenues from securities lending. Investors are overwhelmingly in favour of the requirement to return securities lending revenue net of costs to the ETF investor, with 84% of respondents in agreement.The ESMA guidelines appear to have been informative and setting standards in the right direction. The overall issue of index transparency has been very positively viewed by investors.
02/04/2013

New head for Southern Europe at Fidelity

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Paolo Federici, country manager for Italy at Fidelity, has been appointed as head for Southern Europe and Latin America at the US asset management firm, Bluerating reports. He will be responsible for Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Greece, Israel and South America, in addition to Italy. Last year, assets under management by Fidelity in Italy increased by about USD3bn.
02/04/2013

Appointment at Vontobel

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Swiss bank Vontobel on 28 March announced the appointment of Jean-Pierre Stillhart as director of Private Banking for Switzerland. He will begin in the role on 1 October this year, after serving as director for private clients in Switzerland at the Rothschild private bank, and several roles at the cantonal bank of Zurich and at UBS. Assets under management at Vontobel totalled CHF150bn as of the end of December 2012.
02/04/2013
Fonds

Union Investment revend un actif à Prague

L’allemand Union Investment Real Estate a cédé pour 53,8 millions d’euros l’immeuble de bureaux Trianon de Prague (20.600 mètres carrés) à la société d’investissement Reico, une coentreprise de l’autrichienne Erste Bank et de la caisse d'épargne Česká Spořitelna. Cet actif du fonds immobilier offert au public UniImmo: Europa avait été acheté en 2005 pour 44,5 millions d’euros.
Fonds
02/04/2013

iShares opens in Belgium

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } A total of 31 iShares ETFs have been registered in Belgium. They give investors in the country access to equity and bond products (government, corporate, inflation-linked), emerging market funds, and vehicles focused on commodities.The products which are now available include the iShares Euro Stoxx 503 ETF, the iShares MSCI World4 ETF and the iShares Barclays Captial Global inflation-linked bond fund. Investors also gain access to the Belgian government bond market through the iShares Belgium Treasury Bond ETF.iShares in Belgium is led by Charles Symons.
02/04/2013

Renaissance AM acquired by Kazimir Partners

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Russian asset management firm Renaissance Asset managers, which has USD3bn in assets under management, has been acquired by its counterpart and competitor Kazimir Partners, with USD400-500m under management, at a price which has not been disclosed.The structure born of the merger of the two emerging market specialists (with a hedge fund bias in the case of Kazimir) will be independent, and owned by its management and employees, including a stake of about 25% for the management of RAM.Previously, Renaissance AM had been nearly 90% controlled by Renaissance Group, while the remainder was in the hands of management. Its acquisition by a smaller firm may be surprising, but Adrian Harris, head of distribution and investor relationships at RAM, explains to Newsmanagers that Kazimir, a firm based in Moscow, had accumulated a lot of cash through its success in recent years, and now has about USD100m in capital, which may be invested in funds. The Renaissance group, the major shareholder in RAM, meanwhile, has had trouble recently, and had already sold its investment bank in November last year.The attraction for Renaissance, therefore, is to become an independent firm, and to receive additional capital for its funds. For its part, Kazimir will make use of the Luxembourg Sicav launched by Renaissance in 2010, with 10 sub-funds, for a European deploymentA new product range will be organised, and Russian equity and bond funds from the two firms will, logically, be expected to merge. Lastly, Renaissance AM will change names in second half, Harris says.
02/04/2013

Amin Snehal leaves Theleme Partners

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } One of the largest new hedge funds created since the 2008 crisis, Theleme Partners, has lost its second in command. Amin Snehal, former head of US research at TCI, has decided to leave the firm to found his own investment firm, FTfm reports. Theleme Partners was founded by Snehal and the Frenchman Patrick Degorce, a former partner at TCI, following their departure from the activist firm led by Chris Hohn in 2009. Theleme Partners last year earned returns of 20%, compared with an average of less than 7% for hedge funds overall.
02/04/2013

Credit Suisse sells off JO Hambro

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The financial holding company Utilico, whose headquarters are located in Bermuda, has acquired the British firm JO Hambro (CHF5.5bn in assets) from Credit Suisse, finews.ch reports, relaying information in Citywire.JO Hambro Investment Management was acquired by the Swiss group in 2000. It has 100 employees, including 20 portfolio managers.
02/04/2013

New head for Asia appointed at Martin Currie IM

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Martin Currie Investment Management has appointed Andrew Graham as head for Asia, following the previously announced departure of Jason McCay. McCay will be leaving his position during summer 2013, to “take a significant career break,” after 15 years at Martin Currie. Graham is co-manager with McCay of Martin Currie’s two Asian strategies. McCay will be replaced at the helm of the two funds by chief investment officer Paul Danes.
02/04/2013

Natixis GAM launches a multi-strategy fund

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Natixis Global Asset Management has launched the Aurora Horizons Fund, a dynamic asset allocation fund investing in multiple alternative strategies, Hedgeweek reports. The fund, managed by Aurora Investment Management, is a diversification tool for use within a traditional long-only portfolio investing in equities and bonds.
02/04/2013

Eaton Vance breaks new ground with EMTFs

Eaton Vance announced that it has filed an application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeking exemptive relief to permit the offering of exchange-traded managed funds (ETMFs), a proposed new type of open-end fund designed to bring the cost and tax efficiencies and shareholder protections of the exchange-traded fund (ETF) structure to active investment strategies, while maintaining the confidentiality of current portfolio trading information.The promoter seeks to launch a family of ETMFs that mirror existing Eaton Vance mutual funds and to license the underlying technology to other fund groups through its subsidiary Navigate Fund Solutions. Navigate FS and Eaton Vance expect ETMFs to reliably generate 50 basis points or more of improved annual returns versus similar mutual funds across a range of strategies, reflecting lower operating expenses and reduced flow-related trading costs in the ETMF structure.ETMFs would trade on an exchange at prices directly linked to the fund’s next-determined daily net asset value (NAV). Because ETMFs would provide market makers with opportunities to earn reliable arbitrage profits without intraday hedging of their inventory positions, they can be expected to trade at consistently tight spreads to NAV in the absence of full holdings disclosure. By removing the requirement for daily portfolio transparency, ETMFs can enable investors to access a broad range of active strategies through a vehicle that provides the investor benefits of an exchange-traded fund.
02/04/2013

Hausse de 7 % de l'encours de Steyler Bank

Plus ancienne banque solidaire d’Allemagne (1964), Steyler Bank a annoncé avoir enregistré une hausse de 7 % de son encours en 2012, à 397,4 millions d’euros.Son premier fonds offert au public, Steyler Fair und Nachhaltig - Aktien, a été lancé à l’automne 2012 et affiche un encours de 13,3 millions d’euros. La gestion en est assurée par la banque privée hambourgeoise M.M. Warburg.
02/04/2013

Augmentation de l'encours administré par comdirect

A fin décembre, l’encours administré par comdirect bank (groupe Commerzbank) s'était accru à 27,91 milliards d’euros contre 24,90 milliards un an plus tôt pour la branche B2C (comdirect) et à 20,95 milliards contre 16,69 milliards pour la branche B2N (ebase).Néanmoins, le bénéfice d’exploitation de 2012 a diminué de 14,6 % sur 2011, à 92,3 millions d’euros tandis que le bénéfice net plongeait de 34,4 % à 73,36 millions d’euros. Le chiffre d’affaires a baissé à 329 millions d’euros contre 340,2 millions, du fait d’un ralentissement de l’activité de trading des clients, qui a provoqué une baisse des recettes de l’excédent sur les commissions à 166,4 millions d’euros contre 182,6 millions.comdirect compte servir un dividende de 44 cents par actions contre 56 cents au titre de 2011.
02/04/2013

Nomination d'un nouveau patron pour l'Asie chez Martin Currie IM

Martin Currie Investment Management vient de nommer Andrew Graham au poste de responsable pour l’Asie après le départ annoncé de Jason McCay.Jason McCay devrait quitter ses fonctions dans le courant de l'été 2013 pour «faire un break de carrière significatif» après quinze années passées chez Martin Currie.Andrew Graham cogère avec Jason McCay les deux stratégies asiatiques de Martin Currie. Jason McCay sera remplacé sur ces deux fonds par le directeur des investissements Paul Danes.
02/04/2013
Fonds

Les hedge funds asiatiques démarrent 2013 sur les chapeaux de roue

Les hedge funds spécialisés sur la région Asie-Pacifique ont enregistré des performances de 3,97% en janvier et de 2,18% en février, selon des chiffres communiqués par Preqin dans son dernier Hedge Fund Spotlight. Les hedge funds nord-américains et européens ont progressé de seulement 0,61% en janvier et de 1,24% en février. Sur douze mois, les hedge funds asiatiques affichent un gain de 10,71% contre 9,37% pour les hedge funds dédiés à l’Amérique du Nord et 6,88% pour les hedge funds européens. Sur toutes les stratégies et l’ensemble des zones, la performance des hedge funds est tombée à 0,39% en février contre 2,47% en janvier.
Fonds
02/04/2013
Fonds

iShares se lance en Belgique

Au total 31 ETF d’iShares viennent d'être enregistrés en Belgique. Ils donnent aux investisseurs de ce pays l’accès à des produits actions et obligataires (Etat, entreprises, indexés sur l’inflation), des fonds marchés émergents et des véhicules axés sur les matières premières.Parmi les produits désormais disponibles, notons l’ETF iShares Euro Stoxx 503, l’ETF iShares MSCI World4 et l’ETF obligataire iShares Barclays Capital Global, lié à l’inflation. Les investisseurs peuvent aussi accéder au marché belge des bons d’Etat grâce à l’ETF iShares Barclays Belgium Treasury Bond.iShares est dirigé en Belgique par Charles Symons.
Fonds
02/04/2013

"Il faut plus que jamais poursuivre dans la voie de l'investissement responsable"

Ecofi Investissements et sa maison mère le Crédit Coopératif tranchent dans le paysage français par leur engagement sans faille en faveur de l’investissement responsable. Dans un entretien à Newsmanagers, Christophe Couturier, directeur général d’Ecofi Investissements explique les problématiques propres à ce type d'investissement et les défis d’un établissement engagé dans l’économie sociale.
02/04/2013

Le Nasdaq rachète la plate-forme spécialisée eSpeed

La plateforme boursière Nasdaq OMX a annoncé le 1er avril le rachat à BGC Partners de sa concurrente eSpeed, spécialisée dans le courtage de bons du Trésor, pour 750 millions de dollars en numéraire plus des émissions d’actions.Le rachat d’eSpeed donne au Nasdaq «un point d’entrée solide sur le marché obligataire électronique des bons du Trésor, l’un des marchés les plus importants et liquides du monde», indique le Nasdaq dans un communiqué. La transaction «devrait être positive pour les résultats du groupe d’ici douze mois après sa finalisation, hors coûts de transaction, et devrait générer des rendements sur investissement significatifs», ajoute-t-il.
02/04/2013

Le patron de SAC Capital s'achète un Picasso pour 155 millions de dollars

Deux semaines après que SAC Capital a réglé à la SEC 616 millions de dollars pour deux affaires de délits d’initiés, le milliardaire Steven Cohen, le patron de la société de gestion, vient de s’offrir un tableau de Picasso pour 155 millions de dollars, rapporte Forbes. L’oeuvre a été rachetée au milliardaire Steve Wynn.

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