P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The alternative asset management arm of Citgroup, which has recently been renamed Napier Park Global Capital, has completed its spinoff from Citigroup, Hedgeweek reports. Assets under management at Napier total about USD6.8bn. The firm, formerly a part of Citi Capital Advisors, is now controlled by its employees, but Citi retains a minority stake in the capital of the new firm. The terms of the sale have not been disclosed.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The pan-European Next Estate Income Fund (NEIF) has made a second transaction in Germany, with the acqusition of an office building of over 14,000 square metres in Frankfurt, representing a total investment of about EUR65m. The property is located on Mainzer Landstrasse, one of the major thoroughfares in the central business district in Frankfurt. It has excellent technical and architectural characteristics, and is aiming for DGNB certification. The property under construction was purchased from funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management LP, represented by its local German asset manager Acorn. Next Estate Income Fund, launched in late 2010 with the support of BNP Paribas Real Estate, is a Luxembourg-registered private real estate investment fund, whose portfolio is currently valued at over EUR200m. The portfolio will now swell to over EUR300m, and will in 2013 exceed the initial distribution objectives for the fund.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 1 March, Russell Investments launched a campaign to update its indices, which will conclude on 1 July, with a provisional list of the components of the Russell 3000, Russelll Microcap and Russell Global indices to be published on 14 June. The US group has already announced that it will reclassify Greece, which is moving from the developed to the emerging markets category. In the three-year observation period, Greece has not satisfied the macroeconomic and operational risk criteria which constitute developed market status, but it does satisfy the criteria in place for emerging markets.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Following Spanish royal decree 4/2013 of 22 February, which modifies the pension fund law, Funds People reports, Spanish pension funds are now authorised to invest in securities listed on the Mercado Alternativo Bursátil (MAB), in Sicav funds, private equity firms, Socimi (real estate investment companies), and in securities which will be listed on the future Mercado Alternativo de Renta Fija (MARF) which the Spanish government is preparing.Pension funds have assets of EUR86.5bn.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Financial Services Authority is preparing to crack down on asset management firms which use investors’ money to pay for access to corporate CEOs, the Financial Times reports in its UK edition. Ed Harley, head of supervision for asset management at the FSA, has said that fines of up to several million pounds are possible. The comments come after the Financial Times wrote in an article on Monday that asset management firms were paying their brokers as much as GBP20,000 per hour to meet the CEOs of their client businesses.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Liechtenstein bank LGT is reported to have recruited a team of 15 client advisers from Sal. Oppenheim in Zurich, which is owned by Deutsche Bank. Advisors may account for up to half of the CHF7bn which Sal. Oppenheim Switzerland has under management, according to the website Paradeplatz. The arrival of the advisers at the Liechtenstein bank is connected with the transfer of Hanspeter Oes, who in April last year moved from his positoin as chief financial officer at Sal. Oppenheim to LGT Bank (Switzerland). For Deutsche Bank, which took over Sal. Oppenheim in 2010, the loss of the adviers represents a serious setback, according to the website. The German firm iN December completed its integration of Sal. Oppenheim Switzerland into the Swiss affiliate of Deutsche Bank. A bonus programme was then offered to client advisers at Sal. Oppenheim in order to retain them. It wasn’t enough for some, and Deutsche Bank is expected to confirm the departure of seven of them. Inside Paradeplatz cites a Zurich source as saying that the Liechtenstein bank guaranteed the Sal. Oppeheim client adviers high salaries and a set first bonus. The annual salary is said to be CHF250,000, and the bonus is expected to be an equivalent sum. Assets under managemet at the LGT group in mid-2012 totalled CHF94.7bn.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Oliver Clasen, CEO of Allianz Global Investors KAG from 2007 to 2011, and then an independent consultant for real estate, venture capital and questions related to capital markets, Oliver Clasen is joining Long-Term Investing Research AG, based in Karlsruhe, as a managing board member.Clasen was also a board member at the German BVI association of asset management firms, where he represented AGI KAG.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Assets under management at the Swiss firm GAM as of the end of 2012 totalled CHF116.2bn, compared with CHF107bn at the end of 2011, according to a statement released on 5 March. Net inflows last year totalled CHF2.4bn, after outflows of CHF3.8bn in 2011. The wealth management firm last year earned operating profits of CHF161m groupwide, down 2% year on year.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } It appears that Morgan Stanley is planning to sell its wealth management activities in Europe (excluding Switzerland), which are experiencing a sensitive period, and finews reports that, according to financial news, Credit Suisse is interested in the acquisition and has already begun studying the case.Wealth management at Morgan Stanley in Europe, the Middle East and Africa has assets of USD18bn.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Funds of hedge funds started 2013 well, with returns of 2.10% in January, according to the most recent edition of the Hedge Fund Spotlight published by Preqin. This is the best result in more than two years. Last year, funds of hedge funds posted returns of 4.62%, with returns of over 7% for the best, and even over 24% for the most profitable vehicle.The performance of funds of hedge funds, however, remains modest over the long term, with annualised rates of 1.79% over three years, and -0.25% over five years. This may explain the steep fall in assets under management, which, after peaking at USD1.2trn in 2008, last month stood at USD810bn.In Europe, funds of hedge funds have seen an increase in their assets from USD375bn at the end of 2011 to USD280bn in December 2012. North America is the only region of the world where assets under management increased, from USD485bn as of the end of 2011 to USD508bn in December 2012. Funds of hedge funds with exposure to North America also posted better returns than those exposed to Europe in 11 out of 12 months of 2012.Creations of funds of hedge funds also fell sharply. There were 59 in 2012, a level not seen since 2000, compared with 79 the previous year, and 142 in 2010, according to statistics from Preqin.According to Preqin, 65% of investors have funds of hedge funds as part of their allocation to hedge funds, but only 12% of them are planning to increase their allocation to funds of hedge funds in 2013, while 53% are planning to maintain their exposure. Of the 35% who are planning to reduce their exposure, more than half cite performance problems as the reason for their decision.

The International Organization of Securities Commissions published on March 4 the final report on Principles of Liquidity Risk Management for Collective Investment Schemes, which contains a set of principles against which both the industry and regulators can assess the quality of regulation and industry practices concerning liquidity risk management for collective investment schemes (CIS).Since the outbreak of the global financial crisis, the issue of liquidity has been a major concern for regulators. However, the discussions on regulatory reform have tended to focus more on the importance of liquidity in the banking sector than in other sectors. These principles have been designed to address the specificities of liquidity risk management in the context of the operation of a CIS.To deal with the exceptional circumstances where a liquidity problem may lead a CIS to temporarily suspend all investor redemptions, IOSCO has published, in January 2012, a report on Principles on Suspensions of Redemptions in Collective Investment Schemes.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The average daily trading volume for on-book ETP transactions on the European markets of NYSE Euronext increased in February by EUR252m, which represents a 14.9% increase over the EUR228m announced for January, while the total volume has fallen 3.6% compared with January, to EUR5.05bn.The volume of block trades in February increased by one third compared with January, to EUR1.12bn.The median trade spread has fallen to 24.4 basis points, compared with 25.1 in January.

Kieran Curtis joins Standard Life Investments as investment director for EMD having previously held the role of director, head of local currency emerging market bonds at Aviva Investors since 2005.He will report to Richard House, head of EMD at Standard Life Investments, and will be responsible for research and development into emerging market local currency debt. Kieran Curtis’ appointment will further bolster the existing 26 strong fixed income team, who currently manage in excess of GBP72bn as of September 30 2012. The EMD team has grown to four members.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Bill O’Neill has left Merrill Lynch Global Wealth and Investment Management to join UBS, Investment Week reports. O’Neill, most recently chief investment officer for the EMEA region at Merrill Lynch, has joined UBS as managing director in charge of the chief investment office of wealth management research UK.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The private bank of the HSBC group in 2012 earned pre-tax profits of USD1.91bn, up 4.9% compared with the previous year, according to statistics released on 4 March. The group has also reported net profits down 17% to USD13.5bn, as pre-tax profits are down 6% to USD20.6bn. Results were affected largely by a loss of USD5.2bn for the bank on the value of its own debt. HSBC has also had to make provisions for abusive sales practices in the United Kingdom.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Sophie Dupré, head of investment risk framework for the past three years at Schroders, has been recruited by Baring Asset Management to the newly-created position of head of organisational risk in London. The appointment is effective immediately. Dupré will report to Chris Biggins, head of organisational risk & compliance. Before Schroders, her employers were Citigroup, BNP and Société Générale.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Baillie Gifford has decided to close its Diversified Growth fund to new investors, in order to preserve the performance of the fund, following a rise in inflows in the past twelve months, Investment Week reports. Assets in the fund, managed by Patrick Edwardson and Mike Brooks, are flirting with the GBP3bn barrier, while they had totalled less than GBP900m one year ago. The fund has earned returns of nearly 26% over a three-year period.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Swedish equity funds are the most popular equity funds with Swedish investors, even though Sweden represents only a small part of the global economy, the Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri reports on its website. About SEK327bn have been invested in Swedish equity funds, equivalent to 29% of total assets in equity funds. This is also the largest category of funds.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Source on 4 March announced that UBS has been named as an authorised participant (AP) and swap counterparty for the Man GLG Europe Plus ETF (MPFE SW), a single product which invests in European equities, listed in London (LSE), Switzerland (SIX), and Germany (Xetra). With this sixth partner, Source ETF further strengthens the diversification of its swap counterparties. With assets under management of USD950m, the Man GLG Europe Plus Source fund is one of the most successful Source equity ETFs. Its objective is to outperforme the European equity markets overall, through investent recommendations from brokers. Man GLG exploits the best investment ideas from nearly 65 major brokerage firms to create a liquid and highly diversified European long only equity index. In 2012, the index outperformed the MSCI Europe index by 5.34% Due to the size and the growth of MPFE, supplementary trading resources are necessary to continue to ensure its development.

State Street Global Advisers a annoncé le 4 mars la nomination avec effet immédiat de Maria Dwyer en qualité de chief risk officer.Maria Dwyer travaillait précédemment en tant que chief regulatory officer chez MFS Investment Management.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Wall Street Journal reports that as John Hess is saying that his activist alternative asset management firm has missed the train, Hess Corp is in the process of changing tracks though, after Elliott management sent the CEO a message asking him to restructure the firm. There will be a reshuffle on the board of directors, which will affect six of its 14 seats, and sales of assets to increase dividends, along with a USD4bn equity repurchase programme, equivalent to 18% of the market capitalisation of Hess.However, John Hess does not accept Elliott’s primary demand, which is to break up the group into a Bakken company and an international oil firm whose survival may be at risk. This may spell the end for Hess, a difficult scenario to accept for a CEO whose company is named after him.

State Street Global Advisers has hired Maria Dwyer as chief risk officer. Maria Dwyer previously served as chief regulatory officer at MFS Investment Management.

Principal Global Investors, a global asset manager and a member of the Principal Financial Group, on March 4 announced an agreement to acquire a 55 percent stake in Liongate Capital Management, an alternative investment boutique based in London and New York focused on managing portfolios of hedge funds. Founded in 2003, Liongate has approximately USD2.1 billion in assets under management across a range of commingled funds and dedicated client portfolios. Its client base includes many of the world’s leading pension funds, insurance companies and sovereign wealth funds.The Liongate partners will retain a 45 percent share and will manage Liongate within their current roles.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to initial estimates by the BlackRock Institute, th 4,798 ETPs worldwide at the end of February (compared with 4,793 at the end of January) posted inflows of USD10.6bn last month (compared with USD37bn in January, USD38.7bn in December, and USD15.6bn in February 2012).Year to date, net inflows have totalled USD47.6bn, of which USD37.7bn have been in the United States, and USD7.9bn in Europe.As of 28 February, assets were down by USD7bn in one month, to USD2.037trn, but remain higher than USD1.944trn in assets as of the end of December, and USD1.720trn as of the end of February 2012.

SIX Swiss Exchange launches a segment for Sponsored Funds. The first sponsor and market maker for over 250 products is Bank Julius Baer., according to a press release published on March 4.With this new segment, investors in traditional mutual funds can trade funds like shares. Thanks to the continuous pricing and instant order execution, investment decisions in fund trading can now be implemented immediately and at known prices. The segment for Sponsored Funds is another service that SIX Swiss Exchange is launching as part of its «Over the Exchange» initiative.

Dans un entretien à L’Agefi suisse, Antonio Palma, CEO et associé-gérant de Mirabaud et Lionel Aeschlimann, associé-gérant responsable de l’asset management, qui s’expriment sur le changement de statut de Pictet et Lombard Odier, ne ferment pas la porte à une éventuelle modification du statut de Mirabaud. «Comme toutes les banques, Mirabaud a toujours réfléchi à l’adéquation de sa structure par rapport à son développement. Nous n’avons pas aujourd’hui décidé d’un changement, mais rien n’est fermé pour l’avenir. Notre réflexion est permanente. Elle est influencée par l’évolution des affaires et des réglementations. Nous sommes convaincus que la responsabilité illimitée, dans le monde bancaire et financier, comporte des vertus. Quelle que soit l’issue de nos réflexions, nous ne changerons pas nos valeurs fondamentales: nous voulons rester indépendants et la banque doit demeurer entre les mains des associés-gérants. Nous relevons par ailleurs que déjà aujourd’hui près de 50% des collaborateurs de Mirabaud travaillent dans des structures de sociétés anonymes. Pour celles-ci, nous avons déjà mis en place une structure similaire à celle voulue aujourd’hui par Pictet et Lombard», expliquent au quotidien les deux responsables.

Les fonds de hedge funds ont bien démarré l’année 2013, avec une performance de 2,10% en janvier dernier, selon la dernière édition du Hedge Fund Spotlight publiée par Preqin. Il s’agit de la meilleure performance enregistrée depuis plus de deux ans. L’an dernier, les fonds de hedge funds ont enregistré des rendements de 4,63%, avec des performances de plus de 7% pour les meilleurs et même de plus de 24% pour le véhicule le plus rentable. Les performances des fonds de hedge funds restent toutefois modestes sur longue période, avec des taux annualisés de 1,79% sur trois ans et de -0,25% sur cinq ans. Ce qui peut expliquer la forte des baisse des actifs sous gestion qui après avoir culminé à 1.200 milliards de dollars en 2008, s’inscrivaient le mois dernier à 810 milliards de dollars. En Europe, les fonds de hedge funds ont vu leur encours revenir de 375 milliards de dollars fin 2011 à 280 milliards de dollars en décembre 2012. L’Amérique du Nord est la seule région du monde où les actifs sous gestion se sont accrus, passant de 485 milliards de dollars fin 2011 à 508 milliards de dollars en décembre 2012. Il faut dire aussi que les fonds de hedge funds exposés à l’Amérique du Nord ont enregistré de meilleures performances que ceux exposés à l’Europe pendant onze sur douze mois en 2012. Les créations de fonds de hedge funds ont aussi fortement diminué. On en a dénombré 59 en 2012, un niveau jamais vu depuis l’année 2000, contre 79 l’année précédente et 142 en 2010, selon les statistiques de Preqin. Enfin, 65% des investisseurs intègrent les fonds de hedge funds dans leur allocation dans les hedge funds mais seulement 12% d’entre eux envisagent d’augmenter leur allocation aux fonds de hedge funds en 2013 alors que 53% prévoient de maintenir en l'état leur exposition. Sur les 35% qui envisagent de réduire cette exposition, plus d’un sur d’eux évoque des problèmes de performance à l’origine de leur décision.

La société de gestion américaine Principal Global Investors a acquis 55 % de la société de fonds de hedge funds basée à Londres et New York Liongate Capital Management. Les associés de Liongate conservent 45 % de la société.Fondée en 2003, Liongate gère environ 2,1 milliards de dollars d’encours pour le compte de fonds de pension, de compagnies d’assurances et de fonds souverains.Cette acquisition s’inscrit dans le cadre d’un vaste mouvement de concentration de la multigestion alternative.

La banque liechtensteinoise LGT aurait débauché une équipe de 15 conseillers à la clientèle de Sal. Oppenheim à Zurich, qui appartient à Deutsche Bank. Les conseillers pourraient apporter jusqu'à la moitié des 7 milliards de francs suisses que gère Sal. Oppenheim Suisse, selon le portail en ligne Inside Paradeplatz. L’arrivée de ces conseillers dans la banque de la principauté est à mettre en relation avec le transfert de Hanspeter Oes, qui en avril dernier est passé du poste de directeur financier chez Sal. Oppenheim à LGT Bank (Suisse), oùm il vient du reste d'être promu membre de la direction générale (lire Newsmanagers du 27 février).Pour Deutsche Bank, qui a repris Sal. Oppenheim en 2010, la fuite de ses conseillers représente un sérieux revers, selon le portail en ligne. L'établissement allemand avait achevé en décembre l’intégration de Sal. Oppenheim Suisse au sein de la filiale Suisse de Deutsche Bank. Un programme de bonus avait alors été proposé aux conseillers à la clientèle de Sal. Oppenheim, afin de les retenir. Cela n’aura pas suffi pour certains et Deutsche Bank devrait confirmer le départ de sept d’entre-eux.Citant une source zurichoise, «Inside Paradeplatz» affirme que la banque liechtensteinoise a garanti aux conseillers à la clientèle de Sal. Oppenheim de hauts salaires ainsi qu’un premier bonus fixe. Le salaire annuel se monterait à 250.000 francs suisses et le bonus devrait atteindre un montant équivalent.Les actifs sous gestion du groupe LGT s'élevaient à la mi-2012 à 94,7 milliards de francs suisses.

Axa Investment Managers a lancé le 12 février au Luxembourg l’Axa WF Equity Volatility, un fonds «offrant aux investisseurs institutionnels une exposition positive et efficiente en termes de coûts à la volatilité implicite des principaux marchés d’actions», selon un communiqué de presse. Le fonds, géré par Laurent Ramsamy, cherche à capter les hausses importantes de la volatilité actions sur les marchés européen et/ou américain tout en limitant partiellement le coût du portage de cette exposition. Pour ce faire, le produit bâtit une position longue dans la volatilité implicite du S&P 500 et/ou de l’Euro Stoxx 50 par le biais de dérivés. Dans le même temps, le fonds peut prendre des positions courtes opportunistes sur la volatilité implicite à court terme par le biais de futures sur indices.