P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) on Monday, 25 February announced the launch of a SmartBeta equity strategy. The asset management firm is making the addition to a product range which it unveiled on 21 May last year, covering corporate bonds, and aiming to provide better optimisation of the risk/return ratio than passive tracker management.The objective is to offer a strategy designed to capture beta from equity markets, while escaping from the limitations of cap-weighted indices and other weighted criteria, a statement says.AXA IM relies on the same three pillars on which the SmartBeta bond strategy from the group is based, with systematic filtering with four filters applied jointly, with the objective of reducing exposure to risks that pay no returns, optimal diversification to avoid the risk of concentration while managing liquidity, and a rebalancing of the portfolio with management of transactions to maintain a low cost level.In order to develop the strategy, AXA IM has relied on the expertise of AXA Rosenberg in the design and management of quantitative equity strategies. The product will be managed by AXA Rosenberg, whose construction and management of portfolios is not based on market capitalisation, but on fundamental criteria.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } From 4 PM Eastern Standard Time in the United States on 1 March, Fidelity Investments will close the Fidelity Small Cap Value Fund (retail and advisor share classes) to sale to new investors, while it will continue to offer shares to existing clients.The product, co-managed by Chuck Myers and Derek Janssen, as of 31 January had assets of USD3.5bn. The soft closing is intended to protect existing clients and to allow the managers to maintain high performance.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The Luxembourg-based firm Schroder Investment Management SA has announced that from 19 February, it has reopened sales of seven difference share classes denominated in US dollars and euros in the sub-fund US Small & Mid Cap Equity of the Sicav Schroder ISF, managed by Jenny Jones in New York. The fund had been hard closed since 2011, when it had USD4.5bn, and assets have gradually decreased since then.Schroders has also reopened the onshore US Mid Cap fund, whose assets total GBP847m.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The fixed income specialist ECM Asset Management has launched an absolute return fund dedicated to the European credit market, Citywire reports. The primary objective for the hedge fund, ECM Absolute Return Credit Fund, domiciled in Luxembourg, will be to preserve capital, and to earn returns equivalent to the Euribor +4% per year after commissions. The fund will primarily invest in European credit markets. It will be co-managed by maanger Derek Hynes and Rose Pamphilon, co-CIO of the firm.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Julien Jacquet has left Fidelity Paris, as reported by Newsmanagers earlier this year (31 January 2013). The former director of sales to banks at the US firm in early February joined Oyster Funds, the fund division of the private bank Syz & Co, which sells the Oyster range. He now serves as co-head of commercial development for France and Monaco. Jacquet is based in Paris, and works alongside Aude Dhuivonroux. Jacquet replaces Denis Chasteauneuf, who has left the firm. Assets in the Oyster sicav total nearly EUR4bn.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The Swiss private bank Julius Baer is planning to open an office in Saudi Arabia, according to statements by the head of the bank, Boris Collardi, on the website Arabian Business. “We have developed almost exclusively in Saudi Arabia. In the next 24 months, one of our top priorities will be Saudi Arabia,” the Juluis Baer CEO says. The bank, which has about USD200m in assets under management, is hoping to profit from the ongoing growth of high net worth clients in the Middle East. The last World Wealth Report from RBC Wealth Management and Capgemini found that the level of wealth of high net worth clients worldwide had fallen 1.7% in 2011, with the notable exception of the Middle East.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } After losses of nearly CHF65m in 2011, Bellevue Group last year earned net profits of CHF6.53m, according to a statement released on 25 February. The cost/income ratio fell to 86.9%, from 106.3%. In the asset management unit, assets under management remained stable at about CHF3.6bn, as two thirds of strategies outperformed their benchmark indices.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Net inflows to hedge funds may more than triple this year, which would drive assets in the sector to new peaks, according to an annual survey by Deutsche Bank, the news agency Bloomberg reports. Assets in hedge funds worldwide may increase by 11% in 2013 to USD2.5trn, according to Deutsche Bank. Inflows may total USD123bn, and return on investments may give an added boost of UDS169bn. Last year, assets in the sector, totalling about USD2.3trn, posted average gains of 6%. net inflows totalled USD34.4bn, according to HFR. But performance at the end of 2012 and early 2013 is encouraging, Deutsche Bank remarks. The survey indicates that 62% of investors predict an increase in their assets in hedge funds in 2013, while only 42% observed an increase in their assets last year. Expeted returns range from 5% to 10% for investors surveyed, 79% of whom are institutionals. Pension funds seeking returns are continuing to increase their exposure to hedge funds, as 66% increased their exposure to hedge funds last year. The study also finds that 47% of respondents are planning to increase their allocations to hedge funds this year, by a total of at least USD100m. This trend is expected to continue, Deutsche Bank predicts, as other institutional investors follow the example of pension funds.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } ESG (environmental, social and governance) criteria have a growing influence over mergers and acquisitions, according to a new global study by the auditing and consulting firm PwC, undertaken in collaboration with PRI, the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment initiative. These criteria can be decisive in the process of selecting acquiring firms, and may even block a sale, lower a sale price, or help to better value a potential acquisition.According to the study, buyers are increasingly sensitive to the fact that ESG issues have a direct impact on the level of competitiveness of their business. Few businesses today measure their ESG performance, or translate these values into financial figures for investors. Although the increased level of attention to ESG factors varies from one sector of activity and geographical region to another, PwC notes a certain interest in ESG evaluation on the part of buyers as well as potential sellers.The study finds that the influence of ESG factors is continuing to increase: 63% of respondents say that they have already significantly increase their use of these criteria in the past three years, and 75% estimate that it will increase further in the next three years. In terms of environmental factors, PwC has found a rising desire on the part of businesses to control operational hazards associated with natural catastrophes, where previously, businesses had focuses predominantly on reputational risks. Now, 63% of businesses surveyed take environmental criteria into account systematically in due diligence processes of pre-transaction evaluation, while 44% use social criteria, and 38% use governance criteria.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Hedge funds specialised in emerging markets posted substantial gains in 2012, and started 2013 in the same way, as measures to stimulate economies in developed markets contributed to gains on emerging markets and emerging currencies, according to statistics from HFR. The HFRX Multi-Emerging Markets gained gained 13.1% last year, of which 4.8% were in fourth quarter, with positive contributions from all BRIC markets (Brazil, Russia, India, China). Capital invested in hedge funds dedicated to emerging markets increased by USD11.2bn in fourth quarter 2012 to a record of USD139bn, HFR reports. Net inflows in fourth quarter were over USD3bn, a level not seen since first quarter 2008. Emerging Asia alone attracted USD1.3bn in capital. The number of hedge funds investing in emerging markets also topped 1,100 at the end of 2012. HFR observes that emerging market hedge funds are increasingly exposed to currencies and commodities, as macro hedge funds now represent 14.4% of emerging market hedge funds, compared with 11% at the end of 2011.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The Cantonal Bank of Geneva (BCGE) has posted record results for the year 2012, despite hesitant financial conjuncture. Assets under management and administration rose last year by 3.7% to CHF18.7bn, according to a statement released on 26 February. Net profits for the fiscal year total CHF67m, up 6.2%.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The CNMV has issued a registration for the LFP Rendement Global 2018 fund from La Française Asset Management (LFAM), according to a statement from the French asset management firm, relayed by Funds People.Augusto Martín, MD of LFAM for the Iberian peninsula, says that net returns on commissions at maturity will total 5.7% ultimately, with a duration of 2.2, due to a large portion of the high yield bonds in the portfolio carrying coupons of over 8%, which provides a comfortable cushion in case of a market fall.

Renaissance Asset Managers (RAM) has soft-closed its Sub-Saharan Fund at USD150 million of client assets to preserve liquidity and help protect stakeholders’ interests. The fund has attracted USD40 million of inflows since the start of 2013, largely from UK and European investors, and more than doubled in size last year. Existing clients, including fund provider platforms, will be able to add to their holdings until the fund reaches capacity, around USD200 million.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Deutsche Börse on 25 February announced that it has admitted a 1,024th ETF to trading on the XTF segment of its Xetra electronic trading platform, the db x-trackers Nikkei 225 UCITS ETF (DR). It is a Luxembourg-registered, physical replication equity product, which tracks the Nikkei Stock Average Index.CharacteristicsName: db X-trackers Nikkei 225 UCITS ETF (DR)ISIN code: LU0839027447TER: 0.50%

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } As of the end of January, the number of funds on sale in Spain had fallen to 2,392, from a record of 3,051 as of the end of 2007, Cotizalia reports on the basis of statistics from the Spanish Inverco association of asset management firms. January 2013 was the month in which the most funds were merged or liquidiated, with a total of 215.Since the end of 2007, total assets in Spanish securities funds have fallen by EUR238.716bn, to EUR124.766bn as of the end of January this year.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } One week after announcing the acquisition of Artio Global Investors (see Newsmanagers of 15 February), Aberdeen Asset Management has announced that it has issued a perpetual bond of USD500m on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).The issue is intended to refinance a USD400m loan at 7.9%, taken out in May 2007, the firm says, adding that it counts as equity on the balance sheet.Bill Rattray, CFO, says that the deal will allow Aberdeen to reduce the interest rate it paid on its perpetual bonds in 2007 by nearly one percentage point. The issue has been oversubscribed, which allowed Aberdeen to increase the volume to USD500m, from USD400m.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The British Financial Services Authority (FSA) is currently in talks with asset managers about ways to more effectively carry out closures of funds to new investors, Investment Week reports. The regulator is considering a more flexible application of the laws which govern fund closures, to allow managers to act more rapidly and thus to better protect the interests of existing investors.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Paul Trickett, head of the global portfolio solutions group at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, has left the firm, Financial News reports. This is the most recent change at the British asset management firm. GSAM has seen 11 departures in the past 12 months including February, according to the Financial Services Authority.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Although her photo still appears on the website of Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) as head of equities, Jane Coffey is said to have left the firm after 11 years, Fundweb reports. The departure follows a decision to passively manage the Far East (GBP487.4m) and Japan growth (GBP299.8m) funds, which had previously been managed actively, as well as GBP360m in mandates for these regions. The managers, Edward Chana and Honathan McClure, have already left RLAM.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The Italian financial stability law, which exempts ethical or socially responsible products and services from the financial transaction tax, has led the Italian sustainable finance forum (Forum per la Finanza Sostenibile, www.finanzasostenibile.it) to consider the question of shared definition of this concept, and to “study the possibility of suggesting minimal criteria,” Plus, the money supplement of Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. Some are concerned that funds will adopt a socially responsible label merely in order to avoid the tax. But the definition of minimal criteria is complex.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } BlueBay Asset Management, an asset management firm specialised in fixed income and alternative management, has recruited Staffan Kampe as head of sales for the Northern Europe region, Fondbranschen reports. He joins from Lyxor Asset Management, where he had been head of institutional sales for Scandinavia. He had previously held a similar position at SEB.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Information provided to investors in the United Kingdom by asset management firms are sometimes partial and inaccurate, according to the British firm Chelsea Financial Services. The head of research at the discount broker, Juliet Schooling Latter, says that the effort required to find appropriate information about some funds can be a quest, Fund Web reports. “Some information documents are three or six months old, the identity of the manager isn’t right, the level of assets under management isn’t right, etc.,” the head says. Latter also says that Scottish Widows presents “more misleading” information documents, but also observes that NatWest and Santander Asset Management tend to leave their clients in the lurch and do not facilitate access to their information documents. Scottish Widows says it has repositioned its equity activities in the past few months, which has involved “significant changes” to information documents. Integrating these modifications is underway. A spokesperson for Santander, meanwhile, denied the claims of Chelsea, stating that the comments of its partner advisers do not at all correspond to the criticisms formulated by Chelsea. NatWest, for its part, declined to comment on Chelsea’s criciticisms, as it does not know the process used by Chelsea or the time spent on the research. The British investment management association (IMA) has said that the key investor information document (KIID) required by the British Financial Services Authority (FSA) for UCITS products includes all information necessary for an investor to take an informed decision. The association adds tht the publication of additional documents, for example, information files, is not a legal requirement. This additional range is often related to interest expressed by investors.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } On 25 February, the main market of the London Stock Exchange (LSE) admitted its first ETF of Russian bonds to trading, the FinEx Tradable Russian Corporate Bonds UCITS ETF. The Irish-registered, UCITS-compliant product was released by FinEX ETF (an arm of FinEx Capital Management), and replicates the Barclays EM Tradable Russian Corporate Bond index. The portfolio is invested in high quality and good liquidity bonds issued by Russian businesses, denominated in US dollars, euros, pounds sterling or Swiss france. Simon Luhr, managing partner and CEO of FinEx CM, has announced that FinEx is planning to list ETFs on stock markets in emerging countries in future, in order to offer these markets western type products and providing western investors with access to emerging economies.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Fundweb reports on 25 February that Henderson Global Investors (HGI) last week launched a non-UCITS retail hedge fund, the Henderson Diversified Alternatives fund, which will be available on the Fudelity FundsNetwork platform.The Luxembourg-registered product, managed by Paul Craig, will invest indirectly in several alternative asset classes, such as real estate, commodities and hedge funds, primarily via investment trusts and investment companies. The portfolio may be invested in private equity, direct timber, infrastructure, utilities, renewable energies and reinsurance.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Thomas Richter, CEO of the German BVI association of asset management firms, claims that compliance with EMIR derivatives regulation will cost businesses in the industry tens of millions of euros, the Börsen-Zeitung reports.At Universal-Investment, where 20 people, or 5% of personnel, have been mobilised to prepare compliance with EMIR, it is estimated that 45% of funds in the range (700 institutional funds and 400 open-ended funds) will be affected. At DWS (Deutsche Bank), EMIR will affect about 70 funds.

Growth in assets under management (AUM) should be higher in the years to come in emerging Asia (China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand) than in mature markets such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea, Fitch Ratings expects. The Asian region has a large and growing middle class population with a low penetration of managed products at 5% of total financial assets on average compared with 15% in western countries.During the past few years, growth has been higher in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand and in the institutional segment compared with Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea. Unlike other countries in emerging Asia, China has suffered from its equity focus in a five-year bear market and an under-developed debt market until recently. Nevertheless, Fitch believes that a stabilisation/rise in equity markets and recent regulatory initiatives to expand Chinese capital markets will allow the gap to be closed in the next few years. «East Asia represents a growth opportunity for international asset managers but distribution in the region is not straightforward,» says Aymeric Poizot, Managing Director in Fitch’s Fund and Asset Manager Rating Group. «The cross-border wealth management and institutional segments are very competitive, while in retail, large consumer banks dominate distribution in most countries -making distribution agreements critical.»

La société de gestion Financière de l’Echiquier vient d’annoncer la création d’une part «philanthropie» sur son fonds Agressor. Cette part « P » prélève une rémunération correspondant à 2% des frais de gestion fixes et 20 % de commissions de surperformance. Au-delà de 1,5 %, le dispositif prévoit le versement des frais fixes à la Fondation Financière de l’Echiquier sous l’égide de la Fondation de France, auxquels s’ajoute la totalité des frais variables. Ce nouvel outil de financement vient s’ajouter au partage des frais de gestion du fonds Echiquier Excelsior, sur lequel reposait jusqu’à présent le budget de la Fondation, précise un communiqué.

AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) a annoncé lundi 25 février le lancement d’une stratégie SmartBeta Actions. La société de gestion complète ainsi l’offre qu’elle avait présentée le 21 mai dernier portant sur les obligations d’entreprises, et visant à offrir une meilleure optimisation du couple rendement / risque qu’une gestion passive indicielle.L’objectif ici est d’offrir une stratégie conçue pour capter le bêta du marché des actions tout en s’affranchissant des limites que présentent les indices pondérés par la capitalisation boursière et les autres dispositifs pondérés, indique un communiqué.La stratégie SmartBeta Actions d’AXA IM repose sur les trois mêmes piliers sur lesquels sont bâties les stratégies SmartBeta Obligations du groupe : un filtrage avec un système de quatre filtres appliqués conjointement dont l’objectif est de réduire l’exposition aux risques non rémunérés, une diversification optimale visant à éviter le risque de concentration tout en gérant la liquidité, et une repondération du portefeuille et une gestion des transactions maintenant un faible niveau de coût.Pour élaborer sa stratégie, AXA IM fait appel aux compétences d’AXA Rosenberg dans la conception et la gestion des stratégies Actions quantitatives. La stratégie SmartBeta Actions d’AXA IM sera gérée par AXA Rosenberg dont la construction et la gestion des portefeuilles ne reposent pas sur la capitalisation boursière, mais sur des critères fondamentaux.

A compter du 1er mars 16 heures locales, côte Est, Fidelity Investments fermera aux nouveaux investisseurs l’accès à son Fidelity Small Cap Value Fund (parts retail et advisor), tout en continuant de servir la demande des clients existants.Ce produit, co-géré par Chuck Myers et Derek Janssen, affichait au 31 janvier un encours de 3,5 milliards de dollars. Le «soft-closing» est destiné à protéger les clients existants et à permettre aux gérants de maintenir une performance élevée.

Threadneedle Investments a annoncé le 25 février que le fonds obligataire de performance absolue Threadneedle (Lux) Global Opportunities Bond Fund (ISIN LU0640492830) était désormais disponible en France. Géré par Jim Cielinski, head of fixed income, le fonds adopte une approche d’investissement flexible, sans contrainte et axée sur les plus fortes convictions de Threadneedle dans l’optique de générer un rendement positif. Le fonds vise une performance correspondant au taux de dépôt en dollar à 1 mois +4,5%.Il investit dans les meilleures idées de l'équipe obligataire de Threadneedle, composée de 43 membres, qui s’intéresse aux obligations d’Etat des marchés développés et émergents, aux obligations d’entreprises investment grade et à haut rendement, aux titres adossés à des actifs, aux devises et aux dérivés sur obligations. Jim Cielinski supervise le fonds et gère l’allocation du budget de risque. Depuis son lancement au Luxembourg en août 2011, le fonds a enregistré une performance nette de +8,6% (au 31 décembre 2012) supérieure à celle du Groupe de Pairs (GIFS Offshore – Alternative Long Short Debt), en dollar américain. Threadneedle gère approximativement 35 milliards d’euros investis dans l’univers obligataire au 31 décembre 2012.