Le groupe suisse Syz & Co a annoncé l’enregistrement en Suisse de quatre nouveaux compartiments de sa sicav luxembourgeoise Oyster. L’enregistrement de ces nouveaux compartiments traduit la volonté du groupe de répondre aux besoins spécifiques de la clientèle professionnelle suisse. En effet, la Suisse représente actuellement l’un des axes principaux de développement des fonds Oyster. Avec la gamme Oyster et les compartiments Oyster Multi-Manager de la Sicav 3A Alternative Funds, ce sont 36 fonds qui sont proposés aux investisseurs helvétiques, une gamme en constante évolution allant de stratégies très conservatrices de type absolute return à des stratégies traditionnelles sur différentes classes d’actifs, en passant par des approches plus novatrices de type « Newcits ».OYSTER European SelectionOyster European Selection adopte l’approche et la philosophie du fonds Oyster European Opportunities. Adaptée aux exigences d’une clientèle institutionnelle, la stratégie vise les actions européennes dotées d’un fort potentiel de croissance sur les 5 années à venir. Grâce à son horizon de placement plus long, le fonds tire profit de l’expertise et des fortes convictions de son gérant, Eric Bendahan, spécialiste des actions européennes. OYSTER US SelectionOyster US Selection se focalise sur les actions américaines en combinant une analyse bottom-up avec un complément top-down destiné à anticiper les changements dans les cycles économiques. Le fonds, géré par Scout Investments, Inc., un gestionnaire américain, offre une stratégie disponible en format UCITS exclusivement à travers la Sicav Oyster.OYSTER Global High DividendOyster Global High Dividend investit dans les actions à haut dividende dans le monde entier. Géré par SYZ Asset Management SA et Syz & Co Asset Management LLP avec Roberto Magnatantini comme lead-manager, Oyster Global High Dividend combine analyse quantitative et fondamentale, avec un accent particulier sur la croissance des dividendes.OYSTER Global High YieldOyster Global High Yield est investi en obligations à haut rendement du monde entier. Le fonds est géré par Seix Investment Advisors LLC, un gestionnaire spécialisé établi aux Etats-Unis.

Deux anciens de chez Man Investments rejoignent les équipes chargées du suivi des gestionnaires de fortune indépendants et des family offices en Suisse chez Swiss & Global Asset Management (87,4 milliards de francs d’encours fin septembre). Remo Badertscher, senior relationship manager chez son ancien employeur, et Markus Lienert, qui était responsable de la clientèle des gestionnaires de fortune indépendants pour le Liechtenstein et la Suisse, ont été recrutés dans l'équipe des ventes de Swiss & Global AM à Zurich.

En lien avec l’offre publique d’achat lancée par EFG Funding (Guernsey) Limited («EFG Funding») auprès des titulaires de certificats fiduciaires EFG le 12 décembre 2012 et la sollicitation de consentements en vue d’approuver, par des résolutions extraordinaires, entre autres, les modifications proposées des conditions des certificats fiduciaires EFG, EFG Funding a indiqué qu'à l’expiration de l’offre, le 7 janvier 2013 à 16h (H.E.C.), un montant nominal cumulé de 251.399.000 euros des certificats fiduciaires EFG avait été validement proposé. Ceci représente 94,95% des certificats fiduciaires EFG actuellement en circulation, à hauteur d’un montant nominal de 264.781.000 euros. Les titulaires des 94,95 % des certificats participeront à l’assemblée des titulaires et voteront en faveur des résolutions extraordinaires. Pour être adoptées, les résolutions extraordinaires requièrent une majorité d’au moins deux tiers des voix exprimées, de sorte qu’il est attendu qu’elles seront approuvées à l’assemblée des titulaires qui se tiendra le 11 janvier 2013 à 10h (H.E.C.), indique la société.Le communiqué précise que l’offre publique d’achat est menée à bien sous réserve de certaines restrictions et conditions, notamment:- l’émission réussie, en janvier 2013, d’une obligation Tier 2 par EFG Funding, assortie d’une garantie subordonnée par EFG International, le montant nominal cumulé en CHF des titres subordonnés tenant lieu de capital Tier 2 selon Bâle III étant égal ou supérieur au montant nominal cumulé des certificats acceptés à titre d’achat en lien avec l’offre d’achat ou à un montant inférieur de titres en CHF déterminé par EFG Funding à sa discrétion;- l’adoption des résolutions extraordinaires décrites dans le mémorandum d’information et- l’adoption de certaines résolutions par les actionnaires d’EFG Finance (Guernsey) Limited.L’annonce des résultats de l’assemblée des titulaires devrait avoir lieu le 11 janvier 2013, tandis que l’annonce relative au respect des conditions de l’offre est attendue pour le 28 janvier 2013.

L’Union Mutualiste Retraite, qui gère 7,6 milliards d’euros d’actifs, a confié à Egamo, la société de gestion de la MGEN, un mandat obligataire de 4 milliards d’euros à l’issue d’une consultation lancée en septembre 2012.Ce mandat de gestion sur son actif cœur de portefeuille est une première pour l’UMR, indique un communiqué de presse. Egamo gère environ 2,8 milliards d’euros d’encours au travers de mandats et d’OPCVM.

En cédant hier sa participation au capital de China Pacific Insurance (CPIC), la société américaine de private equity Carlyle, a engrangé un rendement de plus de 500% de sa mise initiale pour un investissement bâti entre 2005 et 2007, rapporte L’Agefi. Le quotidien ajoute que le magazine The Asset croit savoir que les titres cédés, un reliquat de 2,2% du capital, soit 203 millions de titres CPIC pour l'équivalent de 605 millions d’euros, ont été alloués à parts égales entre fonds actions traditionnels et fonds alternatifs, les dix principaux empochant une majorité des titres.

Pioneer Investments a recruté deux personnes dans son équipe institutionnelle aux Etats-Unis. Ainsi, Mark Dacey a été nommé responsable des relations avec les consultants, tandis qu’Amy DiMarzio rejoint la société en tant que stratège obligataire.Mark Dacey était précédemment chez State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) où il était récemment managing director et responsable des relations avec les consultants aux Etats-Unis. Amy DiMarzio vient quant à elle de Putnam Investments, où elle était récemment vice president et analyste crédit.

Tout en demeurant chief research officer, Fred Fraenkel a été promu president de Fairholme Capital Management en remplacement de Bruce Berkowitz (CIO and managing member), qui assurait l’intérim de ce dernier poste depuis la démission de Charlie Fernandez au printemps de 2012.Fred Fraenkel a rejoint Fairholme en 2011 après avoir été responsable de l’investissement de Beacon Trust Company.

Natixis Asset Management annonce la nomination de Jens Peers au poste de directeur gestion actions investissement responsable de Mirova, son pôle d’expertise investissement responsable. Il travaillera sous la direction de Philippe Zaouati, directeur général délégué de Natixis AM et responsable du pôle d’expertise de Mirova. Jens Peers a débuté sa carrière en tant que conseiller financier chez KBC Bank à Bruxelles avant d’intégrer KBC Asset Management en 2001 en qualité d’analyste financier. En 2003, il rejoint Kleinwort Benson Investors, à Dublin pour prendre les fonctions de directeur actions - stratégies environnementales sur les thématiques de l’eau, l’agribusiness et les technologies propres (énergie renouvelable, efficacité énergétique, traitement des déchets).Mirova totalise 4 milliards d’euros d’encours en gestion actions ISR, 7,7 milliards d’euros d’encours en conseil sur les stratégies ESG, ISR hors actions et 20,4 milliards d’euros d’encours en vote et engagement (au 30/09/2012).

La gestion de la couverture du risque de change de Fondoposte, le fonds national de retraite complémentaire pour le personnel de Poste Italiane et de ses filiales, a été confiée au groupe Edmond de Rothschild, rapporte Bluerating. C’est la division spécialisée dans le currency overlay management de la société de gestion qui va s’en charger.

SAC Capital Advisors a augmenté la taille des bonus qu’elle va distribuer à ses gérants de portefeuilles de trois points de pourcentage pour 2013, selon des personnes proches de la société, rapporte le Wall Street Journal. Il s’agit d’une tentative pour retenir les talents alors que SAC fait face à une enquête des autorités.

Jes Staley, l’ancien bras droit du patron de JPMorgan Jamie Dimon, rejoint la société de hedge funds BlueMountain Capital Management, rapporte le Financial Times. Cette société fait partie des hedge funds qui ont fait tomber le trader de la banque américaine baptisé la baleine de Londres. Jes Staley était responsable de la banque d’investissement.

At the end of 2012, assets under management in European ETPs totalled USD367bn, 22.7% more than the USD299bn recorded the previous year, as net subscriptions totalled USD32.7bn of the USD68bn in asset growth, according to statistics from the BlackRock Institute. In December, net subscriptions totalled USD5.7bn, the highest level in 17 months.The top firm by assets and net inflows remained iShares (BlackRock), with USD140bn and USD18.5bn, respectively. It is followed by db x-trackers/db ETC (Deutsche Bank) with USD50.2bn, but only USD1.3bn in net subscriptions, and Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale) with USD42.3bn and USD0.5bn in net inflows.ETF Securities, in fourth place by assets with USD24.1bn, has USD2.6bn in net subscriptions, while Source, in seventh place with USD13.3bn, has posted net inflows of USD5.1bn.

The former chairman of the international alternative management association (AIMA) and hedge fund sector specialist Todd Groome is joining the Highwater group, specialised in corporate governance, The Asset reports. Groome, who from 2009 to 2012 represented the hedge fund sector as head of the AIMA, has recently served as a senior adviser to Albourne Partners and as adviser to a hedge fund successfully launched in 2011. The Highwater group offers corporate governance services to hedge funds and asset management firms via the appointment of independent administrators and other means.

While remaining as chief research officer, Fred Fraenkel has been promoted to the position of chairman of Fairholme Capital Management, replacing Bruce Berkowitz, CIO and managing member, who had held the position for the interim since the resignation of Charlie Fernandez in spring 2012. Fraenkel joined Fairholme in 2011, after serving as chief investment officer at Beacon Trust Company.

Jens Peers has been appointed CIO sustainable equities of Mirova, the responsible investment division of Natixis Asset Management, where he will report directly to Philippe Zaouati, the deputy CEO of Natixis AM, Head of Mirova. Jens Peers started his career in 1998 as a financial advisor at KBC Bank, Brussels. He subsequently joined KBC Asset Management in 2001 as a financial analyst. In 2003, he moved to Kleinwort Benson Investors, Dublin, as head of portfolio management - environmental strategies on the following thematic areas: water, agribusiness, cleantech (renewable energy, energy efficiency, waste management). Mirova has EUR4bn in assets under management in SRI assets, EUR7.7bn in assets advised in ESG strategies and EUR20.4bn in assets in voting and engagement (as of 30 September 2012).

Jes Staley, former lieutenant of the head of JPMorgan, Jamie Dimon, is joining the hedge fund firm BlueMountain Capital Management, the Financial Times reports. The firm is one of the hedge funds which brought down the US banking trader known as the whale of London. Staley had been head of investment banking.

The British firm Federated Prime Rate Capital Management, an affiliate of Federated Investments, has registered its money market Sicav umbrella fund Federated Prime Rate Cash Management Funds, domiciled in Luxembourg, with the CNMV, Funds People reports.

At a time when Spanish asset management firms underwent net redemptions and a decline in their assets under management throughout last year, the assets at foreign asset management firms have increased 10.6% in the first eleven months of 2012, to a total of EUR52bn, Funds People reports.

Sebastiano Ferrante at the beginning of 2013 became the new country head for Germany at Pramerica Real Estate International, succeeding Georg von Werz. As a member of the board of directors, he is also responsible for fund management. From 2007 to 2012, he was co-country head for Germany at Tishman Speyer Properties in Frankfurt, responsible for acquisitions and sales of properties in Germany, and of the operational platform of Tishman Speyer Properties. Pramerica Real Estate Investors (the European affiliate of Prudential Financial) has also announced that it has acquired the office building at 141 Bothwell Street (175,000 square feet) in Glasgow from the Strathclyde Pension Fund for GBP70m.

The management of currency risks for Fondoposte, the national complementary retirement fund for employees of the Poste Italiane and its affiliates, has been contracted to the Edmond de Rothschild group, Bluerating reports. It is the division specialised in currency overlay management at the asset management firm which will handle the contract.

At the end of November, assets in funds domiciled in the UK set a new all-time record of GBP652bn, which represents an increase of over 50% compared with August 2008, the record previous to the financial crisis, says Daniel Godfrey, CEO of the Investment Management Association (IMA). Compared with the end of November 2011 (GBP565bn), the increase is 15%. The IMA states that net subscriptions for retail products in November totalled GBP1.2bn, compared with GBP338m one year previously, while net subscriptions to ISAs totalled GBP44m, compared with net outflows of GBP61m. Equity funds attracted GBP720m, the highest level since April 2011 (GBP1.25bn), while bond funds saw inflows of only GBP43m, the lowest level since net outflows of GBP142m in October 2008.

Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) on January 8 announced the launch of the Morgan Stanley Investment Funds (MS INVF) Global Premier Credit Fund. The fund seeks to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns by investing in “Premier Credit,” the corporate debt issued by businesses characterized by dominant franchises or leading industry positions, low capital intensity and strong balance sheets.To build the portfolio and identify Premier Credit, the portfolio managers leverage fundamental research from MSIM’s Global Fixed Income team. Additionally, the new fund employs proprietary quantitative tools to screen the credit universe and continually monitor high quality issuers, resulting in a strong platform from which to assess credit quality.Richard Ford, European head of credit for MSIM, said, “The Global Premier Credit Fund aims to be an effective strategy to help investors wanting to diversify from government debt, by seeking higher yields through capturing the credit premium of the highest quality credits withlimited volatility and default risk (...)».

Two former employees of Man Investments are joining teams responsible for assisting independent wealth management advisers and family offices in Switzerland at Swiss & Global Asset Management (CHF87.4bn in assets as of the end of September). Remo Badertscher, senior relationship manager at his former employer, and Markus Lienert, who had been head of clients for independent wealth management advisers in Liechtenstein and Switzerland, have been recruited for the sales team at Swiss & Global in Zurich.

Philippe Currat, who will reach the age of 65 in May 2013, has announced plans to leave the executive board at Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild S.A. at the beginning of 2013, from 9 January, the Geneva-based bank has announced in a statement released on 8 January, after the close of the trading day. Currat had been chairman of the executive board at the private bank for 25 years.

GLG, the discretionary investment manager of Man Group plc, has announced a number of senior hires to its macro and fixed income team. The appointments are part of a focus on expanding GLG’s strategy as it relates to absolute return macro and fixed income. Kumaran Damodaran joins Sudi from Pimco as a portfolio manager focusing on emerging markets within GLG’s fixed income platform. He has significant experience managing absolute return and outperformance portfolios and has worked closely with Sudi Mariappa in the past, who also joined GLG in October.Brian Pinto will join from the World Bank to take on the role of Senior Macro- Economist, specialising in emerging markets. With many publications to his credit, Brian has spent nearly thirty years at the World Bank, where he is currently Senior Adviser, focusing on sovereign debt, financial integration and growth in emerging markets. He will work closely with GLG strategist Driss Lamrani. Richard Bateson joins from Man AHL as a Senior Quantitative Analyst. He currently heads a strategy within AHL which trades trend, reversion and value strategies across over 150 markets. He is also an Associate of the OxfordMan Institute, Oxford University. The overall macro and fixed income platform will be co-headed by Jamil Baz and Sudi Mariappa.

The Swiss Siz & Co group has announced that it has registered four new sub-funds of its Luxembourg Oyster sicav in Switzerland. The registration of the new sub-funds is a sign of the group’s desire to meet the particular need of Swiss professional clients. Switzerland currently represents a major area of development for Oyster funds. With the Oyster range and the Oyster Multi-Manager sub-funds of the Sicav 3A Alternative Funds, 36 funds are offered to Swiss investors, a range which is constantly developing, and which ranges from highly conservative absolute return strategies to traditional strategies focused on various asset classes, and more innovative “newcits” approaches. OYSTER European SelectionOyster European Selection adopts the approach and philosophy of the Oyster European Opportunities fund. The strategy is appropriate for the requirements of institutional clients, and targets European equities with strong potential for growth in the next five years. With its longer investment horizon, the fund benefits from the expertise and strong convictions of its manager, Eric Bendhan, a specialist in European equities. OYSTER US SelectionOyster US Selection focuses on US equities, combining bottom-up analysis with a top-down complement which aims to anticipate changes in economic cycles. The fund, managed by Scout Investments, Inc., a US asset management firm, offers a strategy which is available in UCITS format exclusively via the Oyster Sicav. OYSTER Global High DividendOyster Global High Dividend invests in high-dividend equities worldwide. Managed by SYZ Asset Management SA and SYZ & Co Asset Management LLP with Roberto Magnatantini as lead manager, Oyster Global High Dividend combines quantitative and fundamental analysis with a particular emphasis on growth in dividends. OYSTER Global High YieldOyster Global High Yield invests in high yield bonds worldwide. The fund is managed by Seix Investment Advisors LLC, an asset management firm based in the United States.

The Eurekahedge hedge fund index gained 1.46% in December, bringing its performance for the year as a whole to 6.19%. The Mizuho-Eurekahedge Top 100 index, which tracks the evolution of assets and the performance of the 100 largest hedge funds, for its part, posted gains of 5.82% in 2012. Distressed debt strategies earned the best results in 2012, with gains of 12.87% over twelve months.

Six years to the day after acquiring the portfolio, the German open-ended real estate fund UniImmo: Global has resold its portfolio of five properties in Chile for EUR171m to Aurus Renta Inmobiliaria. The sale price is about EUR33m higher than the purchase price. The properties sold total 55,725 square metres of area in the Birmann 24, Torre Paris, Xerox, Bandera 76 and Teatinos 254-258 buildings in Santiago, Chile. After the sale, the UniImmo: Global fund retains six properties or stakes in properties in Latin America, totalling EUR230m.

The Swedish firm Stella Asset Management will liquidate its two hedge funds, Stella Nova and Stella Polaris, Privata Affärer reports. The funds had a difficult year in 2012. The Swedish website says this is only the beginning of a wave of hedge fund closures to come.

The German open-ended real estate fund Deka-ImmobilienGlobal has announced that it has sold the office building at 5, Plaza de Cataluña in Barcelona, with 14,000 square metres, to an investor who wishes to remain anonymous. According to information obtained by Newsmanagers, the buyer would appear to be the billionaire Amancio Ortega, the largest shareholder in Inditex. Deka Immobilien states that the sale has allowed it to earn a capital gain. In addition, the sale comes as part of the strategy of Deka-ImmobilienGlobal, which is to focus its investments on major cities outside Europe, and on Germany and the United Kingdom.