L’australien AMP Capital a annoncé le lancement du AMP Capital Infrastructure Debt Fund II destiné aux investisseurs institutionnels et qui se focalisera sur la dette subordonnée d’actifs d’infrastructure dans les domaines de l’eau, du gaz, de l'électricité et du transport en Europe, en Amérique du Nord et en Australie. Il s’agit d’une nouvelle édition du IDF I clôturé en juin et qui a drainé 400 millions d’euros auprès d’une trentaine de grands investisseurs mondiaux. Jusqu'à présent, l’IDF I a déjà investi 218 millions dans six crédits subordonnés en Europe et en Amérique du Nord. Pour l’IDF II, AMP vise un encours de 1 milliard de dollars.L’objectif de performance pour la période d’investissement recommandée de 10-14 ans se situe à 10 %, sachant par ailleurs que la commission de gestion se situe à 1 %. Une commission de performance de 15 % sera facturée, avec high watermark, à partir d’un gain supérieur à 350 points de base au-dessus du Libor .AMP Capital précise avoir recruté au 3 décembre Patrick Trears pour le nouveau poste de directeur de l'équipe de dette infrastructure, basé à New York. L’intéressé était responsable des projets et des transactions financières dans les Amériques chez l’allemand WestLB (devenue Portigon). L’intéressé est subordonné à Andrew Jones, global head of infrastructure debt.

Le fonds souverain chinois China Investment Corporation (CIC) serait sur le point de prendre une participation significative dans la société d’exploitation forestière canadienne Timberland LB, selon le SWF Institute.Timberland LB est une filiale de la société de gestion Brookfield Asset Management.

La société de gestion alternative Gottex Fund Management table au second semestre sur une nette amélioration par rapport à la première partie de l’année, avec un retour à la profitabilité opérationnelle malgré une perte comptable, selon un communiqué publié le 12 décembre.La société a par ailleurs indiqué être en bonne voie pour son programme de rachat d’actions.Quelque 566.000 actions ont été acquises au 11 décembre dans le cadre du programme de rachat d’actions, précise Gottex dans un communiqué.Au 30 septembre 2012, les actifs sous gestion générateurs de commissions de Gottex s'élevaient à 7,6 milliards de dollars. Concernant le quatrième trimestre 2012, Gottex indique avoir remporté des mandats pour plus de 125 millions de dollars mais relève aussi qu’un de ses clients va fermer un compte ségrégué de stratégies relative value et event driven d’un montant de 525 millions de dollars.

ING Investment Management a annoncé la fusion du fonds Emerging Markets avec le fonds Emerging Markets High Dividend qui débouche sur la création d’un fonds de 190 millions d’euros d’actifs sous gestion, rapporte Investment Europe.

L’agence suisse RepRisk a publié son rapport sur les sociétés les plus controversées des pays BRIC (Brésil, Russie, Inde et Chine) pour la période d’un an à fin octobre 2012. RepRisk a synthétisé pour ce faire des informations très variées, y compris des journaux, de nouveaux sites, des organisations non gouvernementales, des sites officiels gouvernementaux, des blogs et des médias sociaux.Les trois sociétés les plus décriées ont été :au Brésil : Vale, Petrobras, et Norte Energia Consortiumen Russie : Gazprom Arktikmor Neftegaz Razvedka et Femcoen Inde : Maruti Suzuki, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam et Coastal Gujarat eten Chine : HEG Electronics, China National Petroleum Corporation et RiTeng Computer Accessory Co.

Threadneedle Investments a annoncé le 12 décembre la nomination de Campbell Fleming au poste de CEO en remplacement de Crispin Henderson qui devient vice chairman du pôle Global Asset Management au sein de la maison mère de Threadneedle, Ameriprise Financial.Dans leurs nouvelles fonctions, Campbell Fleming et Crispin Henderson seront directement rattachés à Ted Truscott, CEO du pôle Global Asset Management d’Ameriprise.Crispin Henderson travaille chez Threadneedle depuis 2002 alors que Campbell Fleming a rejoint la société en 2009 en tant que responsable de la distribution et membre du comité exécutif.

F&C Asset Management sort un fonds actions long/short destiné à capitaliser sur les inefficiences sur le marché immobilier paneuropéen, rapporte Citywire. Le F&C Real Estate Equity Long/Short UCITS a été lancé avec 63,4 millions d’euros et sera co-géré par Raymond Lahaut et Marcus Phayre-Mudge.

Je ne comprends rien.

Le groupe britannique LV= a annoncé le lancement d’un contrat d’assurance longévité de 800 millions de livres à destination des 5.000 participants à son fonds de pension.Ce contrat, qui circonscrit le risque longévité au sein du fonds de pension, sera géré par Swiss Re.

Le gestionnaire de fonds écossais Martin Currie a décidé de fermer son hedge fund chinois en raison d’un conflit d’intérêts entre deux clients qui n’a pu être résolu et qui a entraîné des amendes des régulateurs américain et britannique pour un montant de 14 millions de dollars, rapporte Asian Investor.Les actifs sous gestion de cette stratégie long/short equity lancée en 2002 s’inscrivaient dernièrmeent autour de 10 millions de dollars après avoir culminé à environ 200 millions de dolllars en 2010, alors que le fonds dégageait un rendement de 16% par an.

L’ancien directeur général de la Financial Services Authority (FSA) jusqu'à janvier 2012, Hector Sants, rejoindra le 21 janvier Barclays Plc en tant que head of compliance & government & regulatory relations. Il sera subordonné directement à Antony Jenkins, group chief executive.A ce poste nouvellement créé, il aura la responsabilité de toutes les questions de conformité dans le groupe Barclays dans le monde entier. En d’autres termes, cela signifie que, pour la première fois, tous les personnels du domaine de la conformité seront sous les ordres d’une seule personne et agiront de manière indépendante des dirigeants des lignes de métiers et des responsables régionaux.

Pour 1,1 milliard d’euros, l’Etat fédéral privatise la société immobilière TLG Immobilien qui est vendue au fonds de private equity américain Lone Star, un spécialiste des actifs «distressed». Le ministère fédéral des Finances a indiqué que le portefeuille de TLG, situé en ex-RDA puisque TLG a été créée par la Treuhandanstalt, compte environ 780 immeubles commerciaux.

Mercredi, la Deutsche Bank a publié un communiqué indiquant que ses locaux ont fait l’objet de perquisitions dans le cadre d’une enquête entamée au printemps 2010 et portant sur ses soupçons de fraude à la TVA liée au négoce de droits d’émission de carbone. Dans ce contexte, poursuit la banque, deux membres du directoire, Jürgen Fitschen et Stefan Krause, sont mis en cause par le Parquet pour avoir signé la déclaration de TVA pour 2009. La banque a entre-temps corrigé cette erreur, en renonçant l’an dernier, selon la presse, à 310 millions d’euros de remboursements de TVA.Jürgen Fitschen est le co-président du directoire, tandis que Stefan Krause est le directeur financier de la Deutsche Bank.

The Australian firm AMP Capital has announced the launch of the AMP Capital Infrastructure Debt Fund II, aimed at institutional investors, which will focus on subordinate infrastructure asset debt in the areas of water, natural gas, electricity and transport in Europe, North America and Australia. This is a new version of IDF I, which was closed in June with EUR400m in investment from 30 major global investors. So far, IDF I has already invested EUR218m in six subordinate loans in Europe and North America. For IDF II, AMP is aiming for assets of USD1bn.The performance objective for the recommended investment period of 10-14 years is 10%, while management commission is 1%. A performance commission of 15% will be charged, with high watermark, on gains exceeding 350 points above the Libor.AMP Capital also said that on 3 December it recruited Patrick Trears for the new position of director of the infrastructure debt team, based in New York. Trears had been head of projects and financial transactions for the Americas at the German firm WestLB (which became Portigon). Trears will report to Andrew Jones, global head of infrastructure debt.

Hedge fund launches totaled 275 in third quarter 2012, an increase from 245 in the prior quarter, bringing total launches in the trailing twelve months to 1,094, slightly below the 2011 launch total of 1,113 fund openings, according to data released by HFR. Meanwhile, hedge fund liquidations increased to 211 in third quarter, an uptick from the 192 liquidations in second quarter, bringing total liquidations to 825 in the past trailing 12 months, slightly ahead of the 2011 total of 775 fund closings. Assets under management reached a record level of USD2.2trn in third quarter, while the number of single-manager hedge funds also reached a record level of 7,867 funds. The total number of Funds of Hedge Funds (FOF) in existence declined to fewer than 1,900, a level not seen since 1Q05. Launches in both Macro and Relative Value Arbitrage (RV) strategies exceeded launches in Equity Hedge for the first time in 3Q12, with over 100 new Macro funds and over 70 new RV funds launching in 3Q12, compared to 60 launches in Equity Hedge. Steady fund performance by RV strategies over the past four years has continued to attract new investor capital, with total assets in RV increasing to USD586 Billion, equaling the amount of capital invested in Equity Hedge strategies. Lastly, the industry-wide average management and incentive fees both declined as of 3Q12, with the average management fee falling 1 bps to 1.56 percent and the average incentive fee falling 14bps to 18.62 from the prior quarter.

Threadneedle Investments on Wednesday announced that Campbell Fleming will become chief executive officer of Threadneedle, replacing Crispin Henderson who will become vice chairman of Global Asset Management for Ameriprise Financial, the parent company of Threadneedle. In their new roles, both Henderson and Fleming will report to Ted Truscott, CEO of Global Asset Management for Ameriprise. Crispin Henderson has served Threadneedle for more than a decade, since 2007 as chief executive.Campbell Fleming joined Threadneedle in 2009 as head of distribution and is a member of the Threadneedle executive committee.

EFG Funding (Guernsey) Limited, an affiliate of EFG International, on 12 December announced a public request for proposals and a bid to holders of EFG fiduciary certificates. EFG Funding (Guernsey) Limited (“EFG Funding,”) an affiliate of EFG International AG, invites holders of EUR400m EFG fiduciary certificates (ISIN XS0204324890, currently EUR264,781,000 in circulation), issued on a fiduciary basis by the Bank of Luxembourg, to offer all EFG fiduciary certificates for sale, at 60% of the nominal price plus costs. In addition, holders of EFG fiduciary certificates are asked to approve certain changes to the terms and conditions for EFG fiduciary certificates at an extraordinary resolution, by which EFG fiduciary certificates are required to comply with owners’ equity requirements established as part of Basel III, which will come into force in Switzerland on 1 January 2013. Approval from FINMA is also required.

The Scottish asset management firm Aberdeen Asset Management has won a USD200m mandate to manage emerging market bonds for the Danish pension fund PKA, Citywire reports. The mandate will be managed by the emerging market debt team at Aberdeen. Assets under management at PKA total USD34.5bn.

The British group LV= has announced the launch of a GBP800m life insurance policy for the 5,000 members of its pension fund. The policy, which circumscribes the life expectancy risks of the pension fund, will be managed by Swiss Re.

F&C Asset Management is releasing a long/short equity fund which will aim to capitalise on inefficiencies in the pan-European real estate market, Citywire reports. The F&C Real Estate Equity Long/Short UCITS fund was launched with EUR63.4m, and will be co-managed by Maymond Lahaut and Marcus Phayre-Mudge.

The Scottish fund management firm Martin Currie has decided to close its Chinese hedge fund due to a conflict of interest between two clients which could not be resolved, and which resulted in fines from US and British regulators totalling USD14m, Asian Investor reports.Assets under management in the long/short equity strategy launched in 2002 most recently totalled approximately USD10m, off a peak of about USD200m in 2010, at a time when the fund was earning returns of over 16% per year.

The asset management firm Standard Life Investments has won a bond management mandate from a British local council, Cumbria City Council.The total amount of this corporate bond mandate is GBP130m, a statement from Standard Life Investments says.

On the basis of research by Efficient Capital Management, Stoxx Limited is launching the iSTOXX Efficient Capital Managed Futures 20 Index, which includes 20 of the largest Commodity Trading Advisors (CTA) by asset volume. This may be used as an basis for financial products.

Heads of investor relations at a publicly-traded business are increasingly important. 65% of the time, this head reports directly to the chief financial officer, and 26% of the time to the CEO, according to an international survey of 140 heads of investor relationships undertaken by CA Cheuvreux, in partnership with investor relationship associations in France and Germany, CLIFF (the French investor relationship association) and DIRK (Deutsche Investor Relations Verband). Communications about sustainable development and management of relationships with bond investors/analysts are the primary current concerns of heads of investor relationships. The survey also finds that less than one out of every two investor relationship teams is responsible for sustainable development communications. Heads of investor relationships at mid-sizes businesses more often serve in complementary roles than their counterparts at larger market caps, primarily those of chief financial officer, head of management controls or communications. 85% of the time, heads of investor relationships are present at some meetings with the board of directors. However, only 12% participate in all meetings, and 3% are members of the board. 9 times out of 10, heads of investor relationships estimate that the importance of their role is duly recognised by the CEO and CFO as well as by financial analysts and investors. However, the responses are more nuanced for the auditing and advisory boards. Lastly, only one third of firms say they use social networks as communication tools. Twitter was the most frequently-cited, more often than LinkedIn.

As Newsmanagers reported last week, Philippe Couvrecelle has officially launched PTH-Conseil, his own asset management consulting firm. The former chairman of the board of Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (EdRAM) will collaborate with Jean Maunoury, previously head of strategy and a fund of funds manager at EdRAM. In practice, PTH-Conseil, the announcement of whose launch coincides with that of the 2013-2016 strategic plan at La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild (see elsewhere in Newsmanagers), «will provide strategic guidance to both local and global asset managers, with a particular emphasis on European, American and Asian markets. In light of the challenges and changes facing the asset management industry, they are poised to step in with a differentiated approach to help companies to re-think and re-shape their business architecture,» a statement says.

In November, assets at Legg Mason, Franklin Templeton, Invesco and AllianceBernstein increased to a total of USD31bn.As is frequently the case, Franklin Templeton has posted by far the largest increase in its assets, which in November increased by USD14.9bn to a total of USD768.8bn. This time, however, this largely reflects the firm’s acquisition of K2 Advisors and of USD8.7bn which came in as an addition to hybrid assets of USD118.9bn. The volume of assets in bond products increased by USD6.6bn to USD341.9bn.At AllianceBernstein, total assets in November increased by USD7bn to a total of USD426bn, largely due to fixed income products, while at Invesco, an increase of USD6.4bn to USD683.8bn went to various sectors (equities, fixed income, mixed, money markets and alternative).Lastly, at Legg Mason, an increase of USD2.7bn, to USD648.3bn, resulted in an increase of USD6.6bn only for money market funds.

The structure born of the merger of Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management and Edmond de Rothschild Investment Managers, which now represents the unified asset management unit for the Edmond de Rothschild group, has set itself the goal of increasing its assets from EUR24bn to a total of EUR35bn by 2016, Christophe de Backer, CEO, has announced, presenting the group’s 4-year strategic plan on Wednesday. The merger of the two French asset management firms resulted in the loss of 66 jobs out of 250, de Backer confirms. These layoffs were largely in support roles, marketing, and sales, where the overlaps were, says Marc Samuel, head of the bank in Paris. The resulting structure, which will have a new head in first quarter, and which will be known as EdRAM, will become the core of asset management at the group, with EUR50bn worldwide and a target of EUR70bn by 2016. The profession overall, in several geographical regions, will also undergo some rationalisation. This will include a consolidation of the product range, so as to have funds with over EUR1bn in assets, Samuel explains to Newsmanagers. “We are seeing that inflows in Europe are going to large funds,” he says. However, he has not said what the target is in terms of the number of funds. He also says the bank is considering options for fund domiciles, between Paris and Luxembourg. In addition to these cost reductions, gathering forces in asset management also response to a desire to position the group as a major player in Europe and to develop internationally, which is also intended to be a driver of asset growth. The group is particularly targeting Switzerland, where it has a presence primarily in private banking, its other core profession, and “two enormous and virtually unexplored markets: the United Kingdom and Germany,” de Backer says. In order to increase assets, de Backer has not ruled out external growth, through small operations. These objectives come as part of an overall plan to increase assets under management at the Edmond de Rothschild group from EUR125bn to EUR158bn by 2016, to lower the cost/income ratio from 85% to 66%, and to offer returns for shareholders of 11%, up from 5% currently. This will involve a 10% reduction in costs by 2016.

The board of directors at Janus Capital Group (JCG) has decided to pay a quarterly dividend of 6 cents per share on 31 December, to shareholders registered as of closing on 21 December. This replaces a payment which would have come in January 2013.As of the end of September, assets under management at JCG totalled USD158.2bn.

Franco-Belgian group Dexia announced on Wednesday it had signed an agreement to sell Dexia Asset Management to Hong Kong based GCS Capital for EUR380 million.The scope of the transaction includes the full perimeter of Dexia Asset Management, and it falls within the context of the plan for the orderly resolution of the Dexia Group undertaken in October 2011.Finalisation of this transaction could take place in the first quarter 2013.

The German federal finance ministry has announced plans to place all investment fund managers and funds under the supervision of the government, including open-ended real estate funds, hedge funds and private equity funds, Handelsblatt reports. The new law would come as part of a transposition into German law of an EC directive.Steffen Siebert, spokesman for the German government, emphasized that the bill will also apply to closed fund managers on “grey” capital markets. The bill would also disallow hedge funds from being sold to retail investors; foreign hedge funds will be available only to professional or semi-professional investors.