HedgeWeek reports that Bryan, Garnier Asset Management (BGAM) has recently launched the Bryan Garnier Umbrella Fund SICAV plc domiciled in Malta and managed by Paris-based BGAM. This platform aims to introduce a range of US hedge funds into the UCITS universe. The first US sub-fund to join the platform is Denver-based Madison Street Partners (USD175m in AUM), an equity long/short shop
Investec Asset Management has opened an office in Singapore and installed Tobie van Heerden as head of institutional sales for South-East Asia and Korea, Asian Investor reports.
State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) announced it has appointed Jacqueline Pang as the Head of Capital Markets for SPDR ETFs, Asia Pacific.Based in Hong Kong, Pang will be responsible for overseeing and driving SSgA’s exchange traded funds (ETF) global capital markets’ group activities.
The Fondo Pensione per il Personale della Banca di Legnano, the pension fund of Banca di Legnano’s staff, announced it has recently awarded a custody, portfolio valuation and depositary bank mandate to RBC Investor Services.
The Netherlands became the first country to implement the AIFM directive, after approval of the law by Parliament, IPE.com reports. “With the new legislation, asset management firms based in the Netherlands may optimally apply a relaxation of tax rules in order to reduce unnecessary costs in existing fiscal and legal structures,” says Marco Frikkee, of KPMG.
On 5 October, the CNMV issued sales licenses for Spain to the Bankinter Renta Fija Jade Garantizado, Ibercaja BP High Yield 2015-2 and Taltrack Alternative Investment funds.The Spanish regulator also issued licenses to the foreign-registered products Amundi Treso 3 mois and Treso Eonia ISR, to several sub-funds from iShares Germany (iShares Dax, Divdax, Dow Jones-UBS commodity Swap, EB Rexx Money Market, MDax, Stoxx Europe 600, and TecDax) , to Julius Baer Special Funds and to the LFP Credit Flexible International and LFP Rendement 2017 funds.
More than 80% of pension funds based in the Netherlands will have to reduce their payments to pensioners for the first time from April next year, unless they can improve their financial situation by then, Financial Times Fund Management reports. The Netherlands central bank is requiring assets at pension funds to represent at least 105% of liabilities by the end of 2013. In order to achieve that objective, 81% of them will have to reduce benefits to current pensioners, according to the most recent available figures.
The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite hedge fund index has gained 1.1% in the month of September, putting gains for third quarter at 2.9%, according to statistics from HFR.In the first nine months of the year, the index shows gains of 4.7%.In September, strategies related to equities generally progressed well, with the HFRI equity hedge index showing gains of 1.94%, and positive contributions from both growth and value strategies. The HFRI emerging markets index, for its part, earned returns of 3.1% in September.The Lyxor hedge fund index, for its part, has posted gains of 0.2% in September, while 11 Lyxor strategy indices finished the month with gains.
AXA on 8 October announced the appointment of Cyrille de Montgolfier as director of European and institutional affairs for the group. De Montgolfier, previously head of the Central and Eastern European region, replaces Jérôme Hamilius, who has decided to leave the group. In his new role, he will report to Denis Duverne, deputy CEO of the Axa Group.Jef Van In is taking over as director of the Central and Eastern European region. These new responsibilities come in addition to his current responsibilities as CEO of AXA Bank Europe. In both cases, he reports to Jacques de Vaucleroy, CEO for the Northern, Central and Eastern European region, and international head of life, savings, retirement and health insurance activities.The two appointments will take effect from 15 October 2012.
BNY Mellon on Monday announced it has appointed Navin Suri as Asia-Pacific (APAC) Head of Intermediary Distribution to spearhead the expansion of the company’s distribution partnerships in the region. He will be responsible for developing and managing the build out of the APAC intermediary sales strategy and distribution channel network and relationships, mainly new partnerships with consumer banks, private banks and family offices, insurance and pension providers, securities companies, IFAs and other financial intermediaries.Based in Hong Kong, Suri will report into Alan Harden, CEO for BNY Mellon’s APAC investment management business, and to PeterPaul Pardi, BNY Mellon’s head of global distribution, based in London. Suri joins BNY Mellon’s APAC Investment Management Executive Committee and BNY Mellon’s APAC Operating Committee.Suri joins BNY Mellon from ING Investment Management where he was MD and CEO for the firm’s business in India.
The Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global, the former Oil Fund, has bought 50% of the UK shopping centre Meadowhall, near Sheffield, for GBP348m.The stake was purchased from a joint venture between London & Stamford Properties and Green Park Investments. The transaction, completed on 6 October, values the entire asset at GBP1.525 billion pounds, including debt.
Fidelity Worldwide Investments is proposing to merge two multi-management funds, the Fidelity MultiManager Balanced Portfolio and Fidelity MultiManager Income Portfolio, Fund Web reports.More precisely, the first fund, whose assets under management total GBP3m, will be integrated into the second, which has a 50% exposure to growth assets (equities, commodities and real estate), and 50% to value securities (bonds).The merger is pending the approval of shareholders and supervisory authorities.
The global services specialist BNY Mellon has been mandated by Allianz Global Services (AGI) to provide data management and accounting services for discretionary mandates managed by AGI. AGI manages about EUR300bn in retail funds, dedicated funds and discretionary mandates. These discretionary mandates, which include international portfolios invested in securities and derivatives, will be taken over by BNY Mellon Service Kapitalanlage-Gesellschaft mbH.
Janus Capital International Limited, the international arm of Janus Capital Group, announced the appointment of Meshal Jaber Al Faras, as head of the Middle East for Janus Capital’s international business, effective immediately.The firm has also opened a representative office in Dubai out of which Meshal will be based.Meshal comes to Janus with over 15 years of experience in the investment industry. Prior to joining Janus, he was Head of GCC Business Development at Royal Capital in Abu Dhabi. Before that, he was a Director at Natixis Global Associates and a spent a decade with the Kuwait Investment Authority. Meshal will report directly to Augustus Cheh, President of Janus Capital International.The new office in the Dubai International Finance Centre will service existing and new clients in the Middle East. The office opening marks the fifth for Janus in 2012, with offices opened to date this year in The Hague, Frankfurt, Paris, and Zurich.
Natixis Global Asset Management has recruited two people for its international products unit, Investment Europe reports. James Beaumont joins from Standard Life Investment, and becomes head of product consulting and solutions, durable portfolio consultant. Catherine Morat joins from Wellington Management. She becomes head of the product marketing team. Both will be based in London.
A senior member of the product structuring and financing group at Man Investments in Switzerland, Nicolas Samaran, has been appointed head of investment content at Source (EUR11.5bn in AUM at end-September).Samaran will have responsibility for the search and selection for new and innovative investment content from external providers and report to Peter Thompson, head of distribution and strategy.
Rathbone Brothers has acquired a 19.9% stake in Vision Independent Financial Planning, a financial advising company, and its sister company, Castle Investment Solutions, for GBP2m. The specialist in wealth management is planning to acquire all of the two entities by 2015, Investment Week reports.
The Paradigm group is planning to launch an asset management operation which will include the fund product range from Paradigm, discretionary fund management services, and model portfolios.The firm is currently in the process of recruiting an investment team to manage third-party fund mandates.
The British Financial Services Authority (FSA) is planning to require of fund managers that information on absolute return funds contain warnings about the risks related to these funds, when their presentation implies that there are guaranteed returns or protection of capital, even though this is not necessarily the case.In its most recent quarterly consultation, published just before the weekend, the FSA announces that it would like to introduce additional information on absolute return and total return funds. “We have already in the past presented absolute return funds as a subject of potential concern, pointing out that clients may interpret the terms ‘absolute return’ and ‘total return’ as a guarantee of positive returns on their investments. We would like it to be absolutely clear to investors that their capital is at risk in these funds,” the FSA states.
The Julius Baer private bank on 9 October released an informational supplement on the integration of wealth management activities of Merrill Lynch outside the United States. Baer states that 80% of assets under management related to this transaction will have been transferred by the end of 2013.At an investor day in London, Julius Baer will also announce that job cuts related to the operation will represent 15% to 18% of staff, and that the cost-income ratio for international wealth management (IWM) activities will come in at about 70%.The impact of the transaction on per-share profits is expected to be neutral in 2014, but to favour an increase of 15% in 2015.As of the end of August 2012, assets under management at Julius Baer total CHF184bn, up CHF14bn, or 8%, compared with the end of December 2011.
As announced by Newsmanagers on 3 August 2012, the management of Société Générale Private Banking has this year undergone a reorganisation. As a part of this process, the appointment of Yves Thieffry as CEO of Société Générale Private Banking (Switzerland) has recently been announced by the firm. Thieffry is responsible for the management and development of Societe Generale Private Banking (Suisse) SA and its subsidiaries. Yves Thieffry succeeds Guillaume Lejoindre, who becomes chairman of the board of directors of Société Générale Private Banking (Switerland) SA, replacing Jean-François Mazaud, head of the Société Générale Private Banking, who remains a member of the board of director in Switzerland and becomes its vice president.
The Zurich-based banking group EFG International is launching an IPO process on the Swiss stock exchange for its unit dedicated to structured investment products. The subscription price for equities will total between CHF40 and CHF50, with the first day of listing scheduled for 19 October.The placement operation for EFG Financial Products, announced on 25 Sptember, will bring in CHF51m to CHF64m for EFG International. If the full greenshoe option is activated, the total will be in a range from CHF63m to CHF78m, the company announced in a statement on 8 October.The proceeds will have no impact on profits at EFG International, insofar as the entity placed on the stock market will continue to be fully consolidated within the group, a statement says. Tier 1 equity will be improved with the move, with a BRI total capital ratio up to about 17%.Once the IPO is complete, EFG International will still control at least 20% of capital in EFG Financial Products Holding, compared with about 58% currently. The stake will continue to be locked in for a 12-month period starting from the first day of trading.The deal is based on a basic offering of a maximum of 2,937,137 shares. EFG International will sell 1,270,472 at most of the existing shares it holds. Subscribers may profit from a greenshoe option of 293,713 shares at most, within 30 days from 19 October.The bookbuilding began on Monday, and will complete on 18 October at noon. The issue price will be set on Friday, 19 October, before the market opens. The initial capitalisation will total between CHF267m and CHF333m, with a float of 44%, or 49% with the greenshoe option.
In January-August, asset management firms belonging to the German BVI association for the sector posted net subscriptions of EUR7.85bn for their security funds. With EUR12.35bn going to Pimco, the Allianz Asset Management group alone posted inflows of EUR15.41bn.The other big winner in the first two thirds of the year is Union Investment (Co-operative banks), with net subscriptions of EUR2.37bn.However, the other two top actors in the sector show outflows, with net redemptions of EUR3.57bn for Deka (savings banks) and EUR3.82bn for Deutsche Bank.ETFs posted outflows, aside from products from ETFlab (Deka group), which posted net inflows of EUR427.6m: the other three major promoters belonging to the BVI have seen outflows of more than EUR800m each: EUR879.7m from iShares (BlackRok), EUR807.8m from db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank), and EUR802.2m from ComStage (Commerzbank).
As of the end of August, assets under management by companies belonging to the German BVI trade group totalled a new record of EUR1.93698trn, compared with EUR1.92624trn as of the end of July, and EUR1.76221trn one year previously.Net subscriptions totalled EUR4.39bn in August, compared with EUR6.69bn the previous month, to a total of EUR48.99bn in the first eight months of the year, compared with EUR13.13bn in January-August 2011.However, in the first eight months of the year, open-ended equity funds underwent net outflows of EUR5.9bn, while net redemptions total EUR3.72bn for garanteed funds and EUR1.73bn for money market funds. Open-ended bond funds, however, benefited from net subscriptions of EUR18.44bn.Institutional funds had inflows of a net EUR40.375bn, compared with EUR20.379bn for the corresponding period of last year. Mandates managed outside funds underwent net redemptions of EUR1.81bn in January-August, compared with EUR3.64bn in the first eight months of 2011.
Lyxor is for the third time in less than two months reducing management fees on its money market ETF, the Lyxor ETF Euro Cash, to 0.065%. The firm had already lowered its commission by 0.15% to 0.085% on 1 August, and to 0.075% on 3 September.
Le spécialiste mondial des services BNY Mellon a été mandaté par Allianz Global Services (AGI) pour la fourniture de services de gestion des données et de comptabilité pour des mandats discrétionnaires pilotés par AGI.AGI gère quelque 300 milliards d’euros de fonds retail, de fonds dédiés et de mandats discrétionnaires. Ces mandats discrétionnaires, qui comprennent des portefeuilles internationaux logeant des titres et des dérivés, seront pris en charge par BNY Mellon Service Kapitalanlage-Gesellschaft mbH.
Janus Capital International Limited, la branche internationale de Janus Capital Group, vient d’ouvrir un bureau de représentation à Dubaï et de nommer Meshal Jaber Al Faras en tant que responsable du Moyen-Orient.Ce dernier était précédemment responsable de GCC Business Development chez Royal Capital à Abu Dhabi. Il a aussi été administrateur chez Natixis Global Asociates.Le bureau de Dubaï, le cinquième ouvert en 2012, servira les clients et prospects de Janus au Moyen-Orient.
Nicolas Samaran, membre senior du groupe spécialisé dans la structuration et le financement de produits basés en Suisse de Man Investments, a été recruté comme responsable des supports d’investissements et des stratégies produits, head of investment content, par Source (11,5 milliards d’euros d’encours à fin septembre). Il sera subordonné à Peter Thompson, responsable de la distribution et de la stratégie.
Rathbone Brothers a fait l’acquisition de 19,9 % de Vision Independent Financial Planning, une société de conseil financier et la société sœur de cette dernière, Castle Investment Solutions pour 2 millions de livres. Le spécialiste de la gestion de fortune prévoit de racheter la totalité de deux entités d’ici à 2015, indique Investment Week.
Pour 348 millions de livres, le Norwegian Governement Pension Fund - Global (GPFG) a acheté le 6 octobre 50 % du centre commercial Meadowhall de 141.000 mètres carrés (situé à 5 km de Sheffield) à une coentreprise de London & Stamford Properties et de Green Park Investments. Cela valorise l’actif total à 1.525 millions de livres, dette incluse.