Henderson Global Investors aborde la dernière phase de la rationalisation de sa gamme, rapporte Money Marketing. Ainsi, le Gartmore Long Term Balanced sera fusionné dans le Henderson Diversified Growth. Le Henderson Equity Income trust sera intégré dans le Henderson UK Equity Income. Enfin, le Henderson Japan Absolute Return sera fermé.
ING Groep a prévenu que le projet de cession de son activité asiatique de fonds, représentant un encours de 43 milliards d’euros, pourrait rapporter moins de la moitié des 500 millions d’euros anticipés en mai, rapporte Financial News.
Le patron des activités de gestion d’actifs de BNY Mellon pour l’Asie-Pacifique, Alan Harden, a indiqué à Asian Investor qu’il envisageait de recruter jusqu'à quatre responsables senior d’ici à la fin de l’année.Alan Harden explique que BNY Mellon n’a réalisé à ce jour que 25% environ de son plan de développement dans la région. BNY Mellon souhaite notamment encore recruter des gérants de portefeuille spécialisés en actions et en obligations. L'équipe de gérants, qui compte actuellement quinze personnes, pourrait ainsi doubler dans les douze prochains mois.
Le 17 juillet, le new-yorkais Global X Funds ((1,2 milliard de dollars d’encours au 15 juin) a lancé le Global X SuperIncome Preferred ETF (acronyme : SPFF), un ETF qui réplique l'évolution des cinquante actions préférentielles les plus rémunératrices d’Amérique du Nord (Etats-Unis et Canada) telle que retracée par l’indice the S&P Enhanced Yield North American Preferred Stock Index. Ce produit est chargé à 0,58 %.
En juillet, les actifs gérés par Franklin Resources (Franklin Templeton Investments) et Legg Mason se sont accrus de 15,6 milliards de dollars.L’essentiel de cette hausse, soit 11,6 milliards de dollars est à mettre au compte de Franklin Templeton, dont l’encours au 31 juillet ressortait à 718,7 milliards, avec notamment une augmentation de 2,7 milliards de dollars pour les actions, à 281,3 milliards et un gonflement de 6,4 milliards, à 325,9 milliards pour l’obligataire. A fin décembre, le total des fonds Franklin Templeton se situait à 670,3 milliards de dollars.Les actifs de Legg Mason à fin juillet ressortaient à 635,8 milliards de dollars contre 631,8 milliards fin juin, grâce à une hausse de 4,3 milliards, à 364,9 milliards pour l’obligataire. Sur les sept premiers mois de l’année, l’encours de Legg Mason s’est accru de 8,8 milliards de dollars.
Avec le nouveau service d’identification verify-U, Fidelity Worldwide Investments offre à présent aux investisseurs en Allemagne la possibilité d’ouvrir un compte sans avoir à se déplacer dans un bureau de poste pour faire vérifier leurs données personnelles. Le verify-U développé par la société cybits permet en effet au client potentiel de s’enregistrer en ligne sur fidelity-direkt.de en fournissant son numéro de portable, son adresse électronique, certaines données de sa carte d’identité et, le cas échéant, ses coordonnées bancaires. Fidelity affirme être le premier gestionnaire à offrir un tel service en Allemagne.Les comptes de la clientèle allemande de Fidelity sont conservés auprès de FFB (FIL Fondsbank), acheté par Fidelity en octobre 2009. La FFB propose la tenue de compte pour environ 8.000 fonds de quelque 200 gestionnaires, en plus de ceux de Fidelity.
UniCredit vient de créer une boutique en interne pour suivre de près les clients les plus fortunés, notamment les familles d’entrepreneurs, rapporte Il Sole – 24 Ore. La structure s’appelle Cordusio sim advisory & family office.
La CNMV a délivré son agrément de commercialisation à 11 fonds du britannique ETF Securities, des compartiments de la sicav ETFX Fund Company, rapporte Funds People. Il s’agit de sept ETF thématiques (ETFX DAXglobal Gold Mining Fund, ETFX DAXglobal Shipping Fund, ETFX DAXglobal Alternative Energy Fund, ETFX S-Net ITG Global Agri Business Fund, ETFX DAXglobal Coal Mining Fund, ETFX WNA Global Nuclear Energy Fund et ETFX Dow Jones Global Select Dividend Fund), d’un produit matières premières (ETFX DJ-UBS All Commodities 3 Month Forward Fund), d’un fonds d’actions américaines (ETFX Russell 2000 US Small Cap Fund) et de deux produits avec effet de levier (ETFX DAX® 2x Long Fund y ETFX DAX® 2x Short Fund).D’autre part, le suisse Reyl Asset Management a fait enregistrer en Espagne la sicav luxembourgeoise Reyl (Lux) Tactical Allocations gérée par Stéphane Decrauzat. La CNMV avait déjà donné son agrément il y a deux ans à la sicav luxembourgeoise Reyl (Lux) Global Funds, qui comprend six compartiments.
Pour un montant non divulgué, la filiale espagnole de l’andorran BPA, Banco Madrid, a acheté à Banco Valencia la société de gestion et de courtage Nordkapp dont l’encours total est de 650 millions d’euros, rapporte Funds People. Cela porte l’encours total de BPA en Espagne à environ 2 milliards d’euros, dont 108 millions d’euros pour les fonds d’investissement de Banco Madrid. Banco Valencia a été renflouée par la Banque d’Espagne fin 2011.
La société de gestion britannique Saltus Fund Management, spécialisée dans les partenariats avec les conseillers financiers indépendants, vient d’acquérir le gestionnaire discrétionnaire Montague Capital, rapporte Money Marketing.Saltus proposera dans un premier temps des services de gestion dans le cadre d’un accord intérimaire durant lequel les clients de Montague seront invités à rejoindre Saltus.
Le groupe Credit Suisse a annoncé le 13 août l’ouverture d’un nouveau bureau à Osaka, qui vient s’ajouter aux antennes de Tokyo et Nagoya.Credit Suisse marque ainsi sa volonté de développer ses activités de banque privée au Japon où il a récemment bouclé l’acquisition du pôle banque privée de HSBC.
Credit Suisse Group on 13 August announced that it is opening a new office in Osaka, in addition to its existing offices in Tokyo and Nagoya.With the step, Credit Suisse marks its desire to develop its private banking activities in Japan, where it recently completed the acquisition of the private banking unit of HSBC.
In July, US long-term mutual funds posted net subscriptions of USD26.43bn, compared with USD10.8bn in June, and their net inflows in the first seven months of the year have topped USD180.34bn, of which USD64.73bn were for Vanguard, and USD28.25bn for Pimco (excluding money markets and funds of funds).Morningstar, which published the statistics on 13 August, says that money market funds may have taken in USD30.63bn in July, but they underwent net outflows of USD131.53bn in January-July.In terms of net subscriptions to long-term funds, third place goes to JPMorgan, with USD15.16bn in the first seven months of the year, followed by DoubleLine (USD14.4bn) and T. Rowe Price (USD13.06bn).
Following net outflows of USD6.41bn in first half, Nuveen Investments has reported net redemptions in April-June of over USD7.91bn, meaning that in first half, funds and managed accounts from the US firm underwent net outflows of USD14.32bn.As of 30 June, total assets were USD211.8bn, compared with USD226.72bn as of the end of March, and USD220.1bn as of 31 December 2011. Although assets in mutual funds are up to USD46.27bn as of the end of June, compared with USD43.87bn as of the end of December, accounts also reveal that equity-based products have seen a significant erosion in their assets, to USD79.6bn, compared with USD98.48bn six months previously.
With BBVA Revalorización II, BBVA Asset Management has launched a guaranteed, variable return fund with a horizon of three years and one month (5 November 2015), with returns that will depend on the evolution of the Eurostoxx 50 price index, Cinco Días reports. The asset management firm guarantees 100% of net asset value as of 8 October 2012, plus 75% of gains for the benchmark index.
Expansión reports that Bankinter has released the Bankinter Ranta Fija Aguamarina Garantizado fund for sale until 3 September. The product guarantees initial capital after three years and five months, plus a return of 15.50%, or 4.31% per year.
UMR has promoted Philippe Rey to the position of chief investment officer, following the departure of Vincent Ribuot for OFI, IPE.com reports. Rey had previously been vice-CIO, and joined UMR in 2006.
In July, assets under management by Franklin Resources (Franklin Templeton Investments) and Legg Mason increased by USD15.6bn.Most of this increase, USD11.6bn, is due to Franklin Templeton, whose assets as of 31 July totalled USD718.7bn, including an increase of USD2.7bn for equities to USD281.3bn, and an increase of USD6.4bn, to USD325.9bn, for fixed income. As of the end of December, total assets in Franklin Templeton funds were USD670.3bn. Assets at Legg Mason as of the end of July totalled USD635.8bn, compared with USD831.8bn as of the end of June, due to an increase of USD4.3bn, to USD364.9bn for fixed income. In the first seven months of the year, assets at Legg Mason increased by USD8.8bn.
The alternative management data provider HFR has announced the launch of three new HFRX indices, bringing the number of indices in the family to 76.The HFRX Emerging Markets Composite Index includes hedge fund strategies with a geographical exposure to one or more emerging markets, or a combination of asset classes with specific biases on the international macroeconomy or political or market trends.The HFRX Fixed Income – Credit Index includes strategies which offer exposure to credit via a series of credit sub-strategies.The HFRX MLP Index includes partnership strategies in some sectors primarily connected with transport, mining and storage of certain commodities and natural resources, including oil, gas and coal.
The Ucits Alternative Index (UAI) Global from Swiss-based Alix Capital has posted growth of 0.84% in July, bringing its performance since the beginning of the year to 0.50%, according to statistics from the firm.Nine of the eleven strategies in the index have posted gains, including the UAI CTA Index, up 2.67% for the month, but only 0.60% since the beginning of the year, due to losses in June.In the first seven months of the year, the best-performing strategy was fixed income, with a gain of 2.67%, while the worst result was for the market neutral strategy, which was down 1.41%.Alix Capital has also announced that assets under management in UCITS hedge funds had risen EUR4bn to EUR133bn.
Bond funds continue to dominate sales activity in Europe with inflows of EUR14.2bn in June bringing their 2012 total to EUR88.4bn, nearly three times the EUR31.2bn achieved over the same period in 2011, according to Lipper. It is the interest in bonds that accounts for much of the success of the groups enjoying the greatest inflows so far in 2012: PIMCO heads the list (EUR12.8bn), followed by AXA (EUR8.9bn) and M&G (EUR6.6bn).In total, the European funds industry suffered redemptions of -EUR17.8bn in June, although over the year-to-date netsales stand at EUR89.6bn (compared to EUR74bn for the first half of 2011).Net sales of EUR5.3bn for European long-term funds (excluding money market funds) in June took inflows over the first half of the year to EUR73.4bn. This is well down on the same period last year (EUR96.5bn) largely as a result of equity funds suffering three successive months of outflows, bringing the total for this asset class this year to -EUR15bn.
On 17 July, the New York-based Global X Funds (USD1.2bn in assets as of 15 June) launched the Global X SuperIncome Preferred ETF (acronym: APFF), an ETF which replicates the evolution of the 50 highest-paying preferential shares in North America (United States and Canada), as measured by the S&P Enhanced Yield North American Preferred Stock Index. The product charges 0.58%.
Short-selling of shares in European car manufacturers is at its highest level for two years, and the sector is one of the most shorted in Europe, the Financial Times reports. An average of 3.8% of shares in auto makers of the Stoxx 600 were out on loan last week, compared with 2.7% of the European index, according to Markit.
In the United States, issues of investment-grade rated investment bonds totalled a record USD75bn, the Wall Street Journal reports. For the year as a whole, these issues may total about USD1trn, according to estimates from Thomson Reuters. The average interest rate on bonds offered last month was 3.2%, an all-time low level. Over the past 30 years, the interest rates on corporate bonds have averaged 7.2%. If rates rise again, the prices of these bonds will fall, and investors run the risk of finding themselves with no returns. Many asset managers nonetheless predict that such an increase in interest rates will not come for several years.
John Korter, who left his position as head of the German market for Carmignac Gestion at the end of last year (see Newsmanagers of 26 and 27 October 2011), has joined the team at Ethenea Independent Investors SA (EUR3bn in assets) as head of the German market. He will report to Luca Pesarini, founder of the Luxembourg firm.Meanwhile, the German branch of Ethenea has moved from Kaufering in Bavaria to Frankfurt.
With the new verify-U service, Fidelity Worldwide Investments is now offering investors in Germany a way to open an account without having to go to a post office to verify their personal information. The verify-U system developed by the cybits company allows potential clients to sign up online at fidelity-direkt.de, providing a mobile phone number, an email address, some information from their identity card, and where applicable, bank account information. Fidelity claims it is the first asset management firm to offer such a service in Germany.Accounts of German clients of Fidelity are held at FFB (FIL Fondsbank), which was acquired by Fidelity in October 2009. FFB provides account maintenance for about 8,000 funds from about 200 asset managers, in addition to those from Fidelity.
The Hong Kong asset management firm Lippo Investment Management on 13 August released an index which tracks real estate assets in China and Hong Kong on the basis of a fundamental indexing methodology.The Lippo Select Hong Kong & Mainland Property Index has the potential to outperform existing real estate indices, insofar as stock-picking is based on a series of fundamental factors, such as evolution of dividends, growth in earnings, growth in investment spending, and debt to owners’ equity ratios.
After recently creating a chapter in China under the leadership of Adam Steinberg, the Hedge Fund Association (HFA) has formed a local chapter in Shanghai, headed by Yiming Di, who is principal at China-focused consulting firm Schmittzehe and Partners, after working for the global capital markets division of ABN Amro in Singapore. The new HFA office, whose creation was announced on 13 August, will aim to work with hedge fund managers in the world’s largest city by population to defend their interests and make alternative management better known to the local population.
Henderson Global Investors is entering the last phase in a rationalisation of its product range, Money Marketing reports. The Gartmore Long Term Balanced fund will be merged into the Henderson Diversified Growth fund. The Henderson Income Trust will be merged into the Henderson UK Equity Income. Lastly, the Henderson Japan Absolute return will be closed.
The CNMV has issued sales licenses for 11 funds from the British asset management firm ETF Securities, all of them sub-funds of the ETFX Fund Company Sicav, Funds People reports. The products are seven themed ETFs (ETFX DAXglobal Gold Mining Fund, ETFX DAXglobal Shipping Fund, ETFX DAXglobal Alternative Energy Fund, ETFX S-Net ITG Global Agri Business Fund, ETFX DAXglobal Coal Mining Fund, ETFX WNA Global Nuclear Energy Fund and ETFX Dow Jones Global Select Dividend Fund), one commodity fund (ETFX DJ-UBS All Commodities 3 Month Forward Fund), one US equity fund (ETFX Russell 2000 US Small Cap Fund) and two leveraged products (ETFX DAX® 2x Long Fund y ETFX DAX® 2x Short Fund).Meanwhile, the Swiss firm Reyl Asset Management has registered the Luxembourg Sicav Reyl (Lux) Tactical Allocations fund, mnaged by Stéphane Decrauzat. The CNMV had previously granted approval two years ago to the Luxembourg Sicav Reyl (Lux) Global Funds, which has six sub-funds.