Carmignac Gestion no longer holds any German government bonds (Bund), Les Echos reports. For the past 2 years, the firm, which manages about EUR48bn in assets, has not held any other euro zone government bonds except Bunds. Carmignac Gestion estimates that German government debt “essentially represents a risk management tool. The idea of a larger role for Germany in undertaking the financial risks of the euro zone has been getting bandied about. As a result, the use of Bunds as a refuge security against European risk will be likely to become less effective,” Didier Saint-George, a member of the investment board, explains to Les Echos. Saint-George does not rule out the possibility of “using this management tool again in the future, even if it is not quite as effective as a year ago, when rates had much further to fall than they do now.”

Invesco Real Estate has announced the arrival of Timothy Bellman as head of global research, at its Dallas offices. In the global research team, Bellman will focus on global asset allocation and co-ordinating research activities undertaken by regional heads of research in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Before joining Invesco Real Estate, Bellman, 50, spent seven years at ING Real Estate Management, where he was global head of research and strategy, after serving as head of research and strategy for the Asia-Pacific region.

Tiffani Potesta, head of third-party insurance and DC I-0 divisions at DWS Investments, and previously a director at First Eagle Funds, is joining Schroders as head of advisory sales for the United States, Mutual Fund Wire reports. Potesta will report to Erin Brennan, head of intermediary key accounts.

Institutional investors are showing a growing interest in alternative management, which allows them to support their investment objectives, such as diversification and generating alpha, according to the most recent annual study by Russel Investments of alternative management (“2012 Global Survey on Alternative Investment.”)“In an environment characterised by low returns, a high level of economic uncertainty, and volatility on financial markets, alternative solutions represent an essential component of a multi-asset class diversified [approach]. With ongoing volatility and market shocks in mind, institutional investors are seeking to protect their portfolios by structuring them in such a way as to favour prudent risk management, while also seeking to earn returns in various market environments,” says Julia Cormier, director, head of alternative investments at Russell Investments.Institutional investors who participated in the Russell Investments study are highly exposed to alternative investment, with an average of 22%. Among the major reasons for this exposure, diversification is cited by 90% of investors. This is followed by volatility management and low correlation with traditional investments, cited by 64% of investors, and potential returns, cited by 45%.A large majority of respondents to the study say that they are planning to maintain or increase their allocations in the next three years to all alternative categories. 32% of participants are planning to increase their investments in hedge funds and private real estate, 28% for private infrastructure, 25% for private equity, 20% for commodities and 12% for infrastructure and public real estate.The study finds that 49% of investors in single hedge funds use the fund of fund vector, but a considerable proportion of them are planning to set aside this traditional model in favour of specific solutions.Private equity is dominant in North American portfolios, but Europe is not far behind. On both sides of the Atlantic, investors tend to prefer small or mid-sized buyout funds.Lastly, the study finds that investors overall are seeking further training in alternative management. Meanwhile, 91% of North American investors (compared with 68% worldwide) say that they undertake exhaustive due diligence before making new investments.

In April 2012, the amount outstanding of shares/units issued by euro area investment funds other than money market funds was EUR10 billion lower than in March 2012, according to statistics released by the European central Bank. This decrease was due to a decline in share/unit prices.The amount outstanding of shares/units issued by euro area investment funds other than money market funds decreased to EUR6,056 billion in April 2012, from EUR6,066 billion in March 2012. Over the same period, the amount outstanding of shares/units issued by euro area money market fundsincreased to EUR967 billion, from EUR951 billion.Transactions1 in shares/units issued by euro area investment funds other than moneymarket funds amounted to EUR1 billion in April 2012, while transactions in shares/units issued by money market funds amounted to EUR10 billion.In terms of the breakdown by investment policy, the annual growth rate of shares/units issued by bond funds was 3.2% in April 2012. Transactions in shares/units issued by bond funds amounted to EUR11 billion in April 2012. The annual growth rate and transactions of equity funds were -2.4% and minus EUR13 billion respectively. For mixed funds, the corresponding figures were -0.2% and EUR3 billion.

Exclusive talks with Guggenheim Partners over a potential sale of the US asset management firm RREEF (real estate and alternative investments) by Deutsche Bank have fallen through, and the two parties have agreed not to continue talk, Deutsche Bank announced on Wednesday evening. Since then, the German bank, which has not managed to sell any of the other parts of its asset management unit either (DWS in Germany, Europe and Asia), has announced that it will disclose its long-term strategy for ita Asset & Wealth Management division in September.

Michel Barnier appears to have some scheduling problems. The European Commissioner in charge of the internal market and services on 19 June announced that the proposed PRIPS legislation (retail investment products) will finally be unveiled in early July. Since last autumn, the publication of the bill, which has been th subject of constant controversy, has already been delayed several times.In addition to the PRIPS bill, Barnier also announced two other initiatives at a conference of the European insurance intermediaries’ federation (Bipar), which will be unveiled in early July. On the one hand, Barnier proposes to revise the rules on the protection of retail investors under the revised MiFID directive, including stricter consequences for losses by financial instruments held at a depository bank.A revised IMD directive will also be presented, which will aim to better protect consumers of insurance products, in line with revisions to the MiFID directive in the area of sales practices, “in order to ensure that practices are consistent for all investment products, including unit-linked life insurance products.”

According to a survey of 722 of its members in the EU and Switzerland by the CFA Institute, investment professionals are concerned that imposing a tax on financial transactions, a tax on financial activities or a bank levy, all three solutions under consideration by the European Commission, will actually result in costs that end users of financial services will ultimately pay: 75% of the total in the case of a transaction withholding tax, 60% in the case of a financial activity tax, and 59% in the case of a bank levy. Meanwhile, specialists also estimate that if the financial transaction tax is not applied worldwide, it will lead to regulatory arbitrage, and will hurt the competitiveness of the European financial sector.

Lionel Aeschlimann, a partner at Mirabaud and head of the asset management operation, has told Funds People that the Swiss firm is continuing to add to its private banking team in Spain. The objective is to reach total assets in this area of EUR1bn to EUR1.5bn in three years. However, recruitments will not be made at the expense of profitability.

The UK asset management firm Liontrust Asset Management reached total assets of GBP2.1bn on 18 June 2012, the firm announced in its annual report. On 31 March, assets totalled GBP1.5bn, up since the beginning of April 2011, when they totalled GBP1.343bn. The increase is the result of net subscriptions totalling GBP152m, the acquisition of Occam and positive market effects. Liontrust has reported losses of GBP200,000, compared with losses of GBP4.6m in 2011. Adjusted pre-tax profits came to GBP1m, compared with losses of GBP1.7m in 2011.

“Taking advantage of strong current demand for wholly-leased properties in London,” the German asset management firm Deka Immobilien has earned an undisclosed capital gain from a sale of the Lumina building on the corner of Oxford Street and Bond Street to Zara for EUR190m. The 7,000 square metre office and retail property had been a part of the open-ended real estate portfolio Deka-ImmobilienEuropa.

Baring Asset Management is going to launch the Baring emerging market corporate debt fund, which will be managed by Faisal Ali, who joined the asset management firm in August 2011, Money Marketing reports. The product will invest at least 70% of its assets in emerging market corporate bonds, issued by businesses based in various countries, rated investment grade or below.

JP Hambro Capital Management will be launching a Global Opportunities fund, while its UK Opportunities fund, managed by the same managers, will be soft closed to new subscriptions, Investment Week reports. The British portfolio currently has assets of GBP900m, and is fast approaching its GBP1bn limit. The two funds are managed by John Wood and Ben Leyland.

The New York firm Market Vectors ETF (USD25.1bn in assets) has announced that its investment adviser, Van Eck Associates Corporation, has signed an agreement with Australian Index Investment (Aii) to create a joint venture entitled Market Vectors Australia Pty Ltd (AUD30m), in which the US partner will control a majority stake.Teams at Aii will be transferred to the new entity, which will be led by Annmaree Varelas, CEO of Aii.Market Vectors Australia will release and distribute ETFs, including the six existing sectoral funds of this type in the Aii S&P range (financials, financials x A-Reit, natural resources, industrials, energy and metals & mining). All of these Aii products replicate sub-indices of the ASX 200, except the last one, which tracks a sub-index of the ASX 300.The Australian ETF market is not yet highly developed, with only 70 funds, and total assets of AUD5bn, while assets under management by funds overall total AUD1.8trn.

La banque centrale norvégienne, qui a laissé son taux d’intervention à 1,5%, pense qu’il faudra ultérieurement les relever plus vite que prévu pour éviter une surchauffe économique. Elle voit son taux d’intervention autour de 1,7% d’ici la mi-2013 et de 2% d’ici la fin de l’année prochaine, alors qu’elle projetait en mars 1,54% et 1,87% respectivement.

Le chef de file de la formation conservatrice Nouvelle démocratie, Antonis Samaras, a indiqué au chef de l’Etat grec Karolos Papoulias qu’il était en mesure de former un gouvernement de coalition avec des formations de centre gauche. Vassilis Rapanos devrait être désigné au poste de ministre des Finances, selon la télévision publique NET.

Dans un entretien à Die Zeit, le Premier ministre français Jean-Marc Ayrault admet qu’il faudra «sans doute plusieurs années» avant de pouvoir lancer des euro-obligations. A plus court terme, le chef du gouvernement estime que «nous devons aller vers une supervision bancaire commune, avec un système européen de garantie des dépôts. Nous pouvons aussi trouver des solutions pour faciliter l’accès au financement des Etats, par exemple par des émissions à court terme ou par la proposition des Sages allemands sur le fonds d’amortissement».

Le Fonds européen de stabilité financière a décidé de renforcer son obligation à 7 ans, lancée le 24 avril dernier, à hauteur d’un milliard d’euros. Le spread d’émission ressort à 75 points de base au dessus du taux mid swap, ce qui implique pour les investisseurs un rendement de 2,409%. Barclays, Deutsche Bank et SG CIB ont pris en charge l’opération.

Moody’s Investors Service a annoncé mercredi avoir relevé d’un cran la note souveraine de la Turquie, qui passe de Ba2 à Ba1, juste en-dessous de la catégorie non spéculative et de la note de l’Espagne, qui est à Baa3. L’agence de notation maintient en outre sa perspective positive sur la note de crédit du pays, évoquant l’amélioration significative des finances publiques d’Ankara.

L’Allemagne a adjugé 4,005 milliards d’euros de son emprunt à deux ans (Schatz), attirant une demande toujours plus forte malgré un coupon zéro alors que la crise de la dette en Europe pousse les investisseurs vers les actifs jugés les plus sûrs. La demande a représenté 1,9 fois le montant offert, contre 1,7 fois lors de la précédente opération de papier à deux ans. Le rendement moyen de l’adjudication est ressorti à 0,1%, en hausse par rapport à la précédente adjudication de ce type lors de laquelle le rendement était ressorti à 0,07%.

Le nombre de chômeurs au Royaume-Uni a progressé contre toute attente en mai, selon les données publiées par l’Office national de la statistique, une nouvelle indication de la mauvaise santé économique du pays. Selon ces chiffres, le nombre de demandeurs d’emploi a crû de 8.100 le mois dernier, alors que les analystes attendait 3.000 chômeurs de moins. Le nombre de personnes sans emploi au sens du BIT a cependant reculé de 51.000 sur les trois mois à fin avril pour s'établir à 2,615 millions. Le taux de chômage reste stable à 8,2%.

Les deux entités ont noué un partenariat commercial et marketing en Europe qui s’étendra sur 2 ans pour l’élaboration et la distribution de solutions d’investissements basées sur les fonds de la plateforme de comptes gérés de Lyxor. Koris International est une société de conseil en investissements financiers dédiée à la conception et au développement de modèles dynamiques d’allocation d’actifs. Sont notamment visés les clients institutionnels et fortunés.

Le Fonds de Modernisation des Equipementiers Automobiles (FMEA) de Rang 2 - un FCPR d’un montant initial de 50 millions d’euros - et le fonds régional bourguignon IDEB investissent 2,2 millions d’euros en fonds propres et quasi-fonds propres dans le groupe Embaltech, fabricant de pièces techniques en aluminium et spécialiste de la technique du filage par choc à froid. Cet investissement doit permettre à Embaltech de renforcer son outil productif. L’actionnaire historique conserve le contrôle en se réengageant.

Rome et Madrid prônent une mobilisation du FESF et du MES et une intervention directe de la BCE sur le marché secondaire de la dette souveraine

Les agences devraient publier chaque année les deux ou trois dates auxquelles elles pourraient modifier les notes des Etats

Six ans après avoir racheté l’un des leaders de la lingerie en Europe à Sara Lee et «un profond travail de restructuration», Sun Capital a selon le quotidien mandaté Morgan Stanley pour céder le groupe DBApparel, qui rassemble les marques Dim, Playtex, Wonderbra et Fila. Le fonds américain espère récolter plus de 600 millions d’euros, soit plus de dix fois le résultat brut d’exploitation.

Le quotidien indique que le fonds va prendre le contrôle du numéro quatre européen de l’outillage pour professionnels avec une part de marché de 6%, détenu par les familles fondatrices, à l’occasion d’une augmentation de capital de 40 millions d’euros. Metabo réalise un chiffre d’affaires de 350 millions d’euros.

Le gouvernement a opté pour la suppression de la retenue applicable aux fonds de droit étranger, pour ne pas pénaliser la gestion française

Les agences devraient publier chaque année les dates auxquelles elles pourraient modifier les notes des Etats. Elles ne pourraient utiliser que l’information publiée par les entreprises. Contrariant les vœux de la Commission, les élus ont renoncé à généraliser le principe de rotation.

L’Italie souhaite mobiliser les fonds du MES et du FESF pour racheter des obligations européennes, alors que Madrid a appelé la BCE à réactiver son programme SMP.