For an undisclosed amount, Deutsche Postbank has sold its asset management operation to DWS (another affiliate of Deutsche Bank). The vendor indicated on Friday that the sale concerned 56 open-ended and institutional funds, representing EUR7.7bn in assets, and administration of its open-ended funds and affiliates in Frankfurt and Luxembourg. The transaction, which is still pending approval from the Luxembourg authorities, is expected to be closed during third quarter 2012.

The AGM of the German BAI alternative management association on 14 June elected its new board, which is enlarged from five to six members and includes three new members, as Dietmar Bahr and Dirk Söhnholz did not wish to run for a new mandate, for personal reasons.Achim Pütz, a partner at Dechert, remains as president. The three newly-elected vice presidents are Joachim Kayser (partner at PwC), Wolfgang Leoni (CIO at Sal. Oppenheim), and Rolf Tilmes (a dean at EBS European Business School). The AGM has also re-elected Rolf Dreiseider, head of institutional clients for Germany at Man Investments, and Bastian Schmedding, a partner at SIG Germany, as vice presidents.

The Lyxor hedge fund index in May shows losses of 0.55%, following losses of 0.02% in April, but it still shows returns of 0.96% in the first five months of the year. Lyxor says that there are still a few safe havens in alternative strategies, and that five of the 14 strategies covered by sub-indices show gains for May, including CTA Short Term and CTA Long Term, with returns of 5.35% and 2.21%, respectively.In the first five months of the year, the best results were for distressed (+4.19%), fixed income arbitrage (+3.61%) and credit strateegies (+3.07%). The only strategy to show losses is Long/Short Equity Variable Bias, with losses of 0.80%.

“At Pimco, we think that real interest rates will remain low for a very long time, the result of a policy of confiscation by central banks. The short end of the curve is not currently attractive, since it is highly sensitive to changes in commodity prices, particularly those related to energy, such as oil. In the current economic environment, we do not predict any drastic increase in the price of these commodities. In this context, the real return team at Pimco is focusing on a 10-year horizon,” Jérémie Banet, senior vice president, portfolio management in Newport Beach, California, tells Newsmanagers.Banet belongs to the real return team at Pimco, which is composed of seven people, “half of them portfolio managers specialised in commodities, and the other half experts in the area of inflation-linked bonds (known as ‘linkers’).”Pimco is a leader in the management of real return strategies. This includes management of dedicated mandates and of open-ended funds totalling in the tens of billions of dollars. “We have mostly one mutual fund in the United States and one global fund in Europe. We also have a commodity fund which invests its collateral in linkers,” says Banet.“Since the beginning of the year,” the portfolio manager continues, “we have seen strong demand for real return strategies, and we have seen inflows of USD1bn for our global real return fund in Europe; our mutual fund specialised in TIPS in the United States has taken on USD500m, not counting important mandates from central banks and sovereign wealth funds.”

In the second week of June, investors avoided European funds due to uncertainties surrounding the euro zone (elections in Greece, a downgrade in the Spanish sovereign debt rating). European bond funds have seen redemptions at a level never before observed since the end of December 2011, and European equity funds have seden their sixth week of outflows in the past twelve weeks, according to estimates from EPFR Global.Equity funds overall have seen net inflows of USD10.91bn in the week to 13 June, a level not seen for over a year, but three quarters of these inflows were for US equity funds.Bond funds in the week under review attracted USD1.46bn, but European bond funds saw redemptions totalling over USD1bn. Once again, US funds were favoured by investors, with inflows of over USD2bn.Money market funds, for their part, finished the week ending on 13 June with redemptions totalling USD11bn, as outflows from US money market funds more than offset subscriptions to European money market funds.

Rumours about the exit of TCW from the Société Générale family are circulating once again. According to reports by Reuters, cited by Agefi, at least three private equity firms are said to have made offers for the California firm, which had USD128bn in assets under management as of 31 March 2012. One of them is rumoured to be Clayton Dubilier & Rice. The wholly financed bids are said to be in the range of USD700m. The firms cited had no comment when contacted by Agefi.

Following the departure of Joseph Tse, who is planning to leave the asset management industry, Fidelity will on 1 July transfer management of the Greater China Fund to Raymond Ma, and the Asian Special Situations fund to Suranjan Mukherjee, Das Investment reports.Ma is the manager of the China Consumer Fund, while Mukherjee is a manager of institutional portfolios.

State Street Global Services is planning to extend its back-office outsourcing services to Taiwan, where companies specialised in international custody generally have difficulty gaining market share, Asian Investor reports.

Skandia Investment Group’s (SIG) Francois Zagame has awarded Peter Higgins of Wellington Management a GBP52m mandate within its Skandia Global Dynamic Equity Fund. The addition of Higgins provides further diversification to the investment styles of the US allocations within the fund. SIG has funded the mandate by reallocating assets from the other US allocations in the fund.Higgins and his team focus on finding out of favour companies, with valuation anomalies. The strategy is aggressive, invested in 50 to 80 stocks and has typically exhibited a high beta. It is this aggressive strategy and investment philosophy which SIG believes will add value to the fund.

Philippe Marchessaux, head of the asset management firm at BNP Paribas, does not deny that some adjustments are necessary at BNP Paribas IP, due to some activities having become less profitable than others. But, despite the rumours, there is no question of selling a profession that the group Marchessaux belongs to considers a core and strategic activity. The firm has set an ambitious roadmap which will now lead it to target institutional clients. As Marchessaux has detailed for Newsmanagers, the firm has strengths to crow about.

Rajat K. Gupta, 63, former head of McKinsey (from 1994 to 2003) and former director at Goldman Sachs, was this weekend found guilty of insider trading by a jry of his peers, Les Echos reports. After ten hours of deliberation, Gupta was found guilty of four charges of fraud and conspiracy, for transmitting to Raj Rajaratnam, head of Galleon, inside information about Goldman Sachs, particularly plans for Berkshire Hathaway, the company of Warren Buffett, to invest in the US bank in 2007. He faces up to 25 years in prison. Gupta remains free on bail until his sentencing on 18 October.

Inflows to long-term mutual funds (excluding money market funds) totalled USD14.1bn in the month of May, compared with USD24.1bn in April, according to statistics from Morningstar. Since the beginning of the year, inflows to mutual funds have totalled USD147.94bn. Bond mutual funds have taken on a net total of USD7.7bn, compared with USD16.9bn in April, and nearly USD25bn in March. Average demand for mid and high yield has fallen sharply, Morningstar reports. In five months, bond mutual funds show inflows of USD106.46bn. Mutual funds dedicated to US equities finished the month of May with outflows of USD4.7bn, compared with USD9.3bn in April, bringing redemptions since the beginning of the year to USD34.07bn. International equity funds attracted a net total of USD3.5bn in May, compared with USD5.03bn in April, and show inflows of over USD20bn. Money market funds finished the month of May with very modest inflows of USD1.4bn. Since the beginning of the year, outflows total USD129.53bn.

In addition to Daniel Tubbs, co-head of global emerging markets at BlackRock and a specialist in Asian equities, the Swiss firm Mirabaud Asset Management has recruited three people including a co-manager focused on Asia, two analyst-managers, one covering Latin America and the other the Europe/Middle East/Africa region. The first three members of the team join this Monday, 18 June, and the fourth will arrive in London in mid-July. With its emerging markets team barely in place, Mirabaud is launching a Luxembourg-registered, UCITS IV-compliant fund on 2 July, with the US dollar as its base currency. It is a global emerging markets product, for which the asset management firm is providing seed capital of USD50m. Tubbs will also be responsible for an Asian emerging markets fund with USD200m, repatriated from Lloyd George Asset Management, to whom it had been outsourced.The new product, which will charge 1.50% for retail and 0.75% for institutional shares, will use the MSCI Emerging Markets Total Return index as its benchmark. The conviction-based portfolio will inluce 40 to 70 holdings with a turnover rate of about 100%, and Tubbs insists that he reserves the right to invest in the 21 countries of the index, and in companies which are not included in the index. “This will be unconstrained management, and we may invest in frontier markets. We will spend a large portion of due diligence on governance at quality companies with liquid equities. And we have the budgets we need to visit businesses and their management, and not to be confined to our London offices,” the manager explains. The capacity limit for this type of fund is USD2-3bn. However, a breakdown of the concept into regional and thematic funds is not to be ruled out, “without missing the opportunities offered by midcaps.”

As of the end of 2011, assets in the Chinese national social security fund (NCSSF) totalled CNY868.82bn, which represents an increase of 1.42% in one year, the lowest amount since 2008. This slowdown in the growth of assets is due to a 24% decline in the contribution from the Chinese government, to CNY48.28bn, a decline in performance to 0.84%, and an increase in costs.Government contributions, for their part, fell 85%, possibly due to a decline on the local equity markets and a fall in the number of IPOs.Z-Ben Advisors states that NCSSF still remains by far the largest lender of last resort for the Chinese pension system.

According to a study by Standard & Poor’s Fund Research dedicated to actively-managed US equity funds, only 5% of products manage to stay in the top 50% of funds by performance for five consecutive years, even though by an even distribution of probabilities, 6.25% should have been able to achieve that, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. For funds in the top quartile, the percentage is limited to 15%, though it should be 25%.However, funds which rank in the bottom quartile are must more often liquidated or merged than probability would predict.

According to a study by Standard & Poor’s Fund Research dedicated to actively-managed US equity funds, only 5% of products manage to stay in the top 50% of funds by performance for five consecutive years, even though by an even distribution of probabilities, 6.25% should have been able to achieve that, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. For funds in the top quartile, the percentage is limited to 15%, though it should be 25%. However, funds which rank in the bottom quartile are must more often liquidated or merged than probability would predict.

In May, the strongest net subscriptions among mutual fund management firms went to Vanguard (USD8.07bn), followed by JPMorgan (USD2.6bn) and MFS (USD2.53bn).In the first five months of the year, Vanguard has seen net inflows of USD52.39bn, followed by Pimco (USD17.48bn) and JPMorgan (USD13.21bn). T. Rowe Price and DoubleLine are in fourth and fifth place, with USD10.76bn and USD10.5bn, respectively, in net inflows in January-May.

The head of discretionary sales in London and the South-East region of England at Ignis Asset Management, Alisdair Bell, has left the firm which he joined about six years ago, Fund Web reports. Bell will take on more important responsibilities at a company which he has declined to identify.

The asset management firm Polar Capital will be launching its first global equity fund, Citywire reports. To manage the new product, it has recruited two managers, Andy MacKirdy and Christophe Williams. They will be assisted by Andrew Holliman, manager of the Polar Capital North American fund and a former member of the same team as the two recruits from Baillie Gifford. The new fund will be launched in the next few months, but the asset management firm has not yet decided which countries the product will be registered in, a spokesperson for Polar Capital has told Citywire.

Sutesh Sharma, former head of proprietary trading at Citigroup, will this autumn be launching his own hedge fund in London, Portman Square Capital, with about USD500m in capital, the Financial Times reports. Sharma will be joined by a team of Citi traders. Lalit Das and Yusaf Khan, former managers from Old Lane, will be partners. Nine others will be a part of the adventure.

State Street Global Services envisage d'étendre ses services d’externalisation de back office à Taiwan, où les sociétés spécialisées dans la conservation internationale ont généralement des difficultés à gagner des parts de marchés, rapporte Asian Investor.

Suite au départ de Joseph Tse, qui a l’intention de quitter le secteur de la gestion d’actifs, Fidelity transfère au 1er juillet la gestion du Greater China Fund à Raymond Ma et de l’Asian Special Situations à Suranjan Mukherjee, rapporte Das Investment.Raymond Ma est le gérant du China Consumer Fund tandis que Suranjan Mukherjee est gérant de protefeuilles instituttionnels.

L’indice Lyxor des hedge funds affiche pour mai une perte de 0,55 % après un recul de 0,02 % en avril, mais il enregistre encore une performance de 0,96 % pour les cinq premiers mois de l’année. Lyxor souligne qu’il subsiste quelques valeurs refuge (safe havens) aussi parmi les stratégies alternatives et que cinq des 14 stratégies couvertes par les sous-indices ont enregistré des gains en mai, notamment les CTA Short Term et CTA Long Term, avec des performances respectives de 5,35 % et de 2,21 %.Sur les cinq premiers mois de l’année, les meilleurs résultats sont affichés par le distressed (+ 4,19 %), l’arbitrage obligataire (+ 3,61 %) et les stratégies crédit (+ 3,07 %). La seule stratégie dans le rouge est le Long/Short Equity Variable Bias, avec une perte de 0,80 %.

ING Investment Managers a remporté un mandat de 400 millions d’euros de la part du Fonds de compensation commun au régime général de pension au Luxembourg pour gérer un portefeuille d’actions mondiales, rapporte Citywire. Hendrick-Jan Boer va piloter le portefeuille.

Pour un montant non divulgué, la Deutsche Postbank a vendu à DWS (autre filiale de la Deutsche Bank) la totalité de son pôle gestion d’actifs. Le vendeur a indiqué vendredi que cette cession concerne 56 fonds offerts au public et institutionnels représentant 7,7 milliards d’euros d’encours ainsi que l’administration des fonds offerts au public et les filiales de Francfort et Luxembourg. La transaction, qui doit encore obtenir l’autorisation des autorités de Luxembourg, devrait être bouclée dans le courant du troisième trimestre 2012.

François Zagame de Skandia Investment Group a confié à Peter Higgins de Wellington Management un mandat de 52 millions de livres dans le cadre de son Skandia Global Dynamic Equity Fund.Cela permet de diversifier les styles de son allocation aux Etats-Unis. Le mandat a été financé par le biais d’une réallocation des actifs venant des autres mandats US du fonds.Peter Higgins et son équipe se focalisent sur les sociétés qui n’ont plus la faveur des investisseurs et qui présentent des anomalies de valorisation. La stratégie est agressive, investie dans 50 à 80 valeurs, et affiche un beta élevé.

La société de gestion Polar Capital va lancer son premier fonds actions mondiales, rapporte Citywire. Pour piloter ce nouveau produit, elle a recruté deux gérants, Andy MacKirdy et Christophe Williams. Ils seront assistés par Andrew Holliman, gérant du Polar Capital North American fund et ancien membre de la même équipe que les deux recrues chez Baillie Gifford. Le nouveau fonds sera lancé dans les prochains mois, mais la société de gestion n’a pas encore décidé dans quels pays le produit sera enregistré, a indiqué à Citywire la porte-parole de Polar Capital.

Le responsable des ventes discrétionnaires pour Londres et la région du sud-est chez Ignis Asset Management, Alisdair Bell, vient de quitter la société qu’il avait rejoint il y a environ six ans, rapporte Fund Web. Alisdair Bell doit prendre des responsabilités plus importantes dans une société dont il n’a pas décliné l’identité.

Sutesh Sharma, l’ancien responsable du trading pour compte propre chez Citigroup, va lancer cet automne son nouveau hedge fund à Londres, Portman Square Capital, avec environ 500 millions de dollars, rapporte le Financial Times. Sutesh Sharma sera rejoint par une équipe de traders de Citi. Lalit Das et Yusaf Khan, d’anciens gérants d’Old Lane, seront associés. Neuf autres personnes feront partie de l’aventure.

En plus de Daniel Tubbs, co-head global emerging markets de BlackRock et spécialiste des actions asiatiques, le suisse Mirabaud Asset Management recrute trois personnes dont un co-gérant qui est focalisé sur l’Asie, et deux analystes-gérants couvrant l’un l’Amérique latine, l’autre la région Europe/Moyen-Orient/Afrique. Les trois premiers membres de l’équipe rejoignent la société ce lundi 18 juin, le quatrième arrivant à Londres à la mi-juillet.Lionel Aeschlimann, associé de la banque Mirabaud (24 milliards de francs d’encours) et responsable du pôle gestion d’actifs, a indiqué à Newsmanagers avoir cherché pendant plusieurs mois à constituer une telle équipe pour compléter le dispositif auquel il manquait notamment un volet émergents. Il a choisi Daniel Tubbs après avoir examiné seize dossiers. Il ne restera plus désormais qu'à trouver quelques spécialistes pour couvrir la classe d’actifs «énergie», la seule expertise qui manque encore au groupe dans sa configuration et avec sa stratégie actuelles, et qui complèterait bien les activités de trading à Londres.Son équipe émergents à peine en place, Mirabaud lance le 2 juillet un fonds coordonné (OPCVM IV) de droit luxembourgeois dont la devise de base est le dollar. Il s’agit d’un produit actions émergentes du monde entier, auquel la maison fournit un amorçage de 50 millions de dollars. Daniel Tubbs aura également d’emblée la responsabilité d’un fonds émergent asiatique de 200 millions de dollars rapatrié de chez Lloyd George Asset Management.Le nouveau produit, chargé à 1,50 % pour le retail et 0,75 % pour les institutionnels, utilisera le MSCI Emerging Markets Total Return comme indice de référence. Le portefeuille «de conviction» comportera entre 40 et 70 lignes avec un taux de rotation de l’ordre de 100 %, et Daniel Tubbs a bien insisté sur le fait qu’il se réserve le droit d’investir ailleurs que dans les 21 pays de l’indice et dans des sociétés qui ne font pas partie de l’indice. «Ce sera une gestion sans contrainte et nous pourrons aller sur des marchés frontière. Nous accorderons une part importante à la gouvernance dans nos due diligence sur des sociétés de qualité avec des actions liquides. Et nous avons les budgets qu’il faut pour rendre visite aux entreprises et à leur management, sans rester confinés dans nos bureaux londoniens», explique le gérant. La limite de capacité pour ce genre de fonds devrait être de l’ordre de 2-3 milliards de dollars. Cependant, il ne faut pas exclure une déclinaison du concept aux échelons régional et thématique, «sans manquer les chances offertes par les moyennes capitalisations».Par ailleurs, Lionel Aeschlimann a annoncé que tous les fonds Mirabaud compatibles ont été basculés au format OPCVM IV. Dans la mesure du possible, également, tous les fonds de la maison seront convertis avant la fin de l’année en compartiments de la sicav luxembourgeoise, sauf les OEIC britanniques, pour des raisons tenant à la typicité de la distribution au Royaume-Uni, et -probablement un temps- les fonds de droit français qui investissent en actions françaises, parce que la France, comme l’Allemagne et les Pays-Bas, demeure en infraction vis-à-vis de la réglementation européenne sur le plan de la fiscalité des dividendes applicable aux fonds étrangers. Mais la gestion des fonds français reste «évidemment» à Paris.