Schroders has announced the launch of its Global Multi-Asset Income fund, a sub-fund of its Schroder ISF Sicav, in France. The fund, founded in April (see Newsmanagers of 19 April 2012), is invested in a range of high yield assets, from the bond markets (credit, high yield, emerging market debt, etc.) or equity markets (developed and emerging). In France, Schroders is planning to highlight EUR hedged shares as a priority. The asset management firm states that distribution shares are appropriate for investors from a securities account, while from a unit-linked life insurance policy, capitalisation shares should be preferred.

The alternative asset management firm Mason Capital Management has decided to sell its stake of nearly 19% in the Canadian Telus group, the Globe and Mail reports.The hedge fund has awarded Blackstone a mandate to sell the stake of approximately USD2bn.

Robert Senz, CIO fixed income, and Christian Link manager, have unveiled the Austrian government bond fund Global-Fundamental-Rent (AT0000A0KRS5, distribution shares; AT0000A0KRU1, capitalisation shares; AT0000A0LY69, special distribution shares) to French investors. The fund has seen inflows of about EUR300m in one and a half years in existence, which is one of the best sales results for Raiffeisen Capital Management (RCM), along with the Global Allocation Strategies Plus.Currently, the managers told Newsmanagers, the fund is invested in bonds from 13 developed and emerging countries (out of an eligible universe of 36 countries, with a limit of 16 and a minimum of 8), depending on the ratings awarded to these countries for eight equally-weighted indicators: GDP growth, trade & financial balance, balanced budget, public debt, currency reserves, external debt, corruption index and workforce turnover rate.The largest exposures (12.5%) are for Russia, Norway, and Indonesia, which rank both in the “top 8” and the “top growth” lists. The only euro zone countries are Germany, Austria and Slovakia, with 3.1% each, and the portfolio includes no US or Japanese securities, nor French, Italian or British. However, Switzerland, Sweden, Korea, Malaysia and Thailand weigh in at 9.4% each.Average returns for the portfolio are 3.6% for a duration of 4.9 years, with public debt at 40%, an average growth rate of 4%, a trade surplus of 6%, and a budget deficit of 1% for these countries on average.RCM has seen net inflows of EUR500m abroad (EUR5bn in assets) in the first four months of 2012, and has seen net outflows of EUR500m from horizon funds, due to competition from banking sector bonds being pushed by networks in Austria. Overall (including funds and mandates), RCM has about EUR30bn in assets under management.

With the Emerging Market Corporate Bond Fund (acronym: TRECX), T. Rowe Price has launched a third bond fund focused on emerging markets. The product, managed by Mike Conelius, invests in corporate bonds from emerging markets, issued largely in US dollars. The fund will be diversified over 30 countries, and 50% of the portfolio will be allocation to investment grade securities. Duration is approximately 5 years.The total expense ratio for the fund is 1.15% for investor class shares, and 1.25% for advisor (no-load) shares, and are available from IFAs.As of 31 March, T. Rowe Price managed about USD13.3bn in emerging market bond strategies.

According to a Edhec-Risk study sponsored by Eurex, the use of a long position on volatility has a strongly negative correlation with the underlying equity portfolio, which can improve the risk-adjusted performance of this portfolio. The beneficial effect is strongest for long exposures to volatility, and is most sensitive in times of falling markets.

The Swiss private banking group EFG International on 6 June announced in a statement that its exposure to Greek debt now represents only 0.5% of its assets. Furthermore, EFG International committed to its regulator that it would not increase its exposure to Greece. Exposure has reduced to the point where EFG International no longer has any direct exposure to Greece, and exposure to European subsidiaries of Greek banks is just 0.3% of total assets. EFG points out that it has been driven to make these disclosures because “there have been a number of articles in the Swiss press which have shown a disregard for the facts. There have been suggestions that EFG International is particularly exposed to Greece, simply on account of the Greek heritage of its major shareholder and the fact that the latter had a substantial shareholding in a Greek commercial bank. This is completely without foundation,” EFG International says. EFG International operates in 30 locations worldwide, but is not present in Greece. EFG International is entirely separate from the Greek commercial bank, Eurobank EFG although it has a common major shareholder.

The German asset management firm Union Investment (German co-operative banks), which has recently made a major capital gain in Seattle (see Newsmanagers of 5 June), has acquired the office tower located at 555 Mission Street (51,748 square metres) in San Francisco for its UniImmo: Europa fund, for USD446.5m. The vendor is the developer Tishman Speyer.

The New York-based ETF management firm Global X Funds (USD1.3bn) has announced the launch of the Global X Top Guru Holdings Index ETF (acronym: GURU), which allows investors to benefit from the combined expertise of several major hedge fund managers.For this new product, Global X uses a proprietary methodology to extract the strongest convictions from several hedge fund managers with over USD100m in assets, who are required by regulations to release quarterly reports about the composition of their portfolios (13F form), eliminating funds with a high turnover range and portfolios which are not concentrated. The GURU fund is designed to be rebalanced every quarter, in order to capture major changes in these positions.The fund charges fees of 0.75%.

The Russell Investments group on 6 June announced the launch of a new fund dedicated to emerging markets. The Emerging Markets Extended Opportunities Fund includes several mandates (global, regional, national and capitalisation markets), which will be awarded to seven external providers, while direct management of the investment portfolio will be handled by Russell. Unlike the majority of emerging market funds, the new product aims to offer optimal access to small cap and frontier market opportunities, which have strong potential for returns, with active management. The fund uses the Russell Emerging Extended Index Net as its benchmark, whose performance since the beginning of 2012 has been over 12%. It covers frontier markets, which makes it the largest representative sample of opportunities in the emerging asset class. Annual management fees for the fund at the time of its launch are 1.30%. The fund is initially composed of seven managers, two of which cover global markets, and five others which are specialised in a specific segment which Russell estimates has high and sustainable potential under active management. The structure of the product will evolve depending as the manager search process continues to identify the most talented professionals in attractive segments of the emerging asset class.

Aviva Investors on 6 June announced the launch of Aviva Investors – Global Short Duration High Yield Bond Fund, in order to meet growing demand from institutional investors seeking less volatile and more consistant income.Applying a strategy which is new for Aviva Investors, the fund comes as an addition to the existing range of bond products, whose assets total EUR257.4bn (GBP165.7bn). The fund will invest in high yield bonds whose average maturity is less than five years, issued by businesses from all regions of the world.The fund is managed by the team dedicated to high yield bonds at Aviva Investors, led by Todd Youngberg, with assets of over USD4.5bn. Jeremy Hughes, senior portfolio manager specialised in high yield, oversees management of the fund, with the help of five other portfolio managers and 26 credit analysts based in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. By adopting a global approach, the team hopes to maximise investment opportunities in the short duration high yield bond segment, and to exploit a fundamental trend in favour of multi-currency issues.

Rothschild & Cie Gestion, which had to replace Daniel Fighiera, a euro zone small and midcaps mutual fund manager who moved to Tocqueville Finance a few days ago, has recruited Alban Seydoux as head of management for european midcaps. Seydoux, 37, had previousl been in charge of management of midcap funds at Allianz Global Investors France, before becoming a financial analyst in the mergers & acquisitions department at Rothschild & Cie Banque in 2000 and 2001. Rothschild & Cie Gestion has also hired Raphaël Gallardo as head of economic research. Gallardo, 37, had since October 2007 been in serve at AXA Investment Managers as a strategist, and then as head of economic research. The asset management firm has also created a new position to strengthen its credit team. It has recruited Jérôme Loire as head of credit analysis. Loire, 44, had previously served as a credit analyst in several sectors at Natixis Asset Mnaagement, since 2007.

“Due to political and economic events affecting Europe,” Oppenheimer Gunds has published its exposure to this market.As of 31 May, aggregate exposure to the euro and to European assets represented USD6.36bn and USD10.26bn, respectively, which corresponds to 3.7% and 5.9% of total assets at Oppenheimer (USD172.65bn).

Guillaume Nicoulaud, a former manager from Avenir Finance, is joining the French asset management boutique Day Trade Asset Management (DTAM), the founder of the firm, Adrien Fuchs, has confirmed to Newsmanagers, following reports in Citywire.Nicoulaud will manage a fund which applies the same type of strategy as the US Opéra fund, which he had managed at his previous employer. “The aim is to find 50 US shares of the S&P 500 index which offer the highest risk premiums,” Fuchs explains.The arrival comes a few months after DTAM parted with its co-founders, as a part of which Fuchs took over the entirety of the structure.

Eaton Vance has announced the recruitment of a head for institutional clients. Michael T. Dirstine will be based in Boston, and will cover the south-eastern United States region in particular. Dirstine previously worked as head of institutional sales at State Street.

Alliance Bernstein has announced the appointment of Christopher Bricker, senior vice president, as head of alternatives business strategy. Bricker, a 20-year AllianceBernstein veteran, will assume overall responsibility for the success and profitability of the firm’s USD13 billion alternatives platform. He will retain his duties as the firm’s head of product development. Bricker will work closely with Michael Gaviser, who has been appointed the sole head of alternatives sales and client service. Gaviser has been with AllianceBernstein for 14 years, and most recently served as co-head of alternatives sales and client service with John Akkerman, who has left the firm to pursue another opportunity.

Axa Investment Managers has recruited Luisa Florez, formerly of Groupama AM and Vigeo, as senior fixed income analyst for its responsible investment team. The brings the number of members of the unit to 10, following the arrival in January of Vincent Compiegne as a quantitative analyst. Axa IM also states that it has recruited June Choi as senior corporate governance analyst.The arrival of Florez is also accompanied by an extension of ESG research to include bonds. The RI Search© tool from Axa IM, which allows for the integration of ESG research into investment decisions, and for evaluation of existing portfolios, will now cover corporate and government bonds worldwide. That brings the number of securities analysed by the platform to 2,500.ESG criteria may be used at the discretion of managers. Axa IM also has an SRI bond range.Axa IM has also extended its exercise of voting rights to include emerging countries. In this geographical region, the asset management firm has also signed a partnership with Responsible Research, an independent provider of ESG research with a methodology adapted to emerging markets.As of the end of 2011, Axa IM managed about EUR3bn in SRI assets, out of EUR512bn in assets under management.

The asset management firm Dragon Capital is planning to launch open-ended funds on the Vietnamese market, via a local import, VietFund Management, a joint venture with Sacombank, Asian Investor reports. Dragon Capital is planning to offer equity and fixed income vehicles.The initiative remains subject to a decision by the local authorities to lift a ban on foreign asset management firms in the local mutual fund sector. The lifting of the ban could come by the end of this year.

The US group BNY Mellon has made an announcement in Dublin of plans to acquire the remaining 50% stake in the asset management firm WestLB Mellon Asset Management from the German asset management firm WestLB. Pending permission from regulatory authorities, the transaction, for a price which has not been disclosed, will be completed in third quarter, Fondsweb reports.

The private equity investor RHJ International on Wednesday confirmed that it has found co-investors to acquire the German firm BHF-Bank from Deutsche Bank, and that informal discussions have been held with BaFin on the subject, Handelsblatt reports. According to financial sector sources, there may be as many as five partners, one of which is rumoured to be BlackRock. RHJ is said to be planning to merge BHF-Bank (1,500 employees) with Kleinwort Benson, which it already owns, if it is successful, and its partners in the transaction would receive stakes in the bank resulting from the merger.

The Finnish hedge fund Estlander Partners officially opened an office in Zurich in March, Agefi Switzerland reports. The fund, which has been present in Switzerland since last summer, was founded in 1991, and already has several representative offices, particularly in Helsinki and Munich. The group manages slightly under USD1bn. It has 60 employees, including 11 investment professionals.Christoffer Dahlberg, head of Estlander Switzerland in Zurich, says that “the objective of an office in Zurich is to increase our proximity to other hedge funds, and our local activities as well as in Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg).”

Bank Linth LLB AG has announced the appointment of David Sarasin as chairman of the board, Agefi Switzerland reports. Heinz Knecht, for his part, joins the board at the group, and at the Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLB). Sarasin will begin in his new role on 1 July 2012, replacing Knecht as chairman. Knecht will take over the responsibility of the retail and corporate banking division.

Six managers from Savoy Investment Management, an affiliate of Ashcourt Rowan, will be joining Walker Crips Stockbrokers, Fund Web reports. Ashcourt announced last year that Savoy IM would be integrated into Ashcourt Rowan Asset Management, to become a division dedicated to high net worth clients at the asset management firm. This is the reason for a decision on the part of several managers to leave the firm with the agreement of Ashcourt, which will receive GBP425,000 from Walker Crips as a part of the arrangement.

The alternative asset management firm Commonwealth Capital Management, based in London, has launched a multi-management strategy on dbSelect, the Deutsche Bank platform dedicated to liquid hedge fund strategies, Citywire reports.The strategy proposed by Commonwealth includes exposure to Commodity Trading Advisors (CTA), and to other managers in the alternative sphere.

Pour son fonds UniImmo: Europa, qui vient de réaliser une grosse plus-value à Seattle, l’allemand Union Investment (banques populaires allemandes) vient d’acquérir pour 446,5 millions de dollars la tour de bureaux 555 Mission Street (51.748 mètres carrés) à San Francisco. Le vendeur est le développeur Tishman Speyer.

Axa Investment Managers vient de recruter Luisa Florez, une ancienne de Groupama AM et de Vigeo, en tant que senior fixed income analyst dans son équipe investissement responsable. Cela porte à 10 le nombre de membres de ce pôle, qui a aussi été renforcé par l’arrivée en janvier de Vincent Compiegne en tant que quantitative analyst. Axa IM rappelle aussi avoir recruté June Choi au poste de senior corporate governance analyst.L’arrivée de Luisa Florez s’accompagne de l’extension de la recherche ESG aux obligations. En effet, l’outil RI Search© d’Axa IM, qui permet d’intégrer la recherche ESG aux décisions d’investissement mais également d’évaluer les portefeuilles existants, va désormais couvrir les obligations d’entreprises et souveraines à l’échelle mondiale. Cela porte à près de 2.500 le nombre de titres analysés par la plate-forme.Les critères ESG peuvent être utilisés à la discrétion des gérants. Parallèlement, Axa IM dispose d’une gamme obligataire ISR.Par ailleurs, Axa IM a étendu aux pays émergents l’exercice des droits de vote. Sur cette zone géographique, la société de gestion a aussi conclu un partenariat avec Responsible Research, fournisseur indépendant de recherche ESG ayant une méthodologie adapatée aux marchés émergents. Axa IM gérait fin 2011 environ 3 milliards d’euros en actifs ISR, sur 512 milliards d’euros d’encours sous gestion.

Rothschild & Cie Gestion, qui se devait de remplacer Daniel Fighiera, gérant OPCVM petites et moyennes capitalisations zone euro parti chez Tocqueville Finance il y a quelques jours, vient de nommer Alban Seydoux en tant que responsable de la gestion des valeurs moyennes européennes. Agé de 37 ans, l’intéressé était jusque là en charge de la gestion des fonds de valeurs moyennes chez Allianz Global Investors France, avant d’avoir été analyste financier au département Fusions & Acquisitions de Rothschild & Cie Banque en 2000 et 2001.Par ailleurs, Rothschild & Cie Gestion a recruté Raphaël Gallardo au poste de responsable de la recherche économique. Agé de 37 ans, l’impétrant travaillait depuis octobre 2007 chez Axa Investment Managers en tant que stratégiste puis responsable de la Recherche Economique. Enfin, la société de gestion a procédé à une création de poste afin de renforcer son équipe crédit. Elle vient de recruter Jérôme Loire à la fonction de responsable de l’analyse crédit. Agé de 44 ans, l’intéressé occupait précédemment les fonctions d’analyste crédit sur différents secteurs chez Natixis Asset Management depuis 2007.

Le gestionnaire new-yorkais d’ETF Global X Funds (1,3 milliard de dollars) a annoncé le lancement du Global X Top Guru Holdings Index ETF (acronyme : GURU) qui permet aux investisseurs de puiser dans l’expertise combinée des plus grands gérants de hedge funds.Pour ce nouveau produit, Global X utilise en effet une méthodologie exclusive (proprietary) pour tirer les plus fortes convictions d’un ensemble de gérants de hedge funds de plus de 100 millions de dollars obligés par la réglementation de publier trimestriellement la composition de leur portefeuille (13F form) en éliminant les fonds avec un taux de rotation élevée et des portefeuilles non concentrés. Le GURU est conçu pour être repondéré tous les trimestres pour capturer les changements importants dans les lignes.Ce fonds est chargé à 0,75 %.

Six gérants de Savoy Investment Management, une filiale d’Ashcourt Rowan, vont rejoindre Walker Crips Stockbrokers, rapporte Fund Web. Ashcourt avait annoncé l’an dernier que Savoy IM serait intégrée dans Ashcourt Rowan Asset Management pour devenir une division dédiée à la clientèle fortunée au sein de la société de gestion.D’où la décision de plusieurs gérants de quitter la société avec l’accord d’Ashcourt qui percevra 425.000 livres de Walker Crips dans le cadre de cette transaction.

Depuis le 6 juin, Union Investment (banques populaires allemandes) commercialise deux classes de parts du nouveau fonds diversifié de droit luxembourgeois UniRak Nachhaltig, lancé le 1er juin. Il s’agit d’un produit développement durable géré par Ingo Speich qui investira dans des actions (55-75 %) et des obligations d’entreprises respectant des critères sociaux et écologiques. Il applique l’exclusion pour l'énergie nucléaire et les fabricants de bombes à sous-munitions et privilégie les sociétés dont l’activité est durable (énergies renouvelables, traitement des eaux, isolation thermique, traitement des déchets. En matière de pays, le gérant prend en compte le système d'éducation et de santé, l’attitude en matière de pollution de l’air et la stabilité politique. L’UniRak Nachhaltig est assorti d’une nouvelle formule de plan d'épargne en unités de compte, UniNachWuchs, qui démarrera le 1er juillet ; elle est accessible à partir de 50 euros mensuels. Elle est montée en coopération avec l’association SOS Kinderdorf (SOS Villages d’Enfants Allemagne) et Union versera 20 euros à cette oeuvre par contrat d'épargne signé.Union Investment indique que son encours en matière d’investissement responsable représentait 5 milliards d’euros fin mars.CaractéristiquesDénominations : UniRak Nachhaltig A UniRak Nachhaltig -net- ACodes IsinLU0718558488 (A)LU0718558728 (net A)Droit d’entrée :3 % (A)0 % (net A)Commission de gestion :1,20 % (maximum 2 %) part A1,55 % (maximum 2 %) parts net A Commission de performance : 25 % de la performance excédant le benchmark (65 % MSCI World AC et 35 % JPM Deutschland)

Aviva Investors a annoncé le 6 juin le lancement du Aviva Investors- Global Short Duration High Yield Bond Fund en vue de répondre à la demande croissante des investisseurs institutionnels sur cette classe d’actifs.Appliquant une stratégie nouvelle pour Aviva Investors, le fonds vient compléter la gamme existante des produits obligataires dont l’encours atteint 257,4 milliards d’euros (165,7 milliards de livres). Le fonds investira dans des obligations à haut rendement dont la maturité moyenne est inférieure à cinq ans et émises par des entreprises du monde entier.Le fonds est géré par l'équipe dédiée aux obligations high yield d’Aviva Investors, dirigée par Todd Youngberg et dotée d’un encours de plus de 4,5 milliards de dollars. Jeremy Hughes, gérant de portefeuille senior spécialiste du haut rendement, pilote la gestion du fonds et bénéficie de l’aide de cinq autres gérants de portefeuille et de 26 analystes crédit basés aux États-Unis, au Royaume-Uni, en Europe et dans la région Asie-Pacifique. En adoptant une approche globale, l'équipe cherche à maximiser les opportunités d’investissement dans des obligations à haut rendement de duration courte et à exploiter la tendance de fond en faveur des émissions multi-devises.