Difficulties in refinancing un-rated leveraged buyout (LBO) debt in Europe is continuing, Moody’s says in a report published on 29 May. The agency states that 254 businesses are facing a need to refinance EUR133bn in debt which will mature by 2015. At least one quarter of them may be facing default, and this figure may double if high yield bond markets remain closed for a long time due to external factors. “More than half of debt maturing in 2015 is concentrated at 36 businesses, each of which has issued over EUR1bn in debt,” says Chetan Modi, head of leveraged financing for Europe at Moody’s and author of the report. “Although this debt is widely distributed over several sectors, the majority of debt requiring refinancing will mature in 2014.” The results of the Moody’s study are in line with the previous analyses of the ratings agency, but these businesses now have one less year to wait until the refinancing crunch of 2014-2015. This refinancing peak is an issue to worry about, due to macroeconomic conjuncture and the poor quality of this debt.

Fidelity Worldwide Investments has recruited three people in Italy, Bluerating reports. Matteo Buonomini, formerly of Banca Esperia and BNP Paribas, is appointed as senior manager – fund selection units. Alessandro Furrer (formerly of Aviva Investors and Aletti Gestielle) and Gianluca Cerone (formerly of Société Générale and Morgan Stanley Investment) join the commercial structure dedicated to seeking out financial advisers and private banks. They will be senior sales manager and sales manager, respectively.

The US bank JPMorgan Chase, which is being targeted by regulators due to colossal losses in its brokerage activities, is now the subject of a separate investigation by the Tokyo market authorities into an insider trading case, the new agency Dow Jones reported on 29 May. JPMorgan Chase was one of the two institutions tasked with underwriting an issue of new shares by the Japanese business Nippon Sheet Class in August 2010, in a process which the Tokyo Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC) is now investigating. On Tuesday, the SESC asked its parent agency, the Japanese financial services agency (FSA) to impose a fine on an asset management firm, Asuka Asset Management, which it found guilty of insider trading in the issue. Just ahead of the capital increase by Nippon Sheet Glass, Asuka Asset Management got wind of the operation under preparation and short-sold shares in the group at a high price, ahead of the reports, and then bought them back at a cut rate once the news was out. According to Dow Jones, the SESC suspects the broker JP Morgan Chase of being the source of the leak which allowed the asset management firm to pocket JPY60.5m in the fraudulent operation (about EUR600,000 at current exchange rates).

In the absence of decisive action by European policymakers, investors continued cutting their exposure to riskier asset classes. During the week ending May 23 Emerging Markets Equity, Commodities and Energy Sector Funds and Europe Equity Funds all experienced redemptions in excess of USD1 billion while High Yield Bond Funds posted their biggest outflows in over nine months, according to the most recent statistics from EPFR Global. Overall, EPFR Global-tracked Bond Funds posted net inflows of USD3.5 billion and Equity Funds outflows of USD7.4 billion -- both six week lows -- while Money Market Funds took in a net USD11.5 billion. «Comparisons are already being drawn to last August’s sell-off,» notes EPFR Global Research Director Cameron Brandt. «But, for the moment, redemptions are not of the magnitude we saw then. In addition to the Eurozone’s troubles, investors nine months ago were digesting the US ratings downgrade, stubbornly high oil prices tied to widespread turmoil in the Middle East, serious talk of a pre-emptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities and the aftermath of Japan’s trial by earthquake and tsunami.»

The alternative asset management firm Armajaro Asset Management (AAM), a specialist in commodities, is planning to diversify into equities in order to double the size of its fund portfolio in the next seven years, the news agency Reuters reports. The head of the firm, Harry Morley, says that this year he is planning to launch a hedge fund dedicated to international finance sector stocks, a long/short fund which will be the asset management firm’s first vehicle dedicated exclusively to equities. The long-term objective for the asset management firm is to increase its assets under management, which currently total USD1.6bn in six funds, to USD10bn in 10 to 15 funds.

The Irish financial services group Davy Stockbrokers (brokerage, wealth management and advising) has acquired the Irish asset management firm Bloxham Asset Management, following a recent enquiry found accounting irregularities at the business, Investment Week reports. The investment team, led by Pramit Ghose, who manages funds for Bloxham AM, will be transferred to Davy Stockholders effective immediately. Assets under management by the team total over EUR700m. In March this year, Davy Stockbrokers acquired the private banking activities of the Bloxham group, which had assets under management of EUR1.2bn.

Two of the best-known dynasties in Europe and the United States will be joining forces with the acquisition by RIT Capital Partners, an investment trust led by Lord Jacob Rothschild, of a 37% stake in the wealth management advising and asset management activities of the Rockefeller family (USD34bn in assets under management), the Financial Times reports. The total price of the acquisition has not been disclosed. The partnership will be focused on the creation of investment funds which will aim to make joint acquisitions in the asset management industry.

By 31 May, Baring Asset Management (Marings) will launch the Baring Asia Dynamic Asset Allocation fund, managed by Khiem Do, head of Asian multi assets, with fees of 1.25%, and a minimal subscription of USD5,000, Fundweb reports. The objective is to generate returns similar to those of Asian equities over the long term, with lower volatility than this asset class, with active management of exposure to growth and defensive assets. Most of the portfolio will be invested in Asia, but Barings reserves the right to make investments elsewhere to manage volatility and market risks.

The sale of Dexia AM is fast approaching, Agefi reports. The submission of binding offers is scheduled for mid-June, and the final choice will be made in July. Dexia AM has received 40 expressions of interst, 20 non-binding offers, and has appointed six final candidates, Pierre Mariani, deputy director of Dexia bank, told Les Echos yesterday. No names have been released, but rumours put investment funds including Permira and Bain Capital up against the Australian bank Macquarie. A bid by the latter would make sense: “A major part of the value of Dexia AM is in Australia via Ausbil Dexia,” a business banker tells the newspaper. However, he notes, no bids are said to be coming from any European actors.

The Nyon-based asset management firm EIM, in the person of its founder and chairman Arpad Busson, is currently said to be in talks with potential acquirers, Agefi Switzerland reports, citing sources contacted by Bloomberg. In the past few weeks, the two hedge fund firms UBP, with the acquisition of the French Nexar Capital Group, and Gottex, which is seeking to grow its business in Asia Pacific with the acquisition of Penjing Asset Management of Hong Kong, have opted for expansion. However, FRM (Financial Risk Management) has preferred to join the Man Investments group. EIM had previously acted primarily as a consolidator, and it plans to retain this role, says its spokesman, Neil Bennett. Total assets under management of USD6.2bn as of the end of 2011 strictly limit the circle of potential buyers, even though it is half what it was before the crisis, the newspaper estimates.

According to an annual report on public debt in 2011, assets of investment funds placed in Spanish debt, largely Spanish government or government-guaranteed debt, as of the end of December represented 60.7% of the total portfolio, 6 percentage points more than one year previously, Cotizalia reports.

For an undisclosed amount, Hauck & Aufhäuser Privatbankiers (H&A), which has its own affiliate in Luxembourg, has sold its stake in the asset management firm Universal-Investment (EUR138bn in assets under management or administration) to two other shareholders, the private banks Berenberg and Lampe, whose stakes increase from 26.6% to 37.5% each. The other shareholder, the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW), retains its 26.6% stake in Universal.

In an ad hoc statement on 29 May, Kabel Deutschland Holding announced that it had received information from BlackRock Hodco and BlackRock Financial Management that the US asset management firm controls over 10% of its capital, with 10.02% of voting rights as of 17 May.

Tradition (UK) Ltd., an affiliate of the Compagnie Financière Tradition SA, on 30 May announced the launch of traFXpure, a new electronic trading platform aimed at the spot exchange market. The new initiative, in cooperation with the largest global investment banks, aims to provide an innovative trading environment for currency markets, Tradition says in a statement. Barclays, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Canada and UBS are a few of the major banks with currency activities that are supporting traFXpure. Others will be announced in the next few weeks.

David Borjani, chairman of the Colombian GrupoSura, has said that he is examining the possibility of acquiring all or part of the Latin American assets which BBVA is putting up for sale, i.e. the pension fund administration units in Chile (EUR30.2bn), Mexico (EUR13.1bn), Colombia (EUR6.75bn) and Peru (EUR5.4bn), Funds People reports. Borjani would prefer to study these cases country be country rather than acquiring all of the assets.

Saker Nusseibeh, who has been serving as interim CEO since the departure of Rupert Clarke (see Newsmanagers of 24 November 2011) in addition to his responsibilities as CIO of Hermes Fund Management, has officially been appointed as CEO of the British asset management firm. He joined Hermes, which manages the pension fund for British Telecom, in 2009, from Fortis Investments; he had previously served as chief investment officer for international equities and head of marketing at SGAM UK. Nusseibeh will combine his new role with that of head of investment.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has decided to fine hedge fund CEO Alberto Micalizzi GBP3 million and ban him from performing any role in regulated financial services for not being fit and proper. This is the FSA’s largest fine for an individual in a non market abuse case.At the relevant time, Micalizzi was the chief executive officer and a director of Dynamic Decisions Capital Management Ltd (DDCM), a hedge fund management company based in London.The FSA has also decided to cancel the permission of DDCM to conduct regulated business. The decision notice for Micalizzi, dated 20 March 2012, states that between 1 October 2008 and 31 December 2008, the master fund managed by DDCM “suffered catastrophic losses of over USD390 million, approximately 85% of its value”. In the FSA’s opinion, in late 2008, to conceal the losses, Micalizzi lied to investors about the true position of the Fund and entered into a number of contracts, on behalf of the fund, for the purchase and resale of a bond. The FSA believes that the bond was not a genuine financial instrument and that Micalizzi was aware of this when he entered into the bond contracts.In the FSA’s view, the bond contracts were deliberately undertaken by Micalizzi to create artificial gains for the fund. And despite the losses suffered by the fund, he continued to seek new investors. “It is the FSA’s view that by providing false and misleading information he deliberately concealed the true value of the fund from one new investor who subsequently invested USD 41.8 million on 1 December 2008,” states the authority.In May 2009 the fund was placed into liquidation. The fund’s liquidator estimated that the fund’s assets on liquidation were worth approximately USD 10 million. To date, no payment has been made to any investor by the liquidator.Micalizzi and DDCM have referred this matter to the Upper Tribunal where they and the FSA will each present their case. The court will then determine the appropriate action for the FSA to take. It may uphold, vary or cancel the FSA’s decision.

Brewin Dolphin has earned pre-tax profits in the half year to 31 March of GBP12.3m, up 3.3% compared with the first half of the previous fiscal year. Assets under management increased 7.1% in the period under review to a total of GBP25.7bn, largely due to an increase of nearly 11% in discretionary funds, to GBP17.3bn.

The appetite of advisers for passive investment products is expected to increase in the next six months, according to a survey by the research agency Platforum. In second quarter 2012, investors bet 72.5% of their assets on active strategies, compared with 27.5% for passive strategies. In first quarter, the percentage was 70/30. But in the course of second quarter, exposure to passive strategies is expected to reach 36.1%, according to investment advisers. The cause of this taste for passive strategies, say advisers, is costs as a number one factor, followed far behind by performance.

Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) on 29 May announced the appointment of Azhar Hussain as head of the Global High Yield unit. In his new role, Hussain will concentrate his efforts on the development of Royal London’s capacities in the high yield segment. Hussain previously worked at Insight Investment Management, where he was responsible for high yield and leveraged loans.

Fearghal Woods, senior vice president of the global fund services unit at Northern Trust, says that net subscriptions to Irish-registered, UCITS-compliant funds represented EUR31.1bn in first quarter. Ireland is the country with the fastest growth in UCITS-compliant retail funds, with 50)% growth in the past 11 years, Investment Europe reports. Meanwhile, Ireland is also the world’s number one in hedge fund services, and has recently topped USD2trn in assets under administration.

A survey in first quarter undertaken by RBC Dexia and Accenture of 33 Spanish asset management firms representing 65% of total assets in the sector has found that professionals are expecting profound changes in their industry, as concentration continues, managers increasingly specialise and a growing focus on efficiency and performance. They also predict that success will depend on technological progress and that the trend to outsource will continue.The survey finds that the three major asset management firms alone account for 45% of total assets and that the average size of a fund in Spain is only EUR57m, which compares with EUR262m in the United Kingdom and EUR300m in Switzerland. In the past three years, the number of funds in Spain has contracted by about 20%, to 2,500.

The trustee in charge of recuperating money for victims of the fraud perpetrated by Bernard Madoff has so far made more money for himself and his law firm in the three and a half years since the former fund manager went bankrupt than he has distributed to the victims. According to a report published on the website of the trustee, Irving Picard, the liquidation of the investment fund managed by Madoff, who is serving a 150-year prison sentence, has so far cost over USD554m. This total includes commissions to the director himself (USd5.1m), but mostly consists of the paychecks of the lawyers at work on the case, which total about USD300m, as well as the costs for special consultants (about USD220m) and investment bankers (USD1m). Meanwhile, money which was theoretically regained by Picard and his teams total USD9.1bn, but most of this money is not available at the moment, as it is still subject to appeals or legal actions related to the validity of the distribution system chosen. Overall, only USD329.6m has been paid out so far, while the pyramid scheme orchestrated by Madoff, the largest stock market fraudster to date, cost between USD17.3bn and USd65bn, depending on whether you count only the principal or principal with interest. At USD850 per hour, Picard and his law firm, Baker & Hostetler, are beginning to look more like “full-time princes” than Robin Hoods in the forest, the New York Times claimed on 29 May.

The 4th annual survey by Morningstar and Baron’s, conducted in January 2012, of 264 institutional investors and 365 financial advisers, has found that mutual hedge funds in the United States continued to see inflows in 2011 (a net USD23.2bn), while equity mutual funds saw net outflows of USD84.7bn.However, net subscriptions were limited to USD11.6bn for hedge ETFs, their lowest level since 2006, while hedge mutual funds were down by USD1.8bn compared with 2010.26% of respondents also say they are planning to invest more than one quarter of their assets in alternative investments, compared with 37% in the previous survey. Managed futures and forex funds posted respective net inflows of USD3.6bn and USD3.4bn last year, although the former saw losses of 6.9% in 2011, and forex funds have lost money every year since 2008.

Amaury de Warenghien, directeur financier d’Axa France dans Option Finance numéro 1172: L’immobilier et les actions conservent un intérêt du fait de leurs perspectives de rendement à long terme et de la diversification qu’ils apportent, à condition toutefois de bien en régler le poids dans nos portefeuilles. Notre patrimoine immobilier, géré par Axa Real Estate, est constitué de biens en France (habitations, bureaux, commerces, logistique...) et se développe à l'étranger. Nous avons en effet un souci de diversification au sein de ce portefeuille. Le poids des poches actions, constituées d’actions en zone euro et internationales, a été divisé environ par deux sur cinq ans. Nous conservons nos placements dans le private equity. L’allocation d’actifs d’Axa France est la suivante: sur les métiers de la vie, elle était répartie fin 2011 avec 6% d’actions, 6% d’immobilier, 43% de crédit et 45% d’obligations souveraines. En ce qui concerne l’assurance dommage fin 2011, 12% d’actions, 8% d’immobilier, 50% de crédit et 30% d’emprunts d’Etats.

Comme Abante et son Smart-ISH lancé il y a un an (lire Newsmanagers du 7 juin 2011), Gesconsult vient de mettre sur le marché avec Banco Inversis un fonds de fonds qui sélectionnera entre 10 et 12 produits des meilleurs gérants (principalement) espagnols, le Gesconsult Talento, dont l’indice de référence est actuellement l’Euribor 12 mois (cet indice pourra être remplacé par un autre si le portefeuille se déforme beaucoup). Le fonds, qui sera diversifié avec en principe une dominante actions, a été enregistré le 25 mai par la CNMV.Caractéristiques Dénomination : Gesconsult Talento,FICode Isin : ES0141991002Commission de gestion : 1,35 %Commission de performance : 9 %

Pour un montant non divulgué, Hauck & Aufhäuser Privatbankiers (H&A), qui dispose d’une filiale en propre à Luxembourg, a vendu sa participation dans le gestionnaire d’actifs Universal-Investment (138 milliards d’euros d’encours sous gestion ou administration) à deux des autres actionnaires, les banques privées Berenberg et Lampe, dont la participation passe ainsi de 26,6 % à 37,5 % chacun. L’autre actionnaire, la Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW), conserve ses 26,6 % dans Universal.

Le Fonds Stratégique d’Investissement a annoncé en fin de semaine dernière être entré au capital d’Eramet à hauteur de 26%. Après avoir conclu un pacte d’actionnaires avec les sociétés Sorame et Ceir, holdings de la famille Duval, il devient actionnaire de référence du groupe minier et métallurgique français et va sièger au conseil d’administration."Le FSI est mobilisé pour appuyer Eramet dans sa stratégie de développement sur ses activités historiques mais aussi au travers des projets transformant sur lesquels travaille le groupe pour préparer l’avenir, précise un communiqué. Conformément au pacte d’actionnaires conclu avec Sorame et CEIR, le conseil d’administrationd’Eramet comporte désormais cinq membres proposés par le FSI:- Mme Claire Cheremetinski, administratrice civile hors classe- M. Thierry Le Henaff, Président-Directeur Général d’Arkema- Mme Caroline Grégoire Sainte Marie, administrateur de sociétés- M. Claude Tendil, Président-Directeur Général de Generali France- FSI-Equation, représentée par M. Thomas Devedjian, Directeur et membre du comité exécutif du FSI

Equitis Gestion et son partenaire conseil finaréa spécialisé dans le capital-risque lancent un fonds d’investissement de proximité, FIP finaréa PME 2012 (*). Le fonds investira dans des entreprises situées dans les régions d’Ile-de-France, de Bourgogne, de Rhône-Alpes et de Haute-Normandie. Les investissements de ce fonds viseront aussi bien l’économie traditionnelle que l’économie nouvelle.(*) Code ISIN : Part A FR0011202787/Parts B FR0011257856

Alors que la crise grecque inquiète toute l’industrie financière aussi bien buy-side que sell-side, l’acteur Louis Capital Markets (LCM), une société internationale d’intermédiation financière institutionnelle, constate une aversion au risque et une baisse de l’activité de courtage sur certaines classes d’actifs. «Pour autant, la volatilité en forte hausse permet de créer de nouvelles opportunités en termes d’activité ", tempère Michael Benhamou, CEO de LCM et co-fondateur de la société avec Laurent Imbert et Patrice Cohen.Créée aux Etats-Unis en 1999, la société a ouvert ses bureaux au fur et à mesure de son développement. D’abord dans le monde anglo-saxon – après New York, Londres en 2003 – puis à Hong Kong et enfin en Europe continentale, à Paris et Genève. De fait, l’entreprise se considère comme un acteur «global local» : global avec ses différentes implantations dans le monde, et local pour être au plus près des spécialistes et des clients. Cela étant, désormais, pour le groupe qui compte plus de 1 000 clients institutionnels actifs dont des asset managers, des compagnies d’assurance, des hedge funds, des banques et des « family offices », l’avenir du métier – et celui de l'établissement - passe par le développement d’activités de niche.Dans ce cadre, LCM, qui compte 250 professionnels, entend aujourd’hui pousser les feux sur ses pôles d’expertises de recherche et d’intermédiation auprès du monde des hedge funds et des asset managers «actifs». Concrètement, la société met l’accent sur son département recherche, notamment quantitative, commodities, dérivés ou global macro «dont un portefeuille virtuel reprend les convictions de l'équipe», précise Michael Benhamou. Outre sa recherche, LCM s’est spécialisé dans des secteurs tels que l'énergie (pétrole et gaz naturel) et s’attache à faire de «l’alpha» auprès des hedge funds en proposant des techniques de trading innovantes et des prix compétitifs.Pour le dirigeant, cette stratégie doit être payante car le marché des intermédiaires - bien qu’offrant plusieurs facettes - entre dans une phase de consolidation et les barrières à l’entrée sont telles que l’arrivée de nouveaux acteurs semble, pour le professionnel, hypothétique. Quoi qu’il en soit, LCM ne compte pas déroger à sa ligne de conduite : privilégier la croissance organique plutôt qu’externe autour de personnes clés. «L’ADN de la maison intègre des recrutements de grande qualité, confirme Michael Benhamou, notamment des anciens gérants de grandes institutions telles que Gartmore, JP Morgan, Schroders ou BNP Paribas…"