The German asset management firm Deka Immobilien has announced the acquisition of the Viñoly office property in Amsterdam (29,600 square metres) from the open-ended real estate fun CS Euroreal (Credit Suisse Asset Management Immobidlien Deutschland) for about EUR140m. The property will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund Deka-ImmobilienEuropa, whose allocation to the Netherlands now increases to 6.5% from 5.2%.

The financial ratings agency Fitch on 17 May cut its long-term debt ranting in currencies and in euros for Greece to CCC from B- previously, citing “increased risk” of an exit from the euro zone. The currency short-term debt rating has also been reduced to C from B previously. “The lowering of the sovereign debt ratings for Greece reflect increased risk that Greece may not be able to maintain its participation in the European economic and monetary union,” Fitch explains. “The high result for anti-austerity parties in the parliamentary elections of 6 May and the subsequent failure to form a government are a sign of lack of political and public support for the EUR173bn European Union and IMF programme,” the agency adds.

The billionaire investor Warren Buffett and the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, are two of the heads who will potentially testify in the insider trading case against the former head of McKinsey, Rajat Gupta, the Financial Times reports.

In April, the on-book daily trading volumes for ETFS on the European markets of NYSE Euronext incrased to EUR297.1m, compared with EUR253.3m in March and EUR237.3m in February. But these volumes are down 14.8% compared with the corresponding month of last year. Total on-book trading volumes have risen 1.3% month on month, to EUR5.6bn. Bloc trades accounted for EUR840.9m in March and EUR992.6m in February, represdenting 12.7% of trading volumes, compared with 13.1% the previous month, and 16.6% in February. The number of ETFs listed (695) has not changed compared with March (see Newsmanagers of 12 April). The median spread was 29.58 basis points in April, as in March.

The division responsible for trading losses at JP Morgan Chase now estimated at about USD3bn has built up a portfolio of over USD100bn in ABS and structured products, the Financial Times reports. This portfolio comes in addition to credit derivatives which provoked trading losses at the centre of investigations by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic.

According to sources familiar with the matter cited by the Wall Street Journal, the alternative asset management firm Magnetar Capital is being investigated by the SEC over trades it made on collateral debt obligations which contributed to the outbreak of the financial crisis. If the investigation results in civil charges, it will be the first time a hedge fund goes to court over a case related to CDOs.

Global demand for gold fell by 5% in first quarter 2012, but Chinese demand has set record highs, topping even that of India, the World Gold Council (WGC) announced on 17 May. Demand for gold worldwide was down to 1,097.6 tonnes in the first three months of the year, valued at an estimated USD59.7bn, as the price of gold was 16% higher than in first quarter 2011, the WGC says in its report. Rising investment in gold could not compensate for a decline in demand on the part of central banks, jewellers and the IT sector. Chinese demand increased 10% in the first three months of the year, to a record 255.2 tonnes, topping India, due to investor concerns about inflation, the WGC observes. Indian demand is 29% down compared with first quarter 2011, at 207.6 tonnes, affected by a jewellers’ strike, a weak Indian rupee and government policy which aims to reduce the presence of gold and a large trade imbalance in the country.

Boon Sim, global head of merger and acquisition activities at Credit Suisse, has been recruited as president & head of North America at the Singapore sovereign fund Temasek Holdings, the Wall Street Journal reports. At the Swiss group, he will be replaced by Scott Lindsay, currently co-chairman of the glober mergers & acquisitions gorup with Steven Koch.

Sir David Cooksey, former chairman of UK Financial Investments, the structure in charge of the British government’s stake in banks bailed out during the crisis, has joined the board of advisors at Strategic Value Partners, a hedge fund founded by a former Merrill Lynch employee, with assets under management totalling about USD4bn, the Financial Times reports.

Santander Asset Management has recruited David Stewart as chief investment officer, Investment Week reports. Stewart will succeed John Bearman, who is leaving the firm, and will take on similar responsibilities at Thomson Miller Investment. Stewart previously worked at Butterfield Bank as chief investment officer and senior vice president.

The British bank HSBC on 17 May announced that it has already completed more than half of its plan to save USD3.5bn per year by 2013. The plan, announced in 2011 under pressure from shareholders calling for higher dividends, resulted in numerous layoffs and a reorganisation of some activities. At an investors’ day in London, HSBC claimed that after one year, it has secured USD2bn in savings on operating costs. “Investors were sceptical about our ability to bring HSBC under control. I think we have proved we can do it,” said CEO Stewart Gulliver.

As part of its rationalisation strategy, the British asset management firm F&C Asset Management will be discontinuing the Thames River Capital brand in first half 2013. The Thames River brand was created in 1998 and had an excellent reputation, even after the acquisition of the boutique by F&C in 2010. According to Charlie Porter, co-founder of Thames River and head of funds and trusts at F&C, “it is altogether logical to have only one brand. We are not large or rich enough to operate under several brands.”

Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) has announced the appointment of Ian March as head of marketing. March will be head of marketing strategy, including communications with clients, advertising and brand management. March previously worked at BlackRock, where he was managing director in charge of marketing for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.

The alternative management group Gottex Fund Management Holdings has announced the acquisition of the Hong Kong-based alternative management firm Penjing Asset Management. Assets under management at Penjing total about USD434m. Gottex says in a statement that the activities of Penjing will contribute to operating profits for the group from the first year, largely due to the effects of synergy. The transaction is taking place via an exchange of Gottex shares and cash, all of which is payable over a period of two years, with a final amount to be determined depending on the evolution of assets under management at Penjing. Ronnie Wu, founder and CIO of Penjing, will join the Gottex group as senior executive for Asia.

Kurt Jovy has joined UBS Real Estate in Munich as head of acquisitions & dispositions for Germany and central and eastern Europe. He had previously been vice president, acquisition & sales, at Credit Suisse Asset Management Immobilien in Frankfurt.

Insight Investment has launched a UCITS IV-compliant version of its absolute return bond fund, Investment Week reports. The new fund, BNY Mellon Absolute Return Bond Fund, managed by Peter Bentley, head of global and British credit, invests in government bonds (4%), investmnt grade corporate debt (8%), corporate high yield debt (11%), ABS (28%), emerging market debt (9%), cash and money market instruments (40%). Meanwhile, Standish Investment Management is reportedly about to launch an emerging markets debt fund which will be managed by Alexander Kozhemiakin, managing director of emerging debt, and his team. The fund will invest in emerging market debt denominated in US dollars as well as in local currency. Standish already manages three emerging market debt funds, whose cumulative assets under management total USD4.2bn.

In Europe, style ETFs, with a value, growth or cap size bias, remain marginal. Value/growth ETFs represent only USD0.45bn, while equity style ETFs have USD115bn in assets in the United States, Isabelle Bourcier, head of development at Ossiam, has said at a round table at the InsideETFs Europe conference, on investment based on risk factors. This difference is due first of all to the fact that US investors are more sensitive to management styles than Europeans, which reflects a more unified market on the American side of the Atlantic, and a more fragmented market in Europe. Boucier also cites the typology of European investors in ETFs, who are largely funds of funds, private bankers, etc. These investors are primarily interested in geographical diversification in Europe. But those who are interested in management styles may be put off by the heterogeneity of the methdologies of index providers, which leads to vastly different baskets of assets, which require an excess of work. “Investors who are seeking exposure to a style prefer to turn to active managers,” says Bourcier. The head of development at Ossiam also claims that ETFs based on risk factors (to which style ETFs belong as well as funds based on volatility, momentum, etc.) should be used more as a “toolbox,” in an opportunistic manner, rather than for long-term investments. Arne Stall, director, head of systematic strategies and tracker products for Europe at Barclays Capital, agrees. He feels that ETFs based on risk factors may be used ni a tactical manner, or to hedge a portfolio. “One must be aware that these ETFs cannot function over a whole market cycle.” He claims the combination of different types of factors makes sense. Paul Kaplan, CEO of Morningstar, claims that ETFs based on risk factors may both serve the interests of short-term investors and long-term invetors, for example, whose who estimate that a long-term investment in a value style will outperform. However, he estimates that some factoral ETFs, such as funds based on the VIX, commodities, and leveraged and inverse ETFs, which are rather ETFs for playing short-term trends, are absolutely not appropriate for retail investors. He points out that style ETFs are still bets against the market, and that investors need to be aware of that.

As Borja Fernández-Galiano has joined Lazard Frères Gestion in Madrid (see Newsmanagers of 19 January), Oyster Funds (Syx & Co) has recruited Alberto González as its director for Spain, Andorra and Portugal. González had been director of sales for the German firm Deka in the Iberian peninsula, Funds People reports. Currently, Oyster has 23 funds on sale in Spain to institutional clients. At Deka, Ana Guzmán, recruited in 2008, replaces González. She will report to Rüdiger Daberkow, director of institutional sales for the German group, and will have a supporting team of four people.

Harcourt, an affiliate of Vontobel Asset Management, has recruited Jan Viebig and Georg Wessling as head of alternative investments and deputy head of alternative investments, respectively. Viebig, currently head of emerging market equities at Credit Suisse, replaces the former CEO of Harcourt, Stephan Fritz, who has decided to leave Vontobel Asset Management. Wessling is currently head of hedge fund advisory at Harcourt.

Axa Investment Managers (Axa IM) on 16 May announced that it has received permission from the local authorities to open a representative office in China, which comes as an addition to Axa IM’s operations in Asia. “The representative office of Axa IM in Beijing will aim to conduct market studies and build relationships with Chinese institutional investors,” AXA IM explains in a statement. AXA IM also plans to take part in the rapid development of the asset management industry in China, where there are now about EUR3.5trn in assets under management, largely for institutional clients, and where competition is intensifying and the product range available to retail and institutional invetors is rapidly growing. Ying Du has been appointed as head of the representative office. She will report to Terence Lam, head of sales and marketing for Axa IM in Asia. Ying joined AXA IM in 1998. She served in a series of various positions, before joining the customer relations team in Hong Kong in 2005, where she led the team in charge of institutional clients.

From 1 June 2012, shares in the Banque Cantonale Vaudoise (BCV) and shares in the real estate business Swiss Prime Site (SPS) will be listed on the MSCI segment of the Swiss stock exchange.

The new CEO of Bellvue Group, Urs Daniel Baumann, has acquired a stake of slightly under 3% from one of the founders of the firm, Hans Jörg Graf, according to reports by the SIX Swiss exchange. Last month, another longstanding member of the bank, Dieter Albrecht, announced that he was reducing his stake in the bank’s capital to less than 3%.

The US asset management firm Vanguard has carried out its plans to cross the Atlantic. On 16 May, it announced that it is planning to release its first five ETFs on the London Stock Exchange, as they have recently received licenses from the Irish central bank. TERs for the funds range from 0.09% to 0.45%, which Vanguard highlights by terming them “low cost.” All of the funds rely on physical replication. Assets in the Vanguard group’s tracker funds total GBP741bn, while ETFs represent GBP109bn. Fund AMC/TER LSE Ticker (GBP) LSE Ticker (USD) Vanguard FTSE 100 ETF 0.10% VUKE --- Vanguard S&P 500 ETF 0.09% VUSA VUSD Vanguard FTSE All-World ETF 0.25% VWRL VWRD Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF 0.45% VFEM VDEM Vanguard UK Government Bond ETF 0.12% VGOV ---

Allianz Global Investors (Allianz GI) has launched four multi-asset class funds with risk objectives aimed at British investors, Investment Europe reports. Elizabeth Corley, chief executive at Allianz GI, claims that definitions and understanding of risk vary significantly from one European country to another, to the point that it is not realistic to launch a standard cross-border product. Allianz GI already has about GBP33bn in continental assets in similar strategies, but in formats which allow for easier adaptation to client needs. The four funds launched in the UK aim at various risk levels, from 7% to 11% per year for the defensive strategy, 10% to 14% for the conservative strategy, 12% to 17% for the moderate strategy, and 15% to 20% for the growth strategy.

The chairman of Consob, the Italian financial market authority, Giuseppe Vegas, has warned against the dangers of trading “naked” CDS, high frequency trading and ETFS at his annual meeting with the financial community, FondiOnline reports. On the subject of ETFs, Vegas claims that these funds may cause a systemic shock. He has called on regulators to avoid that.

Nouveau ministre de l’Economie, Pierre Moscovici fait du déficit «l’ennemi» de la France mais réaffirme que le pacte européen ne sera pas ratifié sans volet de croissance. Arnaud Montebourg, nommé à la tête du ministère du Redressement productif, est chargé des questions industrielles.

Nommé à Bercy, Pierre Moscovici promet de s'attaquer au déficit, "ennemi" de la France. Arnaud Montebourg est chargé du "redressement productif"

L’entité londonienne à l’origine de la lourde perte de trading dévoilée par la banque américaine disposerait d’un portefeuille de plus de 100 milliards de dollars d’obligations «complexes et risquées au centre de la crise financière de 2008». Ces titrisations et autres produits structurés viennent en complément des positions en dérivés de crédit ayant entraîné la perte publiée par JPMorgan. Selon de nombreux traders, le Chief Investment Office est depuis trois ans le plus important acheteur de titres obligataires complexes sur l’ensemble des marchés. La course au rendement aboutit aujourd’hui à un portefeuille de produits «non-standards» de quelque 150 milliards de dollars.

Le quotidien avance que les trois prétendants au rachat du London Metal Exchange, à savoir CME Group, Intercontinental Exchange et Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing, ont soumis des offres valorisant le marché à terme entre 1 et 1,2 milliard de livres, soit jusqu’à 1,5 milliard d’euros. Les offres peuvent encore faire l’objet d’ajustements. Les prétendants s’engagent à conserver la criée.

Le PIB a progressé de 1% à fin mars contre un consensus à +0,9%. Mais l’environnement international pourrait contrarier la reprise domestique