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21/02/2012

Oddo AM rationalises its money market product range

The boards of directors at Oddo Asset Management and the Sicav Orsay Euribor Plus have decided to rationalise their money market product range, merging the Orsay Euribor Plus Sicav (FR0000288243) with the FCP Oddo Trésorerie 3-6 mois (FR0010583310), Fondsweb reports.
21/02/2012

First Eagle launches a bond fund

First Eagle Investment Management has added to its product range with the launch of the high yield bond fund First Eagle High Yield Fund. This is actually a relaunch by the US asset management firm of the Old Mutual High Yield Fund. The fund, which was initially managed by an affiliate of Old Mutual, Dwight Asset Management, had previously been managed by Edward Miegs and Sean Slein. In October, First Eagle became the investment adviser to the fund, and then recruited the two managers. The First Eagle High Yield Fund has total assets of USD48.2m.
21/02/2012

First Trust Advisors offers nine new ETFs

The hedge fund manager First Trust Advisors has announced that it is launching nine new ETF funds in the AlphaDEX range. They include two trans-regional ETFs and seven country ETFs: First Trust Germany AlphaDEX Fund (NYSE: FGM) First Trust Canada AlphaDEX Fund (NYSE: FCAN) First Trust Australia AlphaDEX Fund (NYSE: FAUS) First Trust United Kingdom AlphaDEX Fund (NYSE: FKU) First Trust Taiwan AlphaDEX Fund (NYSE: FTW) First Trust Hong Kong AlphaDEX Fund (NYSE: FHK) First Trust Switzerland AlphaDEX Fund (NYSE: FSZ) First Trust Developed Markets ex-U.S. Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund (NYSE: FDTS) First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund (NYSE: FEMS)
21/02/2012

Invesco Perpetual launches a range of diversified funds in the UK

The asset management firm Invesco Perpetual has announced the launch of multi-asset class funds with higher or lower levels of risk on the British market.The group already manages a quantitative strategy whose assets under management total USD12.2bn, for US and European clients. It is now offering this strategy on the British market, due to strong demand from clients for products that manage volatility transparently.In the event, the funds offered in the UK are the Invesco Perpetual Balanced Risk 6, 8 and 10, according to the level of volatility desired. The Invesco Perpetual Balanced Risk 8, for example, aims for an average volatility of 8% over a full cycle. Exposure of the fund to equities, bonds and commodities may vary form a maximum of 50% to a minimum of 16%. Minimal investment in the funds is GBP500. Front-end fees have been set at 5%, while management fees are 1.25% per year.
21/02/2012

Vontobel founds a multi-asset class boutique

The Frenchman Christophe Bernard has been appointed head of the new Balanced/Multi Asset Class boutique in the asset management unit of Vontobel, a structure which includes 20 investment professionals, with assets currently totalling CHF10bn. Bernard will begin in his new position on 1 March. He will also be the new chief strategist at the Zurich-based group.The new boutique will allow Vontobel to offer allocation to a full range of assets, adjusted according to investment objectives and risk budgets of institutional and retail clients.Bernard will be leaving a similar position at the Geneva-based Union Bancaire Privée (UBP), and replaces chief strategist Thomas Steineman, who has decided to leave the group after 11 years, due to the new structural orientation adopted by Vontobel.
21/02/2012

Inflows to higher-risk assets down

Uncertainty about Greece and tensions in the Middle East have recently dampened investors’ appetite for risk. In the week ending on 15 February, emerging markets equity funds took in less than half their previous weeks total and emerging markets bond funds less than a third while Europe bond funds posted outflows for the first time in six weeks, according to estimates by EPFR Global. Overall, EPFR global-tracked equity funds recorded collective outflows during the week ending February 15 of USD1.7 billion -- their worst showing since the first week of January -- as redemptions from developed market equity funds more than offset the USD2.2 billion committed to emerging markets equity funds. Flows into bond funds totaled USD7.03 billion while USD6.3 billion flowed out of money market funds.As of 15 February, inflows to high yield, US, emerging markets and global bond funds totalled 190%, 57%, 27%, and 20% of total net subscriptions registered in 2011, respectively.
21/02/2012

Many new signatories for Carbon Disclosure Project

Since the beginning of this year, the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) initiative has registered about 60 new members (see attached list), including banks such as Santander, BBVA, Banesto, Westpac, Monte dei Pashi, and Lloyds Banking Group. The new members also include asset management firms such as Union Investment Privatfonds, Neuberger Berman, Henderson Global Investors, Investec, Jupiter Am and Erste AM.Rabobank, Axa IM and Aviva Investors are among the largest new members in 2011.The CDP started in 2002 with the support of 35 institutional investors. Now, the initiative has more than 655 signatories, with total assets of about USD78trn.
21/02/2012

Fund managers unable to make money in their own industry

Portfolio managers are not able to make money, even when they invest in the industry they know best: their own, according to a university study cited by Financial Times Fund Management (Squandering Home Field Advantage? Financial Institutions’ Investing in their Own Industries). David Stolin, one of the authors of the study, says this apparent inability for managers to profit from their sectoral proximity may be due to overconfidence, or merely to an inability to step back and take a global view of things.
21/02/2012

ETFlab finds three distribution partners

The ETF promoter of the DekaBank group (German savings banks), ETFlab, has announced in the most recent issue of its newsletter that effective immediately, comdirect bank (Commerzbank), DAB-bank (UniCredit) and Sparkassen Broker (savings banks) are offering investors ETFlab products at cut-rate prices for orders and savings plans.Subscriptions may be made at a competitive rate, and savings plans are exempt from commissions on orders. It is also possible to directly access cut-price model portfolios composed of selected ETFs directly.
21/02/2012

Nearly all hedge fund strategies show gains in January

The hedge fund indices calculated by the Edhec-Risk Institute have nearly all finished the month of January in positive territory, with the notable but not altogether surprising exception of the short-selling strategy, which has lost 6.85% for the month. The emerging markets strategy shows the best returns for January, with gains of 4.55%, where it had finished last year with losses of 10.8%. Other winning strategies for the month include long/short equity (3.36%), distressed securities (3.28%), event-driven (2.95%), convertibles arbitrage (2.22%), and bond arbitrage (1.33%). After an annus horribilis last year, funds of funds have started the year on a positive note, with gains of 1.65%.
21/02/2012

Investec AM recruits a former IMF director

Investec Asset Management has announced the appointment of Leslie Lipschitz, former director of the IMF Institute, as visiting strategist. Based in Cape Town, he will work closely with the fixed income and multi-asset teams in formulating their macroeconomic and thematic views.In a career spanning almost 40 years at the IMF, Lipschitz held increasingly senior positions in three area departments (Asian and Pacific, African and European) and in the Policy Development and Review Department.
21/02/2012

Canadian pension fund looks to accelerate its growth in Asia

The second-largest Canadian pension fund, the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, has recruited a former Goldman Sachs chief, Mark Machin, as regional head for Asia, a newly-created position, Asian Investor reports. Machin, who will be based in Hong Kong, will begin in his new position on 19 March. He will work to develop the pension fund’s activities in China. The Chinese portfolio of the fund now totals CAD3.5bn. As of 31 December, assets under management in the Asia-Pacific region totalled CAD13.1bn, about 8.5% of total assets under management.
21/02/2012

Green real estate: investors don't have reliable yardsticks

A survey by the German asset management firm Union Investment Real Estate (UIRE) of 167 German, French and British investors finds that only 20% of respondents say they have reliable criteria to measure the sustainability of real estate properties in which they may invest. 25% said they were in this position in the survey published in early 2011.Consumption of primary energy is considered the most important element to measure the sustainability of properties in the portfolio by a vast majority of heads surveyed (83%). Meanwhile, 67% of respondents, up from 58% in 2011, find that costs over the full life cycle of the property is important. This is followed by waste tonnage per year (62%), water consumption (55%), carbon footprint (47%) and the percentage of consumption from renewable sources (43%).UIRE also notes that 60% of investors, mainly insurers and pension funds, are planning to considerable increase their investments in sustainable properties.
21/02/2012

Nomura and Tradition launch a platform dedicated to ETFs

The multilateral trading facility (MTF) Navesis-ETF was opened on 20 February by the Swiss-listed firm Compagnie Financière Tradition and Nomura. It is a fully electronic platform for the transparent and efficient trading of ETFs, increasing liquidity and reducing fees, all in an environment in perfect compliance with current regulations.Navesis-ETF allows actors (institutional investors, sell-side banks and market makers) to make intra-day trades and to execute orders at net asset value in real time. The promoters say the open architecture platform is the first to offer such functionality. It uses proprietary Tradition technology and Nomura’s expertise as a top-calibre actor in the primary ETF market, and the largest investment bank to have created an MTF dark pool.
21/02/2012

Texas teachers' pension fund invests in capital of Bridgewater

The alternative asset management firm Bridgewater has taken on the pension fund for Texas teachers as an investor in its capital, according to Pensions & Investments magazine. The Texan pension fund invested USD250m in Bridgewater. As of 30 June last year, the pension fund had invested USD4.3bn in 30 funds, including products from Bridgewater, Tudor, AQR and Blue Trend, out of total assets of USD106.7bn.
21/02/2012

Sweden's AP1 adjusts equity allocation

The equity portfolio of the Swedish pension fund AP1 (Första AP-fonden) fell 9.8% in 2011, while total assets under management, SEK213.3bn (about EUR24bn), finished the year down 1.7% (or 1.9% after costs), according to the fund’s annual report, the website IPE reports. The fund says that it is working to reduce the volatility of its equity portfolio, by increasing geographical diversification. The current portfolio includes only Swedish and European shares. In the past twelve months, equity allocations fell from over 60% to less than 50% (most recently 49.2% at the end of 2011), in favour of bonds (40.9% as of the end of December 2011) and alternative management (9.3% as of the end of December).
21/02/2012

Assogetioni overhauls money market fund category

Assogestioni, the Italian association of asset managers, has renamed its money market fund category, and modified the investment limits for the products, in order to bring them into line with CESR guidelines. The “fondi di liquidità” category will now be known as “fondi di mercato monetario” (money market funds). In terms of new limits, for instruments issued by sovereign issuers, an investment grade rating will be sufficient. Asset management firms will be required to comply with the new criteria by 31 December 2012.
21/02/2012

IMA seeks clarification on UCITS IV directive

The British Investment Management Association (IMA) says it is concerned about diverging interpretations of the contents of key investor information documents (KIID), which are intended to replace the simplified prospectus, Hedge Week reports.Andy Maysey, senior advisor for retail distribution at the professional association, has told FTAdviser that the IMA’s priority is harmonisation, meaning that the information provided should be consistent in all member states.On the subject of fees, for example, the British association claims that TER is an appropriate measure, while BlackRock and HSBC Global Asset Management are gunning for more transparency.
21/02/2012

FSA fines Santander GBP1.5m

The British Financial Services Authority (FSA) on 20 February announced that it has fined the Spanish banking group Santander GBP1.5m, for failure to provide information on structured products. Santander failed to inform clients about the coverage details of its structured products during a period of turbulence and financial uncertainty. The bank sold about GBP2.7bn worth of the structured products between the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2010, of which GBP1.2bn were after June 2009; only in January 2010 did the bank disclose the coverage limitations of the products.
21/02/2012

Pimco hires for its LDI team

Pimco has recruited three people for its LDI (liability-driven investment) team in the United Kingdom, Financial News reports. They are Hannah Simons, Janki Tanna and Tina Adatia.
21/02/2012

Former Sloane Robinson manager founds his own firm

Rupert Dyson, former manager of the hedge fund firm Sloane Robinson, has founded Edale Capital, and is preparing to launch a European long/short equity fund in the next few months, Financial News reports.
21/02/2012

Lloyds claws back bonuses from bankers

The British bank Lloyds Banking Group will be taking back a portion of the bonuses paid to 13 of its managers or former managers, including five directors. The BBC reports that the amount to be reclaimed is equivalent to GBP2m. The unprecedented decision is motivated by the enormous bill that Lloyds had to pay last year for selling payment protection insurance products to retail borrowers. It is apparent that many of the private individuals to whom the borrowers’ insurance was sold were not eligible for it, and Lloyds has been forced to write down GBP3.2bn to reimburse them.
21/02/2012

Borsa Italiana plans to tax high-frequency trading

Financial Times Deutschland understands that Borsa Italiana is planning to introduce a new charge applicable to high-frequency dealers who place a large number of orders and cancel them before execution. The stock market company decision is in line with a recommendation by the Italian regulator, Consob, which is seeking to forestall large price fluctuations. Borsa Italiana declined to comment.
21/02/2012

Le FSI bientôt au capital du volailler Doux

Le quotidien croit savoir que le Fonds stratégique d’investissement pourrait faire son entrée au capital du spécialiste finistérien de la volaille, numéro un européen en la matière. Détenu à 80% par la famille Doux et avec un chiffre d’affaires de 1,4 milliard d’euros en 2010, le groupe ne fait pas mystère de discussions avec un certain nombre d’investisseurs afin de renforcer ses fonds propres.

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