En termes de développement, Carmignac Gestion, qui affiche 45 milliards d’euros d’encours, a poussé les feux hors de l’Hexagone lors du dernier trimestre 2011. Après avoir ouvert un bureau à Francfort, la société de gestion en a fait autant à Londres début novembre. Elle y a également recruté son responsable qui a d’ores et déjà embauché deux autres personnes en attendant l’arrivée probable d’un troisième professionnel au cours de cette année. Dans tous les cas, la société de gestion tient son rang d'établissement largement tourné vers l’international comme l’attestait, lundi 23 janvier, la présence de la presse étrangère à Paris venue écouter Edouard Carmignac sur le développement européen de sa maison, et sur sa vision des grands enjeux économiques en 2012."Outre la France, l’Allemagne et l’Italie constituent des marchés importants pour nous», explique Didier Saint-Georges, membre du comité d’investissement. Et logiquement, le Royaume-Uni devrait également faire partie des marchés–clés de la société de gestion dont les encours proviennent désormais majoritairement de l'étranger. De fait, pour ne pas rater son arrivée sur le marché britannique, Carmignac Gestion a pris soin de proposer sur l’ensemble des fonds de sa gamme une part libellée en livres sterling. «La perception des prospects que rencontre actuellement l'équipe de Londres est très positive», se félicite Didier Saint-Georges, qui explique ce phénomène par le style de gestion indépendant de Carmignac Gestion, très apprécié outre-Manche.En attendant, Carmignac Gestion n’a pu éviter le mouvement de décollecte généralisée qui a touché la gestion d’actifs, notamment en Europe l’an dernier. «En 2011", admet Didier Saint-Georges, «nous avons enregistré une décollecte de 6 milliards d’euros». Aucun fonds n’a été épargné, même si les sorties nettes les plus importantes ont concerné le fonds vedette de la gamme : Carmignac Patrimoine. Ce dernier a perdu 2,5 milliards d’euros. «C’est 10 % de son encours», reconnaît Didier Saint-Georges, qui tient cependant à relativiser : «ces 10 % représentent moins de 15 % de ce qui a été collecté en 2009 et 2010 sur le fonds». Dans le détail, cependant, les rachats ont concerné les pays où la collecte était récente. Notamment l’Italie. «Mais les sorties ont été nombreuses lors du premier trimestre, ce qui a largement pénalisé les épargnants en question», explique le responsable. La seconde partie de l’année a en effet été très favorable à l’OPCVM, lequel a limité sa perte à 0,8 % sur l’année - et il progresse de 2,5 % sur 12 mois.Du côté de la gamme, la société de gestion n’a pas prévu le lancement de nouveaux fonds en 2012. Carmignac Emerging Patrimoine, le dernier né, pèse déjà 230 millions après neuf mois d’existence. A ce titre, le nouveau produit n’a pas profité d’arbitrages d’un autre fonds «Patrimoine» de la maison (Carmignac Patrimoine et Carmignac Euro Patrimoine). «La collecte correspond à de la «new money», hormis quelques transferts de porteurs du fonds Carmignac Emergents vers le nouveau fonds moins volatil par nature», remarque Didier Saint-Georges. Cela dit, concernant l’offre de fonds, la maison veillera à ce qu’elle soit «la plus lisible possible», n’excluant pas, de fait, quelques fusions-absorptions dans le courant de l’année. Dans un autre genre, les axes de développement en matière de clientèle ont peu changé. Les investisseurs institutionnels ne représentent que 10 % des encours de la société, ce qui laisse une grande marge de progression en 2012. Mais la maison ne veut pas modifier l’offre de sa gestion. «Nous ne proposons pas de mandats dédiés», insiste Didier Saint-Georges, «mais nous sommes ravis si les investisseurs institutionnels souscrivent nos fonds.» Et de mettre en avant la stabilité de la clientèle «retail» qui y a investi, à même de rassurer les grands comptes. «Carmignac Gestion représente en tout un million de porteurs en Europe», ajoute le responsable.Enfin, concernant les équipes de gestion, une chose est sûre : la maison n’entend pas éclater les équipes dans les différentes parties du globe qu’elle couvre. «Nous n’envisageons pas d’avoir des gérants à Honk-Kong ou au Brésil», précise Didier Saint Georges, «car il est très important pour nous que les gérants se voient et se parlent même si la contrepartie d’une gestion regroupée à Paris se paie par de fréquents voyages"…

La compagnie d’assurance de l’ordre catholique des Chevaliers de Colomb, la Knights of Columbus Inc., a pris une participation de 19,9 % dans Boston Advisors, a indiqué ce dernier dans un communiqué. La société de gestion sera dorénavant chargée de la gestion des fonds All Cap Equity et GTAA de la Knights of Columbus, ainsi que du pilotage de son fonds ISR.

En 2011, A Plus Finance a enregistré une collecte de 80 millions d’euros, soit une hausse de 40 % sur un an. La société de gestion indépendante spécialisée dans le capital investissement a levé près de 35 millions au titre de l’ISF et collecté plus de 45 millions au titre du dispositif de réduction sur l’IR. A Plus Finance totalise à fin 2011 des encours sous gestion de 400 millions d’euros, dont 90 millions gérés dans le cadre de stratégies obligataires, précise un communiqué.

Aberdeen Asset Management indique le 23 janvier que son directeur général de Paris, Philippe Troesch, quitte l’entreprise. Il rejoint le groupe Meeschaert qui a, pour sa part, confirmé il y a quelques jours départ de Marc Favard, président du directoire de Meeschaert AM. Aberdeen Asset Management a annoncé que Sandra Craignou et Frédéric Lejeune deviennent co-responsables de ses activités françaises. Ces deux dirigeants conserveront chacun leurs activités respectives de responsable des investissements et de responsable du développement.Le gestionnaire écossais gère et commercialise 5 milliards d’euros pour le compte de clients français.

Avenue Capital, qui investit dans la dette d’entreprises ou d’Etats en difficultés, a levé 2 milliards de dollars pour son deuxième fonds européen, rapporte le Financial Times. Le gestionnaire a l’intention de créer une plate-forme qui rachèterait la dette du secteur privée due par les gouvernements européens. Par exemple, les systèmes de santé en Espagne, Grèce, Italie et Portugal doivent 25 milliards d’euros à de grandes entreprises pharmaceutiques. Avenue créerait une entité indépendante qui reprendrait le risque aux sociétés pharmaceutiques et traiterait avec les gouvernements pour leurs comptes.

Axa Wealth est en train de restructurer ses activités outre-Manche, avec notamment une segmentation de ses clients IFA (conseillers) qui pourrait se solder par une réduction d’effectifs d’une cinquantaine de collaborateurs, rapporte Fund Web. Le nombre de responsables régionaux pourrait être ramené de neuf à quatre.Selon David Thompson, responsable du marketing et de la distribution chez Axa Wealth, la nouvelle organisation doit notamment permettre de proposer diverses expertises en fonction du segment dans lequel travaille le conseiller. Une nouvelle équipe notamment sera responsable des grands comptes.

M&G Investments vient de recruter Phil Cliff. Cet ancien gérant actions européennes de Threadneedle et Occam Asset Management va gérer le fonds M&G Pan European Dividend Fund, en étroite collaboration avec Stuart Rhodes. Cette nomination permettra à Richard Halle, qui pilotait jusqu'à présent les fonds M&G European Strategic Value Fund et M&G Pan European Dividend Fund, de se concentrer sur ses portefeuilles de valeurs européennes value, précise la société de gestion dans un communiqué.

JO Hambro Capital Management a annoncé la réouverture aux investisseurs du fonds UK Equity Income après le «soft closing» mis en œuvre il y a près d’un an, selon FundWeb.La société de gestion a revu à la baisse les frais d’entrée de 5% pour les nouveaux investisseurs et révisé la capacité du fonds à 1 milliard de livres. Les actifs du fonds s'élèvent actuellement à 918,8 millions de livres.

Bridgepoint Capital va racheter la société de gestion de fortune au Royaume-Uni de Morgan Stanley, Quilter, selon les informations du Financial Times. L’entité, qui représente 7,6 milliards de livres d’encours sous gestion, est valorisée à environ 180 millions de livres. L’opération souligne l’intérêt du private equity pour les services financiers ; elle pourrait être annoncée dès mardi.

Le groupe de gestion britannique MAM Funds a indiqué le 23 janvier que ses actifs sous gestion s’inscrivaient à 1,7 milliard de livres à fin décembre, un montant pratiquement inchangé par rapport à fin 2010. Les rachats nets subis par les fonds Midas ont été largement compensés par la collecte sur la gamme des fonds Miton, précise MAM Funds qui ajoute que le fonds récemment lancé Acium UK Multi Cap Income Fund affichait fin décembre une collecte de plus 10 millions de livres.

Le Temps reports that the Swiss private bank Wegelin has let go one of its partners, Christian Hafner. The suspension is related to a clash with the United States over taxation, in which three Wegelin employees have been charged. In early January, three bankers from Wegelin were indicted in New York for helping US taxpayers to evade taxes.

The European Securities Markets Authority (ESMA) will present its detailed proposals for new ETF regulations on 30 January, the news agency Reuters reports. After a two- to three month consultation period, ESMA will publish the final version of the rules, which may then optionally be adopted by the various regulatory authorities of member states. The agency states that the new rules will not be legally binding.

Banks may be forbidden from providing both synthetic ETFs and counterparties of these ETFs, if the recommendations of the Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group are adopted, Deborah Fuhr, independent strategist, tells Financial Times Fund Management. “Many banks and brokers are likely to find being a provider of ETFs without also being able to be a swap counterparty to their ETFs will reduce the profitability of their businesses ...” She claims that would compel banks to sell or pull out of their ETF operations.

Between January 2002 and October 2011, assets in alternative UCITS funds increased from EUR5.40bn to nearly EUR150bn, PerTrac reports in a 30-page study published on 23 January.The analysis shows that more than 80% of the 1,210 funds in the universe are domiciled in three countries: Luxembourg (49.92%), Ireland (18.84%), and France (11.90%).In terms of type, the most popular strategy is long/short equity, with more than one quarter of the total, followed by global macro, CTA/managed futures and multi-strategy, with 11% each. Bonds represent 11% of the total.

In terms of development, Carmignac Gestion, which has EUR45bn in assets, looked beyond the borders of France in fourth quarter 2011. After opening an office in Frankfurt, the asset management firm did the same in London in early November. It has also recruited a head, who has already hired two more people, pending the arrival of a third professional this year. The asset management firm has retained its place as an asset management largely oriented to international markets, as on 23 January it invited the international press to Paris to hear Edouard Carmignac discourse on the European growth of his asset management firm, and his vision for the major economic challenges ahead in 2012.“Aside from France, Germany and Italy are the largest markets for us,” explains Didier Saint-Georges, a member of the investment committee. Logically, the United Kingdom is also expected to be a key market for the asset management firm, a majority of whose assets now come from abroad. In order not to flop in its debut on the British market, Carmignac Gestion has been careful to offer all of the funds of its range denominated in pounds Sterling. “The perception of prospective investors who meet our team in London is now very positive,” says Saint-Georges, who adds that the independent management style of Carmignac Gestion is highly regarded in the UK.In terms of management teams, one thing is sure: the firm is not planning to spread out its teams to the far corners of the globe it covers. “We are not planning to have managers in Hong Kong or Brazil,” says Saint-Georges, “since it’s very important for us that managers see each other and talk to each other, even if the downside to having management centred in Paris is travelling often.”

Aberdeen Asset Management on 23 January announced that it has appointed Sandra Craignou and Frédéric Lejeune as co-heads of its French activities, replacing Philippe Troesch, who, according to information obtained by Newsmanagers, will be joining Meeschaert Gestion Privée, while Meeschaert Asset Management has just announced that its CEO Marc Favard was leaving the group. Craignou and Lejeune will retain their respective responsibilities as chief investment officer and head of development. Aberdeen manages EUR5bn for French clients.

According to a study by Yale and Maastricht Universities for the Financial Times, private equity makes more money for fund managers than for US pension funds. From 2001 to 2010, US pension funds earned returns of 4.5% per year on their investments in private equity, but in that period they paid 4% in management commissions. In addition, private equity funds charge many other fees, and charge a 20% commission on performance.According to Martijn Cremers (Yale), taking “normal” performance commissions of 20% as a basis, about 70% of gross performance has been paid in the form of fees in the past ten years.

Managed ETF portfolios, more than 50% of whose assets are invested in ETFs, are one of the most dynamic segments in the managed accounts universe, according to a report published on 23 January by Morningstar (“ETF Managed Portfolio Lanscape Report,” January 2012).Morningstar, which in September announced plans to scale up its coverage of these portfolios, says that it is now monitoring nearly 370 strategies from 95 firms representing advised assets of USD27bn as of September 2011. Morningstar estimates that assets under management in managed ETF portfolios total USD40bn to USD100bn, taking into account discretionary and non-discretionary portfolios.In the past twelve months, assets in ETF managed portfolios have increased by about 43%. About 30% of these strategies have been launched in the past three years. Nearly three quarters of strategies applied in managed portfolios are global strategies, which allow the investor exposure to international markets.

The Californian pension fund CalPERS on 23 January announced that it has earned returns of 1.1% for the 2011 calendar year. This return is “modest but positive,” CalPERS admits; it blames the poor performance on the volatility of equity markets, largely related to the euro zone debt crisis. The equity portfolio finished the year with losses of 7.9%, with -0.3% for US equities, but -13.9% for international equities. All other asset classes show gains, including bonds, with returns of 12.4%, and private equity, with similar returns of 12.4%. Investments in real estate have earned returns of nearly 10%. CalPERS has also announced that it has unanimously re-elected Rob Feckner as chairman of the board of trustees for the pension fund.

Olle Olsson, director of the Paris office, announced on 23 January that the Swedish asset management firm East Capital (EUR3.4bn) has signed a cooperation agreement with the German firm DAB Bank. The direct bank will offer the UCITS-compliant funds East Capital (Lux) Russian Fund and East Capital (Lux) Eastern European Fund, both products which offer daily liquidity, effective immediately.

On 1 March, Sal. Oppenheim, Hauck & Aufhäuser (Switzerland) and the Munich-based Meyer & Cie will be launching the diversified fund Nachhaltig Aktiv OP, for which subscriptions will remain open from 23 January to 29 February. For the ethical/sustainable development fund, the three partners will share responsibilities for exclusion (weapons, violations of human rights, experimentation on animals) and positive crieria, which, according to the providers, will provide a more satisfactory end result than a best-in-class approach.The investable universe of 500 businesses and countries is selected by the ethical committee at Hauck & Aufhäuser (H&A), while the portfolio will undergo analysis every six months by specialists at the Munich-based ethical ratings agency oekom research.Asset allocation and weighting are then regularly updated by Meyer & Cie. The equities allocation is limited to 30%, and bonds may represent up to 100% of the portfolio.The final selection of securities is shared between Sal. Oppenheim for the bond portion (bond management and duration management), and H&A for the equities portion.In bonds, most of the portfolio will be composed of corporate bonds, Pfandbriefe and government bonds denominated in euros, with at least one investment-grade rating. For equities, most investments will be made in shares in European companies.The objective is to generate returns of 3% to 5% per year over a three-year period.CharacteristicsName: Nachhaltig Aktiv OPISIN codes:I-class shares: LU0650607525R-class shares: LU0650605669Front-end fee:I-class shares: maximum 3%R-class shares: maximum 3%Depository banking commission: 0.10%Management commission:I-class shares: 0.85%R-class shares: 1.40%Performance commission: 10% of performance exceeding the benchmark (80% BofA ML EMU Broad Market 1-10Y and 20% MSCI Europe EUR)

Sarasin bank has filed a complaint with the Swiss Press Council against the weekly newsmagazine “Weltwoche,” which broke the Hildebrand scandal earlier this year. The complaint concerns an erroneous article related to a violation of banking secrecy by a former employee of the bank’s IT department.Sarasin bank claims in a statement released on 23 January that the magazine has “severely violated its journalistic duties on several levels.” It has also damaged the reputation of the Basel-based private bank, and those of the client advisor who Weltwoche inaccurately cited as a source.Sarasin bank adds that Weltwoche did not adequately evaluate its sole source for the information. In addition, ahead of its 5 January issue, the magazine ignored information and contact from the Basel-based bank which would have allowed the German-language magazine to correct the erroneous article in time.

The hedge fund management firm Diamondback Capital Management will pay USD9m in fines to settle a civil case for insider trading. It has also reached an agreement with the Department of Justice to prevent any future lawsuits related to potential criminal investigations, the Wall Street Journal reports.Since being searched in November 2010, the asset management firm has seen its assets decline by half, to USD2.5bn.

Bridgepoint Capital will acquire the British asset management firm of the Morgan Stanley group, Quilter, according to reports in the Financial Times. The entity, which has GBP7.6bn in assets under management, is valued at about GBP180m. The deal highlights the attractiveness of financial services to private equity; it may be announced as soon as this Tuesday.

Avenue Capital, which invests in distressed corporate and government debt, has raised USD2bn for its second European fund, the Financial Times reports. The asset management firm is planning to create a platform which would buy up private sector debt connected to European governments. For example, the Spanish, Greek, Italian and Portuguese health sectors owe EUR25bn to major pharmaceutical companies. Avenue would create an independent entity which would buy up risk from pharmaceutical companies, and would then deal with governments to collect on the debts.

Axa Wealth is in the process of restructuring its activities in the United Kingdom, including a segmentation of IFA clients that may result in staff reductions of up to 50 people, Fund Web reports. The number of regional heads may be reduced from nine to four. David Thompson, head of marketing and distribution at Axa Wealth, says the new organization should allow the firm to offer a variety of areas of expertise depending on the segment in which the advisor works. A new team will be responsible for key clients.

Phil Cliff, a former European equity manager at Threadneedle Investments and Occam Asset Management, has joined M&G Investments.In his new role at M&G, he will manage the M&G Pan European Dividend Fund working closely with Stuart Rhodes.Phil Cliff`s appointment will free up the incumbent manager Richard Halle, who has been managing both the M&G European Strategic Value Fund as well as the M&G Pan European Dividend Fund, to concentrate on his European value portfolios.

Despite the highly perilous fiscal year that hedge funds have just been through, with average annual returns of -5%, institutional investors appear not to have held it against them. Nearly 38% of those investors are planning to increase their allocations to single hedge funds in the next twelve months, though this compares with 54% last year, according to the fifth annual study by SEI in collaboration with Greenwich Associates.15% of investors are planning to reduce their allocations, compared with 11% the previous year. But in October 2011, allocations to hedge funds by institutionals participating in the study (slightly over 100) represented 16.7% of their portfolios, compared with 12% in 2008. In addition, 60% of them say they are satisfied with the returns earned in the first six months of 2011 (an average of 6.2%, compared with 9.2% in 2010).The top challenge for the current year is returns, for 36% of participants. Transparency, the major challenge in the years 2009 and 2010, is now far outpaced by other concerns. Nearly one third of respondents, compared with 21% the previous year, say the number one objective with alternative investment is absolute returns, while in 2011, the priority was uncorrelated investment strategies.Three of the four objectives cited by institutional investors are related to investment risk: uncorrelated strategies, diversification, and reduction of volatility. This means that institutional investors appear to want to use hedge funds not only to find returns, but also to reduce portfolio risks.The study finds that direct investment in hedge funds is continuing to gain ground. 40% of institutionals say that they invest only in single-manager funds, compared with 24% one month earlier, and twice as many as in 2008. Direct investment is clearly more widespread among major investors, as 56% of clients with over USD56bn in assets say that they invest only in single-manager funds.Long/short equity strategies are currently the preferred strategies for nearly 82% of institutionals, largely outstripping event-driven (53%) and credit strategies (42%).

JO Hambro Capital Management has announced that it has reopened the UK Equity Income fund to investors, after a soft closing nearly one year ago, FundWeb reports.The asset management firm has lowered front-end fees by 5% for new investors, and has raised the capacity fo the fund to GBP1bn. Assets in the fund currently total GBP918.8m.

The British asset management group MAM Funds on 23 January announced that its assets under management totalled GBP1.7bn as of the end of December, a total which remains virtually unchanged compared with the end of 2010. Net redemptions from the Midas fund have been largely offset by inflows to the Miton range, MAM Funds reports, adding that the recently-launched Acium UK Multi Cap Income Fund as of the end of December had assets of over GBP10m.