Malgré la dégradation de la France et de l'Autriche, qui a diminué le montant de capital AAA appelable, S&P a confirmé la note maximale de la banque

Le plus important fonds de pension américain, celui des employés du secteur public californien, a signé selon le quotidien un accord pour la cession d’un portefeuille immobilier pour un montant de 500 à 600 millions de dollars. Il s’agit d’un ensemble de vingt-huit communautés de logements qui est cédé à une association entre le promoteur californien Newland Real Estate et une filiale du numéro un japonais de la construction de logements Sekisui House. Calpers a acquis ces actifs sur une période de cinq ans à partir de 2002 et pourrait selon le quotidien subir une perte à l’occasion de leur cession comprise entre 30 et 50%.

Le quotidien, qui cite des sources proches, croit savoir que la banque américaine est disposée à acquérir pour environ 1,1 milliard de dollars le plus important centre commercial de Saint-Pétersbourg. Cela par le biais du fonds Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing (MSREI). La transaction, qui devrait être entérinée d’ici quelques semaines, serait la plus importante dans l’immobilier russe pour un actif unique.

La région Rhône-Alpes a procédé à sa première émission obligataire de 120 millions d'euros, trois jours après une émission à 11 ans de la région PACA

Le Fonds européen de stabilité financière (FESF) a émis 1,501 milliard d’euros de nouveaux bons à six mois mardi, au lendemain du déclassement du fonds d’urgence de la zone euro par Standard & Poor’s. Selon les données de la Bundesbank, dont les systèmes ont mené à bien l’opération, le rendement moyen est 0,2664% et le taux de couverture 3,1.

Le conseil des gouverneurs de la Banque centrale européenne (BCE) nourrit toujours des doutes à l'égard de son programme de rachat d’obligations d’Etat et cherche des mesures alternatives, a déclaré Ewald Nowotny, membre du conseil, cité mardi par le site internet allemand du Wall Street Journal.

L’Italie devrait augmenter ses émissions de dette à court terme au début de l’année 2012, avant de renouer avec un rythme plus conforme à ses habitudes d’ici la seconde partie de l’année, a déclaré mardi une responsable du Trésor italien. Sur l’ensemble de l’année, le total des émission devrait représenter environ 450 millions d’euros, moins que ce que Rome a émis chaque année entre 2008 et 2010, a ajouté Maria Cannata.

L’inflation est ressortie à 2,7% sur un an en décembre, selon les chiffres définitifs publiés mardi par Eurostat, alors que la première estimation avait été de 2,8%. Sur un an, l’inflation était ressortie à 3% en novembre, en octobre et en septembre.

Le social-démocrate allemand Martin Schulz, qui a été élu mardi président du Parlement européen, a estimé que l'échec du projet européen était désormais un «scénario réaliste». Il succède pour un mandat de deux ans et demi à l’ancien Premier ministre polonais Jerzy Buzek, membre du Parti populaire européen (PPE), en vertu d’un accord entre les deux principales formations de l’hémicycle qui se relaient traditionnellement au perchoir au milieu de la législature.

L’Espagne a émis mardi pour 4,88 milliards d’euros de bons du Trésor à 12 et 18 mois, passant avec succès son premier test depuis la dégradation de deux crans de la note de sa dette souveraine par S&P. Le Trésor espagnol visait une levée de 4 à 5 milliards d’euros lors de cette adjudication, qui a vu les taux de rendement moyen reculer à , respectivement, 2,049% et 2,399%, contre 4,050% et 4,226% auparavant. De son côté, le Trésor belge a émis mardi pour 2,96 milliards d’euros de bons, le rendement ayant augmenté pour les bons à trois mois mais reculé pour ceux à 12 mois. Par ailleurs, l’institut ZEW a fait état d’une forte amélioration du sentiment des analystes et investisseurs allemands pour le mois de janvier. Il ressort à -21,6 contre -53,8 en décembre. Autre signe de détente dans la zone euro, l'écart de rendement entre obligations italiennes à dix ans et les Bunds de même échéance se resserrait de 18 points de base, à 469 pdb. Le «spread» espagnol se resserrait de son côté de 13 pdb à 333 pdb.

The US investment firm Dimensional Fund Advisors, with about USD200bn in assets under management, has recruited a Fidelity veteran, Carlo Venes, to develop its activities serving institutionals in the Asia ex Japan region, Asian Investor reports.Venes, former head of institutional management at Fidelity for Asia ex Japan, will move to Asia, to a location still to be determined.

Since summer 2011, when the euro zone crisis worsened, Coface has observed a net breakdown in the payment behaviour of businesses, with a net increase in outstanding payments, Coface reports at its 16th Country Risk conference. For 2011 as a whole, Coface has recorded a 19% increase in payment incidents worldwide, with a particularly pronounced increase of 28% for euro zone businesses. This degradation of the average solidity of businesses proves that the crisis has entered a new phase, and is reaching a global systemic dimension, since the crisis in Italy began. “In the absence of rapid response to the crisis on the part of institutions, negative anticipations on the part of the financial markets have caused actors in the real economy to become defiant. Paradoxically, businesses, which are better-managed than ever, have borne the brunt of this crisis. In 2012, the conjunction of very weak growth in Europe and a potential drying up of credit may noticeably affect credit risk for businesses concerned,” says François David, chairman of Coface.In this degraded context, Coface is lowering its valuation of Italy and Spain by one notch, to A4, as these countries have been rendered more fragile by their massive public debts on one hand, and debts in the private sector on the other. These two major southern European economies will also contract in 2012. Since the beginning of 2011, Coface has observed an increase of about 50% in business payment incidents in the two countries.The wave of political trouble in North Africa and the Middle East in 2011 has been a turning point for emerging ecnomies: the return of political risk. Coface in 2011 also recorded several payment incidents due to political risk. The valuation of Egypt, whose public finances and external accounts are under pressure, has been downgraded to C, partly due to major uncertainty about the political scenario in 2012. Syria has been downgraded to D, as the extremely tense situation and international sanctions will have unfavourable repercussions on economic growth and public finances.

In 2011, assets at Amundi ETF increased by 22%, from EUR5.3bn as of the end of December 2010 to EUR6.5bn as of the end of 2011, while the European market held stable overall. In terms of net inflows, according to the Deutsche Bank 2011 ETF Market Review of January 2012, Amundi was the third-largest ETF provider in Europe, with EUR1.7bn in assets.The firm extended its product range in 2011, and now offers 102 funds, following the launch of 8 new products last year. The Amundi ETF product range now includes more than 400 cross-listings and listings in six European countries: France (102), Germany (73), Italy (73), the Netherlands (73), Switzerland (50) and the UK (41).

Pioneer Investments is planning to recruit to increase its sales team by 10% this year, Joe Kringdon, director of retail sales and marketing for the United States, has told Mutual Fund Wire. Currently, the sales team includes 57 people in wholesale and external sales, and 36 for internal sales. For 2012, the asset management firm based in Boston is aiming for an increase of 13% to 15% in sales of mutual funds.

Threadneedle Investments is in the process of opening a new office in Stockholm, following the registration of its SICAV funds with Sweden’s regulator Finansinspektionen last year and a distribution agreement with Avanza Bank in October. The Stockholm office will serve its existing institutional clients in the region and will allow Threadneedle to develop new relationships and expand its client base in Sweden. The opening reflects Threadneedle’s commitment to continue its international development and the encouraging demand for its funds in the Nordics.Jalil El Khalifi, sales manager and a Swedish national ,will focus on Swedish wholesale distribution, funds of funds and platforms and report to Nina Movin, Threadneedle’s Nordics Sales Director, who will continue to be based in Copenhagen. Threadneedle actively manages around EUR72bn of assets on behalf of individuals, pension funds, insurers and corporations (as of 30 Sept 2011).

The Bénédict Hentsch & Cie SA bank on 16 January announced that it has appointed Andreas Stricker as its new CEO, from 1 February 2012. In this position, he replaces Robert Pennone, who served in the position in the interim for five months. Pennone will take up the seat he had held on the board of directors.Enrico Chiabudini, former head of brokerage activities at Pictet & Cie, also joins the board at the bank, and has been in charge of private banking and asset management activities since 1 January 2012, according to a statement. The top priority for the new CEO will be to increase Swiss clients and to develop a range of multi-family office services. The new CEO has 25 years of experience in banking and has been on the board at Bordier & Cie and Union Bancaire Privée. Chiabudini previously worked at Pictet as deputy CEO in charge of brokerage activities serving institutional clients.

The New York-based services group Direct Access Partners (DAP) has announced the launch of the Liquid ETF platform, which offers training at improved cost and more market depth to institutional clients of DAP.The new platform allows for international trading on the basis of net asset value (NAV) of underlying equities of ETFs, and not only on the basis of supply and demand on the US market.

From 1 April, the asset management firm Helaba Inest KAG (EUR72bn in assets) will take charge of the administration of all financial investments of the insurance group Vereinigte Postversicherung (VPV), totalling about EUR8bn.In addition to an administrative centralisation of investments, Helaba Invest will take charge of accounting, declarations to regulatory authorities, collateral monitoring, reporting, stress testing and analysis of scenarios according to BaFin instructions.

Ratings downgrades for France and other countries of the euro zone are causing concern to major investors such as pension funds, which are asking whether it might not be a better idea to pick indices which are not weighted on the basis of issue volumes for European government debt, which privileges the countries with the highest levels of debt, the Wall Street Journal reports. That’s why Italy accounts for 20% of indices, while the Netherlands, which still has a AAA rating, accounts for only 6%.The Netherlands-based Syntrus Achmea (EUR52bn in assets), which manages pension funds, has opted for an index weighted by GDP, and 75% of its portfolio of European government bonds is invested in German, French and Dutch securities.Robeco, for its discretionary mandates, invests over 60% in bunds and Netherlands government bonds.But the danger with this type of strategy is that it may create portfolios that are concentrated on a small number of countries, some of which, such as Norway for example, have very narrow bond markets.

The Mirabaud Group has acquired 100% of the capital of its Spanish subsidiary, Mirabaud Finanzas Sociedad de Valores, SA. This agreement, which has just been approved by the CNMV, completes the process of integrating the two entities, which began in 2010 when the Mirabaud Group took a 25% interest in the capital of the Spanish broker-dealer Venture Finanzas, the name of which was changed to Mirabaud Finanzas in mid-2010.Following the acquisition, the management team of Mirabaud Finanzas is made up of Antonio Palma as chairman, Alejandro Pérez Calzada as first vice chairman and CEO, Javier de Zunzunegui as second vice chairman, Luis Pujol as general manager, Lionel Aeschlimann (the head of asset management of the parent company) as chairman of Mirabaud Gestión (EUR100m in AUIM), Tomas Termens as head of Personal banking, Antonio Hormigos as the head of asset management in Spain, and Ignacio Méndez as head of strategy. Antonio Palma, partner and CEO of Mirabaud stated: “Our growth target for Spain is in line with our targets for the rest of the group, namely 10% a year for assets under management”. He underlines that “Spain is a very attractive market, as there are still very sizeable fortunes to be invested, in spite of the crisis. It also represents a magnificent stepping-stone to Latin America, where there are huge opportunities for our sector.” Mirabaud’s offer (EUR20bn of assets under management) in Spain and in the rest of the group focuses on three business lines : private banking, asset management and brokerage.

The Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLB) is planning to sell its stake in Swisspartners, Agefi Switzerland reports. The bank currently controls 67% of the firm active in wealth management. The sale will be completed in first half. The first talks have begun. The institution is planning to concentrate on its core profession. Last September, it already sold off a minority stake it had held in the life insurer Elips Life.

The Italian asset management firm Prisma, specialised in real estate, has appointed Frederico Musso as its head of sales. He had previously worked at Zero Sgr, a firm which was merged into Prisma. In addition to this appointment, the Italian asset management firm has recruited three people: Paolo Rela, as head of real estate management, Alberto Pandolfi, head of administration and finance, and Cristiano Carraroli, head of strategy, development and communication. Prisma has recently launched a real estate fund in partnership with Invesco.

The bond management team at Fidelity Investments in London now has 20 investment professionals, working both for Fidelity (US mutual funds) and Pyramis Global Advisors (institutional clients). The group has recently created a position for a UK fixed income CIO, and appointed Mark Flaherty, who has 12 years of seniority and who will be based in London, where he will report to Charlie S. Morrison, president of fixed income. Since 2005, Flaherty had been managing director of research for municipals.

The British asset management firm Schroder Property on 16 January announced that it has won two mandates from Invista Foundation Property Trust (IFPT) and Equitable Life Assurance Society (ELAS). The gross cumulative value of the two portfolios is about GBP600m. A team of eight real estate professionals from Invista are joining the team at Schroder Property from 16 January.Duncan Owen, previously CEO of Invista Real Estate Investment Management (IREIM), is joining Schroder Property as head of Property Funds, in charge of products and product development.Assets under management at Schroders in real estate total about GBP9.5bn, or about EUR11bn (as of 30 September).

Pending agreement from the regulator, Baring Asset Management (Barings) is planning to launch the Baring Global Mining Fund, a UCITS-compliant OEIC fund domiciled in Ireland, a sub-fund of Baring Investment Funds, in March.The prodcuct will be managed by Clive Burstow, and will invest primarily in equities and securities from businesses in the mining sector, with an “all-cap” approach. The fund may also invest in commodities and in debt issued by mining companies or their associated firms.The portfolio will include 70 to 100 positions, about two thirds of which will be small and midcaps.The benchmark index, for comparative purposes only, will be the HSBC Global Mining Index.Management commissions of 1.5% will be charged for A-class shares, and 0.75% for I-class shares.

Syz & Co is adding to its range of funds aimed at French investors. The Swiss asset management firm has announced that it has obtained licenses to sell the three new sub-funds of the Oyster Sicav in France. Oyster Global High Yield invests in high yield bonds worldwide. The portfolio is managed by Seix Investment Advisors, a specialist asset management firm based in the United States. Oyster European Selection is aimed more particularly at institutional investors. The fund invests in European equities with strong potential for growth in the next five years. The manager, Eric Bendahan, prefers businesses with ties to flourishing economies in emerging markets, high-quality growth shares and undervalued businesses.Finally, Oyster Absolute Return aims to deliver absolute returns via a diversified portfolio composed of equities, bonds, hedge funds and other publisly-traded securities. The portfolio may also be invested in savings accounts and money market instruments. The Oyster range, available to French investors, now includes 25 sub-funds. ISIN codes OYSTER Global High Yield – EUR share class: LU0688633683OYSTER Global High Yield – EUR I share class: LU0688634061OYSTER Global High Yield – USD share class: LU0688633410OYSTER European Selection – EUR I share class: LU0688633170OYSTER Absolute Return EUR – EUR2 share class: LU0536156861

Investments by Swiss pension funds developed positively in fourth quarter 2011, according to an index calculated by Credit Suisse, Agefi Switzerland reports. The index gained 3.12 points in this period, equivalent to 2.57%, and as of 31 December 2011, stood at 124.63 points. The month of October contributed 1.62%, while December contributed 1.15%. However, November brought a decline of 0.21%. The areas of foreign equities (1.41%), Swiss equities (0.75%), bonds denominated in foreign currencies (0.23%) and in Swiss francs (0.14%), and real estate (0.13%), posted positive returns in the period under review.

Since 16 January, the XTF segment of the Xetra electronic trading platform (Deutsche Börse) lists 908 ETFs. The new fund is the iShares Barclays Capital US Aggregate Bond, a German-registered fund which replicates a Barclays index of US bonds (Treasuries, securitisations, corporate bonds), with a residual maturity of one year.The fund (DE000A1JNCQ2) charges fees of 0.25%.

Deutsche Bank has added a systematic fund managed by the alternative management firm Fortinbras Asset Management to its dbSelect UCITS platform.The DB Platinum IV Fortinbras Prism Index uses an algorithm to monitor trends on bond markets, interest rates, currencies and commodities. The partnership with Deutsche Bank will allow for distribution of the fund not only in Europe, but also in Asia.dbSelect offers over 150 hedge fund programmes, with total assets under management of over USD5bn.

On 30 March, Union Investment (the central asset management firm for the German co-operative banks) will launch the guaranteed fund UniGarantExtra: Deutschland (2019), which will mature on 22 March 2019. Subscriptions are open until 27 March.The product invests in German equities, and guarantees redemption of initial capital at maturity, plus a share of the evolution of the “Aktien Deutschland RC (Risiko Control) -10%” German equities index, with the high watermark for the index during the life of the product captured as a reference. There will be a 2% penalty for early withdrawal. As of the end of October, Union managed EUR16.3bn in 94 guaranteed funds.CharacteristicsName: UniGarantExtra: Deutschland (2019)ISIN code: LU0707763248Front-end fee: 4%Management commission: 0.80% (maximum 1.5%)Depository banking commission: maximum 0.05%