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10/01/2012

Robeco releases a US midcaps fund in Germany

With the Luxembourg-registered fund Robeco US Select Opportuntiies Equities, launched on 20 September, Robeco is now offering retail and institutional investors in Germany a UCITS-compliant US midcaps value fund managed by Steven Pollack, at its affiliate Robeco Boston Partners. The strategy, launched in the United States in 1995, had a total of USD725m in assets under management as of 30 September.The portfolio is invested according to the “three circles” rule, in the optimal area where the three circles, valuation, fundamental data and “catalysts”, overlap. The manager focuses on companies whose capitalisation is between USD1bn and USD16bn.The fund has two benchmark indices: the Russell Midcap Value Index and the S&P 500.CharacteristicsName: Robeco US Select Opportunities EquitiesISIN codes:LU067440040 (DH EUR, share class, hedged for forex risks)LU0674140396 (D USD share class)Front-end fee: maximum 5%Management commission:Retail: 1.5%Institutional: 0.7%
10/01/2012

Outflows from German open-ended funds continue

In November, open-ended funds in Germany saw further net outflows of EUR5.18bn, compared with nearly EUR970m in October, bringing net redemptions in the first eleven months of 2011 to EUR13.75bn, compared with net subscriptions of EUR22.69bn in the corresponding period of the previous year.The German BVI assocation of asset management firms states that net inflows to institutional funds (Spezialfonds) fell to EUR38.48bn in January-November, compared with EUR61.12bn in the first eleven months of 2010.Net inflows to mandates represented EUR2.43bn (due to net subscriptions of EUR3.95bn in November), compared with net redemptions of EUR2.84bn in January-November of the previous year.As of 30 November, total assets under management in Germany came to EUR1.75445trn, compared with EUR1.77144trn as of the end of October, and EUR1.82561trn one year previously. Of this total, open-ended funds (including real estate funds) as of the end of November represented EUR645.57bn, while Spezialfonds weighed in at EUR827.06bn, and mandates totalled EUR281.92bn.
10/01/2012

Feri raises ratings for Australia and six CEE countries

The 1 January 2012 update to 38 sovereign ratings by the German ratings agency Feri EuroRating Services has brought a continuation of the status quo for 31 countries, and a ratings rise for seven countries. Australia now has a AA rating (up from A previously), putting it on a par with France, the UK, Canada, the US and China, as well as South Korea.The rankings include six AAA-rated countries: Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Austria, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.Six countries from central and eastern Europe have also been upgraded: this is partly due to a change in methodology, which now assigns more weight to the condition of public finances, and less weight on external trade. Slovenia and the Czech Republic both now get A ratings, up from B+, while Estonia, Slovakia and Poland are upgraded to B+ from B in the first two cases, and C in the third. Latvia moves up from D- to D, meaning that default risks remain high, but less so than before.
10/01/2012

Target funds fall short of their objectives again

According to Morningstar, target funds with four years of remaining time to maturity last year lost an average of 0.4%, while the S&P 500 equity index gained 2%, and the Barclays Captial Aggregate Bond Index gained 8%, the Wall Street Journal reports. However, these target funds are now an integral part of 401(k) retirement savings plans, and they represent a total of USD368bn in assets, more than twice as much as in 2008.
10/01/2012

Wegelin does not feel threatened by investigations

The Wegelin bank claims that it is not at risk of litigation in the wake of investigations of Swiss financial actors serving US clients, and charges against three of its employees, Agefi Switzerland reports. Wegelin & Co is not exposed to any danger if one of its employees is tried. The bank has responded to an article in the newspaper SonntagsZeitung, which claimed in its most redent issue that charges against an employee of the bank, Konrad Hummler, also endangered the bank. Wegelin claims that charges are not equivalent to a guilty verdict.
10/01/2012

Philipp Hildebrand resigns; BNS maintains its monetary policy bearings

Philipp Hildebrand, chairman of the managing board at the Swiss National Bank (BNS), resigned on Monday, 9 January, having concluded that he was not in a position to provide irrefutable evidence that had no knowledge that his wife made the order for a currency trade on 15 August 2011.The board of directors at the BNS has issued a statement acknowledging receipt of the resignation, which it regrets. It also states that its monetary policy, focused on am exchange rate limit of EUR1.20 per Swiss franc, will remain unchanged, and “will be continued with all required determination.”The banking council at the BNS has accepted “the decision which Philipp Hildebrand has taken to protect the institution.” The vice chairman of the board of directors, Thomas Jordan, takes over and a definitive replacement will be installed as soon as possible” as chairman, a statement says.
10/01/2012

SGSS mandated by Repsol in Spain

Société Générale Securities Services (SGSS) has been mandated by Repsol, the Spanish global energy company, to provide administration services for the International Executive Stock Plan and to act as the agent bank and settlement provider for the Employee Stock Plan. Both Plans were launched by the company in 2011. SGSS was first selected in May 2011, to provide a global administration solution for the Repsol Executive Stock Plan. In October 2011, SGSS was selected again by Repsol but in this case to provide agency and settlement services for Repsol Employee Stock Plan, a statement explains.
10/01/2012

Axa IM renews research partnership with Edhec

Axa Investment Managers has announced the renewal of its partnership with Edhec-Risk Institute for its research chair on «Regulation and Institutional Investment». The next study to be produced as part of the 3-year extension will examine Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution arrangements, including the adequacy of risk-sharing mechanisms, and the appeal of hybrid solutions given the regulatory, social and economic environment.The scope of the May 2012 study will address competing European retirement models, with the research extending to the Asia Pacific region during the course of the 3-year partnership.
10/01/2012

Households withdraw investments from stock markets

Scepticism of stock markets has reached a peak, according to the 15th edition of a TNS Sofres survey undertaken for La Banque Postale and Les Echos. After a virtually uninterrupted slide in the value of indices since summer, on the back of concern about sovereign debt, retail investors are massively turning away from the markets. Only 9% of French respondents consider it a “good time” to place some of their savings in the stock markets, a level not seen since the survey began in 2004, while 93% consider stocks risky, and 82% have the same opinion of bonds, also an all-time high. But investors’ scepticism also extends to other financial products: life insurance is less and less popular with French investors, who are instead opting for savings accounts.
10/01/2012

Robeco IM adds to equity fund range

The US group Robeco Investment Management has launched two new mutual funds: the Robeco Boston Partners Global Equity Fund and Robeco Boston Partners International Fund. The two products will start up with USD10m in seed money each from the parent company, Robeco Group. The funds will be managed by Chris Hart; the institutional share class will charge fees of 130 basis points.
10/01/2012

First annual losses for a decade for Carmignac Patrimoine

2011 has not proved a vintage year for Carmignac. Its flagship fund, Patrimoine, finished the year with losses (of 0.7%), for the first time since 2001, Expansión reports. The fund, which became one of the largest in Europe during the crisis, although its assets have since shrunken back to EUR25bn, was defensively positioned against the euro crisis throughout 2011, but that didn’t prevent the fund from seeing losses.
10/01/2012

Old Mutual fires head of strategic partnerships

Kevin Bull, head of strategic and distribution partnerships at Old Mutual Asset Managers (OMAM), has left the firm, Money Marketing reports. Bull joined Old Mutual in June 2004. OMAM had no comment on the reports.
10/01/2012

Deutsche Bank launches a seeding platform with FRM

Deutsche Bank has signed a partnership with Financial Risk Management (FRM, USD9bn in assets) to launch the first managed account seeding platform for hedge funds, dbalternatives Discovery. The project is an extension of the managed accounts platform dbalternatives (USD12bn), launched in 2002. The objective is to provide investors with reassurance in questions of fraud, transparency, liquidity and independent valuation.The seeding platform aims to identify promising new managers and to invest in their funds, providing strrategic assistance to support their expansion. To reward the capital to be invested, subscribers will earn dividends on the fund and a share of the manager’s earnings.As part of the project, FRM, via its hedge fund seeding affiliate, FRM Capital Advisors (FCA), will select and negotiate strategic investments in emerging managers, who will be managed via managed accounts on the dbalternatives Discovery platform.Deutsche Bank will also be in charge of raising seed capital to invest in the early stage hedge funds selected by FCA.
10/01/2012

Italian pension funds have EUR10bn in maturing mandates

The year is going to be a busy one in the financial management of Italian pension funds, Plus24, the money supplement of Il Sole – 24 Ore observes. 65 management mandates out of 141 are maturing, with assets under management of nearly EUR10bn, out of a total of EUR25bn in the category.
10/01/2012

Only 15% of Italian funds outperform their benchmarks

Only 15% of Italian funds outperformed their benchmark indices in 2011, according to a study by Plus24, the money supplement of Il Sole – 24 Ore. The 85% of funds which underperformed the index did so by an average of 3.5 percentage points. This is the worst result ever recorded, except for 2007; it was largely due to balanced funds, which performed disappointingly, with only 8% of funds outperforming the benchmark.
10/01/2012

Investors remain cautious as year starts

In a contrast with the beginning of 2011, when investors pulled out of money market funds to invest in developed market equities, emerging market equities and bonds and high yield bond funds, at the beginning of 2012, investors are remaining on the defensive. In the week ending on 4 January, equity funds saw outflows of USD1.64bn, while bond and money market funds attracted USD3.45bn and USD2.07bn, respectively, according to statistics from EPFR Global. US equity funds started the year with net outflows of USD1.6bn. European equity funds posted net subscriptions for the first time in nine weeks. German equity funds, which in 2011 posted record inflows of USD18.7bn, started the year with outflows of USD139m. In bonds, US debt funds did best, while high yield funds for their part took in more than USD1bn.
10/01/2012

Low inflows in UK in November

Net inflows to investment funds in the UK in November totalled GBP267m, their lowest level since October 2008, compared with inflows of GBP1.8bn in November 2010, according to statistics from the British investment management association (IMA). Since the beginning of the year, net inflows total GBP16.7bn, compared with GBP25.6bn in the first eleven months of 2010. Equity funds saw outflows of GBP864m in November, compared with an average inflow of GBP506m in the previous twelve months. However, bond funds have posted subscriptions totalling GBP443m, higher than the monthly average of GBP332m for the twelve previous months. Diversified funds, for their part, attracted GBP262m, their lowest level since April 2009. Assets under management as of the end of November totalled GBP560.3bn, down 3% compared with October.
10/01/2012

Vinculum launches an international equity fund

The asset management firm Vinculum, founded by the former CEO of Liontrust AM, Nigel Legge, is launching an international equity fund which complies with UCITS regulations. The IM Vinculum Global Equity fund is a long-only vehicle which will invest in 50 high-quality firms selected with an original process. The firm is planning to launch other long-only funds in the next few months dedicated to Asia ex Japan equities, Japanese, European and US equities.
10/01/2012

Russell continues to build German team

As previously announced (see Newsmanagers of 6 December 2011), Russell Investments has made a recruitment for its new office in Frankfurt: Andreas Mittler, who had previously been vice president at MSCI, joins the team as head of acquisition of new institutional clients in Germany.
10/01/2012

Promotion at Julius Baer Europe

Heiko Schlag, who for the past year has been director of the private banking unit, has been promoted as of 1 January to the position of chairman of the board at Julius Baer Europe, in Frankfurt.In order to underscore the importance of the German market to the Swiss group, the board at Julius Baer Europe has also been enlarged, with the addition of Alexander Jecht, who will be in charge of investment solutions activities, development and IT.The board at Julius Baer Europe now includes three people: Schlag, Gerhard Grebe, and Jecht.Julius Baer Europe has a full banking license in Germany. It is present in the country with branches in Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Munich and Stuttgart, and with agencies in Kiel and Würzburg.
10/01/2012

New institutional products from Union Investment Real Estate

The Union Investment (co-operative banks) affiliate specialised in real estate, Union Investment Real Estate (UIRE), on 9 January announced that in June 2011 it received commitments from institutional investors for nearly EUR1bn to three new vehicles to be launched by Union Investment Institutional Property GmbH.The firm has attracted about EUR300m for a new institutional fund to specialise in commercial properties, UII Shopping Nr. 1, EUR250m for a fund focused on residential properties, Residential Value, and EUR350m for a dedicated fund launched on 15 December for a professional complementary retirement fund.Total assets at UIRE managed for institutional clients currently come to about EUR3.2bn.
10/01/2012

Real estate: strong activity at REEF in 2011

RREEF Real Estate, an affiliate of Deutsche Bank specialised in real estate funds, has announced that in 2011 it made transactions totalling EUR1.925bn.For two open-ended funds, grundbesitz europa (EUR3.2bn) and grundbesitz global (EUR2.3bn), investments totalled EUR404m in five properties, while sales totalled EUR715m and six properties.For the range of nine institutional real estate funds (EUR3.3bn), RREEF invested EUR644m in 17 properties and one residential portfolio, while sales totalled EUR163m and three properties.In 2012, Georg Allendorf, CEO, says REEF is planning a similar volume of transactions to 2011 and new residential investments in Germany.He has also announced that returns for the grundbesitz europa and grundbesitz global funds in 2011 totalled 3.8% and 3.1%, respectively.
10/01/2012

Bidders vie for asset management unit of Deutsche Bank

From about 50 potential buyers who until the middle of last week entered the fray with indicative bids for the asset management unit of Deutsche Bank, the vendor will now select no more than 10 to proceed to the second round, with a decision to come in mid-January, Handelsblatt reports.The sale will be led by Kevin Parker, head of asset management at the group, who sits on the executive committee at Deutsche Bank, Eric Eaton, head of financial institutions America, and William Nock, head of asset management America. According to Handelsblatt, the buyer will probably agree to keep Parker as head of the acquired activities, in order to prevent a brain drain.

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