With the assistance of the consultant Strategic Investment Solutions and the finance ministry, the central bank of Chile has selected BlackRock and Rogge Global Partners to manage the assets of the corporate bond allocation from the nation’s pension reserve fund, while Mellon Capital Management and BlackRock have been granted the equities mandate, Funds People reports.The Fund managers USD4.49bn in assets, of which 20% will be invested in corporate bonds, and 15% in international equities.The transfer of assets will take place in the period from 1 March 2012 to 28 February 2013.
More than 26,000 people at AXA, representing more than 23% of staff concerned, have signed up for “Shareplan 2011,” the 2011 employee shareholding plan, announced by the insurer on 23 August.Total subscriptions come to over EUR332m, corresponding to the issue of nearly 37 million new shares, subscribed to at a price of EUR8.43 per share for the traditional offering, and EUR9.10 for leveraged shares. The new shares are eligible for dividends from 1 January 2011, a statement says.At the conclusion of this year’s campaign, employees at AXA control about 7.4% of its capital and 8% of voting rights.
In the next five years, Fiona Frick, CEO of Unigesdtion, would like to grow the firm’s business by 10-15% per year, half of which will come from existing clients, and the other half from new clients, Financial Times Fund Management reports. A large part of these inflows will come from Europe, where the Swiss firm has a strong presence. But Unigestion has recently opened an office in Asia, and is looking at the United States. “One day we may take the jump,” says Frick.
The Swiss asset management firm Partners Group has announced several promotions. Andreas Baumann has been appointed as a partner. He is co-head of the Singapore office, which is in charge of all investments in the Asia Pacific region. Dr. Michael Studer, who also becomes a partner, is in charge of the portfolio & risk management team. The following people, members of management teams, have been promoted to managing director: Christian Ebert, Scott Essex, Sergio Jovele, Raphael Meier, Dr. Raymond Schnidrig, Alex Cho, Robert Collins.
JP Morgan Asset Management on 12 December announced that it is adding to its range of products aimed at Swiss investors, with an offer of new investment funds hedged in Swiss francs. “Following the high fluctuations in the currency market and the sharp rise of the Swiss franc (CHF) in the past few months, Swiss investors are increasingly exposed to undesirable currency risks on their foreign investments. Portfolios are exposed to unusually high fluctuations, and currency losses are reducing most profits made on international investments to near zero. Many Swiss investors have said that they would like a solution adapted to local needs, aimed at investors who think in terms of Swiss francs, without wanting to sacrifice the recognized advantages of investment abroad,” JP Morgan AM explains in a statement. JP Morgan Asset Management has recently added to its “CHF hedged” product range on the Swiss market, with the following offerings: -JPMorgan Investment Funds – Income Opportunity Fund A (cap) – hedged in CHF -JPMorgan Funds – Global Strategic Bond Fund A (cap) – hedged in CHF -JPMorgan Funds – Highbridge Diversified Commodities Fund A (cap) – hedged in CHF -JPMorgan Funds – Global Consumer Trends Fund A (cap) – hedged in CHF
The founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, has consolidated his stake in the Geneva-based group Givaudan. According to a publication from the Swiss stock exchange (SIX Exchange Regulation), Gates now controls 10.29% of the world’s largest perfume and scent manufacturer. Gates made his first entry into the capital of the Swiss group in mid-February 2011, with an acquisition of a 3.3% stake indirectly via Cascade Investment LLC, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Harris Associates. He then increased his stake to 5.24% in July this year.
Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) on 12 December announced that it has admitted the first inverse ETF with leverage of 2 based on the Ibex 35 index to trading. The fund is the Lyxor ETF Ibex 35 Doble Inverso Diario, issued by Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale group). The product replicates the inverse of the daily evolution of the Ibex 35 index (2x), with dividends reinvested.The product is registered in France (FR0011042753) and charges fees of 0.40%. It becomes the 67th ETF listed in Madrid.
The insurance firm Friends Life has recruited the bond specialist team from LV=Asset Management, to direct strategies for this asset class, at a new entity dedicated to asset management, Friends Life Investments, which will be launched next year, Investment Week reports. Michael Wright, previously head of bonds at LV=AM, becomes director for fixed income. In this role, he will be in charge of asset allocation and direct management of government bond strategies. John Hampton will continue to handle the corporate bond portfolios as head of credit. He will oversee all institutional corporate portfolios, under the direction of Wright. Purna Bhudia and Nigel Bradshaw, who had previously worked with Hampton, will continue in their roles at Friends Life Investments as corporate bond fund managers.
Standard Life has added 12 of Vanguard’s core index funds to its pensions platform. The new funds will be available to both retail and corporate clients.The funds, which include both bond and equity index funds, will be available on the platform from 16 December 2011, with the exception of the SL Vanguard US Equity Pension Fund which will become available from the end of January 2012.Tom Rampulla, managing director at Vanguard UK comments: «Standard Life will be the first defined contribution (DC) platform in the UK to offer Vanguard funds».
On Monday, Lombard Odier Investment Managers (LOIM, CHF33.7bn in assets as of the end of September) announced that it has recruited Jan Straatman as chief investment officer (CIO). It is a newly-created position.Straatman will be based in London, will begin in his new role on 1 March 2012, and will report to Hubert Keller, managing partner at Lombard Odier and co-head of LOIM with Thierry Lombard.For two years, Straatman had been CEO and CIO of Pearl Group in London; from 2001 to 2006 he was CIO for capital markets at the Dutch pension fund ABP Investments.Mark Weber, currently a member of the managing committee at ING IM United States, will replace Straatman as CIO of ING, and will take on responsibility for Europe and Asia.
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) on Monday announced that it has signed an agreement with the Pearson group to acquire its 50% stake in FTSE International. The transaction, which is valued at GBP450m (EUR527m), will be completed in first quarter 2012, and will make LSE the sole proprietor of the index provider, in which it had already controlled the other half.
The British Financial Services Authority (FSA) on 12 December published its report on the bankruptcy of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). The report claims that the bankruptct may be explained as the result of six factors: the “significant” weakness of owners’ equity at the bank, as a result of management decisions and an inappropriate regulatory framework, excessive dependence on short-term financing, concerns about the quality of underlying assets of RBS, substantial losses in credit trading activities, the acquisition of ABN Amro, undertaken without the necessary precautions, and lastly, a general systemic crisis. The FSA also admits its own lack of rigour and errors of judgement in the case.
Charles Vacquier, CEO, has told IPE that the French firm UMR Corem is planning to create a Belgian-registered pension financing organism (OFP) by the end of first half 2012, which would be a cross-border entity for defined contributions. The product could be operational by 1 July next year.IPE says the plans represent a victory for the Belgian retirement sector, which for years has been seeking to attract foreign actors for cross-border activities, at a time when France has not yet brought itself into compliance with the 2003 professional retirement institutions (IORP) directive, which requires that second-pillar support entities such as UMR Corem comply with Solvency II regulations.The OFP entity, which will have initial capital of EUR3m, and will be managed in Nantes, will sign an agreement with UMR which would allow the firm to transfer second-pillar pension assets to it.UMR Corem will also seek external clients for the OFP fund, initially from firms located in the euro zone.
Morningstar will now apply a new sectoral classification system to the fixed income fund universe, with six “super-sectors” (Government, Municipal, Corporate, Securitized, Cash & Equivalents and Derivatives), up from four categories previously, with 17 primary sectors (up from 13), which in turn are subdivided into 72 secondary sectors. The system used previously had consisted of two “tiers.”The objective with the change is to provide a more detailed picture of the strategy and investments of each fund. The new system will also take into account international bond funds and emerging markets.
ETF assets are projected to have increased by less than 5% by the end of this year, rather than the previously expected 5-10%, due to the debt crises and controversy over synthetic replication products, Deutsche Bank reports. The bank states that increases in assets under management totalled only 3.5% in January-November, Handelsblatt reports.The slower pace of growth is noticeable particularly in Europe, where net subscriptions fell back to EUR17.6bn in the first eleven months of the year, compared with EUR30.6bn in the corresponding period of last year. In Asia, net subscriptions totalled USd18.7bn, compared with USD10.7bn.
Compared with the end of 2010, assets in ETFs in Europe as of 30 November were down by USD11.5bn, to USD273.5bn, but “other ETPs” products (ETCs and ETNs) were up USD3.5bn, to USD34.8bn, according to the most recent edition of the ETF Landscape newsletter from BlackRock. However, the number of ETFs as of the end of November came to 1,226, compared with 1,072 eleven months earlier, while “other ETPs” products increased to 566 from 521. At end-November, ETPs as a whole had assets of USD308.3bn, after net redemptions of USD1.29bn in November. Since the beginning of the year, these products have posted net subscriptions of UDS26.67bn, compared with USD50.27bn in all of 2010.
With the new Multi Asset Real Return sub-fund from Pioneer Funds, Pioneer on 17 November created a European mirror of a US product, with USD227.2m in assets, managed by the same team, including Michele Garau assisted by Kenneth Taubes, head of investment management US, and Howard Weis as associate portfolio manager, Citywire reports. Conviction-based bets are hedged with small exposures to asset classes with low correlation.
Lors d’un débat organisé par Ossiam, Philippe Goubeault (Directeur financier du GIE Agirc-Arrco) a été interrogé sur l’usage des ETF en tant qu’investisseur institutionnel. Ce sont des véhicules que la réglementation de l’Agirc-Arrco permet d’utiliser tant que les actifs sous jacents sont éligibles. Les ETF représentent, pour l’institution, un intérêt dans les fonds tactiques mais le poids de ces véhicules est tout de même faible dans son portefeuille. L’institution en possède 10% (2/3 sont des OPCVM de droits étrangers et 1/3 de droit Français).
The Australian market authority (ASIC) will publish recommendations for hedge fund regulations in early 2012, Investor Daily reports. Following the publication of a consultation document in February this year, Australian hedge funds in the international investment management association (AIMA) entered into dialogue with ASIC, and agreed that there is a need to introduce some rules to better assist investors who would like to invest in alternative strategies. Issues of low liquidity and complex strategy need to be treated with much more precision in the informational documents, to ensure that investors fully understand what they are in for, and what problems they run a danger of encountering if there is trouble on the markets. Hedge funds based in Australia have about AUD50bn in assets under management.
Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) a annoncé le 12 décembre avoir admis à la négociation le premier ETF inversé avec un levier de 2 sur l’indice Ibex 35. Il s’agit du Lyxor ETF Ibex 35 Doble Inverso Diario dont l'émetteur est Lyxor Asset Management (groupe Société Générale). Le produit réplique l'évolution journalière inversée (2x) de l’indice Ibex 35 con dividendos netos.Il s’agit d’un produit de droit français (FR0011042753) chargé à 0,40 %. C’est le 67ème ETF coté à Madrid.
Actuellement, l’encours de l’espagnol Bestinver (groupe Acciona) se situe à 6,1 milliards d’euros répartis sur sept fonds d’investissement, quatre fonds de pension et huit sicav ainsi que sur des mandats de gestion comme celui obtenu en début d’année auprès du fonds souverain norvégien (Government Pension Fund-Global), rapporte Funds People. Le montant géré pour le compte d’investisseurs étrangers représente 30 % des actifs totaux.En ce qui concerne les fonds d’investissement, l’encours de Bestinver reste pratiquement inchangé par rapport aux 2,96 milliards de fin 2010 alors que les fonds espagnols dans leur ensemble ont subi une chute de 9,3 % de leurs actifs gérés.
Les hedge funds devraient terminer l’année 2011 sur une note positive. L’indice Globe Op Capital Movement Index des hedge funds ressort pour décembre 2011 à 141,01 points, soit 1,55 point de plus qu’en novembre. La progression résulte d’une hausse de 3,41 % de l’encours sous administration chez les clients de GlobeOP pour les souscriptions et d’une augmentation de 1,86 % pour les remboursements.Sur les douze derniers mois, l’indice marque une hausse de 14,40 points.
Invesco PowerShares a récemment lancé deux nouveaux ETN, rapporte Mutual Fund Wire. Baptisés PowerShares DB U.S. Inflation ETN et DB U.S. Deflation ETN, ils suivent l'écart entre les TIPS (obligations du Trésor indexées sur l’inflation) et les bons du trésor sur les mêmes échéances.
Le gestionnaire suisse Partners Group a annoncé plusieurs promotions. Andreas Baumann a été nommé partner. L’intéressé est co-responsable du bureau de Singapour, qui coordonne tous les investissements dans la région Asie Pacifique.Dr. Michael Studer, qui accède également au grade de partner, est en charge de l'équipe portfolio & risk management.Par ailleurs, les personnes suivantes, membres des équipes de gestion, ont été promues managing director : Christian Ebert, Scott Essex, Sergio Jovele, Raphael Meier, Dr. Raymond Schnidrig, Alex Cho, Robert Collins.
Le fondateur de la société AWD, Carsten Maschmeyer, qui a démissionné la semaine dernière de sa fonction de membre du conseil d’administration de Swiss Life, s’est vraisemblablement défait comme annoncé d’un grand nombre d’actions Swiss Life, rapporte L’Agefi suisse. Selon l’opérateur de la Bourse suisse, SIX Swiss Exchange, un «membre non exécutif du conseil d’administration» de Swiss Life a vendu le 7 décembre dernier 700.000 actions Swiss Life, d’une valeur de 64,75 millions de francs, ce qui correspond à 92,50 francs par action. Carsten Maschmeyer a annoncé récemment vouloir diminuer sa part dans Swiss Life, qui s'élevait à un peu plus de 5%, à moins de 3%.
Le fondateur de Microsoft Bill Gates a consolidé sa participation dans le groupe genevois Givaudan. Selon une publication de la Bourse suisse (SIX Exchange Regulation), Bill Gates détient désormais 10,29% du numéro un mondial des arômes et des parfums.Bill Gates a fait son entrée dans l’actionnariat du groupe suisse à la mi-février 2011 en acquérant 3,3% indirectement via Cascade Investment LLC, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation et Harris Associates. Il avait ensuite renforcé une première fois sa participation à 5,24% en juillet dernier.
Avec le nouveau compartiment Multi Asset Real Return de Pioneer Funds, Pioneer a créé le 17 novembre un produit miroir européen de son fonds américain de 227,2 millions de dollars géré par la même équipe, à savoir Michele Garau assisté de Kenneth Taubes, head of investment management US, et Howard Weis comme associate portfolio manager, indique Citywire.Les paris de forte conviction seront couverts par de petites expositions à des classes d’actifs à faible corrélation.
JP Morgan Asset Management a annoncé le 12 décembre qu’il complétait son offre destinée aux investisseurs suisses en proposant de nouveaux fonds de placement couverts en francs suisses. «Suite aux fortes fluctuations du marché des changes et à la brutale ascension du franc suisse (CHF) au cours des derniers mois, les investisseurs suisses sont de plus en plus exposés à un risque de change indésirable sur leurs placements à l'étranger».Les portefeuilles sont exposés à des fluctuations inhabituellement élevées et les pertes de change réduisent à néant la plupart des profits réalisés sur les placements internationaux. «De nombreux investisseurs suisses ont exprimé qu’ils souhaitaient une solution adaptée aux besoins locaux, destinée aux investisseurs qui pensent en termes de franc suisse sans pour autant vouloir renoncer aux avantages reconnus de l’investissement à l'étranger», explique JP Morgan AM dans un communiqué. JP Morgan Asset Management a récemment complété son offre «couverte en CHF» pour le marché suisse des catégories suivantes : -JPMorgan Investment Funds – Income Opportunity Fund A (cap) - couvert en CHF -JPMorgan Funds – Global Strategic Bond Fund A (cap) - couvert en CHF-JPMorgan Funds – Highbridge Diversified Commodities Fund A (cap) - couvert en CHF-JPMorgan Funds – Global Consumer Trends Fund A (cap) - couvert en CHF
Sur les cinq prochaines années, Fiona Frick, directeur général d’Unigestion, souhaite faire croître l’activité de la société de gestion de 10-15 % par an, dont la moitié provenant de clients existants et l’autre de nouveaux clients, rapporte le Financial Times Fund Management. Une grosse partie des flux devrait venir d’Europe où la société suisse est bien implantée. Mais Unigestion a ouvert récemment un bureau en Asie. Et elle regarde les Etats-Unis. «Un jour, nous franchirons peut-être le pas», affirme Fiona Frick.
Faisant usage de la clause de son contrat lui permettant de décider lui-même de la date de son départ à la retraite, Hans-Jürgen Gutenberger a annoncé qu’il se retirera le 30 juin 2012 de ses fonctions de membre du directoire de Deka chargé de la distribution au travers des caisses d'épargne, du marketing et de la trésorerie. Il fêtera en effet ses 60 ans l’année prochaine. Il est membre du directoire de Deka depuis le 1er janvier 2000.Son successeur n’a pas encore été désigné.