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02/12/2011

Four candidates to acquire asset management arm of Deutsche Bank

Mutual Fund Wire relays reports in Bloomberg that a few final candidates are in the running to acquire the asset management arm of Deutsche Bank (excluding DWS in Europe), which the group is planning to sell. The bidders are said to include Ameriprise, Invesco, New York Life and Principal. Recently, another newspaper had also cited Aberdeen, BlackRock, BNY Mellon, JPMorgan and State Street.
02/12/2011

Aviva Investors France bets on European equities

Aviva Investors France is not giving way to panic; quite the opposite. Despite a difficult economic and political environment, the asset management firm of the Aviva group does not subscribe to a scenario of a double-dip recession, nor does it predict that the euro zone will implode. It has even chosen to invest in risky assets, more particularly equities. Compared with a balanced portfolio composed of 50% equities and 50% bonds and money markets, with a preference for the European market and overweight positions on the banking and industrial sectors, “the equity markets, which have integrated an extremely pessimistic scenario, are inexpensive. There are very good points of entry, particularly on the European market, which is completely undervalued. That’s the market we are preferring currently,” says Pascal Heurtault. In terms of credit, Heurtault steers clear of German government bonds and is neutral on Spanish and Italian bonds. He prefers corporate issues, particularly from the banking sector. “We are lucky to belong to a major insurance company, which has made us safe from major redemptions,” says Heurtault. Aviva Investors France can therefore confront and consider long-term investments. “Our parent company is confident in our management teams, which have been in place for many years. We know that we have to accept some temporary declines, as this is a difficult period, but it will allow us to prepare for future gains,” says the chief investment officer at Aviva Investors France.
02/12/2011

BofA Merrill Lynch appoints a head for France

Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofAML) on 1 December announced the appointment of Bertrand Valet in Paris as managing director in charge of relations with investment funds in France. In the business banking activity at BofAML, Valet will assist in the development of French investment fund clients and international funds which invest in France. Valet will be based in Paris, after a 5-year career in Dubai, 12 years in London, and 18 months in San Francisco. In Dubai, Valet had since 2008 been head of development for sovereign fund and investment fund clients of BofAML in the Middle East/North Africa region.
02/12/2011

New head of external development at Federal Finance

Frédéric Laurent, chairman of the board at Federal Finance, will this Friday announce to clients and partners of Federal Finance that the firm has appointed Gérald Claudel as head of external development and key accounts. Claudel will begin in his new role from 2 January 2012. He will also be in charge of deploying the firm’s international distribution policy. Claudel joined Federal Finance in 2004, as head of institutional diversified management. He was primarily in charge of asset allocation and institutional mandates.
02/12/2011

Recruitment at Cogefi

The Cogefi group has recruited Marie Damourette as head of wealth engineering. Damourette’s primary mission will be to assist private clients of the group in optimising protection, development and transmission of their wealth, via personalised legal and tax advising, a statement says. Damourette had previously been head of a private management service in a notarial study. She has also served as a wealth engineer at Patrimoine Management et Associés and Cortal Consors Select.
02/12/2011

Atrium Select: a new real estate platform from the Crystal Group

The Atrium Select platform, a new affiliate of the Crystal Group, was founded in association with a real estate professoinal, Philippe Khemili. The Crystal Group is hoping to centralise direct real estate supply for all entities of the group with the creation of Atrium Select, with the goal of becoming a significant presence in this market segment. Atrium Select, based in Montpelier, has six employees. It is led by Bruno Narchal, while Philippe Khemili is chief operating officer. In addition to tax minimisation programmes, Atrium Select targets its product range to an overall wealth management approach (constitution and valuation of wealth, creation of complementary revenue streams, organisation of inheritance). The platform also acts within specific service mandates for the full range of clients of the Crystal Group. Atrium Select works with a selection of quality promoters to offer a restricted selection of programmes, reserved for particular networks, in metropolitan France and DOM-TOM, where there is real demand for rentals, and these respond to an international probematic for clients of Crystal Finance. The sale of properties offered is also undertaken by Crystal Finance advisors, along with IFA partners of the Union Financière George V and other partnerships. The objective for the group is to make three hundred sales by the end of 2012.
02/12/2011

Eaton Vance shows outflows for the quarter to the end of October

The US asset management firm Eaton Vance has posted a net outflow for the third quarter of its fiscal year, ending on 31 October, of USD2.7bn. This is the first time in 22 quarters that Eaton Vance has finished a quarter with net redemptions. For the fiscal year to the end of October as a whole, Eaton Vance shows a net inflow of USD3.9bn.
02/12/2011

Former hedge fund manager charged

The Manhattan prosecutor’s office has accused Michael Balboa of ordering two of his colleagues to artificially inflate the value of a Nigerian government warrant, the Wall Street Journal reports. At the time (January-October 2008), Balboa was managing director of the London-based Millennium Global Investments.
02/12/2011

Madoff class action suit thrown out by a New York judge

A class action lawsuit filed against a Geneva-based asset management firm was dismissed by a New York judge on 29 November. The case, filed in early 2009 in New York, was related to losses by the Thema fund of USD1.1bn. The class action suit, launched by a shareholder in the fund, also named HSBC, JP Morgan, UniCredit, Bank of New York Mellon and PricewaterhouseCoopers, all of whom were accused of negligence in relation to the fraud orchestrated by Bernard Madoff. The south New York district judge, Richard Berman, dismissed all charges in the class action filing in question, except those against HSBC, at the express demand of the bank. Fundamentally, the judge found, the case should not be heard in the United States, but in Ireland, as the fund and its depository bank, HSBC, were domiciled there, and the two were cooperating under an Irish contract.
02/12/2011

Ratings agents going to work at rated firms

According to a recent study, more than 100 analysts have left rating agencies in the past five years to join the financial sector companies they had previously rated, the Wall Street Journal reports. The news is a sign of potential conflicts of interest at a time when the SEC is putting the finishing touches on proposals to strengthen controls on rating agencies.
02/12/2011

SEC looking into valuations in private equity

According to sources familiar with the matter, the SEC is planning to investigate the way in which private equity firms value their investments. The objective for the US regulator is to uncover potential fraud, the Financial Times reports.
02/12/2011

More outflows from Spanish funds

November was the eighth consecutive month of net outflows for Spanish securities funds, with EUR850m in outflows, compared with EUR891m in October, EUR681m in September, and EUR699m in August, according to initial estimates from the Inverco association of asset management firms.Total assets fell 3.3% in November compared with October to a total of EUR125.156bn. This time, only about 20% of the decline is due to net redemptinos, whie the remaining 80% are related to negative market effects.Of the twelve largest asset management firms by volumes of assets under management, only Bestinver Gestión and Popular Gestión show net subscriptions, of EUR236m for the former and EUR6.5m for the latter.However, the two leaders in the sector, Santander Asset Management and BBVA Asset Management, have seen net outflows of EUR346.83m and EUR182.5m, respectively. InverCaixa Gestión has seen net redemptions of EUR84.49m, and Bansabadell Inversión has experienced net outflows of EUR73.19m.
02/12/2011

Lyxor Greece ETF changes index

The Lyxor ETF focused on Greece will be changing its benchmark index and its name, according to Bluerating. The new index is the FTSE/ATHEX 20 Net Total Return Index, calculated by FTSE, which replaces the MSCI Greece index, composed of only 10 positions. The product will become known as the Lyxor ETF FTSE ATHEX 20.
02/12/2011

UBS launches a fund of government bonds denominated in “solid” currencies

Germany’s BaFin and Austria’s FMA have issued a sales license for the new Currency Diversifier sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav UBS (Lux) Bond Sicav, which invests in bonds from industrialised countries which present solid public finances, denominated in seven solid global currencies. The product was launched on 4 November, but the share class denominated in euros was opened on 1 December.The fund, managed by David Ric, is currently invested in Australia, Singapore, Switzerland, Canada, Norway, New Zealand and Sweden, with a strong concentration on the 1-3 year segment. The portfolio may also be invesfted in money market instruments and corporate bonds rated at least “A.”Currently, the fund has assets of USD78m.CharacteristicsName: UBS (Lux) Bond Sicav - Currency DiversifierISIN code: P (acc) sharesin euros: LU0706127809in dollars: LU0659916679P (dist) sharesin dollars: LU0659904402Management commission: 0.90 %
02/12/2011

Group of hedge funds warns Irish government

A group of US hedge funds are threatening to sue the Irish government if it goes through with plans to make them pay up to 100% of losses on Bank of Ireland subordinated bonds held by the funds. The bonds held by the hedge funds, including Appaloosa Management, total about USD300m, the Financial Times reports.
02/12/2011

Not all hedge funds convinced that euro will implode

Not all US investors believe that the euro zone will implode, including hedge funds, Les Echos reports. At a conference on hedge funds held by Bloomberg on 1 December in New York, many professionals admitted that a resolution to the European sovereign debt crisis would take time. But, they also added that the chances of a collapse of the euro were unlikely. Some funds such as Davide Serra, founder of Algebris Investments, estimate that European policies will have ot solidify before Christmas. Others, such as George Papamarkakis, CEO of North Asset Management, are convinced that the meetings on the 8th and 9th December (ECB and council of heads of state and the European government) will not be decisive, but rather additional steps in a process what will take a lot of time.
02/12/2011

Goldilocks gold fund available to investors

Goldilocks, the Swiss fund dedicated to gold and currencies, is now available to investors on a permanent basis, Hedge Week reports. The fund, launched in January 2010, is advised by Insch Capital Management; it had originally been closed. In the first eleven months of the year, the fund has earned returns of 9.66%, and 11.01% in the past twelve months.
02/12/2011

BNY Mellon will be the custodian for the last QDII fund from Fortune SG

The China Construction Bank (CCB) has appointed BNY Mellon Asset Servicing as the global custodian for its new qualified domestic institutional investor (QDII) fund, launched in China by Fortune SG Fund Management Co on 29 September. The CCB is the local custodian for the fund. Fortune SG is a joint venture of Hwabao Trust (an affiliate of the Baisteel group) and Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale group). The fund concerned, the Fortune SG S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production Select Industry Index Fund, is the third QDII fund from Fortune SG, and the second to use the services of BNY Mellon as global custodian, after the Fortune SG Overseas Growth Equity Fund (since May 2008). So far this year, BNY Mellon AS has won five more global custody mandates for QDII funds.
02/12/2011

Deutsche Bank and Omega launch a UCITS-compliant hedge fund

Deutsche Bank and Omega Advisors have teamed up to launch a long/short equity hedge fund that complies with the UCITS directive for its db alternatives platform, Citywire reoprts. The product, entitled DB Platinum Omega, will be managed by the billionaire Leon Cooperman.
02/12/2011

ECMI publishes 2011 capital market statistics

The European Capital Markets Institute (ECMI) on 1 December announced the publication of its “2011 Statistical Package,” which covers the full range of European capital markets in the wake of the financial crisis. The body of statistics is divided into six major chapters: equity markets, debt markets, ETF markets, over-the-counter derivative markets, asset management, and comparative international data. The institute says that for the first time in 2011, statistics required by the MiFID directive for pan-European and national trading platforms have been included. The chapter on debt markets has been enlarged, with data on securitisations, while the asset management chapter now includes data on pension funds and insurance companies.
02/12/2011

Alcentra preparing a European bond fund

In early 2012, Alcentra Limited, one of the boutiques from BNY Mellon Asset Management, is planning to launch the Alcentra European Floating Rate Income Fund, which will be registered in Guernsey. The fund will be listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange.The portfolio will be invested primarily in senior secured loans, and in senior variable rate guaranteed bonds issued by European businesses. The objective is to generate quarterly returns of about 5.5% for the first year following the investment of the full inflows (Alcentra is aiming for GBP150m). There are plans for a “significant” proportion of the portfolio to be acquired at low prices, which will allow for capital gains. The fund will not rely on leverage.Alcentra, which is planning to invest at least EUR10m with its affiliates in the new fund, says that shares in pounds Sterling and euros will be available at launch. The portfolio will include 60 positions, covering 15 sectors, with a limit of 5% for an y single issuer.Management commission is set at 0.7%.
02/12/2011

Investec AM launches an emerging markets multi-asset class fund

Investec Asset Management has announced the launch of a dedicated emerging markets multi-asset strategy in response to client demand for a ‘one stop shop’ solution to emerging markets investing. The Investec GSF Emerging Markets Multi-Asset Fund aims to combines allocations to Investec’s specialist EM debt and EM equity components in a single fund. These components are brought together by Investec’s multi-asset team using a flexible asset allocation approach, allowing dynamic allocation through market cycles. Frontier market and commodity allocations are also considered as part of the opportunity set when appropriate, as are defensive assets. The Fund will be run by co-portfolio managers Philip Saunders, Head of Global Multi Asset Investments and John Stopford, co-Head of Fixed Income. Investec Asset Management deploys around half its total AUM (USD83bn) in emerging markets on behalf of its international client base. Its Global Multi-Asset capability runs over USD13bn, around two thirds of which is invested in emerging markets. The Fund is due to launch shortly subject to regulatory approval.
02/12/2011

L’immobilier fait grise mine en Chine

Le quotidien, citant les données du promoteur Deovolente Realty, indique que le volume des transactions à Shanghai exprimé en surfaces cumulées a chuté de 53% d’une année sur l’autre le mois dernier, à 450.000 mètres carrés. Le prix moyen a accusé un repli de 6,6% à 20.988 yuans le mètre carré, l’équivalent de près de 2.500 euros. Le volume des reventes aurait chuté de moitié à Pékin le mois dernier à un plus bas depuis trois ans.
02/12/2011

Dublin sous la menace des hedge funds

Le gouvernement irlandais pourrait bien devoir subir des poursuites en justice de la part d’un groupe de gestionnaires alternatifs américains s’il décidait de mettre en œuvre son projet de leur imposer une perte jugée injuste. Cette perte pourrait représenter jusqu’à 100% de leur mise sur un portefeuille de 300 millions d’euros de dette subordonnée qu’ils détiennent chez Bank of Ireland,dont l’état est actionnaire à hauteur de 15%. Les investisseurs, parmi lesquels figure Appaloosa Management, estiment que le projet répond à des considérations politiques. Dublin ferait preuve de «cynisme» en privilégiant les actionnaires.

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