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21/11/2011

Hedge fund strategies rebound in October

Hedge fund strategies recovered in October, according to monthly statistics from the Edhec-Risk Institute. Event-driven and long/short equity strategies posted gains of 2.97% and 4.30%, respectively, their best results of recent years. Returns have not entirely offset losses in September, nor since the beginning of the year, as event-driven shows losses of 2.8%, and long/short equity shows losses of 3.8%. Despite its limited exposure, the market neutral strategy has earned gains of 1.58%, which offset losses in September. Since the beginning of this year, the strategy has gained 0.8%. Good results for emerging markets strategies and distressed securities have also brought returns of 3.91% and 2.98%. Funds of funds earned returns of 1.22% in October, but since the beginning of the year, they show losses of 4.2%.
21/11/2011

Warren Buffett invites analysts

Warren Buffet is going to welcome analysts for the first time at Berkshire Hathaway’s next annual meeting, according to the Wall Street Journal. Three research analysts have been invited on May 5. It might be a sign he views his company as overlooked by investors.
21/11/2011

Hedge funds circle over MF Global

The Wall Street Journal reports that the hedge fund management firm Centerbridge Partners (USD10bn in assets) acquired bank debts from MF Global for USD15m, just after its collapse. David Tepper, who manages about USD14bn at Appaloosa Management, has also invested nearly USD50m in equities, bonds and bank debts from MF Global. The hedge fund management firm Elliott Management is on the creditors’ boardat MF Glboal, and is reported to hold a significant amount of MF Global debts. Other hedge funds also say they have bought MF Global shares, which were trading at USD0.13 per share on Friday, compared with USD8.00 six months ago. These are very high risk bets, and that is why hedge funds are engaging less than 1% of their portfolios. But it could be a very good deal for them, if at least part of the missing USD600m are found.
21/11/2011

Emerging market debt: Pictet keeps an eye on retail flows

Despite USD500m in net outflows in ten days in September, total assets in the emerging market debt strategies from Pictet Asset Management currently total USD18bn, compared with USD17bn as of the end of September. This total includes, in addition to mandates, five UCITS-compliant, Luxembourg-registered funds with a total of EUR11.18bn, in euros and strong local currencies.The Swiss asset management firm is keeping a close eye on subscriptions. After a period of soft closing, which resulted in a temporary limitation to EUR1m per day in net inflows per client, Pictet has slightly relaxed its vigilance, due to outflows in September. Monitoring is concentrated mostly on the Pictet-Emerging Local Currency Debt fund, which already has EUR6.654bn in assets (as of 14 November).Similarly, the funds managers (14 people in Singapore and London) would like to see an increase in the proportion of institutional assets in the products, as these clients are more “sticky” (loyal), up to 50% from 35% currently, says Eugene Choi, product specialist, in Paris.Choi says the objective is to generate outperformance of 1 to 3 percentage points over a period of 5 years. Management relies on top-down and bottom-up approaches, and Pictet has teams managing currencies and rates separately. Choi also tells Newsmanagers that, despite the significant scale of assets in emerging market debt, Pictet does not yet need to invest in illiquid products such as structured notes.
21/11/2011

Wegelin working on a new bond strategy

The Swiss bank Wegelin, a specialist in quant strategies, is preparing a new investment approach in bonds, in close collaboration with the Ecole polytechnique fédérale in Zurich. The concept is to develop a new strategy on sovereign debt, based on an index which measures the quality of the debt. “In government bonds, the traditional index is not very intelligent, insofar as it gives priority to the quantity of debt. The higher the amount of debt, the higher its weighting. We will rather take into account the quality of the debt,” explains Magne Y. Orgland, managing partner at the Swiss bank. In addition to the quality of the debt, Orgland also insists on the importance of variable liquidity. Based on these two essential factors, a range may be created in the first month of 2012. Assets under management at the bank total about CHF25bn, olf which two thirds are in private banking, and one third from institutional clients. Since the beginning of the year, inflows have been near zero, Orgland says. This development is linked to a desire on the part of the bank no longer to sers US clients, due to the FACTA regulations. That process is underway, and means that the firm will need to replace CHF500m in assets. In France, the bank has gained some notoriety for its double product range: on the one hand, its flagship strategy Active Indexing, available in France since November 2010, and on the other the Global Diversification strategy, launched in mid-June 2011, which is based on an equally-weighted risk allocation. Assets under management in the Global Diversification fund total slightly over EUR200m, while assets in the Active Indexing strategy total about EUR1.5bn.
21/11/2011

BVK awards a "discovery" mandate to UBS Real Estate

The Bavarian pension fund for self-employed persons Bayerische Versorgungskammer (BVK, EUR50bn in assets) on 16 November awarded the Munich-based UBS Real Estate Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbh an initial mandate of EUR500m for a real estate fund of funds. The fund will invest in core portfolio funds, as well as in niche products, with the objective of avoiding overlap with other real estate investments by BVK as much as possible.In order to do that, the management firm will explore new segments, such as hotels, parking facilities, properties under construction, and major shopping centres. It may also move into risk classes such as “value add” and “opportunistic.”BVK has stipulated that UBS RE much also invest in funds which themselves invest in BRIC coutnries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), where BVK does not yet have any holdings. Daniel Just, vice-chairman of the managing board and chief investment officer at BVK, says that the mandate comes as an addition to direct real estate investments (which currently total EUR3.2bn), and investments in institutional real estate funds (EUR2.7bn).
21/11/2011

Investors on the defensive

The worsening euro zone debt crisis, and the approaching deadline for debt reduction in the United States are driving investors to remain on the defensive in mid-November.In the week to 16 November, investors favoured ETFs dedicated to US large caps, commodity funds specialised in precious metals, and dividend funds, EPFR Global reports.Equity funds have posted net inflows of USD1.51bn in the week under review, of which USD870m are in dividend funds. Since the beginning of the year, outflows have totalled USD92bn. This total would be much larger if there were not such hunger for dividend funds, which ave attracted over USD24bn since January 2011.Bond funds earned net inflows in the week under review of USD2.37bn.Since the beginning of the year, inflows total USD112bn, compared with USD384.3bn in the corresponding period of 2010.EPFR Global also reports, without providing exact figures, that there has been growing interest in the past few weeks in inflation-linked bond funds.
21/11/2011

Changes at the top in asset management at Bankia

Expansión relays reports in Funds People that Bankia has appointed Isabel Bastit, one of the regional heads at Caja Madrid, to head of its asset management unit, Bankia Fondos, replacing Luis Gabarda, who becomes head of Bankia Bolsa. Bastit will report to Fernando Sobrini, head of the retail bank. Bankia Fondos was born of the merger of Gesmadrid, Bancja Fondos and Ges Laetana, and has assets under management as of the end of October of EUR6.34bn, making it the fourth-largest Spanish asset management firm, after, in order, Santander, AM, BBVA AM, and Invercaixa. The private banking unit of Bankia Banca Privada has an asset management firm of its own, Bankia Banca Privada Gestión, which has assets of EUR1.31bn in 189 Sicav funds.
21/11/2011

Discretionary advising activities set to grow strongly

Discretionary activities by independent financial advisers are likely to grow strongly in the next few years, from 59% of assets in 2011 to 71% by 2013, according to estimates by Cerulli («The Cerulli Edge : Advisor Edition, 4Q 20011»).This likely development is a sign of a desire on the part of advisers to increase their discretionary portfolio management activities.From the point of view of the broker/dealer, use of pre-fabricated investment solutions by financial advisers allows for economies of scale and a reduction in exposure to risk. Advisers agree that outsourcing the construction of portfolios may have an impact on the effectiveness of the portfolio, but despite that, they remain hesitant to engage this appraoch. “Our research shows that advisers prefer the freedom of programmes which are open to pre-fabricated solutions,” says Patrick Newcimb, a senior analyst in the managed accounts practice at Cerulli.From another point of view, results of a partial analysis of the capacity of advisers for allocation do not argue in their favour. Pre-fabricated equity offerings have seen setbacks in 2008-2009, but their post-recession returns are encouraging. Package solutions do not yet appear to be favoured by advisers.
21/11/2011

La Chine poussée à introduire une taxe carbone

Selon Feng Fei, un des responsables d’un groupe de recherche chinois (le Conseil chinois pour une coopération internationale sur l’environnement et le développement), la Chine devrait progressivement introduire une taxe carbone d’ici 2015. Un premier seuil devrait être fixé à 10 yuans par tonne de dioxyde de carbone en 2012.
21/11/2011

L’AMF se dote d’un nouveau médiateur

Marielle Cohen-Branche a été nommée médiateur de l’Autorité des marchés financiers à compter du 16 novembre. Pour mener à bien sa mission, elle s’appuiera sur une équipe de juristes pilotée par François Denis du Péage, responsable du pôle médiation au sein de la direction des relations avec les épargnants. Elle sera directement rattachée au président de l’AMF.
21/11/2011

La fronde s’organise chez Sarasin

Selon le journal suisse Tagesanzeiger, douze hauts responsables de la banque privée suisse Sarasin, dont le directeur général Joachim Straehle, ont adressé un courrier au conseil d’administration afin de battre en brèche la proposition de reprise émanant de Julius Baer. Sarasin a indiqué le mois dernier que Rabobank étudiait toutes les options pour la participation de 46% au sein de son capital, ce qui équivaut à 68% des droits de vote.
21/11/2011

L’ERAFP attribue un mandat dans l’immobilier

L’Etablissement de retraite additionnelle de la fonction publique a attribué son premier mandat de gestion d’actifs immobiliers à AEW Europe SGP. Ce dernier aura notamment pour mission la réalisation du premier investissement immobilier de l’ERAFP pour un montant maximum de 40 millions d’euros.
18/11/2011

Le FESF doit être opérationnel sans tarder, déclare Mario Draghi

Le Fonds européen de stabilité financière (FESF) doit être rendu opérationnel le plus rapidement possible, a déclaré le président de la Banque centrale européenne (BCE) Mario Draghi, manifestant un certain agacement vis-à-vis des lents progrès accomplis jusqu'à présent. Dans un discours prononcé à l’occasion du Congrès bancaire européen, Mario Draghi a souligné que les chefs d’Etat et de gouvernement de l’Union européenne avaient décidé de lancer le FESF voici plus d’un an et demi et avaient décidé de démultiplier ses capacités voici quatre semaines. «Où en est-on de la mise en œuvre de ces décisions ?», s’est-il interrogé. Le président de la BCE a répété que les risques baissiers pour les perspectives économiques de la zone euro s'étaient accrus et estimé que cette activité ainsi affaiblie devrait modérer les pressions sur les prix, les coûts et les salaires.
Mario Draghi, président de la BCE. Photo: Jock Fistick/Bloomberg
18/11/2011

Deutsche Börse et Nyse Euronext font des concessions à Bruxelles

Deutsche Börse et Nyse Euronext ont proposé de vendre leurs activités d’options sur actions en Europe là où elels se recoupent, et de donner accès à leurs concurrents à Eurex Clearing, la chambre de compensation pour dérivés de la Bourse allemande, dans le but d’obtenir le feu vert des autorités à leur fusion. Les deux groupes ont confirmé vendredi avoir présenté ces concessions à la Commission européenne. Ensemble, Deutsche Börse et Nyse Euronext seront le premier exploitant boursier mondial avec des activités se chevauchant dans les options et un quasi-monopole dans les futures en Europe. Les deux opérateurs ont précisé que ces concessions visaient les questions de concurrence subsistant dans le trading de dérivés, ajoutant que l’examen de la fusion sous l’angle de la concurrence devait être achevé d’ici au 23 janvier 2012 et que la transaction serait bouclée peu de temps après.

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