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29/09/2011

La vente d'Axa Private Equity pourrait prendre une dimension politique

Selon une source proche du dossier, citée par La Tribune, la société de portefeuille française Eurazeo serait « très intéressée » par le rachat d’Axa PE, valorisé entre 250 et 300 millions d’euros. D’autres sont sur les rangs, indique le quotidien, comme les grands fonds américains Carlyle et KKR, ainsi que le fonds souverain de Singapour. Cette concurrence serait en train de conduire Eurazeo à tenter de mobiliser les pouvoirs publics (Elysée, Fonds stratégique d’investissement) en sa faveur, plaidant pour un maintien d’Axa PE dans des mains françaises, rapporte La Tribune.
29/09/2011

Bo Knudsen becomes CEO of Carnegie AM

As part of a succession plan that has been planned for a number of years, Bo Knudsen will replace Mikael Randel as CEO of Carnegie Asset Management, a nordic asset manager with DKK70bn under management. The change will take place by year end, securing a smooth transition process.Bo Knudsen has been with the company for 15 years, both in the capacity as a global portfolio manager and as part of the management team. Going forward he will also continue as a member of the portfolio management team with particular focus on the global equity product.
29/09/2011

Fidelity recruits Dan Roberts

Various British media sources report that Dan Roberts, who joined Eden Financial in July, with his former colleague from Gartmore, Leigh Himsworth, will join Fidelity on 14 November to manage a new income fund investing in international equities, on a team with Michael Clarke and Aditya Shivram. He will report to Paras Anand, who will join Fidelity in early 2012 from F&C.
29/09/2011

MAM Funds announces an increase in assets

At the end of first half, on 30 June 2011, MAM Funds posted assets of GBP1.68bn, an increase of 9.9% compared with 30 June 2010 (GBP1.54bn). MAM Funds has also announced an increase in earnings of GBP10.7m, up 7% year on year.
29/09/2011

Physical ETFs involve the same risks as other funds

Alain Dubois, chairman of Lyxor, claims that physical ETFs present the same default risks as synthetic ETFs, as the fund provider lends out the underlying securities held by the product, Financial News reports.
29/09/2011

db x-trackers challenges notion that ETFs are unsafe

Thorsten Michalik, director of db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank) refutes claims that subscribers to ETF funds are not adequately protected: products of the db x-trackers range are overcollateralised to a level of at least 107%, and often of 120%.The manager adds that db x-trackers has been publishing details about the positions of each of its ETFs and the composition of the corresponding collateral since at least November 2010. In addition, the funds are subject to the UCITS III directive, which sets standards for the use of derivatives in the case of synthetic replication ETFs.The counterparty for swaps, Deutsche Bank, has opened an account in Luxembourg with State Street Bank, at which assets corresponding to all assets in db x-trackers ETF are deposited, in the form of highly liquid equities from solid countries, with a limit of 4% for each position.
29/09/2011

Assets down at Liontrust AM

Liontrust Asset Management has seen a 6.13% decline in its assets as of 28 September compared with 31 March, to GBP1.179bn. The decline is largely due to market conditions. In the quarter, the British asset management firm posted net subscriptions of GBP45m. Between 1 April and 27 September 2011, inflows totalled GBP58m.
29/09/2011

Decline in assets for Man Group

Between the end of June and the end of September, the alternative management firm Man Group has seen a decline in its assets, from USD71bn to USD65bn. In the quarter, the firm underwent net redemptions of USD2.6bn, after posting net susbcriptions of USD1.1bn in the first half of the year. Pre-tax profits in the six months to the end of September totalled USD145m, compared with USD180m one year earlier. Management fees also fell from USD234m to USD200m, which reflects an increase in the costs related to the acqusition of GLG last year.The London-listed company suffered a 25 per cent drop in its share price in response to its results on Wednedsay – their biggest fall since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008.
29/09/2011

Henderson appoints a head of distribution for property business

Henderson Global Investors has appointed Andrew Friend to head up its UK distribution team for its GBP12.4 billion property business. As ‘director of institutional business’ he will take overall responsibility for the London based property distribution team, driving future growth into both existing and less explored capital markets. Andrew Friend has been with the company for 11 years, predominantly as the former fund manager of the Henderson UK Retail Warehouse Fund and latterly working on the launch of German retail funds from Henderson’s Frankfurt office.
29/09/2011

Taiwan's BLI to select three more managers for international equities

For its first mandate in nearly five years, Taiwan’s Bureau of Labour Insurance (BLI) (Usd13.7bn in assets) has issued a RFP for an international equities mandate totalling USD600m, Asian Investor reports. Out of about 50 candidates, eight have been selected to continue to the next round. They are understood to be Amundi, BlackRock, Harding Loevner (Affiliated General Managers group), Harris Investments (BMO Financial group), JP Morgan Asset Management, MFS Investment Management, PanAgora Asset Management, and Schroder Investment Management.The BLI will probably select three candidates, and will grant each of them a USD200m mandate. The BLI already manages USD2bn in international equities, both internally and under a mandate awarded to Wellington in 2004. For their part, Janus Capital and Vontobel manage global and emerging markets equities mandates, respectively, for the BLI.
29/09/2011

Allfunds Bank opens an office in Dubai

David Pérez de Albeniz has been appointed as head of the representative office that Allfunds Bank (a 50/50 joint venture of Santander and Intesa Sanpaolo) has recently opened in the Dubai Financial Center (DIFC), Funds People reports.The location will eventually become an operational hub for the fund platform’s activities (EUR60bn in assets intermediated, for 22,000 funds and over 400 asset management firms) in the Middle East and Asia.
29/09/2011

Axa REIM hires a head of transactions for Europe

AXA Real Estate Investment Managers, with over EUR40 billion of assets under management as at June 2011, has appointed Riccardo Dallolio as European head of transactions. Based in London, and reporting to Anne Kavanagh, global head of property services group, his role will be to source and secure large pan European transactions with the support of local experts. He will be responsible for co-ordinating all transactional activity in Europe. Riccardo Dallolio joins after six years at Grove International Partners,
29/09/2011

Younger and smaller hedge funds perform better

The most recent edition of a study entitled “Impact of Fund Size and Age on Hedge Fund Performance” by PerTrac confirms the conclusions of last year’s study (see Newsmanagers of 2 November 2010): small hedge funds with less than USD100m in assets in 2010 posted average returns of 13.04%, compared with 11.04% for mid-sized funds (with USD100-500m in assets) and 10.99% for funds with over USD500m. The trend has continued in the first six months of 2011. PerTrac has also found that younger hedge funds (less than two years old) made 13.25% last year, compared with 12.65% for funds which have been in existence for two to four years, and 11.77% for older products. In addition, younger funds appear to have made these returns with less risk than their older rivals. PerTrac suggests several reasons for the fact that younger hedge funds achieve better results. It may be due to the fact that they were able to make changes to their portfolios more rapidly, “under the coverage radar,” or due to the fact that their administrative and operational needs are slighter, and result in lower fixed costs. New technologies also probably allow them to operate more efficiently in more fast-moving universes.
29/09/2011

Institutionals see progress in Latin American corporate governance

Institutional investors estimate that corporate governance and investor relations practices have made some progress in Latin America, according to a recent survey of European investors in this class, published by JP Morgan Chase & Co. Respondents says that companies in the region still need to continue their efforts to attract more foreign capital. 50% estimate that Brazilian businesses have the best practices in corporate governance. The study based on the survey, entitled “North America and European Investor Opinions of Latin American Companies” (attached), also finds that investors have high hopes for growth in the region. According to the institutional investors surveyed, opportunities are largely in the Colombian and Brazilian markets.
29/09/2011

Commerzbank lists 8 ETCs and 12 ETNs on Xetra

Deutsche Börse on 28 September announced that it has admitted the first 8 Exchange-Traded Commodities (ETC) and the first 12 Exchange-Traded Notes (ETN) from Commerzbank, all of them German-registered products, for trading on its Xetra electronic platform.The ETC and ETN products carry total management commissions ranging from 0.20% to 0.50% for the former, and 0.105 to 0.35% for the latter.The list of new ETCs and ETNs is available at the following address: http://deutsche-boerse.com/mr/binary/4ECDA7BA0CEECD8FC1257919003CFB4B/$… The ETC segment of Xetra now includes 190 instruments, while the ETN segment lists 47.
29/09/2011

F&C REIT raises EUR170m for Best Value Germany fund

F&C RETI has raised EUR170m for its institutional real estate fund Best Value Germany form institutional investors, bringing assets in the product to over EUR300m, a statement says. The investment period for the fund will end in 2013.
29/09/2011

Asian high net worth clients prefer private equity and bonds

Lok Yim, Head of North Asia Private Wealth Management, says that high net worth clients at Deutsche Bank in Asia in June moved away from equities towards bond products. Unlike European high net worth investors, Asian clients tend to make large-scale movements from one asset class to another, Hedge Week reports.Lok says that in addition to pulling out of equities, Asian clients have turned to mutual funds in order to profit from increased volatility, insofar as liquidity is available. However, high net worth retail clients nonetheless remain overweight in emerging markets equities, and are interested in Asian as well as Latin American equities.Clients’ appetite for real estate remains relatively high, but investments in hedge funds have declined. However, Deutsche Bank has observed an increase in interest in private equity in the form of direct investments rather than via major specialist funds.
29/09/2011

UBS Wealth Management appoints a CEO in Asia

UBS Wealth Management has recruited Edmund Kian-Chew Koh as regional director for Singapore and CEO for wealth management. He thus replaces two people: Gerald Chan, country head at UBS Singapore, and Christine Ong, CEO of Wealth Management Singapore, who has been on sick leave for some time. Koh will begin in his new role at the beginning of 2012, and will join the board of directors at UBS Wealth Management.
29/09/2011

Dirk Zabel promoted at Hansainvest

Dirk Zabel, who has been head of third-party distribution for the past year (see Newsmanagers of 1 October 2010), will join the management board at Hansainvest Hanseatische Investment in early 2012 as head of securities activities, alongside Jörg W. Stotz. He replaces Gerhard Lenschow, who is retiring. Zabel will be in charge of distribution, marketing and strategic asset allocation for securities funds.
29/09/2011

Frank Steinmetz becomes a partner at Kommalpha

Frank Steinmetz, a specialist in human resources, project management and the insurance sector, has been appointed with immediate effect as a partner at the consulting firm Kommalpha, based in Hanover, and will focus on the institutional market. Steinmetz, a former engagement manager at McKinsey and principal at Egon Zehnder International, will be in charge of research and monitoring of new projectts, as well as the development of other sectors of activity.
29/09/2011

SEC accuses a hedge funds manager of fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission has accused Corey Ribotsky, a hedge funds manager at the NIR Group, of fraud, the Wall Street Journal reports. The regulator claims that Ribotsky and his firm concealed losses and spent investors’ money on cars, a Rolex and other luxury items. Between 2004 and 2009, he is accused of misappropriating over USD1m. The SEC has filed a civil suit against Ribotsky, his firm, and a former analyst.
29/09/2011

Swiss Life AM (France) recruits a director of development

Swiss Life AM (France) announced on Wednesday, 28 September, that it is recruiting Christophe Frespuech as director of development. In this role, Frespuech will be responsible for sales teams, product engineering activities, and operational marketing in France. Frespuech, 42, whose arrival is related to the departure of Alain Konrad from SPGP (see Newsmanagers of 01/09/2011), will coordinate all client segments (institutional and retail), and adaptation of the Swiss Life AM range of products and services, a statement says. He is also a board member at Swiss Life Asset Management (France), and will work in collaboration with the group’s teams in France, Switzerland and Germany. Ferspuech had previously been head of marketing and calls for proposals at Lyxor Asset Management; he joined that firm in 2007.
29/09/2011

Northern Trust recruits a head of ETF sales from iShares

Northern Trust has announced the appointment of Marie Dzanis as vice president and director of sales for its ETF unit. Dzanis will be in charge of sales and client relationships. She will be based in Chicago, and joins from BlackRock (iShares), where she had been in charge of sales to private clients in the eastern United States.
29/09/2011
Fonds

F&C REIT lève 170 millions pour le Best Value Germany

F&C REIT a levé 170 millions d’euros pour son fonds immobilier institutionnel Best Value Germany auprès d’investisseurs institutionnels, ce qui porte l’encours du produit à plus de 300 millions d’euros, indique un communiqué. La période d’investissemrnt du fonds se terminera en 2013.
Fonds
29/09/2011

Frank Steinmetz devient associé de Kommalpha

Spécialiste des ressources humaines, de la gestion de projets et du secteur des assurances, Frank Steinmetz a été nommé avec effet immédiat associé du cabinet de consultants Kommalpha de Hanovre, qui se focalise sur le marché institutionnel. Ancien engagement manager chez McKinsey et «principal» d’Egon Zehnder International, il sera plus particulièrement chargé de la recherche et du suivi de nouveaux projets ainsi que du développement des différents secteurs d’activité.
29/09/2011
Fonds

La Commerzbank fait coter 8 ETC et 12 ETN sur Xetra

La Deutsche Börse a annoncé le 28 septembre avoir admis à la négociation sur sa plate-forme électronique Xetra les 8 premiers ETC (Exchange Traded Commodities) et les 12 premiers ETN (Exchange Traded Notes) émis par la Commerzbank, tous des produits de droit allemand.Ces ETC et ETN sont assortis de commissions de gestion comprises entre 0,20 % et 0,50 % pour les premiers et entre 0,10 % et 0,35 % pour les seconds.La liste des nouveaux ETC et ETN est disponible à l’adresse : http://deutsche-boerse.com/mr/binary/4ECDA7BA0CEECD8FC1257919003CFB4B/$File/0911_Neue%20Produkte_D.pdf?OpenElement Désormais, le segment des ETC de Xetra comporte 190 instruments et celui des ETN, 47.
Fonds
29/09/2011

Promotion pour Dirk Zabel chez Hansainvest

Directeur de la tierce distribution depuis un an (lire notre article du 1er octobre 2010), Dirk Zabel rejoindra début 2012 l'équipe de direction de Hansainvest Hanseatische Investment en tant que responsable de l’activité valeurs mobilières aux côtés de Jörg W. Stotz. Il remplacera ainsi Gerhard Lenschow, qui part à la retraite. Il sera chargé de la distribution, du marketing et de l’allocation d’actifs stratégique pour les fonds de valeurs mobilières.
29/09/2011

Les institutionnels constatent des efforts sur le gouvernement d'entreprise en Amérique latine

Les investisseurs institutionnels estiment que les pratiques de gouvernement d’entreprise et les relations investisseurs ont fait des progrès en Amérique latine. C’est ce qui ressort d’un récent sondage publié par JP Morgan Chase & Co auprès de cette classe d’investisseurs, européens et américains.Les sondés soulignent néanmoins que les sociétés de la région doivent poursuivre leurs efforts pour attirer davantage de capitaux étrangers. 50 % jugent que c’est au Brésil que les entreprises ont les meilleures pratiques en matière de gouvernement d’entreprise. L'étude rédigée suite au sondage, intitulée «North America and European Investor Opinions of Latin American Companies» (en pièce jointe), révèle par ailleurs que les investisseurs placent d’importants espoirs de croissance dans la région. Selon les institutionnels interrogés, les opportunités proviennent principalement des marchés colombien et brésilien.
29/09/2011
Fonds

Les hedge funds les plus jeunes et les plus petits surperforment

La dernière étude “Impact of Fund Size and Age on Hedge Fund Performance” de PerTrac confirme les conclusions de celle de l’an dernier (lire notre article du 2 novembre 2010) : les petits hedge funds de moins de 100 millions de dollars d’encours ont affiché pour 2010 une performance moyenne de 13,04 % contre 11,14 % pour les fonds moyens (de 100-500 millions de dollars) et 10,99 % pour les fonds de plus de 500 millions. Cette tendance s’est maintenue pour les six premiers mois de l’année.D’autre part, PerTrac a établi que les hedge funds jeunes (moins de deux ans) ont gagné 13,25 % l’an dernier, contre 12,65 % pour deux existant depuis deux à quatre ans et 11,77 % pour les produits les plus âgés. De plus, les fonds jeunes paraissent avoir réalisé ces performances avec moins de risque que leurs concurrents plus âgés.PerTrac suggère plusieurs explications pour lesquelles les hedge funds les plus jeunes obtiennent de meilleurs résultats. Cela peut tenir au fait qu’ils ont pu procéder à des changements de portefeuilles plus rapidement et «en dessous de la couverture radar» ou au fait que leurs besoins administratifs et opérationnels moins importants se traduisent par des coûts fixes inférieurs. D’autre part, les nouvelles technologies leur permettent probablement de réaliser leurs activités de manière plus efficace dans des univers plus évolutifs.
Fonds
29/09/2011

Prolongation de l’interdiction des ventes à découvert

L’Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) a fait part hier soir de la prolongation jusqu’au 11 novembre prochain de l’interdiction des ventes à découvert sur les valeurs financières françaises, qui avait été décidée en août dernier pour tenter d’enrayer la volatilité des valeurs financières. «Les régulateurs européens qui avaient pris des mesures comparables jusqu’au 30 septembre, ont décidé de reconduire cette interdiction, et l’AMF a estimé que les conditions n'étaient pas réunies pour la lever», souligne l’Autorité dans un communiqué. L’Italie et l’Espagne ont annoncé le même jour des décisions similaires bien que du côté de Madrid, l’interdiction sera maintenue jusqu'à ce que les conditions de marché changent, a précisé l’Autorité européenne des marchés financiers (ESMA). La Belgique, elle, n’avait pas fixé de date butoir à cette mesure qui, de fait, reste en place.

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