BNP Paribas Real Estate annonce le regroupement de ses activités en immobilier d’entreprise et en résidentiel sous une même direction, afin d’avoir un poids encore plus importants. Cette nouvelle organisation est progressivement mise en place, précise un communiqué.Tout en conservant la direction générale de la promotion d’Immobilier d’Entreprise, Barbara Koreniouguine devient présidente de l’activité Résidentiel (Promotion, Transaction, Résidences Services) et membre du Comité Exécutif de BNP Paribas Real Estate.Le 1er janvier 2012, elle prendra également la présidence de la Promotion d’Immobilier d’Entreprise et pilotera, ainsi, l’ensemble des activités opérationnelles de la Promotion de BNP Paribas Real Estate.A compter du 1er janvier 2012, Barbara Koreniouguine sera secondée par Pierre Sorel pour la partie Résidentiel et par Bruno Pinard pour la partie Immobilier d’Entreprise. Tous deux deviennent directeurs généraux délégués. Olivier Bokobza devient responsable de la promotion résidentiel Ile-de-France. Depuis le 1er septembre, il est directeur général adjoint en charge de l’Ile-de-France mais aussi du pôle Résidentiel. Il reporte à Pierre Sorel.Un nouveau Comité Exécutif des activités Résidentiel et Promotion d’Immobilier d’entreprise sera créé. Présidé par Barbara Koreniouguine et composé de Bruno Pinard, Pierre Sorel et Olivier Bokobza, ce comité définira et veillera à la mise en oeuvre de la stratégie de chacun des deux métiers, conformément à la politique générale de l’entreprise.

Dans le courant du quatrième trimestre, ABC Arbitrage compte lancer un cinquième fonds (multistratégies) de droit irlandais réservé lui aussi aux investisseurs avertis et qui sera un nourricier des quatre produits existants (fusions-acquisitions, retour à la moyenne, négoce haute fréquence et devises), a annoncé le 19 septembre Dominique Ceolin, président directeur général. Le choix de l’Irlande comme site d’immatriculation tient selon le manager à une meilleure régulation et à un environnement moins onéreux pour les clients.La société vient d’annoncer une hausse de 5 % de son bénéfice net pour janvier-juin, à 16 millions d’euros (lire notre article du 19 septembre).Dans sa configuration actuelle, ABC Arbitrage estime avoir une capacité de gestion de l’ordre de 500 millions d’euros ; l’encours se situe à fin juin à 245 millions d’euros, dont environ 100 millions dans les quatre fonds existants. Les souscriptions nettes pour les fonds ont porté au premier semestre sur environ 80 millions d’euros. La performance brute de gestion pour les six premiers mois de l’année a été dans l’ensemble de 28 % pour ABC Arbitrage ; celle des fonds s’est échelonnée entre 4,54 % et 14,63 % (et entre 3,23 % et 18,22 % sur les huit premiers mois de l’année).Dominique Ceolin a indiqué aussi que pour 25 millions d’euros collectés, le revenu brut d’ABC Aribtrage se situe à 1 million d’euros.Concernant l’effectif, le PDG a précisé que, pour éviter de fortes fluctuations et des tentations liées au court-termisme, le régime de primes est inséré dans un dispositif de moyen-long terme à 5-8 ans. La société compte présentement environ 80 personnes contre 75 fin décembre. Le rythme des recrutements sera de trois à six personnes par an dans les cœurs de métier, à savoir la recherche mathématique et le développement informatique. Un effort qui s’explique par le fait qu’ABC Arbitrage «travaille» environ 1.300 opérations chaque jour, sur un univers de 3.000-4.000 titres a priori «éligibles».

Le Régime Social des Indépendants (RSI) a retenu en juin deux sociétés pour gérer de l’immobilier en direct, à savoir Colliers UFG PM sur l’immobilier commercial et Nexity Saggel pour l’immobilier résidentiel. Pour rappel, l’allocation d’actifs du RSI est composée de 24-30% en actions des pays de l’OCDE, 10-15% d’immobilier français en direct, 6% de monétaire et le restant est investi en obligations des pays de l’OCDE.

OBLIGATIONS : 79 % Les obligations sont la principale source de participation aux bénéfices. Les émetteurs les plus fiables sont privilégiés : la note moyenne des obligations est AA. La part des obligations d’Etat est minoritaire à 20 % contre 80 % pour les emprunts privés. Les emprunts émis par l'État français (ou bénéficiant de sa garantie) constituent le socle du portefeuille souverains. Les emprunts privés de bonne qualité permettent d’apporter une performance supplémentaire. ACTIONS : 10 % Les investissements se caractérisent par une grande diversification géographique et sectorielle des valeurs et sont principalement effectués en direct. Les valeurs financières sont sous-pondérées. IMMOBILIER : 8 % L’immobilier apporte une contribution sensible et récurrente au rendement de l’Actif général. De plus, la décorrélation de l’immobilier avec les autres classes d’actifs, contribue à la stabilité globale. Au regard de la conjoncture, il est utile de rappeler les éléments suivants : La part consacrée aux obligations souveraines (16% du fonds) est largement inférieure à la moyenne du marché de l’assurance (33%) La proportion de la dette grecque est infime (0.03%) La diversification, les réserves accumulées et le corps de règles comptables permettent à l’assureur de faire face à des accidents significatifs même s’ils sont peu probables. A titre d’exemple, le montant constitué par la réserve de capitalisation, la réserve pour participations bénéficiaires et les plus-values latentes, couvre largement l’exposition globale à la dette souveraine de la Grèce, du Portugal, de l’Espagne et de l’Italie.

Man Group has announced the appointment of David Mercurio as head of Asian Equity investment strategy, and co-head of Global Equity investment strategy. He will report to Pierre Lagrange. He was previously senior portfolio manager in the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC).Lagrange, Senior Managing Director at GLG and a member of the executive board at Man, will also become chairman of Man for the Asian region, alongside his responsibilities in the management of GLG’s long-only and long/short equity portfolios at its London offices. Man has been present in Asia for 15 years. As of the end of March 2011, 25% of the group’s assets under management originated from the Asia-Pacific region, a statement says.

La Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild has announced that it has been issued a banking license for its Hong Kong subsidiary. The firm has had a representative office in Hong Kong since 1992, whose activities will be taken over by the subsidiary. “This new location will allow us to continue our expansion in a geographical region which we predict will be a determining factor for the development and future success of our group,” the bank says in a statement.The Hong Kong branch will be headed by Bruce Von Cannon, at the helm of a team of 20 people.

The head of Scandinavia at Cheuvreux (Crédit Agricole group), Mathias Leijon, will join the European equities team at Pictet in Zurich on 12 September as senior investment manager, Pictet London has announced. Leijon will report to Daniele Schilingo, head of European equity.

Invesco AM on Monday, 19 September announced the appointment of Sergio Trezzi and Miguel Rona as heads of retail distribution activity for continental Europe. They will report in this position to James Robertson, Chief Executive Officer at Invesco for the European, Middle East and Africa region, a statement says.Trezzi, 39, joined Invesco in 1999. He orchestrated the launch of the Invesco PowerShares ETF brand in continental Europe, while head of Invesco for Italy and Greece. He will now also be in charge of Retail Distribution activities in Germany, Austria, Benelux and Scandinavia. Rona, 43, joined Invesco in 2000, and is currently head of Invesco for Spain, Portugal and Latin America. He will now also be in charge of Retail Distribution in Switzerland and France.

Santander Asset Management is scaling up its multi-management team with the recruitments of Renzo Desbordes and Helen Llorente.The two portfolio managers will report directly to Tom Caddick, head of international multi-management.Llorente previously worked at New Star Asset Management, while Desbordes was at Investec Asset Management.

As reported in Newsmanagers yesterday, the UFG-LFP group announced on Monday that it is changing its name, to become La Française AM. Wit this new identity, “which evokes the French touch, the group confirms the French basis on which it rests, and emphasizes its desire to take a new step in its development, in France and abroad,” a statement says. With this in view, the names of all structures of the group will be changing. Among the asset management firms, UFG REM becomes La Française Real Estate managmers, and LFP becomes once again La Française des Placements. Among distribution and private management firms, UFG-LFP France becomes La Française AM Finance Services, and UFG-LFP Gestion Privée becomes La Française AM Gestion Privée. The changes will take effect from 29 September.

In fourth quarter, ABC Arbitrage is planning to launch a fifth Irish-registered multi-strategy fund which, like its predecessors, will be reserved for qualified investors, and will serve as a feeder fund for the four existing products (mergers and acquisitions, mean reversion, high-frequency trading and currencies), Dominique Ceolin, chairman and CEO, announced on 19 September. Ceolin says that the choice of Ireland as the country of domicile for the fund is due to the country’s better regulations and a less costly environment for clients.The firm has announced a 5% increase in its net profits in January-June, to EUR16m (see Newsmanagers of 19 September).In its current configuration, ABC Arbitrage claims to have a management capacity of about EUR500m; assets as of the end of June totalled EUR245m, of which about EUR100m were in the four existing funds, which experienced net subscriptions in first half of about EUR80m. Gross management performance in the first six months of the year was 28% for the firm as a whole, with the net performance of the funds ranging from 4.54% to 14.63% (and from 3.23% to 18.22% for the first eight months of the year).

Le Temps reports that Alexandre Michellod is leaving Wegelin & Co. Michellos, who is a board member at the private bank for French-speaking Switzerland and in charge of semi-institutional management, will be leaving his job at the end of December. After participating in the establishment and development of the bank in Geneva and in French-speaking Switzerland, where it now employs about 70 people, and in the creation and development of the semi-institutional management unit, the banker will be leaving the firm to undertake new “entrepreneurial projects,” he has told Le Temps, though he released no details about the nature of those projects.

Nima Tayebi has left Polar Capital to join JP Morgan Asset Management, as a specialist in emerging market debt and currencies in the emerging markets team, Citywire reports.Tayebi will report to Pierre-Yves Bareau, head of emerging markets debt, and Jonathan Griggs, head of currencies strategy.Assets under management by the team that Tayebi is joining total about USD17bn.

Hedge fund managers estimate that emerging markets have more predictable trends than developed markets, and that by using a range of instruments including currencies, interest rates and bonds, they can avoid the volatile returns that characterise investments in emerging markets equities, Financial News reports.Kay Haigh, a former head of Deutsche Bank who has founded his own firm, Avantium Investment Management, is planning to launch a macro hedge fund dedicated to emerging markets on 10 October this year.According to estimates by Michele Gesualdi, one of the managers at the fund of fund management firm Kairos Partners, international macro funds have seen losses since the beginning of this year of an average of 3% to 4%, while macro funds dedicated to emerging markets in the same period have seen total gains of 2% to 3% on average.

Nima Tayebi has left Polar Capital to join JP Morgan Asset Management, as a specialist in emerging market debt and currencies in the emerging markets team, Citywire reports. Tayebi will report to Pierre-Yves Bareau, head of emerging markets debt, and Jonathan Griggs, head of currencies strategy. Assets under management by the team that Tayebi is joining total about USD17bn.

According to a survey by TNS Infratest for Commerzbank, conducted between 18 and 30 July, and covering a sample of 1,000 people in Germany, 19% of respondents are inclined to buy shares in investment funds, and 12% to invest in equities.According to Martin Zielke, a management board member at Commerzbank in charge of retail and professional clients, many investors consider the preservation of their wealth more important than maximising returns. Investing in securities is indispensable, since the returns on savings are too low.The survey also finds that 66% of those surveyed who already hold securities are planning to make further investments in equities and investment fund shares.

The British Alliance Trust (GBP2.4bn in assets under management) has reported returns of 3.1% for first half to the end of July, despite a fall in pre-tax profits to GBP8m from GBP122m.The investment portfolio has made gains and outperformed the indices in all the major global regions in the period from February to July, with the notable exception of North America, which has lost 2.2%, compared with a loss for the benchmark index of 0.9%.

Jonathan Mann, who last month replaced Helene Williamson as head of the emerging markets debt team (see Newsmanagers of 12 August) at F&C Investments (GBP3.4bn in assets as of the end of June), has received reinforcements, as planned. The British asset management firm on 19 September announced the recruitment of Diliana Deltcheva as a fund manager.Deltcheva will join the London team and will be leaving ING Investment Management in the Netherlands, where she has worked since 2002, most recently as senior portfolio manager in the global emerging markets debt team. At her former employer, Deltcheva co-managed about USD16bn in assets in emerging markets debt in various institutional mandates and funds.Another recruitment should soon be announced for the emerging markets debt team at F&C.

Hermes BPK, a boutique specialised in alternative advising and funds of funds, has appointed Robert F. Wescott as chairman of the firm. Wescott in 2001 founded the economic analysis firm Keybridge Research LLC. He had previously been economist in chief on the board of economic advisers to US president Bill Clinton. Assets under management at Hermes BPK totalled USD1.6bn as of the end of March 2011.

Soros Fund Management has appointed Scott Bessent as chief investment officer (CIO), replacing Keith Anderson, who left the business this summer after adopting too prudent a strategy earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reports.Bessent, who will oversee USD25bn in assets, mostly belonging to George Soros, had previously worked at Soros Fund Management from 1991 to 2000, before joining Protégé Partners as senior partner, and then founding his own business. He will be the fifth CIO at Soros since 2000. Soros announced in a separate statement that his son Jonathan will soon be taking time off from the day-to-day management of the firm, but will remain as chairman of the Soros foundation.

According to the Börsen-Zeitung, even though the statistics for August are not out yet, specialists at the BVI association of asset management firms estimate that the turbulence on the markets may have led to net outflows from German funds totalling EUR3bn to EUR4bn.

The CNMV has licensed five physical replication ETFs from the British asset management firm HSBC for sale in Spain. They include the HSBC MSCI Emerging Markets ETF and HSBC MSCI Russia Capped ETF funds, launched in June, both of which charge fees of 0.60%, Funds People reports. The third fund is the HSBC EPRA/NAREIT Developed ETF, also launched in Europe in June, with a TER of 0.40%. The last two funds are the HSBC S&P Civets 60 ETF and HSBC MSCI Korea ETF, which charge fees of 0.60%.

In second quarter 2011, the Italian asset management industry (including collective management and individual portfolios) posted net outflows of EUR6.7bn, according to the most recent statistics from Assogestioni (the Italian association of asset managers). Assets in the industry, however, remained above EUR1trn, of which EUR459bn are in collective management, and EUR505bn in portfolio management. In a morose context, foreign companies have done best, with net subscriptions of EUR3.1bn. In collective management in particular, foreign open-ended funds have taken in EUR3.4bn.

The Dow Jones Credit Suisse hedge fund index was down 2.305 in the month of August, compared with a fall of 7.69% for the Dow Jones Global index.Three of the ten major strategies posted positive returns. The Dedicated Short Bias strategy in particular posted gains of 6.56%, while global macro gained 1.91%.However, event driven and long/short equity strategies were down by 5.37% and 4.44%, respectively.

The US asset management firm Pimco, an affiliate of Allianz Global Investors, on 19 September announced the release of an Irish-registered fund denominated in US dollars, entitled PIMCO GIS Global Advantage Real Return Fund (IE00B6QJK464), launched on 29 July 2011.The product aims for performance, after inflation, that combines the beta of an improved benchmark index, the Pimco Global Advantage Inflation-Linked Bond (acronym: GLADI ILB), with an active management strategy which integrates global economic outlooks defined by Pimco and the firm’s expertise in the area of evaluation of inflation-linked bonds worldwide. The fund will be managed by Mihir Worah, managing director and head of the real return portfolio management team.The fund is part of the UCITS-compliant Global Investor Series (GIS) range from Pimco. The range, registered in Dublin, now includes 43 sub-funds, representing GBP52bn, or EUR57bn in assets as of 30 June 2011.The PIMCO GIS Global Advantage Real Return Fund offers share classes aimed at institutional and retail investors. The retail shares are available via third-party fund distribution platforms and banking networks. Management commission for the institutional share class is set at 0.69%. For the retail share class, the fees will vary depending on the distributor, Pimco tells Newsmanagers.

AdvisorShares Investments, an active ETF firm based in the United States, with USD370m in assets under management, has formed a partnership with Commerce Asset Management, a subsidiary of Consulting Services Group which advises about USD24bn in assets, to develop an actively-managed ETF which will use Dynamic Style Analysis, a patented technique developed by Markov Precesses International. The actively-managed ETF will offer the performance of a long/short equities hedge fund, but with lower fees and daily liquidity.

The Portuguese asset manager Dunas Capital on 30 August released the Fundo Banco BIC Brasil FEI fund (with seed capital of USD10m), which invests in corporate bonds and Brazilian government bonds, but may also allocate up to 30% of its assets to equities, for sale. The fund, denominated in US dollars and advised by the Brazilian firm BRZ Investments, is the second product of the cooperation between Dumas Capital and Banco BIC Portuguès, following the Tesoureria fund, Funds People reports.Management commission is set at 1%, and performance commission will be 10% on performance exceeding a hurdle rate of the Libor 6-month + 300 basis points. There will be a penalty of 1% on any withdrawals before 180 days have elapsed. The minimal initial subscription is USD5,000, while subsequent subscriptions must be for at least USD500.

The German asset management firm Frankfurt Trust (BHF-Bank group) on 19 September announced that it will be transferring complete responsibility for the management of its Luxembourg fund FT EmergingArabia to its partner Invest AD (Abu Dhabi Investment Company, an affiliate of the sovereign fund Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC), with which it has been cooperating for more than two years (see Newsmanagers of 29 January 2009).Invest AD is an asset management firm specialised in frontier markets, focused on countries of the Middle East and Africa.The fund, which has tranches in euros (LU0317905148, EUR42.16m) and US dollars (LU0551008294, USD27.37m), is primarily invested in countries of the Gulf cooperation council (GCC).Currently, the fund is positioned primarily on Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Due to the turbulence on the markets, the management team led by David P. Sanders has adopted a defensive attitude, and has increased its allocation to cash.

The German construction group Bilfinger Berger on 19 September announced plans to place up to EUR280m in a fund on the London Stock Excchange which would house infrastructure projects, in order to reduce the burden on its regulatory capital. It would retain at least 19.9% of the fund. The fund would “package” 19 public-private projects (PPPs) which currently involve EUR161m in equity from Bilfinger Berger, Handelsblatt reports.The prospectus for the fund may be ready in October, so that sales of the fund could begin in first quarter 2012. The group is expecting net inflows of EUR270m for the next fiscal period, of which EUR55m would be reinvested in the fund, while the book profit at Bilfinger Berger would be a maximum of EUR50m.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) on 19 September published a series of consultation documents on future regulatory technical standards which ratings agencies will be required to comply with. The standards describe the information which ratings agencies will be required to publish, and rules to follow in responding to the regulatory requirements.ESMA is also proposing to undertake a cost/benefit analysis of the future standards.The consultation will be open until 21 October. ESMA will present its final proposals for the standards to the European Commission by 2 January 2012.