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13/09/2011

Pimco director gets a big pay raise

The highest-paid director at Pimco Europe, the European arm of the bond management firm, saw a 173.8% increase in his income last year, to GBP25.6m, Financial News reports. The name of the individual has not been disclosed.
13/09/2011

Twitter becomes new investment tool for hedge funds

Social networks are proving useful for investment strategies. According to experts, the instantaneous character of Twitter means that collective mood can be measures with much more precision than previously. The result is that millions of tweets are now analysed by hedge fund managers to predict future movement of the markets.A London-based asset management firm, Derwent Capital Markets, has launched a GBP25m fund, which takes investment decisions on the basis of the mood of the general public, the Telegraph reports in its 11 September issue. The manager and founder of the firm, Paul Hawtin, has signed an exclusive contract with Johan Bollen, an IT specialist at the University of Indiana, who has designed a software program to use tweets for this purpose.A commonplace notion would have it that the direction of the markets determines people’s moods. In other words, depression on the markets leads to a depressed population. That was Bollen’s initial assumption as well. But a study of the correlations between the movements of the Dow Jones and the ambient mood of the people has demonstrated that the reverse is true: it is the ambient sentiment of the moment that determines the direction of the markets. In October 2010, the observation of moods on social networks allowed Bollen to predict the direction of the Dow Jones with 87.6% accuracy.
13/09/2011

Asset managers worried about high-frequency trading

More than two thirds of traders at the world’s largest asset management firms say they are worried about the impact of high-frequency trading (HFT) on the equity markets, according to a survey by Liquidnet.Most long-only traders estimate that high-frequency trading is a negative factor for institutional investors making large trades. According to the founder and chief executive of Liquidnet, Seth Merrin, many investors estimate that a long-term investment strategy contradicts the speculative approach associated with high-frequency trading.“Institutional investors who manage billions of dollars for traditional investors needs to be in a position to take up or liquidate positions in a secure and efficient manner, safe from the retail markets and drivers of internalisation where high-frequency trading prospers, especially in the volatile markets we have observed recently,” Merrin says in a statement.At the five largest institutions in the world, 73% of traders estimate that high-frequency trading represents a structural problem for the markets that urgently needs to be addressed. Two thirds of North American traders say they are concerned about high-frequency trading, compared with 60% of European traders, and slightly over half of traders in the Asia-Pacific region. According to studies by Aite group and Tabb Group, nearly 75% of daily equity trading may be attributed to high-frequency trading.
13/09/2011

Money market funds in high demand in September

In the first few days of September, fears of a double-dip recession, and hopes that the threat of such a development will drive political leaders to announce further stimulus measures and meetings of central banks, led investors to adopt a wait-and-see attitude to the markets. Money market funds saw a net inflow of USD11.44bn in the week to 7 September, according to statistics from EPFR Global. Bond funds, for their part, attracted USD2.78bn in assets, the highest level in eight weeks. US bond funds saw modest inflows for the week, which brought total net subscriptions since the beginning of the year to slightly over USD32bn, compared with a total of USD180bn in the corresponding period of 2010. Equities funds saw a net outflow of Usd15.2bn, EPFR Global reports, however, that this total has been inflated by redemptions from an ETF dedicated to US large caps. Excluding this element, outflows totalled only USD5bn.
13/09/2011

Allianz acquires 80% of Skyline Plaza project in Frankfurt

On 12 September, Allianz Real Estate Germany announced that it had acquired an 80% stake in the Skyline Plaza shopping centre under construction in Frankfurt (38,000 square metres), which will be completed in autumn 2013, and which represents a total investment of about EUR360m.The vendors are the German affiliate of the Austrian firm CA Immo and the promoter/developer/operator ECE; the vendors will retain a 10% stake each in the property.
13/09/2011

MFS appoints a new head for German wholesale

Andrea Baron, who had been head of intermediary sales for Germany, Austria and Luxembourg at Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM), has joined MFS Investment Management as managing director for wholesale distribution activities, in Frankfurt. He joins the office led by Lars Detlefs, head of relationships with institutional investors and consultants since early 2010; he will also report to Steve Haswell, head of global sales.
13/09/2011

BNPP IP promotes Tobias Bockholt

Tobias Bockholt, who joined BNP Paribas Investment Partners (BNPP IP) in 2010 from ABN Amro AM, has been promoted to head of the institutional sales team for Germany. He succeeds Charles Janssen, head of institutional sales Northern Europe, who had held the position in the interim since the departure of Evi Vogl, who moved to Pioneer Investments (see Newsmanagers of 1 December 2010). Martin Thesinger remains head of distribution partners.In his new position, Bockholt will be in charge of asset management for pension funds, corporate treasuries, insurers, charities and independent financial advisers.
13/09/2011

Schroders continues recruitment in Germany

The German asset management firm Schroders Investment Management GmbH on Monday announced a fifth recruitment since the beginning of July (see Newsmanagers of 8 September). The new arrival is Charles Neus, who joins the firm from JPMorgan Asset Management, where he had been director for retail insurance clients. He will be head of distribution for the insurance sector, and will report to CEO Achim Küssner.
13/09/2011

Andrew Paisley joins SWIP

Andrew Paisley, senior investment manager at Kempen for the past five years, is joining Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) in Edinburgh, as investment director. He will report to Peter Cockburn, head of UK equities, and will be in charge of managing British small caps mandates.
13/09/2011

Neuberger Berman recruits a head of intermediation

Neuberger Berman has recruited Tom Douie as senior vice president, in charge of intermediation for Europe, FundWeb reports. Douie will be responsible for development of the investment product range for all European countries. He will report to Dik van Lomwel, head for Europe and the Middle East. Douie previously worked at American Century Investments.
13/09/2011

Fidelity FundsNetwork recruits a director of key accounts

Fundweb reports that Fidelity FundsNetwork has created a position for a head of key accounts, and appointed Stephen Boucher, partnerships director at Standard Life, for the role. Boucher will report to David White, CEO of FundsNetwork.
13/09/2011

Schroders hires a manager from RCM Global Investors

Schroders announced on September 12 the appointment of Sue Chan as a global portfolio manager in the global and international equities team. Joining in November, she will report to Virginie Maisonneuve, head of global and international equities and be based in London.Sue Chan joins from RCM Global Investors where she was a senior portfolio manager global equities and lead portfolio manager of the global sustainability funds. Prior to RCM, she spent nine years at BlackRock where she held a variety of roles.Schroders’ global and international equities team manage over GBP10.8 billion/ EUR12.0 billion (as at 30 June 2011) on behalf of institutional and retail investors worldwide.
13/09/2011

BlackRock plans to develop closed fund activities

The head of investment trusts at RCM, Simon White, has joined BlackRock, where he will have similar responsibilities, FundWeb reports. White will be responsible for management and development of investment trusts at BlackRock. He will report to Jonathan Ruck Keene, who has been appointed as head of investment trusts for the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East, and Africa).
13/09/2011

CalPERS to invest up to USD800m in infrastructure

The California pension fund CalPERS on 12 September announced that it is planning to invest up to USD800m in private or public infrastructure projects in the state of California in the next three years. The fund’s investments in infrastructure projects or infrastructure-dedicated private equity funds currently total USD203m.
13/09/2011

Warren Buffett continues to prepare his succession

Ted Wechsler, head of the alternative management firm Peninsula Capital Advisors LLC in Charlotteville, Va (about Usd1bn in assets), has been appointed as investment manager at Berkshire Hathaway (USD110bn), where Warren Buffett, 81, remains chairman and CEO, the Wall Street Journal reports.Wechsler, who will have to liquidate his own fund before joining Berkshire Hathaway, will join the firm in early 2012, and will be in charge of managing a small part of the group’s equity portfolio.Like another investment manager recruited in late 2010, Todd Combs, Wechsler will be in charge of a USD3bn chunk of the fund’s assets, while Buffett will remain responsible for 95% of the equity portfolio.Wechsler was the top bidder in an eBay auction to have lunch with the “oracle of Omaha” two years running, at a price of USD2.6m on the second occasion.Buffett may recruit a third manager. The three may succeed Buffett when the time comes, to manage equity and bond portfolios according to the instructions of the future CEO and board of directors at Berkshire Hathaway.
13/09/2011

Ignis AM may open an office in France

The Scottish asset management firm Ignis Asset Management (EUR87bn in assets) is considering opening an office in Paris, and may hire someone for the new office. For the moment, Philip Goldsmith, managing director for Europe, covers the French market from Switzerland, since joining the firm in September 2009.Meanwhile, an office will be opened in Milan, Italy, in a few days’ time. The office will have a staff of two, who are already responsible for this fast-growing market. At the beginning of this year, due to the dynamic development in that country, the asset management firm decided to release its funds to italian retail investors, and recruited a second person for the Italian market.Further north, Ignis AM is seeking a sales representative to cover the Scandianvian countries, who would be based in Sweden or Finland, the two largest markets in the region, whereas the previous sales representative had been based in London.In order to continue its development in Europe, Ignis AM is planning to scale up its Luxembourg structure, which already includes one sub-fund, launched in March 2011.
13/09/2011

Pierre Persico becomes head of private clients at Barclays France

Barclays has appointed Pierre Persico as head of private clients, and has recruited Gil Leveau as head of complementary channels and multi-channel business. Persico joined Barclays in January 2011 as co-manager of Barclays Patrimoine, a network of 300 financial advisers throughout France. He retains this position, and has joined the executive board of the bank. Previously, Persico was at Allianz. He has also been chairman of the board at Crédit Lyonnais Asset Management. Leveau, who will report to Persico, joins from the Axa group, where since 2009 he had been head of tools, processes, modelling and geomarketing for the general agents network of Axa France.
13/09/2011

Andbanc acquires Monaco affiliate of MPS

The Andorran financial group Ancbanc (Andorra Banc Agricol Reig SA, EUR8.45bn in assets as of 31 July) has acquired Monte dei Paschi Monaco SAM, an affiliate of the Italian firm Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), for EUR27.1m, of which EUR19.5m have already been paid.The MPS affiliate, which has 40 employees and manages about EUR600m, will become known as Andbanc Monaco SAM, and will be led by Gérard Griseti, CEO.The remainder of the acqusition price will be paid on 30 September, and MPS has announced a capital gain of EUR7.7m on the EUR19.5m initial payment.
13/09/2011

IMA opens to foreign asset management firms

After its AGM, the Investment Management Association (IMA), which represents British asset management firms (GBP4trn in assets), on 12 September announced the creation of two new categories of members, from 1 January 2012. It explains that the decision is due to the rapid development of offshore funds, an expansion which is expected to intensify further with the entry into force of the UCITS IV directive.In the future, non-British businesses which manage funds with a license or authorised for sale in the United Kingdom will be permitted to become full members. Previously, only asset management firms with offices in the United Kingdom had been allowed to do to.The IMA is also creating a “sectoral” category of members, for managers who do not need to be full members, but who would like their funds to be included in the IMA’s classification sectors. This will be allowed for both British and foreign asset managers.
13/09/2011

Switzerland may strengthen its position as a professional centre

Switzerland may continue to strengthen its position as a professional centre for innovative banking transactions, with an international orientation and an emphasis on the client and on discretion, according to a joint study by the Swiss banking association and the Boston Consulting Group of the Swiss banking market, Agefi Switzerland reports. The study predicts that volumes will increase in all sectors, although pressure on margins will lead to increased pressure on costs, and lowered profit outlooks. In wealth management (an activity which requires less capital), a cost/income ratio approaching 80% will be rather the rule than the exception in Switzerland. The ASB and the Boston Consulting Group find that earnings or gross revenues for the Swiss banking market, estimated at CHF58.6bn in 2010 (a post-crisis base) may rise to CHF64bn by 2015, at a growth rate of 1.8% per year. The largest potential growth in gross earnings is in private banking, and particularly in the ultra-high net worth client segment, business and corporate clients (including commodity trading) and asset management.
13/09/2011

Hedge funds down 3.36% in August

The Hennessee hedge fund index fell by 3.36% in the month of August, while the S&P 500 fell by 5.68% in the same period. Since the beginning of the year, the index is down 1.80%, compared with 3.08% for the S&P 500. “Hedge funds last year saw their steepest declines since October 2008. Directional strategies, long/short and event-driven were the hardest-hit, while short biased and macro strategies were the best performers,” says Lee Hennessee, managing principal at the Hennessee group. The Hennessee long/short equity index was down 3.68% in August and 1.65% since the beginning of the year, while the macro index gained 0.60% in August, and 0.11% since the beginning of the year.
13/09/2011

Fidelity launches an onshore version of two funds

According to reports in the British press, Fidelity Worldwide Investment will launch onshore versions of two of its funds. On 14 September, the Global Real Assets Securities fund, whose offshore version was launched in September 2009, and which has USD250m in assets, will be the first.The China Consumer Fund (see Newsmanagers of 18 May), with assets of USD115m, will be next.For the two products, minimal subscription is set at GBP1.5trn, front-end fee at 3.5%, and management commission at 1.5%.
13/09/2011

Slater Investments preparing a UK midcaps fund

On 19 September, Slater Investments will launch the MFM Slater Income Fund, managed by co-founder and CIO Mark Slater, which aims for dividend yields of 5.49%.The portfolio will include 50 to 70 positions, which will initially be composed 34% of shares from the FTSE 100, 27% from the FTSE 250, 22% from the FTSE 350, and 14% from the AIM.Front-end fee will be 5.25%, and management commission will be 1.5%. Minimal subscription is set at GBP1,000.
13/09/2011

AR funds underperform the Eonia over 5y

In a recent survey, Lipper has considered the evolution of absolute return funds over the past five years. Over the period to the end of August 2011, these funds did not really manage to fulfil their promises, and in fact underperformed the money market.The moderate risk absolute return fund category has earned returns of 2.3% over 5 years, compared with 11.6% for the Eonia. However, it outperforms the Lipper euro flexible fund category, which lost 6.73% in the five-year period under review. Since the beginning of this year, the results are no more flattering for absolute return funds. They have lost 2.89% year to date, compared with +0.59% for the Eonia, and -7.38% for euro flexible funds.Lipper changed its classifications in 2009, in order to take into account the emergence of absolute return funds in French and European collective asset management. Absolute return funds are now categorized according to the degree of risk they involve (high risk, moderate risk, and low risk).
13/09/2011

Italy turns to Chinese SWF

The Italian centre-right government is turning to China for help, in the hopes that the Chinese government will pull it out of the debt crisis with an investment in government bonds and strategic businesses, the Financial Times reports. Lou Jiwei, president of China Investment Corp, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world, travelled to Rome last week for talks with Giulio Tremonti, the Italian finance minister, and the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, a government-controlled entity which has created a strategic investment fund open to foreign investors.
13/09/2011

Warren Buffett récompense la générosité

Ted Weschler, gérant du fonds alternatif Peninsula Capital Advisors qui a emporté pour cinq millions de dollars les enchères caritatives pour un déjeuner avec Warren Buffett, a été sélectionné pour assurer la gestion d’une part des investissements de la société d’investissement du milliardaire américain, Berkshire Hathaway.L’an prochain, Ted Weschler sera à la tête de 1 à 3 milliards de dollars au sein du portefeuille actions de 66 milliards de Berkshire.
13/09/2011

L'interdiction des ventes à découvert sous le feu des critiques

Pour l’International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN), «l’interdiction des ventes à découvert des valeurs financières est une solution à court terme à un problème qui n’est pas nécessairement un problème de marché». «Cela revient à transférer les risques sur d’autres marchés, parce que si vous ne pouvez pas vendre des titres à découvert, les titres bancaires par exemple, vous allez vendre à découvert des titres qui sont liés aux valeurs bancaires», a estimé lundi sa présidente Christianna Wood.
13/09/2011

Mauvaise passe pour le secteur de la gestion d’actifs

«Cette (volatilité) ne constitue pas une tendance favorable à court terme» a assuré à l’occasion d’une conférence le directeur général du numéro un mondial du secteur BlackRock, Laurence Fink, évoquant les turbulences des marchés qui affectent la rentabilité des gestionnaires d’actifs. Le dirigeant indique que son groupe tente de maintenir ses marges, affectées par la défiance des investisseurs vis-à-vis des actions, en étant «encore plus disciplinés» sur les coûts.

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