Ulrich Hax, who had spent 22 years at Sal. Oppenheim, most recently as director of alternative investments, has been recruited as director of the private equity team at UBS Germany, Das Investment reports.

According to sources familiar with the matter cited by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the private equity investor Bridgepoint has acquired the Swiss firm Infront, a specialist in sales of broadcast rights for sporting events, which in 2010 made more than EUR600m in revenues, for EUR550m. The vendors are Andreas Jacobs and Nicole Junkermann, who had held 60% and 40% of capital in the firm, respectively.

Banque Alterantive Suisse SA on 2 September announced the appointment of Martin Lukas Rohner as its CEO, from 1 January 2012. He had previously been director of the Max Havelaar foundation, a statement from the bank says. Rohner succeeds Sven Thali, who left the bank in March due to differences over the strategic direction and positioning of the bank. Assets under management at the bank as of the end of December 2010 totalled CHF935m.

Fidelity has launched the FF European Dynamic Value Fund. The new fund fills a gap within its European equity product range and offers investors the opportunity to invest in a European equity value fund. It will be managed by Neil Madden, who has been at Fidelity for nine years. FF European Dynamic Value Fund seeks to identify cheap and disliked stocks with improving fundamentals. Stocks in the portfolio have an asymmetric return profile: downside is limited because bad news has at least already been priced in; upside potential is significant as even a marginal improvement will trigger earnings upgrades and an improvement in sentiment and valuation. Neil Madden aims to hold between +3% to +5% overweight holdings in his high conviction ideas and at least +1% active position in his other holdings. The fund will be concentrated, with between 35 - 50 names.

The British firm Barclays Wealth has recruited a former manager from Goldman Sachs, Kevin Shone, who will join the team dedicated to UHNW clients, Wealthbriefing reports. Shone will join the team as managing director in November. Since 2008, he had worked as managing director at Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management.

Assets under management at Hargreaves Lansdown rose 41% in the year to 30 June, to total GBP24.6bn, the firm has announced in a statement.This development is the result of an increase in net inflows to GBP3.5bn, compared with GBP3.3bn the previous year, and to positive market effects of GBP3.6bn.The asset management firm has seen a 46% in its pre-tax profits, to GBP126m.

Ignis Asset Management is planning to launch a credit version of its absolute return fund, an emerging market debt fund, and a global equity fund and an emerging market equity fund with a growth strategy, Investment Week reports. The launches come as additions to the range of house funds from the asset management firm.

From November, Investment Week reports, Simon Smith will become head of wholesale at Old Mutual Asset Managers (OMAM), after twelve years at Standard Live Investments (SLI), most recently as head of UK (wholesale) financial institutions. Money Marketing also reports that Old Mutual Wealth Management is currently seeking a new CEO, now that Bob Head will be leaving the group in October, after spending 18 months overseeing the integration of Skandia UK, Skandia International, Skandia Investment Group, and Skandia Continental Europe.

The UK Sustainable Investment Forum (UKSIF) on 2 September published its third report on the treatment of sustainable development issued by British pension funds, entitled “Responsible Business: Sustainable Pension 2011.” Two years after the publication of the last report, the current study finds that pension funds are continuing to deepen their practices in sustainable development. Not only interest in sustainable development, but also participation by pension funds cpvered by the study in sustainable development has increased to one in five, from one in eight two years ago. Sustainable investment now applies to a wider range of asset classes. Private equity, bonds and real estate have increased their use of sustainable development policies compared with 2009. Nearly one third of funds use specialised mandates to deploy their sustainable investment policies. This percentage has doubled since 2009, the report points out. These examples of improvement, which come in a wider context of improved frameworks for sustainable investment practices, and the publication of the Stewardship Code, are all positive signs which should not obscure the fact that the majority of pension funds still need to make the first move to set up sustainable investment practices that may effectively respond to the challenges presented by ESG issues. The report lays out a series of recommendations which it qualifies as urgent, including the governance of sustainable development, which would require the major funds to have at least one expert on sustainable development questions, transparency for the strategies put into use, signing the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment, and integrating sustainable investment into negotiations on risk transfers. Meanwhile, three funds have already achieved excellence: the BT Pension Scheme, the Co-operative Pension Scheme (PACE), and F&C Asset Management Ltd. Pension Plan. Only one fund reached this level in the previous two editions of the study.

BaFin has issued a license for the sale in Germany of a fund from the Swiss firm Bellevue Asset Management, focused on shares in Asian publicly-traded entrepreneurial businesses. The fund is the BB Entrepreneur Asia (Lux), which was launched on 30 April 2011, and whose portfolio includes 50 to 70 positions. It comes as an addition to a product range which already includes the BB Entrepreneur Europe and the BB Entrepreneur Switzerland funds.Bellevue Asset Management will be assisted for the management of the Asia fund (whose currency of reference is the US dollar) by the HSZ Group, a management boutique based in Hong Kong.CharacteristicsName: BB Entrepreneur Asia (Lux) FondsISIN codes: LU060528926 (shares in US dollars)LU0605289775 (shares in euros)Benchmark index: MSCI AC Asia ex JapanFront-end fee: Maximum 5%Management commission: 1.60%Performance commission: 10%, with high watermark

According to a study by Vanguard based on statistics from Morningstar covering the past 20 years, two thirds of actively-managed bond funds in the United States have underperformed the bond markets, the Wall Street Journal reports. 20 years ago, according to the Investment Company Institute, a bond fund cost an average of USD100 for every USD10,000 invested, and that amount would have generated an average annual revenue of USD825, if it were invested in 10-year US Treasury bonds, and USD1,050 if it were invested in corporate bonds rated Baa by Moody’s. In 2010, the average commission charged by bond funds was USD70 for every USD10,000 invested. But the same amount invested in 10-year US Treasury bonds or Baa-rated corporate bonds would now generate only USD330 and USD540 in annual revenue, respectively. However, the Wall Street Journal observes, investors can find better deals by subscribing to bond ETFs. Investors who subscribe to products such as the Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF, the iShares Barlays Aggregate Bond Fund or the SPDR Barclays Capital Aggregate Bond ETF will pay only USD11 to USD22 per year for every USD10,000 invested.

The CNMV has recently issued a sales license for Spain to the Euro Covered Bonds (LU0629527333) sub-fund of the General Investments Sicav, Funds People reports.The product, launched on 6 July, has assets of EUR85m. It invests primarily in investment-grade covered bonds denominated in euros, excluding German Pfandbriefe (which reduces the universe to about 500 securities), but the manager, Guido Favaretto, may also adopt tactical positions on other UCITS-compliant funds (up to 10%), interest rate derivatives, currencies, cash, government bonds, money market instruments, or savings accounts, up to a maximum of 30% of assets.Generali Investments manages about EUR24bn in covered bonds. The benchmark index for the fund is the BofA Merrill Lynch Euro Non-Pfandbriefe Covered Bond Index.

First State Investments has announced that it has decided to limit access by new investors to five funds specialised on Asia-Pacific and emerging markets, in order to protect the interests of existing investors. The funds affected are the First State Asia Pacific (GBP229m), First State Indian Subcontinent (GBP293m), First State Global Emerging Markets Sustainability (GBP161m), First State Latin America (GBP117m), and First State Greater China Growth (GBP623m).

Hedge Week reports that the SEC has filed charges in the US District Court of New Jersey against James F. Turner II, his hedge fund management firm, Clay Capital Management, his brother-in-law, one of his friends, and a neighbour for illegally making USD3.9m off the use of insider information about the Moldflow Corporation, Autodesk and Salesforces.

The head of multi-management at Invesco AM discusses the causes of the crisis on the financial markets, and the outlooks for the most severely affected asset classes. Bernard Aybran notes in this regard that the equities markets of the euro zone are now much more attractive, both in terms of valuations and returns. Hence his reconstitution of positions on equities markets, via futures on the Eurostoxx 50 index and arbitrage bets on small and midcaps.

Hedge Week relays reports in Financial News that RiverCrest Cfapital, a new London-based absolute return specialist, is planning to launch the Global Equity Fund (long/short, top-down), managed by Alastair McLeod and Peter Simon, two former Lansdowne managers, in October.The firm is also planning the European Equity Alpha Fund (market neutral, bottom-up), managed by Giles Worthington and Tim Short, from M&G Investments, for launch by the end of this year.

Funds sold by US asset management firms took 70% of total net subscriptions in Europe in the first six months of this year, equivalent to EUR63bn out of a total of EUR90.7bn, up from only 40% in 2010, Financial Times Fund Management reports, citing Lipper. Sales of global bond ETFs are the cause of the increase. Franklin Templeton (EUR16bn in net subscriptions) has been the most successful US asset manager in Europe, followed by BlackRock (EUR14.6bn) and Pimco (EUR7.5bn).

BlackRock Fund Advisors, Spruce ETF Trust and BlackRock Investments submitted a joint application to the SEC on 1 September, seeking an exemption from the Investment Company Act of 1940 to be allowed to launch a range of 13 actively-managed ETFs, which would be “non-transparent,” meaning that they would not publish the composition of their portfolio on a daily basis.The range would include the Large Cap Fund, Large Cap Value Fund, Large Cap Growth Fund, Large/Mid Cap Fund, Large/Mid Cap Value Fund, Large/Mid Cap Growth Fund, Large Cap Long-Short Fund, Large Cap Value Long-Short Fund, Large Cap Growth Long-Short Fund, Large/Mid Cap Long-Short Fund, Large/Mid Cap Value Long-Short Fund, Large/Mid Cap Growth Long-Short Fund et Large Cap Growth Active Insights Fund. Indicative intraday value for the funds would be published in real time, but shares would be tradeable at their net asset value only once a day. This formula would avoid significant divergences between the buy and sell prices for the shares and the net asset value.BlackRock claims that the format of the funds would not pose new regulatory problems, but on the contrary, would limit front-running and free-riding risks which other actively-managed ETFs which publish the composition of their portfolios are exposed to.Each of the non-transparent ETFs would invest in or take short positions mainly on the 1,200 largest US caps, as defined by the Frank Russell Company.

The Western financial press editorialised considerably over the publication on 1 September in the Chilean official gazette, the Diario Oficial, of a decision by the pension fund regulator, the Comisión Clasificadora de Riesgo (CCR, www.ccr.cl). Following a downgrade of the credit rating for Ireland to the junk category by Moody’s, the CCR has decided to place 135 UCITS-compliant funds domiciled in Ireland on a list of restricted-access investments. This does not mean that pension funds will no longer be allowed to invest in these funds, or that they will have to sell off shares. But investments in these funds are now subject to stricter regulatory constraints.On the six-page list includes a total of 25 issuers, including 33 ETFs from iShares (19 of them equities funds), 14 products from BNY Mellon Global Funds, 12 funds from Pimco, and 12 sub-funds of the SEI Global Master Fund, 11 funds each from Axa Rosenberg Equity Alpha Trust, Invesco Funds, Legg Mason Global Funds and Baring, and eight products from Skandia Global Funds.Three Irish-registered funds from French issuers are also on the list: SPDR Europe Plc - Amundi ETF S&P Europe 350 Fund, the BNP Paribas GLF EUR funds, and BNP Paribas GLF USD from BNP Paribas Global Liquidity plc.

Les investisseurs, dépités par la décélération de la croissance des deux côtés de l’Atlantique, continuent de s’intéresser aux marchés émergents et aux hedge funds dédiés à la classe d’actifs. Selon Hedgeweek, les dernières statistiques de Hedge Fund Research montrent que les hedge funds dédiés aux marchés émergents ont vu leurs actifs s’accroître de 1,4 milliard de dollars au deuxième trimestre sous l’effet d’une collecte nette de 300 millions de dollars et d’un gain de 1,1 milliard de dollars lié à la performance.Après quatre trimestres consécutifs de hausse, les actifs des hedge funds dédiés aux marchés émergents ont ainsi atteint le niveau record de 123 milliards de dollars. Les hedge funds macro avec un biais marchés émergents se sont particulièrement bien comportés au deuxième trimestre, enregistrant une hausse de 9% alors que les stratégies global macro ont perdu dans le même temps 1,67%. A noter toutefois que sur les six premiers mois de l’année, les hedge funds dédiés aux marchés émergents n’ont pas fait des étincelles. Le HFRI Emerhging Markets (Total) Index, qui était à l'équilibre à fin juin, affichait fin juillet un gain de seulement 0,22%.

Enrique Chang, CIO, a annoncé le 1er septembre que les fonds American Century Growth, American Century Focused Growth et VP Growth, qui représentent au total environ 14 milliards de dollars d’encours, ont été fermés aux nouveaux investisseurs le 31 août.Cette mesure est destinée à protéger la performance de ces produits de la stratégie «growth», mais les souscripteurs existants pourront continuer à en acquérir des parts et à y réinvestir leurs dividendes.American Century précise que ses clients qui n'étaient pas investis dans les fonds qui viennent d'être fermés aux souscriptions mais qui souhaiteraient se positionner sur des grandes capitalisations de croissance peuvent encore investir dans les fonds American Century Select ou American Century Ultra.

BlackRock Fund Advisors, Spruce ETF Trust et BlackRock Investments ont collectivement sollicité de la SEC le 1er septembre une dérogation à l’Investment Company Act of 1940 pour être autorisés à lancer 13 ETF à gestion active qui seraient «non-transparents» en ce qu’ils ne publieront pas la composition de leur portefeuille sur une base journalière (*).La valeur indicative intrajournalière (indicative intraday value) serait publiée en temps réel, mais les parts ne pourront être négociées à la valeur liquidative qu’une fois par jour. Cette formule devrait éviter des écarts significatifs entre les prix acheteur/vendeur et la valeur liquidative.Pour BlackRock, cela ne devrait pas poser de problème réglementaire nouveau, mais permettrait au contraire de limiter les risques de «front running"(fuite d’informations privilégiées) et de «free riding» (parasitisme) auxquels sont exposés les autres ETF gérés activement et qui publient la composition de leur portefeuille.Chacun des ETF actifs non-transparents investira ou prendra des positions à découverts principalement dans les 1.200 plus grandes capitalisations américaines telles que définities par The Frank Russell Company.(*) Large Cap Fund, Large Cap Value Fund, Large Cap Growth Fund, Large/Mid Cap Fund, Large/Mid Cap Value Fund, Large/Mid Cap Growth Fund, Large Cap Long-Short Fund, Large Cap Value Long-Short Fund, Large Cap Growth Long-Short Fund, Large/Mid Cap Long-Short Fund, Large/Mid Cap Value Long-Short Fund, Large/Mid Cap Growth Long-Short Fund et Large Cap Growth Active Insights Fund.

Selon la Banque de France, les crédits aux entreprises (mobilisés et mobilisables) ont enregistré une hausse de 4,7% en glissement annuel en juillet, après un gain de 4,9% fin juin. Les crédits aux PME (+ 5,9 %) et l’immobilier (+ 8 %) signent les plus fortes progressions.

Selon les chiffres publiés vendredi par l’agence des statistiques IBGE, la croissance économique brésilienne a ralenti au deuxième trimestre, à 3,1% l’an contre un rythme de 4,2% au premier trimestre, en raison d’une moindre performance des secteurs agricole et industriel.

Une dégradation de la note souveraine de la France coûterait cinq milliards d’euros par an à l’Etat, a déclaré samedi la ministre du Budget Valérie Pécresse. «5 milliards d’euros par an, c’est le budget du ministère de la Justice (...) Donc je crois vraiment qu’il faut qu’on fasse attention», a-t-elle ajouté.

Le Fonds monétaire international a annoncé vendredi avoir approuvé un débours de 2,11 milliards de dollars (1,5 milliard d’euros) dans le cadre du plan d’aide à l’Irlande. Selon le FMI, le gouvernement irlandais a poursuivi une «mise en œuvre résolue» de son programme d’austérité.

Les volumes notionnels nets traités sur le CDS de la France ont plus que doublé en un an et dépassaient à fin août ceux de l’Italie, à 25,7 milliards de dollars. Le CDS français est le plus élevé des émetteurs souverains AAA.

Le géant américain a demandé l’autorisation aux autorités de régulation de mettre sur pied une nouvelle filiale, Spruce ETF Trust, ayant pour mission la gestion active de treize fonds indiciels cotés (ETF) dont les participations ne seraient révélées que sur une base trimestrielle.

Dans un entretien publié samedi dans Le Monde, le délégué général pour l’armement, Laurent Collet-Billon, prône des rapprochements entre industriels français de la défense pour mieux affronter la concurrence et répondre aux besoins d’investissement. Il cite les activités d’optronique et de systèmes de navigation de Thales et Safran, dont la «rationalisation» doit selon lui se faire.

Selon un document circulant à Bruxelles et consulté par Reuters, la Commission européenne prévoit des «améliorations ambitieuses» à sa directive concernant les marchés d’instruments financiers (MiFID). Bruxelles propose d’abattre les barrières qui empêchent les banques et les investisseurs de pouvoir décider vers quelles structures se tourner pour jouer le rôle de chambres de compensation.