Financial News reports that RAB Capital, a hedge fund firm based in London, which had once been highly successful, is considering delisting from the Alternative Investment Market. The firm has undergone redemptions, and in addition, it will be losing one of its managers, Gavin Wilson, the newspaper explains.
In first quarter, the British management firm Rathbones has seen an increase of 2.6% to its assets, from GBP15.63bn to GBP16.04bn. This represents a 14.1% increase year on year. The firm earned operating profits of GBP33.9m, which represents a 12.3% improvement over first quarter 2010.
Jonathan Armitage, head of US large cap equities, is leaving Schroders after 19 years. He is returning to Australia for family reasons, according to a press release.Schroders has announced that Joanna Shatney, portfolio manager US large cap equities, will become head of US large cap equities with immediate effect. The team-based investment approach of the global and international equities team will remain unchanged. Virginie Maisonneuve, head of global and international equities, will continue to be the final decision maker on investment decisions for all global and international mandates.
In June Aberdeen is to launch a UK-listed emerging markets smaller companies investment trust – to be known as the Aberdeen Emerging Markets Smaller Companies Trust PLC. The trust will be managed by Aberdeen’s 35-strong emerging markets equity team including Devan Kaloo and Mark Gordon-James.
Inflation has a “good chance” of reaching 5% in the UK in 2011, the Bank of England says. Le Temps reports that this level has been called “uncomfortably high” by the governor of the bank, Mervyn King. In its quarterly report, published on Wednesday, the central bank predicts that inflation will reach its 2% target only in 2013.
Changement de cap pour le Crédit Agricole Centre Loire. Alina Ochinciuc, responsable de la gestion financière de la caisse s’explique: «Nous avons révisé en février, la politique d’investissement validée en décembre 2010, en décidant de dédier les excédents à la consolidation des réserves pour Bâle III plutôt qu'à l’achat d’OPCVM divers et variés comme nous l’avions décidé en faisant par exemple, des achats/vendus de trackers». La caisse s’est ainsi réorientée vers les OAT et les émissions de covered bonds pour poursuivre la consolidation de son portefeuille d’investissement avec la remontée des taux. «Ce type d’investissement est plus contraint que voulu car s’il n’y avait pas eu Bâle III, on n’aurait pas acheté d’OAT», poursuit Alina Ochinciuc. Pourtant, la caisse ne compte pas arbitrer tous ses OPCVM d’un coup mais a calculé le montant minimum de réserve dont la banque aura besoin en 2015 afin de monter en puissance. Elle attend ainsi, un rendement autour de 3% sur le portefeuille de placements qui contient beaucoup de monétaire et un rendement de 4,5% sur le portefeuille d’investissement. Enfin, la caisse qui vient de clore un de ses mandats avec une société partenaire externe au groupe, réfléchit à la poursuite des mandats ou à leur arrêt. Alina Ochinciuc observe: «Ce qui revient à reprendre 120 millions en gestion directe car ce ne sont pas des mandats très importants mais ça nous permettait de nous comparer, d’avoir un benchmark et un bout de pouvoir diversifiant».
The GAIA SRI index, launched in October 2009 by IDMidCaps and EthiFinance, with the support of SFAF and MiddleNext, in its first 17 months in existence has shown outperformance of 5 points over the CAC Mid & Small CMS 190, and 18 points over the CAC 40, with gains of 26%.The index is composed of 70 shares which received top ratings for their ESG (environmental, social and governance) performance, selected from over 233 midcaps from the industrial, services and retail sectors, representing 75% of the shares of the CMS 190.The results of the 2010 edition showed that the extension of the ratings to social and environmental aspects allowed small and midcaps which are the most advanced in their corporate social responsibility policies to share the top end of the rankings with larger caps.
Under an agreement reached on 11 May between the Chinese and US financial supervisory authorities as part of the Beijing Strategic and Economic Dialogue, foreign banks will be permitted to sell shares in Chinese investment funds in China. They will also be authorised to become custodians, Z-Ben Advisors reports. The measures should be put into regulatory texts by the end of the year, and will be applicable to all foreign firms, regardless of their country of origin, so long as they meet the stipulated conditions.So far, this is a general announcement without more precision as to the varieties of funds which will be allowed for sale, the public to which they will be destined, and the date on which the change will come into force. It is, however, apparent that the funds which will be authorised for sale will be products denominated in Chinese yuan, and registered for sale in China, from Chinese or joint venture asset management firms. However, branches of foreign banks will probably not be permitted to sell shares in funds “manufactured” abroad, even if they are denominated in yuan.
As of the end of April, assets under management at Julius Baer have increased 2% compared with the end of December 2010, at CHF173bn, the group has announced in a statement published on 12 May. Growth in net inflows was within the mid-term objective of 4% to 6% set by the group, with very good results in Germany. The operating ratio has improved slightly, compared with its level in the second half of 2010 (67.6%). The group says in a statement that a share buyback programme for up to CHF500m will be launched on 23 May.
“All the alpha with less beta” is the slogan chosen by AllianceBernstein for the AllianceBernstein European Flexible Equity Portfolio, a sub-fund of its Luxembourg Sicav launched on 31 January.The team, led by Michele Petri, will seek to generate equity-type returns by using an active and concentrated portfolio of 40-60 positions, with the exposure of the portfolio to equities markets adjusted dynamically. Its net long allocation will tend to rise when AllianceBernstein research suggests that outlooks for returns are increasing and risk is falling. Conversely, the manager will adopt a more defensive attitude when outlooks for returns are weaker and risks are rising.The market environment will determine the degree of exposure for the portfolio, steer sectoral allocation, and complement research which will also inform stock-picking from three major sectors: cyclical, financial and defensive shares.The portfolio of the absolute return fund will, however, have a net positive exposure to the equities markets, with dynamic adjustments undertaken via derivatives. Assets will be largely placed in European equities, but the manager is authorised to invest up to 20% of the portfolio opportunistically in other equities markets.CharacteristicsName: AB European Flexible Equity PortfolioISIN code: LU0590155247 (A share class, denominated in euros)Management commission: 1.5%Performance commission: 10%, with high watermark
Deutsche Börse has announced that it has admitted four new German-registered ETFs from the British provider ETF Securities to trading on the XTF segment of its Xetra electronic platform. Three of these funds are based on equities indices. They are the TFX Dow Jones Brookfield Global Infrastructure (DE000A1H8092), with fees of 0.60%, the ETFX Dow Jones Brookfield Emerging Markets Infrastructure (DE000A1H8084), with a management commission of 0.65%, and the ETFX Dow Jones Global Select Dividend Fund (DE000A1H81A3), for which the fees are 0.50%. The fourth product is the first ETF on the German stock market to allow investment in the volatility of European large caps of the Euro Stoxx 50 index. The fund is the ETFX-BofAML IVSTOXX ETF (DE000A1H81B1), with fees of 0.80%.
For legal reasons, the Frankfurt-based Credit Suisse Asset Management Immobilien KAG has been required to extend the redemption freeze which was put in place on 19 May 2010 for one year, until 19 May 2012. Karl-Heinz Heuß, CEO of the fund management firm, on 11 May declared that he was convinced that it will be possible to reopen redemptions by the end of this year.He has stated that the CS Euroreal fund was in a position to sell off five properties between December and the end of April, for a value of over EUR500m, all of them at a price over the market value declared for them at the end of September 2010. As a result, gross liquidity in the fund as of 30 April stood at EUR1.2bn, while net liquidity represented about EUR1bn, 16.8% of assets. Since the beginning of the redemption freeze, net liquidity has increased by EUR740m, or 12 percentage points.Currently, the asset management firm is in negotiations to sell other properties for about EUR800m. That would make it possible to bring available liquidity for redemptions up to 25%-30% of assets.
In April and in the first four months of the year, ETFs worldwide have posted record net inflows, totalling USD25.3bn last month, and USD67.2bn (of which Usd44.2bn were in Europe) in January-April, according to statistics published on Wednesday by BlackRock. The monthly increase in assets under management totaled USD70.4bn, a 5% increase.As of the end of April, total assets in the 2,670 ETF funds listed 6,021 times on 48 stock markets, from 140 providers, totalled USD1.4698trn, compared with USD1.3994trn the previous month (see Newsmanagers of 18 April), and USD1.1131trn as of the end of April 2010. Assets finished last year at USD1.3113trn.The top three providers remain unchanged: iShares (BlackRock) has 467 ETFs and Usd636.9bn in assets, for a market share of 43.3%. State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has 123 ETFs, with assets of USD210.2bn, and a market share of 14.3%. Vanguard, with 66 ETFs, has assets of USD173.1bn, and a market share of 11.8%.Currently, BlackRock states, there are plans to launch 1,055 new ETFs.
Raj Rajaratnam, co-founder of the hedge fund Galleon Group, has been found guilty of insider trading, the Financial Times reports. The jury found that he had made USD63m through the use of confidential information related to corporate results and acquisitions. Rajaratnam may receive up to 19 years in prison; he will be sentenced on 29 July. Meanwhile, Rajaratnam has been released from custody, with an electronic bracelet, on bail of USD100m. The Galleon founder’s lawyer says that the decision will be appealed.
The news of Raj Rajaratnam’s conviction came at a time when 1,700 professionals in the alternative management industry were meeting in Las Vegas for a conference known as SALT, the Wall Street Journal reports. “It’s bad for business,” admitted Donald Lucardi, a director in the Citigroup unit which sells hedge funds. Some think that the verdict will lead to stricter controls, particularly of long/short funds. Others see the verdict in a more positive light, noting that it could help clean up the industry.
L’Autorité des marchés financiers lance une consultation sur les modifications du Livre IV du règlement général transposant la directive OPCVM IV. Ces modifications portent notamment sur le remplacement du prospectus simplifié par un document clair et synthétique contenant des « informations clé pour l’investisseur ». Les réponses sont attendues pour le 6 juin.
Ecotel Chomette Favor (E.CF) vient d’être repris par Weinberg Capital Partners. Le groupe est aujourd’hui le leader de la distribution de petits matériels et consommables non alimentaires en France auprès des professionnels de la restauration et de l’hôtellerie. E.CF a réalisé sur l’exercice écoulé un chiffre d’affaires d’environ 130 millions d’euros (hors ventes des franchisés).
De grands noms du rachat à effet de levier, dont Carlyle, Blackstone et Bain Capital, s’intéressent à Securitas Direct, le spécialiste de la télésurveillance et des alarmes dont la valeur dépasserait 3 milliards de dollars. Selon Reuters, au moins sept fonds ont déposé des offres indicatives auprès d’EQT, le fonds suédois de la famille Wallenberg.
En réaction à des informations de presse, les dirigeants de Foncia se sont défendus hier d’avoir pris position contre le projet de rachat présenté par Bridgepoint et Eurazeo. Crédit Agricole, Goldman Sachs et Natixis ont mis en place un financement pouvant aller jusqu'à 500 millions d’euros pour soutenir l’offre de rachat du tandem, selon Reuters.
L’Italie doit mettre en œuvre un train de mesures exhaustif afin que la péninsule puisse exprimer son potentiel de croissance, a déclaré hier le FMI. «La croissance est principalement imputable aux exportations, mais elle reste modeste, et seul un programme de grande ampleur permettra à l’Italie d’exprimer son potentiel de croissance». L'économie italienne reste entravée par une série d’obstacles structurels qui font d’elle l’une des plus apathiques en Europe depuis plus d’une décennie. «Des réformes rapides et fermes doivent être prises pour éviter une nouvelle décennie de stagnation», juge le Fonds qui met la faiblesse de la croissance sur le compte des disparités régionales, des lourdeurs fiscales et de l’inefficacité des services publics. Le gouvernement a abaissé le mois dernier sa prévision de croissance pour 2011 à 1,1% contre 1,3%. Pour 2012, il ne table plus que sur 1,3% au lieu de 2,0%.
Le fonds de capital investissement détient 12,91% du capital du groupe de casinos Partouche après souscription à l’augmentation de capital réservée du groupe de casinos, a indiqué hier l’AMF.
Alors qu’il occupait depuis l’an dernier les fonctions de directeur chargé de mission auprès de Carlos Ghosn, après avoir été entre 2004 et 2010 directeur général adjoint et directeur financier de Renault, Thierry Moulonguet doit annoncer tout prochainement qu’il rejoint Oddo Corporate Finance en tant que senior advisor. Il est par ailleurs administrateur de Fimalac et de Valeo.
Le gestionnaire alternatif envisagerait de ses retirer de la Bourse en raison d’un afflux massif de demandes de rachats de parts des investisseurs. Les actifs se sont littéralement évaporés à l’échéance de la période de blocage de trois ans des titres au sein de son fonds vedette. Déjà début 2011 les actifs avaient chuté à un milliard de dollars contre 7 milliards au plus haut en 2007.
La Banque d’Angleterre a relevé sa prévision d’inflation à moyen terme à un peu plus de 1,9% dans son rapport de mai, ouvrant potentiellement la voie à une hausse de ses taux directeurs en novembre. Dans son précédent rapport de février, la banque centrale tablait sur un taux d’inflation à deux ans de 1,6%.