La BaFin a délivré un agrément de commercialisation en Allemagne au fonds diversifié Arty, pour Absolute Return Total Yield (code ISIN: FR0010611293), lancé fin mai 2008 par la Financière de l’Echiquier. Ce fonds de quelque 140 millions d’euros peut investir en actions et en obligations d’entreprises européennes. Il est géré par Olivier de Berranger.

La banque directe DAB Bank a annoncé le 4 avril qu’elle propose désormais des plans d'épargne en ETF sans frais de transactions pour des fonds de ComStage (Commerzbank) tout comme elle le faisait déjà pour des plans d'épargne en ETF de db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank). En outre, le nombre de plans d'épargne en ETF de ComStage disponibles passe de 25 à 67 unités.L’offre DAB Bank de plans d'épargne en ETF porte sur 207 produits de 7 promoteurs, dont 145 plans sans frais de transactions, a indiqué Gerhard Martin, directeur de la clientèle privée.

Schroder Property a annoncé le 4 avril la nomination de Nick Scott, en qualité de responsable des transactions retail et de la gestion des actifs du Schroder Exempt Property Unit Trust.Nick Scott travaillait précédemment chez NewRiver Retail. Les actifs sous gestion de Schroders dans l’immobilier s'élevaient à plus de 11 milliards d’euros à fin décembre 2010.

Andrew Graham va rejoindre Jason McCay et Richard Evans à la tête de sa stratégie dédiée à la zone Asie-Pacifique hors Japon, le Martin Currie Asia Pacific Fund, a indiqué le 5 avril la société de gestion britannique.Précédemment chez Putnam Investments, Andrew Graham avait rejoint Martie Currie en mai 2010 pour s’occuper de la recherche et de la construction de portefeuille. Environ 50% des actifs sous gestion de Martin Currie sont investis dans des actions de la zone Asie-Pacifique, soit plus de 6 milliards d’euros.

Eaton Vance annonce le recrutement de Rodrigo Soto en tant que vice président responsable de la clientèle institutionnelle. Il sera basé à Seattle et couvrira les régions Etats-Unis de l’ouest et Canada. Auparavant, l’intéressé était head of institutionnal sales Etats-Unis de l’ouest chez State Street Global Advisors.

Le new-yorkais Van Eck Global a annoncé le 5 avril le lancement du Market Vectors Germany Small-Cap ETF (acronyme GERJ sur NYSE Arca) qui va répliquer la performance du Markets Vectors Germany Small-Cap Index composé au 8 mars d’actions de 95 petites capitalisations allemandes avec une capitalisation boursière moyenne de 1,2 milliard de dollars. Cet indice est la propriété exclusive de 4asset-management GmbH, qui a chargé Structured Solutions AG de calculer l’indice. Le nouvel ETF est chargé à 0,55 %.

BNY Mellon a nommé plusieurs responsables de son offre Derivatives360SM, un produit qui vise à aider les investisseurs à exécuter et gérer leurs transactions sur les dérivés. Jonathan Wowler a été nommé business manager pour la région Europe, Moyen-Orient et Afrique ainsi que pour l’Asie Pacifique. Chris Colemen occupera le même poste pour les régions Amérique du Nord et Amérique latine. Enfin, Laure Scala devient chief administrative officer.

Columbia Management (groupe Ameriprise Financial) a annoncé le lancement de deux fonds multi stratégies à performance absolue. Le Columbia Absolute Return Multi-Strategy Fund vise une performance équivalente à celle des obligations investment grade mais avec une volatilité moindre et une faible corrélation à l’indice Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond. Le Columbia Absolute Return Multi-Strategy Enhanced Fund a pour objectif de réaliser une performance égale à celle de la performance historique des actions, tout en réduisant la volatilité et la corrélation à l’indice S&P 500.

Comme nous l’avions annoncé en novembre dernier, Petercam lance un compartiment sur le secteur des métaux et des mines appelé Petercam Equities Metals & Mining. Il complète la gamme de produits de la société de gestion belge consacrés au thème des matières premières, déjà composée du Petercam Equities Energy, et du Petercam Equities Agrivalue et renommée pour l’occasion EMMA.Ce nouveau compartiment de la Sicav belge Petercam B Fund sera investi dans des actions de sociétés du monde entier qui, directement ou indirectement, sont actives dans la chaîne de valeur des métaux et des mines au sens large, ainsi que dans les secteurs apparentés. Cela concernera donc les entreprises présentes dans l’exploitation minière, la production et la vente de produits finis, sachant que les métaux couvrent aussi bien les métaux précieux comme l’or, l’argent et le platine, les métaux de base comme le cuivre et l’aluminium et d’autres minéraux industriels de type charbon et potasse. Les entreprises actives dans le recyclage de métaux ou les fabricants de machines et outils, les transporteurs et les sociétés de services aux mines et à l’industrie métallurgique pourront également faire partie du portefeuille.En revanche, le Petercam Equities Metals & Mining ne pourra pas investir directement dans des métaux ni dans des contrats à terme ou produits dérivés (comme les futures) sur des métaux. Petercam Equities Metals & Mining sera géré activement, selon la même philosophie que les deux autres compartiments de la gamme matières premières. Le portefeuille sera concentré autour de 50 à 100 titres, avec un focus sur les petites et moyennes capitalisations, même si il n’existe aucune restriction en termes de capitalisation boursière. Petercam Equities Metals & Mining sera géré par Alexandre Weinberg, un analyste agréé Certifed Financial Analyst (CFA), actif de 2006 à mi-2010 en tant qu’analyste sell-side chez Petercam, au sein de l’équipe EMMA. Le co-gérant sera Guy Lerminiaux, CIO Equities et administrateur délégué de Petercam.

Tradition, la marque commerciale de Compagnie Financière Tradition SA (Inter Dealer Broker), a annoncé, mercredi 6 avril, que Credit Suisse a rejoint neuf autres banques mondiales dont BNP Paribas, Citi, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, Société Générale, Royal Bank of Scotland et UBS, en qualité de partenaire fondateur en streaming de Trad-X. Selon un communiqué, tous ces partenaires ont indiqué vouloir soutenir Trad-X, une plateforme entièrement électronique destinée à la négociation de gré à gré de produits dérivés de multiples classes d’actifs. Bâtie sur une technologie «propriétaire», elle est dotée de fonctionnalités hybrides étendues entièrement automatisées, à faible latence, avant tout de nature à générer une liquidité importante.

Huit hedge funds étrangers ont renoncé à l’action en justice par laquelle ils réclamaient des dommages pour 17,35 milliards d’euros à UniCredit et d’autres entités, a annoncé mardi la banque italienne. Cette dernière n’avait en fait rien provisionné car elle estimait que cette plainte n’était pas fondée. Le problème est qu’UniCredit a d’autres procès en cours, commente Il Sole – 24 Ore. Et que le fonds pour risques et charges de 1 ,4 milliard d’euros mis en place par la banque pourrait ne pas suffire.

Saxo Bank A/S a annoncé avoir acquis pour 15 couronnes danoises par titre près de 5,13 millions d’actions du portail financier Euroinvestor.com auprès de JCA Holding ApS et de Soeren Alminde Holding ApS. De la sorte, Saxo Bank détient 69 % d’Euroinvestor.com et se propose de soumettre aux minoritaires une offre d’achat de leurs titres aux mêmes conditions sous quatre semaines. Euroinvestor.com restera coté sur la Bourse Nasdaq OMX de Copenhague.

Saxo Bank A/S has announced that it has acquired nearly 5.13 million shares in the financial portal Euroinvestor.com from JCA Holding ApS and Soeren Almine Holding ApS, for DEK15 per share. Saxo Bank now owns 69% of Euroinvestor.com, and is planning to submit an offer to minority shareholders to buy their shares at the same conditions within the next four weeks.Euroinvestor.com will continue to be traded on the Nasdaq OMX stock exchange in Copenhagen.

Andrew Graham will join Jason McCay and Richard Evans as head of the strategy dedicated to Asia-Pacific ex Japan, the Martin Currie Asia Pacific Fund, the UK fund management firm announced on 5 April. Graham, who was previously at Putnam Investments, joined Martin Currie in May 2010, to handle research and portfolio construction. About 50% of assets under management at Martin Currie, or about EUR6bn, are invested in equities from the Asia-Pacific region.

Schroder Property on 4 April announced the appointment of Nick Scott as head of retail and asset management transactions at Schroder Exempt Property Unit Trust. Scott had previously worked at NewRiver Retail. Assets under management at Schroders in real estate totalled over EUR11bn as of the end of December 2010.

As we announced in November last year, Petercam is launching a sub-fund focused on the mining and minerals sector, entitled Petercam Equities Metals & Mining. The fund is an addition to the product range from the Belgian asset management firm dedicated to the theme of commodities, which already includes Petercam Equities Energy and Petercam Equities Agrivalue. The range will be known as EMMA. The new sub-fund of the Belgian Petercam B Fund Sicav will invest in equities from companies worldwide which are directly or indirectly active in the value chain for metal mining in the broader sense, as well as in related sectors. This will include businesses which are active in the operation of mines, and the production and sale of finished products; the metals in question include precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum, and industrial metals such as copper and aluminium, and other industrial minerals such as carbon and potassium. Businesses which are active in recycling of metals, and makers of machines and tools, as well as transporters and services to the mining and metallurgical industries may also be included in the portfolio. However, the Petercam Equities Metals & Mining fund may not invest directly in metals, nor in futures or derivatives based on these metals. Petercam Equities Metals & Mining will be actively managed, with the same philosophy as the other two sub-funds of the commodities range. The portfolio will be concentrated on 50 to 100 positions, with a focus on small and midcaps, although there is no restriction in terms of cap size. Petercam Equities Metals & Mining will be managed by Alexandre Weinberg, a licensed CFA analyst, who from 2006 to mid-2010 was active as a sell-side analyst at Petercam, in the EMMA team. The co-manager will be Guy Lerminiaux, CIO Equities and deputy director of Petercam.

According to the white-label fund management firm Minerva Investments, the principality of Liechtenstein will complete its transposition of the UCITS IV directive into local law by this summer. A bill presented to Parliament will permit the launch of all types of products laid out by the European directive in Liechtenstein, and will reduce time to market to only 10 days.The version of the bill presented to the legislative body allows fund promoters to abstain from holding general shareholders’ meetings for Sicav funds.In addition, local Sicavs and investment funds are already exempt from withholding tax on all capital gains.

According to the latest quarterly bulletin from the CNMV, aggregate profits at Spanish fund management firms, which fell by 50% in 2009, rose 24.5% in 2010, to a total of EUR294m, although the number of firms showing a loss as of 31 December rose by 34 compared with 31 December 2009, and total assets contracted by 13%, to EUR178bn.

After seven years at Pioneer Investments Germany, where he was most recently head of German and Luxembourg institutional client relationship management, Markus Rottler has joined Threadneedle Investments, as sales director for distribution via savings banks, and head of key accounts for wholesale distribution and institutional clients.Rottler will report directly to Werner Kolitsch, head of Germany and Austria.

In January-February, German open-ended securities funds overall saw net outflows of EUR1.5386bn (see Newsmanagers of 5 April). Among the major asset management firms, Allianz Global Investors saw net outflows of EUR2.1691bn, of which EUR581.5m for Pimco, while Deka (German savings banks) saw net outflows of EUR1.7196bn, and Union Investment (co-operative banks) had net redemptions of EUR220.6m.However, the DWS/DB Advisors/DB Guppe (Deutsche Bank) family saw net subscriptions of EUR645.9m, of which EUR43.8m went to ETFs from db x-trackers.Among the other ETF promoters, BlackRock saw net inflows of EUR573.1m for iShares products, and ComStage (Commerzbank) posted net subscriptions of EUR88.9m. But ETFs from ETFlab (Deka) naw net redemptions of EUR328.3m.

The financial product distributor DVAG, whose network includes over 37,000 independent financial advisers, in 2010 earned record profits of EUR150.1m, which represents an 8.1% increase over 2009, although earnings fell 2.8% to EUR1.07bn. The firm announced on 5 April that about 80% of its life insurance and retirement insurance policies intermediated by advisers are unit-linked. The volume intermediated in these areas in 2010 increased by 12% to EUR2.5bn, for a total up 13.7% to EUR15.5bn.

Eight foreign hedge funds have withdrawn their lawsuit seeking EUR17.35bn in damages from UniCredit and other entities, the Italian bank announced on Tuesday. The bank had not set any money aside for the claims, as it considered the lawsuit unfounded. The problem is that UniCredit is still named in other legal actions, Il Sole – 24 Ore remarks, and the EUR1.4bn set aside by the bank to cover potential costs may not be enough.

Phitrust Active Investors, a specialist in shareholder engagement, will be launching a Sicav in the next few months which encourages the development of social business strategies at major European businesses belonging to the Eurostoxx 50. Social business, also known as “bottom of the pyramid” strategy, is an activity which aims to improve a social or ecological issue. The most emblematic example is probably the case of Danone, which in Bangladesh is producing a low-price, vitamin-enriched yoghurt for children with dietary deficiencies. “To be a genuine social business, these activities need to design custom products for local markets, dedicated to disadvantaged clients at a low price. The question of whether the activities should be profitable is an open one, but in my opinion it is preferable to ensure the survival of the activity,” explains Luis Sanchez de Lozada, legal head of Phitrust. Of the businesses of the Euroztoxx 50, ten firms are seriously engaged in this type of activity, Sanchez de Lozada estimates. In the new Sicav, companies will be given an overweight position compared with their weight in the index, once they are identified. The Social Business Active Investors fund is a “tilted” index-based Sicav, like its elder sibling Proxy Active Investors. In other words, the portfolio is invested in all the shares of the index, and businesses are overweight or underweight depending on their activities in the area of social business. The Sicav will be launched once Phitrust Active Investors has collected EUR20m from institutional investors.

The New York fund manager Van Eck Global on 5 April announced the launch of the Market Vectors Germany Small-Cap ETF (acronym GERJ on NYSE Arca), which will replicate the performance of the Market Vectors Germany Small-Cap Index, which as of 8 March was composed of shares in 95 German small caps with an average market capitalisation of USD1.2bn. The index is the exclusive property of 4asset-management GmbH, which has retained Structured Solutions AG to calculate the index.The new ETF charges 0.55%.

CPR Asset Management, an affiliate of Amundi, in mid-January converted its CPR Monétaire fund into a socially responsible money market fund. The fund, now known as CPR Monétaire SR, is a euro money market fund which aims for returns 10 basis points higher than the capitalised Eonia, and is managed according to socially responsible investment criteria. Governments, in order to be included in the portfolio, are required to respect six social, environmental and governance criteria. They must be signatories of the convention on human rights, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention, and the Kyoto Protocol; they must have legal frameworks for fighting corruption and discrimination, under the Kyoto protocol; and lastly, child labour and forced labour must be illegal. For businesses, a “best-in-class” process is used. The portfolio includes only issuers with the best ratings in each sector. The fund, with EUR123m in assets as of 31 March 2011, with a recommended investment horizon of over three months, is part of the money markets product range from CPR AM, which has been polished up to meet the requirements of new regulations. In terms of risk and investment horizon, the new product falls between the short-term euro money market fund CPR Cash (EUR4.5bn) and the money market fund CPR Moné Carry (EUR718m). The first of these, whose piority is liquidity, aims for performance equivalent to the Eonia, while the second, with a six-month horizon, aims for the capitalised Eonia plus 20 basis points. The last fund in the range is the CPR Oblig 12 mois, a fund of bonds and other international securities, which aims for the capitalised Eonia + 40 basis points, with a recommended horizon of 12 months.

Columbia Management (Ameriprise Financial group) has announced the launch of two absolute return multi-strategy funds. The Columbia Absolute Return Multi-Strategy Fund aimes for returns equivalent to those of investment grade bonds, but with lower volatility and lower correlation to the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond index. The Columbia Absolute Return MultiStrategy Enhanced Fund aims to earn returns equal to the track record for equities, while reducing volatility and correlation to the S&P 500 index.

The Spanish high net worth investor Alicia Koplowitz, whose wealth is estimated at over EUR1.6bn, may be pleased with the performance of her hedge fund management firm, Omega Capital, whose Irish hedge fund Cerrado Fund last year posted gains of 12.5%, Expansión reports.Omega Capital, led by Oscar Fanjul, former chairman of Repsol, and Alberto Ruiz, manages over EUR750m in seven hedge funds, and half of that total comes from Koplowitz. The returns from other major hedge funds from Omega Capital are 2.2% for Laredo, 3.6% for Fractal and 5.2% for Alphaville.

Deutsche Börse has introduced risk control indices which provide a way to manage risks related to the benchmark index for the German market, on the basis of a hypothetical portfolio including an allocation to shares of the Dax as well as a money market allocation to the Eonia. The indices may be revised on a daily basis. The stock market company is offering several configurations, associated with volatility levels of 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%.

BaFin has issued a sales license for Germany to the diversified fund Arty, an abbreviation for Absolute Return Total Yield (ISIN code: FR0010611293), launched in late May 2008 by Financière de l’Echiquier. The fund, with about EUR140m in assets, may invest in European equities and corporate bonds. It is managed by Olivier de Berranger.

The direct bank DAB Bank on 4 April announced that it is now offering ETF savings plans with no transaction fees for ComStage funds (Commerzbank), as it already does for ETF savings plans from db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank). The number of available ComStage ETF savings plans has risen from 25 to 67.The DAB Bank range of ETF savings plans includes 207 products from 7 providers, of which 145 are plans with no transaction fees, says Gerhard Martin, director of private clients.