Sigma Gestion, qui gère actuellement quelque 120 millions d’euros d’encours, table sur une progression de l’ordre de 25% de ses actifs d’ici début 2012, rapporte L’Agefi. Pour y parvenir, la société de gestion étudie le lancement d’un FCPR à destination des investisseurs institutionnels.Sigma Gestion cherche également à réaliser de la croissance externe en vue d’intégrer une ou plusieurs autres sociétés de gestion sur des thématiques différentes des siennes, à l’image par exemple des actions cotées. Selon le président de Sigma Gestion, Emmanuel Simonneau, des discussions sont menées actuellement avec une société sur ce sujet, qui gère exclusivement pour des family offices, précise le quotidien.

Phitrust Active Investors aura perdu son pari. Celui de présenter la première résolution d’actionnaires portant sur l’environnement en France, en l’occurrence à l’assemblée générale de Total du 13 mai 2011. Vendredi dernier, la société de gestion spécialisée dans l’engagement actionnarial annonçait pourtant qu’elle avait réussi à réunir 0,68 % du capital de Total, soit 16,1 millions de titres. Cela lui permettait, selon elle, de déposer son projet de résolution proposant la modification de l’article 14 des statuts de la société visant à obtenir une communication renforcée sur les risques environnementaux et sociaux liés à ses activités d’exploitation des sables bitumineux. Mais au dernier moment, un actionnaire a renoncé à s’associer à Phitrust, laquelle s’est retrouvée avec moins de 0,5 % du capital, le seuil légal nécessaire pour déposer une résolution. «Lundi 28 mars en début d’après-midi, l’un des dirigeants de Total, nous a appris qu’un co-déposant important aurait retiré sa demande d’inscription de cette résolution, contribuant ipso facto à faire passer le nombre de titres présenté au-dessous du seuil légal», commentent les dirigeants de Phitrust dans un communiqué. «Nous regrettons cette situation, dont nous n’avions pas été informés, et de ce qu’elle exprime comme méfiance de la part de Total face à toute forme de débat approfondi avec ses actionnaires. Depuis la création de notre sicav Proxy Active Investors, après 26 dépôts de résolutions, c’est la première fois que des actionnaires retirent leur dépôt après l’avoir présenté à la société émettrice», ajoutent-ils.En effet, d’autres investisseurs avaient déjà abandonné la partie. Ainsi, le 17 mars, date limite légale du dépôt de la résolution, Phitrust disposait des engagements écrits de 19 investisseurs, représentant 0,905% du capital de la société. Mais le 23 mars, un des co-déposants représentant 5,2 millions d’actions (0,22% du capital) avait annoncé sa décision de retirer sa demande d’inscription à l’ordre du jour de cette résolution.Bien que déçus, les dirigeants de Phitrust indiquent être «certains que ce projet de résolution aura contribué à faire naître le débat avec les actionnaires de Total sur ses projets d’investissements dans les sables bitumineux, et que par ailleurs, il aura montré que l’engagement formel des actionnaires sur des sujets environnementaux et sociétaux commence à se concrétiser».

L’annonce de H24 Finance selon laquelle l'équipe commerciale de Fidelity à Paris devrait enregistrer l’arrivée de Mathieu Duballet, en provenance de la plateforme Sélection R dédiée aux conseillers en gestion de patrimoine indépendants, où il occupait, jusqu'à présent, des fonctions commerciales a été confirmée par la société gestion. Précisément, l’intéressé rejoint l'établissement en tant que responsable commercial distribution.

There is a high correlation between good capital management and returns, according to the 2011 Morningstar study of fund management (http://global.morningstar.com/2011StewardshipGrades). The Morningstar Stewardship Grade may be used as an advance indicator for investors seeking to determine whether a manager will responsibly manage their capital, and whether he or she will give priority to shareholders in funds, says Laura Pavlenko, one of the authors of the Morningstar study. Morningstar adds that it does not intend to impose the rating as the only tool for this purpose, but merely as a useful reference in decision-making. The study finds that the best-rated funds (A or B) have the best chances of long-term survival. These funds are also the ones which will produce the best risk/return tradeoff.

In the five months to the end of February, Aberdeen Asset Management has seen net redemptions of GBP578m, compared with net redemptions of GBP3.6bn one year previously. The asset management firm saw GBP811m of outflows in the last three months of last year, but has posted net inflows of GBP233m since the beginning of this year. “We are continuing to attract new investments for our emerging markets equities and global equities funds, while the level of outflows from bonds has slowed considerably,” Aberdeen AM says. The management firm also states that it has won mandates worth GBP2.7bn, but that these have not yet been taken into account. The equities mandates in question come to GBP1.5bn, while the others are for real estate (GBP0.8bn) and bonds (GBP0.4bn). Overall, assets under management as of 28 February totalled GBP176.2bn, down compared with GBP178.7bn in September 2010.

Société Générale affiliate Lyxor is preparing to launch a retail product in Hong Kong that can invest long and short across more than 50 global futures markets. The new Lyxor Epsilon Managed Futures Fund cleared the local regulator on February 22. China Construction Bank Asia and Convoy Asset Management have already agreed to add the product to their platforms. Negociations with other distributors are ongoing.

Net inflows at HSBC Private Bank Switzerland totalled over CHF8.5bn in 2010, Agefi Switzerland reports. The vast majority of this total, CHF5bn, comes from Asia, primarily China. However, inflows are also coming from Latin America (CHF1.1bn), the Middle East (CHF700m) and some regions of Europe.The bank’s investment strategy has generated positive returns of CHF6bn on the markets, excluding currency effects. Combined with net inflows of capital, this positive result was, however, not enough to fully compensate for the negative impact of the franc, which has resulted in a net reduction in assets under management of CHF3bn, or 2%, for a total of CHF186bn as of the end of 2010.The electronic data theft case has continued to have an impact on the bank’s annual balance sheet. In terms of losses in Europe, redemptions totalled CHF600m in first half, for an annual total estimated at CHF1.6bn.

Harald Huhn will be retiring on 1 June, and will be replaced as head of the corporate pensions division of the German financial services provider MLP by Ralf Raube, already a member of the board of directors at the division since November 2004. Raube will also be a member of the executive board at MLP. In his new role, he will also be in charge of the Hamburg-based affiliate TPC, which contributes about 10% of pension business volume at MLP.

On 22 March, the SIX Swiss stock exchange added two more ETFs from Lyxor Asset Management to trading, both of them French-registered products. The first of these is the Lyxor ETF iBoxx $ Liquid Emerging Markets Sovereigns (FR0010967323), which replicates the Markit iBoxx USD Liquid Emerging Markets Souvereings Total Return index, and which charges fees of 0.30%. The other is the Lyxor ETF iBoxx EUR Liquid High Yield 30, based on the Markit iBoxx EUR Liquid High Yield 30 Total Return Index, with a management commission of 0.45%.

The Danish pension funds PensionDanmark and PKA have joined forces to acquire 50% of an offshore wind farm (30% from the former and 20% from PKA), from the public company DONG Energy A/S, for a total of about DEK6bn, or about EUR804.6m, Responsible Investor reports. The two funds, with assets under management of about EUR30bn, have signed a 15-year contract with DONG for the activity and maintenance of the farm, which will provide about 4% of Denmark’s annual power needs.

Phitrust Active Investors has not succeeded in its campaign to present the first shareholder resolution to deal with environmental issues in France, which would have gone to a vote at the Total general shareholders’ meeting on 13 May 2011.On Friday last week, the asset management firm specialised in shareholder engagement announced that it had succeeded in uniting 0.68% of capital in Total, or 16.1 million shares, behind its cause. It claims that would have allowed it to propose a resolution to modify article 14 of the firm’s statutes, to obtain increased disclosure to environmental and social risks related to its operation of oil shale mines.But at the last moment, a shareholder withdrew its support for Phitrust, which then wound up with less than 0.5% of capital, the minimum to propose a resolution, behind it.

The European fund and asset management association (EFAMA) on 29 March announced an increase of about 20% in its corporate member rolls in the past six months. Among the new members are Baillie Gifford & Co., Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild SA, F&C Asset Management, Garanti Asset Management, Investec Asset Management, La Banque Postale Asset Management, Man Group, Royal London Asset Management, Russell Invetments, T. Rowe Price Global Investment Services and UFG-LFP. The professional association, which had 53 members as of the end of March, has also created an associate member status. Since its introduction last September, 17 organisations have joined EFAMA with this category of membership. EFAMA also includes 26 national associations and one national association with observer status. In total, EFAMA members have EUR13.5trn in assets under management, of which EUR8trn are invested in 53,000 funds (as of the end of 2010).

According to VDOS Stochastics, in the week following the earthquake, assets in Japanese equities funds from Spanish asset management firms shrank by EUR54.56m, or 30% of their total the previous week, Cinco Días reports. Of this total, net redemptions represented EUR50.76m, and losses accounted for the remaining EUR3.8m.The worst-affected product was the BBVA Bolsa Indice Japón, whose assets fell by 41%, and which lost 11%. The Sabadell BS Japón Bolsa also saw a 28% decline in its assets under management.

The CNMV on 25 February issued licenses for three funds created on 19 January by Inversis Gestión, for which the best funds from the French asset management firm Carmignac Gestion, and the British firms JP Morgan asset Management (JPMAM) and Morgan Stanley Investment Management will be selected. The three management firms are each the advisor of the corresponding product, Best Carmignac (ES0114572003), Best JP Morgan AM (ES0114524004) and Best Morgan Stanley (ES0145808004).Ordinarily, the portfolio of each fund with daily liquidity will be invested 75% to 100% in funds from the asset management firm concerned, but up to 10% may “residually” be placed in funds from other issuers.In all three cases, Inversis will directly apply a management commission of 1.35%, and a performance commission of 9%. Indirect fees for the fund will total 1% of assets and 2% of performance, as a net total after payment of indirect management and performance commissions for the portion invested in the funds from Carmignac, JPMAM and Morgan Stanley, respectively.

Prosecutors claim that Rengan Rajaratnam covered for the fraudulent activities of his brother, Raj Rajaratnam, the head of the Galleon hedge fund accused of insider trading and currently in preventive detention, the Wall Street Journal reports. He is accused of removing handwritten notebooks dealing with shares traded by Galleon from his brother’s office thus participating in an alleged coverup.

GAM has launched a UCITS III-compliant version of its fund of hedge funds GAM Trading, aimed at retail investors, Investment Week reports. The new fund, GAM Star Trading, is domiciled in Dublin, and managed by David Smith, chief investment director and head of multi-management activities at GAM. The fun was launched in response to rising demand from investors for macro and managed futures strategies, within a clear regulatory framework.

Several of the world’s biggest trend following hedge funds – which use complex computer algorithms - have been hit by volatile Asian markets after the Japanese earthquake, according to the Financial Times.Graham Capital in the US saw its USD4bn flagship fund lose around USD300m, down just under 8 per cent, over the first two weeks of the month. In London Winton Capital, which manages around USD17bn, saw its flagship fund drop 3.6 per cent midmonth.AHL, run by Man Group, is down just under 4 per cent this month.

The US asset management firm Vanguard (USD1.6trn in assets in mutual funds, including USD152bn in ETFs) has notified the SEC that it plans to launch the Vanguard Emerging Markets Select Stock Fund, an actively-managed fund, as an addition to its tracker fund specialised in emerging markets.The equities fund will be divided into four allocations of 25% each, which will be given to different advisers: they are M&G Investment Management, Oaktree Capital Management, Pzena Investment Management and Wellington Management Company. Each adviser will have a free hand to use its own strategy.Minimal initial subscription is set at USD3,000, and the fund will be available to retail investors only directly from Vanguard. There will be a 2% penalty for withdrawal before 60 days.

The British fund of fund management firm T. Bailey Asset Management on 28 March announced that Jason Britton, who had worked for the firm since its inception in 1999 and who was its CIO, has decided to leave the firm and take a break.Richard Martin, who was himself CIO of T. Bailey AM at its creation, and who had moved to a position as strategic advisor since retiring from day-to-day management in 2008, will become senior fund manager, and will cooperate closely with the fund manager Elloit Farley.T. Bailey says that it has already begun the search for a new senior management team member.The firm also says that Michael Hughes, who was CIO of Baring Asset Management, and who is non-executive director of T. Bailey, will play a more prominent role in asset allocation decision-making.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports that on Thursday next week, a board member in charge of capital markets at Deka, Walter Groll, may not be reappointed for a fresh term, when his current term ends on 30 June. Groll may be paying the price for an operation in which Deka signed an agreement for securities repurchase with foreign investors, where all the legal deadlines had apparently not been respected, which led to losses for the central management firm for the German savings banks of EUR50m in 2010 (see Newsmanagers of 14 March). The securities repurchase agreement would have allowed Deka to be reimbursed by the German tax authorities for withholding tax on dividends which foreign investors were not liable to pay. According to calculations by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the transactions in question could have involved as much as EUR18bn in equities.

Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), the affiliate of the Bank of Norway which manages the country’s sovereign funds, including the Government Pension Fund - Global (GPFG), has granted the Spanish management firm Bestinver Gestión (Acciona group) a mandate to manage a portion of its investments in Spain, which represent a total of EUR5.5bn as of the end of December, Funds People reports, citing Expansión. Meanwhile, NBIM is seeking a local manager to handle its investments in the Spanish savings banks, which will soon debut on the stock markets. It is not yet known whether Bestinver will participate in the bidding in this second call for offers. NBIM had previously managed its Spanish investments internally.

Bluerating reports that Banca Leonardo is seeking a buyer. The candidates for the acquisition are said to include Banca Esperia, which is owned by Mediobanca and Mediolanum.

Carmignac Gestion has recruited Simon Lovat as a commodities analyst. The addition to the team dedicated to commodities, which is led by David Field, comes at a time when one of the privileged themes for the asset management firm is increasing demand for natural resources worldwide under conditions of limited supply, a statement says.With 10 years of experience in the financial sector, for the past five years Lovat has co-managed a commodities fund at the entrepreneurial firm Gaia Capital Advisors, in Geneva.

Moody’s has revised its outlooks for US asset management firms up from negative to stable, due to improved results and solid balance sheets at these businesses, Financial Times Fund Management reports. The fact that the reuglatory situation is more clear has also helped. Outlooks had been listed as negative since April 2008.

AXA on 28 March kicked off the Global Forum for Longevity, an initiative to encourage sharing of knowledge and organizing on the topic of longevity. The Global Forum for Longevity, conceived as a space for debate and exchange between researchers, experts and decision-makers, is hoping to promote a more positive vision of longevity, working on opportunities which longevity gives rise to that are not yet adequately exploited (see article in this issue of Newsmanagers).On the occasion, AXA announced that the AXA research fund (Fonds AXA pour le Recherche) has set the goal of dedicating EUR10m over two years to financing projects to bring about better understanding and control of the consequences of the lengthening human life span. The AXA research fund already permits over 50 researchers and research teams in France and throughout Europe to develop a common knowledge base on the subject of longevity.“I am convinced that lengthening life expectancy represents one of the most important challenges for the 21st century, both for developed economies and for emerging ones. Due to its business, AXA is a privileged observer of demographic and social evolution worldwide. It is our responsibility to stimulate sharing of knowledge in order to allow businesses to better understand the challenges this demographic revolution presents, and to fully benefit from the opportunities it presents,” said Henri de Castries, president and CEO of AXA.

Le groupe de gestion d’actifs a choisi de lancer UFG European Fund of Funds, le premier fonds de fonds immobilier non coté, à destination des institutionnels français. Fonds fermé, à l’issue d’une période de commercialisation de 12 mois, avec une durée de vie comprise entre 7 et 10 ans, le fonds a été structuré en Sicav contractuelle de droit français. Le capital de départ s’élève à 23 millions d’euros et le fonds vise un objectif de distribution annuelle supérieure à 4%.

Le fonds de private equity rachète la société de services d’ambulance et de protection incendie pour 438 millions de dollars en numéraire. Les actionnaires de Rural Metro recevront 17,25 dollars par titre, ce qui représente une prime de 37% par rapport au cours de clôture de vendredi. Les sociétés telles que Rural Metro devraient bénéficier des restrictions budgétaires qui contraignent les municipalités américaines à externaliser leurs services d’urgence à des prestataires privés.

Après trois semaines de pause, la Banque centrale européenne a annoncé avoir racheté pour 432 millions d’euros d’obligations publiques de pays de la zone euro la semaine dernière. Le montant total des titres rachetés par la BCE depuis le lancement de ce programme au printemps dernier atteint 76,5 milliards d’euros.

Le premier ministre japonais, Naoto Kan, a déclaré au Parlement qu’il n’écartait aucune option pour financer le coût du tremblement de terre et du tsunami ayant ravagé le pays, tout en limitant l’impact sur la dette qui pèse déjà près de 200% du PIB. Une hausse des impôts est envisagée, ainsi que le retrait du plan de baisse de l’impôt sur les sociétés, même si Naoto Kan précise que pour le moment, rien n’est décidé.