p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } «Value» asset manager Brandes Investment Partners (USD47.8bn as of the end of 2010) on 1 February announced that it is launching a mutual fund, Emerging Markets Equity Fund, which will invest, as its name indicates, in emerging markets.The product, focused exclusively on valuations, is aimed at investors with a long-term horizon, with the objective of not overpaying for growth potential in emerging markets.In addition, the seven-member management team is authorised to overweight particularly promising countries or sectors, or to abstain from investing in countries or sectors which lack a convincing outlook.Management fees are 1.12% for I-class shares, and 1.37% for S class shares.
Curtis Adams, the head of Mizuho’s London proprietary trading team, has left the bank with a team of traders to launch a hedge fund, Ovington Capital Management, according to the Financial Times. The start up began trading with circa USD55m under management, including a seed investment from a Luxembourg-based fund run by Sweden’s SEB bank.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 2 February, Henderson Global Investors announced plans to merge five funds from its multi-manager range, pending approval from the FSA and shareholders. The announcement led to the departure of managers Mark Harris and Craig Heron, who joined Henderson with its acquisition of New Star in 2009. The mergers are slated to be completed by mid-May.The funds managed by the two outgoing managers (Henderson Multi-Manager Tactical and Balanced) have been taken over by Bill McQuaker, who becomes head of multi-manager, and remains deputy head of equities. The funds will become known as Henderson Multi-manager Active and Managed, respectively. In addition, McQuaker is taking over management of the Henderson Cautious Portfolio Unit Trust, which was previously managed by Heron. The fund will become known as Henderson Multi-Manager Income & Growth from 25 February.The three regional multi-manager funds (American, Asia and European Portfolios) will be absorbed into funds which are not multi-managed: Henderson North American Enhanced Equity (managed by Robert Villiers), Asia Pacific Capital Growth (Anderw Beal), and European Growth (Richard Pease).
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Spanish affiliate of the British management firm M&G Investments has announced the release in Spain of the European Inflation Linked Corporate Bond fund (GB00B3VQKJ6), which aims to outperform the European harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP).The product was released in the United Kingdom on 16 September (see Newsmanagers of 13 December).
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Lazard on 2 February announced that its 2010 fiscal year ended with net profits of USD281.1m, after a loss of about USD130m in 2009, with revenues up 24% to USD1.9bn.Assets under management as of 31 December totalled USD155.3bn, up 20% in one year. They increased 8% in fourth quarter alone. Net inflows totalled USD9.3bn for the year as a whole, of which USD3.2bn wer ein fourth quarter.In fourth quarter, management commissions increased 33% to USD203.1m. They are up 47% over one year, to USD715.9m.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Marc Auchabie last week quit Acropole Asset Management, where he was head of distribution and partnerships. The reports, relayed by H24, were confirmed by the asset management firm specialised in convertible bond management, which adds that the firm is in the process of recruiting a replacement as head of distribution.
Steve Cohen, head of the USD12bn SAC Capital hedge fund, has assured his investors that they will suffer “no financial impact” as a result of the federal investigation into insider trading on Wall Street, the Financial Times writes.The hedge fund has been subpoenaed as part of the investigation. Neither SAC nor any of its employees have been accused of wrongdoing.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Deka Immobilien has acquired the office and retail complex RTW 1 / RTW 3, at the centre of Reutlingen, which has 3,000 square metres in area, completed in autumn 2010, from ZGV Grundstücks- und Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, for about EUR19m. The property will be added to the portfolio of an institutional real estate fund.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of the end of December, assets invested in shares in investment funds from Riester subsidized retirement savings plans totalled EUR7.4bn, compared with EUR4.9bn one year previously.The number of policies has increased by only 0.2 million, to 2.8 million; the increase in assets observed by the German BVI association of asset management firms is largely due to the performance of equity markets.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In a notice to the Spanish CNMV dated 2 February, the Spanish branch of HSBC Global Asset Management (France) announced the suspension of calculation of net asset value, subscriptions and redemptions for the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) sub-fund of the HSBC Global Investment Funds, due to events in Egypt and the closure of the country’s main stock market.
Deutsche Bank and Traxis Partners have launched a UCITS compliant version of the Traxis Global Equity Macro fund. The UCITS fund, called DB Platinum Traxis Global Equity Macro, was launched on Deutsche Bank’s DB Platinum platform on 1 February 2011. The fund will be managed by Traxis in accordance with the strategy managed by Barton Biggs in a similar way to the Traxis Global Equity Macro fund, modified where needed to comply with UCITS regulations. The fund’s investment process is discretionary in nature and leverages the global insight and experience Barton Biggs has developed over 40 years of investment management. Traxis was formed in June 2003 by Barton Biggs, former chairman and chief investment officer of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Madhav Dhar and Cyril Moullé-Berteaux. Traxis currently manages more than USD 1bn.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Equilibria, born from a conversion of the Tacomago Investment II Sicav, has become the first Spanish entity to obtain a license from the CNMV as a “free investment company” (SIL), Funds People reports. The independent firm aims for absolute returns on the basis of a macroeconomic, regulatory and sectoral analysis strategy.Equilibria aims for absolute returns over 3 to 5 years of 2%, after the deduction of inflation and all fees. Tacomago has generated absolute returns of 25.33% for the period from 1999 to the end of December 2010.The executive chairman of the firm is Carlos Arenillas Lorente, who has also served as vice-president of the CNMV.Equilibria has outsourced risk monitoring, compliance and administration to Santander Asset Management, while Santander Investments acts as depository.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } For 2010, BBVA has announced net profits of nearly EUR4.61bn, compared with EUR5.02bn the previous year, but an improvement in its cost/income ratio to 42.9%, from 44.6%, and an increase in its core capital ratio to 9.6%, from 6.2% one year previously.Profits for its wholesale banking and asset management unit increased 11.4% in 2010 to EUR950m.However, assets under management are down to EUR40.52bn, from EUR49.97bn. For investment funds, assets as of 31 December totalled EUR23.71bn, 7.3% less than at the end of September, compared with EUR32.8bn twelve months earlier (see Newsmanagers of 28 January 2010), which is due both to the arrival at maturity of several guaranteed products and a preference on the part of investors for savings accounts. In 2010, BBVA Asset Management also gave back its place as the largest fund manager in Spain to Santander AM.For pension funds, assets as of the end of December totalled EUR16.81bn, 1.2% less than at the end of September, compared with EUR17.17bn at the end of 2009, but in this area, BBVA retains its position as the top Spanish provider.
Man Group has announced the creation of the Man Systematic Strategies (MSS) group. Drawing on the combined expertise of GLG, AHL and Man’s Multi-Manager business, the new group will be responsible for developing and managing systematic strategies driven by cutting edge technology. The new team is planning a number of products for this year including Man GLG Europe Plus Source ETF and the recently launched Man TailProtect fund.MSS is headed by Sandy Rattray, formerly responsible for systematic strategies at GLG, with Stefan Scholz as COO and head of research.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Jim O’Neill, the chairman of Goldman Sachs who coined the successful formula BRIC for Brazil, Russia, India and China, says investors would do well to have four other promising countries on their radar, which may be starting out from a weaker position than the BRIC countries, but who could overtake them. These are what he calls the MIST countries, Cotizalia reports.The new acronym stands for Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey, which now account for about 1% of global GDP and all of which are members of the G20.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Gerardo Galvano has been appointed marketing & communication manager at ING IM Italia. He was previously head of marketing and communication at Banca Intermobiliare. Galvano will report directly to managing director Fabrizio Meo. He will be in charge of defining the marketing and communication strategies for the asset management firm in Italy.
Philippe Setbon has been appointed to the post of chief investment officer of Generali. He will hold the rank of assistant general manager and will report to the general manager and CFO, Raffaele Agrusti.Philippe Setbon, 45, joined the Generali Group in 2004. He was chief investment officer at Generali Investments France, where he was subsequently appointed chief executive officer. Today, Setbon is CEO of Generali Investments and holds senior posts in Generali Investments Sicav (Luxembourg), Generali Investments Deutschland and Generali Investments Italia Sgr. He has also been a member of the board of directors of China’s Guotai AMC since 2010.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Marco Sebastian Arteaga, a German-born US citizen, and CEO for Germany, Austria and Switzerland for the brokerage and consulting firm Aon Jauch & Hübener Consulting, was on 1 February 2011 appointed CEO for the corporate retirement planning (bAV) of the German arm of the Zurich group.The position is newly created, and Arteaga will be in charge of developing corporate retirement savings schemes and distribution activities. Zurich’s objective is to reach major brokers, intermediaries specialised in corporate retirement savings, and multinational groups. Before joining Aon Jauch & Hübener, Arteaga was chairman of the executive board at Mercer.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The acquisition of the Cosmopolitan hotel and casino in Las Vegas by Deutsche Bank for USD4bn last week led to the removal of shares in the German bank from 7 sub-indices of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices series, the magazine Börse-Online reports, relayed by Das Investment.The engagement in the gambling industry has also led several fund managers to liquidate their Deutsche Bank shares. These managers include MEAG (Munich Re), DZ Privatbank and SEB Asset Management.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Japanese financial services group Nomura Holdings on 2 February announced a 31% increase in its net profits in the third quarter of its 2010/2011 fiscal year to JPY13.4bn (EUR122m), due to the good performance of its asset management activities.“Assets under management increased to JPY24.1trn, due to an increase in funds received at our investment management firms,” the group says in a statement.
Principal Investment Management has announced its immediate parent company, Principal Holdings, has acquired Border Asset Management in a transaction which brings together two specialist discretionary investment management businesses.The combined business will manage circa GBP1.5 billion of assets. It will have 130 staff and will operate from Principal’s existing offices in London, Sevenoaks and Bath, and from Border’s existing offices in Kirkby Lonsdale and Harrogate.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Sabre Fund Management will launch a UCITS III-compliant absolute return equities fund of funds, which will aim to earn annual returns of 10-15%, Investment Week reports. The Sabre All Weather fund, domiciled in Luxembourg, will allow retail invetors access to the same strategy is the Sabre Style Arbitrage fund.
La dette de 178 millions d’euros finançant le rachat de la chaîne de lingerie néerlandaise sera constitué d’une tranche A à 6 ans de 57 millions (450 pb de marge), d’une tranche B à 7 ans de 57 millions (500 pb), d’une ligne revolving de 16,5 millions et d’une ligne d’investissement (capex) de 12,5 millions. ABN Amro, ING et Rabobank arrangeaient la dette senior. PAI Partners bénéficie aussi d’une mezzanine de 35 millions, apportée pour l’essentiel par Sankaty Advisors, filiale de Bain Capital.
Hors éléments exceptionnels, Nasdaq OMX Group a dégagé au quatrième trimestre un bénéfice net de 110 millions de dollars, contre 99 millions un an auparavant. Le chiffre d’affaires a progressé de 8% pour atteindre 400 millions de dollars. Pour 2011, l’opérateur boursier s’attend toutefois à ce que les dépenses d’exploitation soient supérieures de 5% à celles de 2010, au-delà des prévisions des analystes.
Les émetteurs notés dans la catégorie spéculative profitent de la fenêtre d’opportunité et de l’appétit de nombreux investisseurs compte tenu du contexte de taux bas. Signe de l’appétit pour ces titres : des LBO se sont récemment intégralement financés sur le marché.