Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale) a annoncé qu’il répercute l’abrogation fin 2010 de la taxe d’abonnement sur 23 de ses ETF de droit luxembourgeois. Cela se traduit avec effet au 3 janvier 2011 par une baisse de 0,05 point du taux de frais sur encours.

Manuel Cereijo a été nommé directeur de la nouvelle division de family office que vient de créer Popular Banca Privada pour une clientèle haut de gamme dont les actifs financiers dépassent les 10 millions d’euros, rapporte Funds People.Ce nouveau service couvrira géographiquement la totalité de l’Espagne et le Banco Popular s’est engagé auprès de ses 100 clients actuels à plafonner à 20 le nombre de clients pour chaque conseiller.

La plate-forme db x-trackers de la Deutsche Bank a annoncé le 25 janvier le lancement d’un nouvel ETF coordonné de droit luxembourgeois, le db x-trackers db Equity Strategies Hedge Fund Index ETF (LU0519153562) qui réplique initialement la performance de 17 hedge funds actions principalement long/short de 13 émetteurs différents.Ce produit est coté sur le London Stock Exchange et vient compéter le db x-trackers db Hedge Fund Index ETF qui a été lancé en janvier 2009 et qui réplique la performance de six stratégies de hedge funds. L’encours de ce fonds atteint 1,5 milliard de dollars.Le nouveau fonds, pour sa part, est chargé à 0,90 %.

F&C Asset Management a profité de la publication de ses encours du quatrième trimestre pour répondre à la lettre du 19 janvier de Sherborne Investors, l’activiste qui cherche à limoger son président et qui a demandé la tenue d’une assemblée générale extraordinaire à cet effet. «Sherborne semble avoir mal compris les aspects économiques et le raisonnement qui sous tendent les acquisitions de Reit Asset Management et de Thames River Capital», écrit la société de gestion britannique dans un communiqué. Dans sa missive, l’investisseur qui a bâti une position de 17,5 % de F&C estimait en effet que ces opérations sont préjudiciables aux actionnaires. «Reit et Thames River ont accéléré l’amélioration des marges provenant des commissions et ont contribué à augmenter la part des revenus issus des clients hors assurance», explique F&C. De plus, «les deux acquisitions ont consolidé la gamme de produits du groupe et son savoir-faire en matière d’investissement et ont contribué à renforcer l’équipe de gestion du groupe». La société de gestion souligne également que les deux acquisitions ont été réalisées à des multiples attrayants qui étaient très inférieurs à ceux des récentes transactions du secteur comme l’acquisition de Bluebay par RBC et le projet d’acquisition de Gartmore par Henderson». Outre cette mise au point, F&C a tenu à son tour à poser une série de questions à son actionnaire. «Le fait que Monsieur Bramson soit président exécutif de Nautilus, un fabricant d’équipements de gymnastique basé aux Etats-Unis dont le cours de l’action a reculé de 75 % depuis que Sherborne a acquis une participation dans la société, et qu’il détienne d’autres responsabilités, va-t-il lui permettre d’assumer correctement son rôle de président de F&C comme il l’a proposé ?», s’interroge malicieusement F&C. La société de gestion, qui souligne avoir annoncé un programme annuel de réduction des coûts de 12 millions de livres, se demande également comment Sherborne compte encore améliorer les marges tout en ne touchant pas au service client et à la performance. Alain Grisay, le directeur général de F&C, a par ailleurs déclaré qu’après les années 2007-2009 marquées par des sorties de capitaux et des incertitudes au niveau de l’actionnariat, 2010 a été un tournant pour F&C. Sur l’année, la société de gestion a de fait annoncé une hausse de ses encours de 97,8 milliards de livres à 105,8 milliards de livres à fin 2010 et des souscriptions nettes hors assurances de 272 millions de livres sur l’année.L’assemblée générale extraordinaire ayant lieu le 3 février, on saura bientôt si ces explications et ces résultats ont réussi à convaincre les actionnaires.

Le gestionnaire britannique ETF Securities (ETFS, 26,4 milliards de dollars d’encours) indique avoir obtenu récemment la validation de son passeport communautaire pour l’Espagne où il va désormais pouvoir commercialiser plus de 200 ETP (Exchange traded Products), qu’il s’agisse d’ETC (matières premières) ou d’autres produits sur les devises, rapporte Funds People.Luis Puertas, responsable de la péninsule ibérique et de l’Amérique latine, a précisé que les produits ETFS seront disponibles en Espagne au travers des plates-formes Bankinter, Renta 4, Inversis et GVC Gaesco.

Pour 2010, le bénéfice net de BlackRock est ressorti à 2,06 milliards de dollars contre 875 millions l’année précédente, soit un gonflement de 136 %. Au quatrième trimestre ce bénéfice est ressorti à 657 millions de dollars contre 551 millions au troisième et 256 millions pour la période correspondante de 2009. La marge d’exploitation sur l’ensemble de 2010 ressort à 34,8 % en incluant l’impact des 90 millions de dollars de coûts d’intégration liés à l’acquisition de Barclays Global Investors (BGI) au 1er décembre 2009. Sur l’ensemble de l’année écoulée, BlackRock a recruté près d’un millier de collaborateurs.En fin d’année, l’encours total se situait à 3.560,97 milliards de dollars soit 3 % de plus que fin septembre et 214,7 milliards ou 6 % de plus qu’un an auparavant (3.346,26 milliards).Les souscriptions nettes de 2010 ont porté sur 57,76 milliards de dollars pendant que les sorties imputables à l’intégration de BGI représentaient 120,97 milliards, celles dues à des reclassements se situant à 6,16 milliards. Par ailleurs, l’effet de marché positif a compté pour 267 milliards de dollars et l’effet de change positif pour 17,1 milliards.Les comptes font apparaître que iShares (les ETF) a enregistré des souscriptions nettes de 13,4 milliards de dollars pour octobre-décembre et de 42,9 milliards sur l’ensemble de l’exercice. L’encours de iShares à fin décembre ressortait à 448,16 milliards pour les produits actions et 123,1 milliards pour les produits obligataires contre respectivement 381,4 milliards et 102,49 milliards un an auparavant.

BlackRock a annoncé le 24 janvier le recrutement de Nancy Everett au poste nouvellement créé de managing director, responsable de l’entité US Fiduciary Management Solutions (FMS), qui propose des solutions de gestion, de conseil et d’externalisation aux grands clients institutionnels.Nancy Everett travaillait précédemment en qualité de CEO chez Promark Global Advisors (ex-General Motors Asset Management), à la tête de quelque 140 milliards de dollars d’actifs sous gestion.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Deka Immobilien announced on 25 January that it has sold the office building Carrea in Munich (11,2000 square metres ) to Competo Bestandsfonds Plus. The property was acquired for the open-ended real estate fund Deka ImmobilienEuropa in 2003.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Credit Suisse Germany has managed to sell the Schloss Arkaden building in Brunswick (55,481 square metres) to the Deka ImmobilienEuropa fund at a price above the EUR228.3m it was most recently valued at. It is the fourth consecutive sale of a property from the CS Euroreal fund (which has been closed to redemptions for 8 months) at a price higher than its market value; the previous one was the sale at the end of December of a 9,764 square metre building located at Quai Galliéni in Suresnes to the French real estate fund Viveris REIM. The market value of that property was EUR61.8m. Previously, in mid-December, Allianz Real Estate acquired two properties in Paris, also above their market value.After these four sales, gross liquidity in the CS Euroreal fund represented EUR1.03bn, of which EUR1.01bn were available for potential redemptions, which comes to 16.7% of assets (EUR6.05bn as of the end of December). Since the suspension of redemptions on 19 May 2010, net liquidity in the fund has increased by EUR727m, or 11.9 percentage points.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In second half 2010, the number of people holding shares in equities funds, diversified funds or both categories of funds in Germany fell by about 140,000 compared with first half, at slightly under 5.97 million, or 9.2% of the population, according to an NFO Infratest survey for the Deutsches Aktien Institut (DAI). Compared with the 2001 record, the total is down by 3.8 million, or 38.9%, but it remains 3.7 million people, or 158.6%, higher than in 1997.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } A survey by Expansión of major international investors reveals that foreigners are not enthusiastic about the idea of buying stakes in Spanish savings banks. They would like to have a say in matters at the target firms, and therefore would expect seats on the boards of directors, or else they would buy the assets only at a considerable markdown.Among the firms which are potentially interested, but who are awaiting more clarification from the Spanish government, are investors such as Carval, Varde, Fortress, Cerberus, Apollo (which is setting up a team in Spain under the name Lapithus), TPG, Macquarie, Och-Ziff, Lone Star, and Patron.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Manuel Cereijo has been appointed as director of the new family office division that Popular Banca Privada has created for high net worth clients with financial assets of over EUR10m, Funds People reports. The new service will cover all of Spain, and Banco Popular has made a pledge to its 100 current clients to maintain a maximum of 20 clients per adviser.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Several major international banks, including UBS, are bringing their differences with Italian cities and provinces over derivative contracts before British courts, in the hopes of finding fairer resolutions there, which it hopes will be more favourable and faster than the Italian courts, Agefi Switzerland reports. UBS is countersuing several municipalities and regions, including Florence, Piedmont and Latium, in the British courts, in response to suits filed by the local governments in Italy. Despite contractual clauses which state that claims may be settled in the British courts, the Italian entities sued in Italy in order to avoid an unfamiliar jurisdiction which is though to offer better protection to banks.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The co-founders of Verus Chartered Financial Planners, Paul Lothian and Jonathan Gibson, are entering the wealth management business. The financial advisers have teamed up with the Aberdeen accounting firm Anderson, Anderson & Brown, to create the dedicated wealth management entity A2+B Wealth. As its name indicates, the new firm is planning to concentrate on high net worth clients, to whom it will offer long-term management relying on modelling tools and the A2+B Wealthcare white label platform.

F&C Asset Management on January 25 updated the market on its assets under management and business flows and responded to the letter from Sherborne Investors - which holds a 17.5 stake in the company and wants to oust its chairman - dated 19 January 2011.“Sherborne appears to have misunderstood the economics of and rationale for the REIT Asset Management and Thames River Capital acquisitions”, F&C writes in a press release. “REIT and Thames River have accelerated the improvement in average fee margins and have contributed to the increased proportion of revenues derived from non‐insurance clients. Both acquisitions have enhanced the group’s product range and investment expertise and have helped strengthen the group’s management team. Both acquisitions were executed at attractive profit multiples which were significantly lower than those implied by recent transactions in the sector such as RBC’s acquisition of Bluebay and Henderson’s proposed acquisition of Gartmore”, according to the UK fund manager.In addition, F&C poses a number of questions “it considers critically important that Sherborne answers in advance of the general meeting it has requisitioned for 3 February to allow shareholders to consider all the facts before voting”. “Will Mr. Bramson’s executive chairmanship of Nautilus, a US based manufacturer of gym equipment, the share price of which has fallen c.75 per cent. since Sherborne acquired its c.20 per cent interest, together with his other responsibilities, allow him to carry out properly his proposed role as Chairman of F&C?”, asks F&C.Alain Grisay, chief executive of F&C, also commented: “After years of outflows and the ownership uncertainty of 2007‐2009, 2010 was a turning point for F&C with three year investment track records rebuilt, strong consultant support and a return to net inflows ex. insurance assets. The combination of positive headline flows from institutional clients, coupled with improving fee margins are tangible signs that our strategy is working”.The group’s assets under management (AUM) ended the year at GBP105.8 billion, vs GBP97.8 billion at the en of 2009. Net business flows (excluding insurance) were positive in Q4 2010 and for the full‐year after four years of net outflows (GBP272m).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Matthias Danne, a board member at DekaBank, is satisfied with the compromise between coalition parties over regulations applicable to open-ended real estate funds. In his opinion, the number of providers of these funds aimed at retail investors will fall below ten, from 14 currently.Deka is the leader in this market segment, with assets of about EUR22bn. Net subscriptions to the group’s real estate funds represented EUR1.6bn in 2010, of which EUR1.1bn were for the three products aimed at retail clients (Deka-ImmobilienEuropa, Deka-ImmobilienGlobal and WestInvest InterSelect), while the remaining EUR500m went to institutional funds.In 2010, Deka Immobilien bought 27 properties for EUR2.4bn, and sold 16 properties for EUR800m. In 2011, the management firm is planning to acquire more small properties for its institutional funds. The largest deal last year was the acquistion of the office property Chevron House in Singapore for EUR300m.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The db x-trackers platform from Deutsche Bank on 25 January announced the launch of a new UCITS-compliant Luxembourg-registered ETF, the db x-trackers db Equity Strategies Hedge Fund Index ETF (LU0519153562), which initially replicates the performanc eof 17 mostly long/short equities hedge funds from 13 different providers.The product is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and comes as an addition to the db x-trackers db Hedge Fund Index ETF, which was launched in January 2009, and which replicates the performance of six hedge fund strategies. Assets in the fund total USD1.5bn.The new fund, for its part, charges fees of 0.90%.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Bank Austria Real Invest Immobilien KAG in 2010 remained the largest real estate fund management firm in Austria by far, with assets as of the end of December of EUR1.5bn, or over 63% of the total EUR2.4bn market. The second-largest is Raiffeisen Immobilien KAG, with EUR391m, or 16% of the market.In total, real estate funds had EUR2.4bn in assets under management, or EUR481.7m more than at the end of December 2009. EUR445.2m of this increase comes from net subscriptions, and EUR65m from capital gains, while distribution of dividends totalled EUR29m.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to figures from the Austrian VÖIG association of management firms, total assets under management in securities funds as of the end of December totalled EUR145.2bn, compared with EUR136.7bn twelve months previously. That represents an increase of EUR8.5bn, or 6.2%, resulting from gains of EUR8.9bn, and EUR2bn in net subscriptions, though distribution of dividends totalled over EUR2.5bn.The top three management firms remain unchanged: Raiffeisen KAG (RCM) posted an increase of 9.25% to its assets, to EUR29.4bn, giving it a market share of 20.2%, while Erste Sparinvest saw its assets stagnate at EUR26.7bn, with a market share of 18.4%. The third-largest management firm by assets is Pioneer Investments Austria (Bank Austria, UniCredit group), with a 1% decline in its assets under management, to EUR19.4bn, and a market share of 13.3% Allianz Invest and Kepler Fonds are in fourth and fifth place, with EUR10.7bn and EUR10bn in assets, respectively.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to figures from the Austrian VÖIG association of management firms, total assets under management in securities funds as of the end of December totalled EUR145.2bn, compared with EUR136.7bn twelve months previously. That represents an increase of EUR8.5bn, or 6.2%, resulting from gains of EUR8.9bn, and EUR2bn in net subscriptions, though distribution of dividends totalled over EUR2.5bn. The top three management firms remain unchanged: Raiffeisen KAG (RCM) posted an increase of 9.25% to its assets, to EUR29.4bn, giving it a market share of 20.2%, while Erste Sparinvest saw its assets stagnate at EUR26.7bn, with a market share of 18.4%. The third-largest management firm by assets is Pioneer Investments Austria (Bank Austria, UniCredit group), with a 1% decline in its assets under management, to EUR19.4bn, and a market share of 13.3% Allianz Invest and Kepler Fonds are in fourth and fifth place, with EUR10.7bn and EUR10bn in assets, respectively.

For 2010, net profit at BlackRock totalled USD2.06bn, compared with USD875m the previous year, an increase of 136%. In fourth quarter, this profit totalled USD657m, compared with USD551m in third quarter and USD256m in the corresponding period of 2009. Operating margin for the year 2010 comes to 34.8%, including the impact of USD90m in costs related to the integration of Barclays Global Investors (BGI) on 1 December 2009. In the past year overall, BlackRock recruited over 1,000 employees.At the end of the year, total assets came to USD3.56097trn, 3% more than at the end of September, and USD214.7bn, or 6% more than one year previously (USD3.34626trn).Net subscriptions in 2010 totalled USD57.76bn, while outflows imputable to the integration of BGI represented USD120.97bn and those due to reclassifications totalled USD6.16bn. Market appreciation accounted for USD267bn, and forex positive impact came to USD17.1bn.Accounts reveal that iShraes (ETFs) posted net subscriptions of USD13.4bn in October-December, and USD42.9bn for the period as a whole. Assets in iShares products as of the end of December totalled USD448.16bn for equities products, and USD123.1bn for bond products, compared with USD381.4bn and USD102.49bn, respectively, one year previously.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The financial management industry will soon include over 600 businesses. According to the most recent statistics from the AFG, this dynamic of firm creations continued in 2010, with 44 new firms, while net growth in the number of firms comes to 25. Staff numbers remained stable, according to a study to be published by the association in one and a half months. The association points out that French management firms, regardless of size, are increasingly active internationally, where they are gaining market share. Two French groups rank in the top 10 management firms worldwide, and four are in the top 20 (Amundi, Natixis, Axa and BNP Paribas). France has retained its place as the largest manager of OPCVM mutual funds in Europe, with a market share of 20.6%, but it is closely rivalled by Germany (19.4%), and to a lesser extent the United Kingdom (16.9%). But an examination of the variation in assets under management in Europe reveals highly contrasted situations, with gains of more than 10% for Germany (the CAC lost 2%, and the Dax has gained 10%), 17% for Luxembourg, 27% for Ireland, and 30% for the United Kingdom (though, it is true, with a larger market effect in the UK due to the higher proportion of equities funds).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } For its 25th anniversary, HDF Finance on Tuesday, 25 January announced several developments at the firm. In terms of staff, the firm on Monday, 24 January announced the arrival of a new CEO, Pierre Lenders. Lenders, 48, served from 2008 to 2010 at Lafayette as head of risks, and then as co-CIO. In addition to this recruitment, the firm has also recruited Joseph Naayem, a long/short fund of fund manager who knows dedicated mandates well and has worked at Harcourt and other firms, effective the same day. In terms of services, the firm is also planning to offer new custom services to its clients, 85% of whom are institutionals, including choice and management of drivers of performance, a statement says. The last development announced by HDF Finance is that the management firm is planning to set up a new communications plan to make itself more widely known by private clients.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BlackRock announced on 24 January that it has recruited Nancy Everett to the newly-created position of managing director, head of the US entity Fiduciary Management Solutions (FMS), which offers management, advising and outsourcing solutions to major institutional clients. Everett previously worked as CEO of Promark Global Advisors (ex-General Motors Asset Management), which has about USD140bn in assets under management.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In 2010, the overall volume of calls for proposals to select a manager for French institutional investors totalled EUR30.5bn, an increase of 57% compared with EUR19.4bn the previous year, while the number of consultations remained relatively stable (89, compared with 85). These are the findings of the most recent bfinance study of delegated institutional management. The market has topped its previous record of EUR27bn, set in 2007. bfinance estimates that this vitality is due to a renegotiation of major bond management mandates, numbering 19 and totalling EUR23bn, and many revisions of strategic allocations. As in 2009, the French national pension fund, the Fonds de réserve pour les retraites (FRR) dominates the market. It represented 59% of volumes in play last year, with EUR18bn. The second market leader, Medicis, was far behind, with EUR1.33bn. In terms of asset classes, bond mandates accounted for the lion’s share of the market, as in 2009. Equities mandates came to only EUR1.8bn (for 13 mandates). Emmanuel Léchère, head of market intelligence Group, says that consultations mostly involved Euro zone equities. French institutionals appear totally uninterested in emerging markets equities, unlike their international counterparts.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Funds People reports that Groupama Asset Management has decided to end the exposure of its money market fund Groupama Eonia to debt from peripheral countries of the Euro zone. The exposure to “PIGS” will mature at the end of February, and will not be renewed. The fund (EUR850m) will then be a solely “core” product. As of 17 January, 46% of the portfolio was invested in A-rated, and 27% in AA-rated securities.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BNY Mellon on 25 January announced the appointment of Eleni Wang as head of client management for the Asia Pacific region, replacing Jai Arya, who has recently been promoted to director of the newly-created sovereign institutions group. Wang was previously managing partner of the alternative management firm Adept Capital Partners, where she was head of strategy and development.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Spanish securities commission (CNMV) says that it is expecting changes “in the short to mid-term” in the structure of at least 7 out of the 24 asset management firms in which the savings banks hold stakes, Cinco Días reports. 17 out of the 45 savings banks in the country are expected to disappear. Experts say that in order to be viable, a management firm needs at least EUR500m in assets; however, in December, this was true at only 40% of them.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British management firm ETF Securities (ETFS, USD26.4bn in assets) has announced that it has recently received validation of its passport for the European community, which will allow it to establish operations in Spain, where it is planning to sell over 200 exchange-traded products (ETP), including commodities (ETC) and other currency products, Funds People reports. Luis Puertas, head at the firm for the Iberian peninsula and Latin America, says that ETFS products will be available in Spain via the Bankinter, Renta 4, Inversis and GVC Gaesco platforms.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Overall assets under management (in mandates and mutual funds) increased 1.7% in 2010, to EUR2.656trn, near its 2007 levels, according to the most recent statistics from the French financial management association (AFG). Although mandates are continuing to grow (+6%, to EUR1.418trn), French-registered funds (-2.6%, to EUR1.339trn) have been affected by a major decline in assets in money market funds, which have suffered from very low short-term interest rates, but id not get a boost from the rebound that has recently come for the markets of Northern Europe. “The figures are holding stable, but are doing no more than that. Our domestic market is much less promising than it used to be. This is a genuine subject of concern,” said Paul-Henri de La Porte de Theil, president of the AFG, on 25 January at a press conference. Though net assets in French-registered mutual funds have fallen by EUR36bn over the year, excluding money market funds there has nonetheless been an increase of about EUR50bn (+5.6%). Assets under mandated management, which are very largely invested in fixed-income products, increased by about 6% from EUR1.059trn to EUR1.123trn. This increase comes 40% from positive market effects, while inflows accounted for 60%, mostly from the insurance sector. Financial management of foreign-registered OPC funds, for its part, is expected to grow to EUR194bn (+9%). The positive evolution of net assets in bond and equities oriented funds (equities, diversified and other funds; FCPE, FCPR and FCIMT) was offset by a decline in assets in money market funds (-EUR86.7bn), low short-term interest rates, and considerable need for liquidity at banking establishments, which led to transfers either to bank savings accounts, or to other categories of funds, such as bond funds, and to a lesser extent diversified funds. Bonds are the only category to have seen net inflows in 2010 (+EUR18.5bn).